Page 107 of The Show

“Those clowns are fucking creepy,” I said, closing the door. “You should get whoever decorated in here to decorate out there too. Much more pleasant.”

She didn’t look up from whatever she was writing. “What are you doing here, Penny? I’m busy.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the door. “And apparently I’m working my way through the women of New York.”

Lauren put her pen down and finally looked at me. “Seems to be an accurate statement.”

“It fucking isn’t!”

“Fine. I stand corrected.” She went back to her notes. “You can go now.”

“I’m not going anywhere. You know exactly why I’m here. You need to apologize to Lowe.” I said in a tone that only someone with minimal brain cells would argue with.

“That’s exactly what I came to do this morning, but then I saw you two together,” she snapped.

“And?” I snapped back.

“And then I didn’t know what I was apologizing for.”

“Want me to remind you?”

“No,” she huffed, then her shoulders relaxed. “I mean, no, I don’t need you to. I know I was an asshole.”

“You nearly had her breaking up with me! I swear to God, Lauren, if you’ve ruined the only relationship I’ve ever wanted with the only woman I’ve ever loved, I will never forgive you. You’d better fucking apologize to her, and do it today. I mean it.”

Lauren’s eyes widened until her brows had disappeared in her hairline. “Love? Penn, seriously, why do you always have to be so dramatic? Doesn’t it ever get tiring? Just because you had sex with her more than once, doesn’t mean you love her. That’s not how it works in the real world.”

There probably wasn’t anyone on the planet who could wind me up quicker than my sister. And as my blood was already on a steady simmer from when I’d stormed over here, it took very little to turn up the temperature.

My fist slammed back into the door with a loud, frustrated thud. “LAUREN!”

“Shhhhh! Jesus, keep your voice down! This is a place of business. There are sick kids outside, all of them managing to behave better than you are!” she snarled. “But I’m serious. You can’t just decide you’re in love with her.”

I stared hard, then let out a deep sigh. I pushed off the door and sunk into one of the chairs set to the side near the toys. It was much less comfortable than it looked. “I haven’t just decided. I’ve been in love with her since the first time I saw her.”

“First time you saw her when? What does that mean?”

“Since the first time you brought her home.”

“What?” Her mouth dropped open slightly, then dropped further as she thought about what I said. “Wh… what? We were kids!”

“I know.”

“You’ve been in love with Lowe since you were… what?” she scoffed loudly. “Six?”

“Five. But yes.”

She rolled her eyes. “Gimme a break, Penny. You have not.”

“I have.”

She leaned back in her chair, her feet crossing on the desk in front of her. She stayed silent, but I could see her brain working overtime, trying to find a flaw in my declaration. She was looking at me, but with the way her eyes kept narrowing and her brow was furrowed, she wasn’t focused. Finally, she spoke. “Bullshit, you were the biggest pain in our asses when we were teenagers.”

“That’s because all your boyfriends were dicks! Lowe’s especially.”

“No, they weren’t,” she protested loudly. “Jack Hamnet was…”

“A dick. He was the one who always wore two pairs of jeans so his legs looked bigger, even though when he was running track he wore shorts so everyone could see his legs anyway.” I shook my head in disgust. I could still remember them all as clearly as yesterday. “Then there was the guy on the football team who dressed exclusively in Abercrombie and Fitch. I even heard him going round saying he’d been selected as a model for them which was definitely a lie. Will Thompson, the starting quarterback, I hated him the most for the way he always had his hand in Lowe’s back pocket, like he didn’t have his own fucking pockets - God, he was such a douche. The pair of you really knew how to pick them.”

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