Do You Want To Know a Secret?

19. Honey Pie

I had been sprawled out on the couch reading a book as I heard the door knob turn. My uncle's footsteps approached the living room slowly and menacingly making a slight sense of worry slip into my conscious.

"Penelope Anne." He greeted me with a fake calmness. My hands started to sweat and my heart started to pound. I slowly looked over to my uncle who was staring down at me with a vain practically popping out of his forehead.

"Hello, Brian Samuel." I smiled innocently. He crossed his arms.

"So, how has school been?" He smiled. I internally winced. He knew.

"Today was fine, me and Minnie got paired-" I started to recount today's earlier events at school, the only day of school I'd went to out of the two days he was away.

"-how about yesterday?" He interrupted abruptly. I paused for a moment dead in my tracks. I cleared my throat and continued.

"Well, we," I spoke sitting up uncomfortably.

"I know you didn't go Poppy, give it up." He sighed disappointedly. I gasped over exaggeratedly.

"Do you have so little confidence in me that-" I started to fake an offended tone. His face stayed unfazed, waiting for me to just give up the act.

"Fine! I skipped school." I mumbled defeatedly ready to receive a twenty minute lecture.

"I can't even leave you alone for two days Penelope, two days! When I go off to Hamburg how am I to even trust I'll come back to a house that's in one piece??" He pressed angrily.

"It was only one day of school Bri, I swear I won't do it again." I pleaded.

"Oh, that's the best part! Not only did you skip school, but when your principal called the line I'd left for him to reach me at before I left, he told me some boy was in the house impersonating me!" He looked at me baffled. Of course my uncle had left a number for the principal to reach him at, why wouldn't he!? He's always one step ahead of me.

"It's not what you think!" I blurted so he wouldn't make assumptions. "It was John." I explained. His eyebrows shot up.

"John?" He choked. "My client John?" He looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"No! Well yes, but he only stayed the night because he had gotten into a fight you see," I tried to explain, seeming to only puzzle him more.

"George was here too," I started to elaborate making him look extremely taken aback.

"No, it's not like that!! Please sit down, let me explain properly." I patted the couch desperately. He scanned over me for a moment before sitting down beside me. It took awhile, but I told him everything about when he was away, leaving out certain parts about who George ended up sleeping with that night and that we were more than friends of course.

"-you know you're grounded for life, right?" He exhaled once I was finished sinking into the couch.

"Yes." I sighed doing the same, I already knew he'd have me working at the shops everyday for the next few months. A few minutes passed of pure silence, the both of us deep in thought.

He turned his head suddenly to look at me and chuckled softly.

"You remind me exactly of Elizabeth when she was your age." He smiled dolefully staring into my eyes. He was talking about my mother, his very own sister that he'd grown up with until she was 28, when he was only 20 years old and I, only 10 years old. She had died of an overdose when I was only young, leaving me to live with my grandparents and uncle Brian for the next year until my uncle left home at age 21, leading him to move out here and run one of the Epstein record shops NEMS, bringing me along with him.