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Look, Tammy wasn’t a jealous person. She was very devout, you know the whole, ‘do not covet your neighbour’s wife’ and everything. She was the least jealous person ever, in her opinion. She could see Johnny Moon kiss some girl or get a girlfriend and she wouldn’t be rolling on the floor crying and screaming because he didn’t want to date some random teenage girl who liked his music.
So she was definitely not fuming at the domestic scene displayed in front of her. Penny and Ricky, hunched over a book and ready together, lunch abandoned and sitting way too close to each other in Tammy’s opinion.
They definitely weren’t dating, judging by the lack of sickly sweet gestures that Penny would probably perform if she was actually dating somebody, but they were giving a bit too much lovelorn looks to each other for Tammy to be happy with.
“Oh! Ricky, that's a great idea!” Penny smiled, and Tammy’s eyes narrowed at Ricky, who obviously noticed and he looked a little nervous and confused at the hostility radiating off of the usually cheery and friendly girl.
But then he seemed to notice Penny’s bright smile, and much to Tammy’s displeasure, he grinned as brightly back.
After a long day of Ricky and Penny sticking to each other like glue, Tammy went to her room, planted her face in her pillow, and screamed into it.
Yes, she was having a tantrum. What about it?
Her roommate, a girl maybe a bit older than Tammy was, glanced over from where she was lying down, shooting the girl a dirty look.
“What are you all worked up about?” She huffed, her Ukrainian accent thick, even with her decent English, “You’re too loud.”
Tammy sat up indignantly, “My best friend is getting way too close with that Ricky guy! They’re like a couple!”
Astrid raised an eyebrow, “And why does your friend getting a boyfriend annoy you?”
“I- I don’t know!” Tammy said hopelessly, “I just don’t want her dating people! What if she forgets about me?”
Astrid snickered, “So you’d be upset if they started kissing at the lunch table?”
Tammy pouted, “You’re making fun of me,”
“Yeah, I am. You sound like when I thought my boyfriend was gonna get with this girl.”
“Yeah! But I don’t want to date her!” Tammy exclaimed, face flushing at the thought, “I just- don’t want her kissing some boy that she thinks is cute!”
Astrid snorted, “I never said anything about dating, but judging by your reaction…”
Tammy looked at her in horror, “You-”
Astrid shrugged, looking pretty smug in her implication, and Tammy scowled at her.
“Let’s say I hypothetically did have a crush on my friend, what could I even do about it?”
“Does she like girls?”
Tammy pursed her lips, “I guess? Everyone’s been saying she’s a lesbian but I’m pretty sure she like-likes Ricky so I dunno maybe she doesn’t.”
“Eh, worth a try,” Astrid said, shrugging, “Get her flowers or something,”
“That’s too obvious!” Tammy said, aghast, and Astrid sighed heavily, looking like she was beginning to regret deciding to help the other girl.
“Listen, if you don’t like my ideas, go ask the big man up there for advice,” Astrid grumbled, and Tammy looked at her in a mix of offence and desperation.
“Okay, okay! Flowers it is! But what sort of flowers should I give her? And what if he gives them to her first? And what if she likes him more?!” Tammy slowly descended into hysterics, and the Ukrainian girl decided the best way to do so was to lightly punch her shoulder.
“Listen, just go up there tomorrow, and confess your feelings, it’s not that hard once you’re done with it. If she likes you, she likes you.”
“If she doesn’t?”
Astrid shrugged, “I wouldn’t know, I never had that problem,”
“Thanks! A lot!” Tammy gritted out sarcastically, her voice raising by several octaves.
“You’re welcome!” Astrid replied, obviously ignoring the sarcasm.
Tammy reminded herself that killing was a sin, and that it was unreasonable to try and kill her roommate for being annoying. Even so, it didn’t stop her from wanting to.
“Tell me how it went when you do it,” Astrid called out, at the door, “I’m ditching school tomorrow to hang out with Hank, so fill me in when I get back,”
Tammy screamed into her pillow.
It was the morning a few hours before classes started at Saint Cassians that Tammy decided she was actually going to do something.
She walked to a flower shop run by an ancient-looking woman. Tammy half-wondered if she even was able to see or hear anything, considering she had to repeatedly let the woman know what bouquet she wanted so she could actually pay. And then the woman mistook her for a boy, which was embarrassing,
She ended up leaving with a very conspicuous bouquet of six roses, a few asters and morning glories. When anybody asked, she would give vague answers that weren’t lying, because lying was also a bad thing to do, but she also didn’t reveal who exactly she was planning to give the bouquet to.
Through several attempts, Tammy managed to fit the bouquet inside her locker without damaging the flowers, just so she didn’t have to lug around the bouquet everywhere she went like a ball and chain.
Throughout class, Tammy found she could hardly focus, stealing glances at the thoroughly beaten clock that dangled on the wall nearby. Even through the haze of anxiety and worry, she couldn’t help but feel excited.
Sure, if they actually got together their relationship would probably have to be a secret because she’d seen how badly that could end up for them, but the idea of actually being able to kiss Penny Lamb, or even just hug her tightly was exciting .
Tammy then noticed Ricky from across the classroom, a big goofy grin on his face too, and Tammy realised this was like one of those movies where the two characters fought over the protagonist. Only, instead of Tammy being the protagonist, she was one of the love interests.
She narrowed her eyes at Ricky, but she felt quite satisfied that he probably didn’t buy a bouquet of flowers, and that Penny surely would be more flattered with a beautiful bouquet of colourful flowers than whatever the Potts boy had for Penny.
After school ended, Tammy skipped her way to Penny’s dorm, and knocked three times on the door, bouquet in hand. The door opened, and much to Tammy’s disappointment, instead of Penny was her little brother Ezra.
He surveyed her, looking up and down suspiciously, zeroing in on the bouquet of flowers, “What is the bouquet for?”
“Uh,” Tammy started, “It’s- do you know where your sister is?”
Ezra squinted his eyes at her, “Why do you want to know?”
Tammy huffed, “Because I need to tell her something!”
“Like…?”
Tammy gave Ezra a very passive-aggressive smile, silently fuming, “None of your business!”
Ezra peered behind Tammy and gave a nod in greeting. Tammy whipped her head around to see the one and only Richard Potts with his own bouquet of flowers.
The two stared at each other, and Ezra seemed a bit amused, if not a bit incredulous.
“Oh my God,” Ezra said, barely hiding his amusement.
“Do not use the Lord’s name in vain,” Tammy corrected automatically, and Ezra snickered further, looking like he wanted to be eating out a big bowl of popcorn.
“What are you doing here?” Tammy asked accusatorily, pointing a finger at Ricky.
He gave her a look, and she immediately felt bad despite these circumstances, “Sorry,”
Ricky bobbed his head, probably accepting her apology because he couldn’t verbally do so.
“Oh! Ricky! Tammy!”
All three’s heads whipped around to see Penny Lamb herself, carrying a charred bag and a bright but confused smile.
“What’s with the flowers?” She asked, smiling blankly, to which both Tammy and Ricky presented her with the flowers.
Penny looked confused for a second, before it decided to click in her brain and she went a bright red that Tammy was not accustomed to.
“Wh- wait! Are these for me?! No way!” Penny spluttered, looking incredibly flustered and confused, “What? Really?”
The two nodded, and waited expectantly, much to Penny’s confusion.
“So…?” Tammy trailed off questioningly, which seemed to further confuse Penny.
“So?” Penny asked, and Ezra sighed from where he stood in the doorway.
“They want you to choose, Penny,” He called out, and the confused smile froze on her face.
“I have to choose?” She said aghast, and Tammy felt amused, if not a bit confused.
“Yes, that is what is supposed to happen right now,” Tammy said, a slightly confused smile also resting on her face as she tried to figure out what exactly Penny was expecting she was to do.
“Oh! Uh- I like both of you though!” Penny said, sounding a little stressed, “Why can’t we all date or something? I really like you both!”
Tammy paused, thinking about it. Ricky did too. The thought had not crossed either of their minds, whilst the thought of only choosing one had not been on Penny’s mind either.
“Is…does that even work?” Tammy questioned, trying to consider her options.
Ricky shrugged, almost as if he were saying, ‘worth a shot.’
Penny bounced on her heels, apparently gleaming at what Ricky was trying to say.
“Okay, let’s try it!” Penny said hopefully, taking both bouquets, “I mean, if you guys really want to. I don’t want to enforce anything-”
“We’ll try it, Penny,” Tammy said fondly, and her face probably heated up to a thousand suns as Penny kissed both of their cheeks. Ricky shared a similar expression upon a quick glance.
This was nice, Tammy thought, even if it went in a completely different direction than she thought it was going to.
She let Penny drag her and Ricky into her dorm room, and she decided that maybe Ricky Potts wasn’t so bad after all, because she had no qualms about sharing Penny Lamb with him when she could also date the girl.