[Legacy of a Martyr #2] Liberation from the Masquerades (A Key Keepers novel)

Episode 26: Out for Coffee

Seb had said we should go out for coffee. He finally got up the courage to ask me last night. I was gonna meet him around eleven at the coffee shop where I ran into Alastair and Noah a few days ago.

He was already there with a coffee in hand when I arrived. I ordered myself a tea before I sat down with him. My hands were sweating, and the room felt small. I didn't really ever drink as much tea as Dad did, but it had its uses. Namely to lull one to sleep or calm one's nerves. I could really use the latter in that moment. I'd never met him under circumstances like these, so I had no idea what to expect.

"Thanks for even agreeing to do this."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was I really that bad when we were in school?"

"It was at its worst when the boss first put you in our class. It got a little better as you got older, though." His face got red. "That's not even why I thought you'd say no."

It took me a minute. "Audrey?"

"I mean I just watched her." Seb rubbed the side of his coffee. "That makes me just as bad as her. I didn't think you'd want anything to do with me."

"Audrey might be a jerk, but I never thought of you or Jake as one."

Seb jumped ever so slightly. "Really?"

"Audrey took advantage of Jake and the fact he seems to prefer being told what to do."

"I realized that as we got older." Seb sighed. "It makes my blood boil thinking about it now. It can't believe I wanted to hang out with her until we graduated."

I didn't look at him. "You live and you learn."

"Yeah..." Seb got up. "I'll be right back."

Since my drink was ready, I grabbed it and went back to our table. I took a sip since it still felt like the room was shrinking.

Audrey came in right after this. She eyed me. "I'm surprised you're not wearing headphones or shoving a book in your face."

If she had been one of the others, I probably would've objected to the last part of her statement. From when that Engrad gave me the bombshell about Vanny to when I figured out how to get into Taradita, that might have been accurate since it was more difficult to see, but I knew that wasn't what Audrey meant. She didn't know about that. She just meant that I wasn't reading.

"Why are you so nervous?"

"I-I'm not nervous."

"You only drink tea when you're nervous or sleep stands you up, blockhead. I have eyes."

I didn't know what to say, so I just said nothing.

"Whatever..." Audrey rolled her eyes. "Places to be, people to see." Audrey then picked up her drink and scurried out of the coffee shop.

That was when Seb came out of the restroom. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "What happened?"

"N-nothing." I kept my head down because I couldn't look at anything. I was going to make myself nauseous with how dizzy I'd gotten.

Seb made me look him in the eyes. "You need to breathe." His words were firm but not harsh. "Shutting down won't make anything better. I'm pretty sure it makes it worse."

I took another sip of my tea.

"What happened?"

I turned my head. "I just ran into Audrey while you were gone."

Seb sighed. "You never liked her, did you? You might have put up with her antics, but I know you never liked them."

My flames pooled in my cheeks.

"You couldn't always slip away before I could get a look at you. Whenever I'd try to ask you about it, you always found a way out of the conversation."

"That doesn't surprise me..."

"We're not kids anymore. You can speak your mind. It's not like I'm going to bite your head off  for it."

I felt tears hiding in my eyes. "I want nothing to do with her. She has always been the worst."

"And there's nothing wrong with that. You'll be better off for it." Seb took a long breath and smiled. "Why did you decide to come back? You were gone a while."

"I came back to look for something. No idea what I'll do when I find it."

Seb sat up. "What did you come looking for?"

"You might have heard about it from Mama, but I don't know if she told you or not." I messed with the things in my pockets. "I'm not sure if I should tell you about it."

"Would Audrey know about it?"

I sipped my tea. "I never asked. It does involve something from our childhoods."

"Did you get whatever you were after while you were gone?"

"I did."

Seb looked outside. "You have interesting friends."

Well, that had my attention. What made him say that? Had he met anyone else besides T and Duke?

"I got to meet Marshall the other day."

"Oh, yeah... I heard about that after I got home." My flames were awake. "Did something happen to Jake?"

Seb laughed. "Did Miss Sarah look like she was about to burst?"

"Yeah... All I heard was baby. Didn't ask Marshall cuz I didn't think he'd know much."

"Remember how Jake has an older sister?"

I nodded.

"Right as we finished our game of Horse, Jake got a text. He practically bolted off. I had to take off too to make sure he wasn't gonna get himself lost. His sister had her baby so that was why that all happened."

Oh... that explained a lot... Good for Jake's sister. Hopefully her kid was okay...

"Good for his sister..."

"Yeah." Seb cracked a smile. "I'm surprised. Far as I know, Miss Sarah hasn't tried to go see her."

That was probably T's fault and mine... We probably distracted her with our needs... We were feeling a bit clingy after what happened... We doubted our love for our baby brother and our ability to provide for him. Those feelings weren't easily shaken...

***

Thoughts on Ain's interaction with his old classmate? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!