Chapter Text
Penny was sweating bullets at the moment, desperately dialing her roommate's number. This was by far the worst date she had ever been on. She had a feeling that this was a bad idea the second she walked into the restaurant, but seeing Octavia Simmons sitting at the table really made her panic. How?! Why?! What had she done to deserve this? Oh, she knew Simmons well. She'd been an exchange student at her high school, and she was an honest-to-god nightmare. The entire conversation had been about her, she'd been bossy and condescending, and she seemed to think that beyond all this, the fact that Penelope would love her was a given. She almost sobbed of relief when Anthony picked up the phone. She half yelled into her phone, 'Anthony! Oh.My.God. Save me. I can't take it anymore.' she heard the alarmed voice of her childhood friend; Anthony Chase, blaring through the phone. 'What happened?! Do you need me to pick you up?! Is that date of yours not taking no for an answer?! Talk to me woman!' She answered with a bit of a calmer tone, and explain to him in explicit detail what was wrong with this stupid date. Twirling a lock of her raven hair around her finger, she wondered what to do. Sighing; she went for the classic answer-'Call me back with an "emergency" in 10 minutes. I can't stand Octavia at all.' She could hear a noncommittal noise of conformation on the other side of the phone and hung up, rubbing her temples. This is going to be a long day. She smoothed out the front of her off-white top, and tugged at the sleeves. With a sense of dawning horror, she realised that a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes had been standing behind her the whole time.
Julie had no idea what was happening. She just came in to wash her hands; and the next thing she knew, there's a clearly upset cutie, who's apparently on "The worst date of her life." Honestly, she couldn't bring herself to believe that until she heard the name 'Octavia Simmons' come from her. Suddenly, she realised where she recognised this girl. She was the event committee head at the school Octavia went to on the exchange program. She, for one, had opted to go to Texas, and had made one of her closest friends there. Said friend was the one she currently having lunch with. What she hadn't expected was for this whole thing to take a completely different scenario. One second, the pretty girl had been fixing her sleeves, and the next, she'd looked at Julie and hightailed it out of the bathroom. What.The.Heck. First off, she was offended, she hadn't done anything after all. Second of all, she was confused. Why had she been so desperate to run away from her? It made zero sense. Sighing, she pulled her hair into a high ponytail and strolled out to go sit with Leah. She had a lot of questions for that girl.
Oh god. Octavia had heard everything. Word was going to get around, everyone in all of New York City would think she was a horrible date; or Octavia was going to find a way to force Penelope into a marriage or something and-what? Octavia..had been at the table the whole time. So who was that in the bathroom? What was happening? Her head felt like a train wreck, and she couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. Faintly, she remembered the advice her friends and family had given her. Power through it. Never had that advice felt as meaningful as it did now. Firmly, she told herself to pull ahead with this date, and to get it done with. Awkwardly as ever, there was barely any conversation between any of the tables around them, as if their fellow diners didn't want to disturb the fragile balance. Unfortunately, Penny found herself agreeing with them. This was probably the single most award dinner she'd ever had, and she'd sat through dinners where her aunts butchered karaoke after getting drunk. 'So, uhm, Octavia; do we continue on with this or..?' She was met with what felt like the most unsure answer ever. 'If you want to, then fine. If not, then we can both just split the bill and never talk about it again.' She honestly wanted to blurt that splitting the bill and never talking about it again sounded amazing. Forcing herself to be polite, she only nodded, mentally preparing herself for torture. Even as she looked desperately at her watch, only a few seconds had passed. these were going to be the longest ten minutes of her life.