My Calamity

I was surprised she had admitted it.

All along, I had known she was afraid. I knew there was something, something that happened to her that made her apprehensive towards the male species. It made sense now, how she wouldn't let anything other friendship come between us, but why? I couldn't help but wonder what had made her this way.

I didn't ask her though, because I didn't want to ruin this moment. I didn't think anything could ruin this moment, but I wasn't taking any chances. For the moment, I had her, and I wasn't going to let anything take her away – especially something as small as a slip of the tongue.

I turned to look at her. I wanted to tell her how beautiful she was but I couldn't bring my voice box to work. So I just stared at her. She turned to look at me then, just like I wanted her too, and I stared into her eyes. Her freckles had seemingly disappeared, and though she did look beautiful dolled up in makeup, she didn't look like my Penelope.

"We should go," she whispered, her lips forming each word slowly. I guess my mind had switched to unresponsive, because I just stared at her. She smiled, this small, meaningful smile, and stood up. The place where her fingers had been immediately went cold. She offered me her hands, and I let her pull me to my feet.

She cocked her head to the left. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," I stuttered. "I'm fine." I looked down to where my jacket had fallen off her shoulders, and then furrowed my eyebrows at her manicured toes. "Where are your shoes?"

I heard her laugh, and I looked back up to see her freckle-less cheeks turn a pink color. "I threw them in the ocean."

"You did what?" She gave me a big grin. Admittedly, it was kind of hot. "Why would you do that?" Despite the serious question, I found myself laughing at her.

"I don't know," she answered honestly, giggling herself.

I shook my head. "Well, I guess we'll have to find them."

She turned away from me, and looked out into the sea. "They're long gone now," she whispered. "Lost at sea."

"Do you know how far you threw them?"

Penelope turned her head to look at me and then back to the ocean. She began trenching into the water, stopping when it reached the length of her dress. "Around here," she answered, turning around to face me. "I think."

The sea breeze whipped her hair around so it looked like a red tornado. Her eyes were big, and bright under the night sky, and I wanted nothing more then to walk up to her and kiss her.

I sighed and shook my head before slipping out of my shoes and socks and trudging into the water after her. The water was colder then I had expected, even in a pair of slacks, and I could only imagine how it felt to Penelope.

When I was at arm's length, I noticed the goosebumps covering her arms, and resisted the urge to pull her into my arms. "You take that side," I said pointing to the left. "And I'll take this side."

She nodded her head, an easy smile on her lips like she wasn't freezing. She almost had me believing it. Without a word, she began wading through the water, her left hand holding the skirt of her dress up as not to get it wet.

The dress was already quite short for Penelope, but with her holding it, it gave an even better view to her pale legs. Needless to say, the dress did wonders for her image.

Shaking my head of all thoughts, I began gliding through the water, brushing my feet against the surface, searching for anything hard. We spent the next five minutes in content silence searching for her shoes. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why she had thrown them in the ocean in the first place. Blind rage maybe?

I was in the midst of bending over; having found something, when there was a momentary pressure on my back and then I was hurtling into the water. I resurfaced a second later to find a laughing Penelope.

"Oh, that, was, great," she said between giggles, bracing herself against her knees.

I stood up, and untucked my sopping wet button up. "You think that's funny?" I asked, walking closer to her. Panic registered on her face, and then she started backing up.

She put her hands up, palms outwards. "Now, Patrick," she reasoned, looking left and right. "We can talk this over." I shook my head, moving in closer. She analyzed the space between us and then took off running through the water. "Patrick, this dress is dry-clean –," her words were cut off by a scream as I lunged at her, pushing us both into the water.

We resurfaced a moment later, me laughing, Penelope pouting. "It's not funny," she snapped, though I could see the laughter in her eyes.

Once I could breathe again, I said, "We really need to find your shoes and get back."

Penelope nodded her head, and turned to go back to her side, but then she turned back, quick as a snake, and pushed me back into the water. "You deserved that," she said as she waded through the water back to her spot. I watched her for a moment, wondering how to retaliate, and then followed after her and scooped her into my arms, bridal style.

Her eyes shot open wide, mouth forming a perfectly shaped 'O'. "You don't want to play this game with me, Penelope," I told her honestly, treading out towards the deeper end.

"And if I do?"

I looked down at her then, my beautiful, beautiful Penelope, and I wondered in the end, would she break my heart?