"So how does it feel?" Seulgi asked at the end of the workday on Friday when Lisa shutting down her work computer and rolling her tense shoulders.
"Hm?" Lisa asked, glancing at the other girl, who was packing up the work bag she brought in every day.
"To have made it through your first week here?" Seulgi clarified with a laugh.
"Oh, yeah. It's been a pretty good week, but I am ready to have a couple days off for sure. I literally moved into my new place less than a week ago. Been pretty worn out," Lisa admitted. Seulgi's jaw dropped.
"Wait, you didn't already live in the city?" she asked in surprise. "Damn. You should've asked for a later start date!"
Lisa shrugged, standing and pulling the strap of her purse over her shoulder. "I wanted to get started fast, so I didn't mind. And I managed to find a house of not crazy people who needed a room filled. Can't really complain, considering how well it all worked out."
"That's some serious luck," Seulgi told her. "I'm so glad I moved here for college. It gave me plenty of time to get used to the city during breaks." Lisa nodded as the two of them started out of the office. "You'll have to let me show you around town."
"Sure," Lisa agreed with a nod.
"You busy now?"
Lisa stretched her neck a little. Her body was definitely readjusting to sitting at a desk for so long in a day. "No, guess not. I was just going to head home."
"Well, are you hungry?" Seulgi asked, as they made it to the elevator. "There's this cute café a few blocks south. It's walking distance if you don't mind the foot traffic."
"I could eat," Lisa answered with a chuckle, and they stepped into the elevator as the doors slid open. "Plus, a few blocks south is closer home which means a slightly shorter bus ride."
"You've been taking the buses around, yikes," Seulgi said with a shake of her head, "those are always so crowded."
"Yeah, but it's pretty much my only option. We're not exactly in NYC with subways, and I can't afford an Uber every day," Lisa explained, chuckling.
"No yeah, totally. I just walk everywhere, honestly," Seulgi said, "but I do have a car, so if something is really out of walking distance, I just deal with the traffic. But buses? I tried for a while in college, and I just couldn't do it."
"Hopefully it won't be too long term for me," Lisa told her coworker. The elevator dinged as they reached the main floor and they both walked out. "Once I have a few paychecks under my belt, I'm hoping to buy a motorcycle."
Seulgi looked at Lisa , clearly impressed. "Girl, you have a license for that?"
"Yeah," Lisa replied, laughing at the shock on Seulgi's face. "Come on, it can't be that surprising."
"Guess not. You're definitely going to draw some eyes if you pull up to work in a motorcycle, that's for sure," Seulgi told her, before thoughtfully adding, "which is definitely not a bad thing, and honestly, you really should do it."
They walked to the café Seulgi had mentioned and had a light dinner. Lisa found out that Seulgi was from the south before she moved up north to Washington State for school, and they talked about their similar experiences with majoring in computer science as non-white women, and how they remembered being some of the only people who looked like them in classes of forty people. It was sad, but true.
When they finished dinner, Lisa said goodbye to her new work friend and caught a bus back to the house. It still didn't feel much like she was going home, but she was settling in pretty well and she hoped it would feel more like home pretty soon.
All of her roommates were home when she got there, and Jisoo asked if she needed dinner, saying that they were going to get food. Lisa declined, having just ate, and headed upstairs for a shower.
As she was changing into pajamas after her shower, she saw a text from Jisoo saying that she and Chaeyoung were likely going to be staying out pretty late, so if they didn't come home at a reasonable time, that was why. Lisa shot a text back to Jisoo acknowledging it, appreciating the information. It was a Friday night, though, and the girls were in college, so she wasn't surprised.
Jennie didn't go with them, which was made extra clear after Lisa had been lounging on her bed for a while, and she suddenly heard Jennie in her room through the walls.
"I'm not asking for anything other than what is mine," she exclaimed.
It sounded like she was in the middle of another phone conversation, so she must have just raised her voice, because Lisa hadn't been able to hear her beforehand.
"I can't believe you're taking their side! Oh no, you can't do that, okay? I have never done—no, it's not about that! Okay, it's mine, and they can't just keep it there! Don't you think that I would if I could?"
Lisa sighed uncomfortably, finally getting up from her bed and leaving her bedroom. She closed the door somewhat firmly, but didn't slam it, in the hopes that Jennie would hear it and realize how loud she was being. In the meantime, Lisa made her way downstairs and settled into the couch, turning on the TV and flipping to a random channel.
About fifteen minutes later, she heard feet padding on the stairs, and she glanced to her right as she saw Jennie's coming down the front hallway. Surprisingly, the girl's dark feline eyes made immediately eye contact with hers. "Sorry," Jennie apologized, her voice eerily quiet and void of any edge, "if you came down here because of me. I wasn't trying to shout."
"No worries," Lisa assured her, watching for a second as Jennie made her way into the kitchen. Lisa turned the volume of the TV down a little now that she knew Jennie wasn't yelling on the phone anymore. "Everything okay?"
"Not really," Jennie deadpanned. "Did Jisoo and Chaeyoung go out?"
"Yeah," Lisa answered, looking curiously back at Jennie. "They didn't text you?"
"Oh. I didn't check."
Lisa watched the girl for another moment as she started to pull some food items out of the fridge, and then she turned her attention back to the TV, hoping that she could keep it there. Something about Jennie being in the room was just so... distracting.
"What are you watching?" Jennie asked with distaste.
"I think it's a show sort of like Naked and Afraid," Lisa answered. "I don't know, I just found something that didn't look ridiculously boring. They're like... running around the wilderness or something. Less naked than Naked and Afraid, though."
She heard Jennie snicker. "That's probably for the best."
"So, do Chaeyoung and Jisoo usually go out on Friday nights?" Lisa wondered curiously, glancing back at Jennie. Her attention was definitely straying from the TV.
"Usually. Sometimes I'd join them," Jennie answered. She seemed to be making another salad.
"You eat so much salad," Lisa commented, before immediately receiving a glare from those dark, intense eyes. "What? I'm impressed. Salad is so not delicious."
"How would you know? Every time I've seen you eat in the last week, you've been eating frozen meals or pizza," Jennie scorned.
"Well, that doesn't mean I've never eaten a salad before," Lisa joked.
"My body is a temple," Jennie answered plainly. It looked like she was maybe cutting up some grilled chicken or something to add to the salad. Lisa couldn't help but observe the woman's outfit today. She wore high waisted jean shorts and a fitted red t-shirt. It had been hot again today, which explained the outfit. The shorts, though, showed off Jennie's legs, which Lisa couldn't see from this angle. It was probably for the best, she realized, as she felt her mouth go a little dry observing the girl's curves. Her body was definitely a well taken care of temple.
"Yeah, well," Lisa finally said, "I don't like to cook, and I've never had a huge food budget, so I make do with what I can."
"I see."
Lisa forced her attention back on the show. The truth was, now that Jennie was downstairs, she really should've just gone back up to her room. She didn't care about this show, and she'd been plenty comfortable in her makeshift bed. But Jennie was actually talking to her, which was apparently reason enough for her to hang around downstairs as if she had nothing better to do.
But they didn't talk much after that. Jennie sat in one of the living room chairs while she ate her salad, scrolling through her phone and occasionally glancing up at the show that Lisa was trying really hard for focus on. And when Jennie was almost done eating, the show was wrapping up, so Lisa decided to use it as an excuse to leave now, rather than making it obvious that she was only hanging around downstairs to be around Jennie.
"Well, I should probably go upstairs. I'm supposed to call one of my friends and catch up," she told Jennie, giving her a quick glance. "Have a good night."
"Thanks," Jennie answered, her gaze down at her phone rather than on Lisa. She blew out a breath and turned the TV off before heading back upstairs.
•••
If Lisa thought that the half hour or so that Jennie was civil toward her was indicative of Jennie deciding that they could be friends, she was definitely proven wrong the next day, when Jennie was back to giving her glares anytime they so much as crossed paths. It was unfortunate, too, because they had plans to go over to Irene's place across the city that evening, and they were all carpooling. Chaeyoung had offered to drive, apparently not interested in drinking tonight, and Lisa was pretty sure that meant Jisoo was going to call shotgun, and Lisa was going to be stuck in the back of the car with Jennie.
She spent the day catching up on some Netflix shows that she hadn't had time to watch during her move, and then as the evening crept on up her, Lisa got ready to go over to Irene's. It felt a little weird that she was accompanying her new roommates to one of their closest friends' apartment, but she figured she shouldn't get hung up on it. She wanted to have friends in the city, and why shouldn't those friends be the people she lived with?
She didn't know what everyone was wearing to Irene's, but Lisa was tired of slacks and pants from the week, so she pulled on some fishnets and black shorts over them. A tight, magenta crop top covered her bralette, the straps of which showed intentionally over her shoulders. She finished the look with some heeled boots and her favorite leather jacket, feeling a bit more comfortable in her choice of clothes than she had in the whole past week. Maybe she'd dressed a little more conservatively on purpose when she'd first met Jisoo, hoping to make a good impression, but now that she knew that her style choice was not likely to bother any of the girls, she was all about dressing in a way that made her feel good.
She walked downstairs, all dressed and ready to go, about five minutes before Chaeyoung had said they would leave and found that all of the rest of the women were already down there. Chaeyoung had her hair down—which Lisa had only seen a few times this week—and was wearing tighter jeans than normal and a loose, white blouse. Jisoo was dressed in one of the many black dresses that she seemed to own, finished with strappy heels. Lisa had begun to learn that Jisoo was basically always overdressed.
When Lisa glanced at Jennie's outfit, she actually felt her breath catch in her throat for a brief moment. She was wearing a high waisted red and black plaid skirt that didn't fall very low and long, black heeled boots. A tight, black, mesh shirt was tucked into the skirt, hiding her body not very much at all. Her black bra was visible underneath it. She wore her bright red lipstick as well.
"Hey," Lisa finally said, drawing all the women's attention. They'd apparently been waiting on her. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you guys wait."
"No worries," Chaeyoung insisted. "I just got out here, too."
"You look cute, Lisa," Jisoo said with a grin. "I've only seen you wear like, business professional stuff."
Lisa chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that one week in, I'm already tired of that look." She glanced at Jennie, realizing that the girl's gaze was burning into her. Lisa felt her palms get a little sweaty as Chaeyoung grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter and took a step toward the back door.
"Shall we go?" she asked.
As they stepped out onto the back porch and started for the driveway, Jisoo chimed, "Shotgun!" and Lisa suppressed a groan, having predicted this exact moment.
Lisa got in behind the passenger seat of Chaeyoung's station wagon as Jennie slipped in behind the driver's seat. It wasn't a super tight fit, but it wasn't spacious either by any means. Jisoo took the liberty of turning on the radio as Chaeyoung pulled out of the driveway and started them on the drive across the city.
Jisoo and Chaeyoung chatted amicably during the half hour drive, occasionally pulling Lisa or Jennie into the conversation, but the backseat passengers mostly stayed quiet during it. Lisa felt a little out of place, and found herself texting Lucas, letting him know of her predicament. He made fun of her, noting how just over a week ago, she had insisted that living with all girls was going to be so easy, and here she was complaining about how she couldn't get her fourth roommate to like her.
Jennie, similarly, had her eyes glued to her phone for most of the ride, looking pretty bored. However, as soon as they parked in the parking garage underneath Irene's apartment building, Jennie seemed to embody a whole new vibe, getting out of the car confidently and looking far happier than she had any time Lisa had seen her thus far.
And when they navigated up the building to Irene's unit, and Irene swung open the door to greet them, Jennie actually seemed to light up. She hugged Irene and scolded her for not coming over earlier in the week, and then invited herself to poking through Irene's cabinets for a drink. Meanwhile, Irene greeted Jisoo, Chaeyoung, and Lisa. "Nice to see you again, Lisa. I was happy to hear you were free tonight."
"Yeah, not much to occupy my time here yet," Lisa admitted with a laugh, "so I appreciate the invite."
"Of course," Irene returned with a grin. "Help yourselves to any of the wine I have—I swear like four different people brought me a bottle at the studio in congratulations. Oh, Chaeng, when is Mino going to be here?"
"Mino is coming?" Jennie inquired, as she walked out of Irene's kitchen with a full glass of white wine.
"I actually went a little overboard with inviting people over tonight," Irene admitted. "I guess something about living alone. I miss having more interactions with people."
"So who else is coming?" Jisoo wondered, as Lisa glanced around the apartment a little more. It was a modern style, with big windows, but it wasn't very big. A nice kitchen was nestled in one corner, and a joined living and dining space took up the rest of the space. The furniture was sparse, but there wasn't room for much more than what there was—a big couch, a small circular table with four chairs, and a TV resting on a TV stand. There were two doors off of the main space, one by the kitchen and one in the living area.
"Sorry you're not really going to know anyone else, Lisa," Irene apologized suddenly, puling Lisa out of her head.
"Oh, no worries," Lisa insisted. "Like I said, I was happy for the invite. I don't mind at all."
Irene spent the next ten minutes or so telling her closest friends, and Lisa, about the recording studio and all of the people she'd met so far. She talked about the girls she'd met who were going to be her backup singers, and she sounded super excited. Even though Lisa didn't really know her, it was easy to be excited for her thanks to her bright personality.
Lisa found herself glancing at Jennie too many times during the conversation, though, noticing how proud she looked of her best friend. It was easy to tell how close the two of them were, especially from Jennie's side. It made Lisa feel a little guilty about taking Irene's old room, which was stupid, because it wasn't like it was Lisa's fault that Irene had moved. Just, Lisa felt like she could maybe understand why Jennie was so upset about having a random new roommate. Although it was clear that she was friends with Jisoo and Chaeyoung, she wasn't nearly as close to them as she was to Irene, and that was evident.
About fifteen minutes after they'd arrived, where was another knock on the door. Irene answered it and revealed Mino and two other guys that Lisa hadn't met. They were briefly introduced to her as Bobby and Jin, and she greeted them politely. They oozed the college frat boy vibe, which wasn't exactly Lisa's favorite vibe, but she decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Mino seemed nice, after all, and he was friends with them.
They weren't the last people to arrive at Irene's. Quite a few more people showed up, and pretty soon, it felt like a house party had officially been kicked off. Lisa drank through two glasses of wine with minimal interaction, other than a brief conversation with a guy named Hanbin whose eyes wandered too much, and an introduction with a girl whose name she didn't remember afterward.
She didn't mind keeping to herself and observing, but she did worry that she might look weird just sitting at the small dining table and drinking and watching. After a while, she started paying attention to her phone and texted Lucas.
Lisa: This friendly hangout somehow turned into a party, and I know only 5 people here, and I've only known 3 of them for longer than 7 days. I know it should be just like any other college party, but it feels so different for some reason and I'm just sitting here alone on my phone. I'm on my third glass of wine.
Lucas: If you're drinking wine, that's probably an indication that it's not like any other college party lmao.
Lucas: But hey, free drinks? Get drunk, live it up, bro.
Lisa rolled her eyes a little at her friend's suggestion. She didn't want to get drunk at Irene's apartment, especially not if her new roommates would have to be the ones dealing with her on the drive home.
Lisa: Maybe the issue is that I'm not my own ride home. So I can't just leave.
Lucas: Get an Uber.
Lisa: Dude, they're so expensive here, because it takes a million years to get anywhere.
Lucas: Bus?
Lisa: I don't know how late they run. Anyway, I think it would be rude if I literally took a bus home just to leave early. I'd rather just sit here texting all night.
Lucas: Still not trying to say I told you so, but... you were all about how you didn't care what your new roommates were like as long as they were clean, and now you're all worried about making good impressions.
Lisa: Well of course I want to make a good impression on the people I'm living with.
Lucas: Nuh-uh, come on, spill. One of them is hot, right?
Lisa: You're disgusting.
Lucas: No, I'm right, and you just don't want to admit it.
"I'm really sorry about this," a voice said suddenly, surprising Lisa and causing her to quickly lock her phone as she looked up. It was just Chaeyoung. "If we'd known it was going to be a whole party, we would've warned you."
"Oh no, it's fine, seriously," Lisa insisted, as Chaeyoung took a seat next to her. "Everyone seems nice."
Chaeyoung laughed like Lisa had said something funny, and Lisa just raised an eyebrow at her. "Irene has a lot of friends. This is just a small subset of them. Irene, she's so sweet. I mean, you can definitely get on her bad side, but she makes friends so easily. I actually always thought it was pretty crazy how she did that. I don't know how she can remember so many things about so many different people."
Lisa chuckled at that, taking another sip of her wine. "Yeah, I get it. My friend group back home was pretty small, too, so."
"Yeah?" Chaeyoung asked. "What're they like?"
"Well, they're both dudes actually, which makes it pretty crazy suddenly living with all girls," Lisa admitted with a chuckle. "My two best friends, Lucas and Bambam. They were my roommates before, too, for the past few years. I mean, I have other friends back there, too, but none that I really felt super close with for a long time, I guess."
Chaeyoung nodded. "I get that. Well, don't worry, we probably won't stay super late. Well—I won't, anyway. Mino and I were planning to go to his place tonight, so I was planning to drop everyone else off back home before it gets too late. And if Jisoo and Jennie end up wanting to party later, they'll have to get their own rides back, or crash here."
Lisa followed Chaeyoung's line of sight, seeing Jennie and Jisoo both taking long sips of some sort of drink that was definitely harder than wine. Irene was with them, and they were all laughing and talking and drinking, surrounded by others of Irene's friends. Jisoo looked to be flirting with one of the guys—Jin, Lisa recalled. Jennie, on the other hand, kept rolling her eyes at the same guy who had been giving Lisa too much of his attention earlier, Hanbin. Lisa frowned a little. "Don't know why, but I didn't really picture Jennie as much of a party girl."
"Yeah, she relaxes a lot around people once she gets close to them, but depending on the person, that can take a while," Chaeyoung told Lisa. "I mean, I've known her for like, almost our whole lives, but she's never gotten very close with me. She hit it off a lot more with Jisoo and Irene."
"Hmm," Lisa hummed, finishing her glass of wine. "Yeah, I used to do a lot of partying freshman year of college. But I was on a scholarship, and my grades started to slip second semester because of it, so I had to quit going out and drinking so much."
Chaeyoung frowned. "Yeah, that's definitely a good reason not to. I just never liked getting drunk." Chaeyoung took a sip of her water and then looked back at Lisa. "So... do you have a boyfriend—or girlfriend, no judgment—back home?"
"Nope," Lisa answered with a chuckle. "Haven't dated anyone in about a year actually. I was really focused on finishing my degree and getting a job."
"Smart again," Chaeyoung said with a laugh. "Mino and I have been dating since high school."
"Cute," Lisa commented, and Chaeyoung blushed, going on about how she met Mino and all about how they started dating each other. Lisa tried to keep listening, but her gaze kept drifting back over to where Jisoo and Jennie were. Well, specifically, to where Jennie was. She kept getting distracted by that short skirt and mesh top. The wine wasn't helping.
It was a couple hours after they had arrived that Chaeyoung rounded the girls up, and they all said goodbye to Irene and everyone else at the party before heading back down to the parking garage. Mino was headed out as well, apparently going to go straight back to his place to wait for Chaeyoung.
Jennie didn't seem to deflate much as they left Irene's. Lisa had expected her to go right back to her callous attitude, but maybe it was the alcohol that kept her chatting with Jisoo during the car ride.
When they returned to the house, Chaeyoung made sure all of them—mostly Jisoo, who was clearly the drunkest—were all good inside, before wishing them a good night and heading to Mino's. Jisoo murmured something about a nap and made her way to her bedroom, leaving Lisa and Jennie in the living room. Jennie was on the couch, where she'd collapsed dramatically upon entering the house, and Lisa was just standing there, not sure what to do with herself.
She glanced at Jennie, whose eyes had fallen closed. "Tired?" she asked, and those feline eyes fluttered open.
"No," Jennie answered. "A little drunk, though."
"Yeah. Seems like you had fun tonight," Lisa said, a little upswing in her voice as she made the comment, hoping that Jennie would entertain the conversation.
"Mmhmm." Jennie would've rolled her eyes at the non-answer that cut off the conversation, but, oddly, Jennie's eyes were still on her. "Did you?"
"Yeah," Lisa said, although she hadn't really had the greatest time. It hadn't been not fun, though, she supposed. "Irene's friends seem nice."
Jennie laughed, similarly to how Chaeyoung had laughed when Lisa had made the same comment earlier. "Irene has way too many friends."
"Yeah, Chaeyoung said something along those same lines," Lisa said with a chuckle, honestly just in awe that Jennie had laughed during conversation with just her. "There was one guy who made me mildly uncomfortable though. Um... Hanbin, I think?"
"Yeah, I know him," Jennie stated, nodding as she let her eyes fall back closed. "He would fuck anything with legs." Lisa blinked in surprise at the statement, a laugh escaping her lips without her permission at how surprising it was. Jennie's eyes opened at the sound. "What, did you not get that impression?"
"Oh no, I definitely did."
"He especially likes to hit on girls who would never sleep with him," Jennie muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Does that mean he likes to hit on you?" Lisa asked, sitting on the arm of the couch and slightly facing Jennie.
"Unfortunately."
"Yeah, men suck," Lisa stated decidedly, noticing the small smile peeking at the corners of Jennie's lips.
"Jisoo and Chaeyoung always act like I am the one missing out."
Lisa laughed at that, her heart feeling a little warm as she joked around with Jennie. She knew it was probably because Jennie was drunk that she was bothering with the conversation, but it was nice. "Straight women never know what they're missing out on."
Jennie smirked. "Yeah." Her eyes fell closed once again.
Lisa stared at the girl for a moment, feeling her heart rate rise a little, and she swallowed thickly. Why was this happening to her? Her new roommate, who was a lesbian, was absolutely gorgeous, and funny, but was only even talking to her because she was drunk. It felt like some kind of dumb prank that Lisa felt like she was developing some sort of little crush on the girl. What kind of person started crushing on someone they'd known for less than a week and who had been mostly a bitch to them the whole time?
Sighing, Lisa stood up from where she'd been sitting. She didn't notice that Jennie's eyes opened at the movement until a second later, after she'd stretched her arms up high over her head. Jennie seemed to be staring at her.
"You should get some sleep," Lisa told the girl.
"Yeah," Jennie agreed, blinking and looking away from Lisa before slowly getting up from the couch.
"Are you going to need help up the stairs?" Lisa asked.
"No," Jennie answered shortly, starting for the stairs herself. Lisa trailed behind her, running a hand through her brunette hair. They both climbed the stairs, Lisa trying to keep her gaze anywhere but the backside of the woman ahead of her, and then Jennie made a beeline for the bathroom. "Gonna shower."
Lisa rolled her eyes as Jennie entered the room and locked it behind her, realizing that she was going to have to wait for her to finish, which this week had taught her could be anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour. She wasn't sure if Jennie being drunk would make it shorter or longer.
Resolving herself to waiting up for a while, Lisa headed into her room and collapsed onto her air mattress. She looked around at the bare space, littered with her bags and things that had no place yet. She really needed to go furniture shopping. Her first paycheck wouldn't be coming through until the following week, but she probably had enough in savings to get what she needed without going into her rent or food money.
She told herself that she would get to it this week, and in the meantime, she tried not to fall asleep as she waited for Jennie to get out of the shower.
Thankfully, the girl only took about twenty minutes to shower and get ready for bed. When she heard the woman's bedroom door close firmly was when Lisa left her room and took the bathroom for herself, finding it all fogged up from Jennie's shower.
Finally, though, about half an hour later, she was curled up in bed, falling asleep easily with the wine in her system.