Chapter Text
“Okay, P. Who’s the girl?”
“Uh-ah, what?” Penelope stopped in her tracks on the sidewalk, attempting to act as confused as possible. Her cousin and her were currently on their usual walk to the pool, planning on meeting Kaleb there. Hope bailed out on them at the last minute, saying something about how she met her future wife (who’s, not surprisingly, another blonde) at the library.
That bitch.
Jed rolled his eyes. “Don’t play dumb with me, Pen. Who is it?”
“What makes you think there is a girl?”
“This is the eleventh day in a row that you’re going to the pool, which is super weird considering that a week ago, you were thoroughly convinced that the water was a home to every known variation of an STD-”
“And it’s super weird that you’ve been counting.” Penelope interrupted, her irritation evident at her cousin’s nosiness.
“Girl. You literally do nothing but sit on your ass all day when we go there.”
“That’s not true! I like to swim a few laps around the pool!” She protested. “Maybe I’ll join you today.”
Jed held his hands up in mock surrender. “I don’t know....I don’t want you catching an STD or something when you touch the water for the first time.”
“Fuck off, J.”
“Not until you tell me who the unlucky lady is.”
She swatted at the back of Jed’s head and he laughed as he ducked. “Excuse you, but I’m actually making some progress here. Great things take time and patience.”
“Great things?” He raised an eyebrow. “What are you trying to get out of this? Are you looking for a hookup or something more?”
Penelope hesitated. Never before has she been so unsure about her true intentions because she’s always had something to set her sights on, and she always got what she wanted. And she never over thought anything when it came to a girl, only because it was nothing more than just sex. If she wants to get technical, she’s had several girlfriends, but in all honesty, they’ve never been anything but pointless flings that never stuck around. They were never interested in commitment so Penelope was never interested as well. Serious relationships were sort of like a myth to her.
Yet in the few banters she’s exchanged with Josie, this girl made her feel things that was completely foreign to her. The thrill, the chase. It was exhilarating.
It made her feel alive.
She thought carefully about her answer before replying. “It’s different this time around.”
Realizing that he wasn’t going to get more out of his cousin, he wisely decided against asking more about her motives, but he wasn’t going to let her get away with leaving him completely in the dark. Even though Penelope did trust him, she liked to keep things more personal things to herself, doing her best to always avoid conversations about her true feelings. Forcing Penelope to talk to him was only just tough love, and he knew if she never opened up to him, she would eventually cower into herself, all alone.
He knows from experience.
When Penelope made a move to start walking, he grabbed onto her arm. “You know you can tell me anything right? You always tell me about the girls you like, and it’s fine if you don’t wanna tell me too much about this one but at least tell me who it is.” He challenged Penelope’s stare, imploring her to break her walls back down.
“Her name is Josie.” She simply said. She shrugged her arm out of Jed’s grip and started off without him.
Kaleb was standing on the other side of the front gate when they got there. Once Penelope and Jed entered, he motioned some boy with a distinguishable afro to come over to greet them.
“Jed, Peez, I want you to meet my boy, MG.” Kaleb introduced as the other boy came to a halt beside him.
“What’s up dude.”
“Hi.” Penelope gave him her signature turtle smile.
“Hey guys.” MG smiled brightly and Penelope’s a little unnerved that someone was physically capable of grinning that wide. He seems like a nice enough guy though.
MG spun a basketball in his hands. “I brought this if y'all wanna go play some poolside basketball? My friend’s the lifeguard and she lets me take out the hoop from the shed.”
He knows Josie?
Penelope shook her head in denial. There were several lifeguards at different shifts so he probably doesn’t. She really needs to stop thinking about Josie every five seconds.
“Sure.” Jed and MG slapped hands and MG quickly jogged away to go retrieve the hoop.
Kaleb bumped her shoulder with his own. “Are you gonna play?”
Penelope opened her mouth to refuse, she wasn’t one for poolside ball games, but she knew that she’d be bored and would spend her time watching Josie like a creep when the lifeguard starts her shift. She smiled. “I guess I’d be up for a round or so.”
She winces slightly when Kaleb pats her on the back too hard for her liking, but nonetheless couldn’t help the small grin that broadens on her face. “There you go Peez! Go put your stuff somewhere.”
Penelope flashed him a playful eyeroll and Jed snickered as they made their way over to their loungers. “Should we get you tested next week to see if you contracted herpes from the deep end?”
“You’re so funny.” Penelope deadpanned. “And that’s not how you get herpes, J.”
Jed snickered again in reply.
As soon as the Park cousins laid their towels on their chairs, they quickly stripped down to their swimwear and leisurely submerged themselves into the pool.
Moments later, MG returned carrying the hoop and stand, placing it in the far left corner of the swimming pool.
The group began playing two on two basketball, taking turns to see who can make the most shots and Penelope wouldn’t dare to admit it, but she was enjoying it considerably. Jed ditched her to team up with Kaleb, leaving her to team with MG, but the guy was ridiculously funny and a total nerd.
Their athleticism was outmatched by Jed and Kaleb (in reality Penelope’s horrible shooting form greatly hindered their team), but Penelope wasn’t sore about it when they were losing by too much to count. She argued against MG’s constant teasing at her lack of basketball skills, saying that shooting buckets while submerged in three feet of water didn’t count as real basketball therefore she could maintain some of her dignity.
They were bickering about which female superhero was the best of all time when Jed spoke.
“Hey MG, is that your lifeguard friend over there?”
Three heads turned to where Jed was pointing at, and Penelope froze as she saw Josie coming through the front gate with her regular red suit on and her sunglasses propped up on her forehead, strolling to the lifeguard chair to take her usual shift.
“Yep, that’s her. Hey Josie!” MG called out and waved. Josie smiled warmly at MG and waved back before her eyes widened in surprise when they landed on Penelope.
“She’s kinda fine.” Kaleb acknowledged and Penelope inwardly scoffed at his unsubtle leering.
“Wait a minute.” Jed furrowed his eyebrows and craned his head back to Penelope. “That’s the Josie?”
“....Yes.”
She glared at her cousin, who loudly bursted out laughing. He leaned over to her and kept his voice low. “Damn, P. Why couldn’t you tell me that you have eyes for the hot lifeguard?”
“Shut up , Jed. Let’s just play.” Penelope seized the ball from his hands.
As the game progressed, Penelope continually found herself becoming more and more self conscious about her movements, taking the game more seriously than before and checking for a reaction from Josie after every shot she shoots. Jed seemed to notice her change in behavior and she had to restrain herself from shooting the ball at his head whenever he made kissy faces at her each time she sent glances towards the lifeguard chair.
It didn’t seem like she was doing much to capture Josie’s attention however, because the pretty lifeguard was oblivious and faced in the opposite direction.
After watching her ball tip over the rim of the hoop, Penelope briefly turned around to lay her eyes on Josie only to discover that she wasn’t sitting on her chair. Looking around, she scanned the other side of the pool hoping to find the attractive brunette, eventually locating the distinctive red lifeguard suit by the front corner of the outdoor facility.
With sunglasses still propped up on her forehead, Josie’s arms were crossed while her face was set into a pouty frown. She was giving three middle school boys a quiet scolding, and Penelope shivered because the whole authoritarian attitude Josie was portraying was hot.
Of course, she wouldn’t be a gayest dumbass in the world without the dumb part.
“Penelope watch out!”
“Ow-fuck!”
Her head flung back and Penelope yelped, and she could feel her feet plant themselves at the bottom of the pool, grateful that they were not on the deep end. Her hands shot up to where the ball came in contact with her face. She grimaced at the touch and looked down to see her hand covered in her blood, and she was pretty sure her nose was throbbing like a tomato. Feeling her eyes tearing up, she squeezed her eyes shut and brought her right hand to her face.
The boys splashed over to her, MG reaching her first. “Holy shit, Penelope! Are you okay? Do you need help getting out here?”
Penelope waved them off. “No, no, I’m okay. I’m just need to go to the bathroom.” She wadded her way out of the pool as quickly as possible, her hands staying above her nose while gently wiping the blood off her face. She tried to avoid looking in Josie’s direction, not wanting the other girl to see her like this as she took the brisk, tortuous walk to the bathroom adjacent to the pool.
Once she's managed to stop the bleeding and finish cleaning all of the blood off her face, she winced as she came back outside. Her return goes unnoticed; the boys had continued their game, seemingly forgetting about Penelope’s unfortunate mishap. Her face still hurt like hell no thanks to one of them, and they’re so lucky that there wasn’t going to be a bruise leftover, yet her nose was throbbing and a bright shade of red had formed across her face.
Wallowing in her bruised face (and pride), Penelope had started to make her way to her lounger when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
Rotating around, she was completely surprised to find Josie standing there, one hand on her hip and the other holding on a ice bag. Josie smirked. “You know. You should really do a better job at paying attention. You don’t wanna mess up that pretty face of yours. ”
Penelope cleared her throat, she looked down, trying to hide the blush that formed on her face. Obviously, Josie knew exactly why she was distracted. “Maybe I should. But it’s kinda hard when my attention is focusing on...other things. ” She looked back up with a cheesy grin on her face.
Now it was Josie’s turn to blush, she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, clearly debating something on her conscious. After a little bit of contemplating, she let out a light hearted chortle. “Come on.”
Josie’s hand latched onto Penelope’s wrist, tugging her along to Penelope’s lounger and Penelope’s really trying not to pay attention to the way her wrist tingles at Josie’s gentle grasp.
Or the proximity of Josie’s body close enough to where Penelope could smell her vanilla scented sunscreen.
Or how her heart goes whoosh when Josie’s grip tightens when they’re passing through a tangled mess of kids.
“Sit.” Josie orders, letting go of Penelope’s wrist once they get to Penelope’s lounger and takes a seat next to her.
Penelope chuckles. “Yes ma’am.”
She sits and shifts her body towards Josie.
“Don’t move.”
Penelope looks expectantly at the ice pack in Josie’s hand as Josie brings the ice up to her face to gently press the coldness into her bruised right cheek, slowly making her way to the middle of Penelope’s face. Penelope bites her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling as she stares back at Josie’s adorable look of concentration.
When the coldness came in contact with Penelope’s nose, she winced. Quickly, Josie pulled back worriedly. “Am I hurting you?”
Penelope gave her a soft smile of reassurance. “No, you’re doing okay.” She grabbed onto Josie’s hand and directed the ice pack back onto her face.
They stayed like that for several minutes, Josie taking care of Penelope and Penelope soaking in beauty of the girl right in front of her. There was something painfully intimate about their positions right now, leaving Penelope craving for more. More anything with Josie.
Unable to keep this nervous tension between them, Josie redirected the ice pack to her cheek, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her. “I think your brother was the one that hit you.”
“Cousin. And I’m going to kill him.”
Josie giggled and brought the ice down. “Well let’s get you all fixed up before you go off into battle again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. Although it’s kinda sad, losing to a basketball. Basketball: One, Penelope: Zero.”
“Oh shut it.” Penelope pouted and Josie continued to giggle in the most adorable way possible.
Penelope found herself swimming in those big, brown eyes.
“You know I could’ve done this part myself.”
As soon as those words escape her, Penelope curses herself for being so stupid because of course she finds a way to ruin their moment. But she was just so confused as to why Josie was helping her when the other girl was adamant about keeping a wall between them. She expects Josie to scoff at her for being ungrateful, throw the ice pack down at her, and storm away but she stays. Josie swallows, looks away for a few seconds, before she makes eye contact again.
“I know.”
Josie doesn’t want to offer anymore information, and Penelope doesn’t want to push any further and ruin this, so Penelope provides her with a turtle smile (through her pain).
The other girl hands her the ice pack and clears her throat.
“I have to go back to my shift, but try not to take another basketball to the face okay?”
Josie backed away smiling, before walking away.
“Okay.” She replies, her voice small. Penelope clutches onto the ice pack, staring after the beautiful brunette.
Maybe she won’t kill Jed after all.