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"Good morning Alec, have you been diligently doing your homework?", Liz asked, grinning cheekily at me. "Come on, stop messing around and give it here. She's coming soon and I need a few more points," I snapped back.
"Alright, here you go. Don't stress, it's just a few lines, that's all. And she's downstairs having a smoke with Martin. So you have plenty of time."
"Thanks. I'm sorry if I was rude. I'm just a bit stressed," I tried to apologize to her. But Liz was no longer listening and was chatting with others from the class.
Liz and I are in the same field of study and are best friends. We're always there for each other, no matter what happens. And that's despite only knowing each other for a year.
"Okay, let's get started. I would suggest we go over chromosomes again today, as some of you had questions about that. It's an important topic in biology..." our tutor began to explain, but I didn't listen any further. Genetics wasn't exactly my favorite subject. But I had to get through it if I wanted to finish studying biology. "Liz, you still remember that guy from TV that I thought was so cute? I found out his address. Would you like to come with me to visit him sometime? Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll be out on the street or something," I turned to Liz to distract myself from my boredom. "What, you have his address? Where did you get that? I don't know. Do you think that's a good idea? He probably isn't stupid and will notice what's going on right away."
"Oh come on. Other people run into stars by chance on the street," I tried to convince her. "Well, I don't know. I would..." "As I see it, you want to explain this to us, Liz. So come on up. Alec, you can come along too to correct her if something is wrong," we were suddenly interrupted by our "nice" tutor. "Great, just because you always have these crazy ideas," Liz snapped and stood up.
The day went by quickly. After we finished, I ran to the subway to get home fast. My sweet Flo was supposed to be on TV again today. Unfortunately, I had a longer day at university than usual, so I had to hurry.
Flo, whose real name is Florian, has the lead role in a very successful series. And I try to watch it as often as possible. So far, I've hardly missed an episode. My biggest wish is to meet him in person. Unfortunately, my chances don't look very good. He's very successful and rarely has time because he always has appointments. So the chance of running into him in the city, even though we live in the same one, is very slim.
So I'm not in love with him, but he looks damn good. And it wouldn't hurt to get to know him.
As soon as I got home, I immediately turned on the TV. Luckily, I got home a bit earlier than I thought. So I can at least quickly grab something to eat to take upstairs. As soon as I got upstairs, my laptop speakers beeped. My God, who is bothering me now? Everyone knows I'm not available at this time, I think to myself, getting a bit angry and annoyed at my computer. Steffi, who else could it be? She would probably never learn that I'm not on the computer at this time. So I quickly write back that I'm not in the chat right now.
Finally, my favorite series begins. And five minutes after it starts, he's already on screen. I immediately start to gush. I don't even know what it's about anymore because I'm just looking at him. Even though I'm actually in love with a fellow student, I still get butterflies in my stomach every time I see Flo on screen. And that's how it goes every evening...
Two weeks later:
"Hey Tim, I wish you a nice vacation. If you have time and want, we could go for a drink together," I called out to my crush before he reached the door. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'll get back to you." And then he was gone.
"Hey Alec, did you notice that he was watching you the whole time?" Liz suddenly asked me. "No, not really. Well, his response wasn't exactly promising, was it? Man, what am I supposed to do, Liz? If only I knew whether he's gay or not. It's driving me crazy."
"Well, Alec, there's only one thing you can do: Ask him yourself," Liz said in a pretty serious tone.
"Are you crazy? He'll know right away what's going on. What if I've just imagined everything? Then I'll be the fool of the nation. Well, let's see what happens next.
But let's talk about something else."
And so Liz told me that she would be going on vacation with her boyfriend for two to three weeks. After all, we now have almost two months of semester break. I was naturally disappointed because I thought I could hang out with her. But there was nothing to be done about it. Personally, I could have gone to visit my parents, but that would have become too stressful in the long run. Both my parents were retired early and eventually got on my nerves with their fussing. So I decided to stay in the city.
The first three weeks were not particularly spectacular. I met up with a few friends from time to time and watched a lot of TV, mainly because of Flo. I didn't meet Tim even once during that time. And at some point, I started to forget him. Instead, I found myself thinking about Flo more and more often. Although I still wasn't in love with him, I couldn't stop thinking about him. One night, while I was chatting again, my phone rang and Liz was on the other end. She told me that she was back in town and wanted to meet up with me. So we arranged to meet the next evening.
We met at our favorite place the following evening. She told me in detail about her vacation and how great it was, but somehow I wasn't fully present. I kept thinking about Flo. And every time someone walked past the window outside who had a similar hairstyle to his, my heart started racing. At some point, she noticed that I was somewhere else. "Hey, what's wrong with you? You've been acting so weird this whole time. Are you even listening to me? Alec, I'm talking to you," she said, giving me a nudge in the side. It was then that I realized she wanted something. "Uh, sorry, I was just somewhere else. I'm sorry." "What's going on??? Did something happen that I don't know about?" And so I began to explain everything to her.
"Well, I somehow haven't thought about Tim much in the last three weeks. We texted each other briefly from time to time, but I wasn't excited at all when he wrote. You know how it used to be when I got a message from him. I was almost going crazy. But now there's nothing. I absolutely don't think about him anymore. Instead, I'm constantly thinking about Flo. I'm not in love with him, don't worry, but I still can't stop thinking about him. And I've decided that I'm going to visit where he lives, whether you come with me or not. I just have to try it."
"Come on, Alec, what do you expect to get out of this? You said yourself that he likes women. And besides, he's always out and about. The chances of running into him are pretty slim. Or do you plan to just ring his doorbell? I think that's a really stupid idea," Liz tried to dissuade me from my plan.
"I don't care how slim the chances are. Whether I'm sitting at home or seeing something of the city doesn't matter. At least this way I'm outside in the fresh air. Now let's change the subject. You know I'm going to do this anyway and you can't stop me," I snapped at her, and we really did change the subject.
The next morning, the weather was beautiful and almost twenty degrees. So it was a perfect day to stop by my sweet Flo. I jumped in the shower, got ready, packed some snacks and a city map, and headed to the subway. Finally, it was time to go. In my thoughts, I was already imagining how the meeting might go. What should I say to him? How would he react? Would he perhaps be annoyed that another fan was showing up at his apartment?
Eventually, I arrived at the right train station to transfer to another subway. From there, it continued right away. I was only thinking about Flo. The thought that I might not meet him didn't even cross my mind. So I happily continued on. When I reached the final station of the train, I had to check the city map to see how to proceed. Unfortunately, there was neither a tram nor a subway or train station near Flo's house. So the only option left was the bus because I didn't want to walk. That would have been over seven kilometers, which was a bit too much.
So I started checking all the bus stops to see if there was a bus that stopped near his house. And as it usually goes, it was the last bus I checked the schedule for. Great, and it had just left three minutes ago. So I had to wait for the next one, which was supposed to come in half an hour. This was starting off well.
After half an hour, my bus finally arrived, and I could finally continue. After about another half hour, the bus finally reached the right stop. I got off and took out my city map to double-check which way I needed to go. Slowly but surely, my heart and pulse were racing, and I could clearly feel my excitement rising.
After a ten-minute walk, I arrived in front of the house where he lived. It looked a bit older, from the 60s. A typical apartment block. Across from the house, there was a bench against a wall, where I sat down. To make it less obvious, I pulled out a book from my bag and pretended to be reading it with interest, even though I was actually just watching the street and the entrance to the building. But then I started to think that it would look pretty silly if he suddenly showed up and I stood up to approach him. But what else was I supposed to do? If I kept walking back and forth on the street, that would be just as noticeable. So I decided to stay seated.
Slowly but surely, it began to get dark. I had been sitting on the bench for almost six hours. I was really getting frustrated. So I packed my things and went back to the bus stop. But just a few meters away, I heard a moan and cries. It sounded like someone was trying to scream for help. I looked around and listened more closely. It was coming from the property behind the wall. I was sure of that. Unfortunately, the wall was too high. I couldn't climb over it. So I looked for a passage. I found one after just a few meters. I peeked around the corner to see what was going on. And what I saw shocked me. Three skinheads were beating and kicking a defenseless boy who was lying on the ground and could barely move from pain. Luckily, my karate class hadn't been too long ago, and I charged at the three of them while throwing my bag somewhere on the ground. The three turned around in shock because I yelled at them to leave the boy alone. After they collected themselves, they positioned themselves to attack me. But luckily, I was faster. I kicked the first one right in the face, sending him flying backward. The second one got a powerful kick in the stomach and also flew backward. Unfortunately, I was too slow to dodge the third one. He landed a punch right on my lower lip. However, he slipped off, so he didn't hit me with all his strength. Still, my lip immediately started to bleed. After I regained my composure, I kicked him between the legs, causing him to scream right away. Then I reached into my pocket to grab my pepper spray, which I always carry with me. One by one, all three got back up and wanted to attack again. Fortunately, there was a lot of pressure in my pepper spray canister, giving it a long range. Since all three were standing next to each other, it was easy to spray the spray into all their faces. They immediately started screaming and began to retreat slowly.
After I made sure that all three had disappeared, I went to the boy who was lying on the ground. I asked him how he was doing and wanted to turn him over when he slapped my hand away and said, "I'm fine. Please leave me alone. Thanks for your help, but I can handle it myself." But I didn't believe him. Although he resisted, I managed to take his hood off, and I was almost struck dumb. "F F Flo???," I stammered. I couldn't believe it. The boy who had been beaten up was Flo. I just couldn't believe it. After I regained my composure, I leaned down to him and immediately pulled out my tissues from my jacket. Then I began to clean his face of the blood. He looked badly beaten. His face was covered in bruises, and his lips were split in several places. After I had cleaned him up as best as I could, I asked him if he could get up. He didn't say anything the whole time. It was clear that he was embarrassed that someone he didn't know but who knew him was helping him. "Yeah, I said I'm fine. I'm not a little kid anymore. You can go now. I'll manage. Like I said, thanks for your help, but you can really go. Oh, and it would be nice if you didn't tell anyone about this," he said quite angrily. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but at least let me help you," I tried to reason with him again. This was not how I had imagined our meeting.
"No damn it, I'm fine. Just go already," he hissed. I thought it might be better that way. I would rather try again later. I didn't want to mess things up with him before I even got to know him.
But hardly had I walked five meters when I heard him scream loudly, "Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh." That was too much. No matter how much he tried to convince me, I would still help him. So I ran back and asked what was wrong. To my surprise, he even answered my question. "I don't know. My foot hurts so much. I can't put any weight on it. And my shin hurts like hell too." "Okay Flo, I'm going to carry you on my back and take you home. Are your parents home yet?" I asked as I loaded him onto my back. "No, they're both on a cruise for four weeks." "Okay, can you get your key for the door? And can you unlock it while I'm carrying you? Because standing up is probably not a good idea," I asked him. I noticed how gentle his hands were as he wrapped them around my neck. Suddenly, I realized he was pressing his body against my back like a small child afraid. "I can manage," he stammered and then rested his head on my neck.
After three minutes, we were already at the entrance of his building. I turned a little to the side, and he unlocked the door without much effort. "Okay, which floor do we need to go to?" I asked him as I started climbing the first steps. "Fifth," he said without lifting his head. After another ten minutes, we stood in front of the apartment, and he unlocked that door without any major problems either.
After glancing around, I spotted a sofa where I carefully set Flo down. Then, without him resisting, I lifted his leg and freed it from his shoe. I then gently pulled off his sock and felt his foot. "So nothing is broken, but you shouldn't move your foot today and tomorrow. Do you have any ice? You should definitely cool it. That way, it will swell down faster," I said, looking deep into his eyes. That’s when I noticed he had tears in his eyes. He said, "There are ice cubes in the freezer in the kitchen." But that didn't interest me at all. I stood up and crouched down next to him so that our faces were at the same level. Then I took his hand and started stroking the back of it, which he accepted. I looked deeply into his eyes and said, "Hey Flo, it's over. Everything will be okay, alright? They won't hurt you anymore. But if you want to cry, feel free to do so." And at that sentence, I suddenly hugged him. I didn't know what had come over me, but to my surprise, he let go of my hand and wrapped his arms around my neck and then began to sob. He kept asking, "Why me?" Unfortunately, I couldn't answer that question myself. I had thought about it too, but I couldn't find an answer.
At some point, after he stopped crying and I had cooled his leg, he fell asleep. I carefully wiped the last traces of blood from his face with a damp cloth and sat down in the armchair opposite him. I watched him for a long while as he lay there looking so peaceful. But eventually, my eyes also grew heavy, and I fell asleep.
With a loud "Damn!" I was roughly jolted awake the next morning. I opened my eyes and saw Flo trying to crawl back onto his sofa on all fours. I couldn't help but laugh. "What are you doing on the floor? Can I help you? You don't have to sleep on the floor," I said with a cheeky grin, but as soon as I said it, I felt bad. But contrary to all expectations, he turned to me and said, "Ohhhh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I just went to the bathroom, and when I came back, I slipped on the blanket. That's why I'm down here." "So you can put weight on your foot again?" I asked him, a bit surprised by his quick recovery. "Yeah, I can, see?" he said and stood up straight. Then he walked a few meters to show me that everything was indeed alright. Well, at least one less problem, I thought. However, his lip still didn't look much better than yesterday. But I figured that would heal with time. I was more worried about his job. After all, he couldn't just go in front of the camera like this, but before I could think further about it, he pulled me out of my thoughts. "By the way, what's your name? I didn't even get a chance to thank my lifesaver yesterday and ask what your name is."