Cameron had been drunk many times before in his life, but he was pretty sure he'd never been drunk with a girl like this one. Up tight, full of anger and hatred, both for herself and the world around her, with a lack of confidence that she masked as haughtiness.

How sad.

And no wonder, if she'd spent the last few years of her life with that horrid mess of a man, that awful Frederick. And to think that he, Cameron, had admired him from afar, his acting ability, his intellect, his humanity. Who knew that up close he would be nothing but a blowhard, an infant with a paunch, a pathetic, tin-throne despot ruling over his kingdom of one, trying to manipulate poor Penny, who only wanted someone to love?

Cam looked over the rim of his glass at the girl in question as she sat in the easy chair vacated a few hours before by her pitiful ex boyfriend. She was pouring herself another drink with great concentration and precision, green eyes narrowed, knowing that she was impaired and not wanting to spill any. C-chan sat on the arm of the chair and supervised.

"Penelope?"

"Yes, Cameron."

"Do you really think I'm stupid and shallow?"

Penny sighed with exasperation as she put the bottle to the side and carefully took a sip. "No. I never said you were stupid. Only shallow." She shook her head as she took another sip of her drink. "You're one of the smartest people I've ever met. In fact, I'd love to play Scrabble or Cranium with you one day when I'm not totally sloshed, okay?"

Cam considered her words while he finished off his drink. Then he, too, poured himself another drink, being as careful as she'd been, not wanting to spill any when she hadn't.

"Does 'sloshed' mean 'pissed,' then?"

Penny stared at him, then nodded. "Yeah, you know. Drunk. Bombed. Polluted."

Cam nodded seriously. He thought for a moment, trying to remember what they'd been talking about. "So, erm, you do think I'm shallow, then?" He looked at her as he look a long drink from his glass, swallowing slowly.

Penny shrugged. "Well, yeah. How could you not be? Look at you. You never had to work for anything in your whole life." She raised a finger to stop Cam as he took a deep breath to speak. "And don't you fucking say 'modeling,' because that's not work! I'm sorry, but being beautiful, having a perfect body and face and getting paid for it, getting money to have your picture taken, that's not fucking work."

Penny blinked, affronted, as her nostrils flared. "I'm talking about having character, about doing the right thing because it's the right thing, about being friends with someone because they're a good person, not because they're pretty or rich or popular, have you ever done that? Have you ever had to really work, like at a job that wasn't glamorous, a job you hated, for minimum wage? Have you ever been picked on in school because of the way you look, the way you dress? You ever not been invited somewhere because you weren't one of the cool kids?" Penny took another sip of her drink, mentally patting herself on the back for sounding relatively sober. "You have no idea what it's like to live like a regular person, so don't shovel that shit to me, Prince Cameron Aldobrandeschi. Character comes from suffering, from pain, which I don't think you've ever experienced. How could you have, with that perfect face and perfect body?" Penny sniffed.

Cam sat up and set his glass down, maybe a little bit harder than he had to. He'd put his hair up in a bun because it kept getting getting in his drink as the afternoon wore on, and now the bun quivered indignantly. "Wait just a minute. Are you saying that the only way to not be shallow, the only way to build character, is to experience the things you just listed?"

He leaned forward, and even though there was a low table between them, Penny leaned back, eyes wide. "How about being sent away from my family at the age of ten to boarding school, and missing my mum so much I had nightmares for three months? Does that count? How about losing both my parents when I was fifteen? And having to tell my eleven year old sister, who loved and needed them desperately, that they were gone? How much character does that build? And how about having to take over the raising of her, of having to become both mother and father to her when she was a teenager and needed all kinds of guidance so she wouldn't slide into the sewer that so many trust fund babies fall into, with the drugs and alcohol and who knows what, so she wouldn't wind up a statistic, dead in a ditch somewhere? How much character does that build? And how much character does it build to keep my nose to the grindstone and actually finish uni when everyone around me is just sailing yachts and riding horses or whatever? And working the entire time at the only thing I have, which is selling my face and body to anyone who wants to photograph it whilst not falling into the aforementioned sewer myself, working enough to pay for both me and my sister to finish school?" He gestured roughly toward the exercise equipment that stood in the corner. "Keeping myself in trim, no matter how exhausted, no matter how much I didn't want to, so people would want to keep on paying me? Does that count as character building to you? Because you know what? It does to me!"

He rose abruptly and stomped by Penny, who was crying by now, muttering, "Please excuse me for a mo," as he passed her on his way to the bathroom.

Penny finished off her drink and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, then took another drink straight from the bottle, not even bothering with the glass this time.

She rose and walked to the bathroom. She could hear the water running, and hoped he didn't have it running to muffle the sound of his crying or anything. She tapped on the door, and heard him answer that it was open.

She opened the door and saw him leaning over the sink, splashing water on his face. This was obviously his second or third time doing this, as evidenced by the water splashed on the counter. He'd splashed water on his shirt, so after he turned off the faucet, he dried his face and pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it in the hamper.

He stared at Penny, crossing his arms over his bare chest, but not before Penny caught an eyeful of his toned torso and the beginnings of a V-line disappearing into the waist of his jeans.

Wow.

He looked like an ad for the jeans, or maybe for aftershave or something. With his hair up in the bun, the lines of his perfect face were on full display, and all the drinking had brought out a flush on his cheekbones and lips that made him look extra sexy.

"God, Penguin, I'm so sorry I spoke to you like that," he said, brows drawn in genuine contrition. "It was so very rude of me. Please accept my apology?"

Penny shook her head in disbelief. "I insulted you to your face, Cam, in the most horrible way. I'm the one who should apologize." She wiped her eyes again. "I'm so sorry."

"Oh no, you're crying," Cam said, horrified. "Please don't cry, please don't." He reached for her, pulling her curly head down on his shoulder. He put his arms around her stroking her shoulders, tucking his chin around her neck. "I'm so sorry, so very sorry. I shouldn't have attacked you like that, I shouldn't have, shouldn't have. Come on, come come."

He carefully led her back to the living room and sat her down on the sofa, sitting next to her and cuddling her, handing her tissues so she could blow her nose.

"I don't usually cry like this," Penny blubbered. "Frederick said I look like a splotchy wheel of cheese when I cry--" and these words made her cry even more.

"You've got to stop thinking of what that wanker says," Cameron admonished. "Or at least stop giving it any import, yeah? His words mean nothing, he means nothing in your life anymore." He left Penny alone on the couch briefly, and returned with a cool, damp towel with which he wiped her face, which she lifted obligingly, eyes closed.

"There, that's better," he soothed, setting the towel aside.

Penny leaned against him, trying not to notice the almost overwhelming amount of bare skin he was showing. She sniffed and sighed loudly every now and then as he stroked her shoulder, his other arm around her, her knees tucked up between them. C-chan came and settled down between them, purring and looking content, which made them smile.

"So I guess we've covered what I don't like about you," Penny said finally, making them laugh softly. "What don't you like about me?"

"Oh, I think we've covered that as well, don't you?" Cam answered, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "You can be a bit judgmental at times, I think, without cause. That's the part that bothers me. I don't mind being called nosy, or bossy, because I am those things, and I know it. But you decided some things about me without knowing the truth, which kind of hurt, I think. I wish you'd get all the facts, then judge me, yeah?" He gave her a gentle shake.

Penny sniffed again, then nodded. "I can do that, and I'm sorry I do the other thing. Frederick says--" she stopped when she heard her own words. "Never mind," she finally said, and stopped speaking.

"For the record?" Penny continued. "You've done an amazing job with your life, and your sister's lucky to have you. I hope I can meet her someday."

"Well, you're going to get a chance, because she's coming to visit me next month, I believe, right after Claire," Cameron told Penny.

Cam was starting to feel a little distracted by the closeness of Penny as well, if the truth be told. Even though she was wearing all her clothes, the fragrance of her hair and the closeness of her, of all the softness of her large body, was doing things to his head. He was used to his women being lean and bony, all planes and angles. To suddenly be confronted by this ample marshmallow of a woman, pliant and soft, obliging and gentle, in his arms, was something he just wasn't used to.

"Hey," he said, "want to order a pizza and watch a movie?"

Penny nodded, tickling his chin with her hair.

"Mind if I take a shower and put on my jammies first?" she asked, feeling suddenly shy after her crying jag.

Cam shook his head. "You go do that while I clean up out here," he suggested. He thought the way she said "jammies" was absolutely adorable.

Half an hour later they were seated together on the couch with the pizza on the table between them, watching Matt Damon get chased all over Europe as he tried to remember who he was.

"Hey, do you think we're starting to become friends?" Penny asked, looking up at Cam and grinning.

"You know, Penguinny, I think we just might be, yeah." He nudged her shoulder and they both laughed.