Even before her phone rang, Penny had seen the pictures. There were dozens of pictures all over the internet about Dorian making out with a stranger before going on a taxi together. The world loved a new gossip and many didn't even fully understand what those photos meant.
Penny knew. She knew exactly what that woman meant and what they did after kissing in a crowded bar before Dorian even called her. It was obvious what he wanted to ask from Penny but she wasn't going to agree to any of his requests.
No, she wasn't going to ask Isabel to answer the cheater's calls, let alone forgive him. No, she wasn't going to say that it was just a mistake and that everything would alright in a day or two. And she definitely wasn't going to take Dorian's side, not when she was so incredibly disappointed in him.
"I messed up," was the first thing he said when she accepted the call. "I messed up real bad. Oh my god, I cheated on Bella. She will never forgive me! You have to know that I never meant for this to happen and that it meant nothing. I never wanted to hurt her. You believe me, right?"
Sighing, Penny tried to find words to say but it was hard. This was probably her only shot to make him realize that cheating Isabel wasn't something he could fix easily. If she started to scream at him about what a horrible man he was, Dorian would just hang up and call Isabel non-stop and beg for forgiveness which would help no one.
"I know you didn't want to hurt her but the fact is that you did. And telling her that it meant nothing means absolutely nothing to her right now so keep your words to yourself and leave her alone," Penny could feel her voice shaking and realized that she was even more affected by the situation than she realized.
"I'm not gonna tell you all the reasons why cheating is wrong because you should know that by now. So I'm just telling you to leave her alone and give her space until she comes to you. Don't send her flowers and chocolate or anything because it would just seem like you're impatient and are trying to buy her forgiveness. Gifts mean nothing when your heart is broken."
She could hear Dorian mumbling something on the phone while sounding like he was holding back tears but couldn't hear what he was saying. Patiently, she waited until he got control over himself and was ready to talk again, this time with a calmer voice.
Although she always felt like dying whenever her friends felt bad, she couldn't get herself to pity the man. Despite her own history with one-night-stands and casual dating, she had never cheated anyone and it was hard to imagine for her to forgive a man if someone did that to her.
Even imagining Noah hurting her like this made her feel like throwing up and the pain was unbearable. Of course she trusted him but if he ever hurt her like this, he would be out of her life for good. Now poor Isabel had to go through all that. Penny just hoped that Dorian understood why she couldn't be on his side on this. Isabel was the victim here, not him.
Even though she was almost sure about the fact that Isabel wasn't alone right now, the least she could do was to call her. Hell, she should apologize to Isabel for introducing Dorian to her! If she had known that he would do something like that, she wouldn't have even wanted him to her birthday party. But no one thought their friend would do something like this, right?
"When she called me she was crying and screaming to me in Spanish but I didn't understand it. She tried to teach me but I was such a bad student. Bella never gave up on me and she always told me to try again and had enough patience to teach me some things over ten times. Do you think she's gonna give up on me this time?"
"I don't know," she said honestly even though she doubted that a strong woman like Isabel could easily just forgive and forget someone cheating on her.
"What about you? If you were her, could you forgive me?" For some reason, Penny's heart ached for him just a little bit.
It wasn't because cheating should be forgiven but because it truly sounded like he had just understood that the woman he loved might not ever want to see him again. Yes, it was his own fault and she had always been a big believer of karma but at least he was regretting cheating. That didn't mean that he didn't deserve to feel bad for how much he hurt Isabel.
"Don't ask me a question you don't want to hear the answer to," Penny just said, trying to make it sound better than the short and cold 'no'.
"So I don't do anything?" he asked, clearly hoping to hear that there was a better and quicker way to make Isabel forgive her. Rolling her eyes, Penny wondered how could he be so impatient even in a situation like this.
"Yes, you wait for her to think about things through and figure out if she could ever forgive you and trust you again. After all, everything comes down to that. All relationships need trust and you just broke her trust in you. Dealing with that won't happen in one day," she replied.
"Penny! Are you coming?" she heard her mother screaming from inside. Because she had been so angry for Dorian, she had come outside to talk to him so that she could talk without distracting her family with all the yelling.
Remembering that Dorian was still on the line, she said a quick goodbye. "I have to go but remember what I said. Don't push her too much!"
When she walked inside, she saw that her whole family was finally doing something together in peace. It had been a long time since this had happened and it was nice to see that his her father's birthday brought them back together as a family, in a way.
Surprisingly, even Heather had decided to join in the kitchen to play Monopoly because she, like Penny and their mother, didn't want to deny some fun from their father on his big day.
"Sorry about that," she went back to her seat next to her father. "Is it my turn? I'm gonna show you who's the real businesswoman!"
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After not playing Monopoly for about two years she was, in fact, very bad in that game that was full of money and was the second one to lose. The game between Heather and their father was a long one that lasted over two hours.
It was clear that her sister was getting bored but their father was very competitive and full of energy after drinking more than enough coffee. Heather could have lost on purpose and get back to whatever she did in her room but she was doing everything to beat the old man.
It looked like she also understood that nothing made their parents happier than spending time as a family and for that Penny could have hugged her. Of course, she didn't do that because her hugs were still the same as poison to Heather. Penny didn't mind because she knew that their father's birthday was the reason why Heather had been kinder than usual this weekend.
While the two of them played, she sent few texts to Noah that were left unread before she remembered that he couldn't talk because he was at work. Penny also tried to call Isabel who, unsurprisingly, didn't answer. That was okay, she could understand why she didn't want to deal with all the people talking and asking questions even if they were friends.
"I win, you lose! I win, you lose!" the fifteen years old screamed and did one of her winner-dances in front of their father who only looked amused while looking at his youngest child who had been very distant lately. "I hope you don't mind being the loser on your big day!"
"Heather!" their mother frowned unhappily as if this kind of behavior was unacceptable. Or she was just bad loser.
Their father, on the other hand, went to hug Heather and even pulled Penny into the hug too while whispering how much he missed them. Penny was confused for a while before hugging him back, not ready to let go yet.
Times like this always reminded her how much she missed this place and she promised herself to visit home more. Yes, home. That was what this place meant to her. Texas was where she had lived most of her life and it was the place she would always call home. Now she just had another place in Los Angeles.
Maybe she could move back here some day. What a silly thoughts, she would become a real Texas girl again? Start wearing one of those cowboy hats and boots again? Well, she was lucky in a way that she could write music anywhere so that wasn't a challenge...
No! What was she thinking? Her life was in Los Angeles and there wasn't a reason why she would have to change that. It was just the overwhelming feeling of homesickness whenever she came to visit her family, knowing that she would have to leave them again. That was all.
"Call me a fool but I won't be letting go of you anytime soon. I've got both of my girls home on my birthday, there's not a better way to celebrate! Honey, come here," Anthony O'Connell smiled and freed his hand to hold it over his wife. Soon they had their mother joining in their rare family hugs and for a while there wasn't a place Penny would have rather been.
She even went as far as holding her sister's hand who didn't even look at her. It didn't mean that she couldn't tighten her hold on Penny's hand which was exactly what she did. That one move meant more to her than she could ever possible and there were thousands of things she wanted to say.
Still, because she was still the older sister, she knew that Heather would let go when she made a big deal out of holding hands. Because of that, she didn't say anything, no matter how hard it was for her to stay quiet. It was ridiculous to get excited over such a small thing but this truly felt like a victory when it came to the sister's relationship.
Even after everything happened, Penny didn't regret coming home to be with her family and hopefully make a peace with her sister who was pretty alright as a person. Hopefully, she would have Noah with her on her next visit and they could all beat the outsider in another game!
A/N: I actually enjoy taking a little break of Noah and Penny's couple moments and write more about families, I hope that it's not too boring to you :)