I Want to See You Be Brave

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope was exactly the kind of cook you would expect her to be. Neat, precise, and particular. It wasn’t completely uncommon to find her in the Home Ec classroom cooking herself a meal. In fact, she found cooking quite enjoyable. It was easy to focus in on creating a great meal.

And this was no exception. When Lucy had left, Penelope did go off to the store and bought several things to cook up, and ended up deciding to make spagetti with a light sauce and an avocado tomato salad on the side. She wasn’t exactly sure what Lucy liked to eat, but judging by the amount of energy drink cans she had thrown out of her room, it probably wasn’t anything healthy. She cringed at the thought.

Penelope had nearly perfected the art of cooking in the Home Ec classroom and bringing her meal to her dorm to enjoy in peace. She quickly cleaned up what little mess she had and put the food in different containers as to not mix the two.

Once she reached her dorm, she had pulled out a small table which she normally ate at (she never ate in bed or at her desk. Ever.) and pulled out a couple of chairs. After placing everything in order for their meal, Penelope gave it a once over to make sure everything looked nice, which was her normal eating ritual before she felt she could enjoy her meal.

She reached out and scooted a glass over to the right about half an inch when she heard a knock at the door. Penelope had briefly wondered if Lucy would actually show up, and it turned out that she did. After everything that happened, cooking a meal was exactly what Penelope needed. It helped clear hear head for the situation at hand. She gave a quick nod to herself for reassurance before she opened the door.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy had spent most of her afternoon in her room, drowning her thoughts in the usual; games and Rowan's entertaining personality. Truthfully, she contemplated telling him everything. But he barely got the gist of the situation with Evony and Dom. She didn't want to top it all off with the most confusing development of them all. And the Australian briefly contemplated not actually turning back up at Penny's dorm. It was because she wanted to that she didn't think she should go, confusing as that might have seemed.

But in the end, she couldn't do that. While there wasn't much stock to be put in her word at the best of times, this felt different.

She realised too that there was no right time to be there. So a guess was made, and Lucy just had to hope she was right. Leaning against the doorway with her shoulder, Lucy knocked on the door and idly stared at her nails; the underneath of which offered small, almost insignificant paint chips in a variety of colours.

When the door opened, she instinctively went to put her hands in her pockets. But the pockets of her jeans were way too tight to actually be useful.

Ah, shit.

"Told you I'd come back." Lucy said idly, keeping her gaze transfixed on her nails for a moment or so longer before she looked back up. "Did you actually go out?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy was so casual. Penelope couldn’t figure out how the girl did it. She followed the other’s gaze towards Lucy’s nails and held back a sigh. This girl was impossible. Penelope didn’t know what was worse, the fact that the Australian’s nails were a variety of different colors that seemed to have no pattern or scheme, or that the paint was chipped. She couldn’t stand Lucy.

Yet something, Penelope had no idea what, made her undeniably charming. It was possibly the most annoying thing on the face of the planet.

It was like Lucy knew that Penelope doubted if she’d show up, and she wasn’t sure how to respond, so she gave a nod and opened the door further as a means to invite the girl inside as she walked over towards the table. She felt the need to distance herself from the Australian at least a bit.

“Yes,” she explained shortly, “I usually go out and bring back food to cook for myself.” Penelope finally brought her gaze up towards Lucy, trying to read the other for a hint as to how this was going to go. The lines of were getting blurry between them. “I hope you like pasta.”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy waited for another moment or so before she actually pushed off the wall and stepped inside. She too had every intention of keeping her distance, though she wanted to do so in the least obvious way. In short, it felt like she was back at square one. Just like every other time.

No wonder this was exhausting. Because she was exhausting.

"Not big on the cafeteria?" She asked instead. Personally, she'd say she didn't mind it. It was better here than it was back home, anyway. "I do." Lucy offered, despitr how easy it would have been to quip that statement. Moving towards the kitchen, she had a quick look around and instantly noticed the clear lack of any mess. No surprise there.

She went so far as to hop up and sit on the empty space of the nearby counter. "Am I meant to ask how your day was? Cause I'm not good at questions that'll probably have boring answers." The Australian said honestly, running her fingers through her hair.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Exhausting was the perfect word to describe the situation at hand. Lucy had barely been there two minutes, and Penelope already felt as it had been hours. It was too much.

“I just like cooking.” There was nothing wrong with the cafeteria, really. Except, well, Penelope wasn’t positive where the food was coming from, how it was prepared, and how sanitary the people that were preparing it were. But that was beside the point.

Penelope crossed her arms the moment Lucy sat on the counter. This was how things were going to go, huh? “Get off of there.” She demanded, already starting to feel a headache coming on.

It didn’t bother her that Lucy wasn’t the type to ask what kind of day she had. Chitchat was pointless in Penelope’s opinion. “At least we can agree with that.” She pulled out a chair and sat herself down. “Do you even sit at a table while you eat, or just dive in wherever you are?” Penelope questioned, putting the napkin on her lap as she waited for the other to join her. Her dorm, her rules.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Fair enough." Lucy replied simply. Of course she sorted her own food out. She was the Hammel's OCD Queen.

A begrudging grunt came from Lucy's mouth as her lips twisted into a grimace. Ugh, it was going to be one of those sort of nights. She slowly slid back down to the floor again.

"Thank God." Lucy satirically praised, feeling her senses perk up slightly. At least Penny wasn't expecting some kind of falsities from the Australian.

Making her way over to the table, she pressed her hands to the back of the chair and dragged it out across the floor before taking a seat. "No, I don't sit at the table." She replied, instantly leaning back on the chair's hind legs. "Do you? When you're all on your own?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Of course Lucy didn’t sit at the table. “What, do you just eat out of a doggie bowl on the ground?” Penelope quipped, crossing her legs in her chair. She watched the other questionably as she slid off the counter, noting the grunt.

“Of course I sit at the table. It doesn’t matter if you’re alone or not.” Penelope replied, raising her eyebrows at the other. It was quite enjoyable to eat at a table, really. “And I sit in chairs the proper way, as well.” She added in.

She served up Lucy’s plate quickly, almost afraid to linger too close for too long, before loading up her own plate. “What would you like to drink?” She asked, motioning to the water and juice with her hand.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"There's not enough space on my floor, you know that." Lucy quipped back, feeling a grin tug at the corner of her mouth.

"That's really fucking sad, y'know." Sitting at a table all alone. Jesus, that was so like her.

And despite how she was fighting that amused grin, she couldn't stop it from forming at the chair comment; "I don't."

She almost lost her nerve when Penny leaned in closer to put the plate in front of her. Lucy opted to stare at the plate itself as opposed to the person offering it up. However, she had to look when she was posed with another question. "Neither." She motioned with a wave of her hand. Because neither were carbonated.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Alright, that was a good point. There hadn’t been enough room on Lucy’s floor before she had cleaned it, and Penelope only assumed that it was in a similar state already.

She glanced up at the other just as that obnoxious grin formed on Lucy’s face. She pursed her lips at it, eyes narrowing. Was it funny that she cared about these things? Well, she certainly didn’t think so.

“When you break your neck, don’t come crying to me.” Penelope said flatly. It was only a matter of time until it happened, or until someone found her so insufferable that they kicked it out from under her.

Penelope accepted the answer, assuming that Lucy’s body couldn’t handle any drink that didn’t contain large amounts of caffeine. She poured herself a glass of juice, and took a sip before picking up the proper utensils and started to neatly spin the spaghetti onto her fork and take a bite. She looked like an example that could be used in a Victorian finishing school.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"I couldn't, I'd be dead." Lucy retorted, though eventually she settled in her chair and let the back legs join the others. Fine. She supposed she could play nice for a bit.

Before Lucy even start eating, she happened to catch a glance at Penny. And the way she was meticulously going at her dinner. Tentatively, she picked up a fork and spun it around between her fingers. Nope, she wasn't going to say anything. Not about how she ate. Or how she sat while she ate. Or that look on her face.

"What're you doing?" Lucy blurted the question out, her eyes a little wide. She couldn't help herself. "I mean..." She tried to backtrack, but... "No, seriously. What're you doing? Why're you eating like-"

Putting the fork down, she took a quick breath. This was not worth commenting on.

No, it was. Because in the next second she was suppressing a laugh. "It's spaghetti, you douche. It's messy. You can't change that."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope looked up at the other with confusion at the sudden outburst. Instinctively, she gently set down her silverware and brought her napkin to her lips, dabbing them a bit before speaking. “What on Earth are you talking about?” She immediately questioned, honestly confused.

It wasn’t until Lucy called her out as a ‘douche’ that she caught the full question. “This is just how I eat.” She said, trying to keep her voice calm. There was no reason for Lucy to call her out on such things, especially when she was doing it the proper way.

“And it doesn’t have to be messy.” The edge in her voice was becoming more clear as she spoke. “Just because you eat like swine doesn’t mean everybody has to.”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Penny actually looked crazy. As much as Lucy knew she was particular and meticulous, she also knew that there was more to her than just this. The confusion on her features had settled in genuinely enough. As it stood, Lucy couldn't help her inherent need to question the girl.

This seemed to always happen. This was how she knew everything was wrong.

There was something virtually frustrating about the way she insulted the Australian. She tried for as long as she could to keep a lid on it.

It didn't last long.

"Hey!" Lucy interjected, firmly planting both hands on the table as she stood up. "You wanna have a go at me? Fine. At least be ballsy about it." She paused, feeling an overt sense of déjà vu. She didn't know why she bothered coming back here if this was how things were going to go. "Don't just say shit because you have a pole wedged so far up your ass you can feel it in your throat."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Well, that escalated quickly. Penelope’s eyes grew wide as the Australian suddenly stood, and Penelope soon followed suit, feeling a need to stand her ground.

The girl was completely absurd! Penelope crossed her arms and took a step back, continuing to keep more distance than necessary from the other. She felt irritation start to bubble inside her, and she couldn’t believe she thought that she could sit down and have a civil dinner with this girl.

“What does that even mean?” Penelope brought a hand to her temple, “I constantly have ‘a go at you’, regardless of how you see my manner in doing so!” She gritted her teeth – this was the same argument all over again. It always went like this. Lucy would never understand.

She felt herself at a loss of words towards Lucy’s final comment, “At least I don’t need to resort towards crude insults to get my point across!” She finally snapped, “Just keep them coming, someday you might actually spit out something intelligent!”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy kept her hands pressed firmly on the table, leaning forward; taking the offense against Penny's clear defensive stance.

"Yeah, you do." Lucy agreed sharply. "And it's bullshit." If she wanted to say something - and clearly, she did - tact wasn't necessary. Speaking under her breath wasn't either. At last now she was standing up for herself, though how well that would work was yet to be determined.

And there, it was almost ironic that she'd make a mark against Lucy's insults. Much less her intellectual standing.

"You wanna talk to me about intelligence?" Lucy reeled back slightly, twisting her lips into a bitter frown. "Learn a little more about who you're fucking talking to. I'm not the deadbeat dumbass charity case you're bloody well looking for!"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope continued to stand her ground, but kept her pose in a defensive manner. She felt more secure by doing so, especially as it looked like Lucy was about to leap over the table and attack her at any moment. But she had no intentions of backing down.

“And you should do the same.” Penelope replied coldly. Yes, Penelope was uptight, but she knew that there was more to her than just that – Lucy just didn’t see it. She was just as blind as Penelope was, if anything.

“Well, you play a very convincing act!” Penelope retorted, “If you’re not, then I’d certainly like to see you prove it!” She turned around, starting to pace slightly as she spoke – a habit she has had since she was a child. “And how dare you say that I’m looking for anything that might resemble you! That is the most absurd thing that I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth, and I promise you that that is saying something!”