A/N : Dedicated to the one and only Chiara ;) You can either blame or thank her for this chapter because I rushed it like crazy. I haven't even read it yet :L it probably makes no sense.. but anywaaay! It seemed like a cute idea at the time. :3 It's based around 1x13 (they were probably together by this time.. but stilllll)
It was Monday, and the cast were all back at work, filming the mid-season episodes. 8am didn't sit well with Penn after the night he had. Who the fuck puts a launch party on a Sunday night? The show-runners were kind enough to let them have three more hours sleep than normal, but it still wasn't enough after having to clean up Penny's piss, barely seven hours ago.
After cleaning up Penny, Blake was out like a light, splayed out on top of Penn's duvet, leaving Penn unable to get underneath it without waking her up. He was a pretty laid-back guy and could deal with most things, but one thing that annoyed him to no end was sleeping without something over him. It didn't matter if it was ninety degrees- he'd have to have a duvet over him. If it were any other girl, he'd have yanked the duvet from under her and made sure he got a good night sleep; but this wasn't just any other girl; this was the girl: Blake Christina Lively.
Penn got up off the bed and quietly crept over to the armchair in the corner of the room which had essentially become a clothes hanger, and he carefully sat in it, trying not to make any squeaks that would wake her up. He pulled up the foot-rest and rested his legs on it as he lay back in the chair, watching over a dreaming Blake. He pulled out a woolly sweater that was behind his back, hanging over the chair and he put it over himself. He was just about to shut his eyes when he saw Blake make a slight movement as she grumbled something inaudible and unconsciously rubbed her hand over her bare arm.
Penn decided she probably needed a blanket more than him, and he slowly got up, crept over to the bed and very gently laid the sweater over her perfect, peaceful body.
Still asleep, she brushed her cheek against the warm sweater, and there was something so child-like and innocent about the way she did it that triggered a smile to break across Penn's face as he watched over her, protectively. He gingerly brushed a strand of hair from her face with the back of his finger and then murmured, "Good night, pretty girl… I love you." Before returning back to his armchair and falling asleep, wishing it was as easy to say to her when she was awake.
Penn needed a lot more coffee and time in make-up than usual to wake him up for the long day ahead. He used this time to read over his lines again- most of his scenes today were with Blake, which could be looked at as a great thing or a terrible thing. Normally, on set, he and Blake would have the best time; it never felt like work. They'd just laugh and joke all day, (and he'd get to kiss her, which was a nice perk) but he was now becoming increasingly more anxious around her, knowing how close he'd been getting to telling her how he felt.
It was 10am and Blake came bounding into the boys hair and make-up trailer, throwing her arms over Penn's shoulders from behind while he was sat down, looking at her in the mirror. "Penn! Come on, Princess. How is it that you took longer than me today?"
He screwed up his face at her in the mirror. "Rough night. Someone stole my bed."
Blake gasped sarcastically, covering her mouth. "Oh no! You really ought to be more careful with your adjoining door. You just can't trust your neighbours these days."
Penn rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. "Come on then, bed-burglar. Brace yourself for a whole day with the Badge. Let's get to work."
They both headed out the trailer and on to set to film their scenes. A few hours later, they had to shoot a scene in the quad at Constance/St Jude's- a scene that Penn wasn't exactly looking forward to:
"Pick it up again from 'how can I know that?'… action!"
Blake got back into character, "how can I know that?"
"Because I gave you my word… because I love you."
"Cut! Penn, I know Dan's supposed to be nervous, but you're stiffer than wood right now. Just loosen up a little."
'Is he fucking joking? Okay… you're Dan… It's just Dan.'
"how can I know that?"
"Because I gave you my word… because I love you."
"Huh?"
"I love you. And not just because I thought you were pregnant. And not how you love some random guy who picks up your lit papers and a girl who likes your hair." Penn took a breath, relieved he managed to say the whole line without being sick.
"Okay."
"Okay? That response is not okay." Penn walked out of the quad and out of shot of the camera. He rested his back against the wall in the school hallway, 'That's totally how she's gonna react when I tell her. What if that's how she reacts?' He rubbed his face with his hands to calm his panic before telling himself to man up and reappearing back into quad, all smiles and jokes as normal.
Later on, the last scene of the day, Penn and Blake were on set in the Humphrey loft. Blake looked gorgeous with her long blonde hair, down and wavy over the shoulders of her beautiful blue coat. Penn looked cute and boyish in a blue, checked shirt and he was excited to get this scene over with. He was planning it as a sort of dress rehearsal for his real-life attempt.
"Action!"
"I love you because you make no apologies about being exactly who you are… beautiful, smart, sexy as hell." Penn smirked to himself, knowing that she didn't know he wasn't even acting this scene.
Blake smiled a shy smile, "Now you're embarrassing me."
"That's another reason. You're completely unaware of your effect on me. You're also completely unaware that you laugh like a four year old."
They both giggled together, just improvising and reacting off each other. Penn had always joked about Blake's adorable laugh. He had definitely loosened up and was actually kind of enjoying himself. If this is how it panned out when he did it for real, it was going to be pretty damn special.
They finished the scene with a slow, passionate kiss before Serena left. Penn held on to her lips for as long as he could, imagining how it would be when he would finally be able to kiss her for real, whenever he wanted.
"Cut! Perfect, Penn. Brilliant. Very believable. And Blake, gorgeous as always. I think we have our scene, guys, it's a wrap. Well done today. Go home and get some rest!"
Dress rehearsal over…here goes nothing:
Penn walked over to Blake who had her palm up for a high five. He slapped her hand with a light laugh. "Good jawb, Blake. Good jawb." He said in his most exaggerated American accent.
"Thanks buddy!" she smiled happily and took Penny from one of the assistants who was dog-sitting for her. "Hey, how good does your bed sound right now?"
Penn raised an eyebrow cheekily. "Are you propositioning me?"
Blake giggled. "Shut up, you. No! I just meant, you must be tired. It's been a long day. Don't worry, I'll make sure no one steals your bed tonight." She winked and picked up her bag. "You comin'?"
"Uh, yeah. You hungry?"
Blake gave him a 'stupid question' look. "When am I not hungry?"
Penn chuckled as he held the car door open for her. "Yeah, that's a point. So what's it gonna be? A Blake date, or a date date?"
"Hang on a minute, who said anything about a date?" she teased.
"Well, are you hungry or not? Offer's on the table. Take it or leave it." Penn countered back with a smirk.
Blake rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "Blake date it is. Burgers?"
Penn dramatically put his hand over his heart and pretended to be love-struck. "Perfect! I couldn't think of anything more romantic."
The two exchanged a long glance through the corners of their eyes with wide smiles as they sat side-by-side in the back of the town car, on the way to their 'Blake date.'