Penelope's POV
"I am so excited for today,"
Adrienne and I walk and talk on the way to school. The Spring Fling is coming up, and I believe that today my boyfriend, Seth, is going to ask me.
"You're so lucky to have Seth. He is so hot, and you know how everyone looks at you two… like they want to rip him from your grasp."
Just for the heads up, Adrienne is one of those girls, but it's (…mostly) just because she's alone (and by alone I mean boyfriend-less).
"Who wants to rip me from your grasp?" I don't have time to answer before I'm smothered with warmth. Having a werewolf boyfriend is the best.
"Hey babe," I say, giving Seth a kiss before parting. His arm around my shoulder, he says, "Hey. So what are your plans for tonight?"
"I'm free – you know that. It's my one night off work." I work at the local bookstore, Ink!, every day of the week. Well, every day except for Thursday. So Thursday is always date night. Well, there's the weekend, but I have to work for some of the day. Thursday – not at all.
"What do you say about going to Sam and Emily's for dinner?" Seth looks so hopeful, but he's heating up even more. I can tell that he's nervous. I obviously tell him yes. I don't know why he still gets nervous. I'm his imprint – I love him more than anything in the world. I'd somehow make a bubble if he wanted to eat underwater. … Although, I mean, I was expecting more than a typical wolf pack dinner tonight of all nights, but…. It's fine. As long as we're together.
I wave good-bye to Adrienne, but stop dead in my tracks when I see Collin emerge from the shadows. Today is his first day back at school – he's the newest wolf, just phased last week.
"Oh no…" I whisper. Seth looks at me in alarm. I point at what I predict is going to happen, and sure enough…
"Oh! My gosh, I am so sorry Adrienne, I didn't mean to bump into you-"
He looks up. So does she. And – yep, he has the look on his face.
"… She can handle it, right?"
Seth squeezes my shoulders. "I'm sure she can. She's always loved the stories – hasn't she?"
I gulp. She has, I just don't know if she'll be able to when she realizes it's real.
The morning flies by, and suddenly, it's lunch. Seth walks with me, as usual, and we casually discuss the chemistry and English that we just did. My focus is elsewhere, though, and he can tell. "Penelope, Adrienne will be fine. Collin's an innocent kid – and he's not that bad. I'm sure she's going to bounce in any minute and talk for hours about how "cute" or whatever he is. Don't sweat it. Look, here she is now – shit."
Seth's final words are the reason I turn my head, and take in the moving tower of rage that is literally steaming (oh wait – that's just the kettle behind her, sorry) that is my best friend.
"Oh. My. God. You will NOT believe what has happened to me today," Adrienne practically screams as she sits down. "First that idiot Collin hits me, knocks all my stuff on the ground, and ends up bruising my head! Look at me!" She wildly points to her temple. It has the faintest trace of pink in one area on the right. "Look what he did! It hurts like MAD! And to make matters worse, I flunked my biology test, I forgot to pack a lunch today and I'm broke, Collin has been stalking me all day, probably to laugh at me, the bastard, and I did amazing on my English project!" She huffs, and sits down. (Yes, she was so emotional that she stood up halfway through her rant.)
Then (and I don't know what supernatural force moved me to do this), I said, "Adrienne? Why are you upset about doing well on your English project? You worked on it for weeks!"
She glares at me. It's a death glare, and I'm pretty sure that I am now dead to her. "Because, Penny, we got a new project today, and every freaking kid in the class wants to be my PARTNER!"
Oh. Whoops. I have been told many times how she hates the people in her English class. But then I remember that Collin is in her class. All of her classes, actually. Just like Seth has all of the same classes as me. (Thank God; I can't stand to be without him.)
… And maybe, one day, Adrienne will feel the same. (About Collin, I mean. No one is getting Seth! He. Is. Mine.)
I sigh and eat my lunch. I can't wait for this day to be over.
Seth picks me up at six. I say 'au revoir' to my folks, and we drive a couple of blocks away before stopping to have a quick make-out session in his car. (And yes, it is slightly awkward considering how old the truck is, but after a year and a half of dating, you get used to it.) We break for air and he starts driving once again. Looking out the window, I see old Mrs. Shobitioner gaping at us and burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Seth must have seen too, because he's laughing away with me. I eventually stop laughing, for the most part, and realize that we have past Emily's house. "Hey, I thought-"
"Nope. Tonight is special." He gives me one of his dazzling smiles, and I fall in love all over again. I take a moment to look at him. Black jeans, navy blue button-down shirt, and dress shoes. I'm wearing dark-wash jeans, a loose and flowy white tank, and black flats, as well as the necklace Seth gave me for our first anniversary and my charm bracelet, complete with the carved wolf charm he gave me last Christmas. Thank goodness I look decent – I don't usually dress this well for a night at Sam's.
We pull up to the restaurant and I realize that it's where we had our first date. And then I realize that today is May 8th. It has been exactly a year and a half since we first came here. Before we enter the building, I kiss Seth on the cheek. "I love you," I whisper, taking his hand. "I love you more," he whispers back, and in my mind we go on like that for hours. But in reality, we simply smile and walk in.
Seth reserved the same table that we sat at the first time. I don't know how he did it, and the devil won't tell me, but it doesn't really matter, because he is the sweetest person ever anyways. I tell him that, and he smiles.
We order what we did that first time. I get penne with chicken, and he gets steak, plus a plate of mashed potatoes, broccoli soup, a Caesar salad, and our appetizer of pita chips and spinach dip. I eat half of my meal, three pita chips, and let Seth have the rest. The exact same thing happened a year and a half ago. I remember internally freaking out because he ate so much (I didn't know the secret yet). Now I'm almost surprised that he's not eating more. Oh, I forgot about the sundae. It's huge, with a brownie underneath, covered in five scoops of ice cream and the toppings of your choice. Again, Seth ate most of it.
We get back to the truck after Seth has paid the bill (thank God – I only brought ten bucks. I thought we were going to be at Emily's, remember?), and just before we get in, he takes my hand. After giving me a kiss, he bends down on one knee and pulls out a box.
Okay. Let me get something straight. We're in grade eleven, and even though I am deeply, madly, and truly in love with Seth Clearwater, I would not even CONSIDER marriage until I'm twenty-three. (… Okay, maybe twenty.) Of course I'd accept a proposal, so long as we didn't actually get married yet, because… well, we're still in high school. And even though I want to jump this hottie's bones every second of the day, I'm not ready to be abandoned by my parents. (Who, by the way, love Seth, although they think he is slightly over-protective.) So, when I saw the little black box, I got scared.
Very, very scared.
"Uh – Seth? Is that what I think it is?"
"… Could you let me ask my own question first? Please? I've been planning this for a while," Seth answers sheepishly, and I melt at the thought of him doing so much. For me. The average girl who always gets a B, with the hand-me-down clothes from her twin sisters, who has another younger set of twins (a brother and a sister), who never got the attention she needed from her parents, and who never felt appreciated until the not-so average guy came into her life…. So how could I neglect him of asking me a simple question?
"Penny. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew that I loved you. And not just because of the imprint. This was before. I've loved you since that day two summers ago when I walked into the bookstore and saw your face. August thirty-first. Two weeks before I phased; four before I imprinted. You have accepted me, loved me, and done everything you could possibly do and more, just by being here. By breathing. By helping me, and comforting me, and I want to return the favour forever. My whole life. I love you, and I always will. And by putting on this ring," he pauses, opening the box and showing me a gorgeous ring… an emerald ring… "I know that you'll do the same."
Emerald is my birthstone. My birthday is in two weeks, the date of the spring fling (the twenty-first). Oh, thank God.
"Yes, yes, of course I will! I love you, Seth, more than you know." He slips the ring on my finger and I kiss him. For a while. (A long while.)
Once we get in the car, Seth remembers to ask me to the Spring Fling. "Yes!" I answer ecstatically, and we're off, Seth wearing his normal wolfish grin the whole way. And as usual, we stop a block from my house to kiss some more.
Hey. It's hard getting time alone when you work twenty-five hours a week and your boyfriend's a werewolf.