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"May I interest you in a little Dom Pérignon, Mademoiselle?"
Colin gives Penelope his best smirk and presents a bottle of champagne like a server might at a posh restaurant. It gets the exact reaction he was hoping for, which is his best friend looking up from her phone and laughing indulgently at him.
"Yes, please."
They're on the way to the New York premiere of the Netflix adaptation of her hit romance novel Death and Friendship. It's been a whirlwind year for her, but he couldn't be prouder. She went from barely scraping by after uni and working temp jobs and the occasional catering gig to now being a bonafide writer with three published and widely loved books and another on the way.
Despite her undeniable success, though, Pen is more than a little nervous about this evening. Besides a few podcasts and morning chat shows, tonight's premiere is her first big, in-person event promoting her work. It's the first time she's hitting a red carpet and engaging in all the hoopla surrounding it.
Colin was in Sri Lanka when she called a few weeks ago and asked him if there's any chance he might find himself in the general New York region on this date. There's a big London premiere for the film too, which all the rest of her family and friends are planning to attend. She's also expected to attend this first event in the U.S., though, and also make a few remarks on stage introducing the film. Apparently the idea of doing all that for the first time with only her relatively new publicist and literary agent by her side was more than a little intimidating.
So, Colin quietly adjusted his travel schedule and let her know that in a bizarre coincidence he had work in Toronto lined up for the week after the premiere and stopping briefly in New York fit right into his itinerary. Seeing her brilliant smile and the obvious relief in her expression on their FaceTime call made the expensive plane ticket and his management team's irritation with him entirely worth it.
As Colin peels the foil off the top of the champagne bottle, Pen sets her phone down on her lap and reaches for the plastic cups tucked into the pocket of the door. They're being driven to the premiere by a professional driver in one of those big, black celebrity SUVs. It's not exactly a unique experience for Colin given the way he grew up and also the amount of traveling he does around the globe, but Pen had been rather chuffed when she saw it waiting for them on the curb outside the hotel.
He makes quick work of the cork and reaches for the first cup to pour her some bubbly far away from the lovely designer dress she'd styled herself in tonight. Pen called his sister Daphne in a panic a while back with no clue what to wear to these types of events. She said she didn't want to look too formal as it's a Netflix romantic comedy premiere and not the Oscars, but she also wanted to appear polished and chic and not like a frumpy, introverted writer whose wardrobe is almost exclusively made up pieces she's sourced from Primark.
Those were Pen's words, not his of course. He would never describe her as frumpy, because she simply isn't anything close to that. She's lovely and her loveliness is only enhanced by tonight's ensemble and Daph's styling from afar. She's wearing a light purple strapless dress with a structured top embellished with mini rectangular clear gems or beads that fade into a more flowy skirt hitting her about mid-thigh. From the waist up, he rather thinks she looks like the Little Mermaid in that purple dress at the end of the movie, and he told her as much when he went up to her hotel room to meet her tonight.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked with her nose wrinkled cutely. "I wasn't exactly going for Disney Princess. I don't want to look babyish."
"You don't," he assured her quickly. "The stockings and the heels balance it perfectly, and besides, it's a compliment. Ariel is the prettiest of the princesses of course."
Pen chuckled at that and tilted her head to the side. "Is she? I always thought Jasmine had that title locked down."
"Not for me."
Now that he's gotten both cups of champagne poured, he holds the half-full bottle of Dom between his thighs and passes his friend hers.
"Cheers," Pen says brightly as they tap their cups together and before bringing it to her lips.
They each take a sip of champagne then, and the car goes quiet. Colin peers out the window to see about where they are and notes they'll be at the theater in only a few blocks. The terrible traffic should give them enough time to have a few sips more at least.
When the light they're at turns green, he's twisted in his seat to face her and is about to ask her how she's feeling about the speech she has to give. Before he gets the chance to, however, she notices the bottle of champagne nestled awkwardly between his legs.
"Here—there's a spot in the door on my side that'll fit in."
Colin is in the midst of passing it to her, and their SUV is accelerating through the intersection when two things happen in rapid succession. First, some tosser on an electric bike darts out into the road in front of them. Thankfully for the biker, their driver manages to slam on the brakes before they collide. Tragically for them, however, the sudden lurch to a stop while Pen was just handed an open bottle of champagne causes her to lose her grip on it and it spills out all over her lap and even splashes up on her front too.
"Fuck!" Colin shouts once the bottle goes clattering to the floor and at the same time the driver is turning around to apologize.
"It's alright," Pen answers even though she's staring wide-eyed and dismayed at her outfit. "It wasn't your fault."
The man in front starts passing back napkins as Colin's looking around for a towel or anything that might assist them, but really her skirt is soaked through and the stain is quite obvious.
"Shit, shit, shit," he mutters, still leaning back and looking in the trunk for some miracle solution. "I'm sorry, Pen."
"Not your fault either."
He feels awful, though, because it is his fault. He should have just kept the champagne on his side of the bloody back seat. He shouldn't have brought it in the first place. Now her dress is a mess, and he's mucked up her very first movie premiere before she's even gotten out of the car.
Pen's remained pretty motionless this entire time since the spill happened, and he realizes once he stops fruitlessly searching the vehicle and actually spends some time looking at her that she's thinking carefully about something. That beautiful brain of hers is spinning and trying to come up with some elegant solution to the disaster they've found themselves in.
"This is a goner," Pen says slowly before she grabs Colin's arm to read his watch. "And we definitely don't have time to go back to the hotel for me to change without missing the start of the premiere…"
"Can you… cover it up with something?" he offers lamely. "Did you bring your coat?"
She blinks at him for a second before something seems to click and her expression sets. "No, but you did. Can I borrow it?"
Colin looks down at himself. He's got a leather jacket on, one that's more meant to be a stylistic component of his outfit as opposed to being needed genuinely for warmth. Daphne's been unofficially styling him too lately and has shown him the light when it comes to the concept of tasteful layering. Even if it was serving a more practical purpose, his answer would be the same of course.
"Yes, absolutely!"
He assumes as he's shrugging out of the jacket that Pen's going to try and put it over her dress to hide the stain, so he's quickly confused when she refuses to take it from his outstretched hands and twists around to offer other instructions instead.
"Unzip me, will you?"
"Pardon?" Colin asks in dismay.
She huffs while she works on the belt at her own middle and removes it. "The wet bottom of the dress is going to be sticking out. I'm going to have to just wear the jacket itself as some kind of dress and pray that I can pull it off."
He stares dumbly for another second at the back of her, but Pen urges him forward.
"Colin."
"Sorry," he mumbles, reaching ahead and working the zipper down carefully until it reaches the end about halfway down her back.
The garment goes slack, and Pen starts to shimmy out of it. The top is a bit tight still and she's got to work it down with her hands hooked into either open side.
"Sorry in advance for the eyeful of my shapewear you're about to get."
Colin's about to ask her what "shapewear" is when the dress is finally off entirely and lying in a heap discarded on the floor. He thinks he has his answer based on the ensemble that Pen is clad in, but he's very, very confused as to why she might be apologizing to him for the sight of it.
As best as he can gather, "shapewear" is some form of lingerie that serves some practical purpose perhaps. She's got on this bustier type garment that is as tight as could possibly be against her stomach and with sturdy cups at the top like a bra. In fact, it's so tight and so sturdy that it has her tits pushed up and higher than he ever thought possible and certainly envisioned was under her dress tonight.
Colin wants to smack himself for even suggesting within his own mind that he's pictured what his best friend is wearing under her dress. Of course he hasn't done that… Right?
In truth, he can't focus on that silly mental debate at the moment. He's too busy still staring a little perplexed at the sight of Pen adjusting her undergarments and fiddling with his jacket on her lap. Whether or not he's ever pictured her naked or in her underwear, he definitely shouldn't be staring at her in a state of undress right now. He definitely shouldn't be ogling her tits and thinking about how tightly contained they are at present. He definitely shouldn't be admiring the inward arc of her waist and the generous slope of her hips.
It all only gets worse when Pen lifts the jacket from her lap with one hand and rises slightly up out of her seat to get it around herself. That's because for a few seconds, he's got quite the view of her lower body in addition to the bounty of everything she's got going on up top. It's no less transfixing, though.
Her shapely legs are clad in nearly sheer, black stockings, the band of which sits at her waist and above the end of that bustier-type garment. He hadn't realized that it simply cut off at her hips before she moved the jacket away from her lap. He thought it maybe ended in a short skirt like a slip or maybe was structured like a one-piece bathing suit. It's not, though. She's got on separate knickers beneath the stockings. Light-colored, tiny, knickers of the thong variety in fact. For one glorious moment, he's greeted by the sight of her full, lovely bum before she manages to unbunch the bottom of his jacket and it's covered up once more.
Even though he can't seem to do it, Colin knows he needs to look away from her. He needs to do it for propriety's sake and to be respectful, yes, but also since he's feeling a little bit like he's on the precipice on a mental breakdown. Because why is his heart racing so much over seeing his best friend in a state of undress in the back of an SUV? Why does he feel like he's got to force his jaw shut to keep his tongue from lolling out of his mouth like a salivating dog? Why is he afraid that his trousers are going to start feeling rather tight in a moment or two?
Because, some voice in his head pipes up. Because she's bloody gorgeous and somehow your eyes have been shut to it forever until this very moment.
The first part is definitely true too. She is bloody gorgeous. But is the second part? That he hadn't noticed until now? He's always thought she was lovely. He's admired her pretty, voluminous red hair, her light blue, sparkly eyes, and of course her delightfully pocket-sized frame. But he hasn't felt like this about her before. He hasn't wanted to reach out and graze his knuckles over the swells of her breasts or even just the apples of her cheeks. He hasn't wanted to mold his hand to her waist and let his fingers sink in to feel how soft and giving she must be there. He hasn't wanted to pull her into his lap and get as much of her beautiful body pressed up against his own.
Pen's sitting back in her seat and flattening the jacket beneath her, but the front is still entirely exposed while she works on figuring out how to style it. Even though he's still more than a little hypnotized by her boobs, somehow he catches something else from the corner of his eye and finally manages to wrench his gaze away from her.
They're stopped in traffic yet again, and what distracted him was in fact the eyes of their driver in the rear view mirror. The man is not, however, checking out a car or someone behind their vehicle. He's checking out something happening inside their vehicle at present instead.
"Oy!" Colin calls out, catching the driver's attention immediately. He glares at him through the mirror before pointing harshly forward and in the direction of the street full of cars ahead of them. The man mumbles an apology and does just that.
Colin turns back to face Pen, but she seems to have missed that entire exchange. He's glad for it. She probably wouldn't have much liked the idea of their hired driver ogling her from the front seat.
What about you ogling her from right here in the back seat? Would she like that any better?
He curses that annoying voice in his head and clears his throat. She's got the jacket securely around her and is now in the process of buttoning it up. Therefore, there's less of her body exposed, which means it's a little easier for him to focus and move away from those strange, spiraling thoughts from before.
"Were you, uh, gonna use the belt from your dress?" Colin asks, picking it up from where it's fallen to the side in her efforts to put on his jacket.
Pen accepts it from his outstretched hand and nods. "Yeah, I'm going to see if I can cinch it in enough to give me some semblance of a waist."
She winds it around his jacket and pulls it in tight. There's no belt loops for it to go through, but she manages to get it in the right position and it seems secure enough that it won't droop down.
"What do you think?" Pen asks, fluffing her hair a bit and twisting to face him in the seat. "Am I remotely pulling this off?"
Colin's gaze flits over her, this time with her express permission. She's sitting there in the seat beside him and staring back at him with wide, concerned eyes, and he really can't help but chuckle to himself and quirk his lips to the side.
"You look great, Pen," he tells her. "Just one thing, though."
He leans over, gently tugging on her sleeve closest to him. It's far too long for her arm, and therefore hanging well past her wrist. Instead, he works on folding it over carefully for her.
"Good call, thanks."
Colin scoffs. "Please don't thank me for a thing. This is all my fault. The champagne was a stupid idea."
"It was a lovely idea," she answers once he's finished with the first sleeve and she twists in her seat to present him with the other one. "Even if it was perhaps a little risky in hindsight."
He goes to answer her, but gets cut off by the driver informing them that they're about to pull up to the venue. Pen lets out a little sigh, fiddles with her belt for another second, and makes one final request of him.
"Do me a favor and don't repost any of the pictures of me from this. I have a feeling this is a fashion moment I won't want to promote."
Colin doesn't have a chance to insist she looks good again. The car is coming to a halt, and it's clear they're at the curb of the theater and the entrance to the red carpet set up. Once the doors unlock, he sees her reaching for her door handle and quickly stops her.
"Wait, wait. I'll come around and get it for you."
"I can do that also, sir," the driver offers, already reaching for his own door handle.
Colin refuses the man, though, still not entirely over the moment he caught him peeping at Pen in the backseat earlier.
Once he's out of the car and on the other side, he opens Pen's door and helps her out with an extended hand until she's standing directly in front of him.
"Still looks okay?" she asks as she smooths down the bottom of his jacket and fusses with the collar now that she's on her feet. "Not worth abandoning the red carpet entirely?"
Colin's eyes sweep over her, and he's once more entirely unprepared for the reaction that swells up within him. Somehow, looking at her standing in this new ensemble is affecting him almost as much as when she'd first taken her dress off in the back seat of the SUV. It's just that his jacket is so bloody short on her—shorter than a typical dress by a long shot. It's probably just enough to cover her bum and with very little coverage for her to bend over at any point.
"Colin?"
"Yeah, uh. You look awesome. Very… cool."
Pen wrinkles her nose, clearly unimpressed with his assessment. "Oh God. This is going to be a disaster. Let's abort."
She tries to turn around back towards the SUV, but Colin stops her with his hands on her shoulders and twists her back around.
"None of that," he chastises. "You really do look good. No running away now, Featherington."
Before she can protest any further, someone approaches from behind him and calls out to them.
"Oh, Penelope! You're here!"
She's swept up by someone from the production team she knows, and they're talking through posing for pictures on the red carpet, some interviews they want her to give, kicking off the premiere, and her planned remarks. Colin sits back dutifully and lets her work. He also does his best not to ogle Pen from behind and examine just how much wiggle room she's got with where the bottom of his jacket falls on her body.
"You can go inside if you want," she tells him once the woman starts to guide her forward and towards the first set of photographers waiting to take pictures. "I can just meet you back in there."
Colin shakes his head, though, and waves his hand dismissively. "I'm okay. Give me your purse. I can hold it."
A few minutes later, Penelope's posing in front of the backdrop with the name of the film and logos from Netflix and a few sponsors of the event tonight. She starts out a little shyly, her posture slightly hunched and her smile clearly nervous as flashes go off sporadically from the photographers gathered in line ahead of her.
Colin's not exactly at expert at this sort of thing, but he has posed for a photo shoot before and he knows she's not going to like the way these pictures will come out if she doesn't make a few adjustments. He's played a part in bungling up this night enough already, so he decides it's high time he does something actually helpful instead.
Colin strides quickly over to where the photographers are stationed, catching her eye with his hand waving above his head. She looks at him with a slightly furrowed brow before he starts to call out some instructions to her.
"Stand up straight!" he offers and then pauses to channel his inner Daphne in this moment. "And maybe… put one leg to the side or something!"
Pen blinks in surprise for a second, but soon she's doing just as he suggested. As a result, her back is nice and straight now and her right leg is popped out a bit and her foot is turned on an angle. The new pose serves to highlight her lovely figure infinitely better than her slouchy, unsure one one from before.
"Good!" he compliments eagerly. "Now smile! Or do some more serious look! Just be confident in whatever expression you make!"
She nods once and drops her head to take a little breath in. He watches then as she lifts her chin and smiles warmly ahead. He can tell she's still a little nervous just because he knows her so well, but her face isn't giving it away so much anymore and the effect of it is still gorgeous.
Colin goes back to sitting back and just watching Pen work. She's definitely got a better handle on things now, he observes gratefully. She spends a few moments posing with her new smile, but after a round of flashes goes off, she surprises him by switching things up. Instead of smiling this time, she schools her expression into something less overtly cheerful and more like something you might see on the cover of a fashion magazine. The only way he can really describe it is a smoldering sort of look, and the effect is quite striking indeed.
Colin proceeds to spend the entirety of the rest of Pen's red carpet experience trailing behind her and watching. On the outside, he thinks he looks like a friend casually observing her go through the motions and smiling placidly all the while. Inside, he feels like a bloody mess.
Something happened to him in that SUV this evening. Something shifted inside him, and now he can't stop thinking about how utterly perfect Penelope Featherington is in every way imaginable. She was already his best friend and arguably his favorite person in his life. Now, though, he's having a really, really hard time reminding himself why it is that he hasn't tried to make her more than a friend by now.
There's a war happening inside Colin's mind, though. Part of him feels almost giddy at the revelation he's in the midst of having. He wants more than friendship with her because, well, of course he does! It's the delightfully satisfying feeling of finding that missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle and slotting it into just the right position and completing the picture. It just inherently makes sense that he would have feelings of a romantic nature for Penelope Featherington. He's spent a lifetime with her at his side already and he loves everything about her and she makes him so, so happy. It's just the most wonderful revelation in the world, isn't it?!
The other part of Colin's mind, however, begs to differ. Is it all that wonderful that it took seeing her almost naked to realize he wanted to be with her romantically? That he didn't think he had feelings for her until he saw her in her underwear and putting on his jacket to wear? That feels shallow and maybe even a tad icky. He feels like he could make the argument that these butterflies that have now taken up residence in his stomach can't be trusted. That there's something wrong with him if it took the events in that SUV to make him think he wants romance with his best friend Penelope.
Colin's gaze flits over to where she's standing several paces away and chatting animatedly with one of the press members interviewing her, and despite the battle raging in his head, he can't help but smile and feel warm inside just observing her.
She's the fucking best, he thinks to himself and as those butterflies swarm inside him. Look at her. Look at how fucking perfect she is.
Maybe it is shitty of him to only realize it when she got undressed and put on his jacket in front of him. Maybe he had hundreds and thousands of opportunities to realize it previously. Maybe he is an idiot for taking this long and for being this blind. But none of that changes the fact that what he feels is real. He knows it with a sense of clear certainty that he's lacked his entire life. He's never been certain about anything—the sports he wanted to play growing up, which university to attend, what course of study to take, what career he saw himself having, what his intention was with all his traveling, whether he wanted to commit himself to content creation and try getting famous, what to do with the increasingly large sums of money that work was yielding him.
This—this swelling, aching, sparkling sort of thing in his chest right now—is the only thing Colin has ever felt truly sure of. The only way he can describe it and name it is to say that it's Penelope. It's Penelope Anne Featherington and Penelope Anne Featherington is quite simply everything.
Throughout the rest of the red carpet experience, Pen remains blissfully unaware of the life-altering, ground-shaking realizations he's undergone. She makes eye contact with him occasionally while she's taking a picture or answering an interviewer's question. She comes over to him and chats for a second in between activities. She even calls him over for a photo of their own together before they get directed inside and the opportunity to pose together is lost.
Colin feels a bit wobbly as he walks to meet Pen in front of the back drop. He hasn't had more than a few seconds with her since they got out of the car. The idea of standing right beside her and smiling and posing for the cameras and pretending like he's not going absolutely mental over her right now feels almost insurmountable.
He's does his best to settle in somehow. He positions himself next to her and with his hand carefully but still somewhat awkwardly around her waist and holding her close. A flash or two go off, but then he hears her trying to get his attention beside him and feels her fingers press in where she's holding his back too.
"Hey," Pen says with a playful smile on her face as she's got her chin up to look at him. "Smile or do some more serious look, but whatever you choose, be confident about it."
Colin blinks at her in surprise and realizes she's repeating his instructions from earlier back to him. It elicits a chuckle and also a feeling of warmth and comfort sliding over him despite all the intense emotions he's trying to contend with too. This is Pen. Sweet, funny, wonderful Pen. He's definitely capable of standing next to her and posing nicely for a couple of pictures. With her at his side, he thinks he might be capable of so much more than that actually.
"There you go," he hears her whisper a few moments later and in a way that makes it sound like she's talking through a smile. "Not so easy when you're the one posing and staring at the cameras, is it?"
Colin chuckles again and turns to look at her briefly and finds her turning to look at him too. There's a moment that passes by in almost slow motion for him. Their eyes are locked on each other, they're both smiling softly, and he feels like he's looking at his entire world wrapped up in a leather jacket-encapsulated, delightfully tiny package.
Soon, they're separated again by one of the production assistants calling them ahead and into the venue. The woman is talking to Pen the whole trek inside and over to their seats. She also pulls Pen away with her to wait backstage and to walk out with the production team to introduce the film soon.
"Will you keep an eye on my bag again?" Pen asks before she can get whisked away from him.
Colin accepts it from her with a smile and nods. "Of course. Good luck. You've got this."
"Thanks," she answers brightly and starts to walk away. Before she gets too far, though, she looks back over her shoulder and calls out, "I think there's a bar serving champagne somewhere. Careful not to spill, though!"
He laughs and shakes his head once, watching then as she disappears out a side door. He doesn't go in search of champagne. Instead, he sits down in his seat and prepares himself to wait. There is no chance in hell he's going to risk missing any part of this experience held up in line at a bar. And besides, as Pen pointed out, he hasn't exactly had good luck with champagne so far this evening.
Colin makes polite chitchat with a few people seated around him and that filter in over the course of a few minutes. It turns out they're all more junior-level production staff or family of the folks going out on stage with Pen soon.
"And your Penelope's partner?" the wife of someone asks him. "I met her one day when I visited the set. She's such a doll!"
He opens his mouth to correct her that Pen isn't his partner, but he gets cut off by the lights flashing and a hush settling over the room now filled with premiere attendees. And besides, he doesn't really feel like correcting her when he's quite desperate at the moment to make what the woman incorrectly assumed a reality.
The theater goes dark, lights brighten on the stage, and music plays to welcome out Pen and her cohorts introducing the movie. Colin applauds proudly along with the audience as they all come out and stand in what must be their designated spots in front of the screen.
The director kicks things off and gives a short speech talking about how proud he is of the film and everyone involved in making it. Colin does his best to pay attention, but it's hard when all he wants to do is look at Pen standing in her spot and looking so distinctly different than the other people gathered on the stage. She's about a foot shorter than any of them, even the two female producers up there alongside her too. Of course she's also the most beautiful too.
Two other people make remarks before it's finally Penelope's turn to go last. Colin knows she's nervous for this, so therefore he's feeling more than a little nervous too. He leans forward in his seat and watches eagerly as the microphone gets passed down to her and she steps forward.
"Wow," Pen starts with a bright albeit a little shaky smile. "Thank you all for the opportunity to be here today, to say a few words, and most importantly, to bring this story of mine to the big screen." She pauses then and looks behind her a second. "To the really, really big screen even."
The audience laughs at her joke, and Colin finds his chest puffing up with pride for her. She's already doing well and she's only just begun!
She goes on to politely thank a few members of the production crew, the actors, and her small team. She talks briefly but very graciously about how wonderful of an experience it's been for her and how impressed she's been at every step in the process and with every single person involved. He continues feeling so proud of her as she speaks clearly and eloquently throughout it all.
At one point, though, she pauses to look down at her note cards in her hand before she looks up again and smiles a little mysteriously. He almost gets the impression that she's continuing on with something unplanned based on the expression on her face and the way she lowers her notes to her side.
"Not to spoil anything for you all, but Death and Friendship is the title of the film and the book it's adapted from for a very specific reason," Pen restarts. "Benjamin Franklin, who I think you all are pretty fond of over here, once said that the only two things certain in this world are death and taxes. While I mean no disrespect of course to Mr. Franklin, I tend to disagree with him about that last bit. In my experience, death is certainly unavoidable, but taxes? Well, there's always tax evasion, you know? The Cayman Islands, Swiss bank accounts, washing money in the Ozarks…"
She takes another pause for a beat before her eyes get wide. "Not that I'm partaking in any form of that. God, no one send this footage to my accountant!"
The audience laughs a second time and so does Colin. He can tell they're utterly charmed by her, as they should be. She is charm personified after all.
"Anyway," Pen says with a shake of her head and a chuckle to herself. "What I was trying to say is that the second certainty in my world hasn't really been taxes. Rather, it's been friendship. The found family I've cultivated for myself. The most important relationships in my life. Friends are… Well, friends are a bit of magic, aren't they? Especially those constant, everlasting kind of friends that become a part of the fabric that makes you you."
Colin's heart starts to pound in his chest as he feels and processes her words. She's so right of course. Friends are magic. Penelope is magic. Their connection, their shared history, the way they know each other inside and out and are still never bored with each other—it's all magic, isn't it?
His heart rate doesn't even out in the slightest when she turns her head a bit and seems to try to find him in the audience, when she looks directly at him for whatever she's about to say next. In fact, he's pretty sure his heart stops all together then.
"One of my friends is here with me tonight. One of my best friends even…" Pen announces with the kind of smile on her face that makes him feel all melty and swirly inside. "He's the kind of friend who I've known basically my whole life. One who's seen me through ups and downs and everything in between. One who would quite literally give me the shirt off his back. One who would pretend to have a work engagement nearby and come to New York so that I wouldn't have to do my first film premiere alone. One who would know he needs to fib about the work thing because he knows my pathological aversion for asking for help would prevent me from just asking him to accompany me directly."
She's quiet for a beat then. Colin wonders briefly how much she can see with the bright stage lights and how dark it is in the theater. It looks like she's staring directly at him, but she probably can't see him much, can she? He can't think about anything else going on inside him, though. That's too intense, and he's too stunned by the fact that she's using so much of her limited time for remarks to talk about him.
"Anyway," Pen says again before clearing her throat and looking around the audience again. "Friendship for me is as certain as the concept of death, but it's wildly more enjoyable and rewarding and makes our time here and alive so meaningful. I wanted to explore the kind of friendship that seeps into one's soul so deeply that it blooms into something more. That's where the book and now this movie came from. Nessa and Matt and their long and winding path as friends who one day fall in love. You'll have the chance to hopefully observe that over the next hour and a half. So, I'll stop talking finally now and let you get to observing. Thank you again for being here and for letting me be here with you all. It means the world to me."
Colin's a fucking mess once Pen is done speaking—an absolute, fucking mess. He's gone back to a previous train of thought. That he's such a supreme idiot for not figuring this out sooner. For not realizing the true depth of his feelings for her. He's known her almost his entire life. He's adored her almost his entire life too. And for fuck's sake, he read the bloody book! He read her friends to lovers masterpiece romance—what was essentially a guidebook for uncovering feelings for one's best friend—and he still didn't figure it out until she was whipping her clothes off in the back seat of a car and jarring his entire perspective so forcefully that it all finally knocked the pieces into clarity for him.
Colin vaguely registers he's clapping for Pen and then through the final announcement leading into the opening credits of the film. He feels insane right now, and it's taking everything he has not to sprint out of his seat, grab her from the stage, and kiss her senseless.
He doesn't do that, however. He lets her walk with the film team down the steps and back into the audience for the movie to start. This is a big night for her—the first step in a major, possibly life-altering journey she's about to go on with the launch of this film. He's going to find the right time to talk to her and let her know he's actually found himself hopelessly in love with her, but it won't be right here and right now. Tonight is about Penelope and her personal achievements, and Colin is just going to be grateful to be at her side and along for the ride. And if he finds an opportunity at some point during the course of the movie to reach over and hold her hand? Well, there's no harm in that really. He's just being a good friend. In fact, if she'll have him, he plans on being the best damn friend Penelope's ever had for the rest of her life.