Chapter 2 Penelope

Disco lights, neon lights, and music the one place I hated with every fiber of my being, and that is not normal for a 24-year-old. I prefer to staying indoors and watching Netflix or reading a good crime novel while some Lo-fi chill music played in the background, that's who I am but not today. My best friend Sophia dragged me out of the house, on Tuesday night, a workweek. I don't know why I'm still friends with her, because I love her, that's why.

"Having fun?" Sophia asks wiggling her eyebrows.

I frown, "No."

Hopefully, that will convince her to take me home.

But she only rolls her eyes, "You are such a drip, let me go get us some drinks, maybe that will help lighten you up."

"Okay," I shrug, and she nods and gets up, disappearing into the crowd, leaving me all by myself.

I should have gone with her.

I look around the club, seeing bodies grinding on each other, people kissing and men grabbing on women, I cringe.

For what seemed like hours, Sophia returns, her little black sparkly dress is shimmering, her long perfectly straightened hair, long light chocolate legs, her light chocolate skin glowed, I am envious of her, she is beautiful, whereas I am thick and curvy, my big mane got in the way of things, I am shy and awkward at times, but she is bubbly and confident, outgoing, and free-spirited.

She places two cocktails down and smiles at me, and her eyes widen, and she says she's forgotten her purse, she leaves me once again and I'm nervous.

I sip on my cocktail, and I immediately relax, I start looking around again and I spot a pair of eyes looking in my direction, it was the King.

Oh no.

I watch as he licks his lip and then calls for a guard and whispers something in his ear, pointing in my direction. He wasn't looking at me, I think.

I sure hope not.

A few minutes pass and a tall man is standing beside me, it's the bodyguard. I look up at him, and give him a nervous smile, he leans down and whispers in my ear.

"Your highness would like to buy you a drink."

"I'm good thanks, already have one," I whisper back.

The guard stands up straight and shakes his head at the King, who stands up and walks towards us.

This can't be good.

He looks at the guard and tells him to keep watch, and he sits down across from me in the booth.

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. This guy is beautiful, curly hair, and blue eyes, but I couldn't be with a guy like him, I'm barely his type.

"Don't be nervous," he says loudly, "I don't bite unless you ask me to."

I roll my eyes, typical.

"I'm sorry, I'm Henry," he says, reaching out his hand across the table.

I swiftly shake it, "I know, you're King Henry."

He chuckles, "Please call me Henry."

"Penelope," I reply.

"You're very beautiful Penelope." he smiles nervously.

I blush, "Thank you."

"Why don't you come to join my friends in the VIP area and me?" he asks.

I shake my head, "I can't, I came with someone."

He raises an eyebrow, "Who?"

"A friend," I look around and spot her walking towards us, "There she is."

Henry looks to his right and sees her walking towards us.

Sophia smiles and gasps, "Your Highness."

"This is my friend Sophia," I say, she reaches out her hand and he takes it and kisses the back of her hand, making her grin.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sophia," he smirks.

She sits beside him and smirks, "The pleasure is all mine."

He chuckles at her, "I had asked your gorgeous friend here to come and join my friends and I in the VIP area and she said -"

"Of course, we'd like to join you," she cuts in.

"But your friend..."

"Forget what she said, we'll join you." she interrupts again.

"Great, you know where to find me." he winks, Henry stands up and walks away with his guard.

I roll my eyes, and I can't believe she is forcing me to go hang out with them. She grabs my hand and pulls me out of the booth and pulls me towards the VIP area.

"Sophia stop," I say, pulling my hand away.

"What Penny?" she groans.

"I don't think this is a good idea. This is the king we are dealing with here."

Sophia groans, "There you go again with you boring-ass, live a little girl damn."

I must admit I am being a little too cautious, he didn't give me any bad vibes and we are in public, what could go wrong.

"Fine but if things get out of hand, I'm leaving."

Sophia smiles, and we walk to where the King and his entourage are seated, the guard lifts the velvet rope and we are greeted by five good looking men.

I hated this; all eyes were on me, and my tight-fitting jumpsuit was not helping me at all. Sophia takes her seat next to the King, and I move to the other side on the couch, where Ashby, my childhood friend was seated with his twin brother.

"Penny, I'm glad you made it." he smiles.

"Hi Ashby, and it's not like I had much of a choice," she says looking at Sophia, who was getting too damn comfy with the King.

I look down and my clutch bag and Ashby lifts my chin, "Still having anxiety attacks?"

I nod shyly, gosh, I hated that he knew me so well.

Ashby is my closet friend, we grew up together, our mothers were good friends but when he and his brother went into the army and became noblemen, I started seeing less and less of him, today is the first time I had seen him in a month and I don't blame him, he has a busy life.

"When was the last time you went for therapy?"

"A month ago, work had me swamped."

Ashby frowns, "I thought I told you to quit that job Penny."

"If I quit, who is going to look after Aunty Linda?" I question.

He sighs, "I told you that I would look after you both don't you trust me."

I couldn't believe we were having this argument again; I didn't want to depend on him, I am responsible for my aunt, he isn't.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," I mumble.

Ashby nods and gulps down his drink, look up and find Henry glaring at Ashby.

Great, now I've upset the King.

Ashby puts his glass down and he stands up and leaves, I wanted to follow him, but I knew that wasn't a great idea.

"Everybody, leave." Henry commands and everybody looks at him.

"I said leave," he says loudly, I stand up to leave but he stops me.

"Penelope sit. The rest of you leave," he says.

Sophia grabs her purse and leaves with the boys. As soon as everyone is gone, Henry stands up and sits next to me.

My palms start to sweat and I wipe them on my clothes.

"Penelope."

I look up at him, and his eyes are dark and tense, he is angry.

"Is Ashby your boyfriend?"

I shake my head, unable to speak.

"Words," he commands.

"No." I stutter.

"Then why were you getting cozy with him?"

"He's my friend," I reply slowly.

He seems taken aback by my statement, and his eyes begin to soften.

"How long have you been friends?"

"Since we were kids, we grew up together."

He sighs, "I'm sorry for getting so worked up over this. I wasn't aware of your relationship."

"It's okay, Ashby has always been overprotective of me." I chuckle lightly, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Of course, a woman as beautiful as you should be protected."

I blush, glancing over at him.

"Why don't we talk somewhere less noisy?"

I nod and he stands up, taking my hand into his and he leads me up the roof, the spark between us is evident but I know I should not act on it, it would not be right.

We get up to the roof, and it is stunning, the moon is overhead, the stars are twinkling, and the city lights are illuminating the city, I can see Crawford castle up the hill, I look over at Henry, and his blue eyes are glowing underneath the moonlight, he chiseled jawline and curly hair make him look almost angelic. He looks at me and smiles and I can't help but smile back.

We remain quiet for a few minutes enjoying the summer night sky and view before Sophia interrupts us, I groan internally, wishing she could just disappear.

"Henry, I've finally found you," she says in her high-pitched voice.

"Sophia, what are you doing here?" he asks trying not to sound annoyed.

"Looking for you silly," she giggles.

Wow, she's so fake.

"Let's go dance," she says, grabbing his hand.

"I'm busy Sophia, maybe some other time," he says pulling his hand away.

"Penny, you don't mind do you,"

I don't respond, I can't say no, nor can I say yes.

"See, she doesn't even care, so let's go."

I watch as she pulls him away, he turns to me and gives me a sympathetic look and mouths an apology, but I look away instead.

Not only am I envious of Sophia, I hate her sometimes. She can be very annoying and fake and pisses me off, but I can never gather the guts to tell her that, I don't think I ever will. She is the only friend I have, and I don't want to risk losing that over a guy I'm not even dating.

I leave the roof and go back to the VIP area. I grab my clutch and quietly leave the club not bothering to say goodbye.