Katarina (miss_fixit) wrote in freedomtownic, @ 2020-07-08 15:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | katarina (miss_fixit), penelope park (worldburning) |
Who: Kat and Penelope Park
Where: The Crashdown
When: Following this
What: Apologies and the beginning of an unlikely friendship
Rating: PG-13 for language
Status: Closed and complete
Penelope knew that what she had done was petty and rash, but what hadn't helped was the fact that she had been egged on by her friends to pull such a stunt. She was one of the "mean girls" on Galador, but she had always been that way. Still, she still had a heart. It's just that is wasn't always in the right place. After seeing that Kat had begged her parents to let her handle it, she knew that they should sit down and chat. Which... they actually had never done.
The entire time that Penelope had been dating, they hadn't exactly interacted with each other's friends. Save for the slumber party at Cheryl's, but Ellie had mostly kept to herself that night. That was just how Ellie was, though. And Penelope loved her for it. They were total opposites, but they somehow meshed so well. Or well... So Penelope thought.
What was done was done, and Penelope wanted the whole thing to just be over. She had sent a private message to Kat, asking her to meet at the Crashdown. She knew that they both knew people there, and it was basically between where each of them lived. She got there a little before Kat did, ordering herself a milkshake and telling the waitress that whatever Kat wanted was on her. She just hoped that she wouldn't have to wait long to see the other girl.
Soon after, Kat strolled in, wearing denim shorts, clunky combat boots, and a black Ghost tee that flattered her slim figure perfectly. Showing a confidence and calmness she'd never really had before, the tiny girl walked right over to the table Penelope was at, sitting down across from her with an expression that carried more regret than anger. "Hey. So... I guess we should talk."
"Before this turns into a series of us getting back at each other?" Penelope stated bluntly. She took a deep breath, nodding as she took a sip of her milkshake. "You couldn't be more right. As hurt as I am, I don't want that."
"I don't either." Kat said, deciding to be the first to extend the olive branch. "Penelope, before we go any further... I want to apologize to you. This was messy all around, but I never, ever meant to hurt you or anyone else. I fell in love with Ellie... practically from the moment we met. I had someone, so I stupidly kept my mouth shut. Maybe if I had spoken up before she got serious with you, you could at least have been spared this. So, please know I mean it entirely when I say I am truly sorry for hurting you."
"And I'm sorry for letting myself get talked into destroying some of your stuff. Magic can be tricky. Especially when it comes from an emotional place like that. I should have known better. I waited until I assumed that no one would be around, because I knew that you were shooting off fireworks that night," she sighed, shaking her head. "That's no excuse, though."
"Look. You may never like me, or want to be anywhere near either of us again." Kat said, offering a sad smile. "But, regardless, I'd like a chance, once this isn't as fresh for you, to start over. We have some mutual friends, and I'd like us to be able to be friendly to each other."
"That's what I want, as well. And yeah... I think that us having mutual friends will eventually bring us back together. But really... I think that the timing was horrible for my album release, as well. Not that any of us saw it coming," She laughed softly, shaking her head. "I think that I was just happy that I had found someone that wasn't so weirdly co-dependent with their twin sister."
"If we're honest? I'm shocked I even pinged her radar because flarkin hell, look at you!" Kat laughed, gesturing at the girl sitting in front of her. "But yeah. I just... I needed you to know that I never wanted anyone to get hurt."
Penelope sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "Kat, you are a beautiful person, inside and out. I don't want to hate you. I really don't. I'm sure you held off on admitting your feelings for so long because you didn't want to hurt me or Tori."
"I did. I feel selfish for doing it even now..." She admitted, sighing. "But every day that I didn't confess how I was feeling... It ate me up inside. I'm lucky Tori understood. She's hurt, yeah... but we're still friends and we'll always love each other. I just want you and I to be ok. No hard feelings, no anger... just mutual understanding of why we each did what we did."
"I..." she took a deep breath. "I do get it. But it's like I said. I wrote up special liner notes just for Ellie, and I had it ready to go as a big, romantic gesture, you know," Penelope frowned.
"Can you ever forgive me?" She asked, feeling like shit thinking about that. God what horrid timing.
"I think I can," Penelope gave a firm nod, a hint of sadness in her eyes. "Do you want anything while we're here?"
"You know what? Why not. Let's have some pie or something." Kat said, still feeling bad, but at least feeling as though a bridge was being built. "Hey, for what it's worth? I listened to your album. So good."
Penelope grinned with a nod, "I wanted to go for something different, all while expressing my feelings. I'm not the type to be all wishy-washy. Well... as you can tell, I'm not always the best at dealing with negative emotions."
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Kat deadpanned, giving a quick wink. All things considered, she found herself actually really liking this girl. "Enid's the same way. Just, obviously, different style and all. Makes sense though, you're both a couple of tough bitches." She pursed her lips, raising an eyebrow. "I swear I meant that in a good way."
Penelope pursed her lips, shrugging. "To me, that is in a good way. You can't let the bad things in your life break you."
"Learned that the hard way, lemmetellya." Kat laughed, shaking her head. "I was bullied hardcore for most of my life. My friend kinda saved my life by finding a way to end it. I took it all, but.... I don't know how much more I could've taken. I can admit now that I brought some of it on myself, but still."
"And if I'm being honest, had I grown up with you," Penelope took a drink of her shake. "I probably would have been one of your bullies."
Kat nodded, appreciating the honesty. "I made it... pretty easy. Some went for the low-hanging fruit... you know, 'oh, she's the weird raccoon girl, I bet she has a tail'... others went for how admittedly hyper and clingy I was. I was kinda a big, red, flashing target."
"I would have went for the clingyness, but may only be because of the Saltzman twins. Lizzie is a bit unhinged, and Josie makes it her responsibility to keep her sister together," she sighed, shaking her head. "I couldn't handle that."
"Can I ask you something?" Kat said, tilting her head to the side. "No judgements at all, I'm honestly just really curious. Why do you bully people? Not you directly, just people in general. I've never really talked to a bully (or former bully) before."
Penelope took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, "that is a very good question. While doing it, it just seems like fun. You get others around you, thinking that you're all cool. So you just keep doing it, because you find a group that likes what you're doing. Then you all start doing it together without really ever thinking about how the people that you are talking about might feel."
".... interesting. Thank you for your honesty." Kat said, letting out a long sigh. "A big part of me always wondered if they knew how they made me feel. If they even cared that I'd go home from school every day crying and wishing I was dead."
"I wouldn't say that they don't care," Penelope shook her head. "They just honestly don't think of it. Any time that bullying actually leads to something, it's a big reality check for the bullies. Also, despite hearing about it, it's a big case of 'it will never happen to me', so it just keeps happening."
"I know other kids still get it as bad as I did. Some even worse." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "And most of them aren't lucky enough to have friends that find ways to make it stop. Not to sound dramatic, but my heart breaks for them every day."
"It sucks, but as far as I can tell, it's a never-ending cycle, with only individual endings. It happened a lot at the Salvatore School, most of it got blamed on me, too," she shrugged. "That's why I turned my back on them about a year ago and enrolled in Miss Robichaux's."
"This.... might make you wanna punch me in the d'ast face but.... if you ever wanna chat, or vent, or anything?" Kat told her, almost unable to believe the words coming from her own mouth. "You can talk to me anytime. I kinda expected this to be just a half-bitter cease-fire, but... I actually like you."
Penelope laughed, nodding. "Hell, I half-expected this to end in blows. I know that I mucked up a lot of your work."
"Real talk?" Kat sighed with frustration. "Only reason I'm even still frustrated was because one of the things that got blowed up was to help one of my teammates survive another heat wave easier."
Penelope scratched the back of her neck, looking down sheepishly. "Yeah, I heard about that. That's what made me feel so bad. Because at that point, it wasn't attacking you anymore."
"Don't worry... I can rebuild it. It's just gonna take a little longer now. But hey... we all make mistakes, you know?" Kat said, before reaching over to place a hand on one of Penelope's. "I know of which I speak. You got a lot of flarkin' up to do before you overthrow The Queen of Stupid Decisions."
"Not all of my acts are in revenge, but I'm sort of known to be malicious," she gave Kat's hand a squeeze. "I still pride myself for spelling all of the pens that I gave out a couple of Christmases ago that showed me everything written with them in a spelled journal. I found out a lot that way."
"That.... is actually kinda brilliant." Kat chuckled, blinking at the very idea of that. "I can see how you'd be a very valuable friend to have."
"I like to think so, anyway," Penelope gave a fake modest shrug. "I may not be the kindest person, but I'm not a bad witch."
Kat smiled, sincerely, and offered her hand to the girl. "Wasn't expecting to ask this, but.... friends?"
Penelope took a deep breath, "I'm currently debating on asking if anything happened before you two ended things with Tori and myself."
"I can tell you that nothing physical happened." Kat told her with complete honesty. "The feelings.... those were there. I almost kissed her once, but I stopped myself."
"And I get that," Penelope nodded. "There could be a whole 'nother explosion had actual physical cheating happened."
"Other than the snuggles we gave each other from day one, neither of us touched the other until we were officially a couple." Kat told her, looking her in the eyes when she said it.
Penelope waved off the mention of snuggles dismissively, "nothing wrong with that, hon."
"We wouldn't do that to you and Tori." Kat said, shaking her head. "We're being honest here, so I won't lie and say the temptation wasn't there big time. But no, while there may have been emotional cheating going on.... nothing physical."
"It sucks, it hurts," Penelope shrugged with a sigh. "But I'd be lying if I hadn't thought about letting you ride my hand about five times since you sat down here."
"OH MY GOD!" Kat said, bursting into a gigglefit, even snorting at one point before finally calming down. "Ok, if I had to pick 50 things I envisioned you saying to me tonight, that would still not be on that list. And I swear, you and Ellie both have suspect eyesight then, because I am so nothing special physically."
Penelope rolled her eyes, "Katarina, you're beautiful. Just like your scary mother. You're cute and quirky, and that only adds to your levels of attractiveness."
"Well... if it helps? If I wasn't so utterly and completely in love with Ellie, I'd be taking the thought of that offer to the shower with me tonight" Kat laughed, blushing bright red. "Ok. So... I think after a comment like that, we can say we're friends? I think this would blow El's mind, to be honest."
"Hell, my mind is blown, but if I'm being honest?" Penelope sat back. "If it were to come to a relationship, you're definitely not my type. I'd love to actually have you as a friend, though."
"Agreed entirely. I.... really think I found my soulmate. I hate that I hurt you, and I hate that I hurt Tori... but this is the first time I ever felt calm and home with anyone. So while I'm sorry for any heartache I caused you, I also feel grateful to have made a new friend from it."
"Yeah, it's crazy," Penelope laughed, shaking her head. "But I know that Ellie wasn't that for me."
"Now. If you really wanna make up for the damage?" Kat asked with a laugh, "I know my parents, and just seeing you come over to help clean up and rebuild would go a long way."
Penelope nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I was gonna offer to even help rebuild. I just... don't know how much they would like if I offered to help with magic."
"Maybe... let's not mention that part to them. Daddy especially is a little freaked out by magic." Kat laughed, in disbelief over how this whole thing went. "Alright.... I should probably get back. I told Mom I wouldn't be gone too long, I didn't expect us to actually get along."
"Neither did I, but hey... I'll get through this, so who knows what my next album will bring." She stood up, "I just need to work on properly promoting this one first."
"Definitely. And hey... I got a little music project going myself. We're gonna play at Above The Dot this weekend if you wanna check it out." She paused, before bursting out laughing again. "....ride your hand? Seriously???"
"I'm eighteen, sweetie," Penelope shrugged. "And hey... I prefer to think of myself as an equal opportunity lover. Just... think about it," she winked.