JENNIE

I slept soundly that night, once I finally fell back asleep after my multiple naps throughout the day. Apparently the stress of never knowing what Lisa was going to do to me, and the guilt that came with it, had been the cause of my insomnia. Now that I knew how she was going to touch me and how she was not going to touch me, I felt good again. Maybe we could reclaim our friendship? Maybe I could stop betraying Taehyung? I could never undo what we had already done to him, and I would forever carry the guilt of that, but knowing that I wouldn't be adding any more guilt, made me practically giddy as I came down the stairs very early the next morning.

And of course, being free again with Lisa made me smile delightfully as I watched her aching perfection turn to greet me in the kitchen. Her hair loose and easy seemed to exactly match her smile.

"Mornin'…coffee?" She pointed at the finished pot.

Smiling widely, I went over to her and put my arms around her waist. She startled for a second and then slipped her arms around mine. She was warm and smelled amazing. Relief washed through me; it was easy to touch her like this, especially knowing that it would go no farther.

"Good morning. Yes, please." I nodded over to the coffee pot. This would be the first cup of coffee I'd had since our tryst. I finally felt well enough to drink it again…and I had really missed it.

She smiled as she gazed down at me, her perfect brown eyes calm and peaceful. "You aren't going to fight me on this?" she asked, pulling me closer.

I returned her warm smile. "No…I missed this." She leaned in like she was going to kiss my neck and I pushed her back, frowning. "We do need ground rules though…"

She chuckled. "Okay…fire away."

"Well, besides the obvious one, that you and I aren't ever…" I blushed deeply at the thought I couldn't even say and she laughed.

"Having…hot…sweaty…sex?" she finished for me, raising a perfect eyebrow and saying each word slowly. "Are you sure you don't want to rethink that? We're pretty amazin-"

I looked at her sharply and cut her off, smacking her in the chest for her question. "Besides that obvious one, no more kissing…ever."

She frowned. "What if I just stay away from your lips? Friends kiss."

I frowned too, a sudden memory of her tongue running up my throat making me shiver. "Not like you do."

She sighed. "Fine…anything else?"

I smiled and stepped away from her embrace, miming a bikini top and bottom. "Off limits…don't touch."

She frowned again. "God, you're sucking all the fun out of our friendship." She quickly smiled after she said that. "Okay…any other rules I should know about?"

I stepped back into her embrace as she held her arms out to me. "This stays innocent, Lisa. If you can't do that, we end this." I searched her eyes, but she brought my head to her shoulder and hugged me.

"Okay, Jennie." She sighed then pushing back, she laughed. "That goes for you too, you know." She pointed to her lips then down to her pants. "Don't touch," she mocked. I lightly smacked her chest. "Unless you really, really want to…" she added with a chuckle. I smacked her chest even harder and she laughed again and pulled me tight.

Sighing, I relaxed into her embrace, thinking I could stay all morning in her comforting arms, but then I started at the sound of the telephone ringing. It was still awfully early. I glanced up to where Taehyung was still sleeping and then hurried over to the phone, not wanting the sound to wake him up yet. A small river of guilt flooded through me that the reason I didn't want him awake, was because I wanted to be alone with Lisa longer.

"Hello?" I answered as I bent over the counter. An amused chuckle behind me spun me around. Lisa was grinning most inappropriately at the sight of me bending over the counter. I stood up straight and put a hand on my hip, frowning at her.

"Hey, sis!" Jisoo's perky voice came through the phone, but I continued to frown at Lisa. She made a swift halo motion above her head – I'll be good – and I finally smiled.

"Hi, Jisoo." I leaned back on the counter, watching Lisa pour her coffee and then prepare some for me. "Isn't it a little early for phone calls?" My sister was kind of a night owl and she usually didn't rise before noon.

"Oh, I'm just getting home and thought I'd give you a jingle before school. Did I wake you?" I frowned and looked up at the clock - 7:05 here, so Ohio would be 10:05. She just got home?

"No, I'm up." I stared at the clock, wondering what my sister had been up to.

"Good…did I wake up hot-bod?" I could hear the amusement in her voice at her nickname for Lisa.

I laughed once. "No, hot-bod is awake too." I cringed when I remembered that "hot-bod" was listening to the conversation and I looked over at her highly amused face. She raised an eyebrow and mouthed the word 'hot-bod', pointing to herself. I nodded and rolled my eyes as she laughed softly.

"Oooooohhh…and what were you two doing so early this morning?" she teased.

Curious what Lisa's reaction would be, I decided to play with her and my sister a little bit. "We were screwing on the table, waiting for the coffee to brew." Her facial reaction matched my sister's verbal reaction so perfectly, that I laughed.

"Oh my god, Jennie!" she exclaimed, while Lisa spat back up her coffee and coughing a bit, looked at me incredulously. I laughed again and had to turn away from Lisa's face when she started to grin indecently.

"Geeze, Jisoo, I'm just joking. I would never touch her like that. You should hear about all the girls she's been with. Ugh, she's disgusting…and Taehyung is asleep upstairs, you know." I glanced up to where Taehyung was sleeping, hoping my laughing hadn't awoken him, and then I brought my gaze back down to Lisa. She was holding her coffee cup and staring oddly at the floor.

"Really? I like disgusting. Wait…he's back?" Jisoo was asking about Taehyung, but my focus was on Lisa and her strange expression.

"You know, a phone call to Mom or Dad here and there really won't kill you." I frowned as Lisa set down her full coffee mug and started to move towards me, towards the entryway, like she was leaving. Instantly, I realized what I, in my haste to cover with Jisoo, had snottily said – 'she's disgusting'.

Jisoo sighed. "Yeah, yeah it might. So you and Taehyung are okay after your extended absence from each other?"

I caught Lisa's arm as she walked by me. I had offended her with my words; surely she knew I was covering? "Everything is fine." I was speaking to both her and Jisoo. She looked back at me sadly, as I pulled her arm around my waist. Slowly her smile returned and she held me tight, leaning us both back against the counter.

"Good…if it were me, I probably would have jumped in the sack with hot-bod while he was gone. Good thing you're not me, huh?"

I blushed at how accurate her flippant comment actually was and Lisa eyed me curiously. "Yeah, it's a good thing you and I are nothing alike, Jisoo." I gazed up at her amazing brown eyes while she held me close.

"So…how about I come up this weekend?"

Startled, I stiffened and stared straight ahead of me. "No!" Lisa tried to catch my eye, whispering, "what"?

"Oh, come on, Jennie. I'm dying to meet hot-bod." I avoided meeting Lisa's gaze. Things were finally comfortable between us, I didn't need my sister messing that up…or trying to get in Lisa's pants. I wasn't all that sure Lisa wouldn't let her.

"She has a name, Jisoo," I snapped, more irritated at my last thought than my sister's pet-name.

"Fine, Lisa. God, even her name is hot." She exhaled loudly. "You can't keep her all to yourself, you know."

"I'm not!" I was really getting steamed. I finally met Lisa's worried eyes and forced myself to calm down, to relax in her embrace. I smiled and shook my head at her, trying to ease her and myself.

"Winter break, Jisoo…remember? You can come up then. I'm just too busy right now." I gazed at her calm eyes as she smiled at me. I couldn't bear the thought of them together.

"Winter break…but it's October?" She still sounded miffed.

"I'm busy, Jisoo…" I said it softly, trying to pacify her.

"Ppfftt…one weekend won't kill you, Jennie."

I sighed, knowing that if I fought this any longer, she would get suspicious. "Fine." I frantically racked my brain, trying to think of a way to at least postpone the trip a little. Searching Lisa's achingly perfect face, the answer struck me so fast I actually said, "Oh."

"What?" my sister and Lisa asked at the same time.

I grinned and Lisa grinned with me, raising her eyebrows curiously. "Well, Jisoo…Lisa has gigs every Friday and Saturday night. She's not free until…" I raised my eyebrow at her and she thought for a split-second then mouthed 'seventh', "…until the seventh. So, if you want her to come with us, you should wait to come out then."

She sighed. "Of November? That's three weeks away, Jennie…"

I grinned, wanting to giggle. "I know. You're welcome to come out earlier. Lisa won't really be around, but you can hang out with Taehyung and me. We can go to a movie or some-"

"No, no…fine, I'll come out on the seventh." Then she brightened. "We'll have so much fun, Jennie!" She giggled and I wasn't sure who she was excited to see more, me or my roommate. "Can I sleep in Lisa's room?" she asked and then giggled again.

Okay…roommate then. I sighed loudly. "I have to get ready for school. I'll talk to you later, Jisoo. Get some sleep! And take a cold shower."

She giggled again. "Bye, Jennie. See you soon!"

"Bye." I hung up the phone. "Shit."

Lisa chuckled at me and I glanced up at her. "Don't tell Jackson about that…please."

She shrugged and laughed some more. "What's wrong?" She smiled softly at me, still containing chuckles.

"My sister, she wants to visit." My tone was not happy.

She looked at me, confused. "Okay…and, you don't like her?"

I shook my head and lightly rubbed her arm. "No, no I do. I love her, dearly, but…" I blushed deeply and looked away.

"But what?" She tried to meet my eyes.

I looked back at her and sighed. "You're kind of man-flavored candy to my sister," I said glumly.

She laughed. "Ahhh…so I'm pretty much going to be attacked, right?" She seemed really amused by that prospect. I was not.

"It's not funny, Lisa." I pouted.

She stopped laughing and smiled warmly at me. "It kind of is, Jennie."

I looked away, feeling tears start to form and not wanting her to see. She wouldn't understand. I didn't understand. I just knew how Jisoo would be with her, and how Lisa would probably be with her…it made me feel ill. I didn't want Lisa touching her, but I knew I didn't have the right to ask her not to. She wasn't mine.

She hooked some hair behind my ear. "Hey…" She gently moved my chin to make me look at her. "What do you want me to do?" she asked softly.

I wasn't going to ask her, but it slipped out anyway. "I want you to not 'do' her. I don't want you to even touch her." I said it rather harshly and threw her a glare.

"Okay, Jennie," she said after a minute, lightly rubbing my cheek.

"Promise me, Lisa." I stopped glaring, but gazed at her intently, my eyes brimming.

"I promise, Jennie. I won't sleep with her, okay?" She smiled at me reassuringly and I finally nodded and let her pull me in for a tight hug.

Lisa and I said our goodbyes to Taehyung when he left for work. Lisa was in a surprisingly good mood and clapped Taehyung on the back, wishing him luck with his dick of a boss. Taehyung said thanks back and gave me a swift kiss on the cheek before heading out. He seemed in a better mood too, and I was momentarily thrilled that everything between the three of us was just a bit easier. After Taehyung left, Lisa grabbed my hand and we cuddled on the couch to watch TV. I nearly sighed with relief, it was so wonderful to sit next to her on the couch and rest my head on her shoulder, just like I used to before things got intense between us. She put her arm around me and we enjoyed the warmth of each other for most of the morning.

I only had one class today and then I was going to study a bit before work. Lisa drove me to school, which gave me a small thrill - my old addiction was coming back full force. I thanked her, but made her stay in the car and not walk me to class. I didn't need another fifty question session if someone else saw me with the rock star. She frowned, but stayed where I asked, and I smiled as I watched her drive away.

I never saw Tina and Genevieve in my Psych class after their grilling session that one afternoon (apparently they were not in that class), so I figured they had ruled me out as a potential rival for Candy. That made me smile a little, when I thought about how much of Lisa's attention I actually did have. Then I immediately frowned. Why was she so interested in plain little me? Anyway, not wanting to run into any of the three again, I tried to avoid the Harry Potter library after that. Not too long ago, I'd found a cute little park nearby that was perfect for stretching out with some books. After class, I decided today was just enough of a beautiful day to study there.

I breathed in the crisp autumn air as I looked around the quaint little area. The leaves of the trees were a brilliant orange and red, and quivered slightly in the soft breeze. It wouldn't be too much longer before they started to fall. I unzipped my light jacket. The weather was still unseasonably warm for this time of year, I was starting to become a believer in global warming, but there was a purity and a cleanliness to the cooler air that was refreshing and cleared my head. It really was the perfect place to study a bit before work. I laid myself out on the grass and rifling through my bag, found a baggy of grapes and started popping a few.

Several groups of people were clumped around the park, enjoying the perfectly sunny day, as it may be one of the last for awhile. Some were playing catch with their dogs, some, like me, were studying, and others were enjoying a late picnic.

I noticed a group of teenage girls giggling not far from me and I turned to look at what had their attention. Someone had her back to us, her shirt off, in sports bra, doing push-ups against a park bench. I watched her idly for a minute while the girls continued murmuring. She finished and grabbed a full water bottle from the bench. Turning a little towards me, she took a drink from her bottle. Her body was unbelievably perfect…and all too familiar. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

Of course, I thought. Of course I would pick the park Lisa used to work out at on her runs. Of course she would be here now, while I was trying to study. She turned and instantly spotted me on the grass, still openly staring at her body. A slow, sexy smile spread on her face and she cocked her head to the side adorably as she started walking over to me, water bottle in one hand, shirt in the other. The girls she passed on the way over giggled louder at her alluring smile and turned to watch me curiously. I sat back in the grass and watched her come over, my heart beating a little faster.

She sat down in the grass next to me as I sighed loudly. "Can't I go anywhere without running into you?" I teased.

She laughed and extended her legs out straight, leaning back on her hands. "This is my park…you're the one stalking me." She half-smiled over at me.

I smiled and popped another grape, gazing at her. My focus started on her impossibly sexy hair, slightly damp around the edges from her workout, but eventually my gaze drifted down her perfect cheekbones, strong, smooth jaw, and down her neck to her lightly damp chest. I lingered there, following every line, starting at the top and slowly mentally tracing them all the way down to the deep lines of her lower abdomen disappearing pleasantly into her track pants. I couldn't stop the intimate knowledge I had of touching that body, from leaping into my head. I bit my lip.

"Hey." Lisa's voice snapped me out of my near trance and I glanced back up at her amused eyes. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "Are you objectifying me?" I blushed and looked away as she chuckled. "It's okay if you are. I was just wondering if maybe you were thinking about renegotiating our rules?" She met my eye and grinned. "Can I kiss you yet?"

I smirked back at her and she laughed more. Grabbing the shirt out of her hands, I threw it back at her. "Put some clothes on…"

She frowned at me. "I'm hot…"

I smiled back. "You're indecent…and people are staring." I pointed over to the young girls still gawking at her.

She looked over at them, making them giggle, then shook her head as she looked down at her half-naked body, muttering, "Indecent?" She sighed. "Fine." Then she grabbed her water bottle and dumped it on her shirt before putting put her wet shirt back on. "There…better?"

I looked at her with my mouth open, until I got back my control and shut it. "Yes, thank you." No, it wasn't any better. The wet shirt clung to every delightful muscle, so she may as well have left it off. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing how good she looked though. I was pretty sure she was well aware anyway.

Sitting up, she reached into my baggy and grabbed a couple of grapes. I smiled at her wryly. "Go ahead…help yourself."

She smiled as she popped them in her mouth. "I frequently do," she said, raising an eyebrow and grinning mischievously.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at her while she came over to sit right beside me. "And what are we studying?"

I smiled and blushed deeply as I looked over at her. "Human Sexuality."

"Ahhh…really?" She nudged my shoulder playfully. "One of my best subjects." I cringed away from her wet, cold shirt. She laughed at my reaction, then, without warning, she tackled me, pressing her wet shirt firmly against me and laughing.

"Oh my god, Lisa! You are so cold! Get off me!" I screamed at her, and tried pushing her away, laughing so much my eyes were watering. She kept on laughing and didn't move away. Grabbing my wrists so I couldn't push her off, she held me down on the grass.

Eventually our laughing slowed as we gazed at each other. She eventually smiled adoringly at me and lowered her forehead down to mine. I suppose that wasn't specifically against my rules. We breathed softly on each other for a minute and she moved her hands so our fingers were interlaced.

I felt like we were starting to cross a line and was about to say something, when the girls a short distance away yelled, "Kiss her!"

She pulled back and swallowing, laughed a little. "See," she nodded her head over to the group of teenagers, "they want us to renegotiate." She grinned wickedly and I pushed her off of me.

"You," I pointed to her chest, "go finish your run." I pointed vaguely to the direction of our house. "I do need to study…and you're far too distracting." I blushed and looked down.

She laughed and stood up. "Okay, have it your way then." She smiled, and turning back to the girls, shrugged at them and winked. They giggled and then groaned as she turned to leave the park.

I rolled my eyes again and brushed off my now-dampened shirt. I zipped back up my jacket as the dampness made me shiver a bit. Well, I'm pretty sure it was the dampness.

My head drifted in and out of pleasant thoughts of Lisa's body for the rest of my study session. I found myself daydreaming and staring blankly at the same paragraph for a good ten minutes. I sighed; she was distracting even when she wasn't there. I shivered a bit, remembering her body pressed against mine, her forehead against mine, her breath against my skin…

I shivered yet again and stood up. This wasn't the sort of studying I needed to be doing. I may as well go in to work. At least the bustle of activity would change the direction of my thoughts.

Being at work didn't change my thoughts at all. In fact, I found myself glancing over at the doors, waiting for the band to arrive for their performance tonight. It seemed a little silly to me, that I was actually anxious to see her when I saw her all the time - I couldn't seem to get away from her. That thought made me smile. I think I had a goofy grin plastered on my face all night as I slyly watched the doors.

"Okay, what did he do?" Kate asked, coming up behind me awhile later.

"Who?" I asked uncertainly.

"Taehyung – you've been grinning all night. That usually means the boyfriend did something good." She and Rita leaned across the bar expectantly. "So spill - flowers, jewelry? Oh my god, did he propose?" Kate's light brown eyes sparkled at the idea. She put her head in her hands as she leaned against the bar, looking lost in that dreamy thought for a second.

I blushed deeply. Taehyung and I hadn't even talked about marriage yet. He was the practical type who wouldn't even bring it up until he was set in his career. And he wasn't the one who was making me grin. "No, no proposals. Nothing special, I'm just happy."

Rita and Kate exchanged disappointed looks then Kate tossed her long hair over her other shoulder. "Fine, keep your secrets." She winked as she stood lithely and went back to work.

After she left, Rita looked at me conspiratorially. "Okay…she's gone, you can tell me."

I blushed again. "There's really nothing to tell, Rita. Sorry, my life is pretty boring." I smiled inwardly at how untrue that was.

It wasn't too much longer that the band did filter in, and I swear my heart skipped a beat when I saw her. You would think I hadn't seen her in days by my body's reaction, not just the few hours it had been since the park. She came up to me, looking all too sexy in her black long-sleeve shirt, layered under a light gray shirt, and asked how the rest of my studying went. I blushed and told her it went much better once she had left…which of course, it hadn't. She smirked at me and then laughed. Ordering her beer, she headed over to her table, where the rest of the guys were discussing something apparently really funny; I could hear their laughter from the bar. She clapped Sam on the shoulder as she walked by and I noticed that my shoulder was pleasantly warm. And then I realized that that was because she had put her hand there when she'd ordered her beer. My goofy grin stayed with me the rest of the night.

Actually, my grin stayed with me for the rest of the weekend.

Thinking about how wonderful the weekend had been, had me ducking out of class a half hour early on Monday afternoon. I couldn't seem to help it. I was anxious and wanted to see her. And knowing she was just sitting home alone, maybe bored, maybe thinking of me… Ugh, it drove me crazy all throughout the lecture. Our weekend had been fun and a little torturous. We had hugged in the morning over coffee and held hands when Taehyung was in the shower. We had all lounged around the house for most of the weekend and whenever Taehyung had fallen asleep while watching TV, Lisa and I would go in the kitchen and hold each other while we talked. Taehyung got called out early Sunday morning by Max and we had taken that time to snuggle on the couch. I loved it…I loved being near her. It was fun and flirty and as innocent as I could keep it, even though my heart usually started beating just a smidge faster when she was touching me.

I came into the living room and smiled at Lisa stretched out on the couch watching television, one arm on her chest, the other extended over her head. She turned to look at me when I entered the room and my breath caught as she grinned adorably at me.

"Hey, you're back early," she said sleepily. "I was going to pick you up."

I walked over to her as she sat up and scooted back on the couch, patting the cushion between her legs. "You look tired…everything okay?" I asked, as I sat in-between her legs and lay back on her chest. She played with my hair and held me tight. Flirting did have its perks.

"I'm fine…just a late night, didn't sleep well."

"Oh." I turned my head around to look at her with a wry grin. "Feeling guilty about something?"

She laughed a little and pulled me tighter. "About you? Every day." She sighed, and then pushed me forward, away from her. I started to turn and protest, but she put her hands on my shoulders and made me face front. Then she started massaging them.

"Hmmmm….I could get used to this flirting thing." I relaxed into her strong hands as she moved along my shoulder blades. She laughed softly. "Did you have a bad dream?" I asked, my own head feeling dreamy.

"No…" she murmured. "I had a good one actually." Her voice was low and soft; I could have wrapped it around me like a blanket.

"Hmmmm…what about." Her fingers moved along my spine and I made a soft noise in my throat.

"You," she said idly. Her fingers stayed where they were when I made the noise. She pressed slightly harder and I made a deeper noise.

"Hmmmm…nothing naughty, I hope. We are keeping this innocent, right?" Her fingers moved down to my low back, pressing deep and I exhaled loudly at the ache being released from me.

She laughed softly again. "No…nothing even remotely scandalous, I promise." She started bringing her hands up my back and I made another deep noise as even more tension drained from my body; her fingers were magic.

"Hmmm….good, I don't need you thinking about me that way," I mumbled.

She didn't say anything to that, just continued working her way up my pleasantly tingling back. I sighed deeply and relaxed even more into her, making even more satisfied noises. She shifted slightly behind me but said nothing further. Too relaxed to maintain a conversation, I enjoyed the comfortable silence. Her fingers started back down again, reaching farther out to my ribcage. It was heaven. I practically growled in pleasure. She stopped for an extra minute anywhere I made a noise, so I started making the noises more frequently.

Eventually she made it back down to my low back, working out more towards my hips. She shifted her weight behind me again and then pulled me closer to her. Thinking she was uncomfortable, sitting sideways on the couch with me between her, I let her adjust me however she needed to, but she only pulled my hips back into her again. Assuming she was done, I sighed and relaxed back into her chest. I was surprised at how rigid she was. I was starting to turn to face her, when her hands that were still on my hips slipped around in front to my thighs. She reached both of her hands down my legs and up my inner thighs, pulling tight against me at the same time. That was when I noticed that her breathing was not slow and regular like mine…

I spun to face her. She was sitting very tense and straight on the couch, her eyes were closed and her lips were partly open. Her breath was noticeably faster. She swallowed and slowly opened her eyes to look at me. Her gaze on mine made the tension immediately come back to my body; they burned with desire. Her gaze smoldered as she watched me. She brought a hand up to my cheek and with the other one, pulled me tight to her.

I swallowed and made myself shake my head. "No…Lisa," I whispered, slightly alarmed at the look on her face and slightly proud of myself for uttering the word "no" at the look on her face.

She closed her eyes again and gently pushed me away from her. "I'm sorry…just, give me a minute…"

I moved to the other end of the couch and watched her, wondering what in the world I had done. She pulled her legs up, locking her elbows around them and taking three calming breaths. Then she slowly opened her eyes to me again. She still looked odd, but more controlled. She smiled, just a little.

"Sorry…I am trying. But, maybe next time, you could not…uh, make those noises?"

I blushed deeply and looked away, making her chuckle. I hadn't realized… Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe there was no such thing as innocent flirting.