Three Means Coffee

82

Basia only pretended to fall asleep, and although she wanted to stay with her brother, she could see how depressed he was and felt responsible for it anyway. Then she lay there and was surprised when she heard a voice that did not belong to Błażej. She got out of bed and, though she knew it wasn't nice, put her ear to the door of the other room. She suffered, however, and, rubbing her legs, returned to her bed. For a long time, she stared at the barely visible ceiling, on which patterns were painted by a street lamp breaking through the blind. She had a lot to think about, and she didn't like it because she felt too lost.

On the one hand, her parents' words were still ringing in her head and the disappointment in their voices when she asked them to explain to her why her brother had suddenly disappeared from their lives. All they said was that he had brought them shame, and it turned out that he had done something very wrong. She asked if he could just apologize and go home. "You can't apologize for that!" was all they replied.

The girl sighed, remembering that when the subject came up among adults, she was always told that anything other than a man-woman relationship was wrong. They said it with such conviction that she believed it and was convinced of it until that evening. When she saw Błażej and Makary together, she suddenly felt hatred towards her brother. She did not understand why he was doing this, she believed that it was his fault that their parents had thrown him out of the house. She wanted nothing to do with him, she had to admit to herself that she even loathed him. She shed a tear, wishing she had felt this way about her brother at all.

She turned over to the other side. Was it because he fell in love with him as he said? Monika said that there was nothing wrong and that there were many such people, but why did it have to be her brother? Why couldn't Błażej be normal? However, Tymek's allegations hurt her the most, how could he say that he did not love his own older brother? He sounded as if he considered himself better and more important to Błażej, she internally bristled and turned over. What if he was right?

She fell asleep with this question but woke up quite early and, rubbing her eyes, went to the kitchen in search of something to eat. Surprised, she found Makary there sipping coffee and remembered the events of the previous evening. She stood paralyzed in the doorway when the hazel-eyed man spotted her. He smiled politely and greeted her. She mumbled something in response, but he didn't mind.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, Basia nodded, watching the man look at his watch. "It seems to me that Błażej will not mind waking him up earlier to have breakfast together. Will you wake him up?"

The girl said nothing, but preferred to comply with his request rather than talk to him any longer, although their exchange barely resembled it in the first place. Basia shook her brother by the shoulder, asking if he would get up, to which he only murmured that not yet.

"He won't get up," the girl announced as she returned to the kitchen.

"I guess so." Makary smiled and handed her a glass of cold water. She looked at him, unsure of what he expected of her. "Don't pour it all over him, just sprinkle some on his face. This is one of the best ways to make older siblings get up."

"How do you know?"

"I have two older brothers and I always had to wake them up for breakfast on the weekends," Makary shrugged and poured the teas to cool a bit before they began to eat.

So Basia made another attempt, this time more successful, although she wasted almost all the water because Błażej was extremely insensitive to her efforts. She was nervous because her stomach growled more and more, and delicious smells began to come from the kitchen. Finally, he dragged himself out of bed and in an irritated voice asked who had given her the idea. Basia immediately blamed Makary.

"Don't teach her stuff like that again," the disgruntled first-year muttered as he entered the kitchen, but he couldn't stay angry for long when he saw Makary. A smile immediately lit up his face. "Next time, I'm asking for a slightly more pleasant wake-up call," he whispered, blushing so that his younger sister wouldn't hear him.

"I'll think about it," the hazel-eyed replied. "Unless you have specific wishes." He smiled, in Błażej's opinion, far too seductively.

"Forget it, I'm afraid of what you'll come up with." The first year laughed and set about preparing the table. "But at the same time, I want to find out."

Basia was a bit offended that they spoke in whispers for a moment, but she was able to forgive them when she heard Błażej's joyful laugh. She had the impression that she had forgotten what it sounded like and hoped it wasn't the last time. She looked at the two lovers and thought that the man standing next to her brother could be the key to making him laugh like that, but she quickly pushed it away.