Philophobia: A GerIta Story (Rewritten)

Chapter Nine (Ludwig)

Upon walking into the café, it's not hard to figure out who the group Feli mentioned is. I know a few of them from group, but some of them I very vaguely recognize from school. They're loud, laughing and chatting with one another, and for a moment I don't think I can do this. A soft hand touches my arm and I look down at Matthew, who is smiling at me.

"How about we go say hi to Lovino as we wait for Feli? Gil you go ahead and see everyone, we'll be there shortly," Matthew suggests, and I nod.

"Sounds good, I'll see you two in a few minutes, okay?" With that he walks off, smile turning to a smirk as everyone turns to greet him loudly.

I follow Matthew to the kitchen, where four people are working.

One of the women is short, with curly black hair and dark eyes who smiles at Matthew and I, the other has shortly cut wavy brown hair that looks effortlessly styled and is focused on decorating cupcakes. The taller of the two men turns to look at us for a moment before going back to what he was doing, brown hair tied in a small ponytail. The last man, who I realize must be Feli's twin, turns his head before his eyes widen and he places the spoon he was holding down, quickly walking over.

"Matthew! I didn't know you were coming today," he says, eyes flicking over to me with a flash of recognition before they return to Matthew, "how are you? Is everything okay?"

Matthew chuckles, "yes I'm fine Lovi, Lud, Gil, and I decided to stop by after group since Feli invited us," his smile turns apologetic, "and I'm sorry about cancelling the other day."

Lovino, waves him off, "no worries, I'm just glad you are alright." He turns to me, "you must be Ludwig."

I nod, "nice to meet you, Lovino."

He looks me up and down before nodding, "nice to meet you as well, Ludwig."

The kitchen doors open again, and I turn to see Feli with Noodle, looking a bit confused and sad, "hey Ludwig? Are you here? Gilbert said you and Matthew came to say hi to Lovi."

"Yes we're here."

The confusion turns to a smile, "you ready to meet everyone? And hi Lovi."

"Hello Feli, I'll be joining you guys, Savannah are you guys okay?" The woman with the short hair nods without looking up from decorating, "great, let me know if you guys need anything, I'll be in the dining area."

The group Feli is leading me to is in fact the group I originally thought. Easily over twenty people sit at the surrounding tables, with Gilbert sitting with Francis and Arthur as well as two other men who look familiar but I'm not 100% sure who they are.

"Feli!" About half of the group calls out, everyone turning to look at us with smiles on their faces.

One of them, a woman with her curly hair in two long pigtails, stands up and runs at him. "Michelle incoming!" She yells before tackling him in a hug.

Feli laughs, hugging her back just as tightly. "Ciao Michelle!" He says before letting go of the hug, allowing the woman, Michelle, to walk back to her chair. "Everyone, I have someone I would like to introduce," he gestures to me, "this is Ludwig Beilschmidt." The resulting silence makes me want to crawl back home, everyone staring at me with varying looks of recognition, but Feli isn't having it. He frowns, glaring, "nope, we are not going to react like this, Ludwig here wanted to meet everyone, so you better start introducing yourselves without the shook expressions I know you guys have."

Lovino snorts as he sits in between Matthew and one of the men I vaguely recognize from the table Gil is sitting at, handing Matthew a plate with a few mini cookies.