the age of innocence | lewandowski

18: wuthering heights

"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same..."

- wuthering heights by Emily Brontë

//

Rose was learning how to walk. Giuliana found it comical; adorable. She would take a few steps towards Robert, then fall, and he would encourage her some more; so then she'd get back up on her feet, walk towards him again, fall again. This would happen three or four times until, on the last fall, she would fall into Robert's arms; where he would pick her up and spin her around like she'd just scored the winning goal in a championship game.

Giuliana came home to witness this after awkwardly bolting away from Marco's apartment and rushing back to her own home, where she'd apparently been missing out on plenty. Robert had weird figures drawn all over his arms and his calves, and his hair stuck out at all angles. "What were you guys doing?" She finally inquired, confusedly.

Robert grinned. "I don't know. We were waiting for you to come home, so I pulled out some paper and the markers for us to draw with, but she figured my arms were a better canvas instead. How was your little rendezvous?"

"Awful. He totally caught me snooping around, so I had to play it off by acting like I was stupid and curious. I asked about Sasha, because he had a photo with her in it, and he said it wasn't her. He said he didn't even know who she was." Giuliana looked up at Robert, concerned. "It makes me wonder what else he's lying about."

Robert let out an observant noise. "Hm. Well, he didn't do anything uncalled for, did he?"

"No. I left before I finished my drink, and before he finished his own."

"He gave you a drink?"

"Well, he asked if I wanted one. I could've said no." Giuliana approached Robert and Rose, her hands behind her back. "How long have you been home?"

"An hour. Look at this!" Robert set Rose on the ground and said something in Polish. Rose stood up with his foreign words, took a few steps towards Giuliana, then hugged her legs once she reached her mother. Giuliana let out a laugh, and a cheer.

"Woo-hoo! How cute," she chimed, before picking Rose up. They ate dinner and put Rose to bed, and it wasn't long before Robert and Giuliana found themselves in bed too, each doing their respective things. Robert was looking at more houses on his computer, and listening as Giuliana read out loud, "10 facts about Robert Lewandowski."

"Number 5," she began. "Robert is quite the ladies man, having admitted to having at least—" Giuliana gave him a flat look. "ten romantic relationships since high school, his most significant being his two year marriage to a woman whose name he kept secret. But his first marriage, he claims, was in kindergarten..." Giuliana shook her head towards Robert.

Robert looked at her. "Jesus, why are you giving me that look? I don't write the magazines, you know."

"You've dated 10 women and been married twice?!"

"Okay, kindergarten doesn't really count. And the other one I told you about." He paused. "Do you know how old I am, Giuliana? Do you know how long ago it was that I was in high school? Ten women isn't many."

"Yeah, hence the at least ten part. You lost track. What am I, the 20th?"

"Whatever you are, you're the last. And the first, in some senses." Robert offered a boyish smile, accompanied by rosy cheeks.