“I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you when you arrived,” she says solemnly.
“You don’t need to apologize to me again, Penn.” I sigh, resting my head back on the wall.
“It still feels like I do… you obviously have enough to deal with. If you need to talk, or ya know, drink yourself stupid, I’m your girl. We can even rope Connor into being our DD.” She grins, and I bark out a dry laugh.
“He doesn’t drink?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“Not since the one and only time I got him trashed. He vomited for hours and vowed never again. He’s the only person I know who has ever stuck to that vow.” She giggles and I can’t help but smile as some of the anger melts away. “Now, let's dig into this pizza, shall we?”
She pats the bed beside her and I move to the offered spot, taking a slice of the cheesy goodness just as Connor enters the room.
“Yes, pizza time! Let's end this night properly.” He winks at us as he sits on Penn’s other side and grabs the remote. “Pizza and zombies. No better way to end a Wednesday.”
* * *
After what was a surprisingly easy morning with my Intro to Writing class, I meet up with Penn to go shopping for my new stuff. Advantages of her growing up in Serenity Falls is that she knows where to shop that isn’t going to cost me a small fortune.
“You ready?” she calls out as she walks toward me on the quad. I lift the car keys in my hand, thankful that they were in my bag yesterday, rather than in my room.
“Ready as I’m going to be. To the Batmobile!”
“Batmobile?” she questions as she drops into step beside me.
“You’ll see,” I grumble as I lead her toward where I left the metal monstrosity. I click the fob and it beeps, causing Penn’s eyes to go wide.
“Yep, I see. Holy shit, that’s a beauty of a car. 4-liter, V8. Just stunning.” She laughs, shaking her head as we climb into the thing. “Yeah, we’re not going to fit in downtown in this, but if you’re good with that, I am.”
“Downtown is where I fit in. Not my problem that this beast of a machine isn’t going to. Pretty sure the Kensingtons won’t even miss it if something happens to it,” I say with a shrug and pull out of the space.
“I didn’t realize you knew cars,” I say, more as a question than a statement as we pull up to the traffic lights, and she grins.
“Yeah, my older brother is a total grease monkey. He used to build engines for fun, race cars, all the stupid shit we’re not supposed to do. He’s mostly into Japanese cars, but I love a good German machine.”
“Wow, so yeah, you really know cars.”
“Enough to know that this Panamera is a Turbo S Exec, and is worth at least two hundred thousand.”
My eyes go wide at the number. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “I am not. The upsides to rich kid life.”
I groan, putting my forehead on the steering wheel until the light turns green. I let Penn fuck around with the radio since my phone is dust and she directs me to the mall where I can buy everything I need without owing the Kensingtons my first-born child.
I pull into a spot outside, make sure I have the dreaded credit card in my wallet, and follow Penn inside the mall.
“Remind me what you need,” she says as we enter the air-conditioned paradise. It’s way too hot outside for freaking September.
Someone please tell fall that it’s late, and I’m not so patiently waiting.
“Phone, laptop, clothes, bed, basically everything.”
She nods, scanning the lines of stores in sight. “Let's start with the tech. Ease you in before I try to take you clothes shopping.”
I nod, still thankful for the clothes she lent me for today. Though going commando wasn’t on my list of things I wanted to try, I wasn’t going to wear her underwear. But she’s right. I am never going to be prepared for clothes shopping. It hasn’t exactly ever been a hobby of mine. Thrift store bargains have always been more my style; picking up the odd piece every now and then rather than just buying a whole wardrobe.
I shudder at the thought of what I’m going to do today and how much it's going to cost.
“Okay, yes, tech. Where to?”