Many Words In Silence

Chapter 6

“Wait. So the two of you know each other?” I asked Lucy and Fynn as soon as they broke their embrace.

“Yeah sure,” Lucy answered first, earning her a look from Fynn. “You parents used to be friends. Well, more accurately, my father went to school with Fynn’s father. I just forgot about his existence for a while. I mean, with a common face like that, forgetting about him is quite easy.”

“And we lost contact when Lucy here was about four years old. We stayed in touch for years after, but somehow distance makes a huge difference. When my mom went on some pilgrimage and got pregnant from another guy, I chose to stay with my dad. Never really liked her all that much to begin with,” Fynn said as he pulled a sour face. “I mean, my mom is almost as bad as Lucy’s and that’s saying something.”

“Well, at least my momma still has money to send me off shopping,” Lucy interjected.

“My daddy has more money than your momma, of that I am sure,” Fynn said with a smile as he crossed his arms over his chest, looking very pleased with the fact that his father has done well for himself financially.

“Okay! Just stop! This is f*****g weird!” I shout, although I clamp my hands over my mouth almost immediately as the entire coffee shop looked our way once again. I even wondered if they had ever looked away from our table.

I could only imagine what we looked like from the outside. I looked like an emo kid out of his prime, not even mentioning the black cross over my lips. Lucy looked, sorry to say, but Fynn was right; like a beach blonde Barbie with too much pink surrounding her, which in itself is a total contrast to me. And then there was Fynn… He looked like the normal one between us. Some designer t-shirt and some sexy ass jeans that clung to him like a sticker. Don’t forget the horn rimmed sunglasses that was hanging from his shirt and the many bangles around his arms that made me pretty sure that he was at least a little bit hipster. It was a weird combination for anybody to understand. Make all three of them shout, hug, flirt, whisper, and just act overall crazy and you have one weird group of people getting glares from everywhere.

“Calm down babez,” Lucy whispered. “People are staring at you.”

“As if they weren’t staring the moment you walked in already,” I snapped back. “Just tell me what the f**k is going on.”

“Oh goshy…” Lucy said with a sigh, putting on her sunglasses which was totally a sign that she didn’t want to be part of this conversation anymore.

“Well I know about as much as you,” Fynn said with an apologetic face, his eyes melting me softly and although I would never admit it to anyone, made me want to sit in his lap.

“I don’t know if this is the right place for this conversation,” Lucy said as she turned to Fynn, not looking me in the eyes at all. “I need to talk to you alone.”

Before I even had a chance to protest both of them were up and running for the door, seeing who would make it there first. For a moment I wanted to follow, but instead I was left with the waiter coming over to ask me if there was anything else I wanted.

“Refill,” I said as I tapped the side of my mug, but to my surprise the waiter didn’t walk away to get me more coffee. Maybe he sensed that I needed something stronger.

After a minute of him standing there, looking at me with his stupid grin I acknowledged him.

“Yes?”

The kid was cute. Not super cute as in Gerard-Way-is-taking-of-his-shirt-and-smiling-a-dimple-smile-at-me cute, but still cute. Maybe more of a Justin Bieber back-in-the-day cute.

“Would you mind giving my number to your friend?” he said handing me a piece of paper.

I looked down at it. Timothy, it read, followed by his number and his name in i********:.

“Timothy?” I asked, waiting for him to answer me with a big smile. “Let me be honest with you. That guy is trouble. My friend in the pink who was just in here knows him. And almost everybody she knows is trouble. Major trouble. Maybe better to get yourself someone your own age instead of going after an old man like him.”

“I’m not that young,” Timothy said, his smile gone while his eyes looked down at his shoes.

“How old are you?” I asked. I wasn’t really interested, but I thought I should indulge him. At least it was something keeping my mind busy while Mister Hot and Miss Boobs were outside somewhere gossiping the day away.

“I’m fifteen,” Timothy said as he looked up again. “I’ll be sixteen in three months.”

I sighed. Couldn’t this guy get someone his own age? Then again, it wasn’t totally his fault. Fynn was the one flirting with him first.

“Okay Timothy. That guy is old enough to be your father probably. I’m sure he’s already heading for forty no matter how young he might look. I know that for a fact because I am twenty-six and I’m pretty damn sure he’s a bit older than me,” I said. Better me breaking the kids’ spirit before Lucy and Fynn had a go at him. They are both terrible and would probably be laughing at his innocence.

Timothy suddenly smiled as if I gave him some candy.

“I get it,” he said. “You would like to go on a date with me, so you are trying to keep me away from your friend? Well sure, you’ve got my number.”

Before I could even get my jaw back up from the floor he had left to hopefully go and get me the coffee I wanted. I could see him walking away, looking over his shoulder to wink at me. It was official. The kid was nuts. Lucy and Fynn were nuts. To make matters worse, I was starting to look like the only sane person in this place, and by my history I am anything but sane.

Luckily I didn’t have too much time to brood on this fact since Lucy waltzed into the coffee shop a few minutes later, without Fynn.

“Where’s Fynn?” I asked as she sat down.

“He left. Had some things to do with himself. He told me to tell you goodbye,” she said, but I knew Lucy a little bit too well. She wasn’t being her normal crazy self at the moment, and that alone was suspicious.

“What did you tell him Lucy? What’s going on?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. The last thing I wanted was people controlling my life – again. “You know what, don’t even answer. You are doing what you have always done. What everybody has always done. I’m not made out of f*****g porcelain. I’m a human being. I can make my own decisions. I don’t need everybody to look out for me anymore.”

“Wait Elijah. Listen to me. When I first saw him I wasn’t sure. But then he knew who I was. I wasn’t sure at first. I promise. But he is bad news for you. You can’t go near him. I think it’s better if we go home,” Lucy pleaded. She looked like she wanted to cry. “Seriously. If I had thought it would be good for you… Sure… But I know him.”

“And what is he? Some player? Is he into drugs? What Lucy? What gives you the right to just rule my life for me like you’re the god damn queen of everything. Just because you have money, doesn’t make you divine leader of the world.”

I knew I should have been keeping quiet, but it was getting more and more difficult to do so. Everything I have wanted to say have been bursting out of me the last few days and not even the cross over my lips would allow me to keep my words in. It felt more like the cross reminded me off all the years of silence and how much more I still needed to catch up, just to say the things other people took for granted to say.

“I think we should leave. Go home. We can talk tonight, when we are safe where we belong,” Lucy said as she threw down a fifty dollar bill on the table and stood up, pulling her too short skirt down a bit in order not to flash the entire main street when she walks out.

“No,” I said.

Lucy looked down at me.

“Sorry?” she said, a frown forming.

“I said no. I’m not going home. I want to stay here,” I said again, folding my arms like a rebellious teenager.

“You can’t be serious?” Lucy said. “I mean, this town barely has any decent shops. Only two malls. Can you believe it? Only. Two. Malls.”

“Then you go home. I can take care of myself,” I answered, not moving and concentrating very hard not to let any of my emotions or my fear of standing up to Lucy show on my face. I was stronger now. I knew it. I had to act it now.

“Don’t be ridiculous Elijah. This is not the time to act stupid. What on earth will you do here all alone? Try and find Fynn? He doesn’t even live in this town,” Lucy said. I could see she was getting mad. Not getting what she wanted wasn’t exactly one of the things she liked having done to her.

“I’m going back to Llaluna,” I answered. In the last few seconds I had made a decision. I needed to see her again. I needed to say the things I came here to say but never got the chance to.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to see her again. That she chased you away. You said so when you called me,” Lucy said. She was stunned this time. It was not the answer she had expected; I could see that at least.

“Yes. But I have changed my mind. She will talk to me about it. Even if I have to camp outside on her lawn for the next week. She’ll give in – eventually,” I said, thinking about how it would be to camp on Llaluna’s lawn.

“You can’t,” Lucy said, looking away at the people at the table next to us. The girl with the baby in her arms looked happy. As if the baby was completing her.

“Why not?” I asked, trying to ignore the table next to us, although it seemed like Lucy could not stop staring at the girl.

“I need to get back to work. A company doesn’t just run itself.”

She looked back at me, and this time she had a blank stare. It was the serious Lucy. The one I have only met a few times, and also only after what had happened…

“That’s not what you said last night. Give me forty-eight hours. Just two days. If she refuses to talk to me I’ll come home with you. Please.”

I didn’t want to sound like I was pleading. I wanted to bargain. I needed Lucy to see how important this was to me.

“No.”

Lucy’s stare scared me. I hated when this side of her came out, and it was coming out increasingly more and more lately.

“Well you don’t have a choice in this,” I answered as the waiter finally brought me my coffee. Timothy must’ve probably sensed that we didn’t want him there, because he left immediately without even making eye contact with me.

“I have a choice, and mine is to go home. With or without you,” Lucy said as she stood up and took her handbag, leaving me alone at the table.