Page 22 of Loved

"You."

I rubbed my thumb against her palm.

"What now?" she asked.

I was waiting for her to ask where the hell we were going. "Well, do you have a passport?" I think we both needed a trip after this day was over.

"No. I've never needed one."

"You've never left the country?" I glanced at her again. Was she joking?

"I have. I've been to Canada. But I didn't need a passport."

"That's because going to Canada doesn't really count as leaving the country. So where have you been? I want to take you somewhere new."

She turned and looked out the window. "I haven't really been that many places.” She stared at the colorful trees for a moment before turning back to me. “I've pretty much stayed on the east coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. Oh, I've been to North and South Carolina. And New York of course." She squeezed my hand. "And Florida a few times to go to Disneyworld."

"Disneyworld?" Was that her idea of an exotic vacation?

"Yeah, I love Disneyworld. Everyone loves Disneyworld. Don't look at me like that."

I laughed and turned my attention back to the road. "I wouldn't know. I've never been."

"You've never been to Disneyworld?"

"No." I pressed my lips together. I hadn’t exactly had a normal childhood. Penny knew that and she was looking at me like she felt sad for me. But there wasn’t anything I could do about my past. And my future looked pretty damn bright with her next to me.

"Well, maybe you should let me take you to Disneyworld."

I laughed. Unless we were allowed to fuck in front of Mickey Mouse, that was a terrible idea. "This is my dare. I'm taking you somewhere. Not the other way around."

"So, where are we going then?"

In a few minutes, Penny was going to wish we were anywhere else in the world. But we needed to do this in person. Instead of responding to her, I put on my turn signal and took an exit off I-95.

"Aren't we going to the airport?" she asked.

"We are. I just wanted to make a quick stop first." I’d take her anywhere she wanted to go after we did this.

“I don't know. I haven't decided if I want to make that speech on Friday yet. So we can't go anywhere that far I guess. And I forgot that I really should be studying for my Stat test. You know what? Let's just turn around. Let's spend the day in your apartment. Don't we have to get stuff ready for your brother anyway?"

I was pretty sure she knew exactly where we were going. And she was trying to get out of it. "Ellen will get everything ready for Rob's visit."

"I forgot, I think I have a psychology test tomorrow too. Oh geez, we better get back."

"You chose dare, Penny. Who backs down from a dare?" I drove down Concord Pike and put my turn signal on again.

Penny looked completely panicked now. "You know what? I actually think I've been around here before. There's this cute little diner right down the street. I'm starving. Do you want to stop and eat?"

I think I’ve been around here before?I lowered my eyebrows. "Penny, you're a terrible liar."

"What? Psh. Professor Hunter..."

"You really should stop calling me that." I turned into Windy Park. It was a cute little neighborhood, a perfect display of suburbia.

Penny took a deep breath. "How do you know where I live?"

"Oh, is this your neighborhood?" I looked over at her and raised my left eyebrow.

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