Wouldn't You Like to Know?

Thirteen

Thirteen

"Okay, what about this one?" Prudence held up one of the many dresses Penelope had tossed onto the bed. At this point, her whole closet was completely on the floor of her bedroom. The dress she held up was yellow and one that her mother used to make her wear to Easter Sunday with their grandparents.

Penelope made a face. "Pru, tell me that you're joking."

Prudence sighed. "No, I'm just trying to get you to pick something. This isn't the state dinner. It's the Bridgerton's."

"Exactly!" Penelope shrieked. She tossed herself onto the empty side of the bed. "I'm not going. I'm telling them I've come down with a case of---"

"Chicken?" Prudence cut in.

She glared at her sister. "You absolutely suck."

Prudence shrugged. "I'm truthful. Look, just pick something, okay? Your best feature is your breasts."

Penelope coughed. "Gee, thanks for that sis."

"What? Men love big boobs and you know it! Wear something that accentuates them."

Penelope sighed. "Oh. I..." she went back to her closet and rummaged through it again. She found exactly what she was looking for. It was a pastel blue dress made of satin with puffy sleeves, and little pearls that decorated it.

Prudence sat up and smiled. "Oh. That's perfect. Bridgerton blue."

Penelope smiled. "Bridgerton blue."

"Right, so is the fashion crisis over?"

Penelope shook her head. "Shoes!"

Prudence groaned. She got up, pulled out a pair of black, kitten heels and tossed them at Penelope. "Get dressed. Go. And don't forget to bring me one of those damn eclairs!"

Penelope laughed. "You're soooo sisterly."

Prudence smiled. "I'm the best sister. Don't you forget it." She left, and Penelope got ready by herself. When she was done, she took a moment to glance at herself in the mirror. She wasn't Marina Thompson pretty, but she still thought she looked good.

She smiled.

Dinner at the Bridgerton's always started at seven. She called herself an Uber, and made her way to the Bridgerton's fancy, Upper East side Penthouse. It was the same building that her mother lived in, but going to the Bridgerton's Penthouse on the top floor with it's warmth and fun always seemed like another world compared to her home.

She waved at Mrs. Varley, the woman who had been the doorman as long as she could remember, and headed inside. As she stepped inside the elevator, she heard a voice call to her, "Pen! Hold on!"

Colin Bridgerton stepped through, with windswept hair, wearing a white t-shirt with a deep V-neck, and possibly the tightest blue jeans Penelope had ever seen that she suspected cupped his ass perfectly. Penelope's breath hitched and the door closed just as Colin stepped in.

"H-hi," she stammered.

Colin smiled at her. "Hi." He looked at her up and down, and she was suddenly regretting wearing a dress with a plunging neckline per Philippa's suggestions. He pulled his sunglasses down and looked over the tops of them at her with a wicked smile on his face. "Bridgerton blue?"

She blushed. "That's not an official color, you know."

"It is on my mother's website." He chuckled a little. "I like it. You look fetching. Shows off your curves in all of the right places."

"Um. Thanks." She was sixteen again and her heart was pounding a mile a minute and she wanted to shriek like a teenager at a boyband concert.

The two of them stood there in silence on the elevator. She had taken the elevator many times in her life and it had never taken quite so long as it did that particular ride up to the Bridgerton penthouse. Something about this particular trip felt different.

Perhaps because when she glanced over to Colin, he kept on glancing at her too. He was looking at her with a smoldering gaze and Penelope found herself licking her lips. They were almost to the top floor. Colin hit the emergency stop button.

"Colin? What are you---" he grabbed her and pulled her to his chest. Penelope looked up at him, and he looked down at her.

Her heart pounded against her chest. Colin ran his hand through her hair, and he said, "Fuck." He bent down and kissed her, hungrily. He picked her up and pressed her up against the wall. He bit her lip, and she could feel how hard he was through his pants. She moaned a little as he started trailing kisses down her neck and her hand accidently hit one of the buttons on the elevator door.

To her horror, the door dinged, and opened.

"Colin!" she heard Violet Bridgerton's voice say.

And then, even worse, Eloise's voice, saying, "Penelope?"

The two of them jumped apart.

Violet Bridgerton looked as if it was Christmas morning. Eloise looked as if there were alarm bells going off in her head. And, Benedict, who had also somehow entered the picture, was looking at them with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Oh, I'm so glad I came to dinner this weekend!" Benedict said.

Penelope had never been more embarrassed, and that included the time she had worn the Playboy Bunny outfit unironically. "Why do you have so many damn siblings?" she hissed at Colin.

Colin, to her annoyance, only slung his arm over her shoulders as though there was nothing remotely embarrassing about this scenario. "Come on, Pen. No point in hiding. We are dating, remember?"

She smiled for half a second before she remembered everything that had happened with Marina. This was a rouse. Something to keep the press of his back. There was nothing real about this, and she suddenly regretted everything. Still, Eloise was there, with her arms crossed and glaring at her.

She held her head up and shot Colin a glare. "Them finding us making out in the elevator wasn't exactly how I wanted them to find out, Col."

"It was exactly how I wanted them to find out. Come on, Pen." He took her hand in his and looked at Violet. "Mom, do you have those eclairs Pen like so much?"

Violet beamed. "Of course I do. I made a whole batch this morning."

Benedict caught Penelope's eye then and winked at her. He had always been one of her favorite Bridgerton's, next to Eloise and Colin. "Good on you, Penny."

"Shut up," she hissed at him.

Colin laughed and pulled her inside. "Come on, everyone. Enough about this. It's time for dinner, yeah?"