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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.

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Leah stared at the 'couple?' in front of her. On one hand, the ravenette with her back turned to Leah was slumped in her seat, and her hands were shaking. On the other side of the table, some ice-queen bitch was probably giving the poor thing on the date with her a heart attack. She shook her head. Ugh, those kinds of girls are so annoying. I feel for you girl, I feel for you. Thankfully, her best friend came back. Funnily enough, she was staring at the other table too. "What is her deal? Poor chick looks like she's dying. That blondie she's with must be killing her." she asked, nudging Julie with her wrist. Julie looked away then. "Dude, I just went in and I heard her on the phone with her friend. She's stuck on a bad date. Well she did say it was the worst date of her life, so..but more importantly, she just said it was Simmons she was on a date with. Yeah, her." For a second there, Leah was stunned into silence. "NO.WAY. No wonder she looks like she's dying on the inside!" Julie just nodded, and looked back at them.  "Leah, she's a major cutie. She could do better, much better." Wait. Julie doesn't say shit like that. What even happened in there? 

But Julie just went on rambling. "I just walked in when she was in the middle of her call, and she noped outta there. I don't even know why?! Like, one second she's just talking on the phone, telling her friend how shitty Octavia is, but like I walked in there and we just kinda stared at each other for a second before she ran back. I was just so-" "Aaand lemme stop you right there. She didn't say anything to you? She just left?" Why would anyone willingly go back to being on a date with Simmons? Leah could hear a little voice in the back of her head nagging her. Oh, so even Octavia scored a date now. With a hot one too. What about you Leah? Your last boyfriend was 2 years ago. She brushed it off impatiently. "Julie?" Julie snapped out of her little bubble. "Wha? Oh yeah, she didn't say anything, she just sorta-" Julie didn't get to finish her sentence. Octavia had apparently left, and the other girl was walking up to them. 

The audible sigh of relief Penelope let out when Octavia left prematurely was all the confirmation Anthony needed to stay at home and wait for her to get back home later.  He sounded pretty unimpressed, but at least she had paid for whatever she had. But Penny still felt the nagging guiltiness in her head. Honestly, she just ran out and made a scene for no reason. She should apologise. Thankfully, the girl from the bathroom hadn't left yet. She had sat down with her friend at another table, and she was talking about something with her. Penny instantly felt worse. I wonder if they're trying to figure out what the hell just happened back there. Ugh, how dumb can I get? There's obviously other blonde girls in the restaurant. And she sounds nice too. I confused the shit outta her for no reason. 

She set her jaw, clinched her fists, and marched her way over to their table to apologise. She'd set things straight.And besides, today already went to the dogs. How much worse could it get anyways? Besides, I already threw away my self-respect over that dinner, and my dignity in that incident. Screw it, I'll make it up to her now.

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Penelope had a chant going in her head. The universe hates me, the universe hates me, the universe hates me so much. How does one end up matching with a high school arch-nemesis? Keep it together, if you trip in these ridiculous heels, you'll never be able to look any of these people in the eye ever again. How had she panicked so quickly? God, she must've been on edge all day for that to happen. She kept a cool head most all the time-dealing the with entitled 0.001% of society daily will do that to you-but this was a different matter all together. Back straight, don't close in on yourself. Look calm. Collected. Like it didn't even bother you. Her work ethic forbid her from so much as looking too closely at someone, because she'd gotten hitched to her job right after college. Now that she finally had a chance, it managed to go wrong in the most spectacular way possible.

Approaching a stranger is not something people do, especially not after disasters like that. But Penelope prided herself on her upbringing, and her mother drilled it into her to be nice. Being on the receiving end of glares after sassing teachers, bullies, and bosses alike had only been worth it until she saw her mom's disappointment. There's nothing wrong with defending yourself, but if it can happen non-confrontationally, it should. How many times have I heard that before? Polite society was never her thing anyway. She was nice enough, but her bluntness caught up to her sometimes, and her mouth ran too fast for her head to catch up.

The mental train wreck served one good purpose though: she looked absolutely fine. Without a problem, no worries, and walked straight up to a stranger with a gait like Miranda Priestly's. She did not look like she just sat through the worst 20 minutes of her life, and she'd look back on that fact with pride, and a few hysterical giggles.

WHAT. WHAT HAPPENED?! Julie wasn't sure if her bewilderment showed in her expression, but she was sure she looked like a deer caught in headlights. How did she pull herself together so quick? God, if I sat with Simmons for half an hour, I'd probably cry out of sheer relief afterwards. Or maybe shiver from mental trauma. There she was, this unperturbed businesswoman. She looked like she just strolled out of Ann Taylor for god's sake. But god, it made her weak. I do love a cute girl in a power suit. She definitely looked like she'd been interrupted mid-sentence. At least her mouth was closed.

Her eyes followed the black waves to her shoulders, in that gorgeous blouse that hugged her form perfectly. God, she has great legs. The pants flared at the bottom into those goddamned heels. How did she balance in those? They had to be at least five inches high, and they were stilettos for god's sake. All these glances just added to the growing tension. Julie's mouth went dry, and she suddenly wished half the restaurant wasn't staring at them. Oh, sweet mercy.