A Long Way From Love
Gumball returned home from Penny's birthday party and opened the door to his room. He slowly entered with tears running down his cheeks.
Darwin realized his friend entering.
"Hey dude! How you do-"
"Not right now, man..." interrupted Gumball, raising his hand and signaling him to stop.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"I lost Penny. The party was a total mess. I-I..." Gumball looked at his best friend, crying even more than before.
Darwin rubbed his cheek, trying to cheer him up.
"There, there. It's ok, I'm sure she'll come back and you two can patch things up again."
Even though he was jealous at them ever since they started dating, fearing Gumball would ditch his best buddy, all he wanted was for Gumball to be happy.
"No... she won't come back." Gumball stared up at the ceiling. "The party was horrible and Penny was furious, telling me to never even dare talking to her again."
He paused for a second, recollecting his thoughts. "I've never seen her like this... I-I tried apologizing, I did! But she wouldn't even listen, and just stormed off..."
"Gumball..."
"Dude I... I lost everything. What's even the point of staying in Elmore?"
"Hey, you still got me!" Darwin said, hugging him tightly. "I'm there for you, man."
Both looked at eachother in silence for a few seconds.
"Thanks but... I'd better be going now."
"What? Where?"
"Leaving town, dude... No point in staying any longer." Gumball walked downstairs and headed for the front door. Darwin followed him.
"Wait! Y-you can't just go! What about me, or Penny?"
"So? What's the point in having friends when I'll never have Penny?" Gumball opened the door, and looked back at Darwin one last time. "It was great being your friend, man. Stay strong."
Then he left.
Penny knocked on the front door, realizing it wasn't locked. She entered and went upstairs, hesitating for a bit, but eventually brought up the courage to knock on Gumballs door.
"Hey Gumball? I'm sorry about earlier. I didn`t mean what I said, honest. I was just really angry at you." Penny waited for a reply, but all she heard was sobbing. "Gumball? Oh... I guess you're angry at me too. I understand, I was being a big jerk to you. Look, I don`t want to lose you, okay? I... I love you too much to let something like this ruin our relationship."
Penny smiled half-heartedly. "I, uh, saw your present. You know? The birthday card you made for me. You misspelled I love you more than anything else, but it was still sweet." Penny slowly opened the door and looked around, it was just Darwin. He was laying in Gumballs bed, sobbing.
D-darwin? where's Gumball?
"He's no longer among us..." said Darwin.
"He died?!"
Darwin stopped sobbing and looked at Penny.
"No, of course not. He just left town forever."
"Oh..." Penny was relieved. "Wait, he did what?!" Penny grabbed Darwin by his arm and dragged him downstairs. "Ths is bad, we've got to find him."
"But maybe he'll come back and-"
"No, we have to find him now, before he ends up getting hurt, or worse." Penny dragged him outside and finally released her grip on Darwin.
"You're right, Penny. We can't just stay here. We have to find him!"
"When did he leave?"
"Uh... about an hour ago, I guess?"
"Oh no, he could be anywhere by now!" Penny grabbed Drawin's arm again. "Follow me, we might still be able to catch up on him."
"I don`t think I have much of a choice, do I?" He said, while being dragged away by Penny.
Gumball walked down the street, no destination in mind. All he wanted was to get away as far as possible form this town. It was just filled with memories of Penny and the life he would never have.
I don't know why I even tried. Penny's too good for me. He thought.
I knew under no circumstances was this going to work. I'm nothing but a loser.
Gumball stopped infront of Penny's house, putting his hands in his pockets.
He just stood there, looking at it for a few minutes.
"What have I done..." he walked towards the door. "I guess there's no going back now though..." Gumball knocked half-heartedly.
After a few seconds, Penny's father opened the door.
"Yeah? Oh, it's you, kid. What'd you want." He said angrily.
"Hey, Patrick, I know Penny doesn't want to see me so uh, I just wanted to reassure you that I won't be bothering your daughter anymore."
He raised an eyebrow. "Wait, what?"
"Yeah, I know I've always been a pain in your butt. I know you never liked me."
"Kid, look, I-"
"It's fine, I'm going to leave town. You no longer have to worry about me, Mr. Fitzgerald." Gumball turned around and walked away.
"Hey kid!" He yelled, "Gumball!" but Gumball just kept walking. "I-I don't hate you..."
Not long after, Penny and Darwin arrived at her house. "Maybe my dad knows where Gumball is?"
"It's worth a shot." Darwin replied. "Would you mind letting my arm go now, though?" He said, slightly annoyed.
"Oh, yes, sorry."
Penny knocked on the door and waited.
A few seconds later her father opened the door.
"Hm? Oh, hey Penny. Gumball was here not long ago." he paused. "is uh, everything alright between you two?"
"Not really." Penny replied, looking at the ground. "What did he say?"
"Something about leaving town and me hating him or something. What happend?"
"Uh... well, you know how it's my birthday today and I had this massive cake?"
Penny took a deep breath
"Well, Gumball somehow managed to trip over, knocked me in the cake, I was set on fire by the candles, and had to jump in our swimming pool."
Nobody said anything for quite a while.
"This litte..." Penny's father mumbled a bunch of unintelligible stuff, before calming down somewhat.
"Do you hate him?" Penny asked bold.
"What? No, I'm just trying to protect you." her father replied.
"Protect me?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you know... If you love this goofball so much, go ahead, there's nothing I can do about it. Besides, I trust your judgement, Penny. All I'm trying is to protect you from getting hurt."
"Oh... I didn't know you felt that way."
"Sure, he's a massive dork sometimes, probably capable of setting water on fire,"
"...Or his girlfriend." Darwin interrupted sarcastically.
"Yeah, but he's a good kid."
Penny hugged him.
"You need to stop wasting time here and find him, Penny." He wrapped his arms around her. "Find him, and make sure you don't lose this guy again."
Penny looked at her father, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Don't worry, dad, I'll find him."
She grabbed Darwin's arm and dragged him down the street once more.
"Are you serious?! I can walk, you know? I didn't grew those legs for nothing." Darwin yelled.
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry." She let go of him. "Just follow me then."
After a long walk, Gumball finally reached the town limits.
"Well, here it is." He kept walking, thinking about where to go now. But he couldn't think of any place to stay.
I never should've went to the party in the first place. He thought.
I ruined everything. For myself, and for Penny
Gumball remembered all the shocked looks he got from everyone else at the party. Even Bobert made a remark on how much of an idiot Gumball is.
"I guess it makes sense Penny would hate me now." He stopped and said to himself while looking at the horizon.
"Hopefully she will find someone who will suit her better than me." Gumball said and continued his directionless walk.
It was getting late, Gumball left the city limits hours ago and could feel himself growing hungry and exhausted by now.
"Man, I need something to eat..." He briefly thought about going back home, but quickly realized all the trouble he'd be in for running away. He also didn't feel like going all the way back now. What's the point? going back, getting grounded, then what? Gumball sat down and looked at the sky.
"I wonder if Penny even realized I left." He searched his pockets for something to eat, but all he could find was a pack of gum, which he threw away in frustration.
"Darn it..." Gumball began to cry.
"Penny..." Darwin said, his legs burning like fire. "Can we rest?"
Without saying anything, Penny sat down and sobbed.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we can keep going if you want." Darwin said, "I mean, we already reached the city limits. Pretty sure he's already on his way back now."
"It's not that, Darwin..." Penny said sobbingly, "I don't think we will ever find him... We've been through the entire town. The entire town, Darwin!" her sobbing has turned into crying by now.
Unsure what to do, Darwin hugged her.
"Penny, we will find him. Knowing Gumball, he's probably exhausted now. No way he'd go any further."
"I guess you're right..." She became calm again and looked at Darwin. "Are you rested enough? We need to keep going now."
"Yes, kinda, let's keep going." Darwin followed her, and together they continued their search through the night.
Hours later they saw someone in the distance, sitting on the grass.
"Gumball?" Penny yelled at the figure, running towards it, followed closely by Darwin.
"Gumball is that you?" Yelled Darwin.
It was Gumball, and he noticed both of them running towards him. He got up and told them to stop midway.
"So that's how it is, huh?" Gumball yelled, "First you ditch me, and now you cheat on me with my best friend?"
"W-what?" Penny asked.
"Why else would he be with you?"
"Because we've been looking for you all-day. Darwin misses you, Gumball, and so do I."
"Yeah? Likely story." He kicked a can that was laying in front of him. "You told me to leave you alone..."
Penny slowly walked towards him. "Gumball... I love you." she paused. "I never meant what I said to you."
Both were silent and just looked into each other's eyes for a long time. Gumball could tell she was being honest.
"I love you too..." He said eventually, trying to hold back his tears. "I-I didn't want any of this..." Gumball hugged her tightly.
"It's okay, Gumball. I forgive you." Penny looked at him and smiled. "I liked the birthday card you made for me."
"Thanks, I worked pretty hard to make it as good as I could." He said sobbingly, tears rolling down his cheeks.
Penny leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
Gumball felt instantly a lot better, and hugged her even tighter, returning the kiss.
"Let's go home." He whispered.
"Gladly." She smiled.
"Glad you guys made up again," Darwin said. "even though everything could've been avoided if you just freaking stayed home Gumball." He yelled.
"We all make mistakes, man." Gumball said.
"Like setting me on fire for example." Penny said.
"Yeah like that, but-"
"Or breaking my shell at a play."
"Yeah, that too. "
"Or knocking me out on accident."
"Yes, I get it." Gumball smiled, and all three laughed and walked back home.
The End