“You are a seriously fucked up individual,” Tyler could hear Mark’s voice as he opened the door of the apartment. “Seriously. I worry about you sometimes, especially when you come up with stuff like this.”
“Oh, like you haven’t come up with stuff twice as bad,” Penny was laughing from somewhere down the hall.
Tyler hung his coat in the hall closet, wondering if he even wanted to know what was being discussed as he entered the kitchen and set the pizza down. Mark was leaning back against the counter, sipping a Guinness and looking ready to either laugh or cry, depending on how well you knew him. The kitchen light glinted off his slicked back hair as he raised his hand in salute. “Beer’s in the fridge,” he said by way of greeting, “and I’m glad you’re here, because I’m starved and I need backup.”
“Wow, I never thought I’d see the day where Mark Pennington was drinking. And good stuff, no less.” Tyler forced a grin, but he was secretly loathing the young man with the doofus face slouching before him. They had worked together while in college, hung out in the same social circles, but never really became close. It always felt like Mark was trying to upstage him– gloating about all the extra stuff he could buy, griping about how much harder his classes were—and got to the point where if it weren’t for the fact he wanted Penny’s friendship, the two young men wouldn’t have been talking at all. Mark had got out of school first, landing a desk job filing paperwork for an insurance company shortly after graduation; Tyler spent an extra year in school only to get out with a degree he didn’t want. He took on part time jobs to help him earn enough money to pay for the police academy (his parents had already refused to have anything to do with that endeavor), beating his body into the ground day after day working with a moving company while Mark sat on his ass and complained about the air conditioning making it a little chilly in his office. Tyler was tired of coming home night after night to a cold and empty apartment, his body and soul just aching. From the amount of his things lying about Penny’s apartment, it looked like Mark never had that problem.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” came a happy voice from behind him. “I’m just famished. Is that pepperoni?”
Tyler’s forced grin softened to a real smile as Penny entered his view, clad in a tight tee shirt and sweatpants as she toweled off her long chestnut hair, then faded completely as he stole a glance back at Mark. He tried very, very hard to be happy for other people’s successes, but one look at Penny Larson was all it took for him to wish he wasn’t always the nice guy.
“Not so fast, my pretty.” Mark set his beer on the counter and sauntered over to his girlfriend, making sure Tyler was watching as he circled his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. “As Mr. O’Brien is here now, perhaps he’d be so kind as to share his thoughts in regards to your little ponderings.”
Tyler bristled at the condescending way Mark talked to Penny. It wasn’t the first time, either: his friend didn’t seem happy with where she was, but for whatever reason just wouldn’t leave. Tyler couldn’t figure out for the life of him why she was with the guy to begin with, but held his tongue on the matter as he forced the edge out of his voice and asked what they had been arguing about.
Penny smiled at him, a warm, golden smile that Tyler was certain could have melted the thickest glaciers. He could have sworn her eyes got a little deeper blue as her gaze fell on him, a light coming on inside them that could have shone through the darkest night. A smile, just for him.
He mentally kicked himself before his daydream could progress.
“I think it happens to be a perfectly legitimate question. Suppose you managed to capture the Pillsbury Doughboy. Bear with me a minute. I mean, the little guy’s obviously some sort of flour-based substance, so if you pop him in the oven at three-fifty for about thirty, thirty five minutes….do you think he’d taste more like a cookie, or a biscuit?”
Tyler was quiet for a moment, taking in the earnestness of her question. “I…I have no idea. Maybe a biscuit, because his belly looks puffed up like a yeast roll? I don’t know.”
“SEE? That’s EXACTLY what I said!” She beamed in victory, then looked up slyly. “You know, we really do think along the same lines…”
Tyler’s lips were still pursed to receive her kiss when he woke up.
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