Chapter Seven
Caliegh's POV
"What? You want advice from me?" I laughed briefly at my sister's insanity a few weeks later in the school library. Surely she wasn't being serious, right? If she wanted relationship advice, why not go ask Francis? After all, I was probably going to give her the exact same kind of advice. Gabby nodded staring at the ground the whole time. "Sit, darling, sit." I said with a mock British accent, motioning to the chair across from me. She sat, crossing her ankles. Hm. Didn't know she was so girly. "So what's your issue?" I said, crossing my legs and linking my fingers together, placing my hands on my lap.
"How do you know if you like someone?" She muttered slightly, looking as if she really didn't want to be here.
"Well who do you think you like?" I inquired, cocking my head to the side. She just stared at me momentarily, a blank look in her eyes.
"Mathias." I smirked, and then brought my fist up to my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
"Mm, Dane? Good. Go kiss his face." I said, grinning mischievously at her. Gabby's eyes widened, and she kicked me in the shins. "Ow…!" I bent down to rub my leg where she hit it. "You should, though. Just ask him out or something." I sat straight again, smirking and crossing my arms. "Now tell me all your symptoms."
"Well…I keep subconsciously drawing Danish flags. I, um, imagined I was kissing him in the library the other day…" I smirked. "Stop that."
"Stop what." My grin widened.
"Being Gilbert." I frowned, glaring at her. "Got ya'. Now listen to me…I don't know whether I like him, or if it's just a phase in the friendship or whatever." I raised an eyebrow. A "phase in the friendship"? Oh, she must not know much about having guy friends…
"To me, it almost sounds like you really like him." I propped my elbows on my knees, and then perched my head in hands.
"You don't say." She said, crossing her arms and groaning.
"I do say." I responded. Aren't I just a witty little child. Gabby began to stand up, but I grabbed her wrist as she walked past me
"Let me go, please."
"Since you asked nicely, no." I sighed, turning around to face her. "Look…just don't do anything stupid, okay? Be yourself, and keep the conversation going." Gabby's expression softened, her shoulders falling. I released my grip on her arm, and she quietly slipped past me, a blissful smile on her lips. Don't get me wrong, I quite loved teasing her about her crushes. And when we were ten, they were just tiny crushes that lasted no longer than a week or so. But now that we were in high school, nearly women…Well, I can have fun now.
Thinking about that got me into thinking more. It was one of those moments where you're sitting alone in quietness, just thinking things over. And this…well. It made me upset that for five and half years, I never got to do the things with Gabby that most sisters do together. I never had girl talk with her, never got to dress her up when we got ready for eighth grade formal, never got to middle school with her. At all. I slunk down in my chair, frowning slightly. Come to think of it, I didn't really have someone to be a sisterly figure for nearly six years of my life. I could never confide in my mom; I didn't feel I could tell her these things. I could never tell my friends secrets; I didn't trust them enough. I scribbled down notes on a worksheet for my world history class, running my hands through a strand of blonde hair that curled at the end, tugging on the annoying spiral.
I hadn't realized anyone was standing next to me until a delightful vanilla scent drifted to my nose. I froze, watching as Lukas leaned over my lap to look at my homework. "Actually, Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden in 1397, not 1497." I glanced down at the paper, groaning slightly and scribbling out what I had written and corrected it. Lukas was still fairly close, and I could smell the vanilla scented shampoo he used in his pale hair. I caught myself staring at him as he read over my shoulder, his vacant eyes skimming the page.
"Is it…okay?" Lukas glanced up when I said this, standing up and nodding.
"You're good at writing." I blushed slightly, my thought process going immediately to wanting to say something about being in Honors Writing, but I kept my mouth closed in fear of him getting offended. Instead I simply responded with, "Thank you."
"However," He continued, and I sat up slightly straighter, "you spelled 'insignificant' wrong. That's a 'C', not a 'G'." He pointed to the paper, and I blinked, erasing the G and replacing it with the C that was supposed to be there. I mentally cursed to myself; why did I have to spell such an easy word wrong when such a cute guy was reading over my paper?!
…Wait. Cute guy? Damn it. I watched as he proceeded to sit next to me, pulling out a Norse mythology book; different than the one he'd been reading a few weeks ago. I glanced at the pages, but the words were in Norwegian. On the page he was on, there was a sketch-like photo of a man wading through a river with men on horses galloping across a bridge in the background. I tilted my head slightly, not realizing I had leaned forward slightly. Perhaps this was Thor in the picture; he was wielding a hammer in one hand.
"'Thor wades through a river while the rest of the æsir ride across the bridge Bifröst...' " Lukas murmured, and when I looked up at him, he was leaning towards me slightly. So he was reading to me? Hm…Interesting. He continued to read quietly to me as my interest grew; I already had some knowledge about this, but this book had some amazing details that I'd never even heard of. I scrutinized him as he spoke: the way his eyes moved across the page the way his lips moved and formed each word, some in Norwegian since they couldn't be translated directly to English. Before I could stop myself, I was wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips. To feel them pressed against my own…Whoa. Keep yourself together, Kay.
Lukas suddenly paused in his reading, tilting his head slightly and frowning. Darn, I liked it when he was so expressionless. "What is it…?" I furrowed my eyebrows together, but that was when I felt it, too. Someone was definitely behind us, and I almost didn't want to turn around to see who it was. However, I did (at the same time as Lukas. Insert fangirl squeal here.). And what I saw did not make me all that happy, and obviously Lukas was annoyed to see him there as well.
Mathias was on his knees behind the couch, propping his elbows up on the back of it. He gave Lukas a lopsided grin, then smirked at me. I rolled my eyes. What did Gabby see in him? His blue eyes shining with excitement, he stood quickly and jumped over the back of the couch, sitting between me and Lukas (and sadly separating us). "So, Norge. Who's this?" He said, wrapping his arms around both of our shoulders, pulling us closer to him. I frowned, glaring into nothingness ahead.
"Just a friend, Mathias." Lukas responded, closing his book and placing it on the table in front of us. What exactly did he mean by "just a friend"? Did this mean that Mathias must have thought we had something else going on? I sure hope not…
"Just a friend? Mm, Lukie's got himself a Lady Friend!" Mathias sang out, grinning mischievously. "So how come you two aren't goin' out, hm?" I swear a faint blush swept across Lukas's cheeks, but he crossed his arms and kept the glare on his face strong. Wow, he could really put up with Mathias.
"Because, I told you. We're just friends." He countered, his agitation only growing.
"If you say so." Mathias turned to me, simpering. "Your name's Hailey, right?"
"Caliegh…"
"Caliegh, whatever. You're Gabby's sister, ja?" I folded my arms over my chest.
"Ja." I said, mocking his accent.
"Do me a favor, and go out with dear old Lukie." I froze.
"Do…what?" Mathias's smile only grew tenfold and he leaned towards me.
"You heard me!" I opened my mouth respond with something witty, but the next thing I knew Mathias's head was planted against the coffee table and Lukas was holding him there, scowling while pinning Mathias's hand behind his back.
"Forlate. Nå." He scowled in Norwegian, and I made a rough translation in my head that that meant to leave. Lukas released the Dane, and he hesitantly slunk away to probably go harass some girl somewhere else. Lukas stared after him, then collapsed back down onto the couch, sighing in an annoyed manner. An awkward silence occupied the moment, and I kind of half-wished we could stay frozen like this forever. I wished we were on a television, and someone with the remote could press the pause button for me. Sadly, this was real life. And time kept going.
"Just ignore what he says." Lukas said, just barely above a whisper. I blinked, then gazed over at him. He was blushing again, but there wasn't any hint of emotion of his face. Gosh, why were expressionless guys always so adorable?
"Yeah, I know…Freakin' Dane." I exhaled, closing my eyes. The whole world seemed to go silent as we sat there, side by side, shoulders pressed against each other's. After a few minutes, he got up and took his book from the table.
"Well…I'll see you sometime." He said so only I could hear him. I stood up as well, but had to look up at him since he was quite a few inches taller than me. I could feel a faint smile appear on my lips.
"Mm, bye Lukas." I said, waving slightly. He gazed down at me.
"Ha det bra." He said, and he walked off. Why did I love it so much when he spoke Norwegian? I had always loved it when guys spoke different languages for some reason, and accents just filled my heart with joy to hear (except British, for some reason. It annoyed me that every American out there loved them). I smiled to myself, glancing at the clock. Good, I had time to go to my dorm and contemplate over what was happening to me.