Summer of 76

Chapter 9

Penelope watched Jack drive away. It was nearly 1 in the morning. They had stayed outside in the back yard because Judy had gone to bed after the news. They just talked and laughed for a good few hours. Penny loved that. She loved that she could just be herself and just talk to freely with Jack. She didn't feel judged or on edge. She just felt...happy.

Penelope sat on her bed stroking Ginger and thinking. Then she picked up her sketch book, pulling out the pencil from the binding, and opened it to her current sketch. It was Jack. The face he made right before he laughed actually. The smile that reached his eyes crinkling them at the edges. His dimple popped and his eyes gleamed of mischief. She smiled at her work. To anyone else it would be consider amazing work, but Penny never thought her drawings were as good as the real thing. Especially if that thing was Jack.

She put it away and turned out her light wondering what tomorrow would bring.  

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Jack closed the door quietly trying his very best to not creak the floor boards as he snuck across the living room. He got up the stairs thanking his mom internally for putting carpet on them. Passed her room and was opening his door when the hall light clicked on and he heard the tinkling laugh that was his mother's. "Did you really think you could sneak in?"

"Can you lecture me in the morning?" Jack pleaded looking at her hopefully.

"I'm not gonna fuss. I'm glad you're spending time with people who are more....appropriate," she stated as she leaned against the doorframe.

"Mom, I was at a girl's house until 1 in the morning and you call it appropriate?!" He asked confused and bewildered at her statement.

"Well Penny's a nice girl. I like her. She's a much needed upgrade from that group of friends you usually hang around," she continued, a look of distaste on her face as she talk of his friends.

"Mom they aren't that bad and Penny likes them," he protested.

"Oh! So you've given up your secret have you?" She said a coy smile on her face.

"What are talking about?" He asked confused yet again by his mother's riddles.

"I was beginning to think you would never reveal y'all's relationship...I mean friendship. I'm sure she was beginning to think you were ashamed of her."

"Of course not! I could never! I want to show everyone how great and funny and completely weird but amazing she is! She just. She's so shy!" Jack protested defending himself against his mother's accusation.

She laughed again, "Dear, she's not shy. She's cautious. And a little scared."

"Penelope? Penelope Hawkins? Scared? Of what?" Jack asked.

"Do you know anything about her?" She asked. And that did it for Jack.

"What!? She's my best friend!! Of course I do!! Don't even say that! How can you even think that!? I know everything about her! Her laugh! The exact color of her eyes when she has a secret! The smile she gets when I say something stupid but she isn't going to say anything because she doesn't want to make me feel dumb! The freckle behind her ear almost in her hairline! The way she secretly loves country music but won't admit it! How her hair blows in the wind when she's singing in my truck and all the windows are down! So don't you even dare say I don't know anything about her!" He raged his breath coming in pants and his whole body practically radiating heat. He couldn't believe her. How could she say that?

His mother stood there calm and just waiting for him to finish. "She's scared of rejection, dear." She said it so quiet but it was firm. "She's had no one her entire life. And to suddenly have you and for her to put all her trust in you? Frankly, it probably scares the shit out of her."