Penny Takes the Stage

Chapter 9: Yoko

"So you haven't told her anything?" Cam asked, sitting on the counter, swinging his legs, as he drank from a bottle of Yoo-hoo.

Penny shook her head. "She's been on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, hard to reach. I didn't feel like getting into it, you know? That's the thing with shitty news, it will keep, no matter how long you wait. She got home this morning, so I invited her over this afternoon to talk to her. I hope that's okay?"

Cam nodded, taking another swig of his Yoo-hoo. "Of course. She sounds like a delight, I'm looking forward to meeting her."

"She'll be here in about ten minutes, so you're going to get the chance very soon."

"Ace." Cam jumped down from the counter and rinsed his bottle so he could put it in the recycling bin.

Today he was wearing skinny jeans and a soft brown sweater that brought out his eyes, looking effortlessly perfect, like always, while Penny was wearing black stretch pants, a long black tunic that covered her butt, and a black and white checked cardigan.

Cam had remarked on her wardrobe just that morning. "You know, your color choices are remarkably--" He stopped to consider.

"Boring? Predictable? Ugly? What?" Penny laughed as she headed to the kitchen for coffee.

"I was going to say 'monochromatic'," Cam offered as he followed her. "Though technically that's not correct, since there are usually two colors, black and white." He poured himself a cup and continued. "Why? I mean, I realize most people go for more sedate colors during the colder months, but I don't think I've ever seen you in anything but black and white." He looked at her curiously.

Penny shrugged, feeling self-conscious. "I was told once that black and white are slimming? And they sort of help you blend into the background? And I don't want people to think I care about how I look, that I think it's important."

"Which is it, then?" Cam smiled at her over his coffee cup. "Do you want slimming colors, or do you not care? You can't really do both, can you? You either care and want to look slim, or you don't care how you look."

Penny shrugged again. "I don't know, and I don't want to talk about it, anymore, if you don't mind." She realized as the words left her mouth that she sounded petulant and defiant, so she added, "Frederick used to say I looked like a Holstein," to mitigate her tone.

Cam made a face. "I would've chosen a different animal, Holstein connotes a bunch of things that aren't very nice, I think."

"Oh yeah? What animal would you've chosen?" Penny bit her lip, wondering why she'd asked such a question.

Cam considered. "I'd go with penguin, maybe?" he finally said with a dimpled grin and a nod. "Yeah, a little penguin, with a distracted, worried expression, a cute bum and walk? Penny the Penguin, nice and alliterative as well." He looked pleased with himself.

Penny nearly choked on her coffee. Had he just said she had a cute walk and ass? She had to put that thought away immediately, and say something to move past the moment, or her head would explode. "Are you saying I waddle and have a big butt? That's nice and alliterative, too," was what she came up with.

Now Cam was the one nearly choking on his coffee. "Not at all, oh god! I'm just saying you have a nice round bum and a darling little walk to go with it, and you usually look quite harried, like you have a thousand things going on in your fantastic brain. And you're usually dressed in black and white." He made a show of wiping his brow. "And now I'm off to take a shower before I dig myself any deeper."

Penny smiled, remembering this conversation, but was brought back to the present by the sound of the downstairs buzzer ringing.

That would be Yoko, then.