The Peculiar Alchemist

68 || Stolen Notebook

When Aubrey came back to home it was so late that if his mother knew, she'd have many problems with that mainly because she still thinks he's someone who is still unable to cast any spell to defend himself.

That was very untrue, and he was an adult he could be back at any hour he wanted, but he still found himself sneaking inside just to pretend he had been in there the whole time. He didn't want to worry her, and he isn't sure when to tell her about his spells, but he decided to keep it all a secret from her until everything with Briar gets resolved. There was no need to make her stress over something when she couldn't do much.

Thankfully, he arrived to his room without any problem – probably because of all the times Kellen made him break into places – and his mother was probably asleep even before he did.

The moment he entered the room, he saw someone looking through his window before they turned around at the sound of the door opening, and they were immediately by his side. "You're back! I have been waiting here for so long, you have no idea what I just heard."

"And you have no idea what I just stole." Aubrey told him kicking the door close behind him before showing Sammy what he had in his hand.

All Sammy could see was an old notebook, and he frowned not seeing what was so special about it. Not until his eyes fell on the name written on it, and he gave Aubrey a flat unimpressed look. "He did tell me he attended school as Calvin. But listen-"

"Is that his real name?" Aubrey was holding up the notebook in his hand and looking at it curiously, he didn't seem too bothered at the fact that Kellen might have lied about his real name. Only curious. "Calvin really doesn't suit him."

"It's not, he's really Kellen." Sammy sighed wondering if he could ever compete with the amount of attention Aubrey gives to anything Kellen-related. "Can we talk about what I heard- Why are you undressing?"

That made Aubrey remember he wasn't alone when he turned around at Sammy, halfway through taking his shirt off. He still continued to take it off regardless and threw it next to his jacket on the floor. "Can you not smell it?"

Sammy shook his head noting how Aubrey was surprisingly not shy around other people. "My sense of smell is kind of dead."

"Right, yeah." Aubrey winced, always forgetting that Sammy wasn't exactly alive before he explained why he was so eager to part with his clothes. "I stole this notebook from Agnes' basement, and now I hope I can get the smell of all the blood and death off of me."

"That's a good idea." When Sammy looked back at the clothes Aubrey had thrown on the ground, he could actually see how dirty they were. He knew what Agnes' basement was like, he had annoyed Kellen there many times, and while it was a little bit dusty and filled with cursed things, it wasn't that dirty. "Did you drag yourself on the floor or something?"

There was a pause before Aubrey sighed and entered his bathroom. "I'll be quick."

Not happy about being left alone, Sammy tried to wait outside like a respectful person, but that only lasted a few minutes before he walked inside while covering his eyes when he heard the water running. "I'm not looking, my eyes are averted. I have separation anxiety. I am sorry."

"Separation anxiety isn't an excuse to invade my privacy." Aubrey mumbled not at all worried about Sammy being there, especially not when the layout of his bathroom concealed him behind a wall. He was too focused on cleaning himself up anyway, and he was hoping to finish as quickly as possible to get to the notebook.

"So," Sammy trailed off, floating around the place as if he was a restless kid. He still kept his promise and averted his eyes, but Aubrey didn't see a need to since he couldn't actually see anything. Not unless he moved forward a bit. "Can I tell your boyfriend I joined you in the shower?"