One For Penelope

Penelope And Austin?

Austin stood in the doorway, still scanning the room to see if he could locate the girl. He had done this at least 6 or 7 times but he just didn't understand how she could've disappeared. Then he walked up to the couch where he figured that Nathaniel had sat, due to the smell that was similar to what the man usually wore. "Why would he just get up and run like that?" Austin thought.

Austin looked up at his reflection in the mirror, "Hadn't there been something important about that mirror?" He shrugged, then made his way over to the book shelf not to far from the piano. Austin was sure that he had never seen so many books before in his life, let alone 1st editions at that. "Moby Dick?" Austin reached out, looked around to see if anyone was there, and pulled the book off the shelf to study it.

...

"I have to ask, what went wrong?" Jessica asked Nathaniel, who had been escorted by Jake to the kitchen. Jake now stood over Nathaniel who sat in a chair at the table. Jessica and Wanda sat directly in front of him while Franklin sat at the table as well, watching Austin on the monitor.

"Wrong! You can't b..." Nathaniel took a deep breath to gain back control of himself, "I apologize, but I'm not into dating someone who could be classified as a monster." Nathaniel knew that no matter how he tried to explain himself, he was going to come across as arrogant.

"Penelope isn't a monster, you just have to get to know her." Wanda said, trying to be as sincere as possible. It was hard to keep up the energy after so many failed attempts.

"Does my parents know about... her... features?" Nathaniel asked, getting a little angry that he wasn't informed about this in the first place.

"Your parents are great people," Jessica stated, "but no, we left that detail out." Jessica looked down at the table, feeling the sadness of letting her daughter down yet again.

"Well... I don't mean to be rude but...," That's when he noticed that Austin was in the room, "What is he doing in there?" Nathaniel leaned over the table to get a better look, as did the rest of the people in the room.

...

Austin paced around the room while reading the copy of Moby Dick that he had grabbed off of the shelf. He had read the book in the past, but only on his phone and tablet. Reading straight out of a book was always different, felt more... prestigious that way.

Austin walked passed the mirror and stopped after he noticed something bizarre. After backpedaling a few steps he stood face to face with what looked like a microphone that was on a bar in front of the mirror. Austin then scanned the rest of the mirror and noticed a speaker at the top of it. That's when it hit him, there was someone on the other side of this mirror. He could remember that Lady telling Nathaniel about this now.

Austin leaned in and nearly stood his ear to the mirror to see if he could hear anything. Sure enough he heard a slight sob, then another and another. Austin pulled back from the mirror and placed the book on the bar in front of the mirror. He began walking to the doorway to leave when he felt this overwhelming urge to make up for his friend's... departure. "Penelope."

Austin walked over to the mirror to hope that she would hear him this time. "Penelope."

...

Penelope spun around in her bed to see the young dark haired man in the picture with Nathaniel to be standing right in front of the mirror. "Penelope, I'd really like to talk to you for a moment." Penelope wiped her eyes and made her way over to the steps where she took a seat, close enough to read the man's actions.

He just stood there, "Does he know I'm sitting here?". Then he reached out with the back of his hand an knocked on the mirror with his knuckles just as his friend did, reminding Penelope that he was likely to be just like the rest.

"You know," She could hear true sincerity in the man's voice, "my friend really isn't all that bad."

...

Austin reached out and picked the book up off the bar and walked over to the shelf to place it back where he got it. "What were you doing with that?" Austin was spooked so much that he felt himself jump and fall back on the ground behind the couch. He heard a gasp, "Are you alright?"

Austin quickly stood up and looked over at the mirror, he had been correct. "Yes, thanks for asking." He walked over to the book shelf and picked the book up off the ground, deciding to hold onto it for a little while longer.

"And as for the book well," He made his back to the mirror, "I suppose there's only one thing I could've been doing."

"Stealing it?" (That was for the fans)

...

"I guess I could've been doing that, but no I was reading it." Penelope watched as the young man looked over the front of the book. Then he placed it back on the bar in front of the mirror.

"So, you're Nathaniel's friend?" She didn't really want to talk about that, but figured that was why the man was here.

"Yes...," The man looked down at the floor in front of him, "I'm truly sorry if he hurt your feelings."

Penelope let out a fake laugh, "Oh don't worry about that, I'm used to it."

"Well being used to it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt." The man looked over to the left, seeming to be avoiding a possible memory.

"I'm sorry, but why do you care so much?"

...

Austin really thought of that, why did her care so much? "I've never liked knowing that someone was in pain, I had to know if you were alright."

"I'm fine. What's your name?"

Austin let out a chuckle, he felt like a little kid in preschool. "Austin. Austin Darnell."

...

Penelope bit her lip, she had finally met a nice guy but he wasn't of noble birth. "It's nice to meet you Austin."

Austin was about to say something when paused.  He looked down at the book. "You can see me can't you?"

Penelope was shocked by this, no other man had figured that out. "Yes. That doesn't bother you does it?" Maybe this was wrong, but Penelope couldn't help but love talking to this one. He was different, in more ways then one.

"No," Austin walked over to the couch and took a seat, "What bothers me is not being able to see you."

Penelope looked over at the door to the living quarters but shook here head vigorously, "I'm afraid I'm not in the mood for face to face talk at the moment."

"Oh and-"

"Austin."

...

Austin looked over his shoulder to see Nathaniel standing there.

"We need to go."

"Of course." Austin said, hoping up from the couch and heading for the door. Once he reached the door and saw that hid friend was already on his way down the hall Austin turned back to the mirror and gave a small wave, feeling a little stupid after doing so.

...

Penelope waved back, knowing that he would likely never know that she had. She looked down at her feet. Surely he would be no different then the rest if he had seen her, but she still couldn't shake this feeling.

Chapter 5 already?! I'm just so excited to be writing this story, and I finally feel like I'm on the roll with it as well. What did Nathaniel and Penelope's parents discuss during all of this? How did the two feel about the conversation? What will become of this? Find out in the next chapter.