You Left Your Mark on Me (Penny)

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Hours after Save Me From Myself

Lucy was okay. She'd had panic attacks before, though she couldn't readily remember the last time it'd happened. It had been an incredibly exhausting, exasperating day. Lucy was no closer to understanding what happened with the blue haired thief who barraged her with confessions, complaints and false accusations. She felt a little less stressed once she'd gotten rid of everything given to her and every overall trace of the girl from her room. The drawing from the wall was gone. They were all gone. And as annoying as it was to have to, the eldest Serrano had gone out and actually bought a new blanket. Cover. Sheets. All new. This time in grey.

But when she was back in her dorm trying to make decent work of actually making the bed, her mind was still racing. She couldn't forget the way the altercation felt. Being questioned about Penny - among other topics - only made the Australian want to press her for information. How the hell did she find Evony, and why the hell did she talk to her about Lucy? Did she think she in some way belonged to the ink manipulator? Or was Lucy as clear about all that as she always intended to be.

And why, of all things, couldn't she explain who Penny was when asked.

True to form, Lucy had a game plan for how to get the answers she needed. Being direct. Asking point blank. The usual, generally effective tactics.

Bypassing the common room door, Lucy arrived at Penny's room and knocked first. She was ready. She could totally nail this conversation, and the eventual argument that was sure to follow. She was still primarily wearing the same thing she had been earlier that day, save for the shift from the cardigan Evony had touched to a leather jacket. At least she wasn't wearing skinny jeans - she knew how the Brit hated those.

But when Penny opened the door, Lucy faltered.

Her neutral expression shifted into an involuntary smile, and she inhaled a sharp breath.

Damn.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny was surprisingly well – she had spent a good portion of her day with Michael, meeting her quota of at least going out for a meal with him once a month. The younger Blaise was never one to talk about her personal life issues, but with Michael it was different, which mainly had to do with the fact that a couple weeks before she had shown up at his door in tears.

So of course he pressed her for information. Not just anybody could get such a response out of Penelope, and Michael felt a need to know who it was. Penny had managed to avoid it throughout her short stay with him, but that day he hadn’t let it slide.

And for the first time, she spoke about her…situation with Lucy Serrano.

Of course, the Brit had failed to mention a variety of factors, as she always did. She didn’t bring up Evony, or even why she had gone to Michael that day. She tactfully avoided using any words that might suggest that the two were in some sort of relationship. Because they weren’t in one.

The eldest Blaise was ecstatic, as he normally got too happy too quickly. He wanted to meet Lucy, but Penny managed to deter the conversation from any possible meetings. That was something for a different day. But he was happy for her.

So she headed back to her dorm, glancing briefly at the door leading to the co-ed dorms. Her natural response was to go see Lucy, but the Brit had an armful of new clothes to put away first. Michael loved shopping.

She had just finished putting everything away when she heard a familiar knock at the door. The Brit couldn’t stop a quick smile from taking over her lips, eyes lighting up at the sound of the knocking.

Penny reached for the door, running a hand through her hair quickly before opening it. She missed the shift from Lucy’s former expression, only seeing that smile, it caused her own to grow. Without a second thought, she stepped forward, sliding her hands behind Lucy’s neck and giving her a light, but significant kiss.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy would be grateful to learn that Penny missed the initial look on her face. Why was it that she could control her expressions around everyone else in her life? She wasn’t sure she was ready for the emotional discourse this girl took her through, but at the same time, Lucy knew she needed to be around her. She wanted to feel ecstatic.

She knew there was no way to change the fact that the last person who kissed her wasn’t this person, and that fact seemed to sit unevenly with her. Was she supposed to tell her that? It wasn’t as if she could change what happened now. Lucy fell into the motions with ease, revelling in the light connotations of the kiss and moving to follow her when she did pull away. She could never quite catch her, but her body always tried.

“Hey.” Lucy exhaled, her shoulders falling slightly with the act. The singular word. She took the necessary steps into the room, glancing over her shoulder to catch the door knob and close it behind her. “Can we talk?” Lucy asked, turning back to face her again. She instantly ran her fingers across her own jaw, searching for the invisible itch that always seemed to plague her when things got tense. “For a sec?”

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

The way Lucy inhaled sharply along with that smile always drew Penny in. It was a reminder that even when they were arguing or in the school, that Lucy was still excited to see her. She felt her heart race at the fact, and she couldn't stop herself from kissing the Australian. There wasn't anyone in the common area anyway.

A smile threatened to tug at her lips as she felt Lucy try to chase her, and Penny turned slightly to walk back inside her dorm, assuming Lucy would follow. And she did.

She sat herself at her desk chair, although it was clear that the desk itself was barely being used. The little that had been on it had been moved, the items conveniently placed elsewhere throughout the Brit's room. Penny turned the chair to face Lucy, but it didn't take long for her to stand back up again, concern flooding her features. As she looked at the Australian, her eyebrows furrowed together with a mixture of emotions.

“What's wrong?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As distracted as Lucy was by Penny, she couldn’t help but notice the contents of her desk had shifted around. That was weird. In the time she’d been around this room, they barely ever got moved. Some shit about everything having its place and all that? Lucy noted the things that were missing, glancing around to see where they might have ended up. Her gaze travelled up, anyway.

Her eyebrows furrowed. She’d almost forgotten about the whitewash.

When she looked back at Penny, she realised how strange it felt to see her look so concerned. She knew then it was a perfect time to ask her about everything. About why she felt the need to tell someone she didn’t know about something between them.

Breaching the distance, Lucy stood before Penny and rested her hands on her shoulders, easing her back into the seat. It wasn’t worth standing up for. But it was difficult not to pull her in instead of push her down.

“What the fuck happened to your desk?” She asked instead, glancing back at its contents. She even made the move to lean against it with her hip, her arms folded before her chest.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny studied Lucy’s face in an attempt to see some sort of sign as to what was happening. Just the words ‘can we talk?’ were strange to hear. They didn’t talk, so her immediate reaction was to assume that something was wrong.

The Brit immediately followed Lucy’s eyes up, a frown tugging at her lips. Every ounce of her wished that she hadn’t done so. She couldn’t look at the sterile surface for too long, and dropped her gaze back down to Lucy. Her frown grew at the furrowed eyebrows – it was worse than her white ceiling.

The Brit automatically extended her arms as Lucy eased her back into the chair, wrapping her hands lightly around the Australian’s thigh as a means to pull her in.

She hadn’t been expecting the question, and Penny raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to look at the empty desk. She tried her best to will away the heat that was slowly starting to rise in her cheeks, but to little avail.

Penny’s eyes dropped down, trailing along the figure of Lucy’s body until stopping at the point where her hips met the desk. She pursed her lips in a mixture of thought and mild frustration. Of course Lucy would notice.

“I haven’t been using it.” She stated, trying to sound as casual as possible, even as the memory of that desk flooded her mind. The psychometrist sucked in a breath, “There’s no point in having anything on it if I’m not using it.”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy exhaled a heavy breath when she felt familiar hands curling around her thigh, requesting that she inch closer. Now really wasn’t the time to get so caught up in her she couldn’t think, but the ink manipulator couldn’t help herself. Maybe she should have opted for jeans, because skin to skin contact was just ridiculously distracting.

The shade of red that coloured her cheeks wasn’t lost on Lucy. But she didn’t say anything about it.

“Well that’s pretty fucking obvious.” Lucy replied, tilting her head towards it and rolling her shoulders in a small shrug. “What’s wrong wi-?”

Really, she should have been able to guess sooner. She’d inched herself away from her own desk only a few hours prior for the very same reason. The way memories intertwined with objects – it was still a lot to try and get her head around. But she was overly conscious of it in her own space. The light of recognition was clear in her eyes when she looked back down to her.

“I’m not sorry.” Lucy replied definitively, her lips curling into an amused grin at the fact. She even laughed a little before she made a point of glancing around the room again. The desk, yeah. The bookshelf. The door. The bed. Curiosity coloured her eyes; “How the fuck do you do anything in here?”

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Although Penny was concerned about this talk, the Brit couldn’t help but to touch Lucy, especially in a situation where she wasn’t wearing jeans. Her nails idly running up and down the Australian’s thighs.

The Brit pursed her lips from both of an annoyance with Lucy’s choice of words and the fact that she felt the need to ask.

Yet, when it did dawn on the Australian, Penelope had wished it hadn’t. Penny gave Lucy the most unasmused expression she could muster at the moment, but her expression involuntarily softened as soon as Lucy stated she wasn’t sorry, because Penny wasn’t, either.

Penny couldn’t help but to let out a light laugh at the question. How did she do anything? She followed Lucy’s gaze around the room. “Some days aren’t that bad.” Depending on her focus, there were times when she could easily block out any memories, “Other days…” she trailed off, eyes falling back on the desk.

She refused to inform Lucy of the time she ended up sleeping on the floor simply so she could get some rest.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As much as part of Lucy wanted to pull away from the contact, she didn’t. She didn’t feel like she could. It was just dangerous – it always was. If she was going to make any sense, she had to try and keep herself grounded. She drew in a slow breath.

The unamused expression hadn’t really been lost on her. If anything, it added to how funny the Australian thought her predicament was.

“Other days…” Lucy repeated, raising her eyebrows in a questioning manner. She really wanted to push her to continue that thought, but the ink manipulator eventually settled on a less subtle approach. “Don’t need a bloody power like yours to think about you.”

But after a certain point, she couldn’t help herself. This wasn’t a conversation she could so easily turn. Pressing a hand to the desk, Lucy found herself leaning inward towards her, drawing herself a little closer to eye level – a little closer in general. “You should just come stay with me.” She added, though she was well aware that some surfaces in her room weren’t unbound either, so she made the move to press on.

“I got new sheets and everything.” Lucy pointed out, as nonchalantly as she could. Her other blankets were nothing but detrimental objects now anyway.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

There was no way Penny was going to finish her sentence. She knew she said enough to get the point across. She shifted in her chair, heat rising to her cheeks at Lucy’s statement. She bit into her lip unconsciously, “I never said it was always because of my psychometry.” She stated sternly, honestly. She hadn't missed Lucy's change in breathing, and a smile tugged at the psychometrist's lips.

…It just didn’t help the situation.

Penny watched Lucy carefully, trying not to waver as the Australian leaned in closer to her. “Your room isn’t much better.” Penny said, her voice coming out lower than she had anticipated. “You know that.” Although the invite was enticing.

Honestly, she had avoided Lucy’s room since her talk with Evony. The Brit couldn’t help it; she didn’t want to accidently pry on memories that weren’t hers.

She raised her eyebrows at the comment of new sheets, it had brought her out of the daze she was put in from Lucy's sudden closeness. “Why? Finally taking my advice?” she asked. She recalled informing the Australian that two sets of sheet was inadequate for living, but she couldn’t stop her mind from wondering if she had done it because of what happened when Penny last touched them.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Unconsciously or not, Penny was well aware by now what biting into her lip like that did to the ink manipulator. Her gaze quickly flicked towards her mouth, appearing in something of her own daze before she realised. How easy it would have been to just lose herself entirely in that notion alone.

"I never forget." Lucy asked, trying to avoid the desire to reach out towards her. How long had it been, anyway?

Of course that was why she'd done it. Ro avoid more relapses. Why else would she bother? Her eyebrows twitched together involuntarily before she realised - an unconscious reaction to something frustrating. "If it's for you would that make you come over?" She asked in return, shrugging her shoulders. "Don't think I haven't fucking noticed that you've been gone."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny hadn’t missed the turn in conversation – why Lucy was really there. To talk. Her fingers stopped tracing along the Australian’s thigh, but remained rested there. Her lips pursed as the was blatantly called out; it wasn’t like it was hard to miss, after all. It still felt like a physical slap to the face to have it pointed out, even if it wasn’t the Australian’s intentions.

“I’m sorry.” She said the words too often, but it didn’t mean she was any less sorry than she was at the moment. “I—“ she took in a slow breath, “It wasn’t because I didn’t want to see you.”

Her lips twitched, threatening to give away the smile that wanted to appear after hearing that Lucy wanted her to come over. She missed being in Lucy’s room, if anything. “I didn’t want to—“ she cut herself off, feeling as if her words weren’t coming out correctly. “I didn’t mean to.”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy briefly tensed her jaw when Penny's hands stopped moving. At least she didn't pull away.

She raised her eyebrows instinctively when she heard Penny's apology. It was a rare to hear. It was even rarer to let her follow through with such a thing; Lucy had a penchant for trying to halt her apologies and force her to take them back. This time, she didn't. She felt it was warranted.

Until it wasn't. She had to remember why she was there.

"I don't understand." Lucy said flatly. How could she? The psychometrist was stumbling over her words worse than she had before. She felt the need to continue overtake her senses, and as much as she wanted to shift back and revert, she couldn't; "Figured it had something to do with you telling people about... This." Lucy offered a small wave of her hand between them. And quickly, she found herself staring down at her. Scrutinising her. Watching for how she'd react to what she probably shouldn't have said.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

This time, Penny was thankful that the Australian let her actually apologize instead of making her take it back. It reminded the Brit of how serious the situation was – how she shouldn't have seen anything. It wasn't her business. She had no right to ask for answers, either. She wasn't Lucy's girlfriend.

Her lips pursed at the response. Penelope wasn't sure how else to put it, even if she was stumbling over her words. She opened her mouth to speak again, pausing only to try and figure out how to best put it, but it was enough time for Lucy to speak again.

Confusion suddenly colored the psychometrist's features. Her eyebrows knit together and she closed her mouth, pressing it into a line as she tried to process just what Lucy meant. Penny's gaze remained fixed on the ink manipulator's, not bothering to look down at the motion Lucy was making. It wasn't hard to figure out; what was confusing was why. “What are you talking about?”

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It was hard for Lucy to even try to be casual about her own question. Nonchalant. As much as she tried to make it sound normal, her own frustration always seeped through. She was asking with purpose. As always.

So when Penny looked confused, Lucy speculated as to why. Was it that she didn't understand what was asked, or that she didn't understand how Lucy knew what had happened? Those captivating lips pressed into a hardened line; Lucy glanced down to it for a mere moment. Because in her eyes she could see the proverbial wheels turning.

"A couple of hours ago I had a visitor drop by." Lucy started, running a hand through her dark locks before folding her arms before her chest, "She asked me about you."

Clenching her jaw briefly, Lucy tried and failed to hide the obvious tension in her features. "About who the fuck you were and how the fuck you knew so much about my fucking sleeping habits."