Jaune and the Real Girl.

Chapter 20

"You're here!" Nora exclaimed to Penny as the door to Team RWBY's dorm room opened up to her. The brash bomber grabbed her by the hand and pulled her inside where the rest of Team RWBY was waiting for her dressed in their sleeping clothes.

"What's going on?" Penny asked her, looking around at the excited faces of the friends. Penny had been busy enjoying the romantic and sultry tales of Ninjas of Love from the privacy of her room when Nora texted her to come to Team RWBY's room with no explanation why.

"Jaune got back from his date!" Nora exclaimed to her, sitting her in a chair.

Penny had been trying not to think about that, she had tried distracting herself with the only form of romance she felt she was going to get upon the pages of a cheap paperback lent to her by Blake. "And?" Penny asked her expectantly. She supposed Nora wouldn't be like this if she had bad news for her.

"Jaune says he had a great time and the date went very well," She explained to her.

Penny felt like she was tossed off a cliff. She nodded to her, "that's... good." she said to her. As much as it pained her to say that a part of her did feel a small tinge of happiness for Jaune. She had heard the phrase if you love someone let them go, perhaps this was that, as sort of happy sad, bittersweet as some called it.

A pillow flew across the room and struck Nora. "Nora!" Team RWBY exclaimed to her all at once.

"You're torturing her!" Blake chided to her.

"Tell her the rest, don't keep her hanging!" Weiss interjected.

"What?" Penny asked looking around the room.

"They're not going to have a second date!" Nora told Penny crossing her arms with a pleased expression on her face.

Penny let those words hang in the air. "I do not understand," she said.

"Jaune told Nora that while he and Neon had a great time they both agreed they're different people and don't see themselves working as a couple," Weiss explained calmly laying it clearly out for her. She shot a glare towards Nora, "Was it so hard to put it simply like that?!" Weiss asked her pointedly.

"I'm sorry I'm just excited," Nora explained, "Penny has a chance now and we were all rooting for her!"
Yang grinned, "You got a straight shot at Vomit Boy now Penny, we're rooting for you!"

Ruby nodded in agreement with her sister. "We're all very excited for you Penny."

"Just don't wait too long confess," Weiss told her, "Doubtlessly more girls are likely to ask Jaune out, if you're not careful you'll lose your chance again."

"Yup it's still weird to hear Weiss talk about Jaune like that, careful Penny I think she means herself when she mentions 'other girls'." Yang teased.

"SHUT UP!" Weiss shouted at the blonde throwing a pillow at her. Yang just laughed and took the blow.

"Our point is... we want you to do this," Blake said, "You need to tell Jaune how you really feel."

Penny stood up from her chair trying to process this all in. Telling Jaune how she really felt still felt scary and insurmountable. And Neon, even though she had the courage Penny lacked to be upfront to Jaune and ask him out, apparently things still did not work in her favor. She supposed she should simply feel happy that she had a chance but what if things didn't work out with Jaune even after she confessed to him, and she still was not sure how or if she could confess.

"Thank you for telling me all of this, goodnight," Penny said, taking a step towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Nora asked her.