Chapter Text
SILHOUETTE CHALLENGE
by: tweety-src-clt9
Chapter One
“Happy 28th birthday you hot single bitch!” Eloise lifted her flute cheerfully as she greeted the celebrant, Penelope Featherington.
“Eloise!” Penelope chastised but her blue eyes were sparkling with mirth.
“Come on, Pen, it’s 2019, not the Regency Era. Spinster is out and hot single bitch is in,” her best friend winked.
“I agree. You are successful, beautiful, and have your whole life ahead of you, Pen. Don’t listen to your mama,” Daphne Basset seconded.
“To Penelope Featherington!” Hyacinth and Francesca raised their flutes and Penelope could only roll her eyes as she too lifted her glass of champagne.
“So… speaking of hot single bitches, you have plans to shag anyone tonight or maybe date someone?” Eloise had a devilish glint in her eyes that reminded Penelope of Colin, the wanderlust older brother, and the birthday girl’s secret (or maybe not so secret) crush.
“Oh, El! You know I have a book deadline coming soon. Who’s got time for dandy bachelors, ” she imitated her fake Maggie Smith voice on the last two words which made her friends giggle.
“I have got just the thing!” Hyacinth smirked as she passed her phone to Eloise and Daphne. The two older Bridgertons looked at some sort of video, glanced at Penelope, and then they had naughty gleams in their eyes.
“We dare you to do the silhouette challenge! That should be enough to make any dandy bachelor drool,” Eloise announced while Daph and Hy wiggled their eyebrows mischievously as they stared at her.
“What is that?” she eyed her friends warily.
“Oh, I’ve heard about that from Michael,” Francesca’s eyes sparkled with naughtiness.
“Well?” Penelope feigned nonchalance but deep inside she was nervous. She could feel her palms start to get sweaty.
“Here ya go!” Hy passed her phone over with a singsong voice.
Penelope saw that Hy’s screen was showing TikTok. So, she clicked play.
She gulped.
There was no way in bloody hell that she could do this challenge!
It started off with the first line of the old song “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” by Paul Anka with the person on video wearing loose and even funny clothes. And then, the lyrics get cut off with some sort of sexy instrumental sound playing. The lights are made red and the person on the video poses sensually with the silhouette of their bodies highlighted.
No fucking way!
“No! No! No! No! No!” Penelope shook her head vehemently as she returned the phone.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” El and Fran countered cheekily. Daph only smiled with feigned innocence and Hy winked.
“I most certainly will not!” she knew her face was all red right now.
“Come on! It will be fun. Besides, it will damn show your mama what a gorgeous woman you are. I’m sure even Felicity would agree if only she could come here with us,” Hy added. Felicity was forced by her mama to stay at home so she could entertain a potential suitor. Hence, she wasn’t able to join them for Girls Night Out.
Listening to Hy’s explanation, Penelope thought she had a point. Her mother always made her feel like she was the odd one out amongst her siblings – the short, fat, unattractive, too smart for her own good, and sure spinster in the making. Hell, even at the ripe age of 28, her mama thinks of her as a spinster!
Despite Hyacinth’s point, she wasn’t fully persuaded yet. The video was too daring after all and way beyond her comfort zone. So, if she would do this, she wanted a challenge of her own. Her friends, all of them, would also do a birthday dare this year. Turnabout is fair play and all that.
Before she could offer her counterproposal, her phone vibrated indicating a text message. She was about to ignore it when she saw the picture on the screen. It was a zoomed-in face of the ever-handsome Colin Bridgerton giving his signature kicked puppy pout.
So, she picked up her phone to read the message unaware of the knowing glint in her friends’ eyes.
Colin: Happy birthday to my favorite girl! <3
She smiled as she typed her reply.
Pen: Thanks, Col. XOXO
There were three dots on her screen so she waited for his reply.
Colin: Did my presents arrive in time? *pouty emoji*
She giggled. Indeed, they did! She received a bouquet of tulips, her favorite box of chocolates, and a teddy bear from Colin just this morning. There was even a handwritten letter from him. He was sweet like that.
Pen: Yes, they did. Thank you 😊
Colin: Yay!
Pen: Shouldn’t you be asleep by now, Col?
Colin: Yep. Just wanted to make sure you got my gifts though. 😉
Colin: Keep Col warm. He does love his cuddles *bear emoji*
Pen: I’ll keep Col warm, no worries.
Colin: Don’t have too much fun with my rascal sisters *angry emoji*
Pen: Sure, dad. *eye roll emoji*
Colin: I mean it, little Pen 😉
Pen: Good night, Col.
Colin: Night, luv XOXO
“Ahem! You done?” Eloise smirked.
“It’s just Colin,” she shrugged. She tried to act cool as if it were nothing, but she was not certain they believed her feigned nonchalance.
“What did he say?” Fran inquired.
“He just checked if I got his package in time,” she smiled shyly.
“Oooh! What did he get you?” Hy leaned closer as if awaiting salacious gossip.
“Tulips, chocolates, and a teddy bear.”
Eloise snorted. “He likes you better than us for sure. We only get electronic gift cards from him.”
“You’re just jealous, El. You know Colin likes his little Pen more than you,” Fran teased.
“No! It’s not like that! He’s just – he’s thankful I edit his travel books ‘is all,” she insisted.
“Puh-lease! He’s paying you for professional services, which he ought to, AND you get gifts. Favoritism if you ask me,” El rolled her eyes.
“He’s just being nice. I’m like his little sister that’s all, literally with him being so tall and all,” she grinned.
“Sure…” the Bridgerton sisters chorused.
Penelope rolled her eyes. The Bridgerton sisters, along with Kate and Sophie, wives of Anthony and Benedict, always had it in their heads that Colin fancied her. Nothing could be further from the truth. Colin liked tall leggy skinny women, well at least she remembered him dating girls like that in her teenage years. So, it was clear he was just being friendly. She understood how grateful he was for her help in his books. He even dedicated the first book to her. Even now, it always made her heart flutter when she recalled his dedication page in the first installment of his books. It simply said, “To my little Pen – my brilliant siren of the written word.”
“Argh! Colin is so annoying!” her musings were interrupted with Eloise’s mutterings.
“Argh!” the other Bridgerton sisters also expressed their exasperation.
“What’s wrong?” she inquired.
“He texted us saying we should drop you off your flat before midnight. What are you a child?” El rolled her eyes.
“I think it’s kinda sweet,” Daph said smiling at her.
“Sweet, my arse. He’s acting like her daddy!” Fran huffed.
“You mean daddy as in father or in the kinky sense?” Hy smirked.
“Hyacinth Bridgerton!” Daph’s scolding voice resembled that of Violet’s.
“There’s more to you than meets the eye, Hy,” El winked at their youngest sister.
“Kids these days,” Fran rolled her eyes.
Penelope knew that they would be pressing her about her friendship with Colin so she just blurted out, “I’ll do the Silhouette Dare but you all have to do birthday dares as well!”
The Bridgerton sisters looked at each other with sly smirks. Eloise held out her hand first and the rest followed. Penelope placed her palm on top of theirs as they chorused, “deal.”
“Too bad Sophie is pregnant, and Kate needs to care for little Edmund. Sure, would be fun if they were in this with us,” Daph remarked.
“Oh, we’ll get them to join. Those two need to get away from our brothers from time to time after all,” El winked.
And with that, Penelope Featherington could only listen to the details of her Silhouette Challenge video.
One week later...
Colin Bridgerton was bloody annoyed that his phone was buzzing like crazy this morning. After yesterday’s fun-filled exploration of the underwater sea cave in Kythera, he just wanted to spend a longer time in bed in his hotel room. But no! Whatever this was, it must be important since his phone was buzzing nonstop and he couldn’t just ignore it now.
“Bloody hell!” he grumbled as he fumbled about for his phone. Finally gripping the annoying thing, he opened his phone and scrolled the notifications.
“What the fuck!” his social media was going crazy. It seemed like he was tagged by his many fuckboy friends to one TikTok post. He also noticed Benedict and Anthony dropping DMs on Instagram.
Ignoring social media, he looked at his texts first.
Theo Sharpe: Dude! You have to set me up with your hot friend! (*link to TikTok*)
“Horny git!” he supported his friends’ rakish ways but really? Asking him to set them up was just annoying and presumptuous. As if he had the bloody time!
He clicked on the link anyway just so he could see what the fuss is about.
And then, he was shocked.
It was a bloody link to his little Pen’s TikTok page.
The new video was posted ten hours ago, and it already had more than 30k views with lots of shares, likes, and comments.
“What in the world!” he grumbled.
For my 28th birthday, I was dared by my girlfriends @elbridge @hybridge @daphbass @franbridge to do the #SilhouetteChallenge. This is bloody embarrassing but it’s all good fun in the name of #friendship #girlsquad #dares #neverdoingthisagain
“Good god!” he already felt his face going hot. He knew what the Silhouette Challenge was. Every red-blooded male on social media knew all about it!
“No way!” he growled. I’m fucking killing my sisters!
The thumbnail seemed innocent with his Pen looking cute in a loose flowy dress. Closing his free hand in a fist to restrain his anger, he pressed play on the video.
There was Pen, smiling shyly at the camera, her eyes nervous but there was a glint of mischief there. She never said no to any challenge despite her shyness after all. She spun around, her dress flowing in a circle, and then she laughed as she walked back to the corridor.
And then the bloody line Put Your Head On My Shoulder changed…
“Good god!” his voice cracked in rage and arousal as the red filter was on and his little Pen sensually leaned on the wall. Her glorious curves all on display for the bloody world to see.
“Fuck!”
He was bloody pissed and jealous and angry and so aroused that he almost threw his phone to crash on the hotel’s walls. But he didn’t. He was a guy after all.
He watched the video one more time, took a screenshot of his favorite part, and exited the TikTok app.
The first thing he did was send his now nemesis, Theo Sharpe, a bloody text.
Colin: Fuck off, Theo. She’s MINE.
“Bastard!” he growled angrily.
The next thing he did was to call his agent to cancel the rest of his schedule in Greece claiming that he needed to return to London for an emergency.
It’s an emergency alright. I waited years for my Pen to grow up. I won’t let some bastard steal her away.
The next day…
Penelope Featherington could only grab her robe so she could quickly cover her sleepwear as she groggily exited her bedroom to open the door to her apartment. Whoever it was, they better have a good reason for interrupting her slumber. She was up late last night writing her last three chapters, dammit!
The knocking was even more furious now that she hurried her footsteps. Surely this must be an emergency.
She quickly undid the locks and opened the door expecting the worst.
Instead, she could only stand there, with her jaw dropping as she opened the door to a very angry-looking Colin Bridgerton.
“Col! Is everything alright?” she was worried. She had never seen him like this.
His eyes roamed all over her face and then down to her body with such intensity that she gulped. What in the world is going on?
“Penelope,” he said huskily.
“Yes?” she managed a whisper.
“We need to talk,” he was all seriousness.
Oh no! Maybe I made a major editing mistake!
“About?” she stepped back.
“Tell me what I need to do so that you’ll consent to be my wife.”
Say what?