In Love with a Jackal

16.

I slumped into the seat Youmna had saved for me next to her in the auditorium.

"How was your date yesterday?" she greeted me with her usual kind smile but I knew the instant I sat down, she had other intentions.

"Don't ask me, please," I begged her, rubbing my left eye with the back of my hand. Just the thought of yesterday alone, was enough to exhaust me all over again.

"Long night huh?" she wiggled her perfectly groomed eyebrows at me and laughed.

Unwilling to meet her eyes, I let my head drop on the small wooden table attached to the auditorium chairs. 'Long night' wasn't even half of it. I had slept maybe a total of five hours in the past two days. Anubis had practically had to drag me all the way back home last night. If it weren't for him, I'd probably be curled up asleep in some bush on mountain right now.

Youmna poked my shoulder with her finger but I didn't dare look up, "Don't tell me he tired you out that badly?" she continued, "Tina.....Tina..... come on you can't leave me hanging like this, I helped you after all-"

"Helped with what?" I heard a deep voice ask, the faint French accent so familiar to my ears. Instantly, my determination to keep my face firmly plastered to the table intensified.

"Oh Antoine! as promised I saved you a seat!" Youmna exclaimed as I heard her bag shuffle beside me, "And you will not believe it, but I helped Tina and her fiancee plan their date yesterday," she clapped her hands together, "They went hiking, isn't that so romantic!"

Antoine sat down next to me with a huff, "Isn't going hiking on a weekday a bit rough?" I felt a large hand pat me on the back and my whole body went rigid, "You okay Tina? Want me to get you a juice from the bar?"

"I don't think it was that bad," Youmna's earlier excitement waned, probably taking a little offense since she had helped plan the 'date' herself,

"George and her just haven't seen each other in so long, its understandable they may have gone a bit overboard."

At the mention of 'George' I winced. Anubis had unironically introduced himself as George Washington to Youmna and her friends yesterday. I had been able to laugh the 'Washington' part off as joke, but it nevertheless meant that he was now irrevocably baptised as 'George'. It was my fault for not having given my fiancee a name earlier, but at the same time I had gotten surprisingly far with nobody ever asking.

Worried their conversation may continue further down a route I felt even less than comfortable with, I gathered all my courage and sat up again. Bright and freshly rested, Antoine's clear blue eyes studied my face with concern. Seeing him worried like that just made me feel even more guilty. It wasn't his fault that I wanted to run away at the mere sight of him. At the same time though, it was still a bit too early for me to pretend what the fates had told me hadn't affected me.

I dug out my laptop from my bag, trying to distract from the fact I was just buying time to come up with a suitable lie,

"The hiking was fine, its just I ended up pulling an all nighter right after," I explained, weaving a bit of truth into my story, "You know how it is with my department lately, George accidentally ended up giving me an idea and I spent the whole night researching."

"And did you find something?" Youmna straightened up with interest. Most people were aware of the air of competition between me and Carlisle, but only my close friends knew how tight of a fight it really was. We were trapped in a constant game of one-up-manship and currently Carlisle was one step ahead of me.