It’s been a week since One Direction went away to America. A week since Penelope was told that if she wanted to see Harry off for his flight, she’d have to arrive separately from the boys, an hour early at the airport and identify herself to their security. It all seemed a bit extreme, but Penelope just accepted that management knew more than her about these matters. Harry assured her that it was just for her safety, so Penelope arrived early just as planned in a zip up hoodie and sunglasses. They kissed in the terminal before he boarded the flight. He smiled and waved as he stepped onto the plane. That car ride home was the first time she ever cried over him leaving.

The day after, Penelope and Casey went out for a girl’s day to get Penelope’s mind off things. Casey told her about an article she saw in a tabloid magazine that featured pictures of she and Harry from when they were shopping. The largest one was from when they were inside of the store. Penelope is in the blue dress she tried on, smiling up at him. She remembered the moment because Harry had put women’s sunglasses on his head and was pretending to critique her outfit. She laughed when Casey showed her. On the next page there were two small pictures, one was of the couple walking out of the store and the other of Harry helping her off of the ground after she’d been knocked over. Thankfully, the tabloids were on her side. The sales woman, Catherine, said lovely things about her to a reporter and she seemed to gain respect from paparazzi for not being rude or scolding them when she got injured. They simply referred to her as the “mystery girl” and Penelope was more than okay with that.

It just so happens that this day is the two month anniversary of when Penelope and Harry first met. In twenty-four hours, it would be the anniversary of their first date. Harry, being the lovely boyfriend that he is, spent the better part of the first 72 hours on tour, bothering management about seeing Penelope to celebrate the occasion. After the three straight days of pestering by Harry, and some of the other boys and crew members who grew fond of her during the barbeque, they finally caved. To show their version of compassion, management agreed to fly Penelope to Texas to spend the day with Harry. However, the part they failed to mention until yesterday is that she’d be flying out with Harry’s sister, Gemma. As they put it, this strategy was once again meant to ensure her safety and prevent a commotion resulting from her presence. She expressed that didn’t completely understand what they were hiding, considering there were already pictures of she and Harry together, but they didn’t really explain further.

Their flight left at six in the morning so, including the time difference, Penelope and Gemma would arrive in Texas around noon. Penelope’s heart pounded as a driver took her to the airport. Apparently, Gemma already arrived which made her even more anxious because they had never met or even talked over the phone. She felt nervous to be given the seemingly simple task of finding Gemma and introducing herself. Even speaking words seemed like it’d be too difficult. She smacked herself in the forehead when her brain let another thought creep up: it’s going to be twice as awkward now that she and Harry have had sex. Of course Gemma didn’t know, but Penelope did and that was enough for her to turn into a wreck. What if Gemma hates her? What then? They’re going to be alone together for at least nine hours. Surely, Penelope thought, that would be more than enough time for her to ruin everything.

Penelope began breathing deeply as she stepped out of the car and the driver handed her her luggage. She silently prayed that they would at least get along. “Thank you so much,” she said smiling to the man who drove her.

“No, problem. Have a nice flight.” He replied simply before taking off.

Penelope was visibly shaking as she went to check in her bags and passed through security. She probably looked suspicious solely because of how heavily she was breathing. It was shocking that she made it through the security line without getting questioned. Her head swiveled around as she heard a girl’s voice calling her name when she picked her bag up from the x-ray machine.

“Penelope!” She spotted Gemma waving and bouncing up and down.

Her pace immediately quickened. “Gemma!” To her delight, they were essentially the same thing, yoga pants and a coat. She had been afraid that she dressed too casually. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“It’s so nice to meet you too! I’ve been wanting to ever since Harry told me about how you met.” Gemma smiled and put on a backpack she picked up off the floor. “How are you?”

“I’m really nervous actually,” Penelope laughed. “Just look at my hands!” She held them up to show how much she was trembling. “I’m so awkward.” She giggled as she grasped her purse handle once again.

“Oh my goodness! Have you never flown before?” Gemma asked while she started to walk.

Penelope followed, assuming she knew where their terminal was. “I’ve flown. I’m just nervous to meet you!”

“Me?” She sounded astonished. “You’re scared of me?”

“I was just afraid that you wouldn’t like me,” Penelope heard herself and realized how silly she sounded. She didn’t even mean to say it, it just came out like word vomit. “Oh no, I sound ridiculous, don’t I?”

“You sound a bit ridiculous.” She laughed. “Your accent is adorable though.”

“Why, thank you!” Penelope said sounding embarrassed. “But honestly, I was in the car on the way here like ‘what if I show up looking like this and she’s in a ball gown?’ I seriously contemplated changing into something that was in my suitcase.”

“Well I’m glad you didn’t because then I would have been the one looking foolish. I did bring a change of clothes in my carry on though.”

Penelope’s eyes went wide and an awkward smile spread across her face, “I didn’t… you can do that?”

Gemma grinned, “You’ll learn the traveler’s tricks of the trade in due time. I’ve been doing this for a couple years.”

Penelope liked the sound of that. Just the fact that Gemma said she would learn “in due time” meant that she expected her to be around in due time and that was definitely reassuring. Together, they checked their tickets in and were let on the plane straight away, much earlier than other passengers.

On the flight, they talked about television shows they loved, books they’ve read, and weird songs that get stuck in their heads. At one point, Gemma told her that her sense of humor reminded her of Harry. It made Penelope really happy because, if anyone knew Harry, it would be his sister. When they reached Texas, both of them were practically running off the plane they were so excited. Gemma decided not to change into her second set of clothes because Penelope didn’t have anything to change into.

Anthony told Penelope to call him when they arrived so she did once they had their luggage and were in the cab on their way to the hotel. He answered immediately.

“Nell, salut! You made it!” He shouted through the phone. “How was the trip?”

“Everything went great. Harry’s sister, Gemma, and I are on our way to the hotel. How are things on your end.”

“It’s going great here. Oh, except I wanted to ask you, do you remember which arm Charlotte hurt when she fell off her board?”

“Her left arm I think. Why?”

Andrew sighed. “She just started complaining that her left arm hurts and Mage and I thought she just hurt herself and forgot. It looks a little bruised so we’re going to take her to see her doctor. I just wanted to know so if they ask if Charlie’s been injured recently, I can let them know.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Penelope thought about how many times Charlotte’s been hurt and bounced right back while living with her and watching her. “Is she there? Can I talk to her?”

“No, she’s with Casey and Hadley. She practically begged us to see them. She’ll be back tonight if you want to call later though.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

“I suspect you should be getting close to your hotel now, so I’ll let you go. Je t'aime, petite soeur. Be safe.”

“I’ll do whatever I want.” She scoffed playfully. “Only kidding, I’ll be safe. Je t’aime trop. Tell Mage and Charlotte I love them too just in case I don’t get to call later.”

“I will. See you soon.”

“See you, Anthony.” When Penelope got off the phone, Gemma was smiling at her. Laughing nervously, she asked, “What?”

“You’re so sweet when you talk to your brother. When I talk to Harry we’re calling each other nutters and prats the entire time.”

“Well Anthony’s eleven years older than me. He’s basically my dad.”

Gemma nodded. “Oh, well I guess that does make a bit of sense then.”

“And don’t worry, Harry talks to me like that too. All the time, actually. I never really noticed until now.”

“He seems to be such a lovely boyfriend.” Gemma laughed. “I think this is us.” She said pointing to a glamorous looking hotel.

Notes

This is basically going to be a two part... thing haha
It wasn't going to be but i felt bad because it's been a while since i posted a chapter and i love you guys so i wanted to post sooomething
I'm going to try to have the next part up by Wednesday!
Once again, I love you guys!
Keep reading, rate and comment what you think is going to happen :)