Lesson 130- Be careful how you spend your money.

The next couple days are… Interesting. Richard comes to the bar every night. And every night he complains that Lindy hasn’t called him and asks if I’ve heard from her. Then, when she doesn’t show up, he stays until it gets late, chatting with me and harassing me to eat healthier or exercise more or to try to sleep better. He nags even more than my own brother does! And the entire time, Tori sits by the bar and sulks, except for during my breaks when I come to sit with him. The first night, Richard tried to follow me, but Torin looped an arm around my shoulder and led me out back without pausing and we had dinner in his office. After that, Richard kept his distance during my breaks. Clearly sensing that he wasn’t welcome. I’m tempted to tease Tori for being all jealous. But considering how much he dislikes and distrusts Richard, I’d say he’s been tolerating him pretty well. So I let it be. Tonight is my night off, and I’m planning to mostly just hang out with Tori while he does paperwork. Maybe watch a movie or something. I told him as much last night while he was glaring at Richard from across the room and he seemed to cheer up. I think he got used to being able to monopolise my attention. Most people avoid us both when we’re hanging out. Because they’re scared of him, or maybe just because they don’t want to intrude. Either way, this is the first night all week that we can properly hang out. I’m looking forward to it, even if we aren’t actually doing anything particularly special. Spending time with him is relaxing, when we aren’t fighting at least.

I’ve just settled in to watch a movie on my tablet while Tori starts on his paperwork which I swear seems never ending. But to be fair, he also spends most of his night sitting in the bar watching me work. So it makes sense that he never gets anything done. My phone goes off and I check my messages. It’s the work group chat, and it’s from Catcher. Interesting, he doesn’t message it very often.

Catcher- Hey Rina. Eli is here to see you. Says it’s important.

Laura- Catch! Seriously? >:(

Catcher- ??? What did I do?

Kyle- It’s obvious.

Catcher- Not to me.

Laura- Torin made himself pretty clear… You’re gonna get in trouble for interrupting.

Catcher- Duh, that’s why I’m messaging Rina. She can tell the boss. I’m not even going to try it myself!

Rina- ??? Guys what are you talking about?

Laura- …

Kyle- Don’t be dense Rina. Torin told us all to keep our distance tonight since you promised to hang out with him. Apparently he’s sick of sharing you.

Rina- Uh… Why did everyone know about this except me?

Kyle- Because you and Torin are dancing around whatever the hell it is you are, so he thinks he can’t make requests of you like that. So he bosses us around instead.

Rina- Should I be concerned by this?

Mira- Hey all! Rina, it depends, did YOU want to spend time alone with him?

Rina- Good point. I’ll think about it. But for now, I need to see what Eli wants.

I SHOULD get up and go see Eli, but after hearing how eager Tori really was to hang out, I feel kind of bad telling him I want to go see Eli. I text him instead.

Rina- Hey Eli, Catcher says you want to talk to me. Is it important?

Loverboy- Depends, did you want that information about your dad or not?

Rina- Ah, yeah I do. Although I had hoped we could have this conversation with my brother too. Although I guess it’s hard to do when I can’t leave the magical bar and we’re hiding magical stuff from him. Plus it limits the discussion a bit.

Loverboy- In that case, why don’t you text him. I can come back after the bar closes. I’ll bring breakfast. :)

Rina- Really? I don’t want to inconvenience you after you came all this way…

Loverboy- It’s cool. I’ll have a drink or two. It’s hardly a chore coming here. I’m here half the time anyway. I’ll come back later. Don’t forget to invite your brother.

Rina- Sure thing. Thanks Eli!

I send Damien a quick text inviting him over for breakfast, then turn my attention to Tori.
“Hey, just so you know, Eli is here with information about my dad.” I inform him. Torin nods and starts to get up, but I can see the hint of resignation and disappointment in his expression.
“Relax, I arranged for him to come back later. It’s cool if my brother joins us for breakfast later, right? We can hang out until then. I say hopefully. Torin actually breaks out in a full, proper smile.
“Of course. That’s… A great plan. We can all meet for breakfast. Perfect.” He is sort of rambling a bit. It’s kind of adorable. Ugh, why does this stupid binding spell have to be in the way. Surely he knows it’s unnecessary by now? Still., I don’t want to argue about that right this second. I just want to relax and spend some time with Tori. So that’s exactly what I do.

My night is probably one of the most relaxing ones I’ve had in a while. Torin gets some work done. I force him to watch a bunch of musicals that he says he likes but I’m about ninety percent sure that he’s just saying it to humour me. Still, it’s fun and even if he didn’t enjoy the movies, Torin seems like he’s in a great mood. Eventually, we go out and help close up the bar. It only takes about an hour after that for Eli to come knocking at the front door.
“Hey Eli. Come on in.” I greet him as I open the door for him. He walks in clutching a couple of brown paper bags that smell amazing. He clearly stopped off at a bakery. I can’t wait to see what he got. He frowns as he looks around the room.
“Where’s your brother? I thought you were inviting him along for this little chat.” Eli points out. Fair enough, we did reschedule so that Damien could come… And so I could hang out with Tori, but he doesn’t necessarily know that.
“Damien will be here soon. You’re pretty early.” I remind him. Eli shrugs.
“Alrighty then.” He glances around the room. Torin is out back emptying the bucket of water from the mop.
“You know, this might be the first time we’ve ever been alone together.” He comments.
“Uh, maybe. Why does it matter?” I ask. Eli grins.
“Because, you have a chance to say whatever you want with no one eavesdropping. Tell me your secrets, or at least some good gossip. Ooh, how did your little date with Torin go last night?” He questions with a smirk. I frown.
“It wasn’t a date. And how did you know I was hanging out with Tori?” I ask. Eli laughs.
“Neither of you were here, and you can’t leave the bar… So it was easy enough to guess. Plus your friend Laura told me, and I quote, it had better be damn important because Torin is in the middle of his awkward attempt at date night and we have a betting pool going.” Eli finishes with a grin and my jaw drops.
“Excuse me?” I demand.
“Fine, I just want to know one thing, did you kiss him?” He asks cheerfully.
“What? No, I didn’t kiss him. Why are you even asking?” I respond defensively. Eli smirks.
“Hah, I just won fifty bucks. I gotta tell Laura.” He pulls out his phone and starts texting. Laura bet fifty bucks that I would kiss Torin? What the hell Laura! I’m totally going to talk to her when she comes in tonight. I’m about to lecture Eli too, but there’s a knock at the front door. Ah, Damien is here. I guess it will have to wait.