The Unpredictable Life Of Penelope Rose
Chapter 1;
The coldness of the morning was bitter. Goosebumps ran up my arm in only a matter of seconds of me walking out the front door. Then again, this was Chicago. It was either too cold or too hot. The occasional violent rain storm or extremely windy nights when the branches smack hard against the apartment window. All of this was what I had considered my regular life. Making my way down to the closest coffee shop. Waiting in lines that make your patience drop to the lowest of tolerances that you can handle. I snatch my drink and continue to fight the bipolar weather I encounter. We're close enough that when the wind whips by me, blowing my hair into my eyes, it whispers secrets to me. Boy, am I a riot?
I push open the door to my hipster wanna-be job. Rob sat slumped over at the check-out. I assumed he spent the night here organizing the records that spend a whole week to alphabetize. The rebellious grunge kids come in after school and try to look for cheap Nirvana records that haven't been damaged yet. I knock Rob's arm out from under his chin. His head hits the table pretty hard. I laugh as he yells in pain. "Hey! What was that for?" "For being a bum! I mean, look at you! You look like Pete Wentz going through a midlife crisis." "He's been going through one since 2001." This was the only thing I could agree with him on. Secretly, I'm not a big fan of Rob. He doesn't know that, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him.
I threw my purse on the floor in the back room, then kneeling down to it and grabbing my cell phone. I felt pure anger as I saw seven missed calls from him appear on my screen. "Why won't you just leave me alone!"
It's been three months since my boyfriend and I have broken up, and he's still pretty set on taking me back. As I recall, he's ruthless. He's a hurricane whose only purpose is to tear down hearts and ruin lives. Ugh, I sound like such a teenage girl. I can still remember the day I left him. Quite tragic. Quite dramatic.
"Hey, Penelope! Somebody's here for ya'!" I pulled myself up and walked to the front of the store. There he was. Smiling like a psycho. I charged towards him, grabbing him by his collar and dragging him outside. "Why are you here? Why won't you leave me alone?" He laughed as I pushed him further up onto the glass window. "Sean!" I yelled. "I can't leave you! You mean too much to me, Pen." Sean was too calm. He was so...so irritating. He did these things because he knew they could set me off. He liked- no. He loved seeing me transform into The Hulk. He was such a tease and I hated him. I hated him with every ounce of my being. They tell you in church that you shouldn't hate anyone, and usually I'd agree, but not this time. Sean was my only exception.
Right now, I am stuck in a cross road. I knock his teeth out and hopefully I'd be done with him, or I let him go, and keep encountering him. I gave in to the soft part of me. He slid down the glass and took a deep breathe. "I just wanna talk." His soft voice still caught me like a fisher's net. Sure, it was adorable, but not now. Now, it left such an ear piercing ringing in my ears. I wanted to slap him. "Fine, Sean. What do you wanna talk about?" He slid his hands into his pockets and leaned back. "Wow. Ya' really are strong." He thought he was funny. I stared at him and waited for him to realize that I didn't care at this point. I was in the presence of a mad man.
"Would you ever be willing, ever, to give little 'ole me another chance?" "Not in a million years. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm going to ask you to stay away from me. I'm going to ask you to never find me, never call me, and never talk to me again you sick, sick freak!" I pushed passed Sean's slim figure and went back inside. "And if you do, I see a nice restraining order in the future!"
Shutting people out was something I was considered a pro at doing. I couldn't understand why this was so hard for me now? "He seems nice." Rob chuckled to himself at his own pathetic joke. "Oh, shut up." I disappeared to the back room and decided to do inventory all day. This was as exciting as my life was going to get. The only up's and down's were Sean, and wondering if I'd get a raise anytime soon.
