Words Have Two Meanings

IV

Lydia hasn't set her phone down for days, it seems. Every time she loses her grip on the technology, another message from Mila chimes in and Lydia's heart is loath to miss the opportunity to hear the poetic prose that flow from Mila's fingertips.

Even if it is just a pun.

But anybody that knows Lydia knows how much she loves a pun. The fact that this woman, this woman that Lydia still suspects could be her soulmate, is hitting all of the cues in the script to Lydia's heart is nothing short of a beautiful miracle. Or, perhaps, it's just further proof that they're meant to be together.

Here's where she's confused. Mila had no reaction in finding out that Stairway to Heaven is Lydia's favorite song. If they were absolutely, cosmically destined for each other, Lydia likes to think that there'd have been a big moment of realization where Mila exploded in joy and Lydia was so high on the feeling that she would've started floating above the ground.

But this isn't Wonderland and Lydia isn't Alice. Some fairy tales just aren't meant to come alive.

"Lydia, could you please put your phone down for five minutes?"

"Hm?" Lydia looks up from the message she's typing out only to be met with Julian's sneer. They're meant to be having their usual brunch together, but Lydia physically cannot stop texting Mila. Every time she tries to leave a message unanswered it feels like porcelain cracks are cementing themselves to Lydia's heart.

It's been a long time since she felt so fragile to someone else.

Julian scoffs as Lydia goes back to her phone. She only has one more sentence to type out, and she'd rather not leave Mila hanging with the ellipses and not follow through on sending anything. "I've been talking for the past twenty minutes and you've yet to say anything."

"I was listening!"

Lydia sends the message and puts her phone face down on the table. Julian's sitting thin-lipped across the table, irritation etched harshly across his face. "What was I saying, then?"

Lydia grew up in a small town outside of Cambridge, but she always felt like she was made for bigger things. The very moment she had the chance to leave, she packed up her suitcase and took a train straight to London. It helped that Julian was staying there and housed her as she looked for work.

When Lydia was nineteen, Pash moved down to London as well, and together they got their own flat. It's not quite living on their own, but their schedules are opposite enough that when they end up spending time together, they can act like best friends and not like roommates constantly growing tired of each other.

Julian didn't fare well with Lydia moving out at first. She's always been a bit naive, and he was dubious to let her live on her own in the big bad city. He parted with her only on the promise that once a month they'd meet for brunch so he could check up on her. Slowly that's turned from Julian's distrust of her into the two of them giving each other a little piece of home.

They no longer talk about whether Lydia feels safe in her flat and if she's coping well with being on her own. Now most of the conversation centers on whether or not she thinks Dixie's going to promote her at the bookshop and all of hijinks surrounding Julian's daughter.

That's why Lydia has no doubt in her mind about what Julian was speaking of. "You were talking about Evelyn."

"That's cheating." Julian's glaring her, portraying the role of a father nearly too accurately. "I'm always talking about her."

Lydia's phone vibrates on the table, and before she can do much more than glance at it, Julian's hand is shooting across the table and grabbing the offending object. There's a victorious glow about him as he puts the phone under his leg and grins as though he's won the gold medal in being an intrusive sibling.