A/N: Hi lovelies, it's me again :) Hope you are all staying safe and well. Thank you as always for your reviews. I hope you are enjoying the story so far and most importantly, actually, believing it could happen...I like to instill hope :) Also, I realised this morning a potential discrepancy in the story...does Robyn live in NY or LA? It suddenly dawned on me maybe she lives in LA...therefore making what happened in the last chapter somewhat inaccurate. Oh well, whatever it is...she's in NY in this story haha! Also, I think there's a chapter somewhere, further back where Penn lives in an apartment...I changed my mind while writing this. I figure it's more likely he lives in a house so..just go with that if you see apartment written anywhere. Not much more to say other than, let me know your thoughts as always and I may have another story coming for you at some point...and it might be kinda hot, that's all I'll say for now...x

Chapter 8: Tell Me I'm Wrong

It was almost 9pm and Penn was knee deep in alcohol. The much needed remedy to calm his nerves and lower his heart rate. He'd got to the bar early in a desperate need to get out of his house, the stench of Domino's newly found inquisitive nature was overpowering. After downing what was left in his bottle he ruffled around his jacket pocket for his phone. He hadn't been able to shake Blake's text from the forefront of his mind all afternoon. Her words running rampid around his brain, his thoughts totally consumed with her and every now again he couldn't fight the need to read her declaration. "I need to see you." He needed to see her too and for all the wrong reasons. His pulse was rapidly quickening and he could feel his temperature quickly rising. Images of her bare legs tied around his torso and her hot tongue circling his flashed through his head. He rubbed his temples firmly as he attempted to free his mind of his improper thoughts. "Hey, sorry man. Am I late?"

"Hey, hey no man. I...got here early." Penn got up from his seat to greet his old friend. They shared pleasantries and Scott slid onto the bar stool next to Penn.

"So, what's got you all worked up you gotta call a friend you've barely seen in the last 4 years and ask him to meet you that same night? Married life getting too much for you?" he joked, unaware he was hitting pretty close to home. Penn looked visibly awkward and Scott scowled at him in response, trying to diagnose the new expression on his face. "Seriously, trouble in paradise?" Penn sighed heavily and took another swig at the fourth beer bottle that lay before him.

"You remember Blake, right?" Penn's eyes were glued to his drink, he was quite simply too afraid to make any form of eye contact right now.

"Blake...your ex, Blake?" Scott was visibly confused and you could hear it in the echo of his voice.

"Uh yeah man. That Blake."

"Yeah, 'course I do."

"Uh well...we um…" Penn stroked his palm over his cheeks and lips as he prepared himself for the conversation ahead of him. "...ah fuck. I don't know how to say this. We…" his friend was being incredibly patient being as how the only conclusion one would have drawn from this was that the pair of them had sex. "...We've seen a lot of each other lately. Not...intentionally I might add but...I think um, I think there's something still between us." This was the first time Penn had even acknowledged the situation he had found himself with his blonde ex and letting it out made him tremble in trepidation.

It was clear Scott was unsure how to respond, thinking about his next words very carefully, he traced his thumb over the beer mat.

"But nothing's happened, right?"

"No, no. I mean we...we hugged uh, last week...We went to this charity auction, separately, without our other halves, we sat next to each other and went for a walk after and we hugged goodbye but it was no normal hug if you know what I mean." Penn's stomach was tangled in knots and he could feel the sweat forming on his forehead once more.

"Wow" Scott lay back in his seat in shock, perplexity drawing lines on his forehead.

"Yeah…" In this moment it felt there were no words Penn could utter to make himself feel more relaxed or at ease with the situation he found himself in.

The pair sat in almost uncomfortable silence for some time before Scott began his line of questioning.

"So...how does she feel, I mean, is this...thing you two have, mutual?"

"Yeah...I think it is." instinctively his eyes trailed to his phone disguised in his pocket.

"Fuck dude that's...I mean...honestly, I never thought I'd see the day."

"You can say that again." Penn almost chuckled at the realisation, he was dead on. He never saw this coming either. "So um, she texted me a few hours ago saying...she needs to see me." the letters of the word 'needs' drew out slowly and firmly from his lips.

"Jesus. ...So what did you say?" Scott's glare was fuelled with intent and interest.

"I...am yet to respond." Penn pressed his hands together putting fierce pressure on his knuckles as the weight on his shoulders grew heavier. "I mean, what am I supposed to say to that? I'm married. Happily fucking married with a woman that...I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and she's...pregnant with my baby and now…" he stroked his chin with his fingers and his lips pursed forwards in thought. "Now...I can't get Blake out of my head." Air escaped from his nostrils as the realisation hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Why me?" Scott quizzed.

"What?"

"Why d'you call me? I mean...I'm happy to be there for you but you can't really sit here and tell me we're still friends? Yet we were friends right about the time you and Blake were together. Now that tells me it's either one of two things…" Scott was smart, he always had been. "One, you called me because you want me to tell you how different you are now, or at least how different your lifestyles are and that you and Blake just simply are no longer compatible. Or two...the most likely reason I believe, is that you asked me because you want me to remind you how happy you were with her." Penn's gaze averted his but Scott was persistent. "Tell me I'm wrong." It wasn't really a question but somehow it came out like that.

"And that's the last one!" Ryan uttered as he made his way proudly down the stairs. "Have I ever told you having 3 kids is like having 3,000?" Ryan winked at his wife earning a half smirk in return. "Pretty sure it's always me telling you that." She uttered matter of factly, she wasn't in the mood for jokes. In fact laughing somehow made her feel even more nauseous than she did already. Ryan ambled towards his wife who had lifted herself from the teal couch and had begun putting the dirty plates away in the dishwasher. He placed his hands gently on her shoulders, massaging her effortlessly. "Hey, what's up with you? I sense something's off." She shrugged off his hands and continued filling the dishwasher. "Nothing, I'm fine." Ryan could almost feel the deceit ripple from her lips and vibrate through the space around them.

"Come on, seriously. Is everything okay?" He was genuinely concerned, making her stomach churn at the unwanted sincerity. She knew she'd have to roll something out and it wasn't going to be honesty.

"I'm just…" was this the line she was going for? "...worried about Robyn. She says she's not feeling herself lately and she called me, which is why I went round earlier and I'm just thinking about her that's all." Yeah, her sister, that's who she was thinking about.

"I thought you said you went over because you had lunch planned and you'd forgotten."

"I know I said that but I said it because she called me last minute and...I didn't want you to worry as well."

"So it's serious?" He questioned. Please drop this, she urged amongst her thoughts.

"No, it's...I'm sure she's gonna be fine. We had a long talk and...she'll be fine." In some ways Blake felt she was trying to convince herself she was going to be fine. As if each utterance would somehow slowly peck away at the nerves swimming around her stomach. She hadn't heard from him all day and it was slowly eating away at her. She was positive he must have been feeling something too. The way his arms were locked loosely yet possessively around her and the way he told her that clock had sentimental value spoke volume.

A good half hour had passed and Scott and Penn were in deep in their somewhat heated discussion. "It's just, when Blake and I broke up, I was so...lost. Life was not what I wanted it to be...I mean hell I was only 23, you know? We were kids really but...we did have something special...I...always knew that and I still know that to this day. But now I've found myself, I'm exactly where I wanna be. Honestly, maybe this just happens to people."

"What do you mean?" Scott was right to press further, Penn really had no idea what he was on about.

"Just like...I mean Blake and I had a great love, you know? I mean I can't argue with the fact that I was insanely in love with her. Maybe, seeing her again...just reignited some old feelings. Maybe that's just what happens when you run into an ex you haven't seen in years...but it doesn't mean anything." Penn was trying to convince himself there wasn't as much to it as he deeply feared there was.

"Yeah I mean...I hear what you're saying Penn but, I dunno...I mean how long have you been feeling like this?" His words hit hard like a knife in the gut. Every time he tried to settle his mild panic with a hint of denial, somehow something would come along and wash the denial away like a tidal wave.

"Too long." His words were so unmistakably honest, so painfully true that Penn hated himself for it. He wanted Domino, every fibre of his being wanted his wife, his future. But why was his heart burning for his past? There was an uncontrollable passion beating through his chest like an unstoppable force. His brain erupted with thoughts from the week previous, he remembered her face, the way her eyes traced his so delicately yet earnestly, searching for meaning behind his insoluble exterior. The way her smile broke free every time he muttered something so innocently comical. That giggle of hers had always sent ripples of adoration to his soul. He was transfixed, lost in a world that was quite simply and beautifully hers.

"I'm sorry man, I gotta reply to this." Reaching for his phone he felt his breath caught in his throat.

"I'll give you a few minutes…" Scott placed a comforting pat on Penn's shoulder and made his way outside.

Time stood still and the enormity of this very moment was something Penn was not oblivious to. He read her words over and over, expecting, desperately hoping to feel less each time his brain digested each single word. 'I need to see you'. But he didn't.

'My place, next Saturday? Domino's out of town.'