L'affaire Bob

32. Ugly-ing Ugly Faces: My New Hobby

We debarked in the same, awfully familiar alley, a few blocks away from Café Guillaume.

Just like the first two times, we continued the rest of the way to the café on foot, walking amongst the scurrying people all around us. We got inside, sat at our usual table, and waited for Bob and Edgard.

My leg was bouncing up and down in nervousness. I silently hoped that this time, we would finally get answers.

Turning my head back to Emma, I noticed the look of sympathy she was giving me.

Pity. It was a look of compassion and pity.

Not able to stand her gaze, I quickly forced myself to stop fidgeting and sat straight, anxiously waiting for my best friend and ex-enemy.

Robespierre wasn't someone to mess with, especially after everything he had done back in school.

Beating up the newbies, and even us when we interfered and tried to stop him and his clique, he was never, to say the least, the most liked student at the "Lycée Bourgeois des Sœurs Madeleine."

Most liked by the professors? Yes, most definitely. But by the students? Heh. Whenever he would walk in the hallways, everyone would look at him in fear, silently praying not to be his next victim. We tried to soothe the atmosphere and remind him that he wasn't here to scare people off, but that only made him loath us more. And Bob dating his ex-girlfriend didn't precisely make it better.

I dreadfully hoped he had changed over time. Because if not, then Bob might be in trouble today.

But then, I remembered that we were actually in the past and that this morning's events wouldn't affect the present as we know it. Because, I recalled, after that meeting, Bob had returned to the office, not in the least hurt or injured.

I took a deep breath. The time-traveling concept was quite a complicated and confusing one. It's been only less than two weeks, and it was already messing up with my brain.

At this moment, the door opened, and in walked Bob and our dear Edgard Robespierre.

Bob took Edgard to the same table behind the counter, as he did previously, and started talking with him.

The conversation that followed was, alas, pretty much the same.

Bob asked Edgard to be his friend, and the latter, although reluctantly, agreed to a fresh new start.

What was my reaction to that? Nothing. I didn't overreact; I didn't even bang my head on the table. After all, I had known, deep down, that this was going to happen. Yet I have dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, this meeting would've been different.

But oh, well. Bob was Bob, the ever-loving and caring guy. He always wanted to fix everything around him and befriend all those he met.

Although, if I had been Bob, I wouldn't have, to be honest, considered becoming friends with Robespierre, seeing everything he used to do. But then again, people change. And indeed, during this short meeting, I had noticed that Edgard wasn't the same old grumpy guy who would terrify his classmates and get away with it. He had grown to be a decent, respectable man, and was now, as I had overheard, serving in the army.

Finally, the two men got up, shook hands, and left the coffee shop.

I got up too, wanting to get back home and leave this place as soon as possible.

-"I'm sorry we couldn't find any answers," I heard Emma say.

-"It's fine. I mean, I knew we wouldn't find anything. I just wanted to make sure I don't miss any opportunity."