Popsicles

Chapter 10- Kyle

Tonight was the night of the concert, and lets just say Kyle’s room was filled with clothing. He had been trying to find something to wear all day, and every five seconds he was fixing his hair. He had to make this date perfect, to make a good impression on Penny. He picked up his phone and stared at the text Penny had sent him. It said “I’ll go to the concert with you. Can’t wait!” 

He ended up wearing a t-shirt with the band’s faces on it, and some jeans. He pushed his light brown hair to one side, grabbed his phone, and jumped down the stairs. He said goodbye to his mom, and proceeded to his old pick up truck. He inserted the key as the ignition started up. He pulled out onto the long road, which led him to Penny’s house. 

He knocked on Penny’s door, and was immediately encountered by Penny’s mom. “Hello dear!” Penny’s mom exclaimed. “Come in! You must be Kyle.” Kyle smiled and nodded his head. 

“Yes ma’am.” Kyle said politely. He might as well be polite to Penny’s mom, especially since his dad almost killed Penny. “I’m glad I’ll be able to catch up with Penny.” Penny’s mom nodded her head.

“She was a bit nervous at first, but I think she will be fine. Wait, where is Penny?” Penny’s mom said. She yelled for Penny to come downstairs and Penny replied with “I’M COMING MOM GOSH!”

“Teenagers these days. At least you’re a polite young man.” Penny’s mom said. Kyle scratched his head, and nodded nervously. 

“Sorry if she’s boring you. It’s her job.” Penny said shyly, clutching her brown, leather purse. Kyle’s jaw dropped, because this was the most beautiful he had ever seen Penny. Her face was nude, consisting of no makeup whatsoever. Her blonde hair laid on her shoulders perfectly, and Kyle had noticed she didn’t curl or straighten her hair at all. She wore a plain black shirt, because she didn’t know the band that well or their music. She paired it with some regular capri jeans, apparently Penny hated shorts that were too short. 

“Should we get going?” Kyle asked, snapping out of his trance. Penny nodded, slinging her bag over her shoulder. As the two proceeded out the door, Penny’s mom grabbed Penny and whispered into her ear. 

“He’s a keeper. Don’t have too much fun.” Her mother said, causing Penny to choke on her own spit. 

“Mom!” Penny exclaimed, laughing. Kyle furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but continued walking out the door. 

“What was that about?” Kyle asked, chuckling a bit. Penny shook her head, and looked down at her shoes as she took tiny steps. She suddenly became more interesting in looking at her feet walk, and tripped as she stepped over the curb to Kyle’s car. As she began to fall, she caught herself while Kyle put his hand on her back to help her balance.

“Thanks.” She said, her face not turning one shade of red. Penny didn’t mind tripping around Kyle, she was more worried about the things that Kyle could do to her. Her face was completely pale. Maybe that’s why she didn’t put on makeup. Maybe her face makeup would be too dark for her pale face that had been caused by one harmless teenage boy. 

“No problem.” Kyle said. As Penny was about to open up the car door, Kyle snuck up behind her and opened it. Penny jumped slightly and her hands shook lightly. She was afraid of Kyle. “Penny, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Penny said, putting on a fake smile. Kyle knew that almost all of Penny’s smiles were fake. Back in middle school, Penny’s smiles were true and real. Her teeth would always show, and her tiny dimples would appear. The smile Kyle just witnessed was nothing close to that. Her smile would consist of no teeth showing, no dimples, and a simple smirk. Her smile was lifeless, just like how she’s been feeling since the incident occurred. 

“Penny, are you afraid?” Kyle asked, his heart slowly breaking. 

“I said I’m fine Kyle.” Penny said, sitting down in the passenger seat. Kyle nodded his head, dropping the conversation. He hopped into his seat and started up the car. After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Penny finally spoke.

“Sorry I look awful.” She said, looking at Kyle as he stared at the grey road in front of them. Kyle looked back at Penny and his eyes widened. 

“What do you mean? You look grea- beautiful.” Kyle admitted. He might as well call the girl beautiful, maybe he’d see that genuine smile of hers. Penny smiled at Kyle, but still not that genuine smile. It really bothered him, and it bothered him to the point where he had to mention it. “Why do you smile like that?” 

“Because it’s my smile?” Penny said, giggling. 

“No, I mean, you used to have a different smile.” Kyle said, mentally slapping himself. He sounded so stupid and weird.

“I did?”

“You used to have a smile that showed your dimples and your teeth. It was cute.” Kyle said, still slapping himself inside his mind. 

“Thanks. I didn’t know it changed.” Penny said, her face still pale as the moon. After another thirty minutes of sitting in the car, they finally arrived to the stadium. Kyle was extremely excited, his favorite thing in the world was going to concerts. But having Penny there with him made it ten times better.

As they walked into the concert hall, they amount of people made it loud. It also didn’t help that the room was small and echoed a lot. It had bothered Penny, since she didn’t like loud crowds, or lots of people. Whenever Penny looked around, she felt as if every person there was out to get her. They all looked liked criminals to her.

Penny and Kyle sat down in their designated seats, which were right above the stage. Penny and Kyle both took out their phones, checking their texts and social media websites. They had some chit chat, but never got a real conversation going. Suddenly, Penny looked up at Kyle randomly.

“Kyle, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for kicking you out of the popsicle shop, and I’m sorry for yelling at you in front of your brother. I’m sorry for thinking you were just like your dad, which I’m guessing you already figured out that I was thinking that.” Penny randomly said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry.” 

“Penny, you did nothing wrong. Nothing was your fault.” Kyle said, lifting Penny’s chin to look him in the eyes. “Crazy experiences make us do crazy things.”

“And make us crazy people.” Penny said, which left Kyle unexplainably confused. Did what his dad do make her change her ways permanently? Suddenly, Kyle’s hand met Penny’s. Kyle’s stomach filled with butterflies, as did with Penny. 

Penny’s old smile had appeared on her face, and her skin went from pale to full of life. With Kyle’s touch, Penny felt as if she had been risen from the dead and resurrected from her terrible past. Penny’s heart was slowly fixing itself with Kyle’s touch, but his touch did nothing to her thoughts. 

Penny was still terribly scarred and couldn’t get the memories out of her head. And there was no way that would happen with Kyle. Penny didn’t care though. As long as her broken heart was fixed, who cared about her thoughts that were lurking about in her brain? The heart is more important than the brain, not only because it pumps blood through your body, but because it beats harder when you were near someone you truly loved. 

And Penny only got that type of beating in her heart with Kyle. And man, did she love that feeling.