"It might … um … take another moment or two," Penelope replied, closing the door and walking back into the bedroom.
Truth was that actually she had been ready, but one look at Morgan, looking like he just stepped of a shot for GQ – basically the way he always looked – made her feel like she needed to change a thing or two. Maybe she should bring back last night's dress. The one that she had thought was great but didn't get much of any reaction out of her boyfriend. She felt like she had been overdressed last night, with Kevin looking like … his usual self. But with Morgan it actually would fit perfectly and didn't seem too much.
"Take all the time you need, Goddess. We have plenty of time," she heard Morgan calling after her.
Twenty minutes and a complete change of outfit later she re-emerged from the bedroom. It took a lot longer then she had thought, but one look at Morgan and she knew he didn't mind at all. He looked towards her when he heard her coming back, smiling and turning back towards the magazine he had been going through just to look back at her, as if he wanted to check something. He seemed surprised for a moment, before a huge smile appeared on his lips, he got up and walking towards Penelope.
"You ready to go then?" he asked softly, walking around her once. And Penelope could feel his eyes travelling up and down her body.
Helping her into her coat and holding the door open for her, they finally left her apartment, on their way to whatever restaurant had picked out for them. So far she still didn't know where they would be heading, Morgan wasn't really too talkative when it came to their destination, but it wasn't as if she had to wait too long to find out. Within a short drive he pulled the car up in front of a place that left Penelope surprised for a moment.
"You alright, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked, when he noticed the expression on his best friend's face.
"I'm … yeah, I'm just … I was here last night actually," she smiled at him, taking his hand he offered to help her out of the car.
"Were you?" Morgan asked, looking surprised now as well. "I hope it is a great place then. Otherwise we could always … um … go someplace else."
"Oh no, the restaurant is great, no worries. I just … wasn't expecting to come back so soon," she replied quickly, walking with him towards the entry.
Morgan held open all doors for her, letting her walk in first, took care of her coat and was just all sweet all evening long.
The maitre d' was exactly the same as last night, and when seeing Penelope had a weird expression on his face. He probably thought now God knows what about her. Not that she really cared. But one look at Morgan and the guy suddenly smiled, looking at her and nodding his head towards her, the smile still on his lips. What the …?
They were seated at exactly the same table as Penelope and Kevin had been the night before and even the waitress was the same.
Morgan ordered wine, a whole bottle actually. That was the first thing that surprised Penelope. Her best friend usually wasn't much of a wine drinker, not as much of a fan as she was at least. The next thing was that Morgan actually ordered by name, and not my number, like Kevin had last night. Morgan's pronunciation was probably way off, but at least he tried instead of throwing random numbers at the waitress.
When the food arrived they did what they always do when eating together. They shared, took a few tastes from each other's plates and Penelope had to realize that Morgan's choice was somehow better than hers. It wasn't as if she didn't like her food at all. It just had a few things in it she didn't particularly like and which weren't mentioned in the menu. Not that it was any big deal or drama. It still tasted fantastic.
"You okay? You have a somehow funky look on your face," Morgan asked, of course picking up on the little fight with herself.
"Yeah, I just … realized they put anchovies in my food…"
"You don't like anchovies," Morgan quickly mentioned, as if she didn't know that herself, something that made her laugh.
A moment later she saw Morgan reaching over the table, picking up his and her plate and exchanging them, so he had now her food in front of him and she had his. The surprised look he got from his best friend probed him to explain.
"Well, I don't have problems with anchovies, at least not as much as you have and you seemed to like my food a lot better anyway. So we just swap. No big deal," he simply stated and she was about to protest, when he hold up his hand.
"Don't even try it, Baby Girl," he smiled at her, before continuing eating.
The evening went on what seemed forever. In the end, they managed to get through two and a half wine bottles between the two of them and Morgan probably was in no condition to drive at all.
They had been talking and laughing all evening. Sometimes some of the waitresses would occasionally interrupt- bringing another bottle of wine and just to get his attention in general. It wasn't in any brash, rude way though. After so many years of being friends with Morgan and going out quite a couple of times she was used to the female attention he got. But Morgan, never before, not now ever shifted his attention to anyone than her. It was like she was the only person around. He did acknowledge the presence of others, but his eyes never left hers, or if they did just for a few mere moments. Just like tonight. He was polite and sweet with them, but there was no comparison of how he was with Penelope. It was a whole different thing. There was no flirting with the waitress, like Kevin did last night, and Morgan in general seemed to be more 'annoyed' about the constant attention than Penelope.
When he requested the bill it was probably way past midnight and they were one of the last people in the restaurant. He signed the receipt for the credit card and what she could see added a pretty hefty tip as well.
"I guess I'll walk you back and then call myself a cab from your place," Morgan announced, holding the door open for her to leave the restaurant.
"Oh no, you won't," Penelope protested, moving a bit closer into Morgan, who had his arm around her shoulder. "How will you make it from your place to work tomorrow?" she asked, with a curious expression. "You stay at my place, and nothing will make me change my mind. That way you can just walk over here in the morning and get your car to work. You still have a few things at my place from the last time you stayed over, so that way you don't have to get back home before work," she decided, making it really sound as if Morgan wouldn't be allowed to have a say in this. Not that he really wanted. "And don't worry handsome, I'll let you repay me," she smiled at him, getting a grin from him in response.
"Oh, I hope it turns out to be as dirty, kinky and naughty as you just made it sound," he laughed at her, feeling her elbow playfully being softly piled into his side.
"Ouch," he announced, lying. That didn't hurt at all, but he went with it nevertheless. Looking at her glowing expression, Morgan k new she knew as well that she didn't seriously hurt him at all.
"Serves you right," she announced, running all of a sudden ahead of him, a smile on her face. That night definitely turned out completely different than what she had expected it to be.