A few hours later, after re-learning the computer system, going over the new cocktails, and a long talk with Jimmy about the newest Covid policies, Penelope was beat. Nolan had gone home right after his audition, and Penelope was a little jealous but mainly suspicious of what he might be up to while she wasn’t there.

However, when Penelope opened the door of their shared loft, she shouldn’t have been surprised: Nolan was on the couch as usual, shirtless, strumming the guitar, with every light on in the apartment. When he heard the door open, he turned to her.

“Hey, Penny, come over here. I want to play this new song for you. Tell me if you think it’s any good? If you like it, I’ll play it tomorrow night.”

“Nolan, I’m tired,” whined Penelope. “Can you play it for me tomorrow? I don’t think I’d be a very fair judge right now.”

Nolan gave her a sideways smile. “Alright,” he said. “Tomorrow.”

Penelope dragged her feet to her room, ready for a shower and her sweatpants. “Penny?” came Nolan’s voice from behind her.

“You know that’s not actually my name, right?” Penelope said back, her patience wearing thin.

“I just wanted to say thanks again. You didn’t have to stick your neck out for me, given our…situation. I owe you one,” Nolan said sincerely, looking at her with his blue eyes filled with sincerity.

“No big deal,” Penelope shrugged, again feeling pangs of guilt for not telling him the full truth behind why she wanted him at the bar and not at the apartment. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night,” said Nolan, turning back to his guitar.

“Good night. And don’t forget to turn off the rest of the lights, ok?” Penelope said, flipping a light switch down on her way to the bedroom.

***

At 1:03 A.M., Penelope woke up. Again. A solid strip of light shone from under her door, and the sounds of Nolan’s guitar still floated in the air. She tried burying her face in her pillow and still heard his acoustic pop rock.

Penelope rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. She opened her door and raised her voice in Nolan’s direction. “Nolan. It’s one A.M. Can you please give it a rest for the night?”

“Oh, sorry, yeah,” Nolan said, nodding at her. “Guess I lost track of time.”

“Guess so,” said Penelope, annoyed, as she walked around the room flipping off lights.

“Hey, leave that one on, so I can…put away my stuff,” said Nolan, pointing at the lamp closest to him.

Penelope threw up her hands and walked back to her room.

“Good night,” said Nolan again, as she closed her door. Penelope curled back under her covers, coveting the momentary silence. And then, the light appeared again under her door. Nolan had turned the overhead light back on.

“You gotta be kidding me,” Penelope said to herself in her now dimly lit room. She popped back into the living room again. This time, she didn’t bother trying to get Nolan’s attention. She walked over to the wall switch and flipped it off, walking back to her room without a word.

Penelope waited. Surely he’s going to bed, she thought, counting to twenty. And then the light came back on again.

“Whyyyyy??” Penelope complained into her pillow. But she didn’t have the energy to get up again.

***

After tossing and turning all night, Penelope finally awoke to the sound of the shower. Nolan must have snuck in here while I was sleeping, she thought. Although she couldn’t blame him, given it was the only bathroom. She could blame him for her restless night, and intended to talk to him about it later.

And then Penelope noticed the time.

“No no no!” Penelope panicked out loud. It was the first day of her new class, which was starting at 9:30 A.M. It was now 9:28 A.M.

It was too late to make it outside to a coffee shop (or anywhere else, for that matter), so Penelope did her best to smooth her hair. She whipped off her sleep t-shirt, threw on the first clean blouse from the closet she could grab, and logged on to the video conference platform.

Penelope breathed a quick sigh of relief as she saw everyone else just trickling in too. The professor was just starting to introduce herself. “Hello everyone, and welcome. My name is Veronica Meyer. If you haven’t already, please turn on your cameras so I can put faces with names. Penelope -- you’re at the top of my screen. Will you introduce yourself, please?”

Penelope clicked the “video on” and put on her best smile. As she did, Nolan strolled out of the bathroom surrounded by a cloud of steam— not a towel in sight. Penelope couldn’t help but stare. So far, she had only seen the top half of Nolan’s body. The bottom half…was just as impressive. And then she came to her senses and remembered where she was.

“What are you doing!” she screamed before slamming her laptop shut with a panic.

“Oh my God, I thought you were asleep!” he shouted back, running into the living room and slamming her door behind himself.

Penelope took a long breath. She re-opened her laptop and logged back in.

“Sorry, internet trouble,” Penelope said, as she appeared on screen to her class. “My name is Penelope Roman.”