It’s around 11 o’clock at night when Josie Saltzman decides that she’s not going to bother trying to sleep anymore. Despite the looming doom of the test she needs to take tomorrow morning, she simply can’t fall asleep so gives up trying.
She sits up in her bed and looks to the other bed a few feet away where her sister, Lizzie, is sleeping. Josie hopes that her twin is deep enough in her dreams to allow her to escape her room peacefully because she’s planning on visiting the room of a certain dark-haired girl.
Penelope Park. They’d become a couple when a few months ago she’d boldly asked her if she wanted to go on a date. Josie, who was (quite obviously, if it had gotten Penelope to ask her out) attracted to her, had said yes, which lead up to her now, walking through the halls of the dorms in the Salvatore School in a set of loosely-fitted pajamas and slippers.
She walks up to the door of Penelope’s dorm and knocks hesitantly, not sure if her girlfriend had fallen asleep yet. The sound of shuffling footsteps is heard and a disgruntled Penelope answers the door, a lazy smile plastered on her face as soon as she sees Josie.
“Hey, is it fine if I stay in your room for a bit? I can’t sleep,” Josie says quickly.
“Miss me so much you can’t sleep?” Penelope replies with a cheeky grin. Somehow, even when she’s tired, she’s able to come up with quick one-liners that never fail to make Josie flustered. She playfully shoves her arm and enters her room.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing, I was just bored out of my mind and couldn’t sleep so I came here.”
“Aw, so you did miss me.” Josie giggles. She belly flops onto Penelope’s bed and lays there for a bit and then flips over and lets out a long sigh.
“Do you have any, like, I don’t know, any board games?” The corners of Penelope’s mouth raise into an amused smile.
“Board games?” Josie shrugs. Penelope walks over to her desk and looks up and down at the shelf on the wall above it. Josie watches as she looks between and under books until she finds a dusty deck of cards and holds it out to show Josie.
“Do you know any games we can play with cards?”
“I know a few but not how to play them.” Penelope shrugs, puts the cards back on her shelf, and sits down in the chair by the desk.
“Dr. Saltzman isn’t gonna yell at me or anything if he finds out that I’m letting you stay in my room at late hours, right? Especially on a school night?” Penelope asks playfully.
“Nope, he and Hope are out doing… honestly, I don’t even know. They go out together on missions all the time, I haven’t bothered keeping up with what exactly those missions are for.” The shorter girl mouths an “oh.”
“God, sometimes I hate how he’s always out with Hope instead of his own daughters. He’s our dad, and I know he cares about Hope too, but I just wish he’d spend time with us all equally,” Josie begins to vent. “I know that sounds kind of selfish, but it’s just a bit annoying to me. And it’s not like we can talk to our mom because she’s always in Europe.”
“Josie, that’s not selfish at all. You’re allowed to want your dad to actually be a proper parental figure to you. It’s okay.”
“I guess. I don’t know, whatever.”
Penelope gets up and lies down next to her, or half of her does, because it really isn’t that easy to fit both of them on the bed. They lie there in silence for a while, basking in each other’s existence. There’s something comforting to Josie about cuddling with her but not saying anything. Maybe it’s because she knows that Penelope isn’t saying anything because she knows Josie doesn’t want to converse much after her rant, or maybe it’s just the simplicity of being next to her girlfriend.
She really doesn’t know, but she does know that this feels perfect. Like they were meant to be.
Roughly 5 minutes pass and Josie sits up. Clearly startled (maybe because she’d already fallen asleep), Penelope blinks once, twice.
“You okay?” she asks quietly. Josie looks at her and her eyes trace over her features.
“Yeah, just… I love you.” They stare at each other, or rather, Josie stares at Penelope, waiting nervously for her to say it back. She hadn’t exactly expected to say the L-word to her when she first had the idea to come here, but it just felt right. It looks like it takes her words a few seconds to properly register in Penelope’s head because all of a sudden she’s beaming.
“I love myself too.” Josie smiles but then does a double-take on her sentence.
“Pen-”
“I’m just kidding. I love you too, Josie.” She smiles again but it remains on her face this time. It’s all so right that it almost feels too good to be true, and the thought of something ruining their relationship or something bad happening to Penelope fills her mind. It unsettles her, so she turns to Penelope to ask her one more thing, just for reassurance.
“Can you promise not to leave me?” Gentle eyes look back at her, and all of a sudden she feels lips pressed to her forehead.
“Of course, Jojo, I promise,” Penelope replies softly. The breath of her words is felt on her forehead where a kiss was just planted.
With that, Josie is satisfied, so she lies back down and drifts off into peaceful sleep in her lover’s arms.