The Penguin & The Golden Rule

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~The Penguin & The Golden Rule~

~¤°*°*°*°¤~

By the time we made it home, my friends were already in their onesies and my dad was ready to get away from them. My mom and I hurried to our rooms to get changed for our evenings.

I put my hair into a side-ponytail just below my ear and pinned my bangs back to wash the makeup off of my face. After slipping my pink panda onesie over a tank top and a pair of shorts, I zipped it up and draped the hood over my head. With one last smile at my reflection in the mirror, I joined my friends in the living room.

Yvette was wearing her fox onesie, the color of the fleece matching her ginger hair perfectly. Jarod's was a penguin with a red bow tie. He waddled past me, giving me a fist bump on his way to the kitchen. Yvee stayed on the couch, so I collapsed beside her.

"Alright, children," my dad said, pausing to watch Jarod waddle slowly back to the couch.

He shook his head, closing his eyes for a second after Jarod sat down. My dad was used to our craziness, but Jarod often surpassed his expectations. My dear friend couldn't care less as he sipped loudly on his drink.

"As I was saying," my dad began again, but then he sighed. "Who am I kidding? I have nothing to worry about with you three."

"I am insulted, Mr. Hensley," Yvee expressed. "You should be very concerned about us getting into trouble."

He rolled his eyes. "Not when you still to this day call me mister."

"Sorry, Hensley. I'll try to do better." She gave him a sly grin and raised her fox hood to hide her face. She knew he hated to be called anything other than his first name because it made him feel old. She just loved to tease him about it.

"Abby, can't you exchange these two for new friends?"

I wrapped my arms around the two of them and pulled them closer to me. "No return policy. Besides, you love them like your own."

"Can't argue there," he begrudgingly admitted just as my mom stepped into the room. "Ready, Honey?"

In a simple but flattering black dress, she nodded and gave him a kiss. We complained, which unfortunately prolonged our torture. Then my mom slipped into her heels in the entryway while my dad held her hand to keep her balanced.

"Be good," she told us.

"Never," we all said at once. It was always our reply whenever they told us to be good. We waved as they left and waited until we heard the car pull out of the driveway.

"Now we party," I joked.

"Now we stuff our faces," Jarod added.

"Now we watch my movie because both of your choices suck," Yvette said.

I bristled, "Hey, I didn't pick my movie yet!"

"It's gonna suck."

Jarod bobbed his head in agreement with her.

I crossed my arms and sunk into the cushion. We may have been the very best of friends, but we didn't always have the same taste in movies.

"Your faces suck," I grumbled and got up to choose a movie from my collection. "Just for that, I should pick one I know you guys hate watching."

The groans of discontent started behind me. Since I had my back to them, they failed to see my smile. I did it on occasion out of playful spite--not without their revenge too--but I had no intention of doing so now. I raised the movie over my head to show them what I chose for the night.

"Chris Pratt!"

"Psycho killer dinosaur!"

Laughing at their reactions, I put it in for us to watch first. Yvee couldn't refuse two hours of an alpha raptor trainer and Jarod loved murderous science experiments. I happened to like both where Jurassic any movie was involved, though I preferred the Raptor Squad.

And Owen Grady, of course.

We were over an hour into the movie when we decided to pause it for food. Jarod's stomach was louder than the dinosaurs roaring, while Yvee and I were just as hungry but less noisy about it.

"Sundaes before real food?" Yvee suggested.

Jarod scoffed. "Sundaes are real food. Especially with the endless toppings."

I opened the freezer and searched for the base of every ice cream sundae. "Oopsie."

"What?" Jarod asked, peeking into the freezer with me. "Abby, something is missing."

I sighed as I closed the freezer. "This is why I can't buy ice cream before FooFliDay. Because my parents eat it all."

"Looks like they left the toppings behind for us," Yvette pointed out as she pulled the full paper bag out of a bottom cabinet.

I checked the fridge to make sure my homemade shortbread cookie dough was untouched. Our sundaes wouldn't be complete without it. There were only a few indentations from where they dug a spoon into the dough. Fortunately, there was still plenty left for us.

"So who wants to come with me to the store?" Not waiting on a response, I took some cash out of my purse and grabbed my sunglasses. I didn't want to bother changing again, but I also didn't want to be recognized dressed that way. With my hood up and shades on, I figured I was safe.

Jarod tossed his keys to me, implying that he didn't want to go. I saw him eyeing the bag of goodies in the kitchen, so I shook my head and tossed the keys back to him.

"Trick question," Yvette said, coming over to stand next to me. "We're all going."

Jarod whined, "Why?"

"Because we don't trust you," I smiled.

"I'm not feeling very motivated to spend my valuable time with you two when I could be spending it on a very comfortable couch."

In a sing-song tone, I added by the door, "We can get something to eat while we're out."

"I'm driving!" Jarod shouted, shuffling over to us. He looked like a hyperactive penguin with that walk.

Laughing at Jarod, I opened the door and froze. All of the laughter died on my lips when I saw who was standing on my doorstep.

Theo stood with his finger poised at the doorbell.

His arm dropped to his side and his gaze bounced from each of us until it settled on me. Theo tucked his thumb into the pocket of his black jeans, a grin forming while he scanned me in all my pink panda glory.

Eli stood beside him and chuckled as he took in our appearance. "Breaking out of the zoo?"

No matter how badly I wanted to hide behind my sunglasses, I pulled them off anyway.  "Only sneaking out for some ice cream. Then it's back to our cages."

"Well, we were just dropping off your car. Didn't mean to interrupt whatever," Eli coughed in an attempt to cover his laugh, "this is going on."

"FooFliDay," Yvee spouted off.

And Jarod just had to elaborate, "Food Flicks Friday."

Speaking to me, Theo's grin widened, "So this is your tradition."

I nodded, wanting to hide farther under my hood. Although knowing him, he would just tease me about it more.

"You guys should join us. We're going to have sundaes and watch movies all night," Yvette offered, much to my horror.

"Yeah, we're watching Jurassic World right now. We could start it over for you," Jarod continued to make it worse.

I sent them both a warning glare to shut up, but they just ignored me like only the best of friends would do. Theo and Eli seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

I realized at that moment that I had a rare opportunity. A requirement if they really wanted to join us, and I highly doubted they would agree to it. So it was a win for me either way.

"Yes," I told them, "you guys are more than welcome to stay."

Surprise flashed across Theo's features. He lifted a brow in question when I smiled a little too sweetly at him. He knew I was up to no good and dare I say he liked it.

"We can buy you each a onesie while we're at the store," I went on. "That's like our golden rule for FooFliDay."

That wasn't true since we didn't wear them every week. Yvee and Jarod remained quiet because they immediately caught on to my intention. My friends tried hard not to snicker, but only achieved in muffling it.

Theo's eyes danced from them to me as he nodded, sorting it out on his own. After a short staredown with me, he said, "We'd love to, Sugar."

Eli seconded that, "I can't turn down spending a night with two beautiful creatures."

Jarod protectively put his arms around me and Yvette, while Theo flicked the side of Eli's head. Eli scowled at his friend before returning his charming smile to us girls.

"Abby and I can go to the store if you three want to stay here and restart the movie," Yvee said with Jarod's arm still around her. His other arm fell from my shoulder, but neither of them seemed to notice. So freaking cute...

"Cool," Theo nodded once.

"T loves that movie," Eli supplied. "He's just trying to be 'cool.'" He mocked Theo's nod before quickly dodging another head flick.

We would be outside all night at the rate we were going, so I gave Jarod his keys back. I held my hand out to Eli for my keys, but Theo was the one who gave them to me.

Eli snorted when I gave him an accusing look, "Like I was going to let him drive my car."

While Theo defended himself to Eli, he stepped out of the way so Yvee and I could get through.

Halfway to my car, I heard Theo's voice call out, "Cute tail, Sugar!"

I squeezed my eyes shut in mortification. He just had to see the pink puffball on my butt. He must not have understood how much power I had in picking out his onesie.

I would make him eat those words.

¤°*°*°*°¤

Once we got to the store, we made a beeline to the sleepwear department. I couldn't have been more excited to pick out their onesies and we had a pretty decent selection.

Eli's was easy to choose after Yvette pulled one from the racks to show me. In our opinion, it kind of matched his personality. At the very least, he would be cute in it.

Theo's took a bit more hunting, but when I spotted sharp teeth on a hood and a long tail, the search was over. He would be even cuter in his if he agreed to wear it.

After getting the ice cream, we paid for everything and got back into my car for the five-minute drive home.

Yvette had the music blasting through the speakers. She always had control of the music, but I never cared since we had the same taste in music.

On the other hand, Jarod tended to cringe at some of the K-Pop she liked to play. Simply because she replayed certain songs over and over again. It was her way of learning some of the Korean language, and it was his fault for suggesting she do it that way when she asked for his help.

Occasionally, he would cave and try to teach her a song or two. Until they got sick of each other and bickered over pronunciation.

Yvette suddenly turned the volume down.

She happened to do it during one of my favorite songs, so I awkwardly trailed off from the verse I was singing along to and gave her quick side-long glare when I heard her chuckling at me.

"I hope you don't hate us for inviting them."

"I don't," I told her with all honesty.

"Oh, really?" She lowered the volume further. Whenever she did that, her undivided attention was on the conversation.

"Really."

"You must have a good reason for this, and I have to hear it. Out with it," she demanded.

"There's no reason," I shrugged. "Not like you two gave me much of a choice anyway."

"Sorry," Yvette apologized in a guilty tone. "I just couldn't help it after seeing the way he was looking at you."

"Who? Theo?" I shifted in my seat when her lack of response was the answer. "He wasn't looking at me in any particular way."

"Spare me the ignorance, Abby. Eli already told us you and the bad boy are hot for each other."

"What?!" I slammed on my brakes at a stop sign.

"Like we didn't see it without Eli telling us," she rolled her eyes then grinned at me. "Jarod and I have been your best friends since we were all stinky, drooling babies. Unlike the rest of the town's population, I can read you like sheet music and Jarod can read you like a menu."

"The three of you talked about us?" I felt more surprised by that than the rest of her statement.

She didn't answer me as we pulled into my driveway. "The point is," she started as she unbuckled her seatbelt, "tonight is going to be entertaining. I hope you have popcorn."

"If we do, I hope Theo burns it so you have to suffer."

Either way, she was right. The night would be entertaining. It was bound to be with a bad boy in an animal onesie.

~¤°*°*°*°¤~

Jarod: So since I'm a penguin, does that mean I can get away with giving a girl rocks instead of flowers?

Author: If she falls for how adorkable you are first......probably.

Theo: *suddenly appears* Pop Rocks?

Author: No, just rocks.

Jarod: Pretty rocks though.

What animal are you most like? -->

Guess Theo and Eli's animals. Emoji style, if using your phone. -->

A/N: That sounds like a Wattpad story title -- The Bad Boy In An Animal Onesie. I would honestly be surprised if that hasn't been done yet. Anyway! Gotta post this cause I'm late on updating today. >.<

¤°*Have a pop rockin' or pretty rockin' day*°¤

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