10 Chapter X

When I was on the bus ride home only one thing was on my mind. Lukas was acting weird today. Not a new version of his classic douche beggary, but actual strange behavior. I've seen him look tired before, never sleepy. He also went to the bathroom a lot more frequently than usual. He had hardly any obnoxious comments and he seemed to space out. I have never seen him space out. But the most unnerving thing were his eyes. Intense green that pierces your soul, that makes some scared shitless and some weak in their knees, was replaced by glassy, unfocused ones. I wanted to say something, but the only thing that would bring, would be him snapping at me. I was used to him being mean, that wasn't it. I couldn't put my finger on what was it in his voice that sent shivers down my spine. Not in a good way. It was almost like...Like he was afraid of talking. 

At the apartment, I was greeted by Tim jumping in my arms. Margo and Nessa said hi and continued their conversation.

"Hej! Kako je blo v šoli? Learned anything new?" 

(Hey! How was school?)     

He nodded: "We used pluses and minuses prvič. (For the first time) Then we had mali test (little test or a quick test) in jaz sem dobil zlato um...uh..."(And I got a gold um...uh...) 

I smiled. Because he jumbled both languages when talking to me, he sometimes couldn't remember particular words.

"You can explain."

"They are in the sky at night. Rumene so."

(They are yellow.) 

"Zvezda. A star. You-You got a gold star?! In math?!"

He nodded.

"I'm so proud of you!"

I squeezed him in a tight hug and he giggled.

"Maybe you will be like your aunt Margo until she decided to become boring and started studying economy."

She used to be really into math. Margo threw a pillow at me and Tim laughed.

"Thanks for picking him up."

"Ni problema. Vse za mojega nečaka."

(No problem. Anything for my nephew.)

She tousled his hair.

  "Do you have homework?"

"Mhm, but aunt Vanessa said you don't have to do it right away when you come from school."

"Oh did she now," I threw a glare in her direction: "well aunty Vanessa also said that there is no way Trump will be president and here we are now. She is not always right. So go do your homework."

He jumped off the couch and went to his room.

"Stop corrupting my child," I turned to Van when he was out of the room. 

"I'm not corrupting him. I'm teaching him to rebel...with baby steps."

"He is six! Even you weren't that brave in the first grade."

"That's why I want him to be better."

"You are such a bad influence."

"That's why he will love me when he's older."

Now it was me that threw a pillow. She caught it and looked me dead in the eye. We both started laughing.

"What did you do today?" my question was directed at my sister who was sitting next to me. She has a week off work.

"Nothing, just kind of laying around, then I grabbed lunch with Charlie and after that, I did more of laying around."

"A productive day I see."

"Shut up. How was work?"

"Nothing special. Except I did kind of come out to Lukas today."

"WHAT?!" girls exclaimed at the same time.

"Holy shit. What did he say?" my roommate continued.

"Nothing. He didn't look fazed at all. He took it better than you."

I gestured to Margo.

"I took it well. I was just surprised. I didn't exactly expect my brother to be making out with my assistant in my office. ON my table!"

"Oh yeah. That was fun."

"I burned that table."

Nessas' phone buzzed. That had to be the fifth time in last three minutes. She groaned, glanced at the message and threw the phone on the carpet. 

"Are they trying to sell you that vegan make-up again?"

"No. It's my parents. They are coming to New York for Christmas and they think that is vital that I know every single detail of their Christmas plan. For some reason."

"That's not that bad..."

"They want to take me on a Christmas trip that would make every arthouse hipster cream their pants, although they know I'm neither interested in it nor will I enjoy it."

Vanessa comes from a family of artists. Her mother is a sculptor and a painter, her father a playwright and all four of her grandparents are in some type of artistic branch. Her brother is sort of a musical genius. He plays piano, violin and drums, is a composer and a conductor. Right now he lives in Vienna and works in a Vienna Philharmonic as a pianist. He is also a conductor on smaller concerts. He is only starting to establish himself as one. She is sort of a black sheep of the family in that she is more interested in technology than arts. 

"Is Isaac coming too? How is he anyway? I haven't spoken or seen him in forever."

Margo wanted to sound casual. I had to smile to myself. 

"Kok časa si čakala, da si jo to vprašala?"

(How long have you been waiting to ask her that)

"Utihn."

(Shut up.)

"I don't think he is coming, but for you, he would be on the first flight home."

"Don't exaggerate."

"I'm not. Seriously, one phone call from you and that idiot would be on a plane like that."

She snapped her fingers.

"He wouldn't even pack." she continioued.

"Of course he wouldn't. He wouldn't need to. Their activities don't usually involve clothes."

Margo punched me in the arm and Vanessa made a very disgusted face. Isaac and Margo have been having a casual relationship for more than four years now. Since he lives in Europe and she is practically always on the road, they see little of each other. I think the last time they were together was a year ago. They liked one another and flirted way before they started seeing each other. I honestly don't see anyone else for her. 

He and Van are personality wise as different as night and day, but if you just looked at their appearance you would think they are twins. Both have those stormy gray eyes and raven-like black hair. The only difference was that Vanessa's were curly, while Isaac's were straighter. They are both tall with defined cheekbones and long eyelashes. I've always found that interesting because Margo and I didn't have many physical similarities. Her face has strong features like father and mine are more feminine, like moms'. My eyes are icy blue and hers something between black and dark blue. On the other hand, our hair had a very weird characteristic. On her, it was more apparent than on me. At the roots, her hair was brown and closer to the tips you got, the lighter her hair colour was. In the end, they were light blond. Mine was similar just not as extreme. It starts with Barby and ends with Draco Malfoy blond.

Margo yawned.

"Are you tired from doing nothing?"

"Do you know that sometimes you sound like dad?"

I glared at her.