My Calamity

Like all good things in life, lying on the floor with Penelope, ended too quickly. But good things always end too quickly, I'd like to think. Instead of it being a friend, or a house maid for that matter, that interrupted us, it was the promise of food on the other side of the front door.

"I have to get it," Penelope whispered from underneath me. I kissed along her jaw, ignoring her. She giggled. "He'll leave," she reasoned, craning her neck away from me. I sighed, and sat up away from her. "I'll be back in a moment," she said as she slid out from under me.

I took one look at her, still clad in a bikini and a v-neck, and stood up. "I'll get it," I said heading towards the door.

She nodded her head as if she'd read my mind and understood my reasoning. "The money's on the counter." I nodded before leaving. I took my time walking to the front door – the guy had interrupted me, he could wait out there all night for all I cared – and even stopped to look at a few of the pictures on the wall.

When I pulled open the door, he was turning away about to leave. He pivoted on his heel at the sound of the door, and his look immediately turned to surprise. "Penelope Reid?"

I nodded my head, and handed him the cash, keeping the glare on my face. He handed me the bag of food, and stood there staring at me, until I closed the door in his face, and headed back. Penelope was in the kitchen when I returned, filling glasses with coke.

"Would you like to eat in here?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied shortly, sitting down at the island. I set down the bag, and took out the two tin containers of food, spaghetti, actually. Penelope slid a fork over to me, and then took her food, opening it and digging in without any hesitation. I smiled at her before beginning to eat myself.

I didn't eat much for I couldn't help but stare at Penelope. There was just something about her. I wanted to watch her do everything. I wanted to be able to recall the way her lips moved when she chewed, more of a munch actually. I wanted to be able to look back on this, twenty years from now, and remember everything about her. And it was weird, because I've never wanted this with any other girl in my life, just Penelope. I'll never really know what it was about Penelope that made me feel this way, she wasn't atypical, or something you wouldn't see every day. She was just a normal girl, and I was just a normal boy, but somehow I'd fallen in love with her and I didn't know what to do with that. What she'd do with that.

"Why are you staring at me?" Penelope asked finally, breaking me out of my thoughts.

My face contorted with surprise, but I really shouldn't have been. Penelope wasn't really one for boundaries, the make out session had proved that, but I had yet to grow accustom to it. "Hm?" I questioned a bit embarrassedly.

She shot me a look, a mocking look at that, but didn't say anything further, and I thanked her for that even if I didn't word it. She put the lid back on her food when she was full, long after I had stopped eating, and then put in the fridge. She stretched like a cat, the shirt rising along her belly, and I don't know why but I felt a new wave of lust for her.

It was odd because I'd had her, I'd had her on the floor a moment ago – held her in my arms, kissed her, and had my way – but it felt like none of that had happened. I felt like I'd never touched her, never seen her in a bathing suit before. For a moment, it felt like I was just a dorky teen getting his first glimpse at a Victoria's Secret catalog.

I'd decided I hated what Penelope was doing to me.

"Wanna' watch a movie?" she asked me when she turned back, a small smile on her pink lips.

I was flustered. "Yeah, sure."

She gave me this look that I swear said she knew exactly what she was doing to me, and then walked off into the other room. I sat there for a moment, trying to gather myself, and then followed after. When I walked in, she was crouching in front of the television, searching for a DVD.

"What do you wanna' watch?"

"I don't care," I answered as I flopped down on one of the couches. She looked over her shoulder, a retort hot on her tongue, but I beat her to it, "Yeah, that doesn't really help. I know." She lowered her eyes into a glare, and then continued flipping through DVDs.

"Well, is there a certain genre you want?" she asked finally.

"Not really. I don't mind. Put on your favorite."

"My favorite?" she whispered to herself, cocking her head to the right. I smiled at the sight, but didn't say anything. She searched a while longer, and then stood up, turning to face me. I couldn't see the movie because she was pressing it against her stomach, and this only made me all the more curious. "You're going to laugh," she said seriously.

"I promise I won't."

"Swear?"

"Cross my heart."

"You can't judge me either."

"I promise not too."

"Alright," she said as she turned away, and took the DVD out of its case, placing it on the tray to go into DVD player. The screen turned a bright blue momentarily, and then a darker blue with a disk in the corner as it read the movie.

Penelope picked up the remote control, and sat down on the edge of the couch, hitting menu when the trailers began to play. A very young Mandy Moore lit up the screen, with a short spiky hair and everything. I knew of one movie that Mandy Moore had been in when she was young, and that was A Walk to Remember, and I was positive that this wasn't it.

That was proved when I noticed on the left side of screen the title, How to Deal. She hit play, and the movie began, and I became keenly aware of my surroundings, objectively Penelope.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, how I was to execute getting her in my arms. The yawn, possibly? Forget the subtleties and go for it? Whoever said being a girl was hard, never encountered a situation like this.

And as if Penelope had read my mind, she slid back into my arms, just like I wanted her to. She tucked her knees up to her chest, and rested her head on my chest. Instinctively, I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her in even closer.

"Patrick?" she whispered, staring at the movie as it began to play.

"Yeah?" I questioned quietly. She didn't answer, just tilted her head up and looked at me, but I guess that was answer enough. So I gave her smile to let her know I understood that I understood perfectly.