Page 25 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“You’ve got a lot of nerve saying that, Charlie.”
“Penny—”
I shook my head and headed for the stairs to the basement. Alexander and I could finish watching the movie down there, away from my brother’s judgemental eyes.
“Leave me alone, Charlie. I don’t want to hear it.”
ten
Music was playingat the top volume from my speaker. I danced in place and hummed under my breath as I put my earrings in. I spun around and looked at myself in my full-length mirror. I was wearing jeans and a dark red top my mom had recently bought for me. I think she originally meant for me to wear it to the Christmas Eve party, but I didn't have time to go shopping before this party, so I was making do. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and added some sparkly earrings to match my dress. My makeup was light but pretty, accentuating my hazel eyes and giving me a natural look. I smiled at myself and put on some lip gloss.
I couldn't help but feel a little bit excited about going to this party, even though I was a little nervous. This would be the first time I was spending time with Alexander's friends outside of school, and even though this relationship wasn't real, I wanted to impress them. It was so nice to have friends again, and I didn't want them all to decide that they didn't like me or that I wasn't good enough for Alexander.
“You look so pretty!” Flo said. I looked over to my doorway, where she was standing. She was holding a tattered copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, probably planning to askmy dad to read a few chapters to her. At eight years old, she was capable of reading chapter books, but she often preferred getting our parents to read them to her.
“Thanks, sweetie,” I said. “Do you want me to put some makeup on you?”
“No, I'm good,” she said. “I just wanted to come to say hi.”
She skipped off. I smiled to myself and shook my head. I turned back to my mirror and took a deep breath. I could feel the excitement coursing through me, and it was contagious. I started to dance again, moving my hips to the beat of the music. The music went quiet for a second as my phone dinged with a text before changing back to full volume again. I spared a look at it and saw the text was from Liv:
When are you coming?
The party’s boring without you :(
I grinned. It was weird to be wanted places again. Liv was great about always telling me about her plans and inviting me along, as she always wanted me around. She actually reminded me of Nikki in many ways. I wished I could have been friends with her before everything awful went down because I think they would have gotten along great. The three of us could have been best friends.
“I like that shirt,” Charlie said behind me. I froze. I hadn’t heard him take Florence’s place in the doorway. In fact, I didn’t even know he was in the house. He’d made some comment about going out with friends tonight, and I was happy about it because it meant it would be that much easier to avoid him, but I guess that hadn’t worked out. He and I hadn't spoken since our argument the other day, and I wasn't ready to forgive him yet.
“Thanks,” I said flatly.
“When are you leaving?” He asked.
“Um...” I glanced at the time on my phone. It was 6:55. Alexander wasn't supposed to be here for another five minutes, but it was close enough that it wouldn't be strange for me to go downstairs and get my shoes on. “Now.”
I threw everything I needed into my purse, grabbed my jacket, and brushed past Charlie.
“Penny...” he said in a frustrated tone.
“I don't have time to talk right now,” I said. I pulled my jacket on as I went downstairs and put my shoes on right away. I could hear Charlie following me, so I moved faster. I wasn't ready to hear yet another lecture about how I wasn't over Joseph.
“Are you leaving now, Penny?” Mom called from the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I called back.
“Okay, sweetie, have fun! And be back by midnight!”
“Midnight?” Charlie asked me.
“Yeah,” I said coldly. I finished lacing up my boot. “My curfew.”
“Lucky,” Charlie said. He crossed his arms. “I was only allowed out until eleven when I was your age.”
“Oh.” I shrugged. “Too bad.”
Charlie frowned. He was clearly annoyed with all my one-syllable answers, but if he thought the way to get me talking to him again was to complain about his old curfew, he had another thing coming.
“I'll see you later, then,” Charlie said.
