body and soul

penelope. twenty-four. writer. i'd gladly surrender, myself to you, body and soul. |

[rosepxrker-deactivated20160401]

            ❝ I have recently returned, ❞ Rose explained, smiling sweetly at the woman.❝ But it’s still nice to meet you Penelope and thank you for the warm welcome, I am Rose. Rose Penelope, actually.❞ There was a little bit of humor to the coincidence, she had never really met another Penelope in her life aside from her grandmother, but it was very nice to. As she mentioned Grace, Rose took another look to her and sighed happily without actually noticing what she had done.❝ Yes, she is my daughter. Grace, I’m just here hoping she didn’t make a bigger havoc that the one in sight. She loves those books that make sounds as the story goes. So, new shipments, you say? Was there anything you’re looking for in particular? I used to spend so much time in this bookstore before moving that I may actually be able to help you out. ❞ 

[powerbottcm]

“Ah, so you’re like a Lanford veteran.” She joked. “I can understand the appeal, it’s a very interesting place.” Coming from Pennsylvania, she had only ever known charity benefits with fake smiles and not-so-quiet whispers behind your back as you walked away. It was strange to see a town that seemed to be in such... union. “Rose Penelope? You don’t understand how badly I wish that by some coincidence my name was Penelope Rose, but sadly it’s Penelope Isabella.” Penelope laughed. She smiled at the little girl behind her playing with the books — Grace. “She’s adorable, it’s like she’s in her own little world.” She brings her attention back to Rose, clearing her throat. “Um, not really. Just something good, I guess.”

[noramartins]

“Oh, yes.” Nora said with a quick nod, moving over to the Young Adult section of the bookstore. “I had that in my hands just the other day, let me see…” Eyes searching the shelf, she pulled one of the books out. “This one, right? I didn’t have the time to read it yet, but I read some great reviews about it.”

[powerbottcm]

“Yeah, I read that it was one of the best Young Adult novels published in a long time.” She said, cautiously taking the book from the other’s hands and turning it over. “I write for this blog, and one of the other writers wrote like three posts about it.” She flips the book back over and tucks it under her arm. “Uh, I hate to be a bother, but do you know if there’s a sequel? I tend to buy series in bulk.”

[littlerikki-blog1]

Rikelle finished putting the last pile of books on the front display table, organizing them the way her manager told her to. When someone addressed her, Rikki looked over at the woman and shook her head. “Not anymore. Something with the scheduling was changed, so our shipments come in on Sunday mornings now. I’m not too sure why, but I know our newest shipment should be here by seven tomorrow morning. Sorry ‘bout that.”

[powerbottcm]

“Damn.” She whispered to herself, running her index finger over her top lip. “Oh, no, don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. I doubt you personally called in and changed your shipping schedule in spite of me.” She laughed nervously. Penelope ran the palm of her hand over the bookshelf before turning to fully face the other girl. “Is there anything you would recommend? I can’t seem to find anything.”

[scottmond]

“I don’t know how you can offend me in a bookstore, but if that’s your goal you can keep trying.” He shrugged, putting the book under his arm, reaching for another by the same author. “If this the worst thing that happens to me today, I think I’ll be doing great, so really, no harm.” He looked back up at her, wondering if she was always nervous all the time or if he was just special. People had told him before he was intimidating and he knew that it was more than true. At her joke a grin crept up, pulling the corner of his mouth upwards, “I don’t know, maybe it just won’t have enough.” 

[powerbottcm]

Penelope was happy that the interaction was switching over from awkward to playful. “Not my goal, but stick around and it just might happen. I have a tendency to dig myself into holes.” She says jokingly. She spots a book that she doesn’t recognize and picks it up, flipping it over and lightly skimming the back. “Well, unless you’re purchasing a cook book or something, I sure there will be plenty of characters.” She jokes, “But in all seriousness, what do you read if you don’t buy new books? Like fifty year old war journals?”

[natenate-daniels]

“Don’t worry about it. Glad you think I look smart enough to work in a bookshop.” He shrugged offering her an easy smile. “I don’t know anyone that works here but it doesn’t even look like there is someone here so I don’t know what to tell you?” He replied lifting his shoulders in a shrug still smiling. “Nice to meet you, I’m Nate.” 

[powerbottcm]

“Oh, yeah, I guess that is a compliment if you think about it.” She laughs. “Yeah, it seems I’m out of luck at the moment.” Penelope pulls another book off of the shelf, only to find that she’s read that one too. She sighs and puts it back in it’s spot. “Nice to meet you too, Nate.” She says, “How’d you find yourself in here?”

[emilybeckett]

Pausing her browsing, arm full of new releases, Emily turned to look at the woman beside her. Perhaps it was her dark jeans and shirt that made her look in uniform, or the fact she’d been taking and putting things on and off the shelf for the last ten minutes like she owned the joint. Really, she was just one of Westbook’s most regular. “Oh… Sorry,” Emily shook her head with a small laugh. “I don’t actually work here. But I do know that inventory is a little low right now… something about an accident on the freeway delaying traffic so…. I suppose it’s just late.”

[powerbottcm]

“No — oh god, don’t apologize.” She says, “That’s my fault! I wasn’t paying attention, don’t worry.” Penelope pulls out her cell phone and checks the time before shoving it back into her pocket and running a hand through her hair. “Did you find anything good over there? I was about to head over there, I can’t really find anything over here.”

[fang-zhou-blog]

“Huh?” Fang asked, looking over at the stranger and blinking. After figuring out that she thought he worked there – hilarious, considering his appearance – he offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry, don’t work here. I’m just checking out the comics.”

[powerbottcm]

“Oh, wow.” She says, trying her hardest not to feel too embarrassed. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” She looked over the comic book he was looking at, immediately taking interest. “Are those good? I’ve never read one.”

[noramartins]

“Damn, that’s dedication right there.” Nora smiled. Once upon a time she had been the same, now she hardly had any time left to read new books. “We did get a few great new Young Adult novels the other week though, so maybe it’s worth having a look at them.”

[powerbottcm]

“I did just read about this new YA novel the other day, it’s called The Murder Complex? Is there any chance you might have it here?” She asks, “Apparently it’s about a city where to death rate is higher than the birth rate, it sounded pretty cool.” 

[ivy-ainsley]

Listening intently as her customer went on, Ivy tilted her head, contemplating; “My favorite ‘great adventure’ was The Alchemist.” When it came down to it, she had never read many children’s books. With the exception of Pixar movies (and that was purely because her son was addicted), Ivy couldn’t remember a time to which she leaned toward’s anything childlike in her youth. She was forced to grow up too fast. “Never heard of it, but maybe I’ll check it out.” Brushing her hair over her shoulder, she nodded, confirming, “Yep. Sure do. Almost five years now.”

Truth be told, most days she felt as if she didn’t know what the fuck she was doing.

[powerbottcm]

“I’ve never read it, what’s it about? Do you have it here?” She asks, genuinely interested. Penelope always felt like she over-involved herself in conversations sometimes. She always wanted to know what and why and how — she just wanted to know more. She sometimes felt like it bothered people, which was one of the many reasons she mainly kept to herself. “That’s cool, really. I love this place. You’ve done a great job.” She offers up a smile, hoping the interaction doesn’t seem too awkward. “I would’ve loved to see what it looked like in the beginning.”

[wonder-gadot-deactivated2017121]

[scottmond]

“You know that’s just a saying right?” She was far too nervous. He usually kept his southern sayings locked away, but every once in a while one of them popped up. None of them however, had made anyone look as nervous as she did. “I’m not going to bite you, promise. But really, I don’t know when they get new stuff. I never buy any new stuff anyways. I was told it has no character.” 

[powerbottcm]

“Yeah, I know. I just did’t want to offend you.” She says, putting the book she was looking at back on the shelf. “Some people could take offense to being mistaken for a bookstore employee, you never know. There are weird people in this world.” She’s tense, but that just comes along with meeting new people. It’s hard to loosen up. “No character?” She asks, “It’s a book, I’m sure it’ll have plenty of characters.” And Penelope being Penelope, she laughs at her own joke.

[scottmond]

“Who? Me?” Scott looked up from the Faulkner book in his hands for a brief second, “I ain’t got a clue. I don’t work here.” He figured his lack of name badge would have been sufficient, but maybe not. He was starting to be at the bookstore far too often if people were thinking he worked there. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.” 

[powerbottcm]

“Oh! Right, yeah. Sorry.” She said, nervously playing with the tips of her fingers. “I didn’t mean to bark up any tree... I just, sorry. I didn’t see that you weren’t wearing a name tag.” She didn’t mean to offend him, although she’s still not sure if she did. It could have been sarcasm, but she was a great detector of that.

[snclrsl]

Ben stared down at his shirt trying to wipe at the stain that was bound to stay, “I cannot fucking believe this.” he sighed in defeat as he sat down on a nearby bench. Ben wasn’t the type to get irritated over accidental happenings but having someone spill their coffee on him really annoyed him after the long day he had been having. When his alarm had failed to wake him early in the morning he knew it wasn’t going to be a good day. 

Just as he started getting comfortable he started to stretch his legs out, accidentally tripping someone walking by in the process. He immediately got up and apologized, feeling incredibly sorry, “Fuck, I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have stretched my legs out so far. Are you okay?” 

[powerbottcm]

“Oh, um, yes.” She says, trying her hardest to catch her breath. Her newly purchased books had fallen on the ground, and her cup of coffee was officially gone. “It’s not that big of a deal, my coffee was almost gone anyways.” She said, gathering her books and standing back up. Penelope sat her books down on the bench and brushed off her pants, picking them back up and shoving them into her bag this time. “Are you alright? I didn’t like, break your shin or anything?” 

[ivy-ainsley]

Softly, Ivy bit down on her lips in thought. When it came down to it, she could go on and on about quite the assortment of selections but her tastes were very eclectic and varied. “I’m re-reading the classics these days—Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorites, The Alchemist is another. The most recent that I enjoyed was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, there’s also The Book Thief too.” She paused, noticing that her suggestions weren’t specific to anything but her own preferences. “I’m sure if you gave me some sort of idea of the kind of genre’s you lean towards I could be of more help. Otherwise I can just keep spouting names for the hell of it.”

[powerbottcm]

“Great adventures.” It’s the one word Penelope had used to describe her reading taste since high school. Growing up in one of the smallest towns in Pennsylvania, there wasn’t much adventure to be found. She promised herself she would find adventure when she went to college in New York City, but sadly her plans fell through. She enjoyed reading about what she didn’t have herself. “There’s this great book, it’s a bit of a children’s book — it’s called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Such a great adventure.” Literature was something she loved, it was her passion. She hoped to write her own great adventure one day. “You own the place, right?”

[limitlessplaylist]

Visit Original Link

[powerbottcm]

penelope’s playlist: #001. this must be my dream - the 1975.

[noramartins]

Nora turned around as a voice perked up in her ears, a smile immediately taking over her lips. “Oh, yes, we usually get new shipments today. But it seems our transporter got stuck on the road, so the books aren’t here yet – I’m so sorry about that. Were you looking for something specific?”

[powerbottcm]

“Oh, no. Just something that I haven’t read before.” She says, “I come here pretty often, so I think I’ve probably read that entire shelf.” Her finger slides down the spine of a novel she read a few months ago. “I guess I could take a trip over to Young Adult, see if there’s anything good in there. Although, I’m not that big a fan of Twilight or The Hunger Games.”

[ivy-ainsley]

At the inquiry, Ivy looked up from her copy of Rupture, hazel eyes meeting the other woman’s blue gaze. “Nope. Shipment’s are usually made on Monday morning.” Placing the magazine to the side, she leaned over the counter. “What is it you’re looking for? Maybe I have a copy stashed in the back.”

[powerbottcm]

“I’m not really looking for anything in particular, just something good.” She explains. “I have most of the books on that shelf over there, it seems. Do you have an recommendations?” Since arriving in town, Penelope had spent most of her time in the bookstore, finding it better than any bookstore she’d been to in Pennsylvania.