Chapter Two
Lemon's POV
I spotted Penelope and Johnny coming out to the dance floor just at the end of a fast-paced dance song. Penelope had looked nervous, though there was an unmistakable vividness to her smile. Good luck, kid, I thought. I hoped the boy knew how to dance. Annie had nudged me then.
"Hey, look at them together." She beamed at the happy couple.
"Yeah…Hey, Penelope knows how to dance, right?"
Annie gave me a look and then her face turned thoughtful.
"I guess so. I've never actually seen her dance much. But don't worry about it. With the way they're looking at each other, I doubt they'll be thinking about everybody else."
I didn't have a chance to think about it anymore because a new song came on then and Annie dragged me onto the dance floor with a, "Oh, I love this one! Come on, Mr. Pirate! You're dancing with me!"
As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. The last song came on and naturally, it was a slow dance song. Johnny and Penelope didn't have to change rhythm, however, for they were already slow dancing. I had caught glimpses of them every now and then and they seemed to be slow dancing to every song, no matter what the beat was. Penelope had her arms wrapped around Johnny's neck and they were whispering to each other. It looked almost funny to see them like that, but they were so lost in each other that I felt happy for them. Annie seemed to be right about another thing, too. From the way they were dancing, it didn't look like they were going to notice even if everyone left the room and the music stopped.
Apparently, they didn't notice. When the music had stopped, they were still slow-dancing and it was only when we approached them that they finally looked up. Penelope was still giggling from something Johnny told her and Johnny had not looked more pleased with himself since…well, ever. I could not remember seeing the boy this happy. Johnny's face was no longer tired and worn. His eyes held no hollowness or despair. It was like he had changed into a completely different person. I couldn't help breaking into a bright smile. I decided I was glad after all for every single one of the crazy, mixed-up events that had led to this. Annie poked me. "Hey, what are you so happy about?"
"Nothing," I said, beaming.
"Ahem," I said after a while. The couple turned to look at us. "Annie said that she was still hungry so we would like to invite you two for a late-night meal."
"Yeah," Annie piped up. "Unless you two would like some more alone time together." She gave Penelope a wink.
Penelope's stomach growled in response. Seems like she had been so caught up with the magic of the evening that she had forgotten she was hungry in the first place.
Everyone laughed. "I guess we have our answer then."
Johnny looked worried all of a sudden. "Wait, are we driving there?"
I gave him a look and then caught on. "Oh, I got plenty of room in my van." Then, after for a second. "Actually, it depends on where we're eating because if it's close then I don't mind walking."
"Hey, that's a great idea!" said Annie. Penelope agreed. I had a feeling she would like walking around the city at night and besides, with such good company, why wouldn't she want to spend as much time with them as possible?
"All righty then. Let's go."