A Common Language

Chapter seven

  Minor

  The following morning Kalli found herself downstairs dialing Drake’s number. “Hello?” His voice was awake, but barely. What time was it there? She hadn’t even thought to check.

  “Hey. It’s me.”

  “Kalli? Kalli! Thank God you’re okay! What happened? Where are you?”

  “At the University. I ran away ‘cause mom said I couldn’t come. I am so sorry.”

  “You made it in? Good job!”

  “Yeah. Full five year scholarship.”

  “Oh,” he got quiet. “Five years. It’s good I didn’t plan on you coming back, I guess.”

  “What? What do you mean?” Kalli demanded, worried she sounded too harsh.

  “Your mom told me to let you go…so…I…I kinda moved on, I found some…someone else.”

  Kalli’s eyes watered up. He had been cheating on her? “Oh. Oh I see. So I guess this is goodbye,” how long had she been gone? Maybe two weeks. Ten days? Less? Was that long enough to replace her after over a year together? Had he had someone lined up or had she been involved with him while she was there?

  “Yeah. I guess it is,” his voice sounded so cold.

  “Goodbye, Drake,” her voice cracked and betrayed her tears. She hung up and began to cry. Her chest felt like someone had punched a hole through it. She ran back up to her room. She ran to the corner and cried.

  She wasn’t sure how she ended up with her blanket curled up with her in the corner, but it was there. She was still crying but no water fell from her eyes. Dry tears and sobs that hurt her entire body. But she couldn’t stop. Her heart hurt too much.

  Around noon Lupe came in from a morning preparing for classes. “Kalli?” she looked around the room. She saw the red blanket in the corner was shaking violently. “Kalli? Kalli! What’s wrong?” Kalli shook her head, “Kalli! Talk to me. What do you need?” Kalli thought for a while, her eyes opening a crack. They were so swollen and inflamed from hours of crying.

  “Percy.” Her dry voice croaked. “Get Percy for me.”

  Lupe ran from the room and down the stairs. The twins were there lounging on the couches. “Where’s Percy?” she asked quickly.

  “In the gardens, why?”

  “I really need to talk to him, no time to explain,” She hollered running towards the gardens. She saw him reading on one of the stone benches. “Percy!! Come. Quickly! Kalli needs you! She won’t talk to me. Hurry!” She stopped and bent over to catch her breath.

  Percy jumped up the instant she said Kalli’s name. “Where is she?”

  “The dorm. Do you want me to come with you?” She spoke quickly, adrenaline and worry pulsing through her body.

  “I think it would be best if I went alone. Thank you, Lupe.” Percy was a gold medal track team star in grade school; he could do a mile in six minutes, but he sprinted towards the dorm faster than he ever had before. He burst through the front doors of the dorm building, not caring about everyone looking at him. He wound up the stairs skipping steps and down the narrow hallway crashing into Kalli’s unlocked room with all of the velocity he had gained.

  Kalli looked up from her knees to see Percy standing in the middle of her room looking at her with wide eyes. He was panting and his face was flushed, but it was overcome with concern. She jumped up and into his unsuspecting arms. “Percy!” She half screamed at him curling her head against his warm chest allowing herself to be comforted by the fact he was there. His arms went around her and she felt safe in his arms.

  Percy was shocked she came this close to him with her not liking to be touched, but he held her close nevertheless. “Kalli, What happened?”

  Her vocal cords didn’t want to work. “I…I called…Him,” she stifled into his chest through her sobs that produced no tears, “he…he…broke up…he…was…with…someone else….” she shook with her pain.

  Her words were broken and muffled but Percy understood and hugged her tighter. His heart reached out to her. “Oh, oh Kalli. I am so sorry.”

  “It’s…It’s just…”

  “Shh, shh I know. You don’t need to explain,” she cried on and on for a while. “Hey, Kalli darling, listen to me,” he gently lifted her chin from his chest so she could see his eyes. “He isn’t worth it. This child is a stupid jerk for doing this to you and letting you go. Do you understand? He doesn’t deserve your blessed tears just like he doesn’t deserve your pure heart. So what I want you to do is take a warm shower, change into the most comfortable pajama’s you have, relax, and take a nap. If you can’t sleep at least rest your eyes, okay? Tomorrow morning I will be here with a special remedy I brought from home,” Percy hugged her closer still. “You can get through this, and I will be here with you every step of the way,” He looked her straight in the eye and she nodded. “That’s my girl,” His lips brushed her forehead like her mom’s used to when she had a fever or was really upset like this. It comforted her.

  Percy left after Kalli had pulled out a pair of old sweats and a ratty shirt her dad gave to her before he died. She crawled into her bed and let the exhaustion of heartbreak take her away to the land of her dreams where there were no pain or negative tears. Only happiness and love, good love and no lies.

  “Kalli! Kalli wake up!!” Kalli jumped. She had been re-experiencing the day’s events in her nightmares. She hadn’t gotten to Percy yet.

  “Wha…what?” She asked, prying her heavy eyes open seeing Lupe leaning over her concern filling her purple-gray eyes.

  “You were having a bad dream weren’t you?”

  “Yeah,” she shuddered in remembrance. “What time is it?” she mumbled, trying to drag her mind back to the real world.

  “5 p.m. I have to go to Music Building Two for a seminar but I’ll be back. Can you handle yourself for a while?”

  “Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine,” Kalli said with a forced smile.

  “I don’t believe you but I really do have to go. The girls next door will help you if you need anything or you can go find someone in Data Venia if you’d like. Just don’t do anything rash. I should be back within a couple hours.”

  “Go. I’ll be fine,” Kalli assured her.

  “Okay.…” Lupe said cautiously eyeing her before leaving the room.

  Kalli lay back down. Despite all attempts not to, she thought of Drake and of his betrayal. He had been her last hope. She felt a warm tear run down the side of her face. A tear of pain and a hate that only lost love can create.

  Thirty minutes later there was a knock on the door. Kalli pulled herself off the bed to answer it. The door swung open. It was the twins. “Lupe’s at music building 2.”

  “We know,” They said together, as always.

  “So she’s not here.”

  “We know.”

  “What do you want then?” Kalli had finally figured out the difference between the two, Demitri had a thin white scar just beneath his chin and Sasha didn’t.

  “I think she forgot about us, Sasha. How rude,” Demitri pouted. “And after how long we worried about her.”

  “I believe so. How depressing”

  “What are you two talking about? I really don’t have the patience for this tonight,” Kalli said.

  “The date? The night out? Our Kalli time?” Demitri crossed his arms.

  “You know full well I didn’t agree to that!”

  “It was implied,” they said simply.

  “Well I don’t really feel up to a night out tonight,” but she had noticed in addition to their normal slacks and white button down shirts they both had on identical red ties. They had dressed up for her. She felt a little bad but after the day she had she couldn’t care about their feelings.

  “We know, but you need to get out of the dorm. Even Percy said it was a good idea.”

  “So you know?”

  “Everything Percy knew, we made him tell us,” Kalli sighed in exhaustion. “Look Kalli, there’s a showing of Phantom of the Opera tonight in Music Hall Three and we don’t want you to miss
it. So get your cute little backside into some public-appropriate clothes--because you look like a bum--and come down to the lobby. If you don’t meet us there in ten minutes we will come back up here and help you change,” Sasha’s voice seeped through her, breaking down her resolve.

  Kalli knew by the identical look on their faces that they were completely serious. “Fine, ten minutes. No less,” She articulated clearly to make sure they understand she meant business.

  “No more than ten,” the twins walked slowly down the stairs after Kalli slammed the door in their faces. She hurried. The last thing she needed was the twins trying to get her into a pair of jeans. She shuddered at the thought.

  “Have you ever seen this movie before Kalli?” Sasha asked kindly on her left. They were at some part with some guy being hung by the phantom.

  “I don’t know. I think I saw it a couple of years ago but I honestly haven’t been paying much attention. My mind can’t stay in one place,” she said truthfully, giving him a sideways apologetic smile.

  “Focus. The point of this is to distract you,” Demitri said from her right. She had noticed Sasha seemed to be more laid back and happy to let Demitri take the lead on things. Sasha seemed to think more than Demitri though. Demitri seemed like the kind of guy who heads into things without a plan but isn’t clever enough to come up with a good plan on the move.

  “Demitri? Where did you get that scar below your chin?” She asked. She turned slightly to her right and to her surprise both twins tensed.

  “That is a very long story….”

  “Well a good story might distract me,” she reasoned.

  “It’s not a good story, and this is not the time or place to share it,” Demitri said, his words tight and his face blank of emotion.

  She turned to Sasha who nodded slightly in agreement with his brother. “Well, I guess curiosity will sufficiently distract me,” someone in the row in front of them shushed them. Kalli crossed her arms across her chest.

  There was a silence as they watched Rouel sing to Christine. After the song was over Demitri whispered to Kalli. “I will tell you. Just not now.”

  “Okay. I can deal with that--for now,” she settled.

  Demitri smiled and returned his eyes to the movie.

  “Hey, look!” Sasha said pointing towards the front of the room. “It’s Dragen, why is he always late to this kind of thing?”

  “Maybe it doesn’t interest him all that much, or he read the start time wrong,” Kalli suggested but she was ignored as Dragen came and sat behind them.

  “Hey-a, Dragen!” The twins said excitedly. Dragen simply blinked recognizing their existence. The twins frowned.

  “Hello, Dragen, nice to see you again,” Kalli said kindly but causally.

  He nodded politely. “Surprising you came. An event like this sparks your interest?” The twins’ mouths dropped to the floor.

  “It doesn’t really. They drug me out,” she said pointing at Sasha and Demitri.

  Dragen nodded understandingly.

  “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, are we missing something?” The twins half screamed coming between them. The crowd shushed them. Dragen sighed and Kalli turned around to face the screen. The twins didn’t relent. “What’s up? Spill! Why will you talk to her and no one else?”

  “Masashi.” He raised his eyebrows to accentuate his point. “You never asked questions and I find you both annoying,” Kalli stifled a giggle as Dragen glared at them.

  “Okay, just wondering,” They said quickly turning around and sinking far into their seats as if trying to disappear. Kalli was shocked, Dragen could scare them. She took a mental note; perhaps she could use that later. She began actually watching the movie.

  “Oh boo! I wanted the Phantom to win!” Kalli was complaining as the twins walked her back to the dorm.

  “That’s life, sweetheart.”

  “They should re-make it and change the ending.”

  The twins chuckled, “it’s a classic. They aren’t going change the ending.”

  “Gaaahhhh!” Kalli screamed in frustration.

  “Well, here is your dorm,” they leaned against her doorframe. “Goodnight, Kalli,” they each hugged her kindly.

  “Goodnight guys, thanks,” she stepped inside and they left.

  After a night of restlessness, Kalli awoke to a pounding on her door. She looked at the clock, 10 a.m. “Holy crap! Why am I still sleeping?” The person at the door knocked again. “I’m coming!” She yelled her voice cracking slightly as she hurried to the door wrapping her blanket around her as she went. Percy was standing in her doorway with a large brown bag in his arms.

  “Good morning,” he said smiling somewhat at her attire and hair.

  “Hey,” again her voice was dry and cracked.

  “Did I wake you? I waited as long as I could.”

  She nodded and he smiled bashfully. “It’s alright. Come on in,” she stepped aside and noticed he had to duck slightly to get into the room. His tall frame didn’t fit the doorway very well. “What’s that?” She asked nodding to the bag in his arms which he made a point of keep above her eye level.

  “Just a special ‘broken heart’ remedy I brought from home,” Kalli rose onto her toes to peer into the bag but he lifted it up further.

  “What is it?”

  “You shall see. But for now, go sit on your bed and relax,” she did as she was told and watched as he unpacked his bag. He brought out a heating pad (even though they were technically not allowed in the dorms, nearly everyone had one), a coffee cup, a little red box, a clear science beaker, a spoon, a bottle of filtered water, a strainer, another box, red with a small black heart for a clasp, and a brown stuffed bear.

  “What the--?”

  “No questions asked,” Percy interrupted her question, smiling sweetly at her. “I did this for my mom after my dad left. It helped her and she became happy again. And I have done it every time he came back and disappeared again,” needless to say, he had experience with healing broken hearts.

  “Oh. I’m so sorry,” She could tell that the memories hurt him. She was learning just how much he wore his heart on his sleeve.

  “It’s fine. It has been a while since he’s come back,” He poured the bottle of water into the flask and placed it on the hot plate to boil. He put a few spoonfuls of black, flakey stuff out of the first red box into the hot water, and it began to darken. Kalli realized it was tea. Percy poured the steeped tea through the strainer and into the coffee cup. He opened the black heart-clasped box and pulled out two chocolates. He grabbed the teddy bear, chocolates, and tea and sat next to Kalli. “An herbal remedy I made myself,” he said, carefully handing her the tea. “Chocolate covered cherries, because chocolate fixes everything. And a snuggly teddy bear to be a friend and listen to the secrets you don’t trust to other people,” the bear was possibly the softest she had ever felt. She felt like crying just because of how nice he was being.

  “Thank you, Percy. Really, this is super awesome of you,” no one has ever done anything like this for me. This is the kind of stuff that happens in the movies, not in my life. This is so sweet.

  “Drink up,” Kalli sipped the tea. It was an odd sort of wonderful; it was sickly sweet with an edgy kick to it. It woke her up. She felt the clouds over her eyes start to clear. “Do you want to talk about what happened with Drake?”

  Kalli nodded and ate a chocolate; she had to get it out. “When I was at home, he and my dad were my number one supporters, and my mom didn’t even know that Dad applied me. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I knew only days after my father sent in my audition tape. He always was terrible at keeping secrets,” Kalli laughed. “Drake was planning a going away party for me. He knew I would get in and he had said on multiple occasions that even the Atlantic Ocean couldn’t keep us apart and that he would stand by me even when I was a thousand miles away.

  “I went downstairs yesterday to call him so we could figure out the long distance thing. And he told me that my mom t
old him to forget about me and so he found someone else. Just like that. I had been away for twelve days and she meant more to him then I did after over a year and two months together,” She ate the other chocolate and drank some more tea. She blinked away the heat growing in her eyes. “She must be something special.”

  “I don’t know who she could be that would be worth leaving you. If I were him I would be hanging myself off a cliff right now because I would know there is nothing I could do to deserve to have you talk to me again. Much less give me a second chance. He screwed up big time,” he gave her a tight side-hug. She felt her heart swell; starting to feel tears well in her eyes again.

  “But I have to wonder if he has any remorse whatsoever for doing it. He sure didn’t sound like it on the phone. Twelve days is hardly enough time to find someone important unless they were already--important to you.”

  “I don’t know this guy personally, but from what I do know of him it doesn’t matter if he does feel guilty or not, he will keep doing crap like this until karma comes to bite him. And I wish I could have front row seats to see that.”

  Kalli laughed and laid her head on Percy’s shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and rubbed it lightly. He was so good at this. Somehow he made things seem a little better. Like her world wasn’t crumbling around her.

  “Thanks so much Percy.”

  “I once told you I was always here for you. And I stand by that promise. Forever.”

  “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

  They sat in silence until Kalli fell asleep.

  ***