Wouldn't You Like to Know?

Eighteen

Eighteen

Penelope Featherington had an obsession with talk shows. Morning shows, especially. There was something comforting about them. Celebrity guests coming on, talking about whatever new movie or album or book they were promoting. Watching talk show hosts try recipes and everyone dancing with the audience, badly. Weird gameshow bits the producers made people do. They were her guilty pleasure, and Good Morning America was the one that she never missed.

After her fight with Colin, she spent a few days completely ignoring all outside contact. She was hold up in her apartment, went through her TBR, completing all of the books she'd been meaning to read before she got new ones, and lived off strictly ice cream and wine. She scream singed along to Adele so loudly one of her neighbors from the next brownstone over shouted, "SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU CRAZY BITCH!" and he hit the wall on the otherside.

"I'M GOING THROUGH A HEARTACHE, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!" she'd shouted back.

There was a long pause, then finally, a begrudging, "SORRY. CONTINUE."

She'd turned her music off briefly, then turned it back on and continued like she was playing Madison Square Garden.

On the fourth day of this, that was when something strange happened. "Today on Good Morning America, we've got a special guest, People's former sexiest man alive, Colin Bridgerton!" One of the hosts smiled a little too brightly, and Colin came out.

The camera flashed to Colin, coming out, and smiling broadly. The smile that made everyone in the audience scream. "Thanks for having me, GMA," Colin said, "it's really great to be here."

"Well, we love having you!" said one of the hosts.

"Just change the channel," Penelope muttered to herself, "there's nothing here that you need to see."

"And is it true that you're here to promote your new production company?" one of the other hosts asked.

Colin nodded. "Yeah, I decided I wanted to make films as well, because I'm very passionate about it."

"And you just bought that sexy, Lulu Rochester book, Wallflower, right?" the host asked.

"Yeah. Actually, it's been pretty amazing. See, I don't know how many people know this, but Lulu actually is a penname. And I went to high school with the real Lulu. She's actually one of my oldest friends."

"Oh ho!" the talk show host looked pleased at that juicy bit of gossip.

Penelope sat up straighter, wondering if she had heard wrong, and contemplated how best to kill him.

"Yeah, the funny thing is, when I read the book, it reminded me so much of my best friend and I. And then I realized she had written it, because she included some uh---intimate---moments that happened between us." Colin winked at the screen. Penelope didn't know how, but she knew that wink was meant for her.

She was definitely going to kill him.

"Oh!" the audience gasped.

Colin nodded. "Yeah, yeah."

"In the book, it has a surprising ending," said the host, "but I've got to know, if you're friends, and you're working together all of this time later...are you in love with her? Because I think that would make fans a lot happier about the ending, if the real life characters ended up together."

He smiled. "Well, you've already seen pictures of me with her. Recently, in fact."

The hosts eyes widened. "That redhead you went to school with?"

Penelope clenched her hands into little, balled up fists and dug her nails into her skin so hard she knew she would probably have nail marks on her hand later. "What. The. Fucking. Hell. Colin?"

Colin grinned. "Yeah, that's Penelope Featherington. My best friend, and the love of my life."
The audience awed and clapped.

Penelope saw red, and thought about different ways she could dismember him. Colin Bridgerton had just announced on live television that she was his girlfriend. He had also told the world that she was Lulu Rochester, writer of smut.

Her mother was going to kill them both if she didn't get her hands on Colin first. Her cell phone started to vibrate, and it vibrated itself off of the nightstand. She didn't even want to look at it, that was how scared she was. But then, there was a knock on the door.

Deciding to take the lesser of two evils, Penelope went to answer the door. Standing there, face to face for the first time in eight years, was the last person that Penelope had ever expected to see on her doorstep. That seemed to be happing quite a lot.

Marina Thompson smiled softly at Pen, looking elegant and chic in what Penelope could only assume was designer clothing. She held a little pink leather clutch in one hand, and in the other was a box of Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, the kind they used to snack on back when Penelope had hung out with Colin on the set of his first movie he did with her. Back when they were almost friends, before all of this mess had happened and Penelope got caught up in keeping her secrets.

"Penelope," said Marina with a smile, "it's been a long time. Do you think we could have a chat?"

Penelope gripped the door tightly. She had once considered Marina Thompson a friend, but then Marina had knowingly lied about her relationship with Colin, all to promote her career and keep a secret. She was partly responsible for Penelope being outed to Eloise on the Whistledown Blast account. Because Penelope had chosen to keep her secret, and instead outed her own about her father, and embezzling. "I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"Come on," she said, "I've been waiting to tell you and Colin congratulations since I saw that picture of you online. It's about time he manned up and admitted his feelings for you. I always kind of rooted for the two of you, and I miss my friend."

Penelope bit her lip. She knew Marina wasn't completely lying. When they first had met, Marina had found out about them when she accidentally walked in on the two of them in Colin's trailer. She'd been the first to suggest that Penelope should tell Colin her feelings. And then everything else had happened....

She supposed the least she could do was here the girl out. "Right. Who am I to turn down cake? Come on in."