Page 173 of On His Mind

She leans in and kisses me. “Is that alright with you? Or do you still want to sneak me in at night?”

I stare into her eyes, wrap my arms around her, and smile. “I don’t know how much studying I can get done with you there, but yeah, let’s go.”

Everyone’s in the living room when we walk in. All of their heads turn at once.

“That was fast.”

“Yeah, what the hell are you two doing here?”

“Why are you here?”

“What’s going on?”

Penelope walks in and shrugs off her coat. “Percy needs to study.”

Stanley lifts his arms. “My man! You know he’s the only one in this house that has a 4.0?”

Penelope looks at me and grins.

The girls don’t believe it, scoffing at each other.

“Study with us,” Gianna says.

Lucy’s behind her, explaining something to Benson in a textbook.

“Penelope, do you need to study?”

“I’m done for the semester,” she replies as I walk to the hallway.

“Oh, yeah. Duh. Sorry, I forgot,” Gianna says, turning back to her textbook.

Melly looks over. “Did you call your mom yet?”

Penelope looks at me. “No, not yet.”

I walk towards the hall, pulling Penelope by her hand. She follows me around the corner, and I grab her face and kiss her. She kisses me back, breathless.

“I need to call my mom,” she whispers.

I nod. “Okay.”

“Will you stay in the room with me?”

“Yes.” I kiss her again.

Stanley walks into the hall with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Please,” he says with his hands up. “Don’t let me interrupt.” Then he walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.

I lean my forehead on Penelope’s while she chuckles. I take her hand and pull her down the hall to my room. I shut the door behind us, and the house goes muffled.

She stops in the middle of my room with her phone in both hands. I can see the hesitation on her face when she looks down at her mother’s number.

“You okay?” I ask, walking over to her.

She sits on the edge of my bed and nods. “I’m fine.” Then she sighs. “I just have to –– she’s not going to love the Christmas thing. I’ve avoided holidays at home for a while, and she thinks I’m already on the road.”

She shows me the text message on her screen.

Drive safe. Love you.