♤
Penny James was a lot of things, but a party girl was not one of them. Nothing repulsed her more than the idea of spending an entire evening listening to people pontificate about how great their lives are whilst doing their best to hide whatever trauma they were really experiencing. However, she was actually attending a party she liked. It was lowkey, honest and extremely welcoming much to her surprise. Finn had spent the whole time proudly introducing her to everyone as his girlfriend.
He had disappeared a while ago, leaving her to talk with his sister Ada about her views on communism. The two girls got on well, and quickly. Ada saw a lot of herself in Penny, instantly knowing that she was right for Finn. Penny found herself for the first time in her life actually forming a political opinion, even if it was painfully biased.
"Are you a feminist?" Ada asked and sipped her drink.
"Of course. Who the fuck isn't, and why the fuck aren't they? It angers me so much when women say that they aren't." Penny defiantly announced. "I still don't understand why men think that women are the inferior sex when they get a kick in the bollocks and then go and cry about it for like an hour."
Her comment caused Ada to snort her drink up her face with laughter. Penny tried her best not to giggle, but seeing the fizzy liquid drip from the end of Ada's nose sent them both into hysterics. The girls laughed so hard they almost formed a set of stomach muscles, the tears streaming ended up partially ruining Ada's makeup.
"Never catch me off guard like that again." Ada wheezed and wiped away her tears.
Unknowingly, the girls had caught the attention of everyone in the room. They hadn't realised that the party was so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.
"Everything okay ladies?" Polly asked demurely as she too wept internally.
Penny tried to mime what Ada had done as she continued to shake with silent laughter, but it was to no avail.
"I think you'd better keep your lovely girlfriend away from alcohol Finn." Polly snickered to herself as Penny slapped her own thigh.
Polly watched Finn as he simply gazed at Penny. Seeing her unbridled joy was better than any drug he'd ever taken, or any alcohol he could taste. When she laughed, tiny little creases appeared around the outside corner of her eye. They were only visible millimetres from her face, but he took great pride in knowing that they were they.
"Finn shut them up." Tommy nudged his younger brother as he prepared to deliver his speech.
Finn rolled his eyes and sat down next to his girlfriend, letting her interlink her arms with his left, whilst he was balancing a glass of wine and a cigarette in his right.
"Before we eat, I'd like to say a few words." Tommy announced.
Penny rested her chin on Finn's shoulder before erupting into hiccups. She did her best to suppress them, but Tommy repeatedly glanced out of the corner of his eye at her as she hiccuped every few seconds.
Once Tommy finished off his very short speech, Arthur took the opportunity to jump in and start talking.
"Tommy's offered me a way out. A new identity, start a new life for myself." Arthur revealed. "I've made a decision."
As everyone waited with baited breath to hear what Arthur's next move was, Finn gripped Penny's hand harder than ever before. He'd already lost John, and very nearly lost Arthur. The thought of losing Arthur properly made him churn inside.
"I ain't fucking going nowhere." Arthur smirked.
Finn deeply sighed and relaxed his hold on Penny's hand. Cheering ensued as Arthur proudly stood in front of his dearest family.
Penny zoned out of the conversation as Arthur instructed Tommy to take some time off. She took in her surroundings and as she did so, her smile dropped. She felt incredibly out of place.
Tommy's house was a grand and illustrious stately home that had every wooden panel adorned. Even the sofa she was sat on had some form of golden thread running through the embroidery. She thought about what Tommy would say if, god forbid, he ended up in her flat. It was a mouldy and sordid grotto in which most people wouldn't even think of boarding their dogs in. Thankfully she had the added safety net of Finn and Everly's flat, otherwise she'd be nothing more than common scum.
"Hello?" Finn asked for the fifth time as he waved his hand in front of Penny's stare.
"Hmm?" She hummed and finally looked away from the empty bottle of gin she was so intently staring at.
She'd been out of it for so long she hadn't even realised that the rest of the party had vanished into the dining room, leaving them as the only two left in the room.
"I've been doing that for ten minutes." He chuckled and over exaggerated.
"Fuck off." She swatted his arm.
"What's been going on inside that pretty little head of yours?" He asked before kissing her lips softly.
Penny sighed and let go of his hands, sitting up properly on the couch next to him. He started to panic as he assumed the worst of their relationship.
"Can I ask you something?" She carefully spoke.
"Depends what it is I suppose." His protective wall began to build its way up.
"Are you ever ashamed to be with me? Like, are you ever embarrassed to be seen with me?" She sighed.
"That's a joke, right?" Finn asked, deadpan.
Penny shaking her head in a sheepish way confirmed to him that she was in fact, telling the truth.
"Why the fuck would I be embarrassed to be seen with you?" He completely softened up as he sensed her lack of confidence.
Her gaze was averting his, so he scooped her head up by the cheeks and gently brushed a loose eyelash off her cheek with his thumb.
"Your brother lives in a fucking mansion and I have a mould patch the size of a loaf of bread on my ceiling." She argued.
"I'd take the mould over this." Finn gazed around the room judgementally.
"Are you mental?" Penny patronisingly laughed.
"I'd take the mould hole because it's where you are. Anywhere you are feels safe." He revealed and pecked her lips.
Penny deepened their kiss as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer.
"Sometimes I wonder what you see in me." She laughed to herself to hide the self deprecation.
"The whole fucking world Penny. Sometimes I wish you could see yourself the way I see you." He sighed.
As they kissed once more, Penny's brain bounced from one side of the room to the other. She had so much to say but didn't even know where to start.
"I wish I'd met your brother." She pulled away sharply from the kiss.
"What, John? He'd have fucking loved you." Finn smiled.
"You think that everyone loves me." Penny joked.
"Because they do, you just need to open your eyes to see it."
♤
a/n: i'm on a break from school now so hopefully i should be able to update a bit more! x