Addison, confused at her friends shocked face, looked towards the door. Her jaw dropped too. It was a simple coincidence. Their mother and father would take them to this fun Mexican restaurant when they were younger. It grew into a family favorite where each member would go from time to time. Addison still couldn't believe her brother was here.
Quentin's eyes first met Penny's. What was she doing here? Then he looked at her partner, and came to a realization. His sister took Penny out for lunch. Penny didn't know many places in New York, so Addison took her to one of her favorite places.
Well, it was also one of his favorite places.
When his sister finally came to her senses, she hopped out of her chair to rush over to her brother. "Quinn! What a coincidence that you are here too!" Wait, shouldn't you be working right now? You know what, you are alone right now, so why don't you join Penny and I, hm?"
Quentin quickly moved his eyes away from his sisters tempting, deep blue eyes. He wanted to be alone, especially now. His closest thing to a girlfriend just broke up with him. He wanted to grovel and miss her friendship in peace. He puts his hands up, to protect himself from his sisters kind words and gestures, "I really shouldn't. You are having lunch with Penelope, I'll go somewhere else."
He pivots to walk out the door, but Addison reaches out her hand and grabs his wrist. By her grip on it, he could tell she was angry. More like furious.
He moves his head and body slightly to get a better look at her. She had a wide smile across her lips, but her eyes could shoot lasers, and maybe fire. Through a gritted smiles, she said, "You are going over to that table, to be with your wife. Then we are going to chat about this girl you have been seeing. Okay?"
Addison was very similar to their mom. Small, cute, fun, terrifying and deadly.
He reluctantly turns around and walks to the table. He grabs the attention of one of the waitresses, showing where he is going to sit and what he would like to eat.
Addison, meanwhile, hops back into the chair, "He is going to eat lunch with us."
Penny, who was looking down at her phone since the moment her friend got up, jerked back up to look at her friend. Her body that had just relaxed, clenched up again. The grip on her phone tightened, her breath became short, her stomach felt like it was trying to win gold in gymnastics at the Olympics, and a burning heat spread across her skin.
Is she blushing because I'm here? Quentin thought, putting his huge ego into practice. What he preceded as "blushing" or being just "nervous around a cute boy" was her anxiety taking over her body. She found him objectively attractive. It was a fact everyone in that family was model level beauty. However, she has seen parts of his soul that turns her off. She is still sacred around him. She is sacred that he will yell at her again. She is sacred that she left one disgusting man and feel into the hands of another.
She has already been broken. She still feels broken.
But there is that old saying "Everything can get worse."
Quentin slide into the seat next to his sister, thankfully for Penny. Addison was gushing with happiness, practically about to fall out of her seat.
Quentin, on the other hand, sat mostly still, except for the infamous bouncing knee. With his foot resting on a middle rung of the chair, his knee goes up and down faster than anyone can blink. Sometimes the chair would squeak and it would be the only thing keeping Penny in reality. She was basically frozen with only her basic senses working. She would see the colorful tile on the table. She could hear Addison talking, but was focused on the creaks in the chair. She could smell the various Mexican spices being used to cook there meal. She could feel her bottom in the chair and her hand clenched around her phone still. She could taste her boring chapstick every-time she brings the bottom lip to chew the skin off.
Quentin's sister was talking about there history at the restaurant, but he couldn't listen to her. It wasn't an ADHD thing, more like an annoying little sister thing. She was the type of person to tell her whole life story to some poor person in line at a coffee shop. He focus right now was on his "wife". He honestly knows nothing about her, except the basics. He doesn't know her favorite things, the topics she could rave and rant over, the people that bothered her in high school, her life mission and passions. He had a sudden urge to strike up a conversation with her and talk to her for hours.
He couldn't though. For some reason, he just couldn't. He likes to pretend that she is the one who deserves all of this and that this isn't his fault. He wants to believe he has such a large ego that he refuses to acknowledge his mistake and apologize. Unbeknownst to either spouse, they both had destructive thoughts that could sneak there way into actions.
Its not like she would forgive me for all the times I have yelled at her, for being absolutely controlling and demanding.
You're not worth having someone like that in your life.
You are going to end up annoying the shit out of her. She will leave just like every other woman in his life.
To him, it was easier for him if she views him in a bad light. To him, the image of ADHD is worse. He doesn't want to explain how he was having a major mood swing that caused increased irritation when they first meet. He doesn't want to show her that he was having trouble and was weak when they first met. He was embarrassed. So, he puts on a "brave" face that just hurts everyone around him. He doesn't want to get hurt himself.
"Hey, is anyone listening to me?" Addison cries out when she realizes that no one was paying attention.
The sudden outburst and change in tone surprised the couple.
"Sorry, Addie, but I know the story because I lived through it," He sighs, then shoves a chip with salsa in his mouth.
"Uh, I'm just gonna, uh, go to the bathroom," Penny gently slips out of the high-top chair and scurries away. She honestly didn't know where she is going and forgot to ask the people who actual know. Thankfully, a waitress noticed her confusion and asked if she could help.
In the bathroom, she quickly did her busy and washed her hands. She wasn't ready to go back. She placed her hands on the sink counter and took a good look at herself in the mirror.
You can do this. He is just a man, a man that isn't your father. He may have yelled at you, but you can still be a strong woman.
She splashed some water on her face and continued with her pep talk.
Outside the bathroom, Addison starts grilling her brother, "Were you seeing someone while you are married? How could you!"
Quentin looked at his sister, straight into her eyes, "We are not together. She started off as a Tinder date, but we got close over time. She just broke off things between us today because she is moving away."
Her eyes widened a little bit. It was a little disappointing because it sounded like he genuinely cared about this woman. Another question popped into her mind, "How did it become this serious? What if it turned into something even worse?"
"It wasn't like we were going to be married," He exclaimed to his sister. "It was barely anything, anyways. If anything, it has made me optimist."
"What is that suppose to me?" Thinking of the worse, she said, "Are you really going to start dating when you are married?"
At this point, Penny walked out of the bathroom. To finish up the conversation quickly, he whispered, "I am interested in getting to know Penny better."
This shocked Addison so much her jaw dropped, almost locked in place, and silenced her. She is frozen, just in thought of what this could mean.
Maybe he could finally become happy...
Penny slide back into the chair, a little more relaxed than when she left. She took a few seconds to look between her sister-in-law and husband. He looked rather emotionless, but not in a bad way. It was just like he didn't have anything to react upon. This felt usual. Addison, however, was unusual: she was quiet. Her previously dropped jaw quickly closed before Penny looked at her, but her eyes were still wide and an unknown expression covered her face.
Trying to ease the tension, Penny asked, "Did I miss something?"
Addison's eyes fell on her new friend. Not knowing what to do, she reaches for her drink and starts guzzling it down, so she didn't have to respond. How would she respond?
Seeing his sister still in shock, he takes the opportunity to answer, "Nothing really."
"Oh," Penny definitely feels like she is out of the loop. Instead of going into it, she stays quiet.
After a few awkward seconds of Addison stilling drinking her water, Penny looking at everything but her lunch guest, and Quentin trying to sneak looks at Penny, their food comes. The fun color plates are packed with amazing smelling and looking food. The waitress passes out each food and wonders if we need anything else. Not paying attention and drooling over her amazing food, she didn't hear Addison order alcoholic drinks for herself. She is just trying to cope with the current knowledge she had gained.
The table turned from an uncomfortable silences to a pleasant one as they each dig into the food. Penny couldn't help but pause during her first bite and enjoy the quesadilla. The meal was so simple...simply delicious. The people sitting across from her also had pleased looks on their faces. Everyone was fairly happy with there food.
Addison starts a conversation, "So, Quentin, I was telling Penny about my new job"
He was about to shovel some food into his mouth, but pauses to ask, "Really, where is it?"
"It's at an Off-Broadway theater. Actually not to far from you. They really love my creative designs. I start next week."
"Wait," Penny interjects. "Next week is Thanksgiving."
"Yeah," Quentin agrees. "I'm giving my workers the whole week off. How many days are you working?"
"Well, just three. Monday to Wednesday. I am really just meeting the team, start designing costumes, and buy basic items we might need. The shows cast is still not finalized, so we don't have any measurements yet. The cast is coming in after Thanksgiving and the show will open in the beginning of February."
"Interesting. Maybe we should buy mom some tickets for her birthday. What is the show about?"
"I'm not really sure. I think stripping."
Penny's food almost left her mouth. A musical about stripping? Penny didn't have anything against the occupation, but she was confused about how it would be translated to the stage without it actually being a strip show.
She was able to prevent the food from leaving her mouth, but then she swallowed funny and started coughing.
"Are you okay?" Quentin asked, much to her surprise. She was able to nodded back and take control over her coughing fit.
"Thank you," She said to her husband, quietly and not really looking at him. "I'm sorry about that. I am just surprised about musical about stripping? Is it, like, Magic Mike adapted into a musical?"
Addison laughed at her joke, "No! I don't think the main character is a strippers. All I know is that I get to design the stripper outfits."
"It sounds...cool," Quentin tried to be supportive.
"I'm really excited that I have a job in my field of study. Not everything is like a business degree." Quentin gave his sister a look while he chews his food. "Anyways, what is one of the most inappropriate shows you have been in Penny? There must be one."
"Uh," Quentin and Addison both turn to look at the girl in front of them. She wasn't ready for the conversation to turn on her. "Well it depends. I haven't been in Book of Mormon, but it is one of the most inappropriate shows I have listen too. Based on the shows I have been in, it might be a show called Avenue Q."
"I feel like I heard about it. What is is about?" Addison asked.
"It's like adult Sesame Street. We all had to learn how to use hand held puppets, it was certainly an interesting experience."
"What was your favorite show you were in?" Quentin asked. He wanted to get to know the girl better.
Penny was a little put off with Quentin's sudden interest in her. She didn't knew that he cared so much about this conversation. Still, she decided to answer his question, "I guess it would have to be Newsies. It was my first college performance. I had a very minor role as one of two show girls and a Newsie. Sometimes the smaller roles and being in ensemble is the best role. It honestly gave an a rush of adrenaline every time I had to change costumes."
"Fun!" Addison exclaims. She was thrilled that her brother was actual listening and interested in Penny's answer. A majority of the time he would space out or interrupt, but he was closely listening. "Do you miss your friends back home?"
"Yeah," Penny sighs. She looked sorrowful, but not devastated. "I had some friends from college and my old theater company, but we were never that close. I miss talking and hanging out with them all. But the friendships only felt like they were held together because of theater. We never talked between shows or anything. No one has reached out and neither have I."
"That sucks," Addison empathizes. "I honestly don't know what I would do without my friends from college."
Penny didn't want to tell the truth that she never felt comfortable around her friends, that she never trusted them fully. They always got those withdrawn vibes from her, not realizing that she was in so much pain back at home. Penny is still trying to convince herself that she deserves to be alone in life. She wants to bad to separate herself from this family, but their warmth and welcoming nature is hard to turn away. She feels selfish for using them.
"I only have one friend left from my childhood and I'm doing fine," Quentin says. It sounded like he was trying to make Penny feel better. He didn't mean for it, but he is a little happy that it came out that way.
"You're still counting him! He's our brother-in-law now!"
"Yeah, but he was still my friend first," Quentin is still a little irritated that his only friend dated his sister. However, now he was a part of the family and can never leave his side.
"Speaking of family," Penny was really being brave now, "what is yours planning for Thanksgiving?"
"Oh," Addison couldn't believe that she didn't tell her the usual tradition. "We go to our parents place in the suburbs and have dinner. Since we end up drunk most of the time, we sleep over and leave the next day."
"That sounds like fun," Penny said with a polite smile.
At this point, everyone was finished with there lunch, but deep into conversation.
"What did you do for Thanksgiving? It must be so hard around this time without your father," Addison says. She is trying to be sympathetic, but she doesn't know how much Penny doesn't miss her father.
"I'm doing okay," Penny trying to not make the death of her father a big deal. "We didn't actually celebrate the holidays after my mother left. Ms. Birdie would always cook my favorite meals and we would watch movies together. Most of the time my father wasn't actually home."
"Oh," Quentin responded. Her father sounded like an asshole. She is totally not a daddy's princess. He wanted to ram his head into the table over and over until he forgot all the awful things he said about Penny. It is clear that they did not have a strong relationship. He starts to feel awful for her and realize how privileged he was to grow up with his family.
"Well," trying to lighten the mood, Addison starts talking again, "This is going to be an amazing Thanksgiving for you. We are going to have so much fun."
Penny smiles at the invitation. She reaches for her friends hand, takes it into hers, looks into baby blue eyes, and from the bottom of her heart, says, "Thank you."
While having a cute friend moment, Quentin took the opportunity to pay for their meal. After all, he was the only one that had a stable job. A very, very stable job.
He walks back to the table, shoving the recite into his pocket. He said, "I paid for the meal."
"Thanks, bro! Our parents raised a true gentleman," Addison teases. "Well, I better get back to my apartment. I want to start looking at some ideas for costuming. I am way to excited to this."
In response, Penny hops down from her chair as well, "Well, thank you for going out to lunch with me. I hope we can do this more often."
Addison reaches out for a hug, quickly latching onto the girl. Unlike other times, Penny actually hugs back. Quentin stands a few feet away. He could have left, but he wants to make sure everyone on there way safely.
Maybe Penny will need a ride home.
Without really knowing why, he really hoped she needs a ride home.
Quentin was really good today. His ADHD was fairly calm, even after hearing the bad news involving his friend. He was mostly in control of his actions, until this moment, "Penny, I can drive you back to the penthouse. I am going there too."
He called me Penny, she thought. He has never called her Penny. Usually it was Penelope, or not even addressed by her name.
"That is such a great idea!" Addison exclaimed. Penny didn't really hear or process the request yet. Nevertheless, Addison wrapped her arm around Penny's and dragged her away.
She didn't process the fact she might be driving home with Quentin until Addison walked away, but he still stood there, beside her.