The Number

I woke up a bit confused to hear the noise outside my door, rose a little, and wondered what this might be about. After a while, I saw Victor opening the door to my room and peeking shyly inside. I had no contact lenses so I could easily sense his bad mood. I was a bit surprised, shouldn't he supposed to celebrate today? Did something happen with Alex? But I couldn't ignore his silent plea for a hug.

I made some room and let my brother lie down next to me. I hugged him tight, and after a while, I heard him sobbing softly. Soon, he cried out and fell asleep. I wondered what had happened to upset him so much. I also sensed that he had drunk quite a bit, so that might have had some effect on his emotional balance.

I was glad Victor came to see me, despite all our arguing and the fact that we hadn't spoken to each other for a week. I, too, missed spending time together and hoped it would mean a reconciliation, and I would avoid explaining the situation about Hyacinth after all. Yes, that would be best, I thought. After that, however, I couldn't sleep, so in the morning I got up and made sandwiches, waiting for my brother to wake up.

He finally got out of bed and I handed him a glass of water. He returned a faint smile and disappeared into the bathroom. He came back sometime later and we had breakfast together. He avoided my eyes during mealtimes and looked as if he didn't know what he wanted to do with himself.

"If you want, I'll put my lenses on now," I said, sipping my coffee.

"That's not the point, Lulu," he signed and gave me permission to read his thoughts. I looked at them and reached out to shake his hand. I told him that I missed him too and wanted to make up with him. He returned my gesture back and smiled. We were both relieved, we looked at each other and laughed.

"We're stupid, aren't we?"

"Very," said Victor eloquently. "This week has been terrible," he added sadly.

"Right," I agreed.

"I saw that the last few days ..."

"Walk?" I interrupted him suddenly. "Let's talk during the walk, huh? I think it will be useful to us."

On the one hand, I really wanted to go somewhere, and on the other, it gave me some time to think about what I want to tell my brother about for now and how. It was not very early, but a gentle but cold wind took its toll. I was glad I dressed a little warmer and didn't shake like jelly as we headed towards the park where we'd been cycling last time.

Victor was silent at first, holding his hands in his pockets. Sometimes he would open his mouth as if to say something, to let me know that he would start, but withdrew from his intentions. He was cautious, he didn't want to do something that would break our relationship again. So I decided to start, I wasn't mad at him, I really needed him back in my life.

"That poster you made for me ..." I said, looking up at him, waiting for his reaction.

"Was there something wrong with him?" he asked worriedly.

"No." I smiled. "The poster itself was great, my idea turned out to be a flop."

"Lulu, what happened?"

"Nobody came for the first three days," I said in a shaky voice, I felt it was only a matter of time before I would cry, but I didn't think I'd burst that soon. "Nobody signed on the list either. They didn't have to, but still… ” I sniffed.

Victor searched every pocket and finally triumphantly took out a packet of tissues, which he handed me with concern. He patted my shoulder comforting me.

"It will be so, that you will not be able to get rid of the students."

"You really think so?"

"Of course, they just haven't managed to notice yet what a wonderful little sister I have and what a big heart she has and how she cares for everyone in her life and how she brings free cakes and pastries and how ..." he was honest, but tried to make his words humorous. He knew I didn't like compliments too much, I'd seen too often how insincere they were.

"Stop it," I gave him a nudge and suddenly noticed something interesting. "I suppose it hasn't been here lately?"

Victor followed my gaze and nodded yes. I was talking about a small cafe that looked too inviting not to go in. My brother, however, did not necessarily want to accept the invitation, but would gladly drink coffee. So I told him to wait outside, and I went inside myself. It was quite cozy in the new cafe, the decor was simple and modest. There were lots of plants and wooden accents and lots of accessories in light pastel colors like pillows, macrame, and curtains.

I went to the counter with a smiling woman behind it and ordered a coffee with milk and caramel syrup for myself and a plain black one for Victor. Initially, he did not like it, but he struggled so often with problems with ordering, or with the fact that he was not allowed to finish with what exact coffee he wanted, that he just got used to the fact that he would drink it from time to time. I thought he would need one today too.

While my order was being carried out, I looked around who decided to visit the guests as well. I saw an elderly couple tasting a cake, and there were a few other customers calmly awaiting their Saturday morning caffeine. Individuals sat at tables either enjoying the day off or working. One of them was strangely familiar to me, I didn't recognize him at first, I had to be sure by examining his mind. I wondered for a moment whether to come over and meanwhile picked up my coffee.

"I said I'd see you again, but I didn't think it would be that soon myself," I said with a smile to Alex as I walked over to his table.

"Hi," he was surprised when he recognized me, but he didn't feel like chatting, especially since he looked tired and sat surrounded by books and notes. His tearful eyes caught my attention, and I clenched my fist but held a cup of coffee in my hand. He noticed I had two drinks and thought, "I wonder if one of them is for her brother." He looked around first, then looked out the window where I noticed Victor trying to hide behind a tree.

"Alex, did my brother do something yesterday?" I asked, wanting to force memories into his mind that I could see through but he was pushing those thoughts away. "If in any way made you feel bad about him, tell me. I'll make him apologize with the whole set, flowers, chocolates, whatever you want."

"No, nothing like that happened," he said, but thought, "I'm just stupid even to think he might be ... like me."

He was still struggling and he couldn't come to terms with his own orientation yet, I wanted to cheer him up somehow, say something that would make him feel, even though I didn't know what really happened there. I was starting to get nervous at Victor and fear what stupid things he might have done, especially around new friends from work whom he might want to adjust to. The young bartender wanted me to finally go away, to focus on his studies, and partly to cut himself off from thinking about Victor.

"Alex, what's your favorite cake?" I asked.

"I don't know, I think a brownie," he replied, surprised at my question.

"I see you're busy, I won't bother you anymore," I said warmly, turning to the exit.

Once outside, Victor approached me a bit nervous. I handed him coffee and ignored him as I continued on toward the park. It was rude, but I wanted to force my brother to talk. Besides, I was a bit frustrated, I liked Alex, even if he wasn't completely interested in Victor and I would like the best for him. Now I was starting to wish I hadn't gotten into it, stupid me. I sighed heavily, I shouldn't have judged before knowing the truth. I stopped and looked at Victor, finally deciding to speak to him.

"You had to come over to him?" he asked furiously.

"That's why you didn't come in? Have you noticed him?" I answered the question with a question. I watched him blush more and more every second. "I won't be able to help until I find out what happened."

"I screwed up," he muttered, hanging his head sadly.

"Do you want to tell or show?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder.

He was walking a bit ahead of me so I could read his thoughts more freely. After I went out, he celebrated the company's success with his friends. After some time he saw my message and being slightly intoxicated by alcohol, he decided to try his luck. He walked over to Alex and as he remembered that, he was slobbering over the bartender's smile. It was unfortunate that when Alex finally got up the courage to give Victor his number, one of my brother's stupid friends came over, grabbed the note from Victor's hands, read it, and started joking about both of them and gays in general.

Victor wanted to punch him, or say something, but no one waits for him to write down what he wants to say since most people don't know sign language. And even so, the written word did not make an impression on anyone, as if he could shout something in the face of someone. The idiot finally pulled him off the bar, laughing his head, and tore the card with the bartender's number on it, throwing a text like "my buddy is normal as opposed to you." Victor didn't have a chance to pick her up, he wanted to get away from his work colleague, but he couldn't find enough strength in himself. All he could see was that Alex then avoided him and tried to look good on a bad face.

"What am I supposed to do, Lulu?" he asked at the end.

"And what do you want to do?" I was thinking about new solutions in the meantime.

"Fix it," he replied firmly. "But I don't know how, Alex probably doesn't want to see me anymore and I don't remember his number."

"True, he wants to forget about it," I agreed. "And you forgot what your sister can do too." I chuckled ominously. "And your colleague will suffer. And it's like never before in his life," I added.

When we got home, Victor, unfortunately, had to surrender to my power. We sat down facing each other, and I removed my lenses and looked into his eyes. He didn't like feeling when I rummaged through his mind, but I had to find Alex's number, since he was looking at him, that meant his brain registered it, but he couldn't do anything about it. I, however, could easily browse through everything he saw, it was like the policemen looking for something on the recordings. And now I had fairly detailed records of when it happened, so I was able to shout in triumph and give my brother the number pretty quickly.

He was happy at first, but then I watched him fight himself for the first hour and decide whether to write to Alex at all. Then a few more as he ponders what to write. He kept tapping on the phone, then erasing it, then sighing heavily, and a moment later he was writing something with passion again. When he finally hit the send button, the next half a day he spent nervously jumping up and down on each phone alert, waiting for a reply. He finally got it late in the evening, when he was slowly losing hope.

After he went to bed, I baked a brownie and let it cool. I also put a note next to it, “Say hello to Alex, for me. Don't really screw it this time! ” Once again, I promised myself that I would not get involved knowing that I would not keep my word anyway. I just hoped their meeting tomorrow wouldn't be a flop.