*JENNIE
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"Hey." Lisa rocks back on her heels, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans as she stares back at me, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.
I swear I feel like I've entered some alternate reality.
There's no way Lalisa Manoban is standing on my front porch right now. And yet, here she is—right in front of me—looking so handsome in her dark jeans and gray tee, her hair pushed back haphazardly like she's run her hands through it several times throughout the day.
She's so good looking it should be a sin. No one should be this sexy. And yet she is. Every inch of her is perfection and I hate that with just a smile, my heart beats a little harder.
"Hey." I don't try to hide my confusion over her unexpected visit. "What are you doing here, Lisa?"
"I wanted to see you." She shrugs, a smirk playing on the corner of her mouth.
I swear if I could bottle up this moment and keep it forever I would. God, what is she doing to me right now?
"How did you even know where I lived?" The moment the question leaves my lips I know the answer.
"Jisoo," we both say in unison, her smirk turning into a full smile.
Butterflies erupt in my stomach, and I'm suddenly painfully aware of how ridiculous I probably look.
As if she can somehow read my mind, she adds, "Cute pajamas."
I nervously fidget with the bottom of my tank, thanking the heavens that I had enough forethought to put on a bra.
"I wasn't expecting company," I finally manage to squeak out.
"Well, now that you have it are you going to invite me in?"
Could she be any surer of herself? Her confidence oozes from every orifice of her body, and I desperately want to soak it in—know what it's like to feel that good in your own skin.
"I'm still trying to decide." I eye her warily.
"Anything I can do to sway your decision?" She steps forward, her tall frame now towering over me.
I wish I could say that I'm immune to her charms, that the nearness of her body doesn't stir something deep inside of me—a wanting I didn't even know I could feel, but that wouldn't be the truth.
"I-uh my mom's not home. I don't think she'd approve of you being here." I regret it the moment I say it.
Stupid, Jen. Seriously. You're mom's not home. That's the best you got?
"I'll be good." She tips my chin up with the back of her hand so that I'm looking up at her. "You can trust me," she offers with a humored grin.
"It's not you I'm worried about," I mumble under my breath a little too loudly, realizing my mistake almost instantly.
Her eyes sparkle with humor, but she chooses not to address the statement we both know she heard. Instead, she slides past me into the house, giving me no choice but to follow her inside.
"When does your mom get home?" she asks, looking around the small space that equates to about one sixteenth of her house.
"Not until morning," I say, feeling like she already knew the answer to that long before she got here—especially if Jisoo had anything to do with it.
I make a mental note to give my bestfriend a piece of my mind later. I can't believe she would send Lisa here and not even give me a heads up.
"Popcorn?" Lisa inhales, turning in the foyer to face me.
"I was getting ready to watch a movie."
"Perfect." She kicks off her shoes, sliding them against the wall with her foot.
"What are you doing?" I can't keep the smile from my voice.
"Getting comfy," she says like it should be obvious. "What movie are we watching?"
"We?" I choke out.
"Yes, we. I'm here, aren't I? I think that means I'm joining you." She turns, heading into the living room without waiting for me to respond.
Unlike Lisa's house, she doesn't have to go far to find the room she's looking for. The living room sits right off the foyer and given the paused movie on the screen and the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table, it's pretty obvious where I was planning to watch said movie.
Flopping down where I was sitting just moments earlier, she stretches her arm along the back of the couch and throws me a wide grin when I stop in the doorway.
"Are you just gonna stand there checking me out all night, or are we gonna watch a movie already?" she teases, patting the cushion next to her.
"Do you always show up uninvited and just make yourself at home?" I ask as she props her feet up on the coffee table, her long legs stretched out in front of her.
She thinks on that for a moment, humor etched in her features.
"Yep." She finally concedes, patting the couch again.
I laugh, I can't help it. She's so damn endearing. Shaking my head, I cross the room, taking the seat on the opposite end of the couch.
"You know," she leans forward and snags the popcorn. "If you sit all the way over there you can't reach this." She shakes the bowl before setting it in her lap.
I let out a frustrated sigh and then scoot closer, secretly dying to get as close to her as I can. Not that I would ever admit it out loud.
Taking the middle cushion, I pull my legs up, tucking them underneath myself. "Happy?" I roll my eyes, leaning forward to grab the remote.
"Very." She smiles at me, her eyes holding my gaze for a long moment before she grabs a handful of popcorn and shoves it into her mouth.
"You're something else." I try to keep the smile off my face but fail miserably.
"I do my best." She smiles around a full mouth.
I don't know what to do, what to say, how to act. I'm such a ball of nervous energy that I feel like I might bounce out of my seat at any moment.
"Are you going to hit play on that?" she questions, her eyes darting between me and the remote.
"I'm working on it," I huff, embarrassed that she seems to know just how distracted she's making me.
"Well work faster," she teases, nodding in approval when I finally manage to get my fingers to work and the movie kicks on.
I wish I could say I calmed down, that eventually I settled in and lost myself in the movie, but I didn't. Not even a little bit. I couldn't focus on anything except Lisa. How she laughed next to me. How about halfway into the movie, after the popcorn was pretty much gone, her hand found its way to mine and didn't leave it for the next hour—the pad of her thumb tracing circles along the back of my hand. How I kept feeling her eyes on the side of my face instead of on the television screen where they should have been.
I've never watched a movie before and had no idea what actually happened by the end of it. It's Lalisa. She's intoxicating and distracting and demands to be the center of attention no matter what's going on. And she doesn't even have to try—it's just her.
"I gotta admit, I didn't peg you as a Kevin Hart fan." She finally breaks the silence just as the end credits start to roll.
"Why?" I ask, stretching—my pretty obvious play off at pulling my hand away.
"You just seem, I don't know, kind of serious." She shrugs.
"I do?" I question, wondering what kind of impression I'm giving her here.
"A little, yeah." She chuckles, clearly amused by my reaction to her statement.
"Well, I'm not," I blurt defensively.
"No?" She smiles, shifting her body toward me.
"I mean, okay, I'm a little serious." I sigh. "But not to the point that I don't know how to laugh or have a good time. I'm just serious when I need to be."
"And right now is one of those times?" she challenges.
"What?" I can't keep the defensiveness out of my voice.
Is this why she came here—to make me feel worse about myself than I already do?
"See—there," she points out, that damn grin firmly placed on her face. "You're so easy to rile up."
"I am not," I huff, even though I know she's right.
"You're adorable." Her comment isn't patronizing the way I expect it to be; in fact, the way she says it coupled with the way she's looking at me reads quite the opposite.
My heart beats against my ribs like a sledgehammer.
"I am?" I don't know why the question leaves my lips. I wish I could take it back, stuff it away, but then Lisa nods slowly, her tongue darting out to trace along her bottom lip.
I'm fascinated by the action, my eyes glued to her mouth, wondering what her lips would feel like pressed against mine.
She laughs lightly which causes a deep blush to flood my face. Something about her expression tells me she knows exactly where my mind has gone, and it's both frustrating and sexy.
"You're more than just adorable, Jen." She reaches out, sliding her fingers across my jaw. "And what makes you even more beautiful is that you have no idea just how breathtaking you are." My breath catches when her thumb crosses my bottom lip.
I swear my stomach is a mass of butterflies and something else that I'm not quite sure I've ever felt before. I squeeze my legs together, trying to dull the unfamiliar ache I feel.
"I-I'm not like those other girls, Lisa," I blurt nervously.
"And what other girls would you be referring to?" she asks, her gaze locked on mine.
"The kind that sleep with you." It takes everything in me to force it out. "If you think you can come over here and sweet talk your way into my pants, you're wrong. It takes a lot more than that to win me over."
"I think that might be the point." Her comment surprises me, but I'm too far gone to respond.
I can feel her inching toward me, her hazel eyes dark. I swear everything stands still as I wait. And I wait. And I wait. She stops so close to my face I can feel the heat of her breath on my cheek.
"I'm going to kiss you now, Jen," she whispers, not moving an inch.
It takes me a moment to realize she's waiting for me to say yes.
"Okay." It's less than a whisper and then her lips are on mine. Hot and firm, pressing against me so gently I almost whimper.
This is not what I expected at all. Not from someone like her. When she opens her mouth, tracing her tongue across the seam of my lips, I immediately open to her. Her tongue darts out, seeking mine and she groans deep into my mouth when she finds it.
The ache in my lower belly explodes into an inferno, my breathing ragged and less controlled the deeper the kiss goes.
I feel like I'm at a tipping point—my feet are hanging off the edge and only a very thin string is holding me in place, keeping me from tumbling over the side. But I want to jump. I want to spread my arms and dive into the unknown. And I want it with Lisa.
"Jen." She's the first to break the kiss, my name a strangled groan from her lips before she pulls back completely.
Like being doused in cold water, my actions suddenly become clear, and embarrassment becomes the most prominent feeling I have.
"I'm sorry." I hold my hand over my lips that now feel so different somehow.
"Don't do that." She gently pulls my hand away. "Don't kiss me like that and then apologize afterward. I want you to mean it. God…" She pulls me back to her. "I don't know what you're doing to me, Jennie Kim, but I want you to keep doing it." She kisses me again, this time a small peck, followed by another and then another, before pulling back again.
"Fuck." She looks at me for another long moment and then pushes to her feet. "I should probably go."
"Wait, why?" I question, her abrupt movement catching me off guard.
"Because, Jen." She lets out a long exhale and then turns, looking down at me. "You said it yourself—you're not like the other girls. And I like that about you. But right now I want nothing more than to take you to your bedroom and do really bad things to you."
"Like what?" I push to my feet, not sure where in the hell my words are coming from.
"Things you're not ready for, let's leave it at that."
I want to challenge her. Ask her how she knows I'm not ready, but deep down I know she's right. It's easy to get lost in the excitement and the thrill of it all, but as the rational part of me slowly returns, so does my voice of reason.
Lisa kisses the top of my head and then takes off into the foyer, stopping to slip on her shoes. I walk her to the door, not really sure what to say or what to do.
"Thanks for tonight, Jen. I needed this." She pulls me against her chest, my arms going around her taut frame.
I close my eyes and inhale deeply, having never smelled anyone who smells quite like Lisa.
"Me, too," I admit, having not realized how much until this very moment.
"Can I call you tomorrow?" she asks, pulling back to look down at me.
"I'd like that," I answer truthfully.
The smile I get in return nearly takes my breath away. My god, she's even more handsome than I realized before. It's one thing to check Lisa out from a distance, it's quite another to be so up close and personal with her.
It's almost inconceivable that a girl like this would ever waste her time on a girl like me and yet, here she is. Looking at me like I'm all she sees, and here I am feeling like I'm seconds away from melting into a puddle at her feet.
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