Holding His Heart
~insanity and co~
Chapter Five; "Hugs For Poor Anders."
"We could pop out for some burgers. You can get those curly fries you love," Lee sings out, wiggling his eyebrow at Penny.
She takes a big spoonful out of the peanut butter jar and crams it (in a less-than-lady-like fashion) into her mouth. "I don't really want to go out for burgers right now," she says, her words barely audible around the spoon.
"Coffee?"
"Uh-uh."
"Beers?"
She fixes him a stare and when he doesn't budge she throws her hands up, her lips smacking when she takes out the spoon and throws it into the sink with a crash. "Yeah, sure, make me a fake ID and I'll think about it."
"Right, forgot about that. Alright. So...burgers?"
"No."
"It's because of your stalkers, isn't it? You know, maybe Ruthie was right. We should call the cops if you're that worried about them-"
"I'm not worried about them. They're harmless," Penny says, smiling honestly at Lee for his effort to bring her out of the house and leaving the kitchen.
"Harmless until you're lying naked and dying in an alleyway, the skin of your calves taken off with a cheese grater and nasty words carved into the bottom of your-" Lee stops quickly when he rounds a corner and sees Penny, staring at him with wide eyes and her mouth half-open. "Sorry...too graphic?"
"A little," she says, eyes still wide as she blinks away the images his words bring up. "Jesus Christ, you have to stop watching Law and Order. I'm going to my room."
Penny trots up the stairs, leaving Lee to follow her from the kitchen a little ways behind.
"Benson's a babe, though, you know I can't stop watching her kick some as-AAHH!"
"So sorry to startle you, Mr. Gusse," Ruth says with a kind smile, ignoring the man who is gasping and holding a hand over his chest, pointing and waving wordlessly at the woman who had appeared in their house.
"What's going on?" Penny asks, her feet slamming on the floor as she races back from her room. Halfway down the stairs she stops and tries to hide her irritation at the old woman's intrusion with a strained smile.
"You were the one I was after," Ruth said, turning and nodding her head to Penny, her massive outdoor jacket hiding her neck and giving her the appearance of a bobble-head.
"You meant to scare the holy living piss out of us?" Lee snaps and is ignored.
"I'm sorry, Ruth, but why are you in our home? We didn't invite-"
"That's exactly my point, Miss Penny." Ruth turns and points to the front door not very far away, where a slight breeze pushes it open just a little further. "You see, I rarely see anyone lock the door behind them when they leave, and with those nasty boys crawling around the other night I was certain you would all step up your game in the security measures of this place."
"Just how much do you watch us?" Lee asks, stepping away and giving Ruth a wide berth as she steps closer to Penny, who had refused to come completely down from the stairs.
"Never you mind," she snaps quickly at Lee, her face morphing from a kind smile to a sharp glare so quickly Lee takes another big step away. "I would just hate to see a sweet young lady get taken advantage of-"
"Listen here, the both of you!" Penny yells, stomping down the steps and pointing her finger first at Ruth and then at Lee. The two shut up immediately and she takes a deep breath. "I will not get taken advantage of. I will not wake up in an alleyway with the skin of my calves grated off and nasty things carved into my skin-" Ruth's mouth drops open at that last bit. "I will, however, be going to my room because I have had a long day of work and I just want to go to sleep. Got it?" Both of their mouths open in protest but she stops them. "Ahh! No! No more protests, no more worrying about me. Goodnight." Without waiting for either of them to reply, Penny takes the stairs two at a time and slams her bedroom door shut.
"Oh, so you found her then!" Ingrid says, grinning and filling up a coffee mug with red wine, having decided that dishes would definitely not be done anytime soon and that she could make do without a wine glass for the celebration. "That's wonderful. So, who is this mysterious One you've been after?"
She turns her gossipy eyes eagerly to Anders, who takes the offered mug of wine with only a moment of hesitation at the bizarre gesture.
"Her name's Penny," Anders says, taking a sip and joining Olaf on the couch.
"And?" Ingrid prompts, following him into the living room and when Olaf declines the offered mug of wine she shrugs and pours it into her own.
"And that's about it so far," Anders says quietly with a sigh, busying himself by gulping the contents of the mug. "Short, dark hair, works at a video store and her name is Penny."
"What do you mean? You haven't spoken to her yet?"
Anders mutters into his mug but Olaf lets out a loud bark of a laugh, clapping a hand on his grandson's shoulder so hard the wine almost sloshes onto his lap.
"This is my favorite part! Go on! Keep going!" Olaf urges, giggling and ignoring the glare Anders sends him.
"What happened?" Ingrid asks slowly, noisily adjusting the many necklaces resting on her chest and eying Olaf at his gleeful laughter.
"She slammed-"
"-slammed the door on his face!" Olaf yells out, slapping Anders on the back and doubling over with his manic giggles. At this point, it's difficult to tell whether he's truly this thrilled about Anders' rejection or if the pot cookies have kicked in yet.
"Oh, you poor dear," Ingrid mutters, setting her mug of wine aside and scooting closer to pat his hand.
"Thank you! At least someone has a little sympathy for me," Anders says, exaggerating a nod in Olaf's direction.
"Oh, you need a hug," Ingrid says, motioning for him to stand up as she does.
"A hug is a little too much sympathy, don't you think?" Anders says, muttering and grumbling as Ingrid pulls him up from the couch (away from the thundering laughter of his grandfather, which is the only plus), sets his wine on the coffee table and tugs him into a hug that is far too tight to be of much comfort. "Yep, okay, that's nice but we're done now. Enough hugging, Ingrid."
"Oh, let the boy go," Olaf says between giggles. "He's been tortured enough for one day."
"But I love hugs and my hugs are not torture," Ingrid says, her words becoming fiercer towards the end when she realizes that he had insulted her hugs. Her perfectly wonderful hugs. She pulls away slowly and Anders takes full advantage of his freedom to step away and sit on another chair, away from the bat-shit crazy God and Goddess who had taken up residence in his apartment for the time being.
"I can't wait to hear about which Goddess she is," Ingrid says, grabbing the mug that Anders had abandoned and poured it into her own.
"Wait, you think she's a Goddess?" Anders asks, holding a hand up and stopping her mid-pour.
"Well, uh, you see...powers of the Gods are often a...Godly thing," Ingrid says slowly, hands frozen with the two mugs in front of her and a smile returning to her face after the brief confusion. "I would only assume that if your powers were to be given to someone else, they would be a Goddess, not a mortal."
"Solid logic," Olaf says, bowing his head towards Ingrid.
"So this chick's gonna be a Goddess," Anders mutters to himself. "Is that good or bad?"
"Wonderful," Ingrid cries out.
"Bad," Olaf counters in the same moment.
Author's Note: So...you guys probably don't know just how awesome you are. Seriously...I don't think you do. You are all fantastic! I don't think I've ever had so many people be so wonderful and encouraging with a story of mine before. :) It's a wonderful thing to be at work and kind of feeling all 'blah' and then get a bunch of messages and know that people are getting some enjoyment out of this. You all ROCK! (And I'm also not from New Zealand at all, so if some of the slang or lingo or word-choices are off, please let me know so I can correct it!)