Holding His Heart
~insanity and co~
Chapter Six; "Distracted."
"Do you plan to do any work today?"
"Hmm?"
"You know, work? You come to the workplace for it...well, I come here for it...," Dawn mutters, trailing off and rolling her eyes before peaking around the corner at her boss again.
"What was that?" Anders asks, fingers still playing with the small amount of hair on his chin and staring out of the large window.
"Work, Anders!" Dawn stresses, dropping her pen onto her desk with a clatter as she stands and marches over to Anders' desk. "Work. Why are you so preoccupied?"
"Hm?"
"Are you ill?"
"Ill? No, course not. You know I don't get sick, Dawnie." Anders flashes her a reassuring smile – albeit cocky, as usual – and motions with his hand to her desk. "Now, would you mind getting back to work? Phone calls to make, customers to keep happy-happy..."
Dawn lets out of a huff, gives Anders a searching glare for any illness she may have overlooked when he first came into the office and sat down to stare out the window for hours. But there wasn't anything she could figure out from his lazy demeanor.
"Fine, fine," Dawn says, throwing her hands up in frustration as she stomps back to her desk. "Someone has to keep this company going."
"No work today?" Moana's words jerk Penny out of her thoughts; her hand dropping from the curtain and it swishes back over the window. "Anyone out there?"
"No and no," Penny says with a small smile, stepping away from the window and hopping up onto the kitchen counter. "Lazy day for me. Might go out for some food later."
"With all the closing shifts you've been having, I thought you'd still be asleep." Moana throws her dark hair into a bun and moves around the kitchen, grabbing tea and filling a pot with water (the kettle having broken and had yet to be replaced). "Tea?"
"Thanks," Penny says, leaning to the side so that Moana could get to the cupboard behind her for two mugs. "Slept really well until about an hour ago."
"Lee tells me you're scared of these four guys that threatened to carve nasty things into your skin?" Moana pulls a chair away from the table and sits, glancing at Penny out of the corner of her eye.
"Subtle topic change," Penny says wearily.
"I know, it's Lee. I figure the skin-carving is over the top."
"He watches too much Law and Order," Penny mutters.
"But there are four guys after you?"
"Not after me. They showed up at work and...kinda followed me home." Smartly so, Penny decides to omit the part where they show up at her work again, and all of the nonsense about Gods.
"Have you thought about calling the police?" Moana gets up when the water begins to bubble and pours the tea, adding sugar to Penny's cup and setting it on the counter beside her.
"They're not going to carve anything into my skin," Penny emphasizes. Moana puts a hand up in surrender, the other holding the mug up so she could sip the tea.
"I think that's a little extreme too," she says quickly, taking one more sip. "But it's never a good thing to have a group of stalkers. What about some mace?"
"In my purse," Penny says distractedly.
"Why do you think they're doing it?"
Penny shrugs and leans her head back against the cupboard behind her. Honestly, that's what had been occupying her mind since that first man – Axl – had started spouting off about Gods and her having powers. Powers to talk!
"Mentally ill, maybe? I'm really not sure."
"Okay," Moana says, "Well, I have to go to work, but if this keeps happening promise you'll give me a call?"
Penny smiles and nods, waiting until Moana puts her mug into the sink and leaves the kitchen. She scoots across the counter and uses a finger to move the curtains and peak out at the street again.
"Anders! What are you doing home so early?" Ingrid asks, a blanket around her shoulders and clearly having just woken up. She grabbed the remote and turned the volume down on the TV.
Anders stifles his irritation that the Goddess was still sleeping on his couch and went straight to the kitchen. "I was tired. Dawn can handle the customers today."
"Did you want some coffee? I made a big batch about 30 minutes ago," Ingrid says, adjusting the large blanket around her and shuffling into the kitchen.
"Sure," Anders mutters, sitting on the stool and resting his chin on his hand. Scanning the kitchen, he notices that she must have done the dishes and cleaned the counters, and his irritation at the woman dissipates just a little. "Where did Olaf go?"
"Oh, I imagine surfing. It's a beautiful day. He was gone when I woke up," Ingrid says, messing around in the kitchen until she has a grossly sweet cup of coffee sat in front of Anders.
"Thanks," Anders says, accepting the cup and sipping the coffee, hoping it would wake him up a little after a nearly-sleepless night.
"So, did you see the mysterious Penny today?" Ingrid asks, unable to hide her grin as she watches his face closely.
"No, I really did go to work."
"Oh, I was hoping for some more news. It would be great to have another Goddess in the group. Stacey is wonderful but she's so busy with work and Michele is...well, we don't always see eye-to-eye," Ingrid says with a warm smile despite the topic of being lonely.
"Next time I go to see her-"
"Stalk her."
"-fine, whatever. You can come. It might be easier to get the subject across if it comes from you instead of us." Before Anders completely finishes his sentence the blanket flies off of Ingrid's shoulders and she races around the counter to gather the tired man up into a bundle of hugs and thank you's and mutterings of doing the dishes more often.
Author's Note: It has been quite a while since I updated, but oh my god, all of you guys are amazing! The constant input from everyone was so encouraging! :) I tried to go through and thank people but decided a better thank you would be to work on an update and get it up for you all. A MASSIVE thank you to everyone who is still reading and sent those encouraging notes to keep writing. It was really really helpful. :)