The short hallway opened up to an open-plan living room. There wasn’t anyone else in the room that I could see, but the conversation continued, and not all in perfect English.
Luke was by the kitchen island, a red kitchen aid in the center with half-shredded noodles falling out on one side that momentarily caught my attention. He wasn’t focussed on that task, however. He was leaning over a tablet that showed the image of a different kitchen, where an older woman stood next to a man who could have been his father. Probably was his father, come to think of it. Something about the nose...
I stopped in my tracks. He was in the middle of a video call, and now I was intruding. Then my name was said, and my heart stopped.
Luke peered over his shoulder and met my eyes. “Yes, that’s her,” he told his family, because that was who he was talking to. It couldn’t have been anyone else. And they knew about me. They knew something about me, at least, because the way my name was said sounded like they’d talked about me before.
Luke had told his family about me.
My heart pounded in my chest, and my stomach did an anxious swirl as he beckoned me closer. I stumbled my way over to the countertop.
I’d barely even talked to my family since I moved in with Glen. Dad checked in a few times. To see if I was still alive, I’m sure, but that was it. Only Glen knew about Luke. If I’d told my mum anything about my lovelife, or a potential threat to the lovelife I didn’t have, she’d go bonkers. After the online catastrophe she helped to patch up, she had every right to be wary of any relationships I might get into. I was wary, too, but I couldn’t let one bad experience stop me forever. Okay, one absolutely horrifying experience.
Irredeemable, detrimental... nasty? There were too many words for it, and none that I wanted to share with anyone. I knew if I told my mother anything, the first thing she’d do would be bringing it up and having me live through the utter embarrassment of it all. Hoping that would keep me from searching for companionship. It had certainly kept my clothes glued to my body for this long.
“She’s very pretty,” the woman on the screen said, speaking in English for my benefit with an obvious accent. Her dark hair had streaks of gray in it, and her once youthful face had wrinkled, highlighting laugh lines most of all.
“Yes,Nonni.” Luke smiled, not turning away from me. “Yes, she is.”
My cheeks burned, and I sucked my lower lip into my mouth.
“You might not be hopeless after all,Fagiolo,”Nonnisaid affectionately. “Now, go find hergatta. We’ll talk later.”
They said their goodbyes, the tablet screen turned black, and Luke and I were now alone in his kitchen.
“Sorry about that,” he said, scrubbing his face. “I might’ve told them a few things. Like how I seem to lose my head whenever you’re around. Asking for advice, really.”
My heart skipped a beat at the confession. It was one thing to realise he’d obviously told them something about me; it was a different thing entirely for him to confirm it out loud. “And did you get it? Advice, I mean.”
Luke’s lips twitched, and crinkles appeared at the sides of his eyes as he recalled the conversation. “My grandmother said, and I quote, ‘be yourself, boy. There’s nothing else you can do. She’ll either like you for who you are or she won’t be worth your time.’”
I blushed and dropped my eyes to our shoes. “She sounds like a wise woman.”
“I’ve learned to trust her judgement in most things.”
Luke led me back to the hallway, not that it was hard to find. The layout of his flat was rather straightforward. The hallway led to the open plan kitchen and living room, while his bedroom must’ve been the door just on the other side of the sofa—I wasn’t thinking about his bedroom, or anything.
In sheer contrast to now mine and Glen’s decor, his choice of furniture was minimalistic and modern. Simple. Nothing cluttered anywhere that I could see, at least. I couldn’t see a lot during my very short stay, but it felt warm and cosy like the man himself. Very unlike the corridor that was gray and gloomy and hiding Drixie somewhere in its dark corners.
“I suggest we check all the floors first and then start knocking on doors, if we don’t find her in the corridor,” Luke said. “You cool with that?”
I nodded. “Okay. I kind of already knocked on that one.” I pointed to the door to the left of Luke’s.
“You did, huh?” he hummed. “We can skip that one, then.”
I shrugged. “Thought it might be yours. It wasn’t.”
“Well, you found me, and we will find Drixie. Come, let’s start from the top.”
After a long downward climb that somehow reminded me of the time he carried my mattress upstairs, we ended up on the ground floor, and I was growing increasingly more worried. The only thing different now was the continuous ‘pspspsps’ that carried through the corridors and was supposed to call Drixie toward us. And the worry. And perhaps I wasn’t as sweaty as I had been then. Okay, a lot was different, but Luke wasn’t. He somehow remained calm throughout the search. He even attempted to raise my mood with banter that I responded less and less to the lower we reached. It wasn’t his fault that I was beginning to lose hope.
“Luke, she’s not here.” My lips trembled, and I hated Glen just then. This whole thing was her idea after all. Some grand plan of hers—brilliant, as she called it. “What if something’s happened to her?”
We’d looked by the mailboxes, which was the last place Drixie could have gone if she hadn’t somehow gotten outside altogether. It was raining, so the chance of that happening was slim at best, but who knew? She might’ve been in the mood for a shower. I certainly didn’t know anymore.
I’d dragged my hand through my curls too many times, and it felt like they were wilder than ever. I did it again, just to give my hands something to do other than shake at my sides.
Luke took a step closer, his hand reached out. “Hey, hey. It’ll be okay, we haven’t checked the apartments yet.” His brows furrowed as he flexed his fingers, dropping his hand before he could actually touch me, and cleared his throat. “We’ll find her, okay?”