Lie Until You Laugh

40- Planning Futures

The next morning, I wake up before Penn and that is probably one of the first times that that happens and I don’t know how to deal with it. The first thing I do though, is get dressed because I’m naked under the blankets. I get dressed in my panties and his t-shirt and then go into the bathroom and brush my teeth and hair because I feel like that’s just something that I should do before Penn wakes up.

When I crawl back into bed, I am forced to practically lay on top of Penn because it’s just a twin sized bed and it’s not the most comfortable thing but I’m not really complaining at all. He’s wearing boxers under the covers though, so it’s not weird or anything. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t see it last night but I think it’d just be weird to cuddle up against Penn if he was sleeping and also naked.

With my head resting on his bare chest, I grab my phone from the nightstand and start texting Stella about random stuff and I text Chase to make sure that we’re still going to dinner tonight with my mom and Jo to talk about what we are going to do for the long run. We’d planned on this dinner for a few days because we need to decide where my mom and Jo are going to live permanently considering they’re still staying at Penn’s open house. We also need to decide where I’m going to finish high school and where Jo is going to go to school in the fall. It’s all very stressful but I’m sure we’ll figure it out. As long as we’re here in California and my terrible father is there in Georgia, I don’t care.

“You’re up early,” I hear Penn’s groggy voice mumble after a while.

I pivot my face so that I can look up at my but my cheek is still pressed against his chest. “You’re sleeping late,” I giggle softly.

“What time is it?” He wonders.

I check the time on my phone and then report back with, “It’s only nine.”

“So I’m not sleeping late,” He defends

“Yeah, but usually, you’re up before me,” I remind him, moving so that I’m not lying beside him and instead, I’m straddling his waist, looking down at him. “So you’re slacking here.”

He wraps his arms around my waist, underneath of the shirt that I’m wearing. “Okay, whatever you say, Sienna,” He appeases me. “Are you still going to dinner tonight?”

I nod. “I am.”

“Is it going to be bad?” He asks me.

I shake my head. “No, why would it be?”

He shrugs. “It just seems intense, you know, going to dinner just to discuss the future and everything.”

“Well, there’s a lot to talk about like finding a place to live and everything,” I explain. “It’s no big deal.”

“You know that you guys can stay in that house for as long as you need, right?” Penn reminds me, playing with the hem of the shirt with his left hand. “Well, not you obviously since you’re in the dorms, but your family, I mean. We’re not using the house at all so it’s really not a big deal that they stay there for a while.”

“I know,” I confirm. “I just don’t want them there for longer than they need to be. It’s a pride thing, I guess, and I don’t want to be some kind of freeloader or anything.”

“Okay, well it’s always there if you ever need it again for anything,” He assures me. “We can hang out until lunch though, and then I’ll probably head up to the house to see Ana for the day since you’ll be out with your family too.”

“Good, you should do that,” I nod.

“Speaking of Ana, you’re really amazing for bringing her home and everything,” Penn states.