It's been a week since Larry caught a glimpse of Penguin and he's caught himself scanning the hallways and lunchroom more than once in that time. His friends have, unfortunately, caught him searching.
"You're staring again," Sally pointed out, his eye following Larry's towards the cafeteria doors, which they'd been locked onto for the past two minutes.
It's lunchtime, and he's certain his pizza is cold by now, but he can't bring himself to care. Chug stayed home from a bug he caught god knows where, so it was just him, Sal, Ash, Todd, and Maple.
"I'm not staring," He replied after a moment, dragging his gaze back to his tray. "I'm just, uh, thinking."
"About Penguin," Ash chimed in from across the table, grinning.
"No," Larry lied like a lying liar who lies.
Because he was.
A lot.
It was honestly a little embarrassing.
"Are you sure? Because it kind of looks like you're trying to manifest her into existence with the power of your mind," Todd said, not even looking up from his book, the prick.
"I'm just looking around," He shrugged, trying to look casual despite the heat crawling up his neck. The look Sal sent him confirmed he was doing a horrible job at it.
"Yeah, totally not watching the door like a lovesick puppy," Ash teased, leaning on her elbows. "Oh, wait — look! Is that her?"
Larry's head snapped up before he could stop himself.
She snorted. "Okay, that was way too easy."
Seriously, why did a single glimpse and an overheard conversation have him snapping his head around? And why did that work?! He was the only one who'd seen Penguin, Ash wouldn't have had a clue what she looked like, and he still looked!
He's absolutely certain that his cheeks are flushed to hell and back if the way his face is hot and his friends are laughing at him means anything.
"Seriously, dude, you're making it obvious," Sally added, talking through his laughs and shaking his head. "At this rate, you're gonna scare her off."
He groaned, slumping up against the table. "Can you all shut up? I'm not looking for her, okay?"
"Right. Totally. You're not looking for her, and she's a figment of our collective imagination," Todd said dryly. "Should we start calling this 'In Search of Penguin'?"
"Ooh, I love it. Coming soon to theaters near you!" Ash cackled.
"Don't encourage them," He grumbled, fiddling with the loose threads of his newest bracelet. He'd found it in his locker before lunch, which meant that Penguin visited again, like always. He slipped it on after staring at it for a laughably long time, ignoring Sal's crinkled eyes and distracting with a joke.
It felt like it was made out of yarn, a couple of the threads frayed where she'd been knotting them. The pattern reminded him of a zipper, red and brown pushing into each other back and forth down the bracelet. There were a few sections where he could see she messed up in the knotting but continued anyway, where red pushed into brown more than it should've. Brushing his fingers against that section he can't help but think that it makes the whole thing perfect.
He sighed, forcing himself to focus on the pizza in front of him instead of the door or the bracelet. It wasn't like she'd just waltz into the lunchroom and hand him something. That wasn't how Penguin worked. Still, his gaze flicked up again, this time scanning the tables.
Travis wasn't here either.
His nose wrinkled. Why did that even matter to him? It wasn't like he was—
He caught himself mid-thought and groaned internally. Why was he keeping track of that guy? It's not like Travis was anything but an annoying asshole who got under his skin on a good day. And yet...
God, what was wrong with him?
Thinking about Travis because of some girl he was friends with and who left thoughtful, handmade gifts and stupidly detailed drawings of him, who sounded super nervous just talking to him about delivering one?
He thinks he must've lost it or something.
But anyway, since Travis wasn't there neither was Penguin, that much was obvious. If they were friends they probably followed each other everywhere, so if one wasn't there neither was the other.
He picked at the edge of his plate before making it go in circles as though that would make the pizza look more appetizing. It didn't. "Guess that's a bust," he muttered under his breath.
"What's a bust?" Todd piped up from across the table, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Nothing," he said, maybe too quickly. He picked up the cold, disgusting pizza and shoved part of it into his mouth to avoid saying more, but the way Sal squinted at him made it clear he wasn't buying it.
"Uh-huh. Totally believable," Sal said, leaning forward with a smirk evident in his voice and the way the corner of his eyes wrinkled. "You're definitely not sulking because a certain someone isn't here."
Larry rolled his eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn't pop out of his skull before he swallowed. "I'm not sulking. I'm eating. Big difference."
"Sure you are," Maple chimed in from the side, looking up from her lunch and resting her chin in her palm. "You know, you could always ask Travis about her."
He froze, pizza halfway to his mouth for another bite. "What? No. That's stupid. Why would I do that?"
"I don't know," Ash said, dragging out the words like she was trying to sound innocent. She failed miserably. "Maybe because you're curious? Or maybe because you're thinking about her, like, constantly?"
"I'm not," he snapped, even as heat crept up his neck. "You guys are the ones who keep bringing her up!"
"Dude, you're constantly looking around like you're waiting for her to pop outta thin air," came Sal's teasing statement.
He groaned and leaned back as much as he could on that bench, rubbing his hands down his face. They were impossible. Absolutely impossible.
He couldn't go a single day without being teased about Penguin. Not just teased — relentlessly hounded. The fact that they'd never given Todd this much grief about Neil made it even worse. Todd and Neil met and started dating and everyone just went, Oh, cool. But Larry? No, Larry had to deal with weeks of jokes, nudges, and knowing looks every time he so much as glanced toward his locker.
Not that he was helping his case. He couldn't stop looking around like she was just gonna appear.
Whatever he was gonna say to his friends was cut off when the doors to the lunchroom opened and in came Travis, a scowl on his face as usual visible even from this distance. Any irritation he might've had at seeing his face evaporated when he noticed the person at his side. If anyone asks no he did not nearly fall off the bench from leaning backwards to see better.
There she was.
Granted he couldn't see much of her from the angle but that meant nothing to him at the moment because there she was.
The one who left drawings and bracelets and rocks and all manners of little things in his locker. Who knew his favorite colors somehow and who captured every detail of him in her drawings.
Penguin followed a step behind Travis, her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket and her head tilted toward him like she was half-listening, half-scheming. Whatever he said made her eyes narrow behind her glasses before she muttered something back and poked at his arm, and he caught the tiniest flicker of a grin before Travis rolled his eyes.
She didn't seem the least bit bothered by his mood — if anything, she looked like she enjoyed poking at him just to see what would happen. Her steps were quick to keep up with his, almost bouncing like she was burning through extra energy just following along. Given how much longer Travis' legs were compared to hers, he figured she had to.
When they reached their table her steps slowed, stalling, like she was deliberately drawing it out to mess with him. Travis barked something that finally got her moving, and she threw herself onto the bench next to him with enough force to jostle him sideways, probably whining at him if the way he scrubbed at his face said anything.
Travis, the human rage machine, didn't snap at her.
Instead, Travis just hissed something back and let her sit beside him, leaning against him like it wasn't a big deal. Larry's gaze lingered for a second too long, long enough to notice how easily she fit there, like they'd done this a hundred times before.
He sat up straighter on the bench and let his head fall forward with a groan, the edges of his bracelet digging into his skin as he pressed his hands against his face. What the hell was wrong with him? Watching her like that and picking apart the way she moved? He didn't even know her.
She was just a person — just some girl leaving thoughtful, handmade gifts and drawings of him, nervously rambling about delivering one like it actually mattered what he thought.
And yet.
Here he was, nearly falling off a bench and feeling like his heart was about to crawl out of his throat just because he saw her from across the room. He heard her say his name once, and now she's stuck in his head like a damn song he can't turn off.
Why?
Why did she make him feel like this, like there was something pulling at him, whispering in the back of his mind to get up, cross the room, and… what? What would he even say?
'Hey, thanks for the cool rocks and existential crisis'? Real smooth, Larry.
She'd probably get an aneurysm just from him talking to her, if that overheard conversation was to be believed.
Still, the fact that she was there, real and right in front of him, made something settle in his chest. Penguin wasn't some mystery lurking in his imagination, he knew that, but this helped solidify that; she was a person, sitting there in the lunchroom, just a couple of tables away from him with her own personality and her own mannerisms.
But damn if that didn't make it worse. Now he wanted to know her. What was her deal? Why did she spend her time thinking about him? What could he have possibly done that made her pay that much attention to him? That made her want to make him bracelets and draw him and leave little pebbles in his locker?
He wanted to learn about her, he wanted to talk to her, he wanted to crack her open and see what made her choose him, he wanted he wanted he wanted—
Someone grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "-rry? Larry?"
"Whuh?" He jerked his head up, nearly knocking his forehead into Sally's. His palms had been pressing against his eyes for too long, judging by the colorful spots dancing in his vision.
When his vision somewhat cleared he could see his friends were staring at him with various degrees of smugness and concern, and it was Ash who broke the silence with, "Dude, you spaced out so hard we thought you glitched."
Larry groaned and slumped back against the table, waving her off. "I didn't glitch, I was just… thinking."
"Thinking," Todd repeated flatly. "With your palms in your eyes after staring at Travis and some girl."
His stomach dropped. "I wasn't—"
"You totally were," Sal cut in with a wide grin obvious even through the mask.
"Wait, wait, wait." Ash smacked Sal's arm and pointed at Larry. "You think that's her, don't you?!"
He froze, and apparently, that was all the confirmation they needed.
"Oh my god," She practically squealed, lowering her voice to hiss, "That's Penguin, isn't it?!"
He huffed, dragging his hands down his face before brushing his fingers through his hair, messing it up a little. "She's not—" He stopped himself, groaning again when her grin only grew wider. "Ugh! I'm not doing this with you guys."
Maple piped up, quieter than the others but still wearing a sly smile. "You're definitely doing this with us."
"God, not you too."
"Especially me," she shot back, earning a cackle from Ash.
"Great, cool. Love this. Fantastic conversation," he said, voice dripping sarcasm as he stood abruptly and grabbed his tray. "I'm gonna get more food."
"Yeah, go ahead and run away!" Ash called after him.
"Better not bring her a tray too, loverboy!" Sally Face added, just loud enough to earn a couple of curious stares from other tables.
Larry flipped them all off without looking back, ears burning something furious.