Kai woke up wrapped around Penelope. Her face was nuzzled into his chest and her leg was over his. His arms held her close and he was comfortable with her.
He ran his fingers through her tangled hair not expecting her to respond, but she started to wake up. He didn't know what to do so he pretended to be asleep.
Penelope woke up and looked up to Kai who was sleeping peacefully, or so she thought. She liked the feeling of him wrapped around her, but knew he probably wouldn't. She carefully got out of his grip. She moved her leg from on top of his and laid next to him looking at his peaceful face. She was grateful for him for sure.
She took a deep breath and looked at the tv that was playing Pinocchio. Kai opened his eyes. He didn't know what he expected. Part of him wanted her to just stay there in his arms, but that's be weird right?
"Good morning." He spoke looking to her.
"Good morning." She replied turning to him. She laid facing him. "Thank you for staying with me."
"Your welcome." He nodded lightly, his eyes a bit droopy from his tired state.
"Do you like Pinocchio?" She asked turning back to the TV.
"It's okay. Kind of weird though." Kai replied as she looked at the tv.
"Sometimes I wish people's noses would actually grow when they lie." Penelope looked at the movie.
"Why?" Kai asked turning to her.
"What do you mean why?" She asked confused. "I'd want to know if all that judgement was real."
"But what if it was true? Then you'd just be more disappointed." He replied.
"I don't know." She replied looking at the movie.
"It's like you want to be disappointed." Kai looked at her as she turned to him.
"No. I just want to know. I want to really know." She told him.
"You might say that but that's not what you really want." He shook his head.
"And how would you know what I really want?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows at him.
"You want to think that they wanted better for you. You want to think that your mom actually loved you or that your siblings weren't such assholes on purpose. They just were. There's nothing that will change that." He told her as she looked at him agitated and got out of bed.
"Screw you, Kai." She spoke as she went towards the bathroom.
"It's the truth. I'm sorry if it's hard to swallow." Kai told her as she got into the bathroom and closed the door.
She looked at the mirror angrily. Not because Kai was being an ass but because he was right. Was it bad of her to hope her life wasn't truly based on hatred? Couldn't she hope for something better? She decided to take a shower. Clean up after the sweat she was covered in from the theme park yesterday.
After cleaning up she got into a towel. She once again forgot that she didn't bring clothes along with her. She went out in her towel and walked past Kai to outside.
"Where are you going?" He asked confused.
"I need clothes. There's a gift shop downstairs." She told him as she went looked at him. Kai took a breath nodding lightly as he stood up.
"What are you doing?" Penelope asked holding her towel.
"I need clothes too, P." He spoke looking at her.
"P? Why P?" She asked as she tried to make it not awkward as she walked with only a towel.
"Why not, P." He asked looking at her with a smirk.
"I mean doesn't that automatically imply I can give you a nickname?" She asked looking at him.
"I have one. Kai." She told him. "And before you say you have one I know you don't like it. P is better." He explained as she nodded.
"You know I like your full name better." She told him as they got to the gift shop.
"Why it's gross." He replied as she let out a soft scoff. "What, is it bad I don't like it?"
"No it's not bad I just think it's better than just Kai. " She explained as she grabbed a shirt and shorts. "Or Mal." She shrugged lightly. She liked the sound of it.
Kai liked it too but he wouldn't admit it. "I don't know." He shrugged. Penelope rolled her eyes and looked at the underwear. She had no choice but to grab the Disney underwear.
"Disney undies. That's hot." Kai commented as she looked at him with squinted eyes.
"Grow up." She told him. "I can't wear the same ones from yesterday. I told you we should've brought clothes." She shook her head. "Don't you have to go find your own clothes?" She spoke putting her hand up and shooing him away.
He smirked as he walked to get his own change of clothes. Penelope got back up to the room on her own and got dressed. It wasn't long before Kai was dressed and ready too. She looked at his outfit confused. He was wearing bathing suit shorts and a long sleeve.
"Today is for the pool, duh." He spoke as she took a breath.
"I didn't know that." She sighed. "Thanks for the heads up." She spoke sarcastically.
"Your welcome." He replied as she rolled her eyes and went back downstairs.
She'd never went swimming before. She remembered one time when she was little she played with a hose with her dad but that was it.
She got downstairs to the gift shop and decided on a plain blue toned bohemian patterned tankini. There wasn't much to choose from so she decided that would be good compared to the other bikini and one piece option. She went into a room and put on the bathing suit and she grabbed a towel to go with it. She of course was wearing her beauty and the beast shades and she left her hair down.
She saw Kai looking at a magazine in the lobby and went over to him, wrapping the towel around her waist. He looked up to her and stood. "So they have four waterslides. One goes into the pool and the rest are mostly land. I think the best one is the pool one."
"Okay. Is the pool deep?" She asked curiously.
"Not all of it why? Can you not swim?" He asked curiously.
"I've never been in a pool before." She replied as they got outside.
"You're kidding." He spoke surprised. His family home had a pool in the backyard and he'd swam a lot to pass time in the prison world.
"Why would I be kidding?" Penelope replied as they got to the pool. There was two but the one with the slide was larger. Penelope put her stuff on a chair and took off her flip flops. She took off her towel and looked at Kai who took off the long sleeve shirt. She looked at him for a moment before turning away, awkwardly looking around at the rest of the area.
"Looking for something?" Kai asked raising his eyebrows at her.
"No just a little nervous. I'm not trying to drown today." She explained to him.
"I'll go first. That way I can bring you up if you're having trouble." He nodded lightly. They started walking up the stairs and Penelope noticed how his arms were slightly toned. She wondered if he worked out at all. He had to have a little bit.
She looked down at the steps as they got higher and when they got to the top Kai got on the slide. "Ready?" He asked as she nodded, slightly unsure as she looked over the side at how high they were. "Hey it's not bad. After you do it you'll see." He told her as she took a breath and looked at him.
"I know I'm waiting on you." She crossed her arms as he let out a soft breath shaking his head lightly. He smiled lightly at her. Was she really trying to cover up her nervousness? He thought it was funny. "Come on I want to get this over with." She spoke shooing him lightly as he got to the slide.
"Alright then." He spoke as he looked at her before shooting himself into the slide. Penelope could hear the echo of his "woo" as he went down. She looked at the slide nervously watching the water shoot down it. She looked over the side and saw Kai at the bottom.
"Come on! It feels nice!" He called out to her as she stood in front of the slide. She looked at it and sat down taking a deep breath.
"Alright it's just water." She spoke before grabbing the handle above and thrusting herself forward. She felt the water all around her and she kept her eyes closed worried at first, but she opened her eyes realizing it wasn't that bad.
Kai looked up at the tower and he didn't see her. He wondered if she had even gone. Out of nowhere he saw her shoot out of the slide. How could she just be quiet the whole time? He swam over to her and gave her a second before realizing she really didn't know what she was doing. He grabbed her waist lightly as he swam her to more shallow water pretty quickly. He felt a weird bump on her skin and wondered if it was the scar.
Penelope finally touched her feet to the bottom and she was able to breath. She took a breath and wiped her hair from her face. She was too worried about drowning that she didn't really freak out about Kai touching her bare skin.
"What'd you think?" He asked looking at her.
"Not bad." She replied. "But it kinda sucks when you can't swim. Also pools are weird." She added looking at the water.
Kai let out a soft chuckle. "It's literally just water how is that weird." He replied as she titled her head. The fact that it was basically a large bath without soap was what made it weird. "Yeah I guess I can see that. They're relaxing though. Especially if you know how to float." He spoke.
"Float?" Penelope asked. "Just by yourself?" She asked confused.
"Yeah like this." He spoke as he floated. Penelope watched and tried to but she didn't get it. Kai stood up looking at her struggle and he laughed lightly.
"Don't laugh I'm trying." She furrowed her brows lightly.
"Here I'll help you." He spoke as he walked over to her. "Just lay out and relax." He spoke as she leaned back and he put his hand under her back. He put his other hand under her mid thigh. Penelope was a bit tense at his touch. "You have to relax. Close your eyes." He told her as she looked to him and closed her eyes leaning her head in the water. She took a deep breath and relaxed her body.
Kai held her there for a moment noticing the scar he touched earlier. It was a long strip that was on the left side of her belly button. It was a bit bumpy meaning that she never got stitches or anything for it.
He looked at her face with her eyebrows furrowed lightly. He wondered what all she had to go through. Part of him was glad she got revenge for everything, honestly all of him was. She didn't seem like a bad person, she was just born into the wrong family.
He knew it all to well. The difference was he knew he was bad. He wondered what else there was to her. What else could she be that made her mom be such an ass?
He slowly started letting go of her to let her float. First her legs and then her back. She floated there lightly and a small smile appeared on her face.
"I'm doing it." She spoke softly as if to not stop herself from floating.
"Yeah." Kai replied looking at her smile as he flexed his jaw lightly looking down.
He didn't understand what it was. Why the hell did he want to care for her? It wasn't like she meant anything to him. She was just a person that got stuck here, just like him. His heart wanted to tell him something different then his head.
He wanted her not to suffer. She'd suffered every day of her life, he got that, because he suffered everyday for his. Having her here made that suffering a little more bearable. Of course it took him time to realize that but he really believed it. Especially now.