Be Mine - Completed

Chapter 5

"Hey, Alice!" Penny yelled down the stairs, eyeing the front door to their apartment with confusion.

"What's up, babe? You know no one takes stairs as fast as you!"

"Yeah, Pen, the three of us aren't nearly as fast, especially after chanting and jumping around all day. How on earth do you have so much energy?" Penny chuckled at Jules' out of breath voice.

"Are any of you guys expecting something?"

"What are you talking about?" Alice's voice was closer, but still not close enough to see the gift bag sitting outside their front door. Penny assumed it was a gift for Alice from one of her many admirers since there's no way anyone would be leaving a gift for her. It could be for Viv or Jules, but Alice was the most likely recipient. Then again, Viv has captured the attention of quite a few girls, so who really knows.

"This gift bag here, were any of you expecting a present?" They all looked at her with extremely confused looks when they made it to the top of the stairs, shaking their heads.

"Is there a name on it, or a card?" Viv asked, looking at the gift with interest.

"I'm not sure. I haven't looked through it yet. Here, bring it inside, we look like weirdos standing out here staring at a gift bag." Penny unlocked the door, ushering the other girls inside before picking up the gift bag and following them in.

"Look! An envelope!" Jules pulled an unmarked white envelope out of the gift bag, causing more confusion with the fact that there's no name on the envelope. "I guess we're going to have to open it to find out?" The girls all looked at each other, starting to get a little worried.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Alice looked around at everyone before opening the envelope, pulling out a simple white card with a couple of pastel flowers on it. She looked up at everyone, the anticipation building with every second she waited, and finally opened the card. "Oh my god," she whispered, not saying anything more.

"What? What is it? Tell us. Come on, what is it?" Finally getting fed up with Alice not answering, Viv grabbed the card out of her hands and looked at it herself. "Oh wow, well, it's not for me. It's for you," she kept staring at the card, pausing for dramatic effect, "Penny!"

"What?" Penny's head shot up, not believing what she just said. "Did you just say it was for me? No way. Who on earth would be sending me something? Why would someone be sending me something? It's for me? No. You're lying."

"She's not lying," Jules smirked at Penny, having taken the card from Vivian.

"My dearest Penny,

I want you to know that I think you are the most stunning, amazing woman I have ever met. I saw this today and thought of you. I want you to be able to take the time to relax with school starting and everything getting busy pretty soon. I hope you enjoy it and be prepared for some more gifts from me as I see more things that remind me of you.

All my love,

Your secret admirer."

"Ooooo Penny's got a secret admirer, Penny's got a secret admirer," Alice sang, poking Penny in the sides and causing her to blush even harder. Penny would have never expected this. She, of all people, had a secret admirer. Out of all her friends, she's the last person that she would think would have a secret admirer.

"What's in the bag?" Jules was dying to know but didn't want to pry now that they knew it was Penny's gift. She understood how all this attention could be a little unsettling for Penny, especially because she didn't usually receive a lot of attention from guys.

"It's a candle and some bath salts." Penny pulled them both from the bag, opening the candle to see what it smelled like. "Oh my gosh, this smells like heaven," she sighed, practically moaning over the delicious scent of the candle. "This is so sweet!" She couldn't help the smile from blossoming over her face, her cheeks still as red as Jules' hair.

"Penny, this is amazing! This is exactly what you were saying you wanted in a boyfriend last night! Can you believe this? This is amazing. I wonder who he is."

As soon as Alice said this, a thought struck Penny. This was exactly what she was saying she wanted in a boyfriend last night. Even the wording was almost a copycat of what she said. The whole 'I saw this and thought of you' was exactly what she said she was looking for.

"I swear to God, if any of you are pranking me right now, I will seriously maim you." Penny looked up at each one of them, worried that because it was so identical to what she said, it was a trick by one of her friends.

"I swear to God, Penny; I had nothing to do with this. I can almost guarantee these two didn't either." Penny could tell by Alice's serious tone and the look on her face that she was telling the truth, and after looking at the other girls, she knew it didn't come from any of them.

"Oh my god, you guys, I have a secret admirer," Penny squealed, jumping up and down. She'd never had anything this exciting happen to her before.

"I wonder what he's like," Jules sighed, looking into the distance wistfully, "I bet he's dreamy, like one of those rom-com guys."

"Okay, I don't mean to be the downer here," Viv looked around at everyone, feeling the need to voice her opinion, "but is anyone else slightly worried about this? I mean, some guy who we don't know, that we're just assuming is a guy, knows about Penny and knows where we live. Like we don't know who he is, or what he's like, or even what his intentions are. For all we know, he could be a creep. Is anyone else worried about this?"

"Oh, Viv, I understand your concern, but let's be honest. A creepy guy who knows where we live would attack us. If he really wanted to do creepy things to us, to Penny specifically, he clearly could have done it already. A creepy guy wouldn't leave a candle and bath salts. It'll be okay." Vivian felt slightly less concerned with Alice's words, but she still had this weird feeling in her gut.

"Just promise me you'll be careful, Pen?" Viv grabbed her hand, looking into her eyes and silently begging her to take her advice.

"I promise you, Vivian Adams, I will be extremely careful. Besides, it's not like I'm agreeing to marry this guy, it's just a gift. The futures not written in stone, who knows what's going to happen."

He sat outside her apartment, grinning ear to ear. Of course, she was skeptical at first, he expected that. He knew Penny; she was so humble, it was adorable. There was no way she would think the gift was for her, and that's what made it so perfect. That's why he didn't include her name on the card. He wishes he could have seen her face the second she realized the gift was for her when she realized that he was everything she wanted in a man.

He couldn't lie, though, he was slightly disappointed that she thought it might have been a joke by her friends. She really needs better friends. The kind of friends that Penny deserves would never play that kind of joke on her, and there's no way she should even be questioning that if she had friends that were worthy of her. That Vivian was definitely one that wasn't worthy of Penny. Him? A creep?! Who does she think she is? Questioning him and calling him a creep is the last thing she should be doing. He's the only person genuine enough for Penny and the only person worthy of her. He was appreciative of Alice, though, and understands why she's Penny's best friend out of all of them. She understands him and wants what's best for Penny, too.

This was the first step to his plan, and it worked out perfectly. Penny is excited, she was squealing, and he could hear the smile in her voice. And, oh god, that moan she let out, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He wanted to hear that over and over again, and he wanted to be the only person to get that kind of sound out of her. The idea of any other man causing her to make that sound made his blood boil. If she goes out on any dates, he would have to take action. No one else can have her. She is his.