LIKE NOUGHTS AND CROSSES &/

[PENNY ADRIANA EAVES]

this was not how she really planned it in her head. fuck, she hadn't planned it anyway. this wasn't supposed to happen. maybe.. they could've met at the movie premiere. oh god, at least she would have been all dressed up. but right then and there she was soaked to the bone, and god, how she hated being in wet clothes. how she hated the rain in general. and now she was irritable. great. great way to meet padraic. and why was she so nervous anyways? he didn't even know her.. first impressions, she thought to herself, first impressions. she needed to swallow back any spite she had collected running through the bad day. and she was dripping wet as she dragged into the building, trying to squeeze out all the excess water from her clothes. well, wet could be sexy, right? and she was wearing her little sun dress and leather jacket. maybe if she wore white. maybe if she brought a goddamn umbrella, been prepared for once in her life. but of course that didn't happen. like most things in her life, her day was messy, unplanned, and completely unpredictable. and all she could really think about right then was how uncomfortable wet leather was as she peeled the jacket off her skin.

and as she slowly began at the steps, she realized how creepy it was that she knew where he lived. she knew what he did. she knew his favorite places to eat for fuck's sake. she felt like a stalker. not a good one. she's never even seen how he looks like. and yes, yes she's tried. she's tried to catch a glimpse of him every time she knew he was going to be meeting george, she creeped at his favorite places hoping he'd call her and just knew she could pick him out of a crowd. she knew it in her gut. but she knew his voice, she knew his voice so well. and he sounded like he had brown hair, he sounded like he had kind eyes. but there was a part of her that was the cynic in the situation, and right now, that part of her was getting louder and louder with each step she took. so she stopped. she stopped afraid of what would happen when that door opens, when she finally sees him. fuck, what if he sees her and he doesn't like her.. then again, she was way too confident to doubt his being impressed by her looks. she was pretty. although she was wet, and tired, and under-pampered. and under-paid. why was she an intern again? honestly honestly, she was just about to quit her job until she met padraic.. i use met loosely. she couldn't really let go of this little fantasy that thrived on the twos hour long phone calls to each other.. which usually happened every other hour if not less.

but she had to suck it up. she was already there. three doors away. slow and steady. why was she acting so crazy? she wasn't the nervous type, not around guys. well, she didn't used to be. she was a lot of things once upon a time, things she was trying not to be right now. but it wasn't gonna cost her a guy. a guy that she was pretty sure she was in love with just by the way he spoke to her. this was so. stupid. and she would go home tonight and probably cry a little over some shattered dreams. it was like meeting a celebrity and finding out they're complete douche packers. admiring from afar seemed so much more fun, so much more appealing. but she knocked the door and held her breath. it was like losing her virginity all over again. fuck, she wondered if he was even half as nervous as her. "padraic, its me. penny. i'm so fucking wet... fuck, okay i didn't mean it like that. from the rainnn, open up?" penny, penny, penny. had a habit of always saying things that came out the wrong way.

ooc short. they'll get better akfdsaasaskas. <3
tag padraiic bby.

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[PADRAIC OLIVER MCCARTHY]

padraic had pictured these conditions only a million times. or rather, not the conditions. the situation. meeting penny, finally. he already felt like he knew her, really. he'd heard her voice. they talked a lot...even considering the fact that she was supposed to be checking up on him for george, or something. but they didn't even talk about work half of the time, unless he was complaining about his lack of muse, or the fact that he was just kind of failing in general at this exact moment. somehow he had a feeling that she was going to be his muse, as completely lame and offputting as that may have been. the few times he came up with anything suitable it was after a conversation with her...and now there was this. he'd told her to come over. she wasn't taking him by surprise...he had time to probably clean up his slightly messy house, or brush his hair, or change out of his pajamas. consisting of a slightly beat up white t-shirt and a pair of checkered pajama bottoms. fine, he threw on the bottoms because no matter how long they talked on the phone, a first meeting with him in his boxers probably wasn't a good idea.

but he spent the entire time until he heard her voice outside of his door freaking out. he was like a twelve year old meeting fergie, or something. he knew he wasn't going to be let down...he loved this girl. he didn't even know her. well he did. he felt like he did. he hadn't seen her face...but it had gotten to the point where she could be the most masculine looking female and he'd still at least want to continue their little phone calls. actually come to think of it her name kind of sounded like a male stripper name...penny...oh god, now he was thinking about this, of all things. she was going to be here at any minute. his aparmtent was a wreck but he wasn't even thinking about that, the fact that earlier he'd spilled a glass of milk on the kitchen floor and there it still sat. a little white puddle, glass next to it. because after spilling it he'd gotten some strange idea for his music...the idea had turned out to be a flop, but oh well. there were pizza boxes piled up...he was a messy person in general, but it wasn't that bad. just the day before he'd cleaned up a bit. so the mess, while it was pretty bad, was fresh at least. just as he was about to maybe throw the pizza boxes away, though, he heard a voice. one he knew only too well...one he'd heard a lot. and now he was finally going to see the face that went along with it. his heart felt rabid in his chest as he quickly forgot about the pizza boxes and the spilt milk and walked over the door, his hands shaking.

for a moment he jus stood there, unable to even laugh at her little comment about being wet. and then he opened the door, pretty sure she was going to be annoyed that he'd taken a few minutes to try and calm himself down. for a moment he just looked at her feet, not allowing himself to look up. more like preparing himself to look up, to finally see. and then he let his eyes wander up...she was wet, that much was obvious, she was kind of a mess. she looked annoyed to some degree. but there was no denying her beauty...and he was pretty sure she wasn't a man, which was a plus. the silence was deafening, but not awkward...and he was pretty sure he was going to have to be the one to break it. and so he broke out a slight smile on his face and opened the door wider so she could walk in. "you're wet? well i can't say no to that offer." he said, jokingly...this was just like one of their phone conversations, only he could actually see her. he wasn't really sure what to say...he was feeling a swarm of emotions. and his social awkwardness in general was making it hard for him to think of anything clever or charming to say. so instead he just decided to be sincere as he closed the door behind her. "it's nice to finally meet you."

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( finished) & 736 words & (tagged for penny)

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[PENNY ADRIANA EAVES]

her eyes widened as the door opened finally. although the time it had taken him to open the door had scared her a bit, it gave her a chance to properly brace herself. brace herself for finally seeing his face, and oh what a face. and she had gotten it right, and for once her expectations weren't met.. but exceeded. he had kind eyes. and an adorable smile. not bad, not bad at all actually. "hi," she managed, a silly smile crawling onto her lips before she could have a say about it. it only took her a few moments to realize, well, this wasn't so scary after all. "hi," she repeated, a little more comfortably then, "nice to finally meet you too." it was nice. it was weird, it was completely surreal. but it was.. nice. nervously ran her hand through her wet hair, as she stepped into the mess of an apartment that he had. ha, she could spot the little places where he tried to clean up real quick. well, she would be very literate in that seeing as she was messy as hell. well, they had that in common at least. wait, why was she acting like it was a good thing?

and despite it not being as bad as she had been assuming five minutes ago, her heart was still racing, and she found it hard to look him in the eyes again."so this is a bit weird, isn't it? i mean, finally in the flesh," she laughed a bit turning to him, still strictly avoiding his eyes, "not as weird as i expected it to be honestly, but i'm probably just make it more weird by talking. thats not one of my strongest points, i tend to ramble. and go off topic. which sometimes is better, at least when the topic is a bit dull or awkward," she didn't even catch herself as the words seemed to fall out of her mouth into a pile on the ground as she set her bag on the first empty space she could see on the counter. "i hate rain, rainy days. as poetic as it should be to like love rain, i hate it. i'm soaked," she whined in that little voice of hers looking down at her drenched dress, then back up at padraic. "i'm so glad you're not a creepy fat dude, you don't even understand.. not that i'm shallow.." she broke into a small dry laugh, well, after he had been on the phone with her for practically days on end he would know that she kind of was. just a little. just enough to make it so that everything should be aesthetically appealing.

and she really didn't know what to do as she stood there in front of him, fighting back the urge to just jump him was hard enough. it was just eating away at her. god. why did she think she would have the composure to handle this on her own? why couldn't she bring herself to looking him in the eye? oh god, she would kill to have george between them. as much of a dick that their boss was half the time, at least he made it less awkward. at least he would tell penny to shut the fuck up every now and then, which penny was well aware padraic was way too sweet too. or maybe he liked listening to her ramble. she wasn't about to bet on it, despite the fact that she liked listening to him talk. for hours. about nothing and everything alike. and she cringed as she realized how horrible she probably looked, but the smile came back to her as she gave him the quick up-down and realized he was in his pjs. oh at least he felt a bit more comfortable around her. and he was dry. "i kind of hate you for being dry.." she gave him a playful look, and you could just tell that her eyes were up to something, "i think you need a hug, actually," the words seem to be stealing out of her mouth. she wasn't this confident. no, not about padraic, but if she knew anything, it was to not make something more awkward by randomly cutting off into this silent little fit. she could get rid of the silence, she was good at that, you know how much this girl talks? no? well. a lot. i mean, a lot.

ooc short. they'll get better akfdsaasaskas. <3
tag padraiic bby.

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[PADRAIC OLIVER MCCARTHY]

when it came down to it penny pretty much acted exactly like she did on the phone in person...which was good, it reassured him that none if it was...fake or something. she'd always been incredibly rambly on the p hone - just like she was now. not that he was really complaining. he wasn't really into the girls who just sat there...and it wasn't like she was just sitting there talking about herself, either. brownie points for that one. there was nothing worse than a vain girl who had nothing better to do than ramble on about her latest manicure or something along those lines. plus he could kind of understand why she wasn’t shutting up...she was probably nervous. he was nervous. he wasn’t really doing such a good job of hiding it, either, with the slightly goofy smile on his face, and the way he was kind of just standing there with his arms awkwardly down at his sides, as though he didn’t know what he was really supposed to be doing with them. a hand shake? a hug? both felt wrong in different ways. and yes, he probably should have done something more than what he was doing...but...well he had no excuse other than the fact that he was nervous. and she was beautiful...and padraic was always kind of awkward around good looking girls. especially ones that he was pretty sure he loved - even more sure now that he saw her, and saw that she wasn’t some old woman or something along those lines.

and then the ramble started...he couldn’t help but just let out a light laugh. as usual he kind of had no clue what the hell she was talking about, he tended to get distracted when she was rambling...even when they were just on the phone and he didn’t really have all...this to be distracted by. all his thoughts flurrying through his head, or trying to sink in her looks...to think about if her voice matched the way she looked. he was unsure if it really did, but he liked both of the features well enough. the only part he really caught was the last part, about her being glad that he wasn’t some old fat man or something. which made him actually let out an actual laugh and look at her face. really look at it. as he spoke. why did it feel like he’d known her for years rather than just meeting her? “i actually had the same fear about you, to be honest...i was thinking you might be a transvestite or something. or an old woman stalking me. but you’re obviously not...which is good.” now he was rambling...slightly. not even half as bad as she had been. but he was smiling goofily enough that he’d probably just as embarrassed about this little first meeting the second she left...it definitely wasn’t the most graceful of meetings. but it was better than hed’ imagined, kind of. padraic had a tendency to imagine the worst possible situations. like meeting her and realizing they had nothing in common, or realizing he didn’t really like her that much...or that she was an old lady. or fine, that she really just wasn’t that good looking. though the last one didn’t quite matter so much. especially now that he knew she was ridiculously good looking.

and then he realized that she must have been uncomfortable in her wet state. like the usual guy, not very observant or thoughtful until forced to be. so he actually didn’t realize until she came out and said she kind of hated him for being dry. he couldn’t help but smile rather sheepishly and shrug his shoulders (fuck, was he smiling too much?), at least until he heard the part about a hug. which would usually be great...and he probably would have wrapped her up in a tight hug at that second, out of mere impulse...but she was wet. and as much as he liked penny, he’d rather not get soaked. maybe. or maybe he wouldn’t mind that much. “hey! don’t hate on me just because i’m smart enough to stay in my apartment on days like this.” he replied teasingly, taking a step away from her. “the last thing i need is you getting your wetness all over me.” actually that didn’t sound so bad. and with that he smiled, a bit less awkwardly and more comfortably than he had previously. things were starting to feel...less like a first date, really. “I mean, unless you really think you need to hug me that badly...then i guess i wouldn’t mind getting wet. if it’s for a good cause.”

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( finished) & 796 words & (tagged for penny)

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[PENNY ADRIANA EAVES]

she liked his smile, and the consistency of it especially. 'cos despite her not being able to face his eyes, she could look at his lips. he had such nice lips. and perfect teeth. and she couldn't believe how good he looked even in his pjs. again, with all her will power fighting against the urge to just jump him already. no. she wasn't going to. that was stupid. she would ruin it -- she would ruin everything that they had built. it was like that stupid game where you put the wooden bricks on top of each other and waited for it to fall apart. she wasn't ready to put the next brick on. not yet. not before she had a chance to slap on some cement. she had wasted too many hours on the phone talking about what she was thinking, and what he was thinking, and what they were thinking they should be thinking. you get the deal, don't you? they had built something, something special. something that didn't happen every other day all over the world. this wasn't romeo and juliet, hamlet and ophelia, no tarzan and jane. it was padraic and penny. she cringed, penny. what she would give to make it padraic and viola.

penny or should i say viola couldn't help but mirror his smile. she didn't want to smile that much, she never smiled this much, but it was that fuzzy bubbling feeling inside her that made her do it. it wasn't her fault. and as he managed to reply to her ramblings, that fuzzy feeling seemed to tickle her insides. "i ramble so much better than you," she raised a brow, of course she always twisted little things into competitive games, "but you're a worst case scenario guy aren't you? a transvestite? really?" she didn't really sound too insulted, she was actually amused. and fuck, she was glad the conversation going on, because had he let the silence taken over after her ramble, well, she'd probably make up an excuse and rush out of the apartment without even waiting for a reply from him. 'cos penny didn't risk it anymore, she wasn't gonna make a fool out of herself in front of the guy she'd be working with for the next.. what? year? two? whenever the fucking movie finished. and lets be realistic, it has been months and they haven't even finished half the background music for it. this was definitely gonna take a while, or take someone meaning padraic getting fired.

it should be more awkward, it really should be. she was glad it wasn't, she was glad she didn't go completely catatonic by now. "oh, come on, give me some, love, pad," she flashed him a sad pair of eyes, "if you're so smart, maybe it'll rub off on me," was she really flirting with him? fight the urge, she told herself, fight the urge, and she could barely believe the last fragment of his sentence. her eyes seriously flared at him in disbelief. "i think i really need to hug you that badly," and the words piled up with complete and utter honestly, her mind spacing out a little and she forgot the first reason behind her offer to hug him. but she wanted to hug him. and she approached him, for once he took the initiative without talking about it, without rambling on, without ruining the moment or making it awkward. she stood on her tip toes and wrapped her arms around him, set her head against his shoulder, and just held onto him. not tightly. not too gently. she raised her head a bit and turned to look him in the eyes finally, "i --" love you. "i'm sorry i got you wet," she smiled.


ooc LOL penny's a new character, she's kind of hard for me, so ignore the crappiness ~
tag padraiic bby.

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