Man Like Me

That night Penelope was particularly undecided about what to wear, she would meet Robert in the next day and actually spend the afternoon with him but she didn’t know where they were going. Nevertheless, she finally made up her mind and went to bed.

“Where is she?” Robert wondered as he sat on the train. There wasn’t a sign of Penelope so Robert decided that what he had to do in the capital wasn’t that important so he stepped out of the train and just waited for her in the station. He knew that she had to show up.

Penelope woke up and stretched her arms lazily, then she rolled to her belly and glanced at her alarm clock and she realized that she was 2 hours late. She gasped, widened her eyes and got up in a jump as she ran to the bathroom, got dressed and ran to catch the bus.

Robert had been sitting on a bench for 3 hours now. “Maybe she got sick…” He wondered and sighed as he felt a slightly cool breeze brush his face. He knew some people had stared at him but he didn’t really care, he was beginning to worry about Penelope.

“Robert!” His head turned immediately towards the source of the sound and he spotted Penelope running down the platform to meet him. Once she reached him, she was smiling and breathing quickly as she tried to regain her breath.

“What happened?” Robert chuckled as he stood up.

“I fell asleep.” Penelope said with a side-ways smile that resembled a smile that a small kid would give you, after he messed up.

“Are you still going to the Capital?” Robert asked as he glanced at his wristwatch.

“No, I’ve missed 2 classes and the others aren’t that important. Do you want to join me for lunch? I haven’t eaten anything yet.” Penelope said straightening and noticing for the first time that Robert was taller than her. As they were standing face to face, she noticed that her forehead easily reached his nose.

“Yes, that’s fine by me. Where do you want to go?” Robert asked as they started walking side by side.

“Hm…” Penelope thought, biting her lower lip. Robert found this little habit of her extremely cute and sexy. “Do you like Italian food? I know this place near the beach.” Penelope suggested.

“I love Italian! Let’s go then.” Robert said excitedly as Penelope smiled and led him into a traditional Italian restaurant right in front of the beach. The day wasn’t especially warm, it was actually a bit windy, but the sun was shining so the sight of the beach was perfect.

Surprisingly the conversation between them was flowing easily and nicely, and as Penelope took a ribbon from her bag to tie her hair, Robert noticed a necklace on her neck but hidden inside her blouse. Then something else caught his attention: her hair. If he could he would rip that ribbon right out of her hair, he preferred her hair loosen and brushing to the wind, it gave her such mystique.

“Robert?” Penelope called, as she laughed, while waving her hand in front of his face. He seemed to awaken and smiled widely as she came back to gazing at the ocean. “I missed the beach.” She said as her eyes seemed to sparkle.

“Have you always lived here?” Robert asked.

“Yes, I was born here. What about you?”

“I lived in New York for a long time but then I moved here, about 6-7 years ago.” Robert explained as Penelope’s gaze focused on him.

“I’ve never been to New York. I bet it’s wonderful.” Penelope smiled.

“Well, it is a unique city.” Robert chuckled as he finally got the courage to ask what he was dying to know “Penelope… what is that around your neck?”

Penelope blinked and smiled warmly. He was really the first person asking her about the necklace, none of her friends had ever noticed it or had the courage to ask her about it. So Penelope decided to carefully take the necklace from inside her blouse and removed it. Then she handed it to Robert “It was a gift from my dad.” She explained, her tone lowering. Robert noticed it was a painful subject.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring back memories…” Robert trailed off but Penelope looked at him softly.

“Don’t be sorry. It’s good to be able to talk about my father with someone.” Penelope smiled as Robert examined the necklace in his hand and then stood up.

Penelope watched him intently as he went behind her and carefully placed the necklace around her neck. For an instant they were so close, that she could smell is perfume while he could smell her hair, which smelled like heaven in his mind.

“You can talk to me about everything you want.” He said once he sat in front of her.

She became slightly emotional as an enormous weight seemed to be removed from her shoulders. Even though, the mood was comfortable Penelope chose not to talk about her father because she wanted the lunch to be as cheerful as possible.

“On another topic, I had some ideas for the story.” Penelope said more cheerfully as she took 5 books from her bag and showed them to Robert. Ironically enough, a book by Tony Stark was there, one of his first publications. When Robert saw it, he smirked.

It was “Sherlock Holmes”, a character Robert loved but who he had to abandon because the books stopped selling. Ironically enough, Robert had written 7 books for Sherlock Holmes and only three got approval to be published. He still kept all the drafts and lately he had found himself going back to writing in the skin of Holmes. Maybe because Robert wished he was as charming and persuasive as Holmes. Robert smirked even wider when he realized that his fictional character was probably more interesting than him.



After lunch, Robert and Penelope walked a bit along the beach until they found the stairs that led into the sand. The stairs were made of wood and they were old but the beach was completely empty and they decided to sit there.

They sat with the water only a few feet away from them and the peace there was immense. Penelope and Robert ended up staying on the stairs until sun set, just talking. They were both feeling strangely happy.

“Oh damn it! I’m sorry, but I need to go.” Penelope pouted. “I’m babysitting tonight.”

“Well I can drop you off where you need to be.” Robert offered. Penelope smiled and nodded as Robert stood up and then offered her his hand instinctively.

Penelope didn’t even realize what she was doing when she grabbed his hand and he pushed her softly making her stumble against him, his arm going instantly around her waist so she wouldn’t fall backwards and their bodies collided slightly, remaining in contact for a few seconds. They quickly pulled apart, blushing, with their hearts beating fast as they fixed their clothes.

“Which one of these is your car?” Penelope asked as they arrived at a parking lot.

“That one.” Robert pointed as Penelope swallowed the lump in her throat. His car was expensive and he seemed to treasure it. Robert wasn’t a big money spender but he loved cars and motorcycles, so in those he was capable of spending large amounts of money.

“Are you babysitting at your house?” Robert asked once they reached Penelope’s house.

“Actually, no. I’m babysitting at the child’s house, the parents are only going out for dinner.” Penelope explained.

“Well, then I can wait and drive you there.” Robert offered.

“Really? I don’t mean to bug you…” Penelope said as she blushed a bit. “And I’m going to take a while. W-… Would you like to get in?”

Silence took over the car as Penelope immediately regretted the invitation. She looked at the floor in shame as Robert was almost bursting with happiness, the thing is that he was particularly good at hiding his emotions.

“I’d be delighted. Let me just park the car.”

Penelope raised her head at his answer and couldn’t help but smiled genuinely.

“Alright, do you want to take anything?” Penelope said as she led Robert into the living room. “Coffee? Tea? Or any other drink, you can check the bar if you prefer. Or maybe food? My mom baked a cake yesterday.” Penelope said realized that she was rambling and then shutting up, mentally slapping herself for looking stupid.

“Don’t worry.” Robert said, always smiling at her. It seemed like nothing she did made him have a different image of her. Her rambling was cute to him, he knew he could make her feel nervous but she showed it more than him. The truth was that his palms were sweating insanely and he was just afraid of screwing everything up. “I’m fine. Take your time.” Robert said as Penelope chuckled and crossed the hallway to her room.
Her house was medium size and Robert noticed that pictures of her were everywhere so she was obvious an only child, who apparently only lived with her mother. The house smelled of wonderful cooking and it was very simple. Suddenly, Robert noticed the piano in the corner of the living room and he approached it happily and stood there staring at it’s beauty.

“That’s my mom’s.” Penelope said startling Robert a bit.

“Do you play?” Robert said.

“Only a bit. I prefer to hear others play. Do you like the piano?”

“Very much.” Robert smiled, glancing at the piano again, touching the top of it smoothly with his fingertips. “Well we better go.” He said suddenly realizing that Penelope was staring at him amusedly and he smiled at her as they left her house.

As they reached the babysitting house, Robert got out of the car and walked with Penelope to the door. HiHis palms were sweating and he was trying to get a way to, first of all, calm down and then say goodbye properly.

“Here we are.” Robert said faking enthusiasm. If he could, he would spend the whole day with Penelope, it would be wonderful.

“Thanks for today.” Penelope said blushing but with a genuine smile.

Robert couldn’t help but to melt into her smile and smile back. Then she bit her bottom lip and hugged him softly. This time, Robert didn’t hesitate. He hugged her tightly to his chest, feeling her breathing against his neck as he felt her chest brushing against his. Penelope wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head in his shoulder, she felt extremely protected and loved in his embrace. She didn’t want to let him go but sadly, she had to.