54. Chapter Fifty-Four
Percy
Stanley and Benson are singing a song that I don’t know the name of. Gianna and Mara are laughing about something. This entire lobby is echoing.
But Penelope has my hand. Her fingers are laced with mine.
“—two and a half years,” Stanley’s yelling, at the ceiling, at God. “Two and a half years of this man saying nothing and now look at him—”
“He looks like he’s going to pass out,” Rowan says when he looks at me.
“He looks great! Percy. You look great. You did the thing.”
Benson nods. “You did it.” He grabs us both by the shoulders. “About time, Deveroux.” He’s grinning, that full captain grin. “You had us doing arts and crafts for this.”
“The card was good,” I manage.
“Oh!” Gianna says, reaching for something in her bag. “This one is for you.” She hands Penelope an envelope. “I expect to see both of these cards on display at your wedding, and I’m going to need full details about how all of this happened.”
Melly adds, “All the details, Penelope.”
Penelope smiles at that. “Okay.”
Benson rolls his eyes. “Nobody is getting married yet, G. Let them just be. They just got together.” He reaches for Lucy, pulling her in. “If you want to talk about marriage, turn around.”
Gianna whips around and Benson is dropping to one knee. Lucy is laughing, and Gianna is shoving his head.
“When you finally propose, she isn’t going to take you seriously, idiot,” Gianna scoffs as Benson stands back up, dusting his hands. “And––” Gianna points at us. “They’ve been together the longest out of everyone here.”
That makes everyone quiet down.
“Right?” Gianna asks.
I look at Penelope. “Does my freshmen year count?”
She shrugs.
“Jesus,” Mara scoffs, and then covers her mouth with her hand. “Sorry.” She looks at Penelope. “You seriously have to tell us all the details.”
Stanley lets go of Aspen and steps in front of us. “Alright, alright. Let’s give the new couple some space.” He waves everyone away from us. He turns around and says to Penelope, “It’s like herding cats.”
Gianna and Mara make a sound.
The room slowly empties.
“Congrats,” the girls say. “Happy for you two.”
Gianna catches Penelope’s arm on the way past. “You’re coming on the trip.”
Penelope nods.
Melly grabs Blue’s hand and stops in front of Penelope. “If you need me to, I’ll call your mom and tell her I kidnapped you.” She grins. “If she gives you any trouble, you let me know.”
Penelope laughs as they head out.
Rowan is the last one to go. He turns around and says to me, “You deserve to be happy, man. I’m happy for you.”
I nod once. “Thanks, Laurens.”
The guys pile out. The girls complain about the cold and end up running out of sight.
When they’re gone, the lobby goes quiet, and it’s just her hand in mine and the sound of the heat kicking on somewhere.
I don’t know what happens now. That’s the thing.
I got her back, and I never once let myself think past it — never planned a single day on the other side of this, because I didn’t believe there’d be one.
So there’s just her, and me, and a whole stretch of nothing mapped out ahead of us, and for the first time in my life the nothing doesn’t scare me. I’m not waiting for it to get taken.
I look down at her, and she’s already looking up at me.
“Do you still have exams?” she asks. “I finished mine early.”
“Really? You’re done?”
She nods.
“Yeah, I actually need to study, but all my stuff is at Hawthorne.”
“Okay. Let’s go to your place.”
“Are you sure?” I ask. “They’re all going to be there.”
She leans in and kisses me. “Is that alright with you? Or do you still want to sneak me in at night?”
I stare into her eyes, wrap my arms around her, and smile. “I don’t know how much studying I can get done with you there, but yeah, let’s go.”
Everyone’s in the living room when we walk in. All of their heads turn at once.
“That was fast.”
“Yeah, what the hell are you two doing here?”
“Why are you here?”
“What’s going on?”
Penelope walks in and shrugs off her coat. “Percy needs to study.”
Stanley lifts his arms. “My man! You know he’s the only one in this house that has a 4.0?”
Penelope looks at me and grins.
The girls don’t believe it, scoffing at each other.
“Study with us,” Gianna says.
Lucy’s behind her, explaining something to Benson in a textbook.
“Penelope, do you need to study?”
“I’m done for the semester,” she replies as I walk to the hallway.
“Oh, yeah. Duh. Sorry, I forgot,” Gianna says, turning back to her textbook.
Melly looks over. “Did you call your mom yet?”
Penelope looks at me. “No, not yet.”
I walk towards the hall, pulling Penelope by her hand. She follows me around the corner, and I grab her face and kiss her. She kisses me back, breathless.
“I need to call my mom,” she whispers.
I nod. “Okay.”
“Will you stay in the room with me?”
“Yes.” I kiss her again.
Stanley walks into the hall with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Please,” he says with his hands up. “Don’t let me interrupt.” Then he walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.
I lean my forehead on Penelope’s while she chuckles. I take her hand and pull her down the hall to my room. I shut the door behind us, and the house goes muffled.
She stops in the middle of my room with her phone in both hands. I can see the hesitation on her face when she looks down at her mother’s number.
“You okay?” I ask, walking over to her.
She sits on the edge of my bed and nods. “I’m fine.” Then she sighs. “I just have to –– she’s not going to love the Christmas thing. I’ve avoided holidays at home for a while, and she thinks I’m already on the road.”
She shows me the text message on her screen.
Drive safe. Love you.
I don’t know her mother. I’ve never met her, never heard her voice, only ever heard the things Penelope has said about her in passing. But I can see Penelope’s shoulders sitting up around her ears, so I put my hand on the small of her back, and I don’t say anything.
“Okay,” she says. She hits call and puts it to her ear.
It rings once.
“Mom. Hi.”
Penelope stands and walks across the room.
“Everything’s okay.” She pauses. “No, I’m not. That’s why I’m calling.”
Penelope turns to look at me.
“So,” She takes a breath. “I’m not coming home for Christmas.”
Penelope’s jaw sets.
“I know I did.” She stares at me. “I know. But I’m not coming.” This time, it’s a longer pause. She closes her eyes. “It’s not about the dinner. I’m staying because I have a boyfriend. And I want to spend it with him.”
Boyfriend.
Her eyes find mine, almost like she’s stunned herself with the word. And I realize that I hadn’t asked the question when I had the opportunity to.
Penelope’s eyes drop to the ground, taking in whatever her mother’s saying to her. I watch her, but I don’t hear a word coming from the phone because my mind starts running through scenarios of how I’m going to officially ask her to be my girlfriend.
I try to think of what would be appropriate now that she’s said the word out loud.
I’ve seen the guys do too many things, and none I have the balls for.
Benson drops on one knee at least once a day.
Blue threw a puck over the boards to Melly.
Stanley hopped on a plane to ask permission to date the coach’s daughter.
And here I am, watching the girl I’ve loved for years tell her mother that we’re official before I ever fucking realized that we aren’t, and that we never were.
Shit.
She glances at me again.
“He––” She looks at me. “Yeah. He does.” She grins.
She listens. Her eyes go bright. “I haven’t. No. Not in a long time. You could hear that?”
Whatever her mother says next, Penelope lets out a small breath of a laugh, and I can see the surprise in her face.
“Okay,” she says. “Okay. I’ll — yeah.” Then, a little wary, “What?”
She lowers the phone a fraction and looks at me, and there’s the smallest smile fighting onto her mouth.
“She wants to see a picture of you,” she says.
She points her phone at me, but I reach for her arm and pull her to me. I wrap my arms around her and whisper, “Take it with me.”
She looks up at me for a moment and then turns her camera to selfie mode. She leans her head on my chest and holds the phone up. I look at her in the camera as she smiles. I smile, too. She takes the picture and then another one. I grab her face and kiss her.
She trots away from me, putting the phone back to her ear.
“I just sent it. Did you get it?”
There’s a pause on the line. And then something I can’t hear that makes Penelope’s shoulders drop a few inches.
“Yeah,” she says. “He is. Okay. I love you too. Bye, Mom.”
She hangs up and turns around. “That,” she says, “went nothing like I thought it would.”
“Yeah?”
“She asked if you make me happy.” She turns to look at me, and there’s a wonder in it she’s not bothering to hide. “She’s never asked me that. About anything. In my life.”
I don’t have words for the thing sitting in my chest. A mother who’s never once asked, asking now, because of me — because Penelope said my name to her like I’m someone.
So I do the only thing I know how to do with a feeling this big.
I reach for her. I kiss her softly. Then she grabs the back of my neck, pulls me in, and kisses me harder.
When our tongues meet, I lose every bit of my self-control.
We end up on my bed, my body hovering over hers.
“Do I make you happy?” I whisper against her lips, afraid to hear the answer. The last I knew, I didn’t.
She nods. “Of course, Pers. I love you.”
I kiss her hard, happy to hear it.
She’s taking my shirt off and yanking hers off.
Then she’s reaching for my nightstand where the condoms are.
I’m ripping it open and sliding it on. She looks into my eyes, and everything else fades away.
It’s just me and her. I thrust into her while keeping her lips between my teeth.
She breathes heavily, and I mask the sound with my mouth.
I watch her fall apart under my hand.
“Penelope,” I whisper against her cheek.
She inhales, opening her eyes to look at me.