Disclaimer: I don't own The Penderwicks *Pouts in Corner*

Chapter 6 (Skye's POV)

"Okay, okay, how about: 'The Enigma of the Reptilian King!?'" Jeffrey asked as he held up the dust jacket of what surely must have really been king of B movies everywhere.

"Or!" He interjected with an excited gleam in his green eyes. "'Wrath of the Apex!?'"

Twisting a strand of hair aimlessly on my finger I raised a curious eyebrow. "Should I take it that all the choices are probably cheap monster movies?"

Jeffrey stared at the floor as a smirk appeared on his face. "Um...possibly…" He then looked back up to meet my eyes with a wide grin. "But hey, isn't that one of the advantages of dating a girl who despises chick flicks?" He then gave a sidelong glance toward Jane who was sprawled out in a recliner. "No offense of course."

Jane waved off the thought. "Don't worry about it Jeffrey." She then jerked her thumb in my direction. "With Skye around I don't even feel stabbing remarks anymore."

"Hey!" I said, since suddenly I got the idea I'd just been insulted.

Jane laughed. "Sorry Skye, but you know how I had to hide my teen romantic comedies from you. I mean after HALF of them went missing…"

"You know you can never prove that I destroyed those..." I mumbled as I cringed at the thought of the dreaded "rom-com."

Jane rolled her eyes playfully. "Maybe, but you never denied you had something to do with it either."

I smirked, a little amused at the thought of a few less rom-coms in the world. "That's because I don't like to lie Jane."

"Ha see Jeffrey, she admits it! Do you have any idea what kind of person you're dating!?" She shouted before giving me a smug look.

I admit it must have been all the mushy stuff that kept happening to me, because I suddenly felt a little guilty. Rubbing at the back of my neck I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Ok...so I did have something to do with their uh...disappearance. But I was only fourteen, and hey you kept watching those things every night! And we shared a room then you know!" I turned to Jeffrey hoping he'd support my side of the argument, but he just looked amused and neutral.

"Oh come on most of them were musicals!" The minute I said it I regretted it. Now Jeffrey just gave me a playful look that said how ashamed I should have been. Surrounded on both sides I gave into a sigh as I choked out an apology.

"Sorry Jane...I can…" I swallowed hard. "I can pay you back for the damages."

Jane thought hard for a moment before she nodded. "Fine I accept your apology." I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Jane interjected something else. "But I think we should make you sit through at least one of my movies, I mean to gauge the sincerity of your regret."

"What!?" I said in horror as my jaw dropped. I turned back to Jeffrey, desperate for help. "But what about the apex reptilian thing!?"

Jeffrey grinned the most annoying smirk he could muster, and I knew I was done for. Betrayed. Completely betrayed.

"Well we can always do a double feature, after all, I love musicals!" He beamed as he sat down next to my now slouching figure.

"Great idea Jeffrey! I knew there was a reason we made you a Penderwick!" Jane resounded giddy, as she jumped up to get her movie of doom.

Giving Jeffrey a cross look I whispered: "You know...that could still be annulled…"

He just laughed before he layered on a fake accent. "I say, is that a threat my dear lady?"

Ribbing him in the side playfully I smirked. "You better believe it…"

He grabbed at his side as he faked wincing pain. "Ah more abuse! First you want to annul my Pendership, and now you resort to violence! If this is how you treat me now, what's going to happen when we're old and married!?"

By now he was chuckling, but I had suddenly stiffened as I glanced him out of the corner of my eye.

Married…?

For a few seconds everything in the room felt like it had stalled out. Almost like the only thing I could hear was the blood pumping in my ears. And I guess the look on my face was conveying that to him. So he stopped laughing and slowly waved a hand in front of my face.

"Earth to Skye…?"

"W-What…!?" I choked out in a gruff tone.

He smiled a little weakly at me. "I was just kidding you know right?"

I looked at him suspiciously for a second or two, before I nodded a little too eagerly. "Y-Yeah of course."

The next moments were silent and awkward, until he cleared his throat and threw me a sidelong glance. "I mean honestly, I enjoy the abuse…"

I just sat there more than a little tongue tied as I felt my pulse speed up. That's what he was kidding about, the abuse? Then what about…? What about that whole… I couldn't quite make my mind think it again, but I knew all too well what I wasn't thinking about. Old and married. Married. Married to Jeffrey. Me.

Now suddenly I was flashing back to Point Mouette and everything he'd said on that golf course. Back then it didn't sound like much more than a fat chance that was a million years away. But now… Now… Now I was suddenly feeling panicked. And the feeling didn't leave even after sitting absentmindedly through Jane's chick flick, and Jeffrey's B movie. It stayed right with me when Jeffrey waved good bye and I shut the door behind him, and when I slowly paced up to my bedroom and shut the door behind myself.

I'm not sure how much time passed after I fell out on my bed and started drilling into the ceiling with my eyes. But I almost jumped straight up when Jane opened my door and walked in.

She smirked. "Wow Skye you're pretty jumpy, I guess you'd never seen that many monster movie before huh?" Somehow I wished all I had to worry about was the Reptilian King...

"Anyway," she went on. "I wanted to say how impressed I was that you didn't even make one annoyed comment, or even roll your eyes during my movie. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd think you almost looked close to tears during the proposal scene."

I cringed as I gave her a suspicious, paranoid look.

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Okay wait, if tell me you really were crying, then I'm rushing you to the ER. And I mean that."

Face palming I shook my head. "I wasn't really crying, it was just from stress...:"

She smirked. "Wow I knew you looked at it like torture, but come on Skye, it wasn't anything to get that upset over."

"It wasn't the dumb movie Jane!" I shouted.

Jane frown silently before she walked over to my desk chair and sat backwards in it, facing me.

"Okay, you're having another meltdown, and I'm guessing this has probably got something to do with Jeffrey right?"

I breathed out a heavy sigh, before my panic came back full force. "Yeah...but it's a lot worse than you can imagine! I'm really in trouble Jane!"

She locked curious eyes on me. "Okay, shoot."

So I did, I shot the whole mess at her, but no matter how much I told her she seemed less and less concerned!

"Well," Jane began with a little smile. "That's hardly a proposal Skye. But hey, it sounds like he might have joked with you about it just to see how you'd react. I mean that's possible. In fact, it might even be likely."

"Then why are you grinning!?" I shouted a little exasperated.

She laughed once. "Why are you freaking out? It's not like it would be unexpected, or the end of the world, if after a while longer Jeffrey asked you to marry him. I mean like you pointed out, he's obviously been thinking about the possibility since you were both kids. "

I just stared at her, completely at a loss. How could she not be seeing this the way I was?

She just laughed again. "Oh Skye you should be happy!"

I felt my mouth open a little wider as I held my suddenly throbbing forehead.

"You don't get it Jane… I'm not like Rosy…"

Jane rolled her eyes as she waved off my comment. "And Jeffrey isn't like Tommy. Big deal, that's how it's supposed to be. I mean come on Skye, I know it's a lot to think about, but I mean you both are in love so… So what did you expect?"

I frowned as my stuttering thoughts turned into words. "I-I don't know! I… I never figured we'd even get this far!"

Jane smiled. "Well you have. So you better prepare yourself, and figure what you want to do with your life." She pointed a finger at me the way a scolding parent would. "Because if Jeffrey ever does pop the question, there's no way you can leave him hanging without a definite answer. That would just be cruel."

Cruel…? My insides cringed at the word. What if Jeffrey did get hurt because I wasn't ready, or even normal, emotionally speaking? I felt like my head was reeling right off my shoulders.

"I… I never figured he was serious… I mean about everything he said when we were kids…"

Jane leaned into her hand, a little sympathetic, but mostly giving off tough love vibes. "Well that doesn't make sense Skye. When someone confesses their feelings to you it's very serious. Especially with someone like Jeffrey who knows you so well. Anyway, I knew as long as things kept going good between you both, it was only a matter of time before this subject was bound to come up."

As much as I hated to admit it, Jane was right. And for once she actually seemed more logical than I did. I felt more emotional than anything else, it was like our roles had reversed… But trying to bat some of the fear back I swallowed hard and looked over at her.

"So… What do I do…?"

She just stared at me for a few moments, her eyes ranging somewhere between amusement and sympathy. Then standing she walked over to me and put a hand on shoulder. "Quit worrying first off, I mean if this does ever happen, it might be a little ways down the road. Neither of you are trying to rush. But I mean…" Jane paused seeming to be searching for the right way to phrase her thoughts.

"Just enjoy the process." She patted my back. "It'll work out. Love always does. One way or the other."

I gave her a weak half grin. Not so much because I believed that line, but more because I loved her as my sister for trying to comfort me with it. Even if history was littered with countless examples that proved that love can and does, very often, crash and burn.

"Now try to get some sleep, it's pretty late."

"Okay…" I nodded weakly as I watched her pace over to my door.

"Thanks…" I called after her before she walked out.

She grinned. "I'm a sister and a writer, I love this kinda stuff." With that she walked out and closed my door behind her.

Leaning back on my bed I tried to take her advice and stop worrying, but the thoughts seemed like they were running on automatic. Hadn't that been what Jeffrey was talking about back at Point Mouette anyway? About how some marriages end so badly? I bit my lip. The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Jeffrey, yet I could so easily. If I didn't marry him, or if I did. Would he really want to marry me…? Would we be happy, or would the whole thing just make us end up hating each other?

Hate Jeffrey…?

Even the thought seemed crazy, he'd been my best friend for so long I couldn't stand to believe anything could make us hate each other. As kids we'd promised to be friends forever, was it possible for this confusing world of adults to change all that?

I turned over on my side and stared out my window at the starry sky.

Sometimes even stars die and burn out… Was love like that…? Would everything we ever meant to each other be reduced to a brilliant fading streak…?

I shook the thought from my head, now I knew I sounded way too much like Jane. And scientifically speaking, falling stars weren't really stars anyway. But still, I didn't want to believe in the doom and gloom I felt churning in the pit of my stomach. I'd never been one for fairy tale endings, but I didn't mind plain old happy ending. There was a difference. The difference between being unrealistically perfect, and being…

I closed my eyes as sleep started to intrude on my thoughts.

And being a future…

Maybe even...my future…

Thanks again for reading, and for the lovely reviews! More to come!