the book shop > j.l < MID EDIT

seventeen

penelope

her heart swelled up at his gesture.

"go on, make a wish," john prompted smiling at the girl.

she closed her eyes for a moment a blew out the candle.

"thank you john, you've really made today so great."

"i don't want to hear any more thank yous out of that mouth of yours," he chuckled.

she grinned appreciatively at him, "here have some," she cut the muffin down the middle and handed the piece to john. which he scoffed down almost instantly making penelope laugh.

after eating her own piece it was only six in the afternoon. still having two more hours to waste penelope suggested going back to her apartment for awhile, that way she could tidy things up before anyone came over.

•

the two of them walked closely, she only lived ten minutes or so from the diner. penelope had a car, but she used that only when she needed to - like when she goes to pick up paul and charlotte in a few hours.

"i apologise in advance to what my apartment will look like," she joked, john not caring just smiled back.

she unlocked her door and walked in, instinctively picking up pieces of clothing she'd scattered over the hallway. she led him into the living room which was pretty much spotless. she had a long sofa, and an armchair, a bookshelf full to the brim of different books. the walls were covered in framed photographs of all things ranging from photographs of penelope and her friends, places she'd visited, just things she found photograph worthy, and one or two photos of her mother, the only ones she had. in one corner of the living room she had a tripod, two studio lights and her camera bag. underneath the window opposite the sofa she had a record player, with an elvis presley vinyl laying inside.

john instinctively walked straight over to her bookshelf skimming the rows.

"make yourself at home, would you like a drink or anything?" penelope questioned trying to be the best host she could be.

"just a glass of water please," he replied. she walked into her kitchen, not far behind john trailed. the kitchen was small, a small dining table and a few chairs the only other thing in the room. but still the walls had noticeboards and calendars pinned to it. polaroid's and notes pinned everywhere.

she gave john the drink he wanted and cleaned the mess she'd left around the house. not much really, just odd items of clothing places and dirty tea mugs.

"i'm going to get changed because i don't really feel like walking around in this dress anymore," she laughed. john nodded, "you can put some music on in the living room if you'd like, i'll get you my records." before john could reply she was down the half retrieving a cardboard box full of records. she gave him the box and wondered into her bedroom.

as she was deciding what to wear, she heard the faint sound of screaming jay hawkins playing and smiled to herself at his wise choice.

she put on a pair of high waist blue shorts which came down to mid thigh with a long sleeved turtle neck covered in flowers and random things, half tucked in, half tucked out. she slid on some pumps and walked out of her room combing her fingers through her hair with her hand. her hair reached only to her shoulders and waved slightly, naturally. she had bangs growing out, she was unsure whether to get them cut again or let it grow, they covered the scar above her eyebrow but they never did look too good on her. she tucked the hair behind her ear and walked into john who was stood staring at the photographs on the wall. the one specifically of her mother and her when she was born.

"she was beautiful wasn't she?" she interrupted his train of thought making him jump, he turned around to see penelope leaning against the door frame, her arms folded and a gentle smile on her lips.

his eyes looked down to her outfit and quickly back up as he realised he was taking to long to reply, "yes she was. you're the spitting image of her. it's quite scary actually."

she shook her head, "she was much prettier than me. she had this beautiful long hair, and her eyes were this light blue where when the sun shone on her they looked see through," john looked back to the photographs trying to envision her in real life.

"you should stop putting yourself down like that y'know. you are-," he cleared his throat gathering courage, "you are beautiful penelope. very beautiful."

penelope blushed at his words. she put a hand on his shoulder as she neared the wall he was looking at and peered over his shoulder, pointing to a different photograph of her mother. it was a polaroid which showed a woman laughing on a sun lounger.

"this is the first photograph i ever took. my mum let me take her polaroid out for a while, whilst she sun bathed in our back garden. i'd just gone thirteen, and i wasted most of the film on photographing flowers or things i found pretty, and my mum of course was one of the subjects. it was a happy day, maybe one of the best in my life," she smiled fondly at the photograph.

john looked down onto her head which hovered over his shoulder, and admired her. he couldn't believe the way he was feeling already towards her, it was scary this experience for him, but she made him feel like it was okay to do this.

penelope lifted her hand off of john and stood to look in the mirror on the wall to the left of the photograph collage.

"how do you think paul and charlotte are getting on with their date?"john questioned amused at the memory of paul talking about her.

"i hope it's going good. paul seems good for her, from what i've heard anyway, and he seems like a good friend to you so i approve," she laughed.

"yeah, paul hasn't shut up talking about her since friday. he's always followed his heart our paul, even with the chances of getting hurt he goes for everything he wants. it's quite admirable really, but let's just keep that between us," he laughed alongside a grinning penelope.

"you two have quite the bromance don't you? it's sweet, you don't see much of actual friends nowadays, they're hard to find at least so it's nice knowing everyone can have that one person that can be counted on."

penelope looked back into the mirror wiping the makeup off of her face as it was practically destroyed from her crying earlier on.

"charlotte is my person. she has done so much for me, i'll forever be in her debt. richard is too i suppose, he's more of like.. one of those cousins you haven't seen in a really long time and when you see them again everything falls right into place," john laughed at her analogy, "i think you'll like him."

john raised his eyebrows smirking, nevertheless happy at her comparing him to a cousin.

"why's that then?" he asked

"he's a rocker too, well he's much too soft to be called that but he plays drums. he's amazing at it too." she complimented.

"me and paul are actually looking for a new drummer,"

penelope turned to him curiously. he noticed how her nose was red from wiping it when she was upset, and how soft her skin looked in this light.

"i though you already had a drummer?"

"we're getting rid of him, he's not a nice guy. quite the tosspot really," penelope cracked into a mini laugh at his word, "when he's gone you'll have to show me how good richard is."

she nodded, beaming "oh he'd be so happy with that."