Man Like Me

For the next two months, Penelope and Robert kept having regular coffees, the friendship grew between them but the most interesting part was that both of them were falling in love and trying to ignore it. The attraction was mutual, both physically and psychologically, and they kept making excuses in their heads to why the other would never love them.

“Honey!” Penelope’s mother called, making Penelope lift her eyes from her copy of “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”.

“Yes?” She replied.

“Kyle’s on the phone.” Her mom yelled as Penelope sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Give him an excuse!” Penelope shouted, getting immediately angrier.

Since that day on the Theater, that Penelope had never spoken to Kyle again and she hadn’t missed him. Actually, she had realized that she was probably better off without him.

“Honey, it’s time for you to settle this. He’s been calling everyday…” Penelope glared at the door and stood up with conviction. She hated when her mother seemed to defend her friends more than she defended her own daughter.

Penelope went down the hall and picked up the phone “What do you want?” She asked in an unfriendly tone. She didn’t want to talk to Kyle, she just wanted to stay in her room reading quietly.

“Oh hey.” She immediately noticed that by his tone of voice, something was wrong and he was probably going to plead for forgiveness. “Are you busy?”

“Yes, I have college stuff to do.” Penelope said rolling her eyes.

“I won’t take much of your time. Please, Lope.” Kyle said softly.

“Where are you?” Penelope said glaring as she glanced through the small hole in her door and saw him there. “What the hell are you doing here?!” She yelled opening the door at once.

“Lope…” He drifted off, widening his eyes at the way she had just come out of her house. “I’m so sorry, please I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He said.

“Kyle, our friendship has been changing for the past year. How many times have you come to my house to apologize? How many times did I wait for you on your faculty for us to talk?” Penelope inquired.

“A lot.”

“Yes, a lot of times. We always go back to this.” Penelope said crossing her arms over her chest. She had a soft heart and she was dying to forgive him.

Kyle sighed and then grabbed Penelope’s arms “Listen, Lope. You are my best friend in this whole world. Please, give me one more chance. If I screw up, you don’t need to talk to me ever again.”

Penelope stared into his eyes with conviction and Kyle knew her. Penelope is an extremely patient person, she will sacrifice for others but when enough is enough, she can act like if the other person is simply dead to her.

“I even brought your jacket.” Kyle smiled playfully. Penelope’s expression didn’t change and he pulled her into a tight hug “Please… just one more chance.”

“Fine. If you screw this up, I’ll never talk to you again.” Penelope said smiling weakly as Kyle smiled widely and picked her easily in his arms.

After that Kyle left with the promise that tomorrow he would take Penelope to the beach. Then Penelope told her mother that she was going to bed but she lied, she just went to her room, turned the lights off and opened her curtains. From her window she could see the back of her house, which was a small garden her mother had created. As Penelope sat there, tears started falling down her cheeks as she remembered how happy she once was because of Kyle.

Kyle and Penelope became friends almost 13 years ago. They clicked immediately but nothing ever happened between them until college. In the first party amongst all the faculties, through Cat’s influence, Penelope ended up making out with Kyle and losing her virginity to him. Penelope wasn’t a religious person but now she regretted having lost her virginity to an asshole. The moment wasn’t special at all and after that he just continued to act like if nothing happened, even though, Penelope was sure that he remembered.

Penelope let her tears run down her cheeks as she thought about why she was so weak and stupid. Why she came back to the same mistake, why she kept forgiving him. But one thing, she was sure: she didn’t love him. There was a time in which she felt attracted to him and when she possibly had a crush but now she was sure that her feelings for him were, even hardly, friendship and that no matter what, they had this kind of bond. She was in love with someone else but she didn’t even dare say his name in her mind but it brought an immediate smile to her lips.



In the next day, Penelope felt like riding her bicycle so she told Kyle that they would meet at the beach. As she arrived, she left her bicycle near a restaurant she knew, when suddenly she heard a soft panting coming towards her. Penelope raised her eyebrows and then smiled widely as she saw small Jarvis running in her direction, Penelope bent down and picked him in her arms as he licked her face.

The strange thing is that dogs never seemed to like her as much as Jarvis did.

“It’s incredible how he always manages to find you.”

“Hey Robert!” Penelope smiled widely as Robert stood there with swimming shorts and a shirt. He was smirking widely as he stared at Penelope for a second. She was wearing a pair of tight jean shorts and a top.

“So what are you doing here?” Robert asked as Penelope set Jarvis down and played around with him.

“Expecting some friends and then beach time.” Penelope grinned when suddenly a horn honked right next to her making her jump slightly. She turned around to face Kyle’s jeep and the window rolled down.

“Hey.” He said seeming upset, as he looked Robert from head to toe and then gave Penelope a disgusted look. At the same time Penelope noticed that his jeep was full of other people.

“Hey.” Penelope said, feeling her chest being to ache. She honestly wasn’t ready for a big disappointment because she wanted to blindly believe that Kyle had been honest last night. But most of all, she was hating the way Kyle was eyeing Robert.

“Who is he after all?” Kyle asked minding to use no matters at all.

Robert was trying to give them privacy but for some reason he didn’t move or leave. He just stood there observing the scene and he noticed that Penelope’s friend was apparently upset because of him being there. Robert smirked widely, knowing that the guy probably felt threatened or was just jealous. This only made Robert smirk even wider, the fact that a younger guy felt threatened by him amused him immensely.

“He has a name and he is my friend.” Penelope spoke bluntly, locking her eyes with Kyle’s as she was beginning to lose her patience.

“Kyle!” An annoying girly voice shouted “Can we go baby? There’s no room for your… friend anyway.” Penelope didn’t see the girl who spoke but it brought a grin to her face.

“Just give me one more chance.” Penelope mocked “You’re pathetic, Kyle.” Penelope said shaking her head as she looked at him intently.

“Well why don’t you go with your midget friend? You little fucking virgin!” Kyle whispered “Sex with you was just for pity you know? I only did it because Cat blowed me after! And now look at you: an older dude’s bitch.” He finished with a proud smiled as the whole car imploded in a wave of mockery. Penelope, whose eyes were boiling with tears, slapped Kyle right across the face and as he was about to hit her back, Robert grabbed his arm.

“What do you want grandpa?” Kyle spat arrogantly as Robert opened the jeep’s door and forced him out by the collar of his shirt, sending him to the floor.

“You never insult a woman, do you understand?” Robert yelled as he pressed his knuckles more against Kyle’s neck. Then he punched him in the nose and the environment was filled by girly screams as Kyle turned against Robert, both throwing punches at each other.

“Stop it Robert!” Penelope shouted as she grabbed Jarvis and tried to figure out how to avoid more trouble. She could’ve never imagined that Robert could look that bewildered, he clearly had more strength than he appeared.

“He called you names.” Robert said loud enough for Penelope to hear, as he completely immobilized Kyle on the floor, pressing his neck to the floor making sure that he simply hurt him. “I don’t want to see you near her ever again. Do you understand?” Robert asked staring seriously into Kyle’s eyes as he nodded. “I can’t fucking hear you!” Robert yelled.

“Y-Yes sir!” Kyle replied as Robert let him go with disgust. Then he looked at Penelope and he walked up to her. She was shaking and holding onto Jarvis like if she was holding onto her life.

“Where’s your car?” Penelope asked trying to breathe normally as Robert was staring at her with the sweetest and most protective look in his eyes. He wanted to caress her cheek, he wanted to embrace her, he wanted to kiss her and tell her that nobody would hurt her again. But he couldn’t because he wasn’t sure if she was thankful or just scared of him now. She looked plainly frightened.

“Right across the corner.” He said, as Penelope nodded and took a deep breath as she began walking.

After placing Jarvis in the back seat, Penelope stopped Robert from getting into the driver’s seat by placing her hands gently in his face “You have a cut.” She said flinching a bit, feeling regret inside of her chest. “My house is close, I can take care of it.” She said as Robert nodded silensilently.

Penelope allowed Jarvis to play around her garden and she took Robert to her room “Take a seat, I’m going to get the first-aid kit.”

Robert felt extremely proud of himself for standing up for Penelope, in fact, he had never stood up for anyone and it felt amazing. “Kung Fu sure paid off.” He thought chuckling and then he observed Penelope’s room.

There was a big case with books, cd’s and what looked like drafts. Then the decoration itself was based on peach and white tones, there were a few plants, her laptop, her college things and everything was just a bit messy. Robert sat down in her single bed carefully, touching the fabric with his fingers. He couldn’t believe that he was in her house, alone with her.

“I’m back.” Penelope announced as she sat next to Robert and he turned so they were face to face. Honestly, they had never been this physically close and they were aware of it.

“Let’s see what we have here.” Penelope said examining the small cut in Robert’s face and the bruise he had. She flinched a bit and he kept observing her as her soft hands touched his face. “I think this will hurt a bit, but I’ll help.” She said using a kind of medicine that made Robert flinch but remain seated, Penelope was suffering just from seeing Robert’s face. He had just been beaten because of her, he had stood up for her. Nobody had ever done that.

“It’s burning.” Robert said as he shut his eyes and Penelope used her mouth to blow at his wound.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Penelope said as she was holding ice against Robert’s cheek.

“Yes, I did. That guy is an asshole, he was very rude to you.” Robert said absolutely certain of his actions. Penelope saw that he was really displeased and angry with Kyle’s attitude
“There’s no excuse to threat any woman like that, specially you… you, who are his friend.”

“Was, actually.” Penelope said as Robert’s eyes locked with hers. “He was here last night…” She began, feeling that Robert’s silence was his invitation for her to tell him exactly what she meant “and he was all like ‘please forgive me’ and I decided to just forgive him.” She chuckled bitterly as she kept holding the ice pack against Robert’s cheek. “Truth is that he is one of my oldest friends. It’s sad how he has changed and it’s sad that I haven’t changed.” Penelope said frowning a little as her tears started sparkling and Robert just sat there, listening to her beautiful voice. Rage building inside of him again because it was the second time he saw her cry because of Kyle. Robert wanted to speak, wanted to protest but he decided to let Penelope say everything she needed.

“I just… I can’t stay mad at anyone, it’s not in my temper, you know? So I was naïve and I let him try again. Apparently, he will never change and our friendship is finally over.” Penelope said, now sobbing deeply as tears ran down her cheeks.

Robert, pushed the ice pack from his face, reached over and pulled her into a warm embrace
“It’s alright. There’s nothing wrong with you, he doesn’t deserve a friend like you.” Robert spoke as he felt Penelope tugging to his shirt. She was still shaking and Robert knew that she was fragile, this problem with Kyle had probably been lasting for a long time.

“Penelope…” Robert started softening his voice as he placed his hands in the sides of her face, making their eyes meet “I’m not hurt. I punched and got punched for a good reason. I defended you because I wanted to and because you deserve to have someone standing up for you.” Robert said gazing upon her lips as his heart started beating faster.

“Thank you. You have saved me so many times, I think you’re my Knight in shining armor.” Penelope giggled as Robert chuckled and then her stomach started making twists and turns. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she didn’t know if she should or if she could.

He was still holding her face tenderly and then he, seeming to have read her mind, leaned in connecting their lips softly. The kiss was quick, unperfected but sweet. They were both nervous and having revolutions inside of their bodies and minds. When they opened their eyes, both of them had silly smiles across their faces.