Something More? ✔️

12

"Stop! James, stop!" Penny screamed. She launched herself onto their struggling bodies and tried her hardest to pull him off of Adam. It didn't work, they were simply too absorbed in their fight. Letting out a frustrated grunt, she wrapped her arms around James's torso and yanked as hard as she could. Thankfully it worked. James was momentarily upended and stumbled back a few steps. Adam was still lying on the ground, bruised and battered. Panting, Penny glared at the two of them.

"Apologize," she heard herself yell. Adam blinked at her groggily. James looked at her in surprise. Penny surprised herself with her own courage and tenacity. "I said APOLOGIZE," she boomed. For some reason, she wasn't scared anymore. She wasn't about to let some rubbish guy haunt her future nightmares. He struggled up from the ground and rubbed his wounds gingerly.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"We can't hear you, bastard," James barked.

"Sorry," he said, this time considerably louder. Penny took a step closer and met his eyes steadily.

"The only reason why I'm letting you off the hook is because you're intoxicated. If you ever pull that shit again on me or any other girl, I'll report you," her voice was calm. Truthfully she was a raging mess of emotions on the inside. She felt James gaze at her, startled by the aggression in her voice. With that, Penny gestured for James to follow her as she walked out of the alleyway. She definitely did not want to return back to the group celebration. She was definitely not in the mood to celebrate anything. Penny fished her phone out of her pocket and sent Chloe a quick text, telling her she would be going back first.

"Are you okay?" James asked her.

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm better now. You should go back and join them; I'm heading back to the dorms." James simply shook his head and continued walking with her. It was already nighttime and the streets were quiet. The only light was cast down by the windows of nearby buildings. They walked side by side and remained in silence for a while until Penny finally asked the question.

"Why did you do that? Why did you beat him up?"

"I don't know," he murmured. Penny felt a surge of frustration rise up in her; she was so done with all this shit. She was so done guessing his intentions and playing these games. Maybe it was the adrenaline from standing up to Adam or just her sheer fatigue, but she was going to confront him. Penny was no longer the timid, frail girl everyone knew back in her high school.

"Why did you do it?" she spat. He looked away from her and settled into a deeper silence. "James, I'm asking you a question," Penny yelled.

"And I answered. I don't know."

"I'm so done with whatever this is. Whatever we are," she paused meeting his eyes, "leave me alone." and Penny began stalking away. Despite the pain that gripped her heart and the tears welling up in her eyes, she knew this was the right thing to do. It was better to put an end to this than let her unrequited love for him drag out. She heard rapid footsteps following behind her and could feel his eyes resting on her back.

"Penny!" she heard him yell. There was a beat of silence. "Penny," he yelled again. "Okay — I did it, I did it because I like you!" he screamed. Penny stopped dead in her steps, and did not trust herself to turn around. Had she imagined what he just said? Was this all a hallucination? Blinking rapidly she nervously rubbed her hands on her pants. "I like you," he whispered. The air sparked with the electricity of their tension. It wasn't a dream.

Turning around slowly, Penny asked, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He ran a bruised hand through his hair and let out a sigh. She could see the faint outline of his silhouette in the darkness of the night.

"What right do I have to be with you?"

"What?" she asked incredulously.

"I have baggage, Penny. Who would want to be with someone with so much baggage? Someone who can't even save their own mother?" his voice was broken and Penny wanted so much to hug him at that moment. She was too scared to meet his eyes, and her hands shook at her sides.

"You're such a fool. I don't care about that. I just care about you," she sucked in a breath, "I just want to be with you." James walked up to her and closed their distance. They gazed into each others eyes. Penny could see the glittering reflection of the night lights in his eyes. She could see the soft slope of his nose illuminated by the warm glow. He wrapped his arms gently around her and pressed himself to her.

"Then be with me," he whispered. Penny pulled back in surprise and they looked at each other.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"