didn't know you were cold ('til you felt my fire) // JENLISA AU

Chapter 8

Jennie was reminded about why she didn't normally attend parties.

The noise was terrible for one. The songs she didn't mind, but the volume was turned up far too loud, with bass turned up even louder so she could feel it in her teeth, and then everyone was shouting in order to be heard over the music. It was an absolute overload of noise.

On top of that she wasn't drinking and half the games going on around seemed to require drinking, and water didn't do as a substitute. She'd considered it... but she had driven here and the longer the night wore on the less that option was viable.

Finally, her cousin Irene had abandoned her approximately three seconds after greeting her at the door, and after a couple of attempts to join conversations around the house that ended up being about topics she knew nothing or cared nothing about, she'd decided to try the strategy of stepping aside and wait for someone talk to her.

So now Jennie was annoyed, sober, and alone, wandering from room to room sipping from a bottle of water and watching the others laugh and jostle. Groups of teens from a mix of schools were here, either locals to the Higher Block area of the wealthy suburb, Upper Block residents like Jennie.

After a dull few minutes, with a frustrated sigh and huff, she decided to go and stand outside for a bit. Making her way through the push of bodies, she headed out onto the front porch it was much quieter, save a small group on the lawn smoking and laughing while the muffled bass from the house flowed through the air.

Leaning on the porch railing, Jennie took a deep breath of the outdoor air, the chill of night settling as the sun had set. Lisa hadn't shown up, which she had half expected, but the disappointment still hurt. She had actually looked forward to seeing Lisa tonight, spending half her afternoon fussing with her hair, which she was still forced to wear up, and hating every outfit she put together for not looking 'cool' enough, finally giving up and settling for her usual blue jeans and white T-shirt, but with a black belt which looked... alright. Nothing incredibly outstanding, but a little different

The past couple of weeks, minus occasional arguments, she was starting to see Lisa less as a project and more as a friend. And Lisa had expressed wanting to hang out with her outside of school and now this was their first chance and she had hoped to make a good impression, but it looked like that wasn't happening. Lisa was probably unsure about overstepping the unspoken culture boundaries of attending a 'Pinksy' party, and Jennie probably wasn't that important for her to chance it.

She was just starting to zone out when her name being called startled her back to reality. She looked over from the porch to see Lisa approaching from the around the corner, two boys walking alongside her.

Lisa was 'dressed up' as much as Jennie would expect her to be dressed up - a black T-shirt with a grey hooded vest, a red flannel shirt tied around the waist of her baggy ripped jeans, and a black baseball cap covering most of her hair. She was still wearing the fingerless gloves, Jennie noticed as the girl reached up to pull the lit cigarette out of her mouth. She absently thought how she had never seen Lisa without them.

The boys were similarly dressed in black tshirts boasting heavy metal bands, the taller one looking miles more excited to be there than the shorter. Jennie recognized them as boys she had seen Lisa hanging around with at school after or at lunches. She wondered why they were here. She hadn't expected Lisa to bring company and felt briefly jealous that Lisa hadn't considered her interesting enough to spend time with at a party.

Once they approached the porch Lisa dropped her cigarette and put it out with the grind off her boot, looking over to greet Jennie with a "Hey" and an easy smile and-

Jennie forgot what she was about to say.

"These are my foster brothers, hope it's cool they joined. They need to get out of the house more." Lisa, with teasing grin over to them, gestured loosely with a hand to the boys beside her. "This is Bambam and that's Lucas."