Thank you so much to everyone who has followed, favorited or left a review. Its great to see such a positive response after only two chapters. You guys are the best. Hope you enjoy chapter 3!
PS. I will be updating this story as I write each chapter, hopefully every two weeks or so.
Today Felix is wearing a tight black t-shirt under a worn leather jacket and black denim skinny jeans. His hair is messy and spikes up slightly at the front. His dark eyes are lined with smudged black eyeliner. His combat boots are heavy against the concrete, causing a loud thud with every step.
He throws one arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer to him, almost dragging me along as we walk.
'Darling, it's been such a long time', he says with a sigh. It hasn't really been so long; I saw him only a couple of weeks ago. But with Felix, every minor inconvenience is exaggerated into something dramatic.
'Yes, I suppose it has', I reply, half-truthfully.
'So I have to tell you all about the drama with Colin-'
'What's he done now', I groan. Whenever he mentions Colin, his on-off boyfriend, he talks and talks for hours.
'Actually, it's my fault this time', he shrugs.
I sigh in frustration.
The glowing red sign for Bobby's place hangs above us, and we duck into the low doorway. This is Felix's favourite bar; he's known Bobby for years.
'Oh, come on, Del! I have to listen to you complain about Paul all the time!' he says as we descend the narrow staircase.
'Fair point', I admit reluctantly.
He strides over to the bar and jumps up onto one of the wooden stools topped with a red velvet cushion.
'Bobby? Hey, Bobby! The usual, if you would', he shouts across the bar to the small blonde woman talking to another customer at the far side. Her thick glasses, with black frames around the lenses, remind me of Cosima's. I chew on my lip nervously.
Bobby turns to greet Felix, walking around to our side of the bar. They kiss each other on the cheek, the she stalks off the back room to fetch more glasses, grabbing a towel and flicking it sharply at Felix as she leaves.
'Do not snap towels at me, Bobby, I had a very traumatic childhood', he yells after her.
I jump up onto the stool next to Felix. Posters of punk rock bands and old gig flyers cover the dark red walls, and the floors are wooden. Black leather chairs and red couches litter the room. Being below street level, it is always dark in here, but the dull yellow lamps and flickering candles in the middle of tables emit a cozy golden light into the place. It's still early in the evening, but most of the chairs are taken by young adults in black jeans and band T shirts. I shrug off my dark denim jacket and drape it over the stool beside me.
'So, speaking of Paul, have you dumped that guy yet?'
'Let's not talk about that'.
'So you have?'
'No, I … I said I didn't want to talk about it!'
'Okay, fine. Now, back to my thing. So I called Colin yesterday, and he kept acting really moody with me, and then he said he was mad at me because he found out that I went out with some of his friends while he was at work - Delphine, you're crying!'
I was trying to ignore the saltwater tears silently trickling down my cheeks and landing with a delicate splash on the varnished wood of the bar.
He winces. 'You know, I didn't mean to say that about Paul-'
'No, you're right. You're right'.
Felix sighs. 'What's brought this on?'
'I don't know', I shake my head. But I do know. At least, I think I do.
Felix eyes me suspiciously. He can always tell when I'm lying. 'Have you met someone else?'
'No', I say, eyes never leaving his.
'Hmm', he murmurs, leaning back to take a sip of the beer Bobby slid across the bar to him. 'We'll come back to that one later'.
'I just feel so guilty when I think about breaking up with him. He had made a life for himself in Paris, and when I wanted to study in London he was so supportive'.
'Darling, I know you've been together a long time, and I know you feel bad because he moved here to be with you. But you can't help that you're not happy. And to be honest, Del, I don't think he's happy either'.
I nod tearfully.
'You don't have to rush into anything, but you've been trying to make it work for a while now and it's not really happening for you'.
'I don't want to make it work', I whisper to the floor, so quietly the sound barely leaves my lips. Clearing my throat, I look up at Felix. 'I don't want to make it work', I repeat.
'That's my girl! I've been waiting to hear you say that for months!'
He takes my hand and squeezes it tightly. With the other hand, I wipe away my tears with the back of my hand.
'Thank you, Felix', I say earnestly.
'Don't mention it'.
'So', I say, brushing strands of hair out of my tear stained face, 'Why did you go out with Colin's friends?'
I decided it was about time that I introduced Cosima to Felix, so I asked him if I could invite her along when we next went out for drinks. Though a little unconvinced at first, I managed to persuade him by promising to buy all his drinks. Earlier today, he called to say he'd invited his foster sister along too. I'd heard a lot about Sarah, but never once have I met her in all the time I've known Felix. He said she'd been spending some time in Canada reuniting with old family, or something like that.
Felix arrives, late as usual, and joins me at the little table by the window. It's the same bar that Paul and I met up with Cosima and Shay, although this time I'm lucky that we managed to get a table. Its a Wednesday night, and the place is full of young businessmen and women in black suits and white shirts meeting for drinks after work. The evening is dark; I can see my reflection in the window as the bright white of the ceiling light above my head seeps into the glass, making the outside world invisible.
I have only just greeted Felix with a kiss on the cheek and a compliment of his outfit (all black, unsurprisingly) before, across the room, the door swings open and two women walk in.
My jaw hits the floor.
Cosima walks in, dreadlocks tied up in the usual high ponytail, wearing her favourite red coat. She is joined by a girl with long brown hair that falls in messy waves down her back. This girl wears a leather jacket, tight black shorts with patterned black lace tights, and heavy combat boots. Her eyes are framed with dark, smoky make-up.
This girl looks exactly like Cosima.
Of course, her style is so different, and so is her hair, and so is the fierce expression on her face, compared to Cosima's warm smile. But the differences end there.
This girl is Cosima's sister for sure, the one she had told me about. But what is she doing here?
I hear Felix gasp beside me. 'Cosima Niehaus!' he exclaims. 'You're friends with Cosima Niehaus?'
'You know Cosima? Why didn't you tell me?'
'I didn't know it was that Cosima!'
'How many other science geeks named Cosima are there around here?'
'Well there might be loads! How should I know, I'm not part of your nerd club'.
'Felix, who is that girl? You know her?'
'That would be my sister'.
'That's Sarah? What! You're Cosima's brother?'
'No, Cosima is Sarah's sister!'
'What? That would make her your sister too!'
He shakes his head. 'No, no, no, only me and Sarah were fostered by Mrs S, and Cosima was adopted by another family. That's why she's American and we're English. Separated at birth, blah blah blah, I'll explain later, they're coming over!'
While I sit there trying to wrap my head around this twisted situation, Felix jumps up from his seat to greet his sister. Cosima comes over to me, kissing me on the cheek. I have butterflies in my stomach again.
'Your best friend is Felix? No way!' she laughs, pointing from him to me. 'Small world, huh?'
'A little too small', I mutter, glaring at Felix as Cosima takes the seat next to me, slinging her coat over the back of the chair. Felix puts his hands up defensively. Honestly. I told him that my friend's name was Cosima and she studied evolutionary development at UCL. Was that not enough clues for him to connect the dots?
Sarah sits down in the seat opposite.
'So you're Delphine? Great to finally meet you', she says.
'You too', I reply, feeling a little shy in her presence.
'I have to say, Felix, Sarah and I were a little surprised when we bumped into each other on the way in', Cosima says, resting her head in her hand.
'What? I didn't know you knew Delphine'.
'Cos said she was here to meet Delphine and her friend, and I told her that I was meeting Felix. And his friend Delphine', Sarah explains.
'I can't believe this', Cosima laughs, turning to me. 'All this time you've been best friends with my sister's brother?'
'Of course I would have known if I'd met Sarah before' I say, still in a state of utter confusion. 'I mean, you two look so alike!'
'I know, it's crazy', Felix says. 'I nearly had a heart attack when I met Cosima the first time. And Alison'.
'So you three didn't grow up together?' I ask.
'No, we were adopted by different people. I didn't know about them until a few years ago', Cosima shrugs.
'Are they even allowed to do that?'
'Not really. We never found out why it happened to us, or who our real parents are. I grew up in San Fran, Sarah in London and Alison in Toronto'.
'And Beth and Cosima were adopted together', Sarah interjects.
Cosima shoots Sarah an icy glare, but I can see the hurt in her eyes.
'Anyway, Del and I were just talking about Sarah's party', Felix quickly changes the subject.
Who is Beth? Do the girls have another sister? I bite my tongue and force the curiosity to the back of my mind, hating to see Cosima upset, even if I'm not sure why she's hurt.
'Yes', I tell them. 'Congratulations on the engagement, Sarah'.
'Thanks. We thought that it was a good time to finally tie the knot and all. Our daughter Kira is nearly six now, so', she trails off.
'Of course, Felix has told me all about her'.
'Considering Felix always says he hates kids, he absolutely adores Kira', Sarah laughs.
'And Alison's kids', Cosima pipes up.
'Remember Kira's third birthday?' Sarah asks Cosima. 'Felix bought her a teddy bear so big it barely fit through the door!'
'Aw Felix', I tease. 'Getting soft, are we?'
'Never', he says haughtily. 'I only love my nieces and nephew. Every other child is positively disgusting'.
I laugh, remembering the event only earlier today when Felix shouted at a little boy for cutting in the line at the tube station.
'Sarah, there's Cal', Felix says, pointing towards the bar.
Sarah whips round to see a tall man in a grey wool coat stood at the bar, waving her over.
'Oh! I'll be back in a minute', she says, jumping out of her seat and almost running towards the bar.
'Me too', Cosima gets up to leave as well. 'I promised Shay I'd call her'.
Felix waits until the sisters are out of earshot before speaking.
'So', he says, eyeing me suspiciously, 'how long have you been in love with Cosima?'
I blink, taken aback. 'Excuse me?'
'Don't play stupid, Delphine. You forget how well I know you'.
'I don't know what you're talking about', I shrug, taking a sip of my beer.
'Oh yeah? So let's see, you met Cosima about three and a half months ago, correct?'
'Yes'.
'Well isn't that funny? About three and a half months ago was when you finally realised you didn't love Paul and you were unhappy'.
He's definitely on to me, and if he suspects me of developing feelings for Cosima, then he's probably right. Sometimes, I trust Felix more than I trust myself. Just stay cool Delphine.
'And?' I say, flicking my straightened hair over my shoulder.
'Well, you started hanging out with Cosima almost every day. Then you would call me up, or we would go out, and you would just gush over her for, like, an hour at a time. It got really boring after a while'.
Hm. Maybe I did do that.
'And the final clue?' he continues. 'The way you look at her. In that moment before Sarah came in and ruined it, your eyes just lit up. You looked possessed, Del. Seriously, it was weird. And you keep staring at her, like every time she opens her mouth to say something. You should probably stop that'.
'Am I that obvious?' I ask shyly.
Felix puts a hand on top of mine.
'Only to me, darling', he says with a comforting smile.
I smile gratefully in return.
'Anyway, I'm not in love with Cosima. But maybe I do like her as more than a friend'.
'So what are you gonna do?'
'I could never tell her', I explain. 'It would never work. Besides, she has a girlfriend'.
'And you have a boyfriend'.
I shake my head determinedly. 'Not for long'.
Felix's eyes light up. 'You're going to do it?'
'I texted him earlier and told him we need to talk. There's no going back now'.
'That's my girl!' he exclaims, punching my arm playfully.
'So that's the first problem. The second is working out how I'm going to stop my crush on Cosima'.
'It's one thing after another with you', Felix smirks.
'Thanks for the reminder'.
'Ah, don't worry. You have me'.
'I know. I love you. And, by the way, thank you for putting up with all my ramblings about Cosima'.
'Don't mention it'.
Cosima returns to the table, looking across at us with that infectious smile of hers.
'So what are we talking about?' she asks eagerly, pulling her chair closer to the table.
'We were just talking about Colin'.
'Urgh, are you serious? I can't deal with any more of your drama' Cosima groans, putting her head in her hands.
Felix winks at me across the table.
