Chapter 4
1273 Words
“Okay, that’s it class!”
“Don’t forget to submit your assignments next week. Have a great weekend!”
Penelope snapped out of her daze at the sound of Pr. George. She hadn’t a clue what he said or what assignment he was talking about.
All through the class, she had her focus on the throbbing pain between her thighs and how uncomfortable lecture halls were for her butt. She sighed when the professor left and began stuffing her things back into her bag. The notebook was untouched, and the textbook was on last week’s lecture.
The only thing wrenching her mind was the image of Luca protectively hovering over her in bed. She shuddered and jumped to her feet, trying to stop herself from thinking about that man anymore. She couldn’t believe that she actually shared a bed with a stranger.
‘A completely ethereal-like stranger,’ she corrected herself.
Casey climbed up the steps between her seat and Penelope, taking the seat opposite her.
“What the hell happened last night?” she asked, concerned.
Penelope stared out the window on her left, watching the lively campus below before she finally turned to Casy, who was still waiting for a reply.
Penelope sighed. “You already know what happened. Need me to say it out loud?”
Casey raised her eyebrows, surprised at her friend’s vexed tone. Penelope was usually calm, cheerful, and serious when need be.
However, she was rarely irritated. And when she is, it’s serious.
“It wasn’t your first time,” Casey stated. She had been there when Penelope had her first time in high school with her dushy ex-boyfriend.
“So, what’s this about? Did he do something? Did he hurt you?!” she said, worried.
“What?” Penelope frowned at her friend’s wild assumption. “No–”
“No, he didn’t,” she continued, a summary of the previous night flashed behind her eyes. “Actually, the opposite, he was–”
“Gentle,” said Penelope, searching for the right words to describe the way Luca treated her.
Despite his arousal and lust for her–which was evident, his touch was careful and delicate as if she were the most precious thing in the world.
She disregarded the thought.
“I didn’t hate it. I just–”
Casey tilted her head, taking a closer look at her burdened friend’s expression.
“You are questioning if it was a mistake or not,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. She sounded so understanding. But most importantly, she was non-prejudiced.
And that’s what she loved about Casey.
She could tell her the world was ending, and she would cheerfully watch it end with her.
Penelope finally nodded curtly.
Casey took a deep breath. “Look, things aren’t always black and white.”
“It doesn’t have to be the right thing but that doesn’t make it a mistake,” said Casey, taking Penelope’s hand across the desk. “You just take it in as an experience and live on. The marks he left will disappear, and it’ll take his memory along with it.”
She paused, leaning back until she was inches away from flipping over.
“Besides,” she said. “It’s not like you will meet again. That’s the pros of a one night stand.”
Penelope chuckled and nodded.
“Yes, I guess you are right.”
~~~~
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Casey exclaimed, waving goodbye at Penelope from behind her car’s window.
Penelope waved back, watching as Casey drove on the tiled garden grounds, circling the fountain before disappearing through the mansion’s gate.
She waited, watching the black metallic gate shut automatically. She shifted her gaze to the marble statue standing tall and dazzling amid the water fountain. It was an admirable effort of a sculptor to illustrate Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.
It was standing with its back impossibly straight; the spear in her hand was at least a foot taller. On her right shoulder was her infamous owl staring out in the opposite direction of the Goddess. The helmet on her supposedly blond hair reflected the sunlight onto the turquoise water beneath.
Turquoise…
Penelope was instantly reminded of the blue-black eyes diving into her soul.
She mentally slapped herself before she turned to take the staircase leading up to the portico. The Sterling mansion spread across the fence’s perimeter, surrounded by gardens and Greek gods. Perhaps it was the only thing Penelope liked about this place, and her bedroom.
Before she could ring the bell, the polished wooden door swung open. A butler bowed as he held the door for her.
“Hey, George,” she smiled, walking in.
“I was quite worried when you didn’t return home last night,” said George. His face was blank, but Penelope knew he was genuinely worried for her.
Maybe the only one who even noticed she didn’t sleep at home.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she said, walking past him into the darkly themed foyer and heading for the staircase.
She paused, hearing an argument coming from her father’s study. She turned to look through the opaque glass door,and she saw only blurred silhouettes.
*We are doomed…
Bankrupt…
*It’s your fault…**
Penelope heard only keywords, but she guessed it was more trouble with the company. Her father, Arthur Sterling, was the Chairman of Sterling Enterprise, which seemed to be going through a rough phase.
Not that she cared.
She never interfered in the company and was never interested. She saved that interest for her siblings, Thomas and Eleanor Sterling, half-siblings. Their mother, Vivan Sterling, her step-mother, she was quite like every typical step-mother…
She hated Penelope, and that Arthur took her in when she was a child.
“I’ll ask the maids to ready your meal in the dining hall,” said George, cutting Penelope’s line of thought.
“No,” said Penelope, taking the staircase. “I’ll take it to my room.”
George bowed slightly, and Penelope got to her room at the far end of the hallway on the second floor. Thankfully, she was far enough not to meet her half-siblings often nor hear them quarrel over how filthy rich they were.
Penelope collapsed onto the bed with a loud thud and stared at the chandelier dangling from the ceiling. She pictured the bright ocean-blue and midnight irises staring down on her, wanting her.
Her stomach turned.
“Damn it, snap out of it,” she whispered to no one as she got to her feet. She took her bag to place it on her desk by the window, and saw the black button-up shirt she had stuffed earlier this morning in Casey’s car.
She took it carefully, wondering if there would ever come a day when she would get the chance to return it. After all, she just wanted to briefly borrow it.
“It’s not like you will meet again. That’s the pros of a one-night stand,” she recalled Casey’s words.
She nodded with determination, taking the shirt and folding it carefully before placing it on the top shelf of her wardrobe, away from the maid's reach–away from her reach.
Deep down, she was glad to have a remnant piece of last night. After all, it will be nothing but a forgotten memory soon.
“Well, see you later, Batman,” muttered Penelope, closing the wardrobe.
She thought she sealed every remaining piece of a wild memory that would never resurface. But little did she know what fate had instored for her–
And her Batman.
- Writer
