Of Mochas and Macchiatos

Part 24

"Noah is going to be back in two days!" I excitedly tell Luke, spilling over the contents of my bag. Madeleine leaps up to help me and Lucas who's already sitting next to me starts organising everything on the table so that I can easily put everything back in its rightful position.

"That's so exciting," Lucas smiles, "have you been missing him?"

"Like hell!"

"Although I bet Rafe took some of that pain away, huh?" Madeleine laughs wickedly. "Does Noah know how serious you guys are?" And she raises her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh my god, Madeleine! You need to learn basic people skills. You can't just say things like that! How do you even know this stuff?" Okay. I knew they were good 'detectives' or whatever, but seriously, intruding on, uh, sexual relationships, seems excessive and unethical?

"What? I just meant that you literally live together." She smirks. "But if there's anything you want to add, then sure, Evie!"

Grrrr. This girl. Lucas rakes a hand through his fluffy hair, shaking his head slightly, but there is the glimmer of a smile on his face.

"You seem a lot happier now, Evie." Awh, Lucas, I draw him, and drag a hesitant Madeleine too, into a hug. And for a few seconds we are wrapped up, all drawn into a loving embrace before Madeleine wiggles indignantly.

"Why the hell do you carry sugar in your bag?" I honestly don't know how that got in there and have no explanation but Lena's concentration wanders before I can even attempt to answer. "Oh my gosh, is this the sugar that you poured on Elio?"

"Well, obviously not- it's unopened, see Lena," Lucas takes it from her and she doesn't even frown at his slightly disparaging tone, "but I'm assuming that there were the Same brand, from the Same place. It's brown sugar. Raw. From Deluca."

Deluca? I don't even know where that is. How can he even tell? There's no café name even on the little paper sachet, just a cacophony of beige whorls and curlicues set against a deep chocolate brown background and a small tan triangle that reads RAW in minuscule letters. I throw him a questioning eyebrow and he grins.

"We went to all the cafés in town during the holidays once, writing down and learning to instantly recall several identifying factors. You never know what you could find at a crime scene!"

Lena snatches the sugar sachet away from him and he rolls his eyes and huffs hyperbolically at her incessant need to be the centre of attention but you can see fondness for her in his eyes. "Deluca's on the very edge of town, Evie, near the Astoria forest, and the cliff." Right! I have been there.

Lucas goes to reach for the sugar again but she dances out of reach and a bubble of laughter escapes from him. He manages to pin her to the table and she giggles and flips him over, once again, sliding away from him as she examines the paper.

I've decided that I want to play the piano at their wedding. But I guess that'll only ever happen when they -if they!- realise their love for each other, which, at this moment, seems practically impossible. How could you be so blind to love?

Finally, Madeleine puts the sugar down. Lucas doesn't even reach for it. Does he know that he's in love with Lena? She breathes out slightly and then draws my name out, breaking apart the syllables and I know that she has an important question to ask me. "Ev-ie?"

"Yes, Lena?" And she makes eye contact with me, an expression of concern washing over her face. Madeleine's never been very good at dealing with human emotions, Lucas is the one who excels at empathy. It is usually Lena's job to wield the Aristotelian mode of persuasion, pathos, to coerce others -"witnesses", typically- to divulge classified information to her, but I can see that she is truly trying.