Everything is a mess. I am behind. My bad.
"Okay, so the teams are Tara and Emily, Spencer and Olivia, Matt and JJ, Kristy and Will, me and Danny, Rossi and Luke. This should be interesting." Penelope set the notepad down on the coffee table.
"Yes, this is definitely going to be fun, and we don't have an odd man out anymore. Unless of course, Lisa shows up. But if she does, don't worry. I volunteer to be scorekeeper and referee." Rossi nodded at Luke.
"She probably won't get off work on time. No need to worry." Luke took a sip of his beer.
"In that case, maybe we should all switch up the pairings as we go along. The married couples already do it." Rossi suggested.
"True, but we don't mind a break." JJ nudged her husband with her shoulder. "But these two couples probably can't get enough of each other."
"Of course, but we should keep it that way. We'll do a rotation so each of us gets at least a couple of partners. I'll keep tabs," Rossi offered. "Next game, we'll move around."
"Sure, no problem. So we can do the guessing first since we know we have very little chance of winning against Spencer, and Olivia deserves a good premiere game." Penelope grabbed a few of the jars and plastic tubs that she asked one of the IT guys to put various things in earlier. "So it's pretty straightforward. We have to guess how many of each thing is in each container. The team with the closest guesses on each wins."
"Oh, wait! How are we going to know who wins at the end of the night?" Kristy asked.
"I was thinking we score individually. We play as partners, but each person gets a point for each time they win in a partnership. The person at the end with the most points wins," Rossi suggested.
"That works. Let's start," Emily instructed as they all began to get up, and pick up the jars, and turn them around, and inspect them, as they attempted to guess how many of each were in the containers.
Luke watched Penelope and Danny picking up a jar full of jelly beans. He glared when he saw Danny lean in to kiss her when they were playfully fighting over their marker to write their guess. Matt elbowed Luke, who immediately averted his gaze to the plastic tub in his hands. Rossi smirked at Matt, whose eyes widened like a kid stealing the last cookie. But then he saw Rossi's laughing eyes, and he shook his head in resignation as he nodded towards Luke, who was scrutinizing the tub of chocolate candies so intently but somehow didn't seem to be paying any attention to them at all. Rossi raised his eyebrows and then patted his shirt pocket where he had a notepad for scorekeeping and for partner changes, indicating he had a plan of some kind.
Matt silently chuckled. JJ was standing beside him, and she leaned in to whisper to him, "What was that?"
Matt sighed and then whispered back, "I'm not sure you want to know. It might be complicated, and maybe you don't want to put yourself in that position. I sort of don't want to be." He shrugged, "But I'll tell you if you want to know. I think the cat is going to be out of the bag soon no matter what I do."
JJ turned to him again, as she squinted her eyes, trying to decipher what he meant. Then she spoke generally to the group. "Matt and I will go grab the whiteboards and markers." The two people made their way to the dining room where they had stacked some of their supplies, alongside the snacks for the night. "Spill," JJ instructed.
"Okay, from the middle, Luke heard you girls talking about singles' night."
"Okay, why does that matter? It was a joint collaboration, I admit."
"Yeah, but he apparently heard the whole conversation. From Garcia finding a ring, to Garcia having an infatuation with him that apparently ended a while back." Matt raised his eyes as JJ opened her mouth wide in acknowledgment. "Yeah. So he heard all of that. And when you all came back towards our desks, he got flustered and was trying to hang up his desk phone, and the cord knocked over his water bottle that he hadn't put the cap on yet, since he didn't finish taking the sip he was going to take when he got enamored by the conversation. Then he knocked over the files when he went to catch the water bottle. And, chaos."
"But how?" JJ shook her head.
"He buzzed Garcia's phone and apparently did so right before you ladies walked in the room because he heard voices and wasn't sure at first that he was still on the line. Then he heard the ring talk and apparently couldn't help but eavesdrop."
"Holy hell. So is that why he was being so weird? Even from the beginning?"
"Yes. I didn't know that's what it was until after we agreed to the party. All he said before you girls walked back in was to cover for him, and he'd explain later. By the time he explained, we'd all agreed on the party, but of course then I started to feel bad."
"Wait. Why would you feel bad?"
Matt ran his hand over his forehead. "He used to like Garcia too, but he didn't think it was a good idea. Nor did he think she'd be open to dating in the same unit. He knew it was against the rules, and also, you have to admit, it would be awkward for him to ask her out and then having a bad date about which nothing can be done. So early on, he swept the idea under the rug, and that's it."
"Okay, but he has a girlfriend, and he had to assume Penelope would be dating. You can't claim something you never claimed."
Matt nodded. "It's not like he liked that she dated, but he knew they both would. It's inevitable. But I don't think he thought he would be the one setting her up." Matt watched JJ sigh. "More than that, he heard her say that as soon as she met Lisa, she was over him, never to return. I think that hurt his feelings."
"Yeah, she did sort of just, stop. It was like she felt betrayed almost, and she didn't want to feel that way. So she sort of realized that she didn't need to like him. Sometimes other people make us jealous, but I think it just sort of made her apathetic. He wanted to date an all around cookie cutter catch, and that made her sort of not find him as interesting. Garcia is a break the mold kind of girl. Lisa is just fine, but I think Penelope figured she wasn't the type to date the same people as a person like Lisa. They are two very different women who require two very different things from a partner, and Luke became less intriguing because he was so transparent." JJ scrunched her face as she contemplated if that was the right way to say it.
"Yeah, I get it. Lisa is very house with a fence and two kids. But also career enough to have a nanny and housekeeper. Very modern suburban."
"Right, and Penelope is musical festival on the weekend, theatre on Wednesday night, and pursuing whatever makes her happy, which for her probably isn't kids and a nanny. If Luke was like Lisa, then he sort of lost his luster as an adventurous partner."
"Okay, well, I get it. I don't think Luke does. And I can tell you, if Lisa embodies what he wanted, then it still wasn't Lisa who was going to give it to him because they broke up," Matt explained.
JJ threw her head back. "Are you serious? When?"
"That week of the party. He said it was already not feeling right for a while. It was chugging along just like it was supposed to be. Nothing wrong. She has a drawer. They go out for brunch. They hang out with friends and make plans. Nothing was wrong. But it wasn't right. Maybe because-"
"He doesn't want cookie cutter either?" JJ sighed. "Shit. And now she is dating an acquaintance of his who he inadvertently and begrudgingly facilitated her meeting." JJ shook her head. "But Matt, she does seem happy."
"I get it. She does. And it's no one's fault. There's no action to take. He just has to watch it, and it's not pleasant. But it is what it is."
"So he doesn't want people to know he broke up with Lisa?"
"No. For no other reason than he has to explain himself. And while it genuinely just wasn't going to work long term, part of him seeing that was probably knowing that Penelope wanted him just as much as he wanted her."
JJ tipped her head. "Not to be mean, but he can watch this. She had to watch him with Lisa. I know that she got over her feelings quickly, but I'm sure the first few times weren't pleasant."
"Yeah. Seems like that might just be how it goes for now." Matt shrugged. "We better get these boards before someone thinks we started to like each other." JJ chuckled and grabbed the second stack so she could follow Matt back towards their even more interesting game night.
….
"Last game of the night, everyone. Hold on to your hats because it's a doozie." Rossi winked at them. "We're doing likes and dislikes."
"Oh no! Please tell me we have categories this time because, last time we tried this, it was a disaster." Emily was ready to protest the game before it even began.
"No worries. I made some amendments to it. It will be a little less messy this time. We each answer individually but then we choose as partners who's who. But, since we all know each other's handwriting, I was wondering if our tech genius would mind typing this up for all of us. She can still submit hers, but she can't guess. So since Luke is your partner for this one, he's got a disadvantage. Tough breaks, kid. But as far as the rest of us, I do have categories, and, instead of random likes, we are going to have options for each question. We choose one of those, so that we don't have to embarrass ourselves relentlessly."
"Okay, I guess write your stuff up with your name and I will make it anonymous." Penelope picked up her tablet to open a slideshow so she could get started. She listened to Rossi ask the questions and wrote her answers. When everyone was done, they stacked their papers on the table.
"Alright, everyone, let's have some snacks while our Penelope here makes this anonymous for us." Ross instructed as he picked up the answers. "Oh wait, Alvez since you sort of have a disadvantage anyway and neither of you can win even if you win this game, why don't you help her anonymize them so that we don't assume based on her order preference either."
"Sure." Luke nodded and took the stack of papers from his hand.
Danny came over to kiss Penelope quickly. Then he followed the rest of the group into the dining room. Penelope held out her hand. "Okay, let me have them."
"No." Luke shook his head. "I should tell them to you randomly and assign them numbers so that you don't make JJ's all baby blue because it's her favorite color."
Penelope rolled her eyes. "Well, I won't now."
"I think that's the point." He shuffled the papers in his hands, so they weren't in the order they were originally stacked in. Then he took a pen and numbered them from top to bottom. "Okay, number one-"
"Wait! I forgot the questions. I should type those at the top so we all remember the options when we're trying to decipher who's who."
Luke sighed and picked up the notepad Rossi left. "Question one was Who do you prefer? Superman, Batman, Thor, or Captain America. Two was Choose a fifth date activity: Bowling, hiking, movies, or sex."
Penelope laughed. "That went somewhere quick. I guess that's why he said fifth date and not first."
Luke chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so. Question three was Where do you retire? Florida, Mexico, any small town, USA, or, why would I retire?" Luke watched her type. Then he furrowed his brow. "These are odd. Where do you think he found this list?"
"I taught him to google. I'm sure it's the first one that popped up from someone's blog or something." Penelope gestured for him to continue.
"Four: what is most important in a friend: loyalty, bravery, humor, or support. Five: What is the best reason for breaking the rules? I don't break rules, when necessary, for love, or I don't need a reason." Luke cleared his throat when he finished. "Okay, six: where would you honeymoon if money wasn't an issue? Month long backpacking through Europe, safari in Africa, a vacation to any resort with free drinks, or Bora Bora in a glass suite. And seven: If you had a chance to turn back time to fix one thing without it hurting anyone, would you change your high school persona, erase your most embarrassing moment, kiss someone you should've kissed, or invest in Facebook?"
Penelope continued typing. Then she hit a few more buttons. "Okay, so I laid out twelve sheets, I will just type in each answer as you recite them." Luke recited off each list until the very last one when Penelope shook her head. "You gave me that one already."
"No, I didn't. It's number twelve."
"But it's the same as number four."
Luke dug through the pile and found number four. Then he looked back at number twelve. "Well, that's because they are the exact same answers."
Penelope scrunched her nose. "Oh! Is one of them Danny?" she asked excitedly.
"You're not supposed to know."
"But I finished typing, and we made it random. I can know now."
"Don't you want to guess, just for fun?"
"No. I'm impatient."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Then just guess for me then."
Penelope pouted at him, but she decided that it was okay because the most she had to wait was the time it took to say eleven names. "Danny?" She watched Luke shake his head. Then she stared at the questions again. "Hmm… Tara?" He shook his head again. "Well, that doesn't… I don't know who else would… Olivia?" She was the only one Penelope didn't know as well, and maybe that's why she would choose these answers. Luke shook his head. "I… Emily?"
"Nope." Luke smirked at her. "You really don't-"
"Oh! Kristy." Penelope smiled excitedly.
"No. You are really not sure?"
Penelope shook her head and stared at her screen in confusion. She couldn't see any of them having the same answers as her. She was a very different sort of person. "Well, it's not Rossi, not Spencer. Neither of them would enjoy my take on vacations. I know Matt's opinion on superheroes. Will would - Wait! Is it you?"
Luke scoffed. "Yeah. Surprise. Geez, what did you think I could never be as cool as you?"
Penelope bopped her head. "Sort of." Luke scowled at her. "Okay, okay. Explain."
"You have to too." He waited for her nod. "Captain America because he was a regular Army guy. He still has the same integrity, but he can stand up for what he believes, even if that means bending a few rules to get it done."
Penelope pursed her lips, "My explanation is essentially the same. Although Thor is so pretty. But maybe that's just Chris Hemsworth and not Thor."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Number two, I have no idea why everyone didn't choose sex."
"Me either. Maybe fifth date is too soon for them? Or maybe they'd rather bowl and then have sex afterwards?" She shrugged. "Three?"
"Mexico, obviously, or something like it. Not trying to live in a small town and wilt away. Not ever living in Florida, and you can't make me. And while I enjoy my work, I also want to enjoy my life."
Penelope nodded. "Same. I want to have even more experiences when I retire, not wait to die. And I don't want to work myself to death, either." Penelope shook her head. "But you chose supportive? I thought most people would choose loyalty. I just always felt out of touch with people. Sort of like I'm in the way. Even with family sometimes or in this family, when some of them rush home to someone, and I have Thanksgiving with Sergio."
Luke chuckled. "Yeah, same. I value all of those things, but, if someone is always there for you, that is already loyal, but loyal just means they have integrity. Support means they have a connection to you. Maybe it's born out of loyalty, but it's something I've missed at times" He shrugged.
"But five? You didn't choose when necessary? That seems like what you do now."
"Yes, true. But, if I lost my job over threatening someone to help me keep Spencer safe, I wouldn't regret it, but I also would wonder if there was another way I could've done it. But, if I did it for love, who cares? Who cares what happens? There is never another way to fix that."
Penelope nodded with a wistful smile. "Yeah, I have broken rules when I needed to. Some I regret. Some were for our family, so that's love too, but, for real soul-consuming love, I'd break any rule I had to." She shrugged. "But there is no way we agree on six. No way! You don't want to strap a bag on your back or see the wild animals in Africa?"
"Of course, I'd love to safari there, but, on a honeymoon, no. Backpacking? I'm just not a kid anymore. I'd travel to Europe, but not without some indulgence. I certainly don't care about free cocktails just anywhere. Bora Bora is supposed to be extremely beautiful and serene, and I've seen those glass suites over the water. I want to go there and just relax for once, have tons of sex and not think about all the things in the world that go wrong every day. I don't need to be waited on. I just want to be left alone with the person I love, in a private bungalow with a nice view."
Penelope narrowed her eyes at him. Then she giggled. "Wow! Since when do you make so much sense?"
"Maybe I always did."
"Mmm, I don't think that's it."
Luke chuckled. "Okay, and number seven?"
Penelope averted her gaze to the keys just near her fingers. "I don't care about high school. I can't remember most of the mean girls anymore, so it would be a waste. While I'd love to erase all embarrassing moments, I can't say that would change my life a whole lot, except making me worry about one less irrelevant thing. I actually am not a fan of social media. I feel like it's corrupted my sacred online space as it used to be in the good old days. But, I don't think I would regret - kissing someone you wanted to kiss but were too afraid to, or too - wouldn't it be nice to know? Or at least, to just have a nice kiss?"
Luke nodded his head slowly as he restacked the papers. "That it would." He cleared his throat. "Would you - are you - have you learned that lesson?"
Penelope started typing again to set up the slideshow. "Uh, I… honestly don't know. I can't imagine I became braver so quickly. Okay, finished." She hit enter. "We can tell them all to come back in here now."
"Right. I will go get them." Luke walked to the dining room to retrieve everybody as Penelope set her tablet up on the main table and adjusted the brightness so everyone could see.
As they all situated on the chairs, Rossi instructed them again. "So how about first to call out the correct name so we don't have to write everything down, and, hey, maybe that gives us all a chance to win, since we can get a point for each one correct."
"Hey, thanks. I could've turned this thing around." Luke scoffed.
"Tough break, kid." Rossi shrugged.
"And if it's your own, stay quiet," Penelope instructed.
"What if we have the same answers as someone else?" Will asked.
"That won't be a problem," Luke told them.
Penelope started the slides, and Luke kept tally of who guessed correctly first. When they got to the last slide, they knew it had to be his, but Rossi smirked. "I thought you said there weren't two that were the same?"
"No, I said it wouldn't be a problem. The two of us weren't guessing, and we are the only ones who had identical answers. Plus, it's the last slide, so you all know anyway at this point," Luke told him.
"You two had identical answers?" Tara questioned.
"Hey, no one was more shocked than me." Penelope flicked her wrists as she moved to turn off her tablet.
"Wow, that's interesting," Danny said plainly.
"Yeah, I thought there was no way you two could agree on a destination. You can't even agree on which booth to save at the bar," Kristy stated.
Rossi stood up to refill his glass. "I like how Danny and I agree on the investment. I can't remember high school, I've never been embarrassed, and, arguably, I have already kissed many people I shouldn't have."
Danny put his arm on the couch behind where Penelope took a seat next to him. "Same on the first two. But as far as the kissing thing, if it didn't happen, it wasn't supposed to. If someone doesn't immediately pursue what they want, they must not have wanted it. Investing is the logical option."
Penelope furrowed her brow at him, but JJ spoke, "So, there is no such thing as unrequited love to you?"
"Not really. I mean it wasn't love if it didn't happen. I think any pining they do in movies is just a projection of a fantasy. Real life, things happen the way they're supposed to," he answered her.
"So, if everything happens how it is supposed to, how do you explain divorces and kids that have to get divided up in legal documents?" Matt asked casually.
"Mistakes." Danny shrugged. "Not saying people don't make the wrong choice. Things happen that aren't supposed to, definitely. But if things don't happen, then that means they weren't meant to. There are no real missed opportunities. You'd have it if you wanted it. That's how I see it."
Penelope was staring at the couch beneath her, but she said nothing because she understood the logic, but she still thought it was bullshit. If that were true, then all the romances that were spoken about in so many books and movies and poems weren't actually love. They were fantasies of people that didn't know better, and that sounded bogus. There were people who died alone. Maybe it was because they wanted to, or maybe it was because they missed out, and their soulmate married the wrong person. Maybe it never got fixed, but it doesn't mean that what was supposed to happen, happened. She realized she missed part of the conversation. They were now animatedly debating the superhero question.
"Okay, maybe we should call it a night. I want to make sure the babysitter gets home early enough," JJ explained.
"Until next time, losers." Emily clicked her tongue at them.
Penelope was following Danny out to his car. "Hey, you don't mind if I drop you off, do you? I have to work in the morning. My boss just emailed me about a lead," Danny asked Penelope as they walked down Rossi's walkway.
"No, not at all."
Luke was behind them. "Uh, I live in her direction. If you would rather I just take her." He adjusted his jacket as he spoke.
Danny turned around. "Oh sure. That works. I live in the other direction." He nodded at him. "Sorry, Babe. I will come stay tomorrow night. At least my overnight stuff is already there." He leaned down to kiss Penelope, and Penelope got up on her toes to reach him more fully. Danny's hands came to her face and held her there while her hands came to each side of his jacket to hold on.
Luke watched for a second and then realized this wasn't ending, so he walked to his car and got in to wait for her. After a full three minutes, she got in and put her seatbelt over herself. "Gee, couldn't open the door for me?" She was joking, but she reached forward to adjust her vent so she didn't notice Luke's annoyed glare.
"I started the car to get it warmed up, and I didn't buy a ticket. I don't need the show." He gestured to the sidewalk where she had been kissing her boyfriend moments ago.
Penelope shook her head. "Oh please! I've seen you kiss Lisa hello, goodnight, and at the bar for no reason."
Luke cracked his neck. "Not that much though."
"Okay. Sorry you're boring," she chirped.
"Maybe I shouldn't have offered you a ride after all."
"Whatever, Alvez. You two aren't even real friends, so it's not weird."
"Friends or not, I don't need to watch people make out."
Penelope sighed. That much was true. "So, do you think it's weird that Danny had way more in common with Rossi and Will than me?"
"It's a quiz Dave probably googled. I wouldn't make a life plan based on it."
Penelope rolled her eyes. "Gee, I was just making conversation."
"Yeah, I know," Luke said resigned. "Okay, it's a little odd. Maybe you should have a little more in common. Most of the couples had most of the same answers at least."
"Yeah, but we do get along really well."
"Well, there ya go."
"Do you think you and Lisa would have answered the same? You should text her the questions and find out."
"No thanks. She and I are actually fairly out of sync on a lot of life values."
Penelope turned her eyes from the road to stare at him. "Are you two fighting?"
"No."
"So... that's not a good opinion to have of your relationship with her."
"It's not." He signaled and stopped at the red light as he realized this was not the topic of conversation he wanted to be on. "I had a decent amount in common with Matt."
"Two mushy peas that have fallen out of the pod," Penelope stated dryly.
Luke laughed. "Yeah, maybe." He turned onto her street. "Hey, Pen? He's being nice to you, right?"
Penelope giggled. "He is. Don't tell me you're worried about me."
Luke pulled up in front of her complex. "I just don't know him as well as some of my friends, and I feel a little responsible."
Penelope grabbed her bag and put her hand on the handle of the door. "No worries. He's very nice to me. Not really anything wrong. We get along just fine. Have a decent time. It's cool." She shrugged.
"Right, sort of one of those it's fun, it's okay, but that's about all it is?" Luke wasn't sure why he bothered asking.
"Uh, well, it's a little early to know if it stops there, but it's good for where it is. I'm happy."
"Right. Here, I'll walk you to your door." Luke began to unbuckle.
"No. I'm good. It's too cold. You can't park here, and I can just text you that there were no burglars in my locked and secured building when I get inside." She smiled at him and quickly got out and hustled to her door where she punched in the code, and he saw her disappear through the doors.
He waited until she text he saw the smiley face appear on his screen, he sent one back. He blew out a breath, shook his head, and pulled away from the curb.