Right Number, Wrong Girl

She grinned, squeezing my arm. “Grandma would say it means you’ve got good taste.”

I opened the door to my bedroom and sighed. “Do you think I can do it, Helly? Convince her it’s worth fighting for?”

My sister softened at her nickname. I rarely used it anymore, and even though I was the eldest child, she’d always been the fixer of the family.

“I know you can,” she said quietly, touching my arm. “Hugo, if you’re supposed to be together, you will figure it out. One way or another. If, for whatever reason, you can’t do that, then she was only ever supposed to be with you for a short time. Either way, lessons have been learnt by all of us.”

I swallowed, nodding. “I know.”

“But I think you’re supposed to be together,” she continued. “There’s something about you being together that just makes sense. Grandma always said to me, “Helena, when you know, you know.” It took me a while to know with Ed, but I think you knew with her right away, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Pretty much. I just…” I sighed. “I’m not coming back without her. I’m not leaving London unless she’s with me.”

“That’s a very bold statement to make, Hugo.”

“I mean it.” I stepped away from her and pulled my suitcase out from under my bed. “I’m only coming home if she’s coming with me.”

***

I made it to our London house at two a.m., crashed on the sofa, and after a shower, left for Sophie’s flat as quickly as I could.

She had to know that I wasn’t lying. I was serious about everything I’d said. Literally nobody else in this world mattered to me as much as she did, and I still didn’t understand how she’d crept under my skin and gotten such a hold on me as quickly as she had.

I knocked on the door and waited. There was no noise from inside her flat, and I leant against the door.

Knocked again.

Still nothing.

Maybe she just wasn’t home right now. It was the middle of the morning, after all.

I waited another few minutes and knocked once more, but nothing. My stomach rumbled, and that was my sign to give up for now. I didn’t want to run across London seven thousand times today, so I made my way back down and headed outside.

I’d get breakfast and try again later.

***

Three p.m.

I knocked.

I waited.

I knocked.

I waited.

I left.

***

Six p.m.

I knocked.

I waited.

I knocked again.