Penelope struggled maintaining her balance with the flip-flops she had pulled on at the door with the slope. Luckily enough, she made it to the foot of the slope without dropping a single snack that she was carrying. She sighed in relief and walked towards him, knowing too well he didn’t want her there from how tensed his back was through the black t-shirt he was wearing.
She slipped off her flip-flops next to his shoes and padded across the green grass to the spot beside him, pulling on a small smile as she stepped into the water and sat back down.
Having worn a knee-high dress, she clearly didn’t need to roll it up.
“Could you just please leave me alone?” Ace asked as he glanced towards her with furrowed brows, this time no glaring at her like before. She slowly eased her shoulders when she understood he wanted some space.
But unlike the rest, Penelope always invaded people’s personal space and never left them alone, even when they really wanted to be alone.
“I’ll just sit here and be quiet.” She smiled and nodded as she placed the tray and milk bottle aside. “Pretend I’m not here.”
“How can I when you’re sitting right there?” he rolled his eyes in annoyance and turned to the river. “Just shut up and don’t say a word.”
Penelope smiled and nodded before turning her eyes to the water. She watched as the fish swam around the river bed and feeding off of the rocks with whatever they could find. She trailed her eyes from the fish to her feet, watching as some fish began to softly peck at the space between her toes. A small giggled escaped her lips as they tickled her a bit, making her unable to muffle her voice.
Ace simple rolled his eyes once more and glanced to the other side of the river where Penelope wasn’t sitting. Though she wasn’t talking or bothering him in anyway, he simply wanted to be left alone and she didn’t want to leave. That much he expected of her.
It wasn’t long until he was snapped from his clouded thoughts from the loud munching sound beside him. He drew his eyes from the water and glanced to his side where Penelope was fully focused on eating a cookie and chipping it before hovering her fingers with the piece above the water and crumbling it up for the fish.
She remained unaware of her loud munching as she focused solemnly on the fish surrounding her feet. A small chuckle escaped her lips as the fish tickled her a little every now and then as they fought for the crumbs.
Once the cookie was done, she reached for another, only to pause when she noticed him staring at her with a rather confused gaze.
“What?” she asked as she raised her brows at him. “I’m I being too loud?”
“You’re chewing too loud.” He sighs out and shifts his gaze to the fish swarming around her feet. “Plus you made your point. I really want to be alone.”
“You can be alone with me sitting silently here.” She shrugged her shoulder and chipped the cookie before breaking it over the water.
“What are you trying to prove here?” he asked as he clenched into the grass, feeling his headache slowly come back from the anger slowly raising inside of him.
“That you’re not an outsider anymore.” She said quietly as she watched the fish, dropping her smile as she felt the nagging guilt inside her chest. “That you belong here, just like everyone else.” She whispered, getting to quieten and raise his brows, completely taken aback.
Penelope had always been kind from the inside and always suffered greatly when she felt guilty about something she caused. She loved how everyone in the pack smiled at each other, caring less of whether you looked different or had more or less money than each other. She loved the thought of being at peace.
“You know,” she cleared her throat as she glanced up at me. “I love Harley, but not in that sense. As a friend. I’ve seen the way he reacts around the guys Hope liked. I noticed how shy he was to just tell her how he felt. It wasn’t any of my business, I know. But Harley isn’t as strong as he looks. He cries a lot when something hurts him deeply. He used to have a little sister he was always walking around with. You could never separate those two, believe me, I tried.” She chuckled as her eyes began to water, causing her to look away from his eyes, knowing too well he was listening to every word she was saying. “Harley loved his sister, just like any sibling would love the other. Completely inseparable. But, there was a war and he watched her died right in front of her. I was there too, just behind Harley and telling him to run as fast as possible with his sister. When her body fell to the ground, Harley switched off and I knew he died too. A few days after we buried all that had died, he began to act like a doll. He didn’t cry but kept smiling all day long to cheer up the others that had lost their family. He pretended to be fine, so we assumed he was okay and never asked or checked up on him. Then he began following Hope around, just because he missed having someone close to him. Luckily, he more he spent with Hope the more alive he became. The more normal he seemed. But even though he is fine now, I regret not asking if he needed a shoulder to lean on that day… I was there, I witnessed her die and I didn’t try to comfort him in any way because I was scared somehow. It was a huge mistake and now he’s not the same.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she quickly ran her fingers across her cheeks to wipe it off as she took a deep breath.
“Since then, the only thing was to get him and Hope together, so that he can return to being himself, and not stuck in this dark mind of his.” She sighed out and glanced at him, only to notice he was now staring at the water. “I never saw what was inside his mind, but I could tell what was in it. Hope was the only thing he had that could take his mind off his sister. So you have to understand I’m not leaving your feelings for Hope aside. I want to help you, I really do, but this is the only thing I can do for Harley. I’ll make it up to you. I promise. So please don’t assume it’s because you’re an outsider and that I don’t care about how you feel. I really do. But I need you to understand.”
“I get what you’re trying to say, I know why you did it and its fine.” He shrugged his shoulder and glanced at her, only to stare into tear soaked eyes. “I was just venting back there. But I’m glad you told me the truth, though I really don’t care what he went through no matter how much you try to tell him or how much you try to convince me to feel sad.”
“What happened to you, Ace?” she asked as she stared at him with furrowed brows. “I don’t know you that well but I can tell you only see yourself as the victim. So you might have gone through something too.”
“And why should I tell you?” he chuckled mockingly as he glared at her.
“Because I feel like you had told someone about it but they didn’t do anything convincing enough for you to let it go. So I want to help you.” She shrugged her shoulders with a smile. “It’s the least I could do.”
“no.” he rolled his eyes and looked elsewhere.
“I’ll leave if I don’t successfully help you.” She offered and he sighed out heavily as he glared at her.
“Promise me you’ll actually leave.” He said with a deep frown and she nodded quickly.