My Calamity

Gravity had a weird way of working.

That's what I realized in that moment.

I watched Penelope's smooth strokes in the water as she made her way to the eye of the waves. Part of me thought she was going to fall, but another part of me said she wouldn't. The sun was gone and in its place were thick clouds that darkened the beach. The farther she got, the less I could see of her, until finally she was just a flimsy silhouette in the night.

Her red hair really poked out on the dark sky, and if not for it, I would probably have lost her. And then I saw her pop up, her legs clenching, toes curling against the board. She'd stood perfectly; there was no way she'd fall. I watched with a silent contentment as she rode the wave, thinking back to our conversation.

She was good at what she did, I'd give her that. The way she directed everything back to me; she was either trying to boost my ego, or make herself more mysterious. She had succeeded in both. She was my mystery girl, my Rudolf, my little Calamity. The thought of that made my grin widen.

She was the girl I could see myself falling love with. I'd decided then that I'd want to fall in love with her. But I also realized she'd probably break my heart. If there was anybody out there that could break my heart, it was Penelope Reid that was for damned sure. That knowledge made me iffy about whether I should pursue her not.

She came into my life and half of me said you're nowhere near ready, but the other half said: make her yours forever.

That was when Penelope went down. Gravity had a weird way of working. That's what I realized in that moment. One moment she was up, and the next moment she was down. My mind had frozen. All I could think was what goes up must come down. And she went down, down, down.

When the realization hit, I dove into the water after her, swimming over to where her board was. Her ankle hadn't been clasped to the board so she could be anywhere. Taking a deep breath, I ducked under, groping wildly at nothing. I swam deeper, determined to find her before it was too late. A storm like this, you only had one chance.

If I lost her, she'd be gone. There would be no way she'd survive. I wasn't going to let that happen. My mind was reeling, this couldn't be happening. Things like this didn't happen.

Lungs bursting, I kicked harder, feeling, grazing skin. The contact was momentary but it was enough to give me hope. I pushed forward and grabbed on, hoping what I was grabbing was Penelope.

I pushed off the surface floor as hard as I could, my lungs ready to pop. When I broke surface, I let out a strangled sound almost like a cat in a blender, and then started kicking towards land, forgetting the boards. Her body weighed down in my arms, but I wasn't letting go.

My legs got tired half way through but I knew I couldn't wait this out. Penelope was unconscious. Those words pushed me onwards till I was throwing Penelope down on the sand, hovering over her. I stared at her – her lips parted, eyes closed – and wondered how CPR worked.

I knew it involved mouth to mouth but how many times was I supposed to pump on her chest? And where exactly did I place my hands? This probably was one of the reasons they taught this in school and one of the reasons I should have paid attention.

"Get out the way!" Logan Jenner appeared out of nowhere and pushed me off Penelope. I was shocked, to say the least. My mouth hung open and everything. The kid had literally appeared out of nowhere. But I guess he wasn't a kid, now was he? He was actually a senior, and had been dating Jennifer Hood till he dumped her for not putting out. He was a football player, who got all the ladies, and was currently putting the moves on the unconscious Penelope.

I sat up, invigorated. "Get off her!"

"I know what I'm doing." I watched him pump on her chest – what? twenty times? thirty times? – and then tip her head back and breathe into her mouth twice before resuming the pumping again.

Throughout the whole ordeal I was seething with jealousy, and holding my own breath. Suddenly, Penelope jolted forward and coughed out water, her eyes wide. Logan pulled away from her, sitting on the sand beside her and asking in a hushed tone if she was alright.

If I'd been seething before, I was probably boiling now. I'd gone and risked my life to save her! And here he was getting all the credit for it! Penelope was silent, frozen, perhaps in shock?

Then she said, "You saved my life."

And she was staring right at me.

I nodded my head, unable to form words.

My mystery, my Rudolf, my Calamity.

☼

"Can you believe it? I mean, did you see it? I was actually doing it for a moment."

I couldn't help but smile at Penelope's jubilancy. It was cute the way that short-lived moment of surfing had made her so happy. It reminded me of a child, how it was so eagerly pleased.

"Yes, I saw you," I told her as we began walking up the beach towards the road. The rain was pelting down heavy, creating a mist along the street. "This is all your fault."

"What's all my fault?"

"Having to walk back in the rain," I answered. "If we had taken my motorcycle, it would only take five minutes."

Penelope spared me a small, knowing smile, her white dress clinging to her curves causing a growing problem in my lower region. "It's all the same. Either way we'd end up soaking wet."

"Yeah, but now there's a better chance we'll get sick."

"Oh, you're so melodramatic."

"You know what? When I'm sick in bed tomorrow, you can pay for all the medicines I'll need!"

"You're not going to end up sick," Penelope snapped.

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. I can see the future."

"Oh? And what does mine look like?"

Penelope turned her head to me, a look of seriousness on her face. "Dreadful."

I was suddenly intrigued. "Why?" There was a silence, the only sound being tires on the wet roads, and the pitter-patter of rain on the sidewalk.

Penelope smiled. "You're wearing my psychic abilities out," she said, her pace quickening before I could reply.

"You can't just tell me my future will be dreadful, and not tell me why!" I cried, trying to keep up with her quick pace.

Penelope whipped her hand through her hair, making the wet curls knot around her fingers. "Yes, I can." I groaned in response. She could, but I hoped she wouldn't. She pursed her lips as if pondering something, and then finally said, "You're going to suffer serious heartache."

At her words, I felt my heart quicken. What was she talking about? Was she saying that she was going to break my heart if we started dating? "How?" I finally asked.

Penelope's strides were long as she contemplated her answer. "Your favorite sports team is going to loose."

I think I visibly relaxed. "Oh." Penelope smiled in return, this knowing smile that made me woozy. "So…Logan Jenner…"

Penelope raised her eyebrow at me. "Yes, what about Logan?"

I thought about the long hug he'd given Penelope before we left, and the way he had eyed her as she put her dress on. "I think he's into you."

She let out a short laugh. "I think Logan thinks he's into me too." I waited for her to say anything else. Maybe like, I didn't like him, or he's a total ass. "He's into every girl," she finally clarified.

"How do you know that?" I prompted when I realized she wasn't going to say anything else.

This hateful smile snaked onto her face, and I was actually curious to find out what she knew. "His name is written all over the stalls in the girl's bathroom."

"So?"

"Whenever a girl gets with a guy they write his name and the date on the stalls. There are dates up there when he was still dating Jennifer. The guy has a-hole written all over him." Penelope wrapped her arms around herself, making me wish I had a jacket to offer her, and then gave me a rueful smirk. "What's with all the inquiries?"

I shrugged my shoulders as we walked up her driveway. "Just standard curiosity," I responded walking over to my motorcycle – the poor thing was drenched. I slipped my leg over the side, turning to look at Penelope who was gnawing her two front teeth into her bottom lip.

"You can't ride your motorcycle home," she finally said.

I looked at the front and back wheel, expecting to find a flat, and then back at her. "Why not?"

"Because it's raining."

I realized with a smile what was going on. "It's like a three minute drive." Penelope continued to chew into her bottom, looking cross. "Fine, I'll walk home," I told her with a sigh, climbing off my motorcycle. "On one condition."

"I'll walk with you," she said before I could put down the condition.

"That's not it; you have to answer all my questions."

☼

After locking my bike up in Penelope's garage, we began making our way down the block to my house. The rain hadn't stopped but it had lightened somewhat. Penelope fiddled with her hands in front of her, eyes darting around everywhere as if she were searching for something.

"So," I began, thinking up all the things I wanted to know about her. "Let's talk about your father."

"Off limits." She didn't sound angry, but I could hear the warning note in her voice, so I dropped it.

"Alright, what about those art classes?"

"What about them?"

"What do you do in them?"

She was quiet, pondering over her answer, and then finally murmuring, "Mondays we work with paints, Tuesday is pottery, Wednesday is photography, Thursday is life drawing, and Friday is free style."

"And life drawing – you draw real life people."

"Its nudes, we sketch naked guys."

"Oh, that's interesting," I said unsurely.

Penelope let out a short laugh. "It's not that bad. The guys come from the colleges up state, so it's not like we see them around town or anything."

"Are you good at drawing naked people?"

"Next question."

"You can't skip the questions you don't like. That's not how this works. But because I'm nice I'll grant you three skips – you have one left."

"Oh, god, you're so gracious."

"You know what, fine. You have no skips left."

"Fine, I take it back."

"Yeah I thought so," I mumbled watching Penelope cross her arms over her chest angrily. I felt the urge to grab a hold of her and kiss her, and quickly looked away from her, before I did something stupid.

Like kiss her. Yeah, that'd be stupid.

The walk seemed much shorter with Penelope's company, and I had learned more about her. It wasn't a lot but, hey, at least it was something. Penelope stopped abruptly in the middle of my walkway, her eyes of blue and green darting to the sky and then back to look me in the eyes. "Alright," she said with a haughty smile. "You're welcome for walking you."

She turned to leave, but I quickly caught her arm. "Wait, Penelope. Let me drive you home." Fleeting images of some guy, or a group of men, taking Penelope and raping her on her walk home flew around in my head.

"That would defeat the whole purpose of me walking you home."

"It's dark out, Penelope. Just let me drive you home."

"It's not that dark, the walk is like, ten minutes."

"Fine, let me walk you home."

"Honestly, I'll be fine."

"You don't know that."

"Neither do you."

"Yeah, but you do, right? Just like you knew I shouldn't ride my motorcycle home?"

For a moment, emotions flooded Penelope's face, but as soon as they were there, they were gone. "That's different."

I sighed. "Just come inside for a bit and dry off."

She began gnawing into her bottom lip again, and as cute as it was, I wasn't giving in. "I can't," she finally said. "My mom will worry."

"Then call her."

Defeated, Penelope nodded her head and I watched with a winning satisfaction as she pulled her cellphone out of her bag and made the call. She explained to her mom that she was at my place, and then there were a few Okays and then she hung up.

"My mom's going to pick me up," she told me as I led her up the rest of the walkway. The front door was unlocked, and the lights were on in the living room and kitchen.

"There you are Pa – oh! Hello Penelope!" I was surprised to find my mom home already. This was something I had not anticipated. "Oh, god, you two must be freezing. Patrick show Penelope upstairs to the bathroom, I'll have Jessica get her a change of clothes." I made no efforts of moving, making my mom wave her hand at me. "Hurry along now."

I rolled my eyes before guiding Penelope up the stairs to the bathroom. "Sorry about that."

Penelope shrugged her small shoulders, an amused smile on her lips. "Maternal instincts, I guess."

I laughed lightly, opening the bathroom door and turning the light on. "Yeah, I guess."

Penelope walked into the bathroom, and I left her there to go change my own self, in my bedroom wondering what Jessica was going to put her in. Nothing would fit, I knew that. Jessica was pretty tall, around five six, but Penelope was much taller.

As I was getting dressed, my mom walked in, without knocking much to my anger. "So you and Penelope?" she said with a lopsided grin.

"We just went to the beach," I told her, though I wish it was Penelope and I. Dating. "As friends," I quickly added.

My mom eyed me. "Well, I got pizza, if you two want a slice."

"Pizza sounds lovely, Mrs. O'Connell." My mother and I both jumped and looked to the doorway where Penelope was standing in a pair of denim shorts, and a purple tee shirt. It was hanging off her shoulder, revealing her blue bathing suit and was mighty sexy.

"Great!" my mom said, regaining her composure faster than I. "Right this way."

I followed Penelope down the hallway to the kitchen, seating myself at the island and gesturing for Penelope to sit. She sat down across from me, and I stared at my mother, willing her to leave.

"Alright," she said breaking the awkward silence. "I'll just leave you two, then."

Penelope gave her small smile, while I got up and went over to the boxes of pizza. "There's," I peaked under the first box, "pepperoni and," I looked under the second one, "plain."

"Plain, please."

"Are you a vegetarian or something?" I asked as I placed the plate down in front of Penelope and sat down across from her.

"No," Penelope answered simply.

"Oh, so you just have something against pepperoni, then?"

"Is it a crime to not be in the mood for pepperoni?"

"I'm just curious."

"You seem awfully curious about a lot of things."

"That's because you're awfully mysterious." For a lapse in time, Penelope's mask fell and her embarrassment was evident, but as fast as it had fallen it was back up.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

The conversation fell after that to small chitchat about school, which wasn't a topic I welcomed warmly. It was the only conversation, however, that Penelope could keep going on her own, and that led me to believe she really cared for school. She probably got perfect grades, handed in her homework on time, and spent her Friday nights finishing the English assignment that was due the following week. And as much as that should have been a turn off, it only made me want her more.

When conversation died down again, I found myself staring at Penelope. I knew it was wrong to stare, but it was all I could do. I realized this would be the perfect time to kiss her. We'd spent the whole day together – almost like a date – and here we were sitting across from each other – it would be the perfect time to kiss her.

I decided I was going to kiss her, and found myself leaning into her – was she leaning too? Her eyes were staring directly into mine, and I realized then how painfully beautiful she really was.

I hesitated, and that was all that was needed. Her cell phone buzzed and it was like she'd been slapped out of a trance. She jumped back, pulling the device out of her lap, and I leaned back feeling defeated.

"My mom's here," she said standing up. The borrowed shorts were hanging slightly lopsided on her hips, too big for her thin frame, and the shirt had fallen to the side even more, revealing the top of her right breast.

I came back to myself abruptly, and got up, gesturing for Penelope to head out the door towards the foyer. The air was thick, suffocating, with awkwardness. Penelope walked out onto the wet porch, and then turned to me, a small smile on her lips. She didn't seem fazed at all, as if I hadn't been going in to kiss her in the kitchen.

I stood there, still reeling over the fact I had another chance to kiss her and I lost it, when Penelope leaned in close, close enough for me to smell the sea on her skin, and kissed me.

On the cheek.

But it didn't matter where it was because it shocked me. I was stunned. My cheek was tingling, and I thought I was going to faint. My mouth instantly went dry, and everything in my mind just stopped, and all I could think were jumbled notes – Penelope, lips, cheek.

"Thanks for today," she said leaning back for there to be a little more space between us. "And thanks for saving my life." She turned then, giving me one last smile, before prancing down the walkway towards the awaiting hybrid parked at the curb.

And when I did finally come back down to earth, long after Penelope had left, I had realized I was ready.

I was ready to make her mine forever.