Polar opposites sharing bunk beds and possibly falling in love in the process. Alex would not believe it in a billion years.
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Alex is an only child, a force of nature, and an academic machine. At least, she likes to focus on those aspects of h...
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1 year ago
"You want to break up with me?" Penelope said. "Seriously?"
I struggled to respond, but I eventually managed to nod slightly. Pen laughed, but it wasn't an honest laugh. It was the furious type of laugh, the one that came only in moments of hilarious pain.
I always hated this part. I never got too attached to relationships, but the girls I dated did constantly. Apparently, I'm the type of guy girls want to marry and have lots of babies with. Even when I let them know ahead of time with the most confidence I can muster that I don't want anything serious, girls never respect that one wish of mine. They always want more. They always need a safety net under the tightrope that is a relationship with me.
I know there are girls out there that would love to keep things casual with me, but I always happen to stumble into the ones that want something concrete despite my protests.
Penelope was different, though, in the sense that I wasn't upfront with her, not completely.
She was insanely pretty, a feisty girl with fiery blonde hair and dyed hot pink tips. She was everybody's perfect angel who worked at Ramon's. At least thirty people warned me that if I ever hurt her, they would beat me up senselessly. So, dating her, if only for a month, was a big commitment, which I wasn't too sure I was comfortable with. She'd been tight with her ex Luke since they were five. They had years of loving each other under their belt, so it felt like I was more of a rebound than a serious alternative. And I was fine with that. Penelope was great and all, but I really didn't want to be with her long-term. Everybody thought she was the perfect girl, and that put so much pressure on her, she turned out to be the exact opposite. She was kind of insane.
Luke is an awesome guy, I have to admit. I felt dirty hanging out with his ex, but everyone had pushed me her way. I was pressured to keep up appearances. Noah and Liz thought Pen could fix me. They thought her green eyes and smooth lips could make up for the fact that I didn't know her and didn't care to.
I was supposed to be her rebound. She would use me for quick and painless sex; I would use her for the sake of my friends' sanity. They wanted me to stop being such a playboy.
And then she wanted more.
"Is this about that one time we talked about college?" She asked as she blinked through tears. I bit my lip.
She was talking about the first time we had real sex in her room. Not just fooling around, real sex. I didn't know this at the time, but the only person she'd ever had sex with before me was Luke. She was bonding herself to me, and I just interpreted it as her being lonely and grabbing whatever she could take to replace the love she'd lost.
Afterward, we cuddled, and I passed a hand through her back. Her skin was soft, annoyingly soft. I wanted to ask her what her skincare routine was because her skin felt more like touching a cloud than touching a real human being's naked body. I was about to open my mouth and everything, but she whispered something that made me forget.
