Queer-ish

Chapter 5: Penelope

Penelope pulled her hair into a bun and started to work, the tiny brush flying over the tiny surface whilst she was on her mission to create the gayest egg that would conquer all of Easter. An egg she'd give to a family friend who was attending the annual Easter get together that Penelope's family put on. The family friend's name happened to be Lauren, who happened to be a lesbian, who happened to be the girl who had Penelope's heart, henceforth why she was giving Lauren the egg- it was a sign of affection.

Penelope had texted her friends about the idea earlier that week expecting good reactions to her seemingly flawless plan, but it was quite the contrary.

Alex laughed and was the only one who said it was a good idea, "I effing love eggs, Pen. This is a great idea."

Skyler laughed, too, but not in a nice way. "Penelope that's a stupid idea. You'll never get a girl like that."

Caleb had been skeptical, but not mean. "Uhm okay Penelops if you want."

The rest of them, as per usual, stayed out of it. However bad their reactions were, Penelope didn't care. She thought the gay idea was a good idea. At least, relatively.

Possibly horrible.

Probably horrible.

But, Penelope figured, it's better to try some way than to try at all.

Her gay egg was drying in her room as a way to avoid confrontation via her family for it. They knew she was a lesbian, they didn't really care that much but they'd tease her if they got the chance. That, Penelope knew for sure.

Her situation was anything but bad, she loved how accepting most of her family was. This "most of" excluded her grandparents who wouldn't talk to her since she came out at Christmas dinner.
"It's unholy, Penelope. You'll find a nice man someday who will make you feel differently." That wasn't true. It had never been true in her life. She'd only ever liked girls, the way they spoke, the way they walked, the way the looked, the way that Lauren Mitra Kade smelled. Her real name was Leelavathi which was "Free will of God" in Hindi, but she always went by Lauren even though Penelope had told her thousands of times that her name was beautiful. She would always come over on Easter and her parents would bring an array of heavily spiced foods that were almost too much for Penelope's  relatively-sensitive tongue.

 Lauren smelled like what a good dream would smell like if you could smell one, Penelope simply had no other way to describe the wonder of a human that was Lauren. As far as Penelope could tell, Lauren had always smelled this way. The two had been friends for 7 years- a little less than half their lives. Lauren came out to Penelope about two years ago and Penelope came out to her months ago. It was crazy that both of them were lesbians, but crazy in a good way. With this girl, Penelope actually stood a chance. 

She pulled herself out of her daydream that was, as per usual, about Lauren, and began the task of straightening (haha) up her room. It wasn't that messy but her art desk was full of crumpled papers and failed drawings of Lauren. She cleared out cups of dirty paint water and swept off eraser bits that always drove Lauren crazy whenever she came up into Penelope's room. She folded her laundry and moved the dirty parts to the laundry basket, straightened up a couple other things and then turned to her closet. One that she, metaphorically, had spent a lot of time in that now held the dress she'd present her lovely egg to her lovely Lauren in.

Yeah, it was a stupid idea. But she liked Lauren so much that it was stupid in itself, so they negated each other. Kind of. That's just what she liked to think.

Penelope's dress wasn't anything particularly special. It was pastel pink and green- the usual cliché Easter colors. It went down to a little above her knees and had short sleeves which she had amended with a white cardigan. She looked nothing short of normal and had been making her way downstairs when the doorbell rang. She opened it to find  that the beautiful Lauren stood there in splendid white dress that hugged her in all the right places. From her neck hung a necklace  that she'd gotten from her mother a few years previous. It was laden with emeralds that had been passed down for countless generations. She was absolutely stunning in that moment and every moment after.

Her and her lovely, yet homophobic parents, walked in front of Penelope's love, whom she greeted with a hug. They'd seen each other a week previous, but somehow that was never enough. The two had never gone to the same school but were solely neighbors. Penelope was a year younger than Lauren who, even then, went to a different school than her. Penelope, being in 10th grade, was at Ruby Ridge High School and Lauren at (Town Name) High School, and yet they saw each other at least once a week.

"Hey Laure, you want to go upstairs until food's ready or my cousins are here?" Lauren smiled and nodded in response and the two made their way to Penelope's bed and collapsed onto her bed, holding hands and staring at the ceiling.

"How are you," Lauren had asked Penelope, but she'd not heard the question for she was too busy focusing on the egg that was lopsided on her bookshelf. Penelope stood up in one swift movement and snatched it from in front of Emma's copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, an amazing book. "Her, Lauren. I made this for you as a token of my," Lauren raised a quizzical brow. "Your what, Pen?" Lauren prompted her to make a choice, say happy Easter or tell her how she felt. She went for the latter, no turning back now. "My affections, Laure." Laure sat up and pressed her back against the wall and hugged her knees to her chest, she stared directly at Penelope. "I've known for a while, Penny," she turned the little egg over in her palm. It drove Penelope absolutely mental. The anticipation, how beautiful she looked- all of it. The girl broke her heart and mended it at the same time. Yes, Penelope was a teenager, yes she was hormonal and that very well could have been  just a part of her life that she'd get over in time, but she didn't feel that way one bit in that moment there, in her dark-ish room, standing in front of the girl she very well could say she loved.

"Food's ready, girls!" Mrs. Kade called out, her accent still thick although she'd been living in Oregon for a multitude of years. Lauren scooted out of Penelope's bed. She turned to leave when she grabbed Penelope's hand and pulled her into an embrace, kissing her cheek. "We'll talk later, Pen." Penelope was content with that answer as it was better than what she had previously expected. The two made their way downstairs, Penelope glowed with love towards that wonderful, magical girl that was oh-so-special to her, not caring if anyone noticed. Lauren grabbed Penelope's hand as they sat and enjoyed the spiced food and assorted cultural dishes. Together. What that would mean for the future, Penelope, in that moment, had no idea.