Destined: 2 Be Continued

31. Penny and Alex

It had been a little more than a day and a half since they had defeated Scar Shi. Alex was bored, now that there was nothing to do, no giant evil beetle to fight.

He realized that since he and Penny had joined the Destined in this predicament of monumental proportions, he hadn't talked to her much. He knew from the tone of Belle's voice when he asked her where Jeremiah was that he and Heather talked to each other a lot, so he decided it was a good choice. 

Alex walked through the eating room, the training room, and knocked on Heather's door. He was reminded of a song by Guns N' Roses called Knocking on HEAVEN'S Door, But that was completely different and only sounded a little similar. Heather answered the door pleasantly. She was dressed in yoga clothes, with a towel on her shoulder.

"What is it you need, Alex?" she asked.

"Oh, that's right. Do you know where Penny is?" Alex asked.

"Most definitely in her room. It's the next on over; just come through here." Heather stepped out of the way, allowing Alex to walk through her room. It had a sweet fragrance to it, one that made Alex calm and soothed his soul. He wanted to know where it came from.

Alex knocked on the next door and heard a "Come in," so he opened it and walked in. Penny was standing on the other side of the room, dressed in a lab coat and safety goggles and leaning over a table. She turned around and looked pleasantly surprised. "Oh, hey, Alex! Sit down, I'll be right with you." Alex sat down on a chair in the corner and watched as Penny put her lab coat on a coat rack and put her safety goggles away. She had been working on her crossbow, Alex could tell. Needles laid beside it, some filled with liquid, some empty.

Penny sat down on the edge of her bed and faced Alex. "What did you come her for?"

"Well, I haven't talked to you in ages," he answered. "not since we became part of the Destined crew. I decided I would do that now that we're in this period of peace." Penny nodded, then smiled. "Nice of you to be considerate."

"So...what are you working on over there?" he asked, pointing to the crossbow.

"Oh, I just want to make it fire faster, that's all. No one else knows how to work a crossbow--not even Belle, since it's not a blade--so I'm figuring it out myself," Penny answered.

"Good. Say, would you be able to make another ANTILIFE? You know, so our next battle is easier?"

"I was just thinking about that, except I'm making a knife infused with its power, which I call...get this...the ANTIKNIFE." She seemed like she was waiting for Alex to laugh. When he got the portmanteau of ANTILIFE and knife, he laughed a little. Penny seemed satisfied at that, because she gave the little smile Alex had always loved.

"Say, thinking of back before we were Destined..." Penny began, and a pit of nerves formed in Alex's stomach. 

"...What question were you going to ask me? You said you had a question for me, and I never had the chance to ask you for it again." Alex tried to speak for a moment, but he needed a little more strength than that. He just needed to muster up the strength to tell her the truth. It was true that he could just lie, but he didn't want to do that to the person he was in love with.

"Well, I was going to ask you..." Alex started, and Penny leaned in. She was clearly in suspense. Alex was looking down, so he decided to look Penny straight in the eye, which turned out to be an extremely difficult task. "I was going to ask you out, okay? I was going to ask you on a date. Satisfied?" Alex felt his face go extremely red. Penny blushed as well, and put a hand up to her mouth. She stood up. "Come here, Alex, there's no need to be so embarrassed."

"But you're blushing, too," Alex protested, standing up and walking near her.

"That's just out of shock. You know I do that." The two hugged each other for a moment, then backed away. "If it makes you feel better, Alex, I would have said yes," Penny said. That did make Alex feel better. He hugged Penny again.

"Let's talk more often, you little stud," Penny continued, giving him one more hug. Alex thought it was funny that she called him little when he was five inches taller than her. In fact, the only people on Loraine that were taller than him were Belle and Jeremiah. 

"I'll keep that in mind," Alex responded, then began to walk out of the room. "See you later."

He walked through Heather's room. When Heather saw the grin on Alex's face, she gave a smug smirk.

"Shut up, Heather," Alex scolded, trying to sound stern but failing miserably.

"I didn't say anything," she defended.

"You were thinking it." Alex passed through the other end, then through the training and eating rooms, then finally, past Jeremiah's room and into his own. He laid on his bed thinking of Penny for a solid hour. 

I'll spend a good lot of time with her, talk to her more, Alex thought to himself and to Wind. Wind approved of such a thing. Alex was tempted to ask Wind for advice, but he wasn't entirely sure that was such a good idea. Maybe he would later.

He, at the end of the day, went to sleep, dreaming of walking on sunshine.

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Penny put on her pajamas. She had had a long day of working on her crossbow and thinking of Alex. It had been a good day for her, and she expected to have more days like this, at least until the next insect came along. 

Penny sat in bed, wondering what she was going to do with Alex. Of course, she wanted to spend more time with him, but she didn't know what else.

She went to sleep, not dreaming of happy times with Alex, but of Muskrel, the mosquito and embodiment of evil.