"Are you hungry yet?" Frieda asked and as if on cue Penny's stomach grumbled loudly. "I will take that as yes." She added; once again getting up and making her way into the kitchen. A few minutes later she re-entered the lounge with two bowls of steaming chicken soup. "Paranormal Activity?" She commented as her eyes fell to the television screen. "I thought you only owned chick flicks as you call them."
Penny smiled.
"It's Ollie's. He leant it to me but I've always been too afraid to watch it on my own. I thought as you were here, you'd been so kind and you liked horror..."
"It is good film." Frieda told Penny, carefully handing her one of the bowls of soup and a spoon. She then sat back down at Penny's side once again tucking her knees underneath her; looking very relaxed in a place which up until a few hours previously had been completely alien to her.
"And this is good soup. You're an amazing cook." Penny told the woman who was sat beside her.
"For that my mother has to take credit."
The pair ate in companionable silence, each stealing glances at the other when they were sure that the other wasn't looking and Frieda unable to stop herself giggling when the film made Penny so obviously jump. Penny realised that she had never heard Frieda sincerely laugh before and even though it was at her expense she was glad that she could bring some happiness to the woman who sat beside her, for her laugh was the most beautiful sound that she had heard.
"You are seeming to be a more normal colour now." Frieda pointed out as she placed her now empty bowl on the coffee table. "Although I'm not sure if it's because your fever has started to come down or because the film is terrifying you into paleness."
"Could be either." Penny replied, placing her bowl onto the table also. "I've never been very good with scary films."
"That doesn't surprise me one bit."
Frieda got up from her sitting position on the chair and walked over to the spot beside Penny where her duvet lay on the floor. She picked it up and pulled it over the redhead's legs.
"Scary films are always better when you have something to hide under." She advised, giving Penny an understanding smile.
Penny lifted the duvet up and motioned for Frieda to sit back down at her side.
"I'm not sure I want to share the duvet of a sick woman." Frieda teased sitting down next to her anyway; Penny then cocooning them both in the duvet and immediately hiding part of her face under it. "Oh come on Valentine, this bit not even scary."
"Really?" Penny asked as she removed the blanket from her face. She immediately jumped when a door slammed on the screen, her body edging closer to Frieda's without her even intending it to. She pulled the duvet over her head and held it there tightly. The film was going to give her nightmares if she wasn't careful and she really didn't need an awful night's sleep when she was already suffering with a rotten cold.
"No. Not really. You're going to make yourself hot!" Frieda scolded; amusement evident in her voice as Penny sneezed under the duvet.
"I'm fine like this." Penny mumbled, jumping from under the duvet when there was another crash on the screen.
"You're missing a perfectly good film. Now come out before you suffocate yourself or send yourself into some kind of convulsion."