Shoutout to my awesome friend Julyvee94 for helping with the German in this chapter (including adding some intentional mistakes and awkward wording for me 😉 Haha) And if you don’t know German, don’t worry — Phoenix gives us the gist of everything that’s said, so you won’t miss anything!

Enjoy!

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Phoenix loved going to the library.

It was one of the places he felt most at home… the smell of old books and the rustling of turning pages reminded him of the beautiful library back at his mother’s house. It had always been one of his favorite places to sit and relax back when he lived at home, and even when he visited sometimes.

And the library on campus was quickly becoming the same. Not that he didn’t love being at home with Gigi too. But it was nice to get out of the house sometimes and have some time to himself that wasn’t spent sitting in class.

Plus, it was kind of fun to do a little people-watching too. As terrifying as it still was to walk up and start a conversation with someone, it was so interesting to see all the different sorts of people who attended the university with him.

That afternoon was a slow one, it seemed. Only a handful of people walked along the shelves or sat at the tables. He found his gaze lingering on one group in particular — a trio who giggled and chatted together a bit louder than was probably appropriate for the setting.

Phoenix could not help a small pang of jealousy at the sight. The way they laughed together reminded him so much of Tam and Jasper. His heart ached for his best friend and brother every day.

“Excuse me.” A woman’s voice called out to him, bringing him back to the present.

Phoenix stepped aside so that the librarian could continue pushing her cart of books down the aisle. “I’m sorry.” He muttered apologetically as he moved out of her way.

“It’s fine.” She assured him. “Is there something I can help you find?”

He shook his head. “No, thank you. I’m just…” His nervous mind struggled for a moment to find the right word. “Looking. Er — browsing.”

As he watched the woman walk away, he noticed that the trio he’d spotted earlier all seemed to have their eyes on him for a moment. Then one of them began waving, almost as though beckoning him in their direction.

Do they mean ME?! He wondered.

When the young man did not stop waving, Phoenix decided to approach.

“Hallo!” He called out as Phoenix drew closer. “Bist du der deutsche Lehrer?“

He blinked in reply. Phoenix hadn’t heard anyone but Gigi speak his native language to him since he’d arrived. Even with this man’s poor accent, it was refreshing to hear. He took a moment to consider the question. German tutor…? He must’ve heard my accent or something.

“No offense, but you’re like, an hour late! We were worried you’d ditched us or something.” One of the girls at the table spoke to him now, in English this time. “I mean, Craigslist can be pretty damn shady…”

“Yeah! Especially when you asked us to pay upfront like that.” The other girl chimed in, shaking her head. “But I told you guys it’d be fine!”

Oh God… Did somebody scam them? These poor people… They seem so nice too. “Um, well… I, uh…” He spluttered awkwardly.

“Here, sit down!” The boy gestured toward the chair at his side.

After a moment’s hesitation, Phoenix accepted the offer. “Thanks.”

The girl across from him smiled. “Bitte.”

“You don’t really say much… Are you still practicing your English too?” The other girl asked.

Phoenix shrugged. “Kind of… I’m still getting used to it.”

“Cool… Maybe we can help each other out.” She suggested happily.

“Well, like the ad said, we’re just looking for somebody we can practice talking to… No books or studying or anything. Nothing really serious.” The boy spoke once more, then paused for a moment to clear his throat. “Ich bin Niko.” At last, he introduced himself. “Ich studiere international business.”

Phoenix smiled softly. “International business? Cool! Is that why you want to learn more German?” As much as he wanted to reply in his native language, he resisted the urge. After all, this was already probably the longest conversation he’d had with anyone since he’d arrived. He might as well get some practice in, right?

Niko nodded happily. “Ja! Ich habe vier Jahre Deutsch in der Schule studiert. Mandarin auch… und eine bisschen Spanisch. Ich habe geplant mit allen weiterzumachen hier…”

Phoenix’s eyes widened as Niko mentioned the other languages he’d studied in school as well. “Wow… That’s awesome! And you already speak German very good.” He said seriously.

“You mean ‘very well‘?” The girl with the dark hair suggested kindly.

He felt his cheeks grow red with embarrassment. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize!” She smiled warmly. “Trust me, your English is already a million times better than my German.”

“Take you a class?” Phoenix asked. The warmth in his cheeks grew instantly as he realized what he’d just said. I sound like such an idiot! “Sorry! Uh, do you take a class?” He corrected himself quickly.

The others shook their heads, ignoring his error.

“Nein. Ich war sehr traurig dass BBU kein Deutsch mehr anbietet seit das letzte Jahr.” Niko explained sadly.

“Why did they stop? Was it not a popular class?” He asked.

The red-haired girl shrugged. “Nobody knows… It was this big crazy mystery for a while. Professor Decker just disappeared at the end of last year and they took all the German courses out of the catalog…”

The other girl’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, there were all these rumors flying around everywhere. Some people said he was fired. Some said he was murdered… My roommate swears he was abducted by aliens.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure he didn’t just retire?”

“Oh, probably!” She laughed brightly in reply. “But there’s never much excitement around here, so… we’ve gotta improvise a little sometimes.” The girl paused for a moment before continuing. “Oh! Um, I’m Lola, by the way! Ich studierte Deutsch in die Schule auch. Nur zwei Jahren…”

“Still very good for just two years!” He assured her. Though she’d made a few errors, he was still impressed by her skills. Her accent could definitely use some work though.

“Danke! Ich möchte das wieder machen! Damit ich kann sprechen zu meine…” Lola hesitated. “Um… ‘subscribers’?” She let out a bright laugh. “Sorry, don’t know the word for that one.”

“You mean on Twitter or YouTube or something?” Phoenix laughed. “You can use the English word.”

She nodded. “Yeah, my YouTube channel! Duchess and I have almost 1,000 subscribers now.” Lola proclaimed proudly. “And like fifty are from Germany!”

“Duchess?”

“My precious baby.” Lola cooed. Phoenix wasn’t sure whether she was talking about a literal baby, or something else. “She’s in all my videos with me… my makeup tutorials, my livestreams…”

Livestreams? Phoenix’s eyes lit up. “What do you play?”

“Tons of stuff! Me, Niko, and Addy have a pretty awesome clan on Space Dementia.” She smiled at her friends.

Still grinning from the mention of his favorite game series, Phoenix turned to face the red-headed girl. “You’re Addy?” He asked.

She nodded eagerly. “Ich ist Addy… es ist so gut dir… treffen zu! Es tut mir leid, meine deutsch ist sehr… schlecht. Ich habe… niemals Klassen gegangen… die meiste ich hast mich… beigebringt.”

He stared at her for a moment or two. Holy shit. Her accent was so awful he could barely understand a word she’d said. And the words he had made out, well… Yikes. She’d said she’d taught herself… and he could believe it.

“That’s… That’s very cool. That you taught yourself.” He tried to sound sincere.

Addy just laughed. “It’s okay. I know I totally suck… I’ve been trying to teach myself for like, three years but I’m not really getting much better… But I’m hoping you can help with that?”

“I can try.” He replied, smiling. “Why did you decide to learn?”

She shrugged. “I went through a weird German metal phase back in high school… Guess it stuck with me?”

Phoenix chuckled heartily at her reply. These three were so weird… but so fun too.

“What about you?” Niko asked with a smile. “You haven’t really told us about yourself yet… It’s Paul, right?”

Phoenix shook his head, biting his lip. “No… Phoenix.” He confessed. There was no way he could continue lying to these people. They were just too nice. “I need to be honest with you… I’m not the person who contacted you on Craigslist. I think they stole your money.”

“Aw, shit.” Niko’s face fell. “I told you, Addy!”

“I’m sorry.” He continued. “And I’m sorry I let you think I was someone else. You all just seemed very nice. My wife and I have lived here since almost two months… And the persons here are very kind, but I haven’t really talked to anyone before. And I…” Phoenix let his voice trail off as feeling of shame washed over him. Why was he sharing this with complete strangers?

“Hey, it’s okay.” Niko assured him. “I heard your accent and just kinda assumed…”

“Yeah, we’re sorry.” Lola said seriously. “We put you in a super awkward spot… But it was really fun talking to you?” She added with a smile.

“Totally!” Addy chimed in. “And we do still need a German tutor, if you’re interested… No pressure though!”

Phoenix’s lips stretched into a smile. How could he possibly say no? “Of course! And you don’t even have to pay me.”

Niko let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God… we’re already out fifty bucks. Ugh.”

“I feel really bad about that. I wish I could pay you back or something…

The others all shook their heads in unison. “No way!” Lola cried. “Helping us practice our German is plenty. Seriously.”

“Okay… But I don’t think any of you really spoke much German?” Phoenix teased.

“Shit. You’re right. We’re totally wasting your time!” Niko looked almost panicked for a moment. “Okay, guys… Switching over to all German now. Um, I mean, jetzt!”

Phoenix felt a wave of warmth rising up in his chest. Maybe Addy was right. Maybe they really could help each other out.

After all, the three of them really needed to practice their German.

And he really needed a few friends.