Day 33
The apartment was immaculate, so clean it was almost sterile. The cushions were aligned with precision, the smell of lemon cleaner mixed with the aroma of fresh coffee emanating from the huge mug on Alyx's desk.
She was sitting in her chair, working on her laptop with a nervous, alert energy—a slight tremor in her hands, dark circles under her tired eyes, dressed comfortably, her hair pulled back in a practical way.
Marshall was on the sofa with a blanket over him. Beside him, a plate with a sandwich made by Alyx. This is how Robin and Ted found them when they entered the apartment. After brief greetings, they settled on the couch next to Marshall, absorbed in their love bubble while watching a movie.
A few hours later, Marshall came out of the bathroom with a bottle of women's shampoo in his hands, smelling it. "I found her shampoo... and it smells like lavender and seashells... like hope. It still has that scent that's both erotic and comforting at the same time..." he said with an intoxicated, fascinated expression.
Ted, Robin, and Alyx watched him in silence.
"That's my shampoo," Robin interrupted.
"Oh, sorry," Marshall expressed, embarrassed, and retreated to the bathroom with the shampoo. With him gone from the living room...
"That was weird, don't you think, Ted?" Robin said doubtfully.
"Yeah, a little, but he's getting better," Ted said.
Alyx didn't say anything the whole time, just watched the scene thoughtfully.
That night, while Ted and Robin were kissing in Ted's room, they were interrupted by the sound of Marshall and Alyx's voices followed by a loud thud.
Worried, they quickly left the room and were surprised to see Alyx on top of Marshall, both on the floor in the doorway of Marshall's room, while he said, "Okay, you're right! No, I won't call her!"
"What are you doing? Are you okay?" asked a worried Ted.
Robin approached to help Alyx get off of Marshall.
"Yeah, Ted, it's nothing," Marshall said as he got up off the floor, avoiding everyone's gaze while hiding the phone.
"You're calling Lily," Ted stated, seeing Marshall's actions.
"No...?" Marshall expressed doubtfully.
"Oh, come on, buddy," Ted said, taking the phone from his hands.
Day 34
That day, Alyx had left the apartment early to buy more cleaning supplies. She didn't expect to come back and find Marshall with an annoyed expression and the phone in his hand.
"Are you okay?" she asked, leaving the groceries by the kitchen entrance.
"No. It's fine, I called her," he said, standing up and approaching Alyx. "And she changed her number. Who does she think she is, that I'm going to harass her?" he said emotionally. "As if she's that special, right?" he expressed, having a conversation about Lily with Alyx for the first time.
"I don't think she changed it because of... Maybe she lost it or something. She wouldn't change it—not for you, not for me. She wouldn't," Alyx finished with conviction.
"You think?" Marshall asked himself as he headed to his room.
"Of course. Look, you might have made a mistake. It's impossible that out of the 4.2 Lily Aldrins in San Francisco, there isn't some statistical counting error, since it's not that recent from when she left, based on the latest public database. And the probability that the number dialed actually belongs to Lily in this attempt is 22.5%. It's not statistically efficient or valid for it to be correct," Alyx recounted in a flat, direct tone.
Marshall turned and looked at her, confused. "You're talking about data?"
"It's the only thing that doesn't hurt, Marshall. Numbers don't leave you. They don't promise to build a life with you and then go paint vases in San Francisco," she said while entering the kitchen.
"And they don't leave you with a broken heart while you're tending to the broken heart of someone else you love," she murmured to herself as she turned the coffee maker on again.
Later at the Bar
Robin, Ted, and Barney were at a table talking about their friends.
Robin was telling Barney how Marshall had interrupted them that morning in the shower to tell them that Lily had changed her phone number, and that even though Alyx believed it wasn't even their Lily but one with some low percentage chance, he knew it was her.
"Plus, he acts like a baby. He can't eat without someone watching him, he cries a lot, and sometimes he wakes us up," said Robin, fed up with the situation.
"Come on, haven't you tried breastfeeding him so he sleeps well?" Barney said mockingly.
Ted and Robin gave him a look. "Come on, they were together for nine years. It's only been a month," Ted countered.
"Yeah, but last night he came to our room to sleep with us," Robin shared.
"Come on, he watched a scary movie," Ted tried to smooth it over.
"It's time to get tough with him. Get him out of the apartment to breathe some fresh air, get some sun—something. It's not healthy for him or for Alyx. Have you seen her? She barely goes out; she's like Marshall's shadow, taking care of him. They don't even talk much; it seems like they broke up or are ignoring each other aside from Alyx faithfully caring for him. And the apartment, even though it looks great and clean... it's excessive," Robin said, worried about her friends.
"But she's not as bad as Marshall. At least she goes out alone, eats well, and works normally, don't you think?" Ted said, convinced.
"I don't know, it's weird, you know, that she doesn't show her sadness like Marshall does," Robin continued.
"Come on, she must be fine. She's always been like that... It's not that bad," concluded Barney, convinced, while thinking more about his next plan. "Hmm... Marshall needs sun," Barney murmured.
Day 41
"Gentlemen, welcome to Sunshine Stage!"
"I don't think this is going to work," said a hesitant Marshall, who was sitting at the bar of the strip club Barney had brought him to.
"Come on, you know why you haven't been able to get over Lily? Because you still remember her naked. You see, the male brain remembers an infinite number of images of breasts, and yours is a hard drive saturated with Lily's and Alyx's," Barney explained.
"Now, since you're not even looking at Alyx's and are just stuck on Lily's in your mind, you need a journey that might require up to millions of pairs of breasts to forget the redhead's. Wow, look how lovely they are! There go four," he said, pointing to the dancer on the stage. Meanwhile, Marshall sat there, mesmerized, watching them.
A huge and warm thank you to Sunduz_Karacaoglan (twice, wow! 😮) and to Batata_SAMA for the Power Stones! You guys are amazing! Seeing that support for the story fills me with energy to keep writing. Thank you so much! 🙏❤️