"Come on! My car is this way," He says turning he back away from her.
She didn't move, he could feel that for sure.
Penny got comfortable around him at lunch; however, someone else was there with her. His behavior was checked by his sister. Now that they are alone, he could say and do whatever to her.
Her palms started to become moist, so she wiped them frantically on her pants. She managed to say to him, "It's okay. I don't mind walking back. I don't want to be a burden."
He turns around and walks back to her. Penny's heart begins to be erratically, as if it's going to burst out of her chest. She can't help back take some steps back, while her face is frozen in terror. Quentin stops once he realized what he did. The thing is he doesn't know what he did.
He was not a comforting presence for sure. He was hard, cold, and emotionless to the average viewer. He can only hope that she isn't average, "You are not a burden to me." He starts off slow, not moving from his spot on the sidewalk. "We are both going to the same place and we are pretty far from the place. I can tell that you are uncomfortable with my presence and I want to fix that."
Penny was a little hesitant. Okay, maybe more than just a little. She one hundred percent did not trust this man. She doesn't know him. The only things she knows are negatives. She knows about his mood swings that cause disruption in relationships. However, this is the first time she has heard him in a soft, calming tone. If she closed her eyes and heard those words without knowing who said them, she would feel safe and warm.
This is reality. She would open her eyes to a monster trying to manipulated her into feeling safe to only then pounce.
Quentin wasn't prepared for what she would say next, "I do not feel comfortable around you. Ever since I met you, I have been nothing but polite, calm, and pleasant, but you have been incredibly rude. I don't know what I did to you, but I'm sorry. It's not like I wanted this either, especially with you acting like this."
With getting that off her chest, she quickly turns around and walks in the opposite direction of Quentin. She doesn't really now how to get back to the apartment, but she can just hail a cab. Penny didn't expect for her husband to chase after her.
"Penny, wait! Let me explain." He yells, as he walks swiftly down the street. "Please, I'll drive you back and we can actually have a real conversation for the first time. After that, you get to call all the shots on what you want our relationship to be."
Penny pauses, still not looking at him. She takes a moment to think. She has a chance to have some power in a decision. But this could only be a chance to manipulate and hurt you. Penny turns around to look at him, right in his grass green eyes. He doesn't look like he wants to hurt you. He doesn't look like he was joking.
"Fine," Penny huffs out. "Don't talk to me until we get to your car."
She isn't up for any bullshit, Quinn thinks to himself. He barely knows the girl, but he really wants to. He was proud of her for being so vocal about her opinion of him. Again, he barely knows her, but he feels like this attitude isn't usual.
Penny, on the other hand, didn't know where her honesty and confidence came from. She was very pleased on how she stood up for herself. She is holding her ground for the first time in her life. Right now, she feels like a stranger in her familiar body. She knows the basics, what her favorites and least favorites are. However, she doesn't know her personality, how she would react to disappointment, to failure, to happiness. She doesn't know what she would do if she was successful, or angry, or in love.
Who am I?
She didn't have a moment to ponder more on her mental crisis, because now she has to face a physical one..with Quentin...in his car.
She slides into the passenger seat of the nice, sleek car. She didn't know much about cars and worth; but the way the car was kept up, it felt expensive. She puts on her seatbelt and he starts the car. They were both still silent. Penny, waiting for him to say something, and Quinn, figuring out how to say it all.
You know what, it will be so much easier if I come out and say the truth, he decides, as he pulls away from a street parking spot.
"Let me start off by saying that I am so sorry about how I treated you and acted around you from the first time we met. It was not fair to you when you are struggling through the same thing as me. I should have seen you as an ally rather than the enemy."
Quentin takes a second to breath, before going into the meat of the topic.
"Before I even heard about the marriage, I wasn't in a good place. I was being reckless, constantly irritated, and impulsive. At that time, I was, uh, well, getting with a lot of girls. I was in a weird moment where I had given up on dating and love, but a small part of me still wanted a chance to find that. You and the arranged marriage obviously ruined that, so I convinced myself to hate you. The more my family talk about you, the more irritated I became. It finally popped like a balloon, or something, that time I yelled at you.
"Now this is no excuse, and I am not using this to valid what I did, but I have ADHD. As an adult, I have better control over my actions, focus, and recklessness, but I still get really bad mood swings. Sadly, you were right in the middle of one of them.
"I am so sorry for everything that I have done to you. Recently, I have been seeing this woman and today she broke it off because she was moving. She has opened my eyes and made me realize how awful I have been to you. I barely know you, but you remind me a lot of her. I know you are a good person and know I want to get to know that person."
Quentin finished and a silence paused filled the car. He was suddenly nervous, like a middle school boy asking the prettiest girl to go to the dance with him. Like the little boy, he was nervous for her reaction and response. He no longer wants to be the bad guy in her eyes, a person that is going to hurt her. It is quite clear from the way she backs away or gets unusually scared and nervous around him that some man has hurt her in the past. He doesn't know how or what, but he is certainly not going to ask.
During this pause, Quentin just drummed on the steering wheel. His mind was ruining through thousands of scenarios of what she could say to him.
"How dare you!"
"I understand"
"You hurt me beyond repair"
"I'm in love with you"
The last one was very far fetched, but the idea of it made him feel better. It would make this whole situation a little wacky. As if they were just characters in a terrible paced romance novel.
But no, this is reality. He honestly expects a calm and honest answer from the young woman next to him.
Penny just thought of his words and process. The truth was she doesn't blame him for his actions. Every person reacts to a shocking revelation differently, based on there current situation. Penny saw the positives of the situation. She was kicked out of her home and got to move and live in New York for free. She didn't even get a chance to process everything. Only now is she facing the suffocating feeling of be overwhelmed; which in turn made her depressed.
Quentin reacted negatively at first because he was in that mood before they met. Now that he has had a chance to process everything going on, he feels better about it and is making an effort to improve their relationships.
Penny finally decided on her response when they pulled into the apartment parking garage. "I understand where you are coming from. You were used to freedom and then I came along and threaten that. You became defensive towards me. You do not understand though how much it hurt me when you yelled at me. I thought I left one situation back at home, but then I came face to face with you and I realized I never left."
Quentin really wants to know what happened to her. He wants to understand how his actions hurt her, how he can make it up to her. He wants to comfort- wait a second. His brain felt foggy for a second, almost overwhelmed. Not in the same way as he would if he was behind on a bunch of work. More like being overwhelmed with certain emotions he doesn't know.
He turned to look at her, face what she is going to say.
"You said earlier that I get to choose what our relationship is going to be. First of all, we are getting rid of the rules. No relationship whatsoever should have rules. Second of all, I would like our relationship to remain platonic and amicable. Meaning you can't get all pissy with me again or try to get into my pants. Lastly, it will not be forced. I will not run from you and I will try to not get scared, but you can't be on top of me all the time."
Penny thought long about what she said. She believes in her words and thinks that they could become a good pair of friends. She likes having everything in her power at the moment. She just hopes that she could trust him with her conditions, her perfectly reasonable conditions.
"This sounds great, Penny," Quentin replied. "I'm just happy that we get to start over."
Quentin holds out his hand and continues, "Hello, my name is Quentin Romano, you can call be Quinn. And would you look at that, I am your husband."
Penny exhaled some air from her nose, just laughing at the corny way he introduced himself. She loved the light, playful tone of his voice. It reminded her of the rest of his family. She returns the handshake and says, "Nice to meet you, husband. My name is Penelope Marshall, or you can call me Penny. Now that I am your wife, I would like you to know that I can not cook and will never make you a sandwich."
Quentin is happy that she is in a better mood, that she feels safe enough to joke around her. "It's okay, I don't mind cooking, we also have a maid."
Penny gave Quentin her first smile. It was just a polite smile were only the corners of her mouth lift and her tone becomes agreeable. This smile showed a little of her teeth, but her eyes light up like the night in the city.
Quentin's heart starts pounding really hard. He withdraws his hand, that is quickly becoming sweaty and exist the car. He waits for Penny to come to his side and they walk into the building with a new promise to each other.
***
DR was halfway across the country at this point. The day he received a message from his main suspect was the same day as Aubrey Romano visiting Penelope Marshall. He quickly contacted his company to arrange a flight to San Francisco. He quickly packed everything he had in the hotel room and was on a flight, first class the next day.
Immediately on the West Coast, he took his rental car to the Marshall family house. When knocking on the door, he was greeted by two complete strangers. A man opened the door, clearly wealthy and in his fifties.
The man opened the door to a man at least twenty years younger than him; however, in much worse shape than himself. He had long dirty blond hair pulled back into a messy low bun. The bun was actually a few miles pass messy. Strands were falling out of it and other parts were close to matted. A patchy beard covered his face that was about a half an inch long. His clothes were also very dirty, with his gray shirt having various, but subtle stains covering it. The most obvious feature was his dark eye circles and red eyes.
The man was a little nervous being around this man. The city was known for its high rates of homelessness and drug use. He worried for a second that this man was on drugs, or going through withdrawal. Then he looked closely at his appearance and saw nice shoes, a nice jacket, and a nice car behind him.
This young man in front of him is clearly going through something.
"Can I help you?"
"I am DR and I am currently investigating the murder of William Marshall. A lead led me back to his house," DR said, emotionless.
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you," The man said, ready to close the door. "Everything of his was sold or taken by the daughter. Everything in the house now, belongs to me."
"Okay," DR turned away from the door and walked back to his car. The man quickly shut the door and returned to his business, never to see the mystery man again.
DR slammed the door behind him, then slamming his hands against the steering wheel. "FUCK" he yelled to himself. He was hoping he would get somewhere with this lead, but it was only a waste of time. He takes three deep breathes, which did nothing to calm his overwhelming sense of dread and failure.
Ever since joining The Company, he has had a 100% closure rate. He has been able to solve, and kill, all the murders he comes across in his investigations.
Why is this one slipping away?
To drown his frustrations, he speeds away to a bar in the outskirts of the city. It was pretty run down, but at this point, he just needs a lot of stiff alcohol.
Behind the bar was a young woman, still in her late twenties. She asked him what he wanted to drink.
"Whatever is going to make me drunk the fastest."
The bartender quickly gets to work, grabbing a clear glass and pouring him some mystery liquid. Sliding the drink over to him, she couldn't help but comment, "So it's been that kind of day."
Comforted by her friendliness and overall lack of knowledge in his situation, he replies, "It's been that kind of month."
She smiles at him, and tend to another costumer.
He stays at the bar for a few hours, becoming absolutely batshit drunk. He was so close to falling out of his chair and blacking out on the floor. Taking advantage of the situation, a random bar goer claims to know him and helps him to a car. Not DR's car, but the strangers car.
DR, not knowing what is happening, goes along with everything before blacking out in the front seat of an unfamiliar car.