Talia

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Ty leads us to a door. When I walk inside, Banan stays behind and talks with Ty. He closes the door behind me. The room is big enough to contain three separate beds, two single beds and one double bed. There is also a huge table with four chairs. Compared to the other inn, this is smaller and looks more modern. And again there are starflowers that lights up the room together with some candles. Anzor and Gifro are playing a card game called Nalin. Gifro looks unsecure, like he dosent know what to think, do or say. It dosent take long before he loses the interest in me and rather looks down at his cards. Anzor, on the contrary, studies me and uses a long time to determine his opinion. He gives me a gentle smile.

"You look beautiful." I'm not sure I can believe what he said, but I still feel this rush in my heart that forces me to get a little happy.

Nalin means lotus flower. It is a game we used to play at school. Each card has a different flower with a number. Gifro hands me a pile of cards. One pile consists of twelve cards. You play Nalin with all of the cards. And every player needs one pile. The first thing you do is to shuffle the cards and lay them down the wrong way. You is not allowed to look at them. A challenger pics one card and challenge another player with it. Each player have to challenge someone three times. The goal is to get most points. The player who is challenged has to challenge the next time. If two numbers are the same, nobody wins or loses their card, and they have to shuffle their cards and lay them down to try again. The player with the highest number wins as many points as the difference between the cards. You will count your points at the end, which is why you keep your pair for themselves.

We shuffle our cards, and line them upside down.

"Who will start?" I ask.

"Ladies first," Gifro says and blushes when I smile at him.

"Yes! I challenge Anzor with this card!" I say and pick up a card from the left. The number is seven, Calla lily. Anzor picks one of his cards and gets ten, Orchids. He gathers our cards and lay them aside. He challenges Gifro. Gifro gets tree, Sunflower. Anzor gets six, Carnation. Ten minus seven is tree, six minus tree, is tree. Anzor has six point in total.

"Talia! You bought shoes for 1000 C?" I turn to watch Banan barge in. His eyes are big and his smile scarier than ever, strange enough this doesn't make wrinkles appear in his face. He drags one hand through his hair, it seems like this is becoming a habit. There are just enough chairs for everyone to sit.

We continue with the game. Gifro challenges me. He gets four, Passion Flower. I get eleven, Magnolia.

"I challenge Anzor, with this card!" I say again, and slam it at the table. My card is twelve, Lotus. He narrows his eyes.

"It's just a game, relax." He picks one of his cards. Twelve. We shuffle our cards and place them. This time I pick one, Iris. Anzor have good luck today, he picks twelve again.

When we finish, Gifro has 12 points, Anzor has 17 points and I have… 19!

I count myself as a bad looser, but I'm an even worse winner. If I win, I wave my hands in the air and shout: "I won, I won!" And sometimes I point at the losers while laughing. This is not one of those times. It feels unnatural, but I sit like a mature person with my legs crossed and a pokerface.

"Stop smirking like that!" Anzor says irritated. "It's just a game." He mutters something and looks angry at the cards. Suddenly he claps his hands and get in a brighter mood.

"One more time!" He says.

We end up playing Nalin for the rest of the night. I won almost every fight, I mean match.

There is something moving on my face. It feels loose and moves back and forth. It's annoying. At first I'm afraid it's a spider and opens my eyes. I meet Tys dim face, which is almost covered by her blond and long hair. Her smile reminds me of Banans, that is why I get a fright and sit up in a.. bed? Anzor and Gifro are still sleeping with the table. Banan lies in the double bed with me. What am I doing here? And most important, what is he doing here with me?

"I'm sorry if I scared you. The officer asked me to wake you up. You just looked so cute when you slept," she says and step away to give me space. Ty thinks about what she just said. Her cheeks turn pink; she studies the ground and holds a pale hand over her mouth, like she said something terrible.

"Thank you," I whisper. I turn to look at Banan again. He lies in the same position as he did last night, and he seems to be in a deep hibernation. Soundless and defenseless like a child. I get of the bed and face Ty. Her eyes don't meet mine, but when they do, she has tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" She says.

"It's ok. Will you let me go?" I ask and come closer. She backs away, her hands are shaking.

"Bu.. bu.. but the officer.."

I interrupt her when I take a hold off her hand. She looks at me with admiration or puppy eyes. Her cheeks are red. I know what she wants and thinks. This is a situation I'm familiar with. At school we have a lot of strange guys who likes to bully the girls. I'm the person who usually helps the girls out and beat the bad guys. The guys are afraid of me. I get it now.. How stupid can I get? Could it be that I give the image of a boy?

Anyway, as the protector, a lot of girls seem to like me. Many have even confessed. Even though I turn them down, some of them still follow me around. I guess that's why I have so many female friends.

"If you like me, let me go!" I hear hands clapping behind me.

"Nice play! But you're not going anywhere." I let go of Ty's hand, she looks dreamingly at me. Banan snaps Ty in her forehead. She blinks her eyes in confusion.

Gifro is tied to his chair. When he wakes up he screams and tries to free himself. His scream wakes Anzor who startles and fall of his chair. Gifro is panicking. I go beside him.

"Relax. Ty will probably free you when we have left," I whisper. He seems to get calmer, his green eyes are buried in mine.

"What about you?" I ask concerned.

"I will be fine, you know me." I say and smile. He is still worried. When he is about to say something more, I seal his lips with mine. Gifro turns completely red.

"Thank you for trying." My first kiss. I feel my heart pumping blood faster than before, and I get a bit warm. It didn't feel special though, as I thought it would. Someone separates us.

"What do you think you're doing?" Banan asks with an angry tone.

"Kissing," I answer. I look around the room and notice everybody's gaze at us. Were they staring all the time? Ty stands in a corner and looks at Gifro with hateful eyes, while tighten her fists. Anzor gapes and doesn't move from the floor, like he is in shock. Banans anger is not for me, but for Gifro who still is embarrassed and stares at my lips. Without a warning, Banan hits him in the face.

"What on Quince are you doing?" I ask as I push him away and check Gifros face. His lips are bleeding. I turn to look at Ty.

"Can you do something about this?" I ask and point at his lips. She hesitates, but decides to nod.

"We are leaving!" Banan announces. We pack our stuff, not that we have much to pack, and say goodbye to Ty and Gifro.

As I thought, the starflowers are outside. But they won't manage to gather enough energy to light tonight. Today it's raining. The water is pouring down from the grey clouds, that could be Bananas eyes. Water makes the streets look cleaner. The sellers that were outside last night have disappeared, and there are not many people around. I see some people lying at the ground, covered by a lot of paper. They look dirty and hide in alleys. The rain feels heavy on my shoulders, and I can hear every drop when it hits the ground. The town is silenced by the weather.