penelope
the air all of a sudden seemed thicker around the two of them. a shift as such, penelope felt secure with him. john felt safe to be whoever he wanted around her, they felt good - to say the least.
and they were falling in love, quickly, with no braking in sight.
moving on from the conversation in her living room they walked into the kitchen to get something to eat.
"what time is it?" penelope asked as she pulled out a box of chocolates from one of the cupboards and placed them on the table in front of john.
"nearly half eleven, you tired?" he replied picking a piece of chocolate out of the box.
"not yet i don't think," she spoke back also eating some chocolate.
"what are you doing tomorrow?"
"i think i'm going to take carly to the carnival, you remember carly from the book shop yeah?"
"oh yeah, my aunt took some cookies down today for the bake sale," john watched penelope as she ate the chocolate and couldn't help but think she looked adorable and almost childlike with her rosy cheeks and wide eyes.
"you can come tomorrow if you like? carly won't mind, and she can be a handful at times," penelope chuckled at the thought of having to handle the little girl on her own.
"yeah it'll be nice." john replied already looking forward to the day ahead of them.
"we can go to yours in the morning for you to get changed and then pick her up?" penelope asked as they finished with the chocolate and moved it to the side.
"yeah sounds good, i look forward to it," john smiled cheesily.
penelope smiled back, they sat closely at the table, elbows touching and faces near.
"i think we should probably go to bed soon so we won't be too tired tomorrow, carly will have us running all over that fair," penelope chuckled.
john nodded and stood up from his chair and offered a hand to penelope who took it pulling herself up. john started walked down the hallway to the living room until penelope called out his name, he turned towards her and she held a confused expression on her face as she stood in the doorway of her bedroom, "stay in here with me," she nodded her head towards the bedroom and walked in leaving john awkwardly standing in the entrance to the living room. he soon gathered himself and walked into her bedroom.
she turned and smiled sweetly at him, she stood in front of her mirror and shook off her cardigan and threw it to the corner of her room. john watched her every move, almost as if he were in a trance. she looked nearly angelic, the nightdress she wore wasn't something flashy, it ended just at her knees and had thin straps on her arms, the neckline was square not daring to show more than her collarbone which had her gold chain resting against. her legs looked long whilst wearing it and the colour made her eyes seem brighter.
she turned on the lamp and asked john to turn off the light.
"good god pen," he whispered,
she turned to face him, "what?"
"oh, uh you uh, nothing," he stuttered, suddenly feeling nervous in her presence. penelope raised her eyebrows in amusement as she crawled into bed, moving all the way over to one side and patting the space beside her,
"well are you coming?"
john walked over to her and slid into the sheets after flipping the light switch, he felt awkward to say the least. this was the first time he'd ever slept in a girls bed without anything happening. he'd never stayed the night with a girl, he would usually do the deed and leave, and he didn't know what to do.
penelope turned on her side to face john as he did the same, "what's wrong?" she asked noticing his stiffness and awkwardness lying next to her.
he let out a nervous chuckle and replied, "i guess i'm just not used to this."
"i thought you spent the night with plenty of girls," she joked.
john feeling embarrassed looked away from her eyes, "i mean, i used to spend a lot of time with girls but not like this."
"what do you mean?" she questioned shuffling around in the bed to talk to him better, she moved her arm to prop her head up on her pillow so she was now looking down onto john. he moved to lie on his back and stare at her ceiling.
"excuse the way i'm gonna word this but, i'd fuck them, and leave. it was the way i liked it and the way they liked it," john nervously tapped his fingers on his chest.
"oh," she replied suddenly feeling like she wasn't what he wanted, and she sure as hell wasn't going to give him that yet. she had no other words to say.
"but pen, i care about you. that's what's different," he moved his head slightly to look up at her, "i want you, in ways that i've never wanted anybody. of course you're beautiful and i'm like heavily attracted to you, but i get a different and better kind of high off of just talking to you than i ever did being with those girls."
"why me?" she whispered causing shivers to run down johns spine.
"what do you mean?" he replied.
"i'm nothing special. i'm just an awkward girl you met at a book shop, surely you had girls throwing themselves all over you at the club," this was something that had been playing on her mind since they began spending time together.
"penelope, you're so special. the whole thing that intrigued me with you was that you didn't throw yourself at me. you didn't judge me," he propped himself up to mirror her position and faced her, "you have to believe me when i say that those girls at the club were nothing more than a distraction. i was usually drunk and i needed something to take the pain away even if only for an hour or so."
"john you don't have to explain that to m-" but he cut her off placing a finger to her lips.
"penelope, i'm learning with you, how to do this, all of this, and i've got a lot to learn i know that but, i'm ready to do it. its what i want. you're what i want, and i'm all yours if you'll take me."
a smile played on penelopes lips as she moved his hand from her mouth and intertwined their fingers, "only if you'll take me."
he leaned forward and left a small kiss on her mouth, "of course."
"so you've never had feelings for anyone before?" penelope continued questioning.
"not at all, i would say perhaps it's because i've never allowed to give myself time to get to know anyone but knowing what i do now, knowing you, i'm thinking maybe if fate is so much as slightly real, i was subconsciously waiting for someone - waiting for you." penelope blushed at his cheesy words. "have you?"
"i guess i've always wanted to be in love so badly, that i've taken interest in the wrong guys but lucky for me i've never taken it further than a few conversations," she nervously laughed. "i realised that looking for something with someone doesn't work, and you find what you never knew you needed in the most unexpected places. in a bookshop for example," she joked.
john stared at her with a goofy smile on his face from her words.
"you have no idea what you're doing to me penelope."
penelope bit her lip into her smile making johns eyes widen and he soon brought his hand up to her mouth and brushed over her lip to make her release it from her teeth, "don't do that, you're making me crazy."
penelope pulled johns hand to her mouth and kissed it, she then moved his arm to wrap around her waist in which he was quick to pull her closer to him and he wasted no time connecting their lips. her hand moved to rest on top of his arm giving john goosebumps all over. he pulled away and said, "let's sleep now, carly waits for no one."
penelope grinned toothily and leaned over him to turn off the lamp making john lose his grip on her waist. when she lay back down she faced away from him and she could feel johns arm hovering wondering whether this was a good thing to do or not, so in response to his silence she grabbed his arm and wrapped it around herself placing a hand on top of his where it rested on her stomach.
it's safe to say both parties fell to sleep with massive smiles on their faces.