He Who Wants A Rose, Must Respect The Thorn

Don't Say A Word

"I can't believe I found a place so soon after beginning to search" I sighed, feeling relieved. "I know, it was so meant to be. I mean, you're right around the corner from me!" Olivia squeaked making me laugh. We'd decided to head out for a few drinks to celebrate. We wanted to invite Danny of course, but with eveything that was going on lately, we thought it might be best to leave him out of this one. Besides, we'd invited Ally, my brothers girlfriend, so it was more of a girls night anyway.

"so when can you move in?" Ally asked, I wanted to laugh, tease her she wanted me out soon as possible so she could move in with Nick..."next week" I nodded, "as soon as I can, I'll be in there" I grinned, as Ally smiled. I knew what she was thinking, the sly dog. "Nick is going to help"
"Danny has offered too" Olivia chipped in, I looked round at her and pulled a sad face. "I can't let him do that" I sighed, "I don't want to keep putting him between me and Julian" I said, hating the situation. Olivia nodded with a sigh. "I know, but Pen, if we don't just try and carry on we'll never go out with you in a group anymore. Or on any future dates...." I scoffed at such a ridiculous notion. "speaking of which..." Ally added, nudging me and glancing at a group of guys across from us standing by another table. Olivia and I looked over, trying to be sly, but totally not. There was around 5 guys there, and one of them was looking right at us. He laughed and looked down shyly as we caught each other looking. "Liv, you better put him out of his misery" I said, finishing my drink. "He's not looking at me" she smirked and I looked to Ally, "or me" she laughed at me. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I'm going to get another round in" I muttered and turned to head to the bar.

.............

An hour later we were still in the bar, still talking and still drinking. It was the first night in a while that I was quite happy, smiling and truly laughing. It felt things were finally beginning to settle down for me. 

"Hi..." a voice interrupted me scrolling down through Instagram as I waited alone. Olivia had gone to the bathroom and Ally was getting another round of drinks. I looked up and saw the guy from earlier smiling shyly at me. "oh...hi" I replied, glancing around me a little. "um, I kinda wanted to buy you a drink, but every time I plucked up the courage, your friends brought you one" he laughed a little, rubbing the back of his neck. I smiled, my eyes briefly flashing to his bicep at his nervous action. Nice. "oh" I laughed shyly, "well, um, I guess they've got lost at the bar right now, so I could use a drink" I glanced around me wondering where those two actually were. "cool... What would you like?"
I pondered for a few seconds as I felt wrong talking to him, but as I looked up into his chocolatey brown eyes I smiled, "I'll come with you" I said, making him smile and then I followed him to the bar.

Funnily enough, on the way there I spotted Ally and O hiding beside a bunch of girls, with drinks in their hands. I frowned and gave them a look and they grinned and waved at me. I wanted to be mad they did this on purpose, but I couldn't be. I grinned at them, shaking my head as I approached the bar behind the guy.

"I'm Jake by the way" he laughed nervously again. "Penelope. But everyone calls me Penny"
"I like Penelope, it's very pretty" he added, blush forming on his cheeks. Mine too. "thanks" I laughed shyly. "so we're you having a good night before your friends got lost?" he grinned. I blushed, "yeah we're out celebrating actually. I've got my first place here" I told him, noticing his eyes widen, "congrats," he smiled. He was cute. "thanks. I move in next week" I found myself telling him. He made me feel so at ease in his presence, forgetting all the drama surrounding me lately. Why did I feel I was in trouble with this boy?

.........

We'd been at the bar longer than Ally and O had anticipated, eventually coming across to us saying, "we're going to head home now Pen" I looked to them, actually forgetting that they were even here... "oh! Yeah, uh, I better be heading home too" I said, looking back to Jake. He didn't hide his disappointment and I was feeling it too but it was getting late anyway...

"okay, cool" Jake nodded, just before the girls said they'd meet me outside. "thanks for the drinks" I blushed, never feeling quite comfortable with a guy buying all the drinks. "you're welcome. Thank you for letting me buy you a drink" he smiled. I blushed and looked away briefly, before he suggested walking me out to the parking garage.

.......

"um, if you'd like, I could take you out, show you around some time?" he asked shyly, looking hopeful. His words made a strange feeling bubble up inside, flashing back to meeting him but I shook it away. "I'd like that" I smiled at him. "cool, here's my number..." he said, pulling out his phone, encouraging me to do the same and we swapped numbers.

"cool, I'll call you soon, if that's okay?" he asked, making me smile. "yeah, of course" I nodded back. "goodnight Penelope" he said, making me blush. "night Jake" I said, then without a second thought I reached up and pecked a kiss on his cheek.

He looked down at me with a cheeky smile on his face, and before either of us said a word, "smile guys!" and I looked to see Ally holding her phone up. I wasn't expecting to have my photo taken with him, but she snapped one of us anyway and winked. "anyway," I looked up at him, blushing, he was just looking at me smiling, "I'll call you" he said, his hands linking together on the small of my back . I bit my lip, smiling at him and nodded, hearing O calling me behind me. "bye" I said, managing to pull away from him and head to the car.

I climbed inside and closed the door. The other two silent but beaming huge faces. "don't you say a word" I said, looking out of the window avoiding all eyes on me. Ally sniggered and drove off.