Midnight Angel [Jenlisa FF]

~'~'~ Chapter 20 ~'~'~

Shortly after Mr. Kim left, Lisa ascended the stairs to the second floor after not having found Jennie anywhere on the first floor. She could only hope that the visit with her father hadn't caused a setback. She had been doing so well, not perfect, but the vacant look that had been in her eyes the first time she'd met her was rarely present anymore. The unhappy world she had been living in for so long was finally beginning to release her, and Lisa didn't want to see anything ruin that. But she supposed there wasn't anything more she could do to make things easier for her. she could only be there for her as she dealt with her past.

At the door to Jennie's room – the guest room – Lisa was surprised to find Jennie sitting on the bed playing with Shadow. Her shoulders were still tense, but there were no other outward signs of distress. She seemed to be dealing better than she expected with the conversation with her father.

"Jennie?" Lisa said softly. "Are you all right."

She didn't answer immediately. Was she alright? Not exactly. But in the grand scheme of things, she was...okay.

"Yeah," Jennie answered with a shrug.

Lisa entered the room and sat on the opposite side of the bed, reaching a handout to scratch the kitten's head. "I'm sorry if what he said hurt." That was lame, Lisa told herself, but what else could she say?

"It's okay." She shrugged again. Sitting back, she crossed her legs and looked up at Lisa. "Honestly? It felt...sort of good to confront him and to stand up for myself. I don't know if that makes sense.

"I understand," Lisa assured her.

"It's just," she began, pausing to think for a moment. "It's like for so long I've had no control over anything..."

"And tonight, you took some of it back," Lisa filled in the rest.

"Yeah," she agreed then sighed. "I understand why he wants me to keep hiding, but I just...can't do it anymore."

Lisa could see that Jennie's thoughts were now directed inwards, towards what she could only guess was what she'd been through the past few years. she didn't want to force her to drudge up more bad memories, but she also knew it would probably help her to talk about everything. So, she asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Simple question, Jennie thought, but could she talk about it? About all of it? She peered up at Lisa through her lashes and considered. she already knew most of what had happened in her life, Jennie knew that, but could she be completely honest with her? For some reason, she knew she could. She knew Lisa would listen. Maybe she wouldn't understand, but she would still listen.

Scrunching back against the headboard of the bed, Jennie wrapped her arms around her knees and took a deep breath. With that, she began. "I guess I had a lot of the same fantasies as most sixteen year old girls when it comes to guys. I'd dated occasionally, but nothing serious. I always thought that someday I'd meet Mr. Right and I'd just...know." She laughed sadly and shook her head. "That probably sounds stupid."

"Not at all," Lisa disagreed whole-heartedly. "I always hoped it would be that way for me."

"Really?" Jennie inquired, surprised. She hadn't anticipated she would say that.

"There has to be some way of knowing you're...compatible with someone," Lisa furthered. she didn't add that she was beginning to realize that belief that a connection could exist between two people was in fact true. That would definitely scare her.

"I always hoped there was," she reiterated. "I wanted whoever..." Jennie blushed and glanced away. "Whoever I slept with for the first time to be someone special. It's not like I was waiting for marriage or anything, but my mom had always told me that sex was supposed to mean something and that you should really care about the person you were with."