to take you to a chick flick,” he said. “But then your friend Katherine told me that you like action movies.” Penny frowned and looked at Henry as they waited to cross the road.
“When did you talk to Katherine?” she asked.
“She called me this afternoon,” Henry said. “Katherine told me that if I wanted to make a good impression, that I shouldn’t take you to a chick flick because if I did then we probably wouldn’t have a second date.”
“Well, she’s right,” Penny reluctantly agreed as they reached the cinema and Henry held the door open for her. “I do prefer action movies.” The queue at the cinema was short, so they only had to wait a few minutes before they had their tickets.
“Oh, Katherine also said to tell you that she was sorry,” Henry said. “She said that you would know why she was apologising.” Penny looked at Henry but she didn’t elucidate even though she knew he was waiting for an explanation. Instead she turned her attention to the movie screen and smiled. Slipping her hand into Henry’s, she allowed herself to relax.
“We should have bought popcorn,” she murmured as the lights dimmed.
“I had fun tonight,” Penny said as they walked back to her house later that evening. Henry slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.
“I had a wonderful time,” he said. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for a long time, Penny.”
“Why didn’t you?” she asked as they reached Penny’s house and sat on the steps outside the front door.
“You were with Dean and I didn’t want to ruin that,” he said. Penny smiled.
“Well that relationship is over now,” she said. “I’m never going back to Dean.” Henry grinned.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said as he pulled his hand out of hers. “So then I could do this.” He stroked her face and slowly pressed his lips against hers. Penny smiled as he pulled away.
“The perfect end to a perfect evening,” was all she managed to say before Henry leaned in and kissed her again.
One Month Later
Over the next month Penny spent almost all of her free time with Henry. Katherine and I only saw her during school hours, we had quite a few classes together and Penny would often join us in the library at lunch time when Henry was practicing touch football. So, it was a huge surprise when Penny promised to spend the upcoming Saturday with us.
“What about Henry?” Katherine asked.
“He’s going to visit his aunt for the weekend,” Penny admitted. “But even if he wasn’t going away, I’d still spend the day with you guys. You’re my best friends and I’ve barely seen you over the last weeks.”
“Whose fault is that?” I muttered and hissed when Katherine kicked my leg under the table.
“What’s the plan?” Katherine asked as I reached down to rub my leg.
“I was thinking we could go to the pool,” Penny said as she watched me. “There are only a few weeks left before the pool closes for winter. And Mum said that I could have you guys over for dinner and to watch a movie.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “What time shall we meet?” Penny smiled.
“How about nine o’clock at the pool on Saturday?” she suggested. Katherine and I both nodded in agreement. Penny stood up and hurried off with the excuse of having to talk to a teacher. I looked at Katherine and was surprised to see her eyes glistening mischievously.
“I know that look,” I said cautiously. “What are you planning?”
“I have a feeling I’m going to come down with a cold before Saturday,” she said.
“Katherine, she has a boyfriend!” I said. “I’m not going to break them up.” Katherine sighed.
“You and your moral compass,” she groaned. I thought I’d won the spat until she said “Tyronne, you have to at least tell Penny how you feel.”
“Yeah, of course I’m gonna tell her because I always enjoy being rejected,” I muttered with sarcasm. “And what if I do tell Penny how I feel; besides ruining one of my oldest friendships what will my confession achieve? Katherine shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But you need to tell her. You can’t keep this bottled up forever, Tyronne. You can either tell her or sit back and watch as she falls in love with someone else.” I felt sick as I thought about telling Penny but then I realised that Katherine was right. I couldn’t stay silent about my feelings for the rest of my life and allow her to fall for and marry another guy.
“Ok but if this ruins our friendship, I’m never talking to you again ever,” I said to Katherine.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” she said.
I was first to arrive at the pool the next day. It was only eight-thirty in the morning but there were already about twenty people in the pool, mostly teenagers. I dumped my bag on the seats beside the pool before stripping my shirt and shoes. I dug my goggles out of my bag and slipped them over my head as I walked toward the deep end of the pool. I dived into the first lane; this lane had been roped off especially for people that wanted to swim laps.
Penny, Katherine and I had all joined the swimming club when we were younger but none of has attended much during the last couple of years. Rather than swimming, Penny usually preferred to spend time with her current boyfriend and it was never as much fun without her. Even though I hadn’t been swimming with the club for the previous two years, my free-style swimming stroke was still good. Although, I noticed that my fitness level had declined because I could only manage half a dozen laps. I pulled my goggles off and trailed them in the water as I looked around the pool grounds to see if Penny had arrived yet. A second later someone jumped over my head performing a bomb dive and Penny surfaced a few seconds later with a huge smile on her face.
“Morning,” she said. “Where’s Katherine?”
“She texted me last night,” I said. “She was feeling funny so she decided to give today a miss.”
“Shame,” Penny said as she joined me at the wall. “Race you to the end of the pool.” She was gone almost before I realised what she had said so, I had to swim hard to catch up with her. When I was within a few metres of Penny, I grabbed her ankle making her squeal. I pulled her close and dunked her under the water for a couple of seconds. She glared at me when her head broke the surface a minute later but I knew she wasn’t really angry when she grinned at me.
“That’s cheating,” she said. I grinned as I slipped my goggles back on.
“Oh, I didn’t know anything in the rules about dunking,” I said. Penny stuck her tongue out at me before swimming away. I allowed myself another smile and followed her. I reminded myself no matter what happened today, I would always have good memories of Penny.
We were lounging on the sun beds by the pool but by twelve o’clock my skin was starting to turn red from the sun, so, I suggested to Penny that we grab some chips for lunch.
“We can take them to my house and watch a movie until it cools down,” referring to the weather, I said as I wrapped a towel around my waist.
“Do you have some chick flicks hidden away then?” Penny asked as she slipped her swim shirt off temporarily distracting my thoughts. Penny waved her hand in front of my face to attract my attention.
“Oh, nah, I don’t,” I said. “But I’m sure that my mum has something that you’d enjoy watching.
“Ok,” she said. “Let’s go.” We walked to the cafe a couple of blocks from the pool and ordered two dollars worth of chips before heading to my house. I heard little exclamation sounds coming from the lounge room as Penny studied the DVD collection. Eventually she decided on The Princess Bride and slid the movie into the player before settling on the lounge next to me. I was thankful that we’d shared the chips onto two plates because Penny had covered hers in tomato sauce.
I was nervous but I also knew that now, while we were alone, was the best time for me to broach her. So, as the movie started I kept one eye on the screen and the other on Penny. Partway through the movie I grabbed the remote and pressed pause. Penny turned to me with a puzzled look.
“Penny, I have to tell you something,” I said as I played with the remote. I struggled to find the words.
“What is it, Tyronne?” she said. When I heard her voice, I knew exactly what I had to do. I put the plate with my last few chips on the coffee table and moved closer to Penny. Her eyes widened but she didn’t move as I slowly leaned in and kissed her. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Penny pulled away but they were the best seconds of my life.
“What are you doing?” Penny asked, her voice bordering on hysterical. “I have a boyfriend.”
“I couldn’t handle another second without you knowing how I feel about you,” I said. “I love you, Penny, I have for three years.” Penny rolled her eyes.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she said and I frowned.
“You’ve known this whole time!” I said. “You’ve known and you’ve never done anything about it?” The sound of my voice was creeping higher and higher with each word I spoke. I had to remind myself not to shout because shouting would not solve anything.
“Ty, half the school knows that you have a crush on me,” she said. “I wanted you to make the first move; I wanted to see if you cared enough about me to do that.”
“Well, I just made a move,” I said. “But you care more about your boyfriend than me.” Penny rolled her eyes again.
“I am not going to hurt Henry just because you finally got the guts to do
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