Chapter 88. Midnight Talk

The same night, after talking to Jayden and the rest of the gang, and avoiding everyone’s glares at dinner, I sat outside on the patio, my legs dangling through the bars I leaned my forehead against, looking over at the school in the distance. I heard the door beside me open, and turned to see Jayden in his pajamas, yawning while scratching his stomach, lazily closing the door behind him. He noticed me, and grew his usual goofy smile. “Hey man! What’s up?”

I scoffed at his main character's timing, and a feeling of wanting to share my problems came to mind. “Just wondering how Alexis is doing.” I muttered, my gaze always returning to the Obelisk dorm building, attached to the school. Jayden chuckled, leaning over the railing beside me without a shred of doubt in his mind. “She’ll be fine. Alexis is a sweet Duelist.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the stupidity of his statement. “What does Dueling have to do with how she’s doing?”

Jayden glanced down at me, his smile widening as he explained. “I always know who a person is from how they Duel! Alexis was a tough opponent, anyone as sweet as that can’t be down for long!” I had a slight inkling that some of his speech was directed at me, but shrugged it off. “Yea, well… Even with reassurance, it still isn’t pleasant.” Jayden nodded, his gaze becoming a bit serious with sympathy, after all, Alexis was his friend too. “Do you think her father has more planned?” He asked, changing the topic, a gesture I appreciated.

I slowly raised my head, staring at the stars as I thought out loud. “Most likely, if he was willing to throw the whole school at me for kissing his daughter, then there’s no telling what else he might come up with to stop me from seeing her again.” Jayden snapped his head to me, his eyes wide with shock and excitement. “You kissed Alexis!? How serious are you!? Is she the girl you’ve been seeing all this time?” He fired one question after another, quickly trying to pry out any information while I was in a giving mood.

I rolled my eyes at him, scowling at his look of anticipation. “Why are you so interested in my private life?” Jayden chuckled, giving me a thumbs up. “That’s what friends are for!” Feeling a sense of Deja vu, perhaps from us already having this conversation once before, I let out a sigh, avoiding his piercing gaze. “It’s new. Very new. So if you could just please keep that massive gob of a mouth you have closed about it, it would be much appreciated.” Jayden stifled a laugh, somehow finding my stinging words funny.

I scowled at him, but only got more of his laughter in return. “S-Pft! Sorry. It’s just I’ve never seen your face so red before.” I instantly felt my face burn up, my frown deepening. I quickly stood up, and began pushing Jayden towards the stairs. “Didn’t you get up to piss? Just go, and shut the hell up.” Jayden snickered as he descended the stairs, leaving me back alone, resting my arms on the railing while cradling my head.

Taking a deep breath, I thought back to my old friends, after I fell into depression, and cut them off, we used to have moments like this. ‘We used to be close like this.’ I raised my head, my hand covering only my mouth as I pondered my mistakes. I had been forcefully given a second chance, one that I had been enjoying more and more by the day, with support from those I needed to lean on. I had begun to regress into my old self, wanting to run from my problems, but that was quickly abolished by Blair and Alexis. I wanted to shut myself off and keep to myself, but Jayden was a more infectious friend than I had thought possible.

Jayden quickly hopped the stairs, ready to gossip more about his secretive friend, excited to hear more interesting and fun facts he normally kept hidden for the sake of ‘privacy’. He wasn’t an overt sharer like Mindy or Chazz, but that only made what he did say sound more valuable. However, before he could get a word out to Rakki, he stuttered. He could see Rakki’s pensive expression, a soft smile of humble happiness reflected from the moon’s gentle rays. Same was Rakki’s expressions, in fact, Jayden, Chazz, Bastion, and Sy all had a betting pool on who could make Rakki smile first. Bastion had won when Rakki burst out laughing after his Duel, but this was a much different expression than a normal grin or laughing smile.

Rakki, coming out of his thoughts, wiped the expression away, reverting back to his usual scowl as he noticed Jayden. Jayden quickly regained his composure, truly glad to see his friend happy. He smiled, giving a thumbs up, Rakki scoffing from his attitude. He watched as Rakki opened his mouth, but paused, internally fighting with himself for what to say. Jayden just watched, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts. Finally Rakki sighed, his open hand closing into a fist, giving up on trying to say something in the right words, instead just shaking his head as he spoke. “I’m going back to sleep.”

Without another word, Rakki went into his room, Jayden now left alone staring at where Rakki once stood. Jayden couldn’t help but smile, Rakki, still closed off, had been slowly coming out of his shell. Even with his setback of losing his Duel, his expressions were slowly turning brighter. Jayden knew from that expression earlier, Rakki was grateful for being here. And Jayden was happy for him. “I might actually lose that bet. Ah well, not like I have a lot of DP for him to take anyway.” He snickered, before a yawn overtook him.

As Jayden went back into his room, the glint of red shining eyes appeared from just above the rooftop. Now seeing the coast was clear, the owner of those eyes descended down, quiet as an owl flying through a moonless night. Just then, the door she dropped in front of suddenly opened, a hand catching her wrist before she could run off again. “Gotcha.” Rakki muttered, a small smirk on his face as the clouds parted from the moon, revealing more rays of cool light to reveal Camula, the Vampire Duelist that almost enslaved Rakki / ended her own life.

“Unhand me this in-!?” She began to yell, only stopped by Rakki’s hand clasping over her mouth. “Shh… I know you’ve been sneaking around here for the past few nights. Zorc’s a part of me, so I can tell when your close. Are you gonna tell me what’s up?” Camula’s red eyes burned, scowling at Rakki for touching her so casually, but nodded so he would remove his hand. He did so, and she took a deep breath to feel air fill her lungs yet again.

“Alexis is fine…” She muttered, her sharp gaze pointed just beyond Rakki, unable to look at his face at the moment. Rakki scoffed, a pleased smile appearing for just a second before he waved it off. “That only happened yesterday, you’ve been here every night for days.” He raised his brow, catching her in a fib, Camula’s scowl deepening at his forcefulness of the topic. She wasn’t ready yet to ask, but Rakki wasn’t waiting.

Camula squirmed a bit, her gaze wandering around the patio we stood on. I sighed, realizing perhaps this wasn’t something she wanted to speak about with the idea of someone listening. ‘Blair is passed out, no way she’ll wake up now.’ I yanked her wrist, pulling her inside my room. “Fine, have a seat.” I muttered, pointing at my desk chair in the corner of the room. Camula stood, staring at me as I sat on the desk itself, waiting for her to do something.

“You and Alexis getting along?” I asked, slightly wondering about it myself, Alexis never talking about Camula much. Camula shrugged with a scoff, finally taking a seat in a proper manner, crossing her legs along with her arms, the lamp on my desk illuminating her better, showcasing she was borrowing Alexis’ uniform, no longer able to wear her dress I met her in. “We only ever talk on passing. She sleeps when I’m awake and vice versa.”

I nodded in understanding, a picture slowly appearing in my mind, a quite humorous one at that. I held back a chuckle as I spoke with my hand covering a smile. “You got lonely?”