The Penny Drops (Sea the Depths Book 1) Karmon Kuhn (life changing books TXT) 📖

and mentally reviewed my objectives. I would need to familiarize myself with the campus, learn Penny’s general schedule and habits, and assess the risk of discovery from instructors and students at the college. It was a big day.

Once my food arrived, I was surprised at how it was prepared. It looked nothing like my people’s eggs, usually just raw or heated slightly in the shell. These had no shell at all and were a single color in fluffy mounds. They had a strong odor, and for a moment, I questioned whether or not I was bold enough to eat something that created such a stench.

I’d always loved eggs, however, so I took a piece between my fingers and brought it to my lips. As soon as the jiggly mass hit my tongue, I regretted it. Pressure rose in my throat and my body involuntarily pushed the bite from my mouth. It landed with a plop onto my plate, and the noise that came from deep down alerted many of the guests to my episode.

My eyes opened wide as I regarded all of the attention in the restaurant. I slumped down in my chair and looked at the other things on the plate. There were crispy brown strips and golden triangles with something melted on them. The eggs were absolutely revolting, but these other things might be alright.

Each of them was salty, fatty, and delicious, and my focus on them slowly replaced the embarrassment of my scene. Between bites of the oily, crunchy meat product and crisp, fatty triangles, I looked around the restaurant to see if anyone was still watching me. It seemed that everyone had moved on with their meals.

The views were quite interesting: an old man with graying hair drinking cup after cup of dark liquid and staring ahead in deep thought, children playing with brightly colored toys and making noises mimicking their real life functions, and the hefty woman asking questions, smiling, scowling, and stretching her body in between conversations.

But, my favorite was the couple; the way they showed their teeth with their lips spread across their faces, how they tilted their heads and displayed their most vulnerable parts, the constant physical touch of hands to face to arms to chest to thighs. There was something to it beyond just a mating ritual. Their connection was palpable. I revisited the spectacle over and over again as I ate, taking mental notes.

Chapter 7

O

n campus, I’d planned to attend some courses, but my device buzzed with a message from Penny as soon as I’d arrived.

Penny: Want to get lunch?

Natalie: Yes. Where should we meet?

Penny: I’m at the commons on campus. Meet me here?

Natalie: Yes. I will be there soon.

Even though I’d not attended classes, I’d walked the campus in the past week, so I knew how to find the ‘commons’. I walked to the central building and there was another prickle on my neck just like the one earlier. I placed my hand against the skin. The fine hairs there were raised. I had the strange sensation that someone was watching me, but there was no evidence to support it. Many people surrounded me, but no one paid me any special attention. As I approached Penny outside the doors of the common area, I put the fear away for another time.

For this meal, I insisted that I pay, but I still let her choose what we had. Rather than a flaky confection, we had a collection of whole plant matter with a sauce on top. She called it a burrito bowl. I was delighted to find that it was as delicious as it was colorful.

The conversation was every bit as pleasant and thought-provoking as the previous two had been, and I found that Penny laughed easily and exhibited warm body language toward me by revealing her neck and chest and even placing her hand on my forearm a few times. Having not had any experience with mating practices personally, I was nervous that I’d need to perform more reciprocation, but at that point, light touch and smiling seemed to be enough. And, the skin-to-skin was clearly having its effect.

After we ate, Penny showed me a few of her favorite spots near campus. A candy shop full of treats was the first stop. From the floor to the ceiling were neon sweets and what she called chocolates. She pointed and described several as ‘to die for’.

Next door was a clothing store full up with bright adornments of all kinds that Penny pointed out saying that if I needed a coat for when things got windy, I could get one there. I made a mental note to check into ‘coats’ as a possible vital piece of clothing.

Lastly, we ended up in a small area filled with flora: incredibly tall trees; soft, green tendrils of plant-life on the ground; colorful blooms. She took off her shoes as we stepped onto the soft ground, and as soon as I mimicked the behavior with my own boots, I understood. It was soft on the bottom of my tender feet.

We walked to a quiet spot and sat there and talked more. She told me about her dream of taking care of people and shared that her mother had been a nurse before she’d passed away. She deeply regretted having no skills to use in support of her dying mother and had clearly decided to pursue penance in her career. Her eyes had startling sincerity in them as she spoke.

It moved me to take her hand, and I was surprised to hear myself say, “You’re a good person, Penny.”

Her cheeks got hot and pink, and she looked away from me for a moment. I was afraid I’d upset her, so I opened my mouth to find an appropriate response. But, before I could, she looked up at me, placed my hand over her heart, and leaned forward, letting her lids close.

Her lips pressed lightly against mine. I closed my eyes. Even