A talk in the night

"James, we need to talk. Right now."

"Brad, it's past midnight, what could be so important that we have to talk right now?"

Brad had come to my apartment in the middle of the night, and supposedly had something so important to tell me that it couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"James, what's going on?"

Just as I was trying to make a decision whether to let him in or not, Sarah came from the bedroom in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes.

No, we didn't sleep together. I slept on the couch, and she slept in my bed. We hadn't gotten that far yet in our relationship.

I braced myself for the teasing that would inevitably come from Brad when he noticed that we slept in the same apartment, but to my surprise, he didn't say a word about it.

Instead, he kept urging me to let him in, "James, I need to tell you this tonight while it's still fresh in my mind."

The big man was acting incredibly uncharacteristically, serious, and determined in contrast to his usual relaxed personality.

"James, please let him in."

Sarah was the one to make the decision, leaving me unable to do so, "Okay, come in."

We all made our way to the couch area, but before we sat down Sarah asked, "Do you guys want a cup of tea? If we are staying up for a bit I might as well make some."

We both answered at the same time. "Yes please.", both knowing this probably wouldn't be a short conversation. If that had been the case, Brad wouldn't have been so adamant about talking right now.

As we sat down, me in just a pair of sweats, I could finally see the stressed-out face on the bald man's face. He looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"So, what did you need to talk about?"

Letting go of my minor annoyance of getting disturbed in the middle of the night, I forced myself to keep a gentle tone.

"It's about Miren..."

'Of course, it is...'

It had taken a lot of self-control to stop thinking about Miren and just enjoy my night with Sarah but now he was once again the important subject to talk about.

"Is it the fact that he is the principal's disciple?"

Brad shook his head as he spoke with urgency, "No, it's something else. You can't fight him."

Dark thoughts started to emerge in my mind as I heard his words, but I kept my cool, "Why can't I fight Miren?"

Brad sank down on the couch with a sigh, looking completely gassed.

"Is it fine if I just speak about everything? It might take a while."

I just nodded. At this point, I was already wide awake, and I needed to hear what he had to say.

At the same time, Sarah returned from the small kitchen area with a tray with three cups of tea on it, which she distributed between us.

"Thanks."

She sat down beside me, so we were both facing Brad. For some reason, she took my hand in hers.

Brad took a sip of his drink before telling his story.

"So, as you guys might have noticed, I haven't been sure how to feel about Miren. A part of me still wanted him to remain as a friend. So today, I decided I was going to talk with him. I was going to do it in the morning, before class, but when I made it to where his room was, Lindsey walked out of it."

"WHAT?!"

It wasn't I who had lost my cool, but Sarah, now standing up while breathing heavily. Knowing there must be more to Brad's story than just Miren being a womanizer, I tried to calm her down, "Sarah, please sit down again."

She forced herself to sit down again, but she couldn't help asking, "So Miren is having... Aah!"

Sarah self-destructed, accidentally putting images of what would have happened in her own head.

"I had the same reaction, thinking that there was something romantic going on between them, but now I am not so sure. As I said, I was planning on talking to him, but as it didn't feel right to do it when I saw Lindsey leave his room, I decided to wait until the evening. However, he wasn't in his room when I knocked, or at least he didn't answer it."

He took a bit of a break to take another sip of his tea, probably needing something to keep his words going. Me and Sarah were just sitting silently, intently waiting for what he had to say next.

"After asking around a bit, some students had seen both of them leaving the academy, so I figured I should try to talk with him after he got home, so I waited in the hall."

His eyes changed, from anxious to utterly distressed.

"When I saw them, my thoughts about talking to Miren got completely blown away. Instead of talking to him, I just ran away, hoping they wouldn't notice me."

"Why?"

"Because Miren was covered in blood, and it didn't appear to be his."

The room got silent, none of us quite sure about what to say. If what Brad said was true, this wasn't just a mess, it was a complete circus. Not only was Miren the disciple of the principal, but he was also going out at night to kill people? And Lindsey was somehow part of this? It didn't make sense, but Brad wasn't one to lie, making me unable to refute his word.

Time felt like it stopped as were all contemplating the situation, but my girlfriend was the first one to break the silence, "There is no way that Miren would just kill someone... There must be a misunderstanding..."

I knew how she could feel that way, having been friends with Miren before, but that was something that applied to all of us. Another thing that applied to all of us was that we had seen how he had almost killed Arthur without showing any sign of emotion like he was just taking out the trash.

*Bom!*

Brad slammed his fist on the table, "There is no misunderstanding, Sarah! In what other kind of scenario would he come back to the academy covered in blood?"

His body shook and his brown eyes started to water as he spoke, "I was also his friend, hell I wanted to try and reconcile with him! I wanted to talk to him at least once to hear what he had to say... Fuck!"

Sarah was also visibly upset, her eyes also starting to water when thinking about our lost friend. Weirdly enough, I didn't feel much about it. It was almost as if I cared more about Brad telling me not to fight him, as if he believed I would lose.

'What the fuck is wrong with me?'

Before I could delve deeper into my inner self, Sarah straightened her back and her eyes refocused, although there were still tears in the corners. "I'm going to talk to him. Tomorrow, I will be asking him about everything."

Brad looked at her skeptically, probably thinking she was naïve, "Do you honestly think he will tell you the truth? What stops him from just lying about it?"

Shaking her head, she clarified what she meant, "I didn't mean just about this, I meant everything. From the time of the ranking places to what happened when he got kidnapped, as well as what happened tonight."

In many ways, Sarah was the one who had the best relationship with Miren earlier. She had already told me about the time she had asked him for help in seducing me and although I still thought my girlfriend was too green, I couldn't bear to tell her so when I saw the determination in her eyes.

At her words, Brad stood up and started to make his way out of the room, leaving by repeating what he had said earlier, "You can do as you want but James, I'm telling you, don't fight him. Cancel the duel, or there is a real possibility of you dying."

And with that he was gone, leaving me and Sarah by ourselves. Her head landed on my shoulder and she put my hand in hers again. "Do you think I'm being an idiot?"

I let my head fall on hers as I gave her my answer, "In this case, yes."

*Bam!*

"Ouch!"

She immediately sat up and punched my shoulder before I could continue, while looking pretty pissed off. "But you are my idiot! That's what I meant to say!"

Her hard face melted a bit at my words and, instead, she started to get embarrassed about having wasted a moment of cute couple stuff. Instead of saying anything, she just pushed her body onto mine, making me fall down into the couch with her in my arms.

And so we decided to sleep on the couch together.