Moving slowly, afraid of the headache that might still appear, she changed into a comfy pair of joggers and her familiar well-worn sweatshirt. Then, she made her way downstairs, hoping that Bonnie had already made the coffee and there was still some left.
“There’s coffee in the pot,” Bonnie called from the sunroom, as if reading her mind. Although, who was she kidding? She was fairly predictable at this hour. “I’ll let you have one cup in peace before I make you spill.”
Penny knew she meant it literally. She filled the mug that was already set out for her, moving sluggishly towards her couch.
“Morning,” she mumbled.
“You must have gotten in late. I didn’t even hear you come in. What time was it? Did you have fun? Did you kiss him?” Bonnie tried for casual, but her questions came quickly, one on top of the other.
“You just promised me one cup,” Penny whined, refusing to make eye contact.
She pulled her feet onto the couch, reaching for the blanket. She was going to have to straighten everything out in her head while she had the chance.
Did she have fun? She thought back to the day before, trying to begin at the beginning. It had been uncomfortable at first, she admitted to herself. The conversation didn’t really flow until she was asking about him. Then there was alcohol added and the press of his body against hers sitting on the bench at The Mutton Lane. She didn't know how she managed to remember the name of the bar. That had been nice. She had even hoped for more. But then he’d gotten that phone call. And damn it….
She looked down to find her coffee had disappeared a lot quicker than she’d expected, only then spotting that she was drinking from the smallest mug possible.
“Time to spill,” Bonnie said cheerfully.
Penny lifted her mug meaningfully. “Cheater.”
“Oh, come on. I’ve been awake for the last two hours waiting for you to get up. I can’t wait all day.”
“Hmmm,” Penny grunted, standing. “I’m at least getting another one before I start. A bigger one.”
“Fine. Hurry back.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible.”
More to be annoying than anything, Penny made herself some toast as well, taking her time spreading on the delicious butter. Still, it wasn’t long before she was telling the events of the previous night, Bonnie watching her greedily, reliving them as she talked.
“He definitely wasn’t impressed that I was late,” she said, remembering the look on his face.
Bonnie nodded sympathetically, willing to overlook this. “You can’t really hold that against him. Neither of us would be impressed if a guy showed up that late.”
“True,” Penny conceded. “He just… he wasn’t very understanding when I explained.”
“Well, you still hung out, so he must have gotten over it,” Bonnie pointed out.
“Yeah. The next bit was awkward, though. It took us a while to hit a good conversational stride. And that was mostly me asking questions about him.”
“He probably didn’t even know what to ask you,” Bonnie said in his defense. “It must have gotten better, though, or you wouldn’t have been out as late as you were.”
“Well, yeah,” Penny said, feeling the tell-tale flush of heat on her face as she said it.
“Haha!” Bonnie pounced. “What happened?”
“Nothing, really.” Penny gripped her coffee mug tighter, remembering his arm around her. “We went to this place called The Mutton Lane.”
“Yes, right by the English Market. Good choice.”
“That’s the one. It was really crowded, so the only seat we could find was this tiny little high-backed bench and….”
“And?!”
“Nothing, really,” Penny repeated, lifting her free hand dismissively. “It just felt nice, that’s all. I’m not blind. He’s absolutely gorgeous. I mean, the whole time we were out, girls were staring at him. I kind of felt like they were wondering why he was with me.”
“Penny….”
