Chapter Text
“One’s prom is a lot like their wedding” Portia Featherington declared as she let her eyes trail up and down Eloise Bridgerton’s outfit. Portia scowled upon noticing the girl’s doc marten boots peeking out from under her dress. Penelope resisted the urge to apologise for her mother’s lack of subtleness; Eloise didn’t care what she thought. Eloise didn’t care what anyone thought, and so Penelope had long given up apologising for the disapproval that her mother and sisters were so quick to show “Your prom and your wedding are two things that you will never forget”
“And two things Penelope will never experience” Prudence didn’t even try to whisper to Philipa as they stood behind their mother watching as Penelope awkwardly posed with Eloise and her prom date Philip for a group photo at the bottom of the stairs in the Bridgerton’s London home. Philip’s friend, Malcolm, had failed to show up to escort Penelope to prom despite being the one to ask her and although Penelope was putting on a brave face, each remark from her sisters made her face burn with embarrassment. She was sure that when they looked back on the photos that Violet and Portia were taking on their phones that her face would look as red as her hair “Imagine being stood up like this, I’d never leave the house again”
“Were you even asked to your prom, Prudence?” Eloise asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she spoke. Phillipa giggled as Prudence and Portia took a moment to glare at Eloise; Penelope was the only one of the Featheringtons who truly understood Eloise and the other Bridgetons and couldn’t have been more thankful for her friend’s quick tongue at that moment in time.
She could always depend on Eloise to defend herself when she couldn’t find her own voice.
“That is still less embarrassing than being stood up” Prudence insisted even though the tops of her ears were tinged red with embarrassment. Penelope felt the corners of her lips curve upwards as Violet snapped yet another picture of the trio in front of her. She had already given a speech about how she’d never thought Eloise would actually go to prom and how proud she was of the woman her daughter was becoming so she was taking every opportunity to snap pictures. It was like Violet wanted to revel in every second of this moment while Penelope would have given anything for it to be over “It’s such a pity that mum spent all that money on a dress only for you to sit in the corner all night”
“Pen won’t be sitting in the corner all night” Colin’s voice surprised each of the Featheringtons who looked to the top of the stairs to see him standing there in a suit. As the Featheringstons watched Colin descend the stairs in shock and Philip inspected his own fingernails, Eloise and Violet shared a questioning look with one another. Neither of them was sure when the other might have had the chance to slip away and tell Colin to get ready and take Penelope to prom, but both were delighted that he had acted quickly. Colin smiled at Penelope when he finally reached the last step, glad that she didn’t seem to be completely appalled by the idea of him taking her to prom “Or at least I hope you won’t be; Penelope Featherington would you do the honour of letting me take you to prom tonight?”
“Will you dance with me at least once before going to the snack table?”
“Of course, I will. Scouts honour”
“Then it would be my pleasure” Penelope couldn’t help but grin as Colin began ordering Philip and Eloise to get back into positions so they could take a proper group photo. Her sisters were staring at her with wide eyes, and Penelope couldn’t blame them; she was in a similar state of shock as Colin wrapped his hands around her waist for the photo. None of it felt real. She honestly could not believe that Colin Bridgerton, the man she had been in love with since she was twelve, had asked to take her to prom. Penelope wasn’t stupid; she knew he was doing it because he pitied her or because Eloise or Violet had guilted him into it, but she chose to enjoy it.
Penelope expected that it would be the only opportunity she would have to spend a night on his arm, and she would not waste it.
Once they had taken nearly a hundred more photos as a couple and as a group, the four finally headed out to the car waiting to drive them to prom. As Colin held the car door open for her after Philip had gotten in after Eloise to ensure he got to sit beside her, Penelope took a moment to speak to him. “Thank you for this Colin, I know you probably had better things to do tonight, but this means a lot to me. I almost don’t mind that Malcolm made me wait so long”
“Don’t ever let a man make you wait like that Pen” Colin’s tone was more serious than Penelope had ever imagined it could be as he spoke. It was like he genuinely wanted her to hear what he was saying “You deserve a man who knows when to show up, not a boy who is so stupid that he’d stand you up”
Although she would never admit it aloud, Penelope agreed with Portia that prom was something she would never forget. Not only was it the first night that she had felt truly worthy of attention, but it was also the first night of many that Colin took her face in his hands and kissed her gently under the stars. For the next few years, they stood by one another as their careers took off, and they grew into the people they were destined to become. As Penelope grew to be more confideColin’sin’s words, his reminder that she deserved better, often repeated in her mind as she began to demand the respect and treatment she deserved from those around her.
He had been the first person to tell her she deserved more and she was thankful that she had allowed herself to believe him that night.
She had just never expected she would be using those exact words as justification to break up with Colin seven years later.