Page 72 of The Fate Philosophy

She flicked her brow at him as if to say that wasn’t what she was talking about. Carter’s brows rose too, and then he began to laugh. A deep-belly, thunderous sort of laugh. I noticed the corner of Penelope’s mouth twitch up at the sound of it.

Though, her face remained straight as she eyed me. “I feel like I’m missing something here.” I glanced at Dom, he only smiled as he tugged me in closer to him, wrapping an arm around my waist. Penelope cocked her head. “I’m going to change, and then we’re going for a beach walk.”

“Alright.” I sighed. She nodded and turned, fluttering up the stairwell.

“What’s a beach walk?” Dom asked.

“It’s what they do when they need to have a heart-to-heart conversation.” Carter laughed again as he grabbed their bags off the floor. “Today, it means they’re going to talk in depth about the look, size, and feel of your penis.”

Dom’s head swiveled to face me. His eyes widened and panicked. “What?”

Carter’s laughter was still thundering as he headed up the stairs himself. “Oh, yes. It’s a right of passage, man. Congrats!” he called out as he disappeared from sight.

I gave Dom an apologetic smile as I followed them up the stairs to change myself.

Chapter 30

“Soundslikeyou’vehada busy few weeks,” Penny said as she pulled a blanket out of her bag and threw half at me.

“You could say that,” I murmured. We spread the blanket out onto the sand and sat down, shoulder to shoulder, facing the waves.

“How did it happen?” she asked.

I gave her the run-down of the previous few weeks’ events. How Dom kept finding reasons to come over, to check in on me. How he took care of me after I’d ended up in the hospital, and how it far surpassed the expectations of the favor she thought she’d asked of him. How, after that, we just couldn’t seem to stay away from each other. How he seemed to innately understand everything about me. How the more time I spent with him, the less time I wanted to spend apart from him.

I told her about our trip to Disneyland and the talk we had about his cousin. I told her about New Year’s Eve, our argument, and his confessions. How he then called me his girlfriend the next morning while he was on the phone with Carina. Lastly, I told her how he’d been helping me explore new career paths, now that I was fairly certain I no longer wanted to continue teaching. I told her about his idea for me to help Carter open a gallery, if he’d have me. I told her about the volunteer work I’d do in the spring, and the internship with Carina the coming summer.

“Carter’s been stalling on this gallery thing because he has no clue what the fuck he’s doing. Not only will he welcome your help, but he’ll desperately need it.” Penny laughed. “Plus, he values your opinion and your input. He’s told me that before, that he wanted to consider having you involved. I just don’t think he got around to asking.”

“Really?” I asked.

She smiled as she nodded. She turned to me then, her face straightening. “So, it’s serious? You and Dom?”

I fell back onto the blanket and looked up at the sky. Penelope’s hair draped over her face as she stared down at me. “This is going to sound ridiculous.” I sighed. “It’s been two days since we made things official, but… yeah. It feels more serious than it ever felt with Jeremy. With anyone before.” I looked up at her. “It’s serious enough that I’m fucking terrified.”

Penny nodded with understanding. “I get it.”

“Did it feel that way for you too?”

“I was seven when I met Carter. So, no.” She chuckled. “But I do think a part of me—in my still-developing brain—might have known he was something more. I just know I was drawn to him. I didn’t know what he was supposed to be to me. What he was supposed to make me feel like.” She smiled to herself. “But I knew that every time he left my house, I kind of wanted him to come back. Like, I was always waiting to see him again.”

I took a moment to absorb her words. In that silence, she laid down next to me. We both turned our heads to face each other. “Is that what a soul-person feels like?”

“I think it’s different for everyone.”

“How do I know?” I whispered.

“How do you know you’re in love? Or how do you know you’ve met someone who was destined to be a part of your life?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

She chewed on her lip, her eyes far away. Deep in thought. “I think soul-people are people you need, not just people you want. You’re my best friend and I always want you in my life, but unlike other friends, I also need you. I know that I need you. Even when I’m mad at you, I still need you.”

I nodded. “I understand that.”

“Glad we’re on the same page there.” We both laughed. “But the kind of soul-person that Dom might be….” She smiled as if she knew the feeling. “It feels like… swimming through the clouds. Sometimes they’re storm clouds, or rain clouds. Sometimes they’re thunderheads, and sometimes they’re the big, white, fluffy ones. But you’re always soaring through them.” She met my eyes. “That person… they see every single part of who you are. Even the parts you don’t like, even the ones they don’t like. They accept it all.”

I found myself gaping at her, because I knew what that felt like.

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