"Alright, Irene. Spill," Wendy demanded, interrupting Irene's painting about twenty minutes after Lisa left. "Is something going on between you and Lisa?"
"Maybe."
"Irene," Wendy huffed out, "are you serious? She's seventeen."
"I'm well aware," Irene snapped, spinning around. "I'm not an idiot, you know? I'm not going to do something that's going to get me arrested."
"You may not be sleeping with her, but if her parents find out that you guys are seeing each other, they could get you into big trouble anyway," Wendy insisted. "C'mon, you were all over Jackson about her being underage, and suddenly it's not a problem?"
"He was going to sleep with her!" Irene exclaimed. "I have no intention of doing so until she's no longer underage, firstly. Secondly, I highly doubt that Lisa's going to mention me to her mother at all, at least not before she turns eighteen. Which, by the way, is not very far from now. I know what I'm doing."
"Do you, though?" Wendy demanded, crossing her arms.
"What's going on here?" Junmyeon suddenly interrupted, appearing behind his sister.
Irene's eyes flickered closed, and she sighed as Wendy replied with, "Oh, we're just discussing Irene's apparent new relationship with a teenager."
"Wait, I thought you said nothing was going on between you and Lisa?"
"Nothing was going on!" Irene exclaimed.
Junmyeon furrowed his eyebrows. "And a week later, something is?"
"Look, you guys. I like Lisa. Period. I'm not going to not date her just because she's under eighteen. She'll be eighteen in less than two months, and contrary to popular belief, it is definitely possible to have a relationship with someone without having sex. No matter how much you try to argue with me about it, I'm not going to not date her because of her age. Got it?" Irene snapped. "I get that you guys just want me to be careful, or whatever, but I know what I'm doing. You think I've spent the past couple of weeks just skipping around and not thinking about the consequences? I know how consequences work, I'm not a kid."
"She's a kid."
"She's not!" Irene exclaimed, exasperated. "Legally maybe, but not for much longer. And neither of you has even had a conversation with her. Couldn't you at least hold back on the judgment until you've gotten to know her? You both know that I thought she was just some rebellious teenager when I first met her, and clearly, I don't feel that way anymore."
"Irene, you have to see that this is a bad idea..."
"Hey guys," Jackson's voice interrupted suddenly, "there's a bonfire at the lake tonight. You all coming?"
"No," Irene said abruptly. "You shouldn't go either. Don't you have a shit ton of homework to do?"
"What do you think I've been doing all day?" Jackson asked, and Irene caught Wendy looking at her suspiciously. Irene was not one to stop her friends from partying when they wanted to, at least not for a good reason.
"Come on, Irene, didn't you finish your homework yesterday?" Junmyeon asked, seeming to at least understand that Irene didn't want to talk about Lisa around Jackson. "You should go to the bonfire with us."
"You're going?" she asked, deflating slightly. Like she'd told Lisa, she only ever went if Junmyeon was going as well.
He nodded. "Come on. It'll get all our minds off of the latest drama and shit."
"Agreed," Wendy said. "I'll go grab everyone else and then we can head over. Who's our sober driver?"
"Me," Junmyeon offered, shrugging. "Be at my car in five." Wendy and Jackson disappeared, leaving Irene and Junmyeon alone in her art room.
"I don't want to go."
"Why not?"
"Lisa's going to be there."
"So?"
Irene crossed her arms. "So, the last time Lisa was at a bonfire, Jackson accused her of charming her way into my pants – even though we obviously haven't slept together."
"But you're together?"
"Not... officially."
Junmyeon sighed. "You sure you know what you're doing?" Irene nodded. "Okay, then I support you. I want you to be happy, and everyone else wants that too. That's all we want. It'll sink it, the idea of you dating Lisa. Don't worry."
"I... don't want to tell Jackson yet," Irene said quietly. "Could you please just not mention it to anyone who doesn't already know? AKA, anyone other than you and Wendy."
"Of course," Junmyeon agreed. "Now come to the bonfire with us. It's a big lake, you probably won't even see Lisa."
Irene hesitated for a moment, but then she sighed and relented. "Fine."
***
From Irene – Looks like I'll be at the bonfire after all. My GREAT friend Jackson has decided that we're all going.
Lisa's eyes widened slightly as she read the text. She was currently at Jisoo's house, where Jisoo was digging through her closet to find something "sexy" to wear. Rosé, far less enthusiastic, was sitting nervously on Jisoo's bed. Lisa was sitting at Jisoo's desk – which was very clearly never used for anything other than a storage space – looking at her phone.
To Irene – You sound very excited lol.
From Irene – Oh yes, I am overjoyed. I'm especially happy that Wendy and Junmyeon both just cornered me to ask whether or not there's something going on between us. Am I really that obvious?
Lisa smiled at the phone.
To Irene – Your eyes probably give you away.
From Irene – What about my eyes...?
To Irene – I can't tell if you're genuinely confused or fishing for compliments.
From Irene – Hmm. You know how much I love flattery, but I'm actually confused this time. X
To Irene – Your eyes smile a lot, at least around me, and I've noticed that they kind of portray what you're feeling. Which I guess is fair, considering how much you usually try to contain your feelings.
From Irene – I don't do that.
To Irene – Yes, you do. Especially around your friends.
From Irene – Ugh. Maybe you're right.
To Irene – Of course, I'm right ;)
From Irene – Excuse me for thinking that four years of being out of high school might have given me some extra general knowledge.
To Irene – Maybe all that went to your art instead. X
From Irene – Here comes the flattery again.
Lisa hadn't realized that she'd been smiling until she heard Rosé groan. "You're texting that guy again."
Jisoo's attention was drawn over to Lisa in confusion. "What guy?"
"No guy," Lisa insisted, locking her phone and setting it down.
Rosé shook her head. "She's been texting someone all week, and she's always smiling this big goofy smile. It's insufferable, and she won't talk about him at all."
Lisa huffed. "It's not a big deal." Jisoo's eyes were searching Lisa as if trying to confirm what she was thinking, and Lisa tried to flash her a look of confirmation.
"Hmm." Jisoo looked back at her closet. "You guys wanna borrow something so that people will be staring at all of us?"
"I'm good," Rosé declined quickly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Suit yourself. I'll take all the attention if you guys are sure."
To Irene – You're easy to flatter. X
From Irene – Am not.
To Irene – Whatever you say ;)
Half an hour later found them pulling into the lake's parking lot and climbing out of the car. They could hear the bonfire party already in full swing, with music blaring loudly and the sound of college partygoers shouting and laughing. "Maybe I shouldn't go," Rosé muttered, but Jisoo looped both of her arms with the other girls and started tugging them down to the lake.
"Come on, Rosé. If Lisa can have fun, so can you."
Rosé rolled her eyes. "Lisa and I aren't the same person." Jisoo ignored the statement, and a moment later they were on the lake beach, surrounded by people already drunk out of their minds.
"This makes the Sunday party seem tame," Lisa commented, glancing around and not able to help the fact that she was looking for a certain brunette in the crowd.
"Oh yeah," Jisoo agreed, smirking. "Come on, let's get some booze."
Lisa let Jisoo lead her along with Rosé to one of the kegs, taking the red cup that was handed to her, and sipping. She briefly recalled her conversation with Irene earlier, and a smile peeked her lips for a moment at the thought. She took another small sip of the alcohol in her cup and told herself that she wouldn't get a refill at all throughout the night.
Rosé surprised her, taking down a whole cup full of alcohol within the first ten minutes, and Jisoo's face lit up at seeing her do so. However, Lisa stopped Jisoo from filling her glass again already, naturally concerned for her best friend. She wasn't sure why Rosé suddenly wanted to drink so much after being so adamant about not coming to the bonfire in the first place.
It was some amount of time later, when Lisa was halfway through her drink, that the three of them met up with one of Jisoo's friends – Yuqi. Yuqi was a freshman in college, apparently, and dragged them over to a group of older college kids that she'd been hanging around. Among them was Rosé's brother, Jaehyun, who looked quite averse to his younger sister being at the party. He didn't vocalize this opinion, however, and barely acknowledged Rosé or Lisa for their sake.
Lisa began to zone out of whatever conversation had begun between her friends and the older group after a little while. She sipped her drink slowly, looking around the lake area curiously. She wondered why it was that she didn't feel out of place here when she knew only a handful of people and was far younger than most of them.
Suddenly, her gaze caught on a familiar face – Junmyeon. She wasn't sure what to think about him, but it seemed like he was one of Irene's better friends in her group, so she did her best to assume that he was a good person. Next to him, she saw a very drunk Wendy, laughing at something that a seemingly pretty drunk Jackson had just said. And then there, rolling her eyes at her friends, was the brunette that Lisa had been unconsciously searching for.
Lisa's breath immediately caught in her throat, because Irene had changed out of her art clothes – obviously – into skinny jeans and a clinging top. Her cleavage was very visible, and Lisa felt guilty all of the sudden, soaking up the brunette's appearance, but also rather frustrated at her mother for not having given birth to her two months earlier.
"Is that her?" Jisoo suddenly whispered into her ear, causing Lisa to jump and avert her eyes from Irene.
"Uh. Yeah."
"Damn. Too bad you can't sleep with her yet, she's fucking hot."
"I know," Lisa muttered in agreement, feeling Jisoo's presence retract and allowing herself to continue soaking in the brunette.
Irene's eyes suddenly met hers, and Lisa felt her entire face flush as she realized that she'd been caught. Irene flashed her a knowing smile and then sent her a wink, causing Lisa's heart to skip two or three beats in a row. She swallowed thickly, sipping her drink and wishing that she could go over to the older girl.
"Who are you staring at?" Rosé's voice suddenly asked, and Lisa jumped again in surprise, immediately tearing her gaze away from Irene.
"No one."
"Ooh, that guy?" Rosé asked, and Lisa followed her gaze to find that it was on Jackson. "He's kinda hot. Wait, is that the guy that you almost slept with after meeting him in The Bean?"
Lisa groaned inwardly. "Yeah."
"No wonder you won't stop staring at him. I guess I can understand why you'd wanna sleep with him. Not that I'd condone it, of course," Rosé stated.
"He's actually kind of an ass."
"You've spoken to him since then?"
Lisa shrugged. "I ran into him a couple of times," she said, though it was more of a half-truth. "I wouldn't wanna sleep with him. He sleeps around a lot."
"Oh," Rosé said. "I was kinda hoping he'd wait for me."
Lisa nearly gagged. "That's disgusting."
"What? You almost slept with him."
"Yes, and I'm so glad that I didn't."
"Mm. His tall friend with nice hair is pretty cute too."
"Would you stop staring at them?" Lisa pleaded, physically turning her body away in hopes that Rosé would get the message that she was uncomfortable by the staring. The last thing she needed was for Irene's friends to see them staring.
Rosé gave in and they both turned away, rejoining the conversation they'd abandoned.
Lisa's phone vibrated a few minutes later.
From Irene – Jackson saw you and he didn't freak. Looks like he doesn't hate you after all. X
To Irene – He would if I was over there with you.
From Irene – Eh. Baby steps.
To Irene – My friend Jisoo says that you're "fucking hot".
From Irene – She's not wrong.
To Irene – Your modesty amazes me.
From Irene – I know. :) Not my fault that I was born with a great body.
To Irene – Mm.
From Irene – Too bad it's not October. X Keep yourself contained, cutie ;)
Lisa blushed and wondered if Irene was looking at her from somewhere to see.
To Irene – I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much.
From Irene – Whatever you say. ;)
"Are you texting the mystery dude again?" Rosé asked, poking at her side.
"There's not a mystery dude, Rosé," Lisa denied.
"So who the fuck are you texting then?"
Lisa sighed. "Can we talk about it later?"
"Guess so."
"Ready for another drink?" Jisoo asked suddenly, interrupting them as though she felt the tension between them. "I know that you need another, Rosé."
"Sure, why not?" the girl answered, and Lisa watched the two of them hurry off toward the nearest keg.
Lisa felt suddenly very alone, though she was still with Yuqi, Jaehyun, and a few other college kids. She tried to pay attention to what they were talking about for a moment, but then she decided that she was bored, and she separated herself. She drank the rest of her cup and then tossed it into one of the nearby garbage cans.
Sighing, she made it to the treeline where she usually met up with Jisoo and leaned against one of the trees. She figured that her friends would be able to find her here once they realized that she wasn't with Yuqi anymore.
To Irene – My friends have abandoned me. I might go home.
From Irene – I wouldn't blame you. I keep looking for a reason to leave.
"Hey there," an unfamiliar voice said suddenly, drawing Lisa's attention up from her phone. A guy she didn't recognize was standing a few feet away from her, and she immediately felt cautious.
"Hi," she said, taking a step away from the tree she was leaning on and toward the rest of the party.
"Not enjoying the party?" he asked her, wearing a questionable smile across his face.
"Actually, I just needed a breather," she answered firmly, "and I think I should get back to my friends."
"You sure you don't wanna hang around over here with me?" he asked, taking a large step closer to her.
"I think I'll pass, but thanks." She took a step back toward the crowd.
"Aw come on, I bet I could offer a way better time."
"Doubt it."
He was about to say something else, but then a voice interrupted them.
"Get your filthy hands off of her!" Jisoo snapped, drawing a few people's attention. The guy immediately took a step back.
"I didn't touch her!"
"Sure looked like you wanted to," Jisoo growled, standing next to Lisa now. "Get the fuck out, she's spoken for anyway."
Lisa flushed, crossing her arms over her chest and wishing that she wasn't so shy at this moment. The guy stepped back and then disappeared into the crowd. "Can we leave?" Lisa muttered, facing Jisoo and Rosé now.
"Yes," Jisoo answered, still looking quite pissed off. "Why'd you leave Yuqi? Even college-aged kids shouldn't go off alone at these things, Lisa."
"I was thinking about leaving, and I figured you'd find me here."
"You're lucky that I did in time. Come on."
"I don't think he was going to try anything," Lisa admitted, sighing, "but yeah, thanks." As she and Rosé followed Jisoo through the crowd and toward the parking lot, Lisa calmed herself down. She didn't see Irene around anywhere, so she tried to focus her thoughts on anything but the party.
"What did Jisoo mean that you're spoken for?" Rosé asked quietly as they finally reached the parking lot area.
"I don't know. I'm not," Lisa answered, though she wasn't exactly sure if she was or not. She and Irene were... dating, so to speak, but they weren't exclusive necessarily. So did that mean she was or wasn't spoken for?
"Not even a little bit?" Rosé asked as if she understood what was going through Lisa's thoughts at that moment. Lisa shrugged, climbing into Jisoo's car once they reached it.
She settled in the back seat, letting Rosé take the passenger seat. Jisoo claimed that she hadn't had any of the second drink she'd gone to get with Rosé, and since it had been a while since her first drink, she felt okay to drive. Lisa didn't feel like she had any other choice but to trust the girl, and it wasn't like there was much traffic in town anyway.
She pulled out her phone.
To Irene – Well. I found my reason to leave. Some sketchy guy trying to get into my pants or something.
From Irene – You shouldn't walk around a bonfire by yourself, Lisa. :(
To Irene – So I've realized. It's fine, he didn't try anything, thankfully. Jisoo, Rosé, and I just left anyway.
****
Irene's attention was pulled away from her phone as she heard a new voice join their group. "Oh hey guys, I didn't realize you were here."
"We've been here a while, Lucas," Wendy stated, shrugging. "Where've you been lately? Haven't seen you on campus very much."
"I missed the week of classes," he admitted, "because I was still being dragged across Florida by my family. Thought I'd celebrate by getting a hot girl to hook up with me, but I was sadly rejected."
Irene narrowed her eyes. "Who?"
"I don't know, some girl who was standing over there," he answered, nodding off in a general direction.
Irene clenched her teeth for a moment, and then raised a hand into the air, "About this tall, long dark hair?"
"Yeah, about."
"Wait, is that Lisa he's talking about?" Wendy interrupted, raising an eyebrow.
"If it is, then he's damn lucky I wasn't there when he started talking to her."
"Whoa, chill, Irene. Didn't know you and her were a thing."
"We're not!" Irene exclaimed, not sure if she sounded panicked or just incredulous. "But she's seventeen, so unless you feel like getting arrested..."
"Oh shit, really?"
Jackson rolled his eyes. "Don't worry man, she definitely looks older. I almost slept with her too."
Irene felt sick suddenly, and she turned away from the boys. "I'm leaving." She felt her friends' eyes on her as she pushed through the crowd and made her way to the parking lot. She pursed her lips as she realized that Junmyeon had driven them all, and found herself leaning against his car and staring at the sky. Since when had she become so protective of Lisa?
It was a stupid question, obviously, but it hadn't occurred to her just how pissed she could get at the idea of someone else trying something with the younger girl. Her phone went off.
From Junmyeon – I'll give you a ride back to your place if you want. Your car is there right since you drove home first to change before I picked you up?
To Junmyeon – Yes, please.
From Lisa – Irene?
To Lisa – Sorry, just left the party. The guy who tried to hook up with you is a guy I know – Lucas. Really sorry about him. He wouldn't have tried anything other than what he thinks is effective flirting. I don't know why I have so many asshole friends.
From Lisa – Oh. It's fine, just totally threw off my mood. I think I'm going to head to sleep as soon as I get home.
To Lisa – You do that. I'm probably going to do the same. Stay safe cutie. X
Junmyeon appeared in front of her suddenly, and Irene slid her phone into her pocket. "Thanks, Suho."
"No problem. You should probably tell everyone about you and Lisa," he stated bluntly. "Maybe then everyone will stop talking about her like she's just some girl. I can tell it's driving you crazy."
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
"Come on, let's get you home."
****
Sunday was a relaxing day for Lisa, who spent most of it by herself, finishing up some homework for the following week and sipping coffee. She texted Irene throughout the day but opted to not go to the warehouse once she heard that Jackson was there as well. She didn't want to avoid Irene because of Jackson, but she couldn't help but want to hold off any real confrontation with the guy.
Monday and Tuesday ended up being rather boring, with Lisa only seeing Irene on Monday when she made an extra stop at The Bean in the late afternoon. Tuesday through Thursday, Irene had explained to her, were Irene's three class days, which meant that all they could really do to interact during most of the week was text.
Lisa loved texting Irene. Doing so never failed to bring a smile to her face. It felt more natural than anything to talk to Irene.
Wednesday, though, was the most Irene-deprived she'd been all week. Irene had classes through the morning and afternoon and was working the last shift at The Bean to end the day. That's why Lisa found herself hanging out with Rosé at one of the little cafes near the center of town. Neither of them had homework that day, so they just talked and ate food, and finally, Rosé brought up the topic that Lisa had been avoiding for days on end by now.
"Lisa," Rosé said suddenly, "could you... please explain what's been going on with you? And your mystery dude – or not mystery dude, or whatever. Every time you're on your phone, you look happier than ever, and then as soon as I bring it up, you get super closed off. Is this just... part of your whole, being a different thing?"
"That's not a thing anymore," Lisa insisted, sighing. "I just... don't know if I'm ready to tell you, Rosé."
Rosé looked hurt. "I'm your best friend, Lisa. And I talked to Jisoo today – she let on that she knows more than I do about it. I just... don't get it. Why won't you tell me?"
"It's complicated, Rosé. You wouldn't approve – for multiple reasons."
Rosé's eyebrows shot up. "Are you dating an older guy?"
"No."
"So then what?" she demanded. "Whatever it is now can't be worse than what you've got me picturing now."
"I'm not dating an older... guy, Rosé. I'm dating an older girl."
Rosé looked suddenly shocked, opening her mouth to say something, and then closing it again. "Oh. Wait. What? You're dating a girl?"
"Yes."
"You're... into girls?"
"I am," Lisa confirmed, and for the first time, she let herself admit wholeheartedly that she was completely into girls. "I'm a lesbian."
Rosé nodded slowly. "Okay. You were scared to tell me that, Lisa? You're my best friend, and nothing can change that, you know? God, I can't imagine how hard it must've been for you to keep that a secret. I talk about guys all the damn time."
Lisa smiled softly. "I've only realized it recently. I just... didn't know how you'd react. I was kind of scared, I guess. I only told Jisoo because... well, she overheard a conversation I was having with this guy Jackson about it."
"Jackson, the guy you almost slept with?"
"Yeah," Lisa answered, rolling her eyes. "I'm... dating, I guess, his friend, Irene. She was with him and their friends at the bonfire on Saturday. But Jackson was at the bonfire I went to with Jisoo the weekend before, and he confronted me about Irene and Jisoo overheard. That's the only reason that she knew."
"So... do you mind defining dating?"
"We're not having sex," Lisa said straightaway, "and we won't have sex. We've just been hanging out a lot, talking... the most we've done physically is a kiss, so you can stop worrying about me getting someone arrested."
"Where've you been hanging out?" Rosé asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Ah. That warehouse, where you picked me up that one time."
"Seriously?"
"It's not as sketchy as I'm sure you're imagining it is," Lisa insisted, shaking her head.
"Is she there right now?"
"No."
"Okay. Well, show me the place then."
Lisa's eyebrows shot up. "Um, I'm not sure that's a good idea, Rosé. There are a bunch of them that could be there, including Jackson, who still doesn't know that Irene and I are... well, yeah."
"I wanna see it, and I want to meet her, because I'm sorry, but I'm not quick to trust people to take care of my best friend when they could very easily take advantage of you," Rosé insisted, crossing her arms and looking very stubborn about the issue.
"Okay, well you can do all that later."
"Fine. Want to head to my place then?"
Lisa found herself following Rosé out to her car – they'd gone back to Lisa's place directly after school before deciding to go out for an early dinner in Rosé's car. As soon as they started driving, though, Lisa knew that they weren't heading back to her best friend's house. "Rosé... where are we going?"
"Your girlfriend's warehouse."
"She's not my girlfriend. And it's not hers, it's hers and her friends, which means that someone is probably going to catch us there and get extremely suspicious. Rosé," Lisa protested, biting down on the inside of her lower lip. She thought about texting Irene and asking if anyone was at the warehouse or not, but she didn't feel like explaining her best friend's situation via text, and she also didn't want to interrupt Irene's last class of the day.
"Don't you spend tons of time there, though?"
"With Irene, Rosé, not with her friends," Lisa insisted. "Come on, can't we just go home?"
"I just want to make sure that you're being real with me, Lisa. For all I know, there's some terrifying sex chamber in there, and I don't know what to expect from you anymore. And even though I am pretty sure that you're not lying to me – despite the lies you've apparently told me recently – this should just be fun anyway,"
"I highly doubt it'll be fun. And how do you remember how to get there? You went there once, weeks ago."
"I have a good memory, which you know."
Lisa huffed, relenting and falling silent as her best friend drove her toward the warehouse. When they finally pulled into the area, she let out a relieved breath as she saw that no cars aside from one were parked there, and Lisa didn't recognize it. On one hand, that was good that it wasn't Jackson, but on the other hand, it was slightly nerve-wracking to not know who was there. "If we just peek in and I show you that there's nothing creepy in there, can we leave?"
"Sure," Rosé agreed, parking her car and opening the door with enthusiasm. Lisa followed, much less excitedly, and found herself following her best friend up to the entrance of the building. It was open, as it tended to be when anyone was there, and the nice entrance area was still decorated.
"See, look? It's a completely civilized place," Lisa insisted, crossing her arms as she stopped at the threshold. Rosé, however, ventured into the room and to the table against the wall, where pictures of all of Irene's friends were set up.
"Which one is Irene?"
Lisa bit the inside of her lip and entered the warehouse, joining Rosé and pointing to Irene in one of the pictures. "That's her."
"She's not bad looking."
"Did you think she would be?" Lisa asked, raising an eyebrow only to have Rosé shrug in response.
"I don't know. There were a lot of people at the bonfire on Saturday. So. Where do you two hang out?"
"Her art room," Lisa answered, "but it's all the way in the back. I don't wanna go in that far without Irene here."
"Hey, is someone here?" The voice belonged to Wendy, and Lisa relaxed physically as she realized that it was someone who at least attempted to be civil to her. Wendy appeared in the doorway, a look of surprise covering her face. "Oh, hi Lisa. Irene's not here."
"I know," Lisa said, flashing her best friend a glare. "Ah. This is my friend Rosé. She... wanted to..."
"Make sure that there's not a hidden sex chamber in this place."
Wendy laughed suddenly, and Lisa felt herself relax. "Oh god. Well, there's not." Rosé gave Lisa a sidelong glance, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Rosé, Irene, and I are not having sex."
Wendy smirked. "Yeah, you don't need to worry about Irene doing anything illegal with your bestie. She's as chivalrous as they come, apparently. The girl nearly murdered our friend on Saturday for trying to get with Lisa."
"Oh, that guy from the bonfire?" Rosé said, looking at Lisa with confusion.
"Yeah, Irene got all up in his face. It was pretty funny actually. Anyway, like I said, Irene's not here. But I can't promise that someone else won't show up, so I wouldn't stick around long if I were you. I think Jackson was coming in to start building a door."
"A door where?" Lisa asked, curious.
Wendy grinned. "Well, you see, Junmyeon is paying Jackson to build a door on Irene's room to surprise her, since she won't be back in here until Friday. Jackson doesn't think Irene needs a door, but I'm pretty sure both you and Irene are tired of people walking in there when you're here. And if Jackson gets his extra special door for all the chicks he brings around here, I think Irene deserves one."
"Wait, you guys aren't mad that I've been coming here?" Lisa asked, surprised all of the sudden. "Isn't there like... a no significant other rule or something?"
Wendy shrugged. "Yeah, but that was put in place for Jackson. Anyway, if we all put it up to a vote, I'm pretty sure that rule would be repealed."
Suddenly, there was the sound of a car pulling into the area from behind them, and Lisa turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw Jackson's truck. "Right, well, we've gotta go. Can you make up a reason that we were here?" Lisa asked, looking to Wendy hopefully. She was beginning to think that Wendy actually did like her, and it was making her feel much more at ease about everything.
"Of course. See you later, Lisa. And nice to meet you Rosé."
Rosé nodded in response, but Lisa was grabbing her arm and tugged her out of the warehouse as Jackson parked his truck. "Come on, I do not want to talk to Jackson."
"Lisa?" a voice called, just as the two teenagers were ducking back into Rosé's car. He called her name again as they closed the doors, and they barely managed to pull out and drive away before he was approaching them.
Lisa let out a sigh of relief, and Rosé laughed. "That was fun."
"He's going to grill Irene about me again," Lisa muttered, groaning.
"Ah, I'm sure she'll be fine. Anyway. I approve of the location, and whoever that girl was seemed decent."
"That's Wendy, one of Irene's friends. Her brother is Irene's best friend, I think. He's the other guy you said was cute on Saturday."
Rosé hummed thoughtfully, and Lisa gave her a curious look. "So, you're sure you want to get yourself into this? A relationship with someone who's older than you?"
"Yes," Lisa answered surely, "I really like Irene."
"Thank you for telling me, Lisa. I... I guess I can understand why you didn't say anything sooner, so I don't blame you. I'm just glad that you trusted me enough to tell me now," Rosé said softly. "I'm not going to tell your mom or anything if that's what you were afraid of."
Lisa gave her best friend a smile. "Thanks, Rosé."
****
When Irene walked into the warehouse on Friday afternoon feeling pretty good. Finishing her homework that morning and then working throughout the middle of the day left her feeling extremely productive, and what better way to reward herself than to paint?
"Hey, Irene!" Wendy called suddenly, as Irene made her way through her friend's room. "Wait up. How was your day?"
Irene paused to let Wendy join her, and then started toward her room again. "It was good. Kinda happy that get to just paint for the rest of the day."
"Mm, yeah," Wendy agreed, and Irene furrowed her eyebrows in slight confusion at her friend until she stopped in front of her art room, her jaw-dropping.
"What the fuck?" There was a plain, wood, sliding door across the entrance to her room.
"Suho paid Jackson to build you a door," Wendy said, a grin across her face. "We figure that at some point, we'll probably all have doors. But if we keep doing what Jackson did for his, and kinda like the front door, with the sliding door, we can still keep them all open if we feel like it. But we all kind of need our privacy, you know? And we figured that you should be next in line to get it."
"Thank you," Irene said, still surprised as she gave her friend a grateful smile. "Wait, a second, is this because of me and Lisa?"
"I mean, partially, but we didn't tell Jackson that. He got the general explanation that I just gave you," Wendy answered, shrugging. Irene opened the sliding door, gazing at it with appreciation, and stepped into her art room. Wendy followed, and continued, "Speaking of Lisa. She showed up here on Wednesday."
Irene knit her eyebrows and flashed Wendy a look of confusion. "Wait, why? She knew I wasn't here on Wednesday."
"Yeah, I guess her best friend wanted proof that you two weren't sneaking out to a random abandoned building to hook up," Wendy explained, smirking. "Poor Lisa did not want to be here, and they bolted whenever Jackson showed up. Speaking of, he's here, so if your girlfriend does show up..."
"She's not my girlfriend," Irene stated, frowning a little. They weren't girlfriends, were they? That was usually a separate conversation than just general dating, at least to Irene. She wondered what Lisa had told her best friend.
"Mm, well whatever she is. I've gotta get back to my room so I can continue to try and figure out Suho's passcode. See ya."
Irene only hummed in response as her friend left the room, leaving the sliding door remaining open in her wake. Figuring that she had no reason to close it, she set her phone down on her table and stretched her arms out above her head. She would question the label of her and Lisa's relationship at a later time.
She was just getting ready to resume painting when there was a knock on the side of her door. Turning her head and hoping that it was Lisa, she was slightly disappointed to see Jackson standing there. "Hey," he said, "you like the door?"
"It's awesome, thanks," she said with a smile. "I probably won't leave mine looking like plain plywood, though."
He chuckled. "I figured you'd want to paint it or something. I would've put a hinged door in, but Wendy was pretty persistent about wanting them all to be sliding."
"I like it this way," Irene stated, still smiling.
Jackson cleared his throat and said, "Hey, I wanted to tell you... I'm sorry for whatever I did to make things kind of weird between us lately. I figure it's all the Lisa stuff. Frankly... if you say there's nothing going on between the two of you, I should just believe you and move on. So that's what I'm going to do now."
A pit suddenly formed in Irene's stomach as she realized that thanking him, or saying anything positive about his sentiment, would be categorized as lying to him. Lying to him about a relationship, not just feelings, and she was pretty sure that that was much worse. "Ah, why were you so concerned about it anyway?"
Jackson frowned at the response. "Don't you think that dating someone your own age would make a lot more sense? Someone who's had the same amount of life experience as you've had?"
"Sure, I guess, but lots of people around here haven't had the same experiences as I've had anyway. Maybe what I need is someone who's had better experiences than me, because at least then they might have a better outlook on everything," Irene commented, tilting her head a little as she thought about it. Her longest-lasting relationship had been a couple of months long, and it dawned on her now that she'd never really thought of experiences as something to factor into one's relationship.
"And that means you'd wanna be with someone who's seventeen?" Jackson asked, seeming to realize that these questions weren't entirely hypothetical.
Irene let out a sigh. "Maybe?"
He looked at her with concern etched into his expression, and then he shook his head, turning around and leaving the room. Despite the frown that appeared on her face, Irene was just glad that he hadn't tried to start up another argument about it. Especially now that something was already happening between her and Lisa, she didn't want to go through any more stress about whether or not it was right. The fact was, she'd already made her decision, along with Lisa, and that was final.
It was starting to get into the evening when another knock could be heard on the side of Irene's door. The brunette glanced over her shoulder, expecting Wendy here to say goodnight, but saw a different, girl. Her face immediately brightened. "Hey!" she said, setting down her paintbrush as she realized that Lisa was holding some sort of takeout bag in her hand.
"I would've come by earlier, but my mother had some professors over for an early dinner and she made me sit through it," Lisa apologized, "but the food sucked, so I thought I'd get something. And I figured that you haven't eaten."
"You figured right," Irene admitted. "Did you see the fancy door Jackson put up?"
"So fancy," Lisa agreed, laughing lightly. "Wendy told me on Wednesday that he was putting it up."
"Oh yeah, I heard that you and your best friend – Rosé? – broke in on Wednesday."
Lisa scoffed. "We hardly broke in – the whole front door was open anyway." Lisa opened the takeout bag, and Irene stepped around her and to her door, sliding it closed happily. "But it was Rosé's fault."
Irene hummed. "Yeah, Wendy told me. What food did you get?"
They spent about twenty minutes eating the sandwiches that Lisa had purchased from the cafe that was near The Bean, and Lisa told Irene about coming out to Rosé and Jisoo. Irene didn't say much, letting Lisa do more of the talking, but she was definitely happy to hear that neither of them was going to spill about it.
The fact was that Irene didn't care who knew about... whatever it was that she and Lisa were doing, as long as no one who might try to get them in trouble found out. Even if they hadn't had sex, Irene knew that she could probably still get in trouble somehow until Lisa officially turned eighteen.
When they finished eating, Irene leaned back in her chair and looked at the door behind Lisa. "What should I paint on it?"
Lisa glanced over her shoulder. "On the door? I don't know."
"Oh come on, no ideas?"
"Last I checked, you were the artistic genius here." Irene laughed, smiling and scanning the room for any source of inspiration. Suddenly, her smile widened into a grin. "What?"
"I have an idea."