After dinner

 After we finished dinner, we ordered desserts, which, it goes without saying, were as extravagant as the previous meal, to the point where one might call it an over exaggeration in order to accommodate high class guests. Of course, whoever that person would be, it definitely wouldn’t be me, since I, for one, did not mind it one bit.

Either way, we ended up splitting the bill, I tried to argue again but Louise immediately shut me down without hesitation, leaving me to look away as my face turned red, not because of the fact that she was paying as well, but because she was so completely in charge of our dynamic, and I could do nothing about it.

I handed the waitress a decent tip, well decent for someone of my status, at least, I’m sure she would have described it with words much more extravagant than simply “decent”.

“So, what’s going to happen now?” Louise asked as we walked side by side back to the station. “I mean, with that Selphine woman, and Emmett.”

“I still haven’t shown him everything.” I interjected. “In fact, I’ve barely shown him anything at all, we’ll probably spend the entire time tomorrow on that, so it looks like you’ll once again have no need to come.”

“I see, but you need to hurry, she could act at any moment, even right this second, potentially.”

“Don’t worry.” I reassured her. “I doubt she’ll act again any time soon, we’re most likely safe for this entire week, if not more.”

“But how do you know that for sure? You’re just assuming!”

“It’s a logical deduction.”

“Yeah? And how exactly did you come to that conclusion, using that “logical deduction” of yours?”

“It’s a matter of perspective, Louise.” I explained. “Just think about it for a second and you can figure out why she attacked us when you think of the timing.”

“Wait, so you think it’s because of…that?”

“What else could it be? It’s obvious.”

Yeah, there was nothing else Selphine could have been targeting. I still had no clue who she was, but her goal was simple to figure out due to the fact that she’d waited until that precise moment to make her move. I’d have to thoroughly explain this to Emmett tomorrow after showing him everything.

“So that’s why you’re so confident we’re not gonna see her any time soon, huh?” Louise pondered thoughtfully, hand on her chin.

“Exactly.”

“By the way,” Louise changed the subject. “How did you manage to get the real Arthur back at that time? We probably would have all died back there if it wasn’t for him.”

Damn, I had been hoping she wouldn’t bring that up. The fact that neither she nor Emmett had said anything about it since had made me hope that they were simply going to ignore the matter entirely, which was certainly possible for Emmett, since he didn’t really seem to know what he was getting into, but no way was Louise not going to ask me about it.

“Well, first of all, please don’t say the “real” Arthur when referring to him, you’re making it seem like I’m not the real one…”

“Because you aren’t.” She said flatly.

I Ignored that.

“Anyways, It’s pretty complicated.”

“You made a binding contract with him, didn’t you?”

“...Yes.”

Damn, she’d figured it out within a fraction of a second, she was good! All I had said was it was complicated, yet she still managed to correctly guess what we’d done. Well, to be fair, it’s not like there was much else to do at that point, so a binding contract was likely the only option. Louise figuring it out wasn’t that big of a deal, at the end of the day.

“Not that complicated, then, is it?” Louise laughed.

I didn’t respond.

“Oh, we’re here.” She pointed to the station we were approaching, we stopped and turned to face each other once we’d gotten close enough to the entrance.

“So….guess I’ll see you at Winterbury, tomorrow?”

“Maybe.” She corrected me. “We don’t have any classes together on Wednesdays.”

“Oh, right. Then tell me what classes you have, and it’ll definitely be a coincidence if you see me standing right outside the room as if I were waiting for a certain person.”

Louise giggled and punched me lightly, before heading off while waving.

I decided to stand there for a couple of minutes to not make things awkward, since we were headed in the same direction, but had already said our goodbyes.