Lucky Penny [h.s.]

53. (*)

Penelope.

"I still don't think this really works." I frowned as I put the burger sauce on the pizza.

Harry laughed from the other side of the kitchen, "You're the one who bought the ingredients."

"To cheer you up." I retorted, staring critically at the work we had performed in the kitchen. Harry got behind me, circling his arm around my midsection as he rested his chin on my shoulder, "You cheer me up enough as it is. But I can assure you this will be good."

"You promise?" I teased with my eyes on the pizza and Harry chuckled, kissing my neck shortly, "Promise. And if I'm wrong, you can punish me."

"Horny twat." I laughed under my breath, taking the tray with the pizza to pop it in the oven. He playfully squeezed my hip and I smiled at the light atmosphere in the apartment. We were Harry and Penelope again.

After breaking the bowl, having a full-blown mental breakdown on his kitchen floor and crying into Harry's shoulder, I had calmed down. I had wiped off my make-up after seeing myself with panda eyes in the bathroom mirror. I had promised Harry I'd call the police tomorrow to report Patrick. Not only did he threaten me, he also broke about five hundred rules concerning the restraining order.

He was in the same space as me, deliberately came up to me, spoke to me, intimidated me and touched me.

Harry had relaxed as well, apologizing time and time again for his reaction when he walked in but I assured him that I was fine. I had massaged his tense shoulders on the couch as we slowly sipped on some red wine and enjoyed the look of the falling snow outside.

"So, um –" I rolled my lips inside of my mouth, "Not sure if you want to talk about it, but Dave mentioned something about it and I had kind of figured it out for myself... the presentation didn't go well?"

Harry looked down to his wine glass in his hand as we sat back down on the couch, waiting for the pizza. He slowly shook his head, "No, they didn't even let me finish. Cindy apologized for it, but she's just one vote on the board. A few of them just never showed interest so it was kind of a lost cause to begin with."

I shot him a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry, baby, know how much work you put into it."

The corner of his mouth tugged up as he heard my nickname but he didn't comment on it, "Yeah." He sighed, "Well, it is what it is. Got teased about it by one of the other teachers and got in an argument with him."

"Really?" I raised my brows, pretending like I didn't know this already from Dave.

Harry took a sip of wine, still avoiding my eyes, "Mhm. He's this like... sixty year-old super privileged guy, doesn't understand anything about the other religions at the school. He's always making all of these racist jokes, it's terrible. Cindy can't fire him though, he's like protected through the board. Hope he retires soon."

"What did he say?" I frowned.

Harry shrugged, "Just claimed my idea was stupid, that it wouldn't make a difference. And then he said something about Samira, who's a kid in my class. And I lashed out at him, called him every name in the book."

I had a small smile on my lips, feeling pride well up in me that Harry believed so firmly in his values and defended other people. Especially minorities. He had such a big heart.

"So Cindy scolded me a little. Not too much because she knows I'm right, but enough to make a point to the other teachers." He concluded, rubbing his face, "Just been a bad day, to be honest. I'm glad it's Christmas break soon."

"Two more weeks?" I asked after doing the maths in my head, and Harry nodded, "Yep. Should we... plan Christmas?"

"I've already got your gift." I beamed and Harry's eyes widened, "What? Really? You didn't have to get me a gift."