Twin Souls: The Story Behind The Broken Roses

Chapter Nine: August 5, 2014

Penny Elmwood

Ever since she kissed Emma, Penny had been feeling... Conflicted. Conflicted because she felt like if she liked both Emma and Esme that she was being greedy almost, that maybe she was being mean. Did either of them know that she had feelings for them? Of course not, after the kiss she and Emma never talked about it again, it just became something that had happened in the past that they were both letting fade into the background of their lives.

But she thought about it every night. She thought about how soft Emma's lips really were, how nice it had felt... It made her heart feel weird, she wasn't sure if she liked feeling that way, like she was out of control. Liking Esme felt comfortable, she was funny and sweet and way more enjoyable now that she was feeling better from whatever had been hurting her at the beginning of the summer... She was still worried about the drinking, but again, they didn't talk about it. She knew that Tegan and Esme snuck out to smoke, but they never talked about it... So it was comfortable to like Esme, but terrifying to think about one day loving Esme- she didn't know if she could handle loving someone who was such a loose cannon, it'd probably only get worse as time went on... How was she supposed to handle that?

None of them could handle it, and she doubted that even Esme knew what to do... Sure, it was her life but she was just a kid, just like the rest of them... Why was she being expected to take care of something like that? It made her seem eons older than the rest of them, like she was already an adult, like she'd already been through it... That was part of what made Penny worry about her.

But when Esme acted like a kid? There was nothing that could stop Penny's heart from feeling like it could pound right out of her chest... There was something so sweet about watching her now, watching her try to arm-wrestle with Tegan as Emma judged the competition to see which one would win... In that moment, she was just Esme.

"Panchek, you lifted your elbow, you lose." Emma said, bringing Penny back into the conversation and Esme scoffed, flicking some of her hair out of her eyes as she glared at Emma... Okay, that was fair. Probably, Penny honestly hadn't been paying close enough attention to what they were doing to know what was fair and what wasn't fair.

"Get your eyes checked, Walsh. My elbow never left the table." She argued, and Emma shrugged, looking smug as she leaned forward to flick some invisible dust off of Esme's shoulder... Okay, bold move considering they probably could both be prone to violence, but Penny didn't want to get in the middle of it all.

"Either way, Tegan wins." Well, okay. Maybe she had... Her smile was adorable when Emma said it, so either way, Penny was cool with her winning... She'd become increasingly more attached to Tegan as the weeks had gone on, it was starting to feel like she had a sister. She wouldn't call it a friendship, because she still had the random urge to drown her in a river, but it was a relationship that she really hoped wouldn't die when they went back to school.

"I've had it with your favoritism." Esme sighed, shaking her head... Penny knew that she was joking, but it still made her heart feel weird, like she was scared that a fight could break out at any given moment even though they were both laughing.

Maybe it was because being here, she saw fights break out over goddamn cookies, she knew that competition could bring out the worst in anyone. Emma snorted at Esme's accusation and crossed her arms, an amused smirk on her face... Okay, so far this was going fine. That was good, that was what she was hoping for.

"Favoritism?" Emma asked, and Esme nodded, looking far too proud of herself as she sat up straight in her seat. Something about the cockiness was actually kind of cute, it was making Penny's cheeks feel hot... Was she staring? Shit, she'd been looking at Esme for way too long... Dirt, look at the dirt... The dirt is very nice.