Mr. Wallis

Part 41 (Jack's POV)

I had received a message from Lania about half an hour later after Mathew left to go spy. She had asked if what she should do. Setting my phone off, I chose to ignore it, after all, what fun would it be if I replied and not the brother who was peeking at her dinner date?

"Oh, a text from Lania, says she needs advice," Peter read the message. I quickly took his phone and threw it over the side of his bed. The boy then turns to me as if I had finally lost all my marbles. "Jack?!" He dove after it, but I held him by the trousers.

"No, no, you leave it there for now."

"B-but she is at her date. She could use one of us to talk her through it!"

Had your voice always been that high? I wince as he kept chirpping away at how we had promised father to help her sort out all her trouble with intimacy, and expressing it to others.

Grabbing him by the back of his neck, I whispered, "I suggest we steer  this ship to another direction, Baby Boy." I do my very best to emphasize the key words.  But as always, Peter can't catch a bloody fucking thing with those butter fingers.

"Wah?"

You're as oblivious to the obvious, but I'll forgive you for that. I pat his back, then smile as I explain that he has noticed that our dear, lonely, cold brother as found a warm, tender little spot in his black heart for Lania.

Peter blinked twice before twisting his lips, "I suppose, well, I have noticed it as well."

"Attah boy, so we will let she seek out Mathew for advice."

"Ah, and where is he, by the way?"

"Not important," I rapidly dismiss his question. It has better he didn't know or else Peter would turn into a panicked goose for no reason.

"It seems as if we are playing with where her heart will go." He said with the guiltiest eyes only he could create. If he had been born a girl, Mathew and I would have had found ourselves spoiling him rotten.

The phone buzzed once more, and Peter's eyes rolled towards it.

Snapping my fingers to have him focus, I assure him that Lania's heart has already chosen Mathew. "...even if her brain doesn't know it yet."

The next afternoon I was to spend with Lania, but my energy wasn't as she was used to. I had to stay up late trying to reel Peter from answering his phone.

"We can go get some coffee if you're tired. Want some, my treat?" She asked while holding the boquet of peonies I and surprised her with. She was a lovely sight as we walked down the street. The grey, and blues of the sky made her pink cheeks, and green rain coat stand out perfectly.

A natural, simple beauty. I can see you well with Mathew.

I knew my ass-of-a-brother well enough to know he did have a bit of a crack in his armor for women who had no need to adorn themselves exseccively. Yes, looks were one thing, but what he had to admire most was simply who Lania was. Her attitude, her fire, her softness, and spirit, oh, she had my brother by the balls.

I chuckled saying that Mathew had warned me not to drink from any of the cafes here. Waving her fingers into the air she states he was being dramatic.

"He's just picky." Lania licked her lips before spotting the place she was looking for. "Here, this one has one of the best. I'll be right back."

Quickly she rushes in, orders two to go, and walks out juggling the drinks and the flowers in her little arms. As she hands me one I take the flowers, too.

Taking a great gulp of it I then exhaled the steam, and winked. "Thank you, darling, I'll return these to you later."

God, it it terrible. The taste stung me worse than the burn did. Yet I couldn't let myself be as honest about it as Mathew was. Slowly I finished it and leaned over to Lania.

"And how did it go last night?" I asked.

"Awkward." Lania replied while hlding up the drink to her lips.

Short. It won't do. Details, love, details.

"What exactly was awkward?"

"He kept trying to make me laugh, I did, but then he'd flirt so much that I couldn't process it all. It's as if he was throwing himself at me."

"Pfft, sweetheart, well the lad wants you, of course he'd over-do it." I give her the truth about it, and she blushes to the thought out it. "You do need to admit to yourself that; he wants you to want him back."

"B-but I-"

I cut in before she starts ramblings, "You do want him, do you not?"

"Want? No, I-I mean, yes? I like him...a lot, but I don't think I want him. I guess I just don't know yet, but I know it is not love, i-it's just a crush that maybe could be more."

How cute. 

Well the good news was she wasn't fully head over heels for the boy. Mathew had a chance. God help him if he ruins it.

All this thinking had me in need of a smoke. Dropping the empty cup into a bin, I stop to light one up to help me concentrate on the future. Almost as if I had been next to my mother again, I was smacked on the neck. In shock I turned around with the ciggarette still on my lips. Lania's eyes fired it for me as she stared back.

Oh, right. I cannot smoke in front of her.

"Sorry, love." I raise my hands defensively. Forgot that Mathew had mentioned that she couldn't stand smokers much. Before I could remove it from my lips, she plucked it, and held it over my eyes.

"You know better than to have this," her eyes shimmer like wet stones as I stare back. How many times I have I been told to not smoke, or that it was bad for me? Countless times, yet once Lania's eyes cleared away to see the pool of sadness she held...I shut up, and listened.

"You are not going to be the next Wallis to die because of this." She throws it in the bin after finishing. The mood had shifted so suddenly that I couldn't sort of my thoughts. Lania cared deeply for father, I knew that. And he was dying due to smoking, period, I knew that, too. What I had not known was how her loving nature would transfer itself to me as well.

Father knew how to pick them. Her face relaxed after I grabbed her hand, and placed a kiss on it. "All right, all right, then. I shall cut back, promise."

She used her free hand to take the flowers that rested between my inner arm and ribs. Lightly, she smacked me over the head with them while her eyes flashed a twinkle.

"Now what woud the world be without The Great Cream Dream?!"

"A dreadful place I am certain!" Leading the way to no true destination, I couldn't help the feeling that we were being watched, and it wasn't by my little siblings.