Man Like Me

Penelope stood grumpily under her umbrella as she reached the train station and kept wondering how the weather could change like that when she felt someone stop next to her.

“Good morning!” His voice was cheerful and it brought an immediately smiled to her lips as she glanced up at his face.

“Good morning.” She replied as she searched for her pass while Robert waited patiently beside her. Then they walked side by side through the platform and sat next to each other inside the train.

“Did you have fun yesterday?” Robert asked.

“Yes, I did. I was at a friend’s house, I hadn’t seen her in a long time.” Penelope smiled as she was staring at the pouring rain sliding down the window “What about you?” She asked, glancing towards Robert, their eyes meeting.

The tension between them was elevating at each word and breath. Both were trying to be civil and pretend that everything was alright.

“I had fun too.” Robert said losing his concentration because Penelope’s sweet smile was distracting him.

Silence took over them and it was driving them nuts to not be able to act normally with the only person they wanted to.

“How’s your story going?” Robert said finally being able to come up with a subject.

“Not that good.” Penelope frowned “I love writing that’s not my problem, I’m just not that inspired.”

Robert tried not to show his pleased smile as he heard her say that she loved to write. She was beginning to sound too perfect but he had already surrendered completely to her.

“Well, have you tried listening to music? Maybe being influenced by a book?” He asked using his personal experience.

“Yes but I’m not satisfied with what I’ve written.” Penelope said.

“Well, tomorrow is a holiday. What do you think about having dinner in my house tonight? I would like to read what you’ve written so far and maybe give some ideas.” Robert asked smiling brightly, completely aware that he had just invited her to have dinner in his house.

Penelope seemed to freeze for a few seconds. She liked men who took initiative and Robert seemed to have that quality, she just never expected him to be this blunt.

“Really? I don’t want to cause you any trouble.” She said smiling nervously but who was she kidding? Deep down she wanted to see his house and have dinner with him but she was also nervous, she was just terrified of ruining everything.

“Trouble? Nonsense!” Robert chuckled “It’ll be fun!”



As the afternoon arrived, heavy rain fell over the Capital and Penelope arrived to the train station soaking wet and shivering because, due to the wind, her umbrella broke. Once Robert spotted her, he walked straight to her and took off his jacket, placing it over her shoulders in an attempt to keep her warm.

“Aren’t you cold?” She asked as he looked into her eyes.

“I’ll be fine.” He smiled as she snuggled more against the warmth of his jacket and he observed her amusedly as small drips of water fell from the tips of her hair.

“This weather makes me sleepy.” Penelope said as they were sitting the train and he shut down from his thoughts due to her voice.

“If you’re tired, you can sleep on my arm.” He said softly as she smiled at him and snuggled closer to him.

He felt a little weight on his shoulder as she rested her head against it and intertwined her arm with his. As she drifted into light sleep, he grabbed her hand barely believing that they were this close. His heart was beating fast, he was almost sure that she would be able to feel it but it didn’t matter. The smile on her lips made it all worth it because he was also smiling as happily as ever.



“Penelope…” Robert whispered softly as Penelope opened her eyes, having a close-up of his face and realizing how perfect and beautiful he really was. His two-day beard gave him such charm and the smile on his lips was irresistible.

They got out of the carriage and Penelope gave Robert’s jacket back.

“Do you want me to pick you up?” Robert asked.

“That’d be great. Around 7:45pm?” She asked as he nodded affirmatively and she walked off towards her house.



“Where are you going?” Penelope’s mom asked as Penelope was putting on a new set of clothes.

“To a friend’s house.” Penelope replied.

“For what?” Her mother inquired.

“For a college project, mom. I already told you.” Penelope said attempting to keep her tone normal when she was in fact getting impatient. She hated when her mom started making a lot of questions and now wasn’t a good time for questions. If Penelope told her mom the truth about Robert, her mom would probably give her some lecture about being more careful about who she hangs out with.

“Alright. Is he or she picking you up?”

“Yes.”

“Is it Kyle?” Her mom asked a bit excited.

“Mom, I already told you about that. That name is NOT to be mentioned in my presence.” Penelope snarled at the thought of even saying Kyle’s name. As promised, he had never spoken to her again since the day Robert punched him but Penelope didn’t want to recall what Kyle had said or anything related to him.

Penelope’s mom threw her hands in the air and walked off silently to the kitchen. A honk was heard and Penelope grabbed all the drafts and sheets of paper she had written and left her house. As promised, Robert was outside waiting for her in his car.

Inside he was listening to U2, which immediately impressed Penelope who was going her best to not sing along as they enjoyed the songs during the car ride. Robert took about 20 minutes to reach his house and Penelope was genuinely impressed by it. It was isolated but beautiful and not far from the lake. As he parked the car inside of the garage, she slowly got out of it and observed everything around the house.

Robert waited patiently for her as she followed him inside his house and once she entered she was even more astonished. Robert definitely had money and his house definitely had his signature everywhere. Robert chuckled as he guided her towards the living room.

“Choose anything you’d like, while I finish the last details alright?” He said as he handed Penelope the task of picking what they were going to listen to. As he left, she took the opportunity to observe the living room. It had a fireplace, a plasma tv, about 4 couches, a black fluffy carpet, a big window with a view into the forest, a giant book case and a beautiful black piano. As Penelope roamed through Robert’s CD collection she quickly found that he was a big fan of Classic Music, justlike her, so she picked Chopin.

The soft piano melody reached the kitchen and Robert grinned as he started taking the plates to the table and peeked to see that Penelope was sitting by the piano, staring at the keys.

“Dinner’s ready.” He said as she looked at him and entered the dining room.

As dinner started both of them thought about what they wanted to ask each other but both were embarrassed of seeming inappropriate.

“Robert?” Penelope called as she found him looking at her from across the table.

“Yes?” He asked, his husky and deep voice sounding extremely appealing to her.

“I don’t mean to seem or sound nosy nor inappropriate but there are so many things I want to know about you.” Penelope said tilting her head to the side a bit as Robert was washed by a wave of relief, his curiosity was mutual.

“Ask away then.” He smiled, encouraging her.

“Why do you take the train every day at that time?” She asked.

“I go to the Capital everyday to spend the day with my parents. Unfortunately, they are in a nursing home but I go there every day to walk around the city with them, have lunch, share memories… you know, normal things.” He said with a soft smile as he remembered his parents smiling faces and fantasized about what they would think if they met Penelope as his girlfriend.

“Then, what’s your profession?” Penelope asked “It’s just that I noticed that you have a lot of books around from famous authors and you know so much about literature, about music and about the world.”

“I’m a professor.” Robert said without flinching. He wasn’t technically lying because he had studied to be a Literature professor, even though, he hadn’t taught for more than 10 years because he preferred to be a writer.

Penelope was sincerely surprised as she took a bite from the steak in front of her “How old are you?”

Robert chuckled “33 years old.”

“Girlfriend?” She asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to be sure.

“No.” He replied without hesitation and with a smirk.

“Children?” Penelope asked.

“No.” Robert said as his gaze travelled to his plate. Children were still a bit of a painful subject to him because, deep down, one of his biggest wishes was to be a father someday.

“Your turn.” Penelope encouraged as Robert stopped eating and took his glass of wine in his hands, playing with it.

“How old are you?” He smiled.

“26 years old.” Penelope said.

“Boyfriend?” Robert asked looking at her intently, that was the question on his mind constantly.

“No.” She said not afraid to look him in the eyes with the same intensity.

“Who do you live with?”

“With my mom.” Penelope replied as Robert took a zip from his wine.

As they smiled at each other, Penelope finished eating and Robert kept looking at her as he seemed lost in thought.

“Robert?” She called, smiling as he blinked and stood up. Penelope stood up as well and started helping clean the table and as she brushed past him in the kitchen, she realized that she needed to talk about the kiss.

“Listen I-…” She started looking at the floor first but then finding the courage to look him in the eyes. She was leaning against a counter and Robert was right in front of her leaning against another counter. “About the… the kiss.” She said as he didn’t flinch or blink. “I hope you didn’t get a bad impression of me.”

“Quite honestly, I would kiss you right now.” Robert said as Penelope widened her eyes and he smirked slightly “But I won’t because I respect you and I want to do things right.” Robert explained.

Penelope smiled tenderly and started laughing “For a moment there, I was afraid you would think bad things about me.” She said covering her mouth with her hand.

“Why would I? We both did it consciously, I have no regrets.”

“Me neither.”

“Let’s get some desert then?” Robert smiled as he opened his fridge, barely able to hide the fact that he was excited but also nervous. Fortunately, he was able to pass the image that he was very relaxed and cool but deep down he was on fire and a ball of energy about to explode.

After they ate brownies, Robert sat on the couch while Penelope preferred to sit in the carpet. She took her laptop out and handed Robert about 20 separate pieces of drafts and scraps, and as he was looking through them he found a picture of a man holding a baby.

“Penelope?” He asked as she looked up and gasped taking the photo from his hands.

“It’s me and my dad… Wherever I’m having trouble with something I like to look at this picture.” She said with a weak smile.

Robert took a deep breath and sat down in front of her in the carpet. “If you ever want to talk about your father with anyone, you can trust me.” He reassured her as she kept staring at the picture.

“The thing is, I can’t talk about him with my mom and that hurts me a lot.” She said pouting as her grasp on the picture got a bit tighter “She hates him so much and she never told me why. Part of me always believed that she hated him for dying but how could she? That doesn’t make any sense to me because I needed him more, we were so alike and so attached and I still love him. I will always love him, no matter how lonely I feel for him not being around.”

Robert sat there simply listening to all the sorrow and sadness in her voice. He found himself understanding how lonely she really was and he didn’t want her to feel like that anymore.
“You’re not alone.” He whispered as he embraced her tightly against his chest and caressed her cheek softly.