Lesson 61- It’s not nice to talk about someone behind their back.
The bar has only been open for about forty-five minutes when Laura comes, grabs my arm and drags me into the hall to talk.
“What the hell happened here last night?” She practically hisses at me. I frown, a little confused.
“I told you, there was a fight and it made a bit of a mess so we closed early.” I remind her and she shakes her head.
“No way that’s the full story. I’ve had at least three people tell me how Torin transformed into his demon form and like, killed five guys because they messed with his human bartender. People are terrified!” She actually looks a little pale herself and I roll my eyes.
“You don’t seriously believe all that do you?” I ask. She shrugs, looking a little guilty.
“Well I don’t know. I don’t WANT to believe it. But it wouldn’t be the first time that Torin killed someone protecting you, and he likes you a lot more now than he did when you first showed up. I mean, everyone already knows that you guys have some kind of weird friendship thing going on.” She adds and I can’t help but scoff.
“Weird friendship thing? You mean an actual friendship? I’m not sure why everyone finds that so hard to understand.” I complain. Laura shrugs.
“That’s because you’re human. If you knew more about this community you would get it. People can’t decide if you’re incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.” She explains and I frown.
“And what do you think?” I demand. Laura sighs.
“I think you’re incredibly kind.” She responds and I relax a little. I’m still kind of irritated, but that was a decent save.
“Well… Alright then. As for what happened last night. There was a selkie in the bar, I was talking to her and this drunk asshole tried to steal her cape thing. Everyone freaked out and I stopped him but then he tried to attack me. Torin knocked the guy out, but he had friends with him. I took the selkie back here and Torin kicked them out I guess.” I explain.
“You guess? You mean you don’t know what he actually did with them? For all you know they ARE dead!” Laura argues. I roll my eyes.
“He didn’t kill anyone, there’s no need to be so dramatic.” I insist and Laura shakes her head.
“What did he say happened when he spoke to you about it?” She asks and I shrug.
“He just said that he took care of them.” I respond.
“So he COULD have killed them.” She repeats.
“You’re not going to listen no matter what I say, are you? I don’t understand how you can constantly assume the worst of him like this. But you know what, fine. Think what you want. You weren’t there, you didn’t see what happened. So there’s no point discussing this further. You should know that I am more than a little offended that you believe random people from this bar who weren’t even HERE last night, over me.” I huff out an annoyed breath.
“We should get back to work.” Laura answers quietly. I repress a groan.
“Yeah I don’t think I’m ready to go back yet. I’m taking a quick break, it’s not that busy yet anyway.” I don’t wait for her to answer. I just turn and walk off.
I head to Torin’s office and knock. He answers the door in about half a second. Actually, he answers so fast that there is no way he wasn’t standing on the other side of the door.
“Were you on your way out?” I ask. He maintains his blank poker face and shakes his head.
“No.” He responds, but I catch a hint of guilt in his tone.
“Ooooh, I get it, you were standing by the door eavesdropping on Laura and I’s argument.” I realise and announce at the same time. Torin looks like he wants to deny it, but it’s obvious so he gives a slight nod and drops his gaze.
“Tori, it’s fine. We were talking in the middle of the hallway, and we weren’t being particularly quiet about it. Besides, I was just coming to see you to complain about it anyway so I was going to tell you about it regardless. Sure, eavesdropping is kind of rude, but so is talking about people behind their backs, so…” I trail off. Torin is quiet for a moment.
“I didn’t kill them.” He says quietly. I smile up at him.
“I never thought you did.” I assure him. He seems relieved, but there’s a hint of sadness there too.
“I’m sorry that everyone assumes that about you, even Laura who should really know better. I’m kind of disappointed in her actually.” I frown and cross my arms over my chest. Torin steps aside so I can enter his office and collapse into my usual spot. He follows me in, closing the door behind us. He takes his seat and is watching me warily, like he wants to say something but isn’t sure how I’ll react. I narrow my eyes at him.
“What is it?” I ask suspiciously.
“I was just thinking… Maybe take it a little easier on Laura.” He suggests and I frown.
“But she’s being completely unfair to you.” I argue and he shrugs.
“She is just saying what most other people are thinking. The fact that she’s willing to say it out loud proves that she feels safe enough to do so, which is more than most people could say. Besides, she… Well… She has more reason than most to be distrustful of the people close to her.” He says vaguely. I sit up in my seat, immediately curious.
“What do you mean?” I ask and Torin hesitates.
“I… I don’t think it’s my place to say…” He looks really uncomfortable. I decide not to press the issue. If Laura has secrets, it really isn’t his place to tell them to me. I sigh loudly and collapse back into the seat.
“Fine, if you think I should take it easy on her I suppose I can drop it for now. But I still think she’s treating you unfairly. You’re far too nice.” I sulk and Torin cracks a tiny smile.
“I appreciate your outrage on my behalf.” He says, looking me in the eye. Something in the way he’s looking at me makes me blush bright red, and yet I can’t seem to look away. I search around mentally for some way to change the subject, anything to break this tension between us. Damn, Laura was supposed to be my buffer tonight, but somehow I still ended up running back to Torin.
“Apparently people are saying that you changed into your other form last night.” I blurt the words out and immediately regret them when I see Torin tense up.
“I… I did change into my other form. I’m… Stronger like that. Faster too.” He says the words slowly, eyeing me nervously as If I’m about to bolt. I tilt my head curiously.
“Oh, so you changed since there were like, five of them? I suppose that makes sense.” I reason. He shakes his head.
“No. I didn’t need to change to deal with them. They were intoxicated, overconfident and honestly, not all that powerful to begin with.” He explains and I frown.
“Huh… So why did you change then? I got the impression that it scares people, and you don’t like doing that.” I point out. Torin sighs.
“I changed because I was angry. They wanted to hurt you. I… I didn’t kill them. You were right about that, and they were capable of leaving under their own power. But I can’t say that I didn’t… Hurt them.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
