Penelope Chapter 8

"NO! How many times do I have to say it?!" the young woman shouted at her pursuer. She knew she shouldn't have used the shortcut. Passing through the part of town where the rich people lived never failed to land her in some mess. Edward, who had recognized Penelope on his way home, ordered the limousine to follow her. When she had turned into a part of town that the limousine couldn't follow, he had climbed out and followed her on foot. By now, he had been chasing her for nine blocks, proposing to her whenever he could get within earshot. To Penelope's surprise and utter annoyance, of course.

"But, Penelope, darling…"

"Don't 'darling' me! Get away from me!"

Ignoring this: "Darling, I could give you so much more than that…that—"

Was he referring to Johnny?! Far was she from letting Edward call her man something she knew he was going to regret.

"Watch it," she warned. By this time, she had stepped into the Clover Deli Pub, the last place she hadn't looked. Looking all over town for Johnny while trying to shake off the persistent suitor was wearing down on her nerves. Edward's next words did not help either.

"What? Why should you stick up for him? He's nothing compared to me. If you would just marry—"

Something inside Penelope snapped. Rounding on him, she advanced, her fists shaking at her side. When she finally did speak, her voice was a deadly quiet tone."Listen and listen well. For…the…absolute…last time, I am NOT interested in marrying you, I am NOT interested in your money, status, connections OR the fact that you're a blueblood. Aside from all that, no man, money or force on Earth is going to tear me away from Johnny! So...just...LEAVE!" By now, she was almost shouting again, her voice loud and firm and unbending. It was all she could do to make Edward realize that what she just said was absolute, final, and never to be changed, least of all by him.

Edward stumbled backward from the force and tone of Penelope's voice, dropping his flowers and tripping out the door.

WHAM.

"Ouch!" said someone behind Edward. The blueblood whirled around. A young woman had dropped what she was holding and cradling her injured foot. Seething through her teeth, she looked up and the color immediately rose in her face as it seeped away from Edward's. It was the same delivery girl he had bumped into earlier.

"YOU," she hissed, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Edward cowered and tried to sidestep around her, muttering a hasty apology and then…SQUASH. He looked down. His foot had just landed on one of her fallen packages and the brown paper was now leaking something.

Penelope groaned. In spite of everything, she found herself pitying the pathetic Edward and so picked up the other package to hand it to the delivery girl. Only to find her gone.

Apparently, Edward had promised to repay her some other time and then beat a hasty retreat out of the pub. Which had led to the delivery girl to run out after him, shouting and swearing at him even worse than Penelope had done (if that was possible).

***

Way in the back of the pub, a certain reporter shook his head. Was there anyone the poor boy didn't annoy? Nudging his companion, he gestured for him to go over to Penelope.

***

Having finally got rid of the pesky suitor, Penelope breathed a sigh of relief but turned red as she looked around, suddenly self-conscious about all of the eyes that were watching her.

The barman came up to her then. "You okay?"

Penelope closed her eyes and nodded, but still looked irritated and somewhat shaken. Where was Johnny? And why had Edward followed her all through town proposing? This was not how she had expected the day to turn out.

"Come on," said the barman kindly, leading her over to a seat at the bar. "A beer on tap will calm you down."

Penelope could only nod numbly. Then suddenly remembering, she pulled out some sheet music from her bag and looked up to ask the barman if he had seen Johnny. "I came back a day early and I've been looking all over for him. See, I even found this. I think it might be the new song he's working on, but it's has so many scratch-outs and revisions. I thought that if I could find him, maybe I could help him with it."

The barman glanced at it.

"I think I might have seen him," he said, filling a mug. He then wheeled it towards her as he continued thoughtfully, "Yeah…there was a guy in the back who—Penelope, incoming!"

The barman's voice broke Penelope from her thoughts, but sadly, she looked up too late. The glass mug slid right past her and Penelope's eyes grew wide as she waited for it to smash into pieces. Until she saw a hand reach out to stop it.

Letting her breath out in slow relief, Penelope turned to thank the stranger when she inhaled sharply.

"You're supposed to catch it," said the shadowy but smiling figure.

Penelope didn't respond. Instead, she launched herself from her seat onto the tall man and cried 'Johnny' over and over again into his shirt.

Finally, she looked up at him and said, "And what if I don't catch it in time?"

"Well, that's why you have me, I guess. I'll be there to catch things if they fall."

"Even me?"

"Especially you."

Johnny stood there and buried his face into her shoulder. He listened to her laughter and felt the embrace of her arms. On an impulse, he hummed his song to her, and all of a sudden, everything fell into place and…

the

music

was

complete.