Penny thought that she might rather like being called Duck even more than Cupcake. But maybe it was just because it was Jack who was saying it and she loved how he spoke. She pinked up under his regard and couldn’t quite meet his gaze. But for all that she was flustered and off-center from her belated revelation Penny couldn’t say the regard was unwelcome, just unexpected and something she had no practice at. Medea had been the pretty one, not moon-faced Penny and so she’d never really had to grow accustomed to that sort of thing. She couldn’t meet his eyes and so took the moment to look him over. He looked nice, he’d clearly dressed for the occasion which made her feel a twinge of guilt that she, A) hadn’t realized it was a date and B) hadn’t dressed for the occasion. She was wearing her work clothing, her apron still for crying out loud and she probably smelled like food. That just wouldn’t do, he was too sweet to not make an effort for. 

She looked back to Hob as he took a big bite of his sandwich and thought that he rather fit his name. “We’ll let you eat then.” 

She shyly slipped her arm through Jack’s before saying to Hob, “It was nice to meet you. Come back tomorrow, I’m making snickerdoodles!” 

Then she turned to Jack and licked her lips nervously. 

“Do you mind if we stroll back to my place.” She seemed to realize what she was saying and hurried to correct herself, her cheeks flaming as a result of her slip-up, she was a good girl. 
“I mean, I just want to change. There’s a nice little lounge not far off from my room you can wait in, I promise I won’t be long.” 

She walked towards the entrance she’d come into, keeping her arm linked with Jack’s. Then as she stepped through her harried morning flight to the kitchen came back to her and she realized she was hopelessly lost. 

“Um…” she began, hoping that this clever handyman knew his way around the ship better than she did. “You don’t happen to know how to get to sector B do you? I’m in unit 117 but I’m afraid I got a little lost coming in this morning and am not certain I can even get back there…”