If I Never Knew You

Chapter 3: Dinner

If I Never Knew You

Chapter 3

Dinner

Oh Penny's feet hurt, and she was tired of carrying bags. When they walked into the diner they mostly frequent. She was glad to see the old woman who waitressed the place with her usual bird's nest hair watching from over the counter. The pen that lay between her teeth had at one point begun to leak. There were signs of the ink on her top lip.

"Heya Gadget team. Same as usual?" She asked in her usual boisterous tone, sitting down a few menus. "Coffee, and a cherry soda." She looked between them as Gadget sat back and nodded with an exhausted sigh.

"Busy day Ingred! Been out buying school stuff for Penny." He patted Penny's hand as she looked over the menu. It wasn't unusual, she'd probably just get what she normally did. Chicken tenders, and fries with a gallon of ketchup. Okay not really a gallon.

"Oh! Is it about that time then?" She asked looking down at Penny who sighed and nodded.

"Yes ma'am. I'm...a bit scared." She admitted. Gadget scooted closer to her as if it would protect her from the fact that she would in fact have to leave her Uncle's side.

Over the past few months she had been rather iffy about it. Even gone so far as to stow away in the gadgetmobile. Her uncle never noticed till it was too late. She hated to be alone without him.

"So a basket for her, and a stack for you." She wrote something down on her pad of paper and disappeared behind the counter.

A steaming pot of coffee was placed in front of Gadget and a glass of soda for Penny.

"So what do you think of the teacher?" Gadget asked. Penny shrugged as she drank her soda. Her fingers ran over the wet surface of the glass. No matter how hard she tried. Her mind kept going back to those girls at the mall. If she couldn't make a good impression would she make friends?

"Not sure. I've only known her for five minutes. It's hard to base a first impression on them like this." Well okay that was true, but Gadget wasn't too sure about what was going on. His niece all of the sudden speaking the way she was. Something was certainly wrong.

"Penny?" He reached over, poking her cheek with a soft smile on his face. "Where's my smile?" Her eyes slowly roamed up from her hands to look at him in his grey eyes. Her face slowly broke into a smile, and she tried to hide it behind her drink.

"Come on...lets see it." Gadget poked a finger that was holding her glass.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She couldn't hide it from him. He jumped up out of his seat and scooted her over, poking at her sides.

"No!" She giggled as she tried to push his hands away from her more ticklish spots. "No tickling!" Her giggles were almost silent with the laughing effort. Gadget chuckled, practically picking her up and cradled her. She was incredibly ticklish and Gadget always exploited this. He never hurt her, and he was glad. He was always so afraid that this metal body of his would one day go out of whack and hurt her.

You would think she was much too big for this sort of thing. But her uncle was a rather large man, and she was very small.

She couldn't help but smile up at him now. He leaned down and rubbed his forehead to hers. A soft gesture really. He couldn't help it, yet here they were.

"Alright, here's that basket with ketchup. Pancakes with syrup." She put down another glass of soda and walked off. He let his niece go so she could eat, yet he watched her as she dipped her chicken into the ketchup.

"It's good to see you smile some more. I was getting too worried." Gadget shoved a whole pancake into his mouth after smothering it in syrup.

"It's okay. I'm okay." She told him with the biggest smile on her face. But was she?