"We have to go in at some point."
Lisa and Jennie sat forward in their seats, Lisa's chin resting atop her arms that were slumped across the dashboard. Jennie's face was pressed on the steering wheel, and neither of them wanted to move. Her parents' home seemed to tower up above them, a mass of brown brick and arch windows, ivy snaking up the walls and tangling with the drainpipes.
Lisa had freaked out when they'd trundled up the long drive, gravel crunching under the wheel of the car.
"My God, Jen, you could have warned me," she'd muttered, snapping her legs down off the dashboard and stuffing her bare feet back into her sandals, hurriedly trying to fasten the buckles. "That's not a house, that's a mansion. It looks like one of those places they hire out for tourists to visit so they can poke at old Victorian furniture and pretend to be cultured."
Jennie laughed, keeping her eyes on the road as she followed the lane and the house got closer and closer. "I don't think they actually have any Victorian furniture."
"I didn't say they did, I just said it looked like they might," she said.
At that point, she'd driven up to the house, slotting the car in the available space and parked. Neither of them had made any motion of leaving.
"I feel so underdressed," Lisa mumbled, her voice slightly muffled. She'd buried her head into her arms at this point. "I feel like they're going to yell at me for my posture or make me eat caviar. I'm not going to be made to eat caviar, am I?"
Jennie snorted, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "No caviar, I promise. You know there's no reason to be nervous, right?"
"I'm not nervous," Lisa said, combing her bangs. "Or at least, I wasn't until I saw that house."
"You know it doesn't really matter if you impress my parents or not, right?" Jennie said, raising an amused eyebrow.
Lisa made a 'humph' sound, turning her head away from her and looking out towards the house. In her mind's eye, Lisa could picture Jennie's flat, drowning in discarded clothes and bobby pins, and she had a feeling that she needs to impress people no matter what Jennie said.
A few moments passed, both of them waiting for the other to move.
"Hey, is it too late to fake sick?" Lisa said, twisting back around to look at her.
"Probably," Jennie said. "Especially as they've probably got their noses pressed up to the nearest window waiting to get the first glimpse of you."
"You think?"
She nodded. "I bet they open the door before we even make it to the porch."
"Okay," Lisa said, the word coming out in one long sigh. "I guess we better get out, then."
The pair left the car, Lisa slipping out and slamming the door shut before Jennie could hurry round and open the door for her.
As they made their way towards the porch, Lisa yanked at her arm. "Quick, put your arm around my waist."
Jennie stumbled over towards her while she tried to process what she'd just said. "What?"
"My waist, Nini," she hissed. "We've got to look like a couple, remember?"
She put a tentative arm on her side, her hand barely brushing the fabric of her dress. Her fingers froze in place. It felt wrong to be this close to her, like she'd crossed an invisible line - though Lisa didn't seem to care, judging by the way she'd rolled her eyes and moved her hand closer
She didn't have time to dwell on it though, because as they got closer to the house, the front door burst open.
Jennie barely had enough time to shoot Lisa a look before her mother was pulling her into a hug and pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"Ruby Jane, darling, we thought you'd never get here, we were waiting for ages-" Her mother said without taking a breath, ushering the two of them into the house.
"Mum," Jennie said, stopping Yerim in her tracks. She put her arm back around Lisa's waist, bringing her forward. "This is Lalisa Manoban."
Lisa stepped towards Jennie's mother, stranding straight with a smile on her face, all trace of nerves gone. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Kim, I've heard so much about you," she said, reaching out a hand for Jennie's mother to shake.
"I wish I could say the same about you," Yerim said, offering Lisa a warm smile. "You've been quite an elusive topic in this house - Jane hasn't told us much at all. Oh, and please call me Yerim, dear."
She lead the pair of them into the living room, and Jennie couldn't help but notice how Lisa kept sneaking glances around the place, staring up at the high ceilings and mahogany furniture. She sat primly on the sofa, quite still. While Yerim was occupied in another room, trying to find Jennie's father, Lisa leaned in towards her.
"The floors are made of marble!" she muttered into her ear.
"Yeah, and they have Persian rugs," Jennie said, dryly. "Try not to think about it."
Jennie adjusted herself into a more comfortable sitting position, her fingers accidentally brushing Lisa's, her skin sparking at the touch. Lisa's eyes widened a little, and the pair shot each other a look before their eyes darted away, Jennie snatching her hand away to scratch the back of her head.
"Jiyoung!" they heard Yerim call from the other room. "Come and meet Lisa!"
Jennie's father entered the room with a sense of grandeur, and as always, Jennie felt a little like there should have been some kind of fanfare as she came through the door. The way he moved commanded attention and he filled up space in a way that Jennie never could; even if it had been crowded, Jiyoung would have been impossible to ignore.
Lisa rose to her feet, and with the same polite smile she'd been using morning – the same smile, Jennie noticed, that she used for customers – offered her hand out for him to shake.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," she said, as his hand gripped hers and shook it with enough force to remove her arm from its socket.
"Call me Jiyoung, please," he said. "Wonderful to meet you, lass. You're certainly a beautiful young lady, my Jennie's a very lucky gal."
"Ah, thank you," Lisa spluttered and ducked her head, her cheeks turning a little red.
Jiyoung joined Yerim on her seat, and Lisa sank back down beside Jennie, and this time her hands finding hers was no accident.
She felt her skin pricking again as their fingers met.
"So, what do you do, Lisa?" Yerim asked.
"I work in a bar," Lisa said, her customer service smile back on her face. "It's not what I want to do forever, but it's enough to get by on for now."
Jennie frowned, as her thoughts turning to Lisa's cold, draughty apartment, the heating never on, the endless amount of bills stuffed into every corner. "Lisa wants to be a journalist, eventually," she said. "She's going to take another course or an internship as soon as the money picks up."
"Is that right?" Yerim said, with a smile.
Lisa blinked. She'd been saving money for ages, putting every spare coin into a separate bank account - but she hadn't told many people, for fear that it might never happen. She'd only mentioned that to Jennie once, in passing. "Yeah," Lisa said, still staring wide-eyed at Jennie. "I dread to think of the loan I'd have to take out, though."
"I'm sure you'll find some way of getting there," Jiyoung said. "There's always some way of getting in to the business. I've seen plenty of people rise the ranks and do really well – I own a newspaper company, you see."
"You do?" Lisa said, her voice a pitch higher. "Jennie never said."
She shot her a sideways glance, and Jennie shrugged apologetically.
Yerim nudged Jiyoung with her elbow. "Perhaps you could look into getting Lisa an internship, maybe?"
"Well," Jiyoung said, his eyes widening in panic just as Lisa stammered "there's no need-"
"I was just offering up a suggestion," Yerim said, letting out a laugh, raising her hands in surrender. "Didn't mean to cause a panic. I'm sure Lisa will find her own way into the industry, anyway."
"She will," Jennie said with conviction, giving Lisa a soft elbow in the sides. "She can do anything she sets her mind too."
Lisa turned to stare at Jennie again, only to find her looking straight at her with such a fondness in her eyes. Something about what she'd said warmed her stomach, and she knew it was for show, but she was smiling at her and she couldn't help but smile back.
The conversation lulled then, and Yerim clapped her hands onto her knees. "Right, well I'd love to stay and chat some more, but we've only got a few hours before everyone starts to arrive, and we've got to get everything ready," she said. "I hope you two don't mind helping."
"We're happy to," Lisa said, smiling as she rose out of her seat.
"Right," Yerim said, leading them into the kitchen, to where three crates of tea lights were sitting on the counter top. "I need you two to decorate the trees with these tea-lights. You'll need to come back for the crates though, you won't be able to carry them all at once."
Lisa grinned, stepped forward and swept all three crates up into her arms with ease, tilting her head at Jennie. "Lead the way."
Yerim gaped at her. "My word, you're strong."
"I have to carry a lot of boxes at the bar," Lisa said, by way of an explanation, while Jennie stood to the side and grinned.
"Maybe you could teach Jennie a thing or too," Yerim said, her eyes twinkling.
Lisa raised her eyebrows pointedly at her, in particular, at Jennie's lack of muscles. "I'm afraid she's a lost cause."
Yerim tipped back her head and laughed, the sides of her eyes crinkling. Jennie scowled and put a hand on Lisa's back, guiding her towards the door. She was not going to have Lisa and her mother ganging up on her the last thing she needed was for the two of them to join forces, together they would be unstoppable they'd be a force to be reckoned with, and Jennie wasn't sure she could survive under the weight of both of their teasing.
**
The house opened out onto a patio via two sets of French windows, and the garden stretched far out, a huge lawn of lush bright green grass that ended with a cluster of apple trees with low hanging branches. Lisa took the three crates down to the bottom, resting them underneath one of the trees, there for them to take from whenever they needed.
They threaded string through wire and reached up to hang the little candles on the lower branches of the trees. From the corner of her eye, Lisa could see Yerim and Jiyoung, back up at the house, talking to each other and looking over at them. They were much too far away to hear what they were saying, but she could guess.
"They're totally giving us alone time," she said, a smile on her lips.
Jennie grinned, and for a moment the two of them were just content with the silence.
"Hey," Lisa muttered, softly elbowing Jennie in the side. "Do you think we're selling it?"
It took Jennie a second for her to work out what she meant, and then realised with a jolt that for the past few minutes, she'd forgotten that they were faking at all - she'd forgotten that she wasn't just bringing Lisa home to meet her parents. After that uncomfortable revelation, Jennie took a breath and raised her head to look over her shoulder at where her parents stood.
"I don't see any reason why they'd think we were faking," she said, hoping that she didn't hear the hitch in her voice.
"What about Tzuyu?" Lisa said, her arms straining as she reached for a high branch.
Jennie swallowed, absentmindedly fiddling with a candle, pulling it out and then pushing it back into its case. "Okay, then. How do we look more couple-like?"
"Like this," she said, and reached out to clutch onto her fingers, pulling her close and leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek.
Jennie swore that she could feel her lips burning on her cheek, and even when she dropped back down onto her feet, she could feel her skin tingling. For a moment, she could feel a smile tugging at her lips, but she pushed it down and turned her head away so Lisa wouldn't see.
Her fingers were still curled around hers.
"Just little touches," Lisa said. "It doesn't have to be much. Just enough to let people know that we're more than just friends."
"Okay," Jennie said, and found that her mouth was dry. "Little touches. I can do that."
Lisa finally let go of her hand and moved around the tree, hanging up another tea light, and for a moment, Jennie was still, watching her as she worked. The sun was peeking through the clouds, and it seemed to shine down on her.
Had she always looked that beautiful?
"Oi, Jennie," she said, and threw one of the tea-lights at her. It hit her in the chest, the little candle falling out of its case as it toppled to the floor. "You're slacking off."
Jennie snapped out of her reverie and bent down to pick up the candle, fixing it back into place before wandering over to Lisa to help hang more of them up.
**
Jiyoung and Yerim stood inside the house by the French windows, their arms straining with the weight of a crate of drinks. Yerim laid hers on the patio, just outside the window, ready to be taken down into the garden.
"She's lovely, isn't she?" she said, looking outside to where her daughter was staring across at the girl, the two of them lost in conversation down by the shaded trees.
"Jennie seems quite taken with her. I wonder how long they've been together," Jiyoung mused, setting own his crate.
"Oh, much longer than they're letting on," Yerim said with a knowing smile. "They're so familiar with each other. I think Jennie's been keeping things from us; I doubt she'd have brought her if Tzuyu hadn't persuaded her to."
The two headed back indoors towards the kitchen, where they both heaved another crate of drinks into their arms.
"Tzuyu persuaded her to?" Jiyoung said, her voice strained a little with the weight of the crate, her eyes wide with surprise."I didn't know Jennie and Tzuyu got on."
"I asked them to run some errands for me, so they must have found some common ground," Yerim said.
"Hmm." Jiyoung's eyes fixed outside on Jennie and Lisa, watching the way his daughter was never more than a few feet away from her.
Yerim smiled again and followed his gaze, looking out into the garden where the two of them were playfully arguing. "Remember when we were that age?"
"We were worse than that."
"We could've brought cities down with our arguments."
"We almost did."
"I always won."
"Of course you did, my dear."
Jiyoung pulled her closer and the two of them closed their eyes as they leaned into each other, smiling into the kiss.
**
There was more to do, still. Jennie and Lisa helped put up at least three tables that groaned under the weight of all the food that had been set out; fresh fruit, rolls of bread and little bowls of olives. They set out plates with plastic knives and forks, and found things that could hold down napkins.
"Your parents really don't do things by halves, do they?" Lisa commented after watching Jiyoung and Yerim erect a large gazebo in one corner of the garden, setting up a sound system underneath.
"Nope, never have," Jennie said. "It's why they like the reunion so much. It's a chance to show off."
She prodded her in the stomach. "Don't be rude," she said, but she was smiling. "They're nice."
"They're on their best behaviour," Jennie said. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jiyoung and Yerim standing by the French windows, looking out at them, again. "They're trying not to step on my toes or get in my way."
Lisa grinned, a twinkle in her eye and a grin on her face as she turned to look at Jennie. "Do they have embarrassing stories?"
Jennie's expression twisted from one of content to one of pure horror. "Lili, no."
"Nini, yes"
"Lili-"
"I'm going to ask them."
Jennie took a hold of her arms. "Lili, Listen to me. Listen to me carefully. On no account are you to ask them for stories."
"No way," she said, giggling with wicked glee. "I want to know what stupid stuff fifteen year old Jennie was doing."
"I don't need them to give you blackmail fodder."
"Who says I would use them for blackmail?" she said, her eyes glittering.
"Because I know you."
She flicked her on the nose. "Fine, Ms. Boring, I won't ask for embarrassing stories," she said, moving out of her grip and turning back towards the food table. "I'll ask for baby pictures, instead."
Jennie spluttered, and covered her face with her hands. "Nooooo."
Lisa giggled.
"They'd do it, too," Jennie said, her hands covering her horrified expression. "They like you."
She'd been distracted by the little fight she'd had with her, that she hadn't noticed Yerim leave the house and wander into the garden. Now, from the corner of her eye, she could see her mother watching her, so, while Lisa's back was turned at the food table, she put her hands around Lisa's waist from behind her, tip-toed and kissed her on the cheek. "But I don't know anyone who wouldn't."
For a moment she was frozen, feeling like she'd crossed a line. Talking about casual touches and little kisses were one thing, but in practice it was different, and she braced herself for the punch to come, or for Lisa to go silent, or for the awkwardness to set in.
But it didn't. Lisa just laughed, and kept working on the food table, making no indication that she was bothered by her hands on her waist, and the more she thought about it, the more Jennie realised how natural the words had felt coming out of her mouth, like it was something she would have said anyway. Her fingers lingered on her sides, even when Yerim had darted back into the house, and there was no one to see the two of them anymore.
When she realised what she was doing, she took her hands away and turned around, scratching the back of her head, swallowing, her chest suddenly tight.
She took the end of her shirt and flapped it with her fingers, trying to give herself some air, idly wondering if Lisa has noticed the sudden change in temperature. It must be something about this spring weather, cold one moment, then hot the next.
While Lisa was distracted laying out the food table, Yerim sidled up to Jennie and took her to one side, sitting her down on the patio steps.
"She's a wonderful girl," she said, her eyes crinkling as she smiled. "You're very lucky."
"I know," Jennie said, quickly. Her fingers threaded together and she stretched her arms into the air and circled them around, resting her elbows on the top step, and looking up towards the sky. "She's... well, she sure is something."
Yerim smiled down at her daughter, before looking back down across the garden. "I know I've only known her for an hour or two, but sometimes when you meet someone you know they're a good person," she said, and then shook her head. "Sorry, that didn't make much sense."
"No, I get it," Jennie said, a small smile on her face as she stared down at where Lisa was talking to Jiyoung, tossing her braid over a shoulder as she tipped back her head and let out a laugh.
"What I'm trying to say is—" Yerim nudged her on the shoulder – "I approve."
She wasn't the only one – Jiyoung was very taken with Lisa too, Jennie could tell by the sideway smiles he kept shooting her and by the way he would glance at her, then at Yerim, and grin. Something twisted in her stomach as she thought about telling her parents that the two of them hadn't worked out together – she could almost feel the disappointment.
"Stop slacking off." Lisa had appeared in front of her, her eyes glittering in the sun as she folded her arms.
"Yes, Jane, how could you make Lisa do all of the hard work?" Yerim said, mock-scandalised, joining in with Lisa's game.
Jennie pulled herself up and off the patio steps, brushing down the dust on her bottom. "Wow," she said, dryly. "I can't believe it's only been an hour and the two of you are already ganging up on me."
Still, she couldn't stop herself from smiling when Lisa laughed, and she followed her when she turned on her heel back down the garden.
In the end, it didn't really matter what her parents thought. She could prolong the inevitable and avoid the disappointment for a few days, but she knew she couldn't keep this going forever. She never wanted to lose what she and Lisa had – the kind of friendship that others could only envy.
But when Lisa wasn't looking, Jennie's fingers ghosted over the patch of skin on her cheek where her lips had been, still tingling a little, even after all this time. Her eyes stayed on her the whole time while she helped Yerim set up bunting, watching the way wisps of her hair floated in the gentle wind, and thought to hersef that pretending to be a couple with Lisa really wouldn't be that bad at all.