The Marvelous Misadventures of Penny and Gideon
Jimmy Eat World's "Dizzy" played softly from the speakers of the laptop sitting on the floor. It was getting close to nighttime, the brilliant colors of the setting sun coarsing through the west-facing window. Gideon was lying on the bed (some bed, it was a mattress on the floor), his shirt long-forgotten in some corner of the room and his jeans unbuttoned and half-unzipped. Resting comfortably on his chest like there was nowhere else she'd rather be was Penny, in only her underwear. Gideon ran his hands through her hair and hummed along with the music.
"I have to go soon," said Penny.
"Nope," said Gideon with a smile, and he wrapped his other arm around Penny's torso. "You're stuck here with me. You're not going anywhere."
"I have to," Penny laughed. "Liam will be home soon."
"Pfft," Gideon said. "Screw Liam."
"That's kind of the point, dearest," said Penny, and she pushed herself up on her elbows, looking into Gideon's clear face. Her lover was wearing a frown. Penny bit her lip. "I didn't mean to upset you--"
"Who's upset?" said Gideon, too quickly.
"You," Penny tapped the end of Gideon's nose with a slender finger. "You think I can't tell? You're a miserable liar."
Gideon pulled Penny closer to him, causing her head to rest in the hollow of his neck. He tickled his fingers across her ear and murmured, "Don't go, Princess."
"I don't want to," Penny sighed heavily.
They lied in silence for a few moments, then, with a smirk, Gideon reached down and snapped Penny's bra. She let out a frustrated laugh and sat up before he could grab hold of her again and readjusted her underclothes. "You're terrible."
"You like it."
"You drive me crazy."
"You like that even more."
"What the hell am I going to do with you?"
"Love me unconditionally," Gideon smirked.
Penny leaned in, slowly, tracing her hand along Gideon's bare chest, and planted one soft kiss on his lips. "Duh." While he was mesmerized, Penny hopped off of him and began searching for her outfit. Defeated, Gideon crossed his arms behind his head and stretched out, utterly relaxed. Penny glanced his way. "What, lover?"
Gideon shuddered. He loved when she said that. He gazed at Penny, standing over him with one hand on her hip, the other hand clutching the button-up shirt he'd ripped off of her a short time before. She arched one perfect eyebrow. "Well?" she attempted annoyance, but she was smiling.
"Do you have any regrets?" Gideon asked.
"Only one," said Penny, and she began looking around for her jeans.
"What's that?"
"I wish that when you'd asked me to kiss you, I'd said no," Penny laughed.
"Liar," Gideon smirked.
"Well, then, I have no regrets," Penny said.
"Liar again," said Gideon. "Nobody gets to have that wish."
Penny looked at him, a serious expression on her face. Then she looked away, unable to keep her gaze locked on his. "I regret..." She bit her lower lip, then shook her head and tossed her hands in the air. "Hell, I don't know, Gideon."
"Liar three times over," Gideon said softly, and leaned back. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, the smell of sex and Penny's perfume overtaking his senses. He was almost drunk with the scent of it. He'd felt intoxicated from the moment she'd arrived.
He heard her zip up her jeans, then her purse as it scraped the floor while she picked it up. Her footsteps echoed around the mostly-empty apartment as she headed for the door.
As the door opened, Gideon bolted upright. "Baby?"
Penny turned and looked at him. "Yes?"
Gideon considered for a moment, the question burning on the tip of his tongue and causing his brain to roil inside his skull. But seeing her, in all her beauty, in all her happiness at leaving one lover and heading to another, he thought it better to just feign ignorance...or bury his sadness inside of himself and let it fester into a mental illness.
"I love you," he said, finally.
Penny flashed her perfect smile. "I love you, too, baby. I'll call you later."
And she was gone.
Gideon stared at the door until the sun completely disappeared. Then he sighed heavily, and fell back onto the bed. He grabbed a pillow that still smelled like her, pulled it close, and tried his best to fall asleep. Unfortunately, various images that would have been at home in an adult book store kept flitting across his mind's eye, and they weren't the kind he enjoyed.
Damn, he thought. Damn, damn, damn.