Amy & Penny

Chapter Seventeen

Penny pov:
Amy stood the ruler up beside me on the kitchen counter and squinted her eyes, carefully counting each tick on the ruler.

"Yep. Two-point-seven-ish inches tall. You lost about a quarter of an inch in height. About a centimeter. It's amazing how such a small amount can make such a huge difference for you." Amy observed, mostly to herself.

"I fail to see the amazement." I said flatly as I crossed my arms with a scowl. She set the ruler aside.

"Look, I know this sucks, but being sour is not going to help. I'm just keeping track in case you get smaller." Amy explained.

"Sorry. I just don't get how I would have gotten smaller. Do you think it was coincidence for that to be a side effect? Or do you think maybe whoever made it, did that on purpose?" I asked.

"I hope not." Amy said as she gave me a concerned look. "But like you said before, there's a lot of sick people in the world. I'm not giving you any more of that 'medicine'." Amy said, using finger air quotes around medicine.

"Report them. Report the seller. Report it all!" I suggested. Her phone lay on the counter beside me, and she scrolled to the ad that showed the medicine.

"Yeah. Hopefully, we can get to the bottom of this. I hate to think this happened to someone else, and instead of helping them, someone tortured them. Made things worse on purpose and treated them badly. If this happened, my heart breaks for that little person, and I wish I could help them." Amy said as she thought outloud.

"Me too." I agreed. Hearing her thoughts made me especially thankful that I'm going through this with Amy and not some psychopath. Amy makes mistakes, sure, but she has a heart of gold, and I know she would never intentionally do anything to hurt me. She reminded me that things could always be worse. Then Amy's phone rang, and it broke me out of my trance. Amy gave me a weak smile and then answered her phone, putting it on speaker.

"Hey, Kamal. What's up?" Amy asked.

"Hey, Amy. Are you busy? Gemma needs us." Kamal said.

"What happened?" Amy asked and looked at me with concern.

"Her boyfriend of ten years just up and left her, and she is devastated. I'm on my way to the store to get some comfort food for her. She needs all of us right now. Can you and Penny come?" Kamal explained. Amy again looked to me, looking a bit hesitant and indecisive about putting my situation on hold for a bit. I gave her an assuring nod.

"Yes, we will be there." Amy said.

"Perfect. Meet me at Gemma's in five." Kamal instructed and then hung up. And with that, Amy held out her palm for me to climb onto, and we went out to her car.

We made the short drive to Gemma's house and pulled into the driveway beside Gemma's car. Carefully getting out of her car, we saw Kamal pull up on the side of the road. She stepped out of her car and retrieved snacks from the backseat. Amy's hand surrounded me as she carefully lifted me close to let me perch on her shoulder.

"Hang on tight, okay?" Amy warned me. I took a fistful of her shirt fabric in one hand and held onto her hair in the other hand. Amy then helped Kamal carry food to Gemma's door. Gemma greeted us, face red with fresh tears. We went inside, and they set the bags of food aside so they could each hug Gemma.

"Eric is such a jerk. He does not deserve you." Kamal said. We brought the snacks into the kitchen and Amy set me down on the kitchen table. Gemma sat down and looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"How could he do this to me? I don't understand!" Gemma cried. Amy got out the bowls from Gemma's kitchen cupboard and started pouring snacks, while Kamal poured the drinks and passed them around. Amy sat down at the table beside Gemma.

"He's an asshole, that's why. What even happened anyway?" I asked. Kamal gave me a bottle cap of iced tea and sat down on the other side of Gemma.

"Well.. We've been trying to have kids for a long time. We've been struggling with miscarriages and failed attempts, and so we made an appointment with the doctor." Gemma paused and shakily took a breath. Kamal placed her hand on Gemma's arm for comfort. "The doctor told me that the chances of me getting pregnant are slim, and if I do, I more than likely will never carry a baby to term. I can't have children, and Eric left me because of that." Gemma explained. She squeezed her eyes shut and started to cry some more.

"I'm so sorry, Gemma. I had no idea you were going through that." Amy apologized and got up to give her another hug. Gemma continued to sob.

"That's a terrible reason to leave someone. There are other ways to start a family. Like a surrogate." Kamal said.

"Yeah, or adoption." I suggested.

"Right?! I explained that to him, but he shut me down. Says he wants to have a family the 'real way'." Gemma described using air quotes with her fingers.

The real way... that made me especially mad at Eric, and I barely know the guy. As someone who grew up in foster care, I know exactly what it's like to not have a family. When I was a kid, I would have killed to have a nice family adopt me, but it never happened. Instead, I bounced from foster home to foster home. Some of them were good people, but a lot of them were shady people, who only did it for the money and gave zero fucks about the well-being of the children they were fostering. So to hear someone shut down the idea of adopting so quickly because it's "not real".. just makes my blood boil.

"Wow. Whatever, fuck him. You deserve so much better, Gemma." I stated with an undertone of anger in my voice.

"Thanks, Penny. I just can't stop thinking about him. I love him." Gemma admitted.

"Of course you do. You were together for ten years, trying to start a family. He loved you too, but he made an idiotic choice and hurt you. Soon he will see that he screwed up." Amy explained sympathetically.

The three of them continued to talk about Eric while I withdrew from the conversation completely. I started to feel dizzy and my legs were wobbily. I was seeing double of everything, almost as if I was drunk. It wasn't until I almost lost my balance and stumbled slightly forward when Amy noticed something was wrong.

"Oh, you don't look so good. Are you feeling okay?" Amy said to me with a bit of worry in her tone.

"I don't feel so good." I said. I struggled to keep my balance and fell on my butt, which caused everyone to gasp. All three of them were staring at me with panic and worry written in all of their features.

"Oh no! What's wrong with her?" Gemma asked with concern.

"Is she okay?" Kamal gently asked immediately after.

"She looks pale, almost bluish. Penny, can you breathe? Can you hear me?" Amy frantically asked. They started to sound far away. I couldn't respond to them, all I could do was sit there and look at the floor beneath me, which was actually Gemma's kitchen table. "Penny, say something!" Amy begged me. I couldn't say anything, my surroundings were starting to fade, and I could hear all of them getting upset and worried. I fell backward completely on my back, unable to move, and passed out.