The Girl and The Murderer

23. The Night

After dinner, the atmosphere is a bit better. Arthur is still upset though. Normal, he just got rejected by the only girl he wanted. Poor guy...

-Frank, when did you arrive ?

I look at Ray in the eyes. She is uneasy, it's obvious. And she is trying to avoid the love subject. Logical behavior.

-I'm here since 4pm. I helped to prepare all this. Since Jane's parents and mine know each others since a freaking long time, they tried to make us feel like a couple.

A small laughter escapes from her throat. It's cute. I think I start to understand why Arthur loves her so much.

While we're talking about the devil, he's coming. He look at us with a sad stare and sit with us.

-Hey guys. What's up ?

-Yeah, we're talking about Jane.

-Eddie has a crush on her.

Rachel stares at me thoughtfully. She didn't know ? After all the mimicking he's making around Jane ?

-You didn't know seriously ? It's so obvious ! Even I saw that coming !

Arthur, God bless you and your legendary tact... Anyway, he's showing off now. That's a real man. At least in his head.

-Well I wasn't sure about it... Yeah Ed turns all shy when we're talking about Jay but I didn't think he was in love with her...

Jane joins us and Eddie mysteriously vanished.

-He went to change into his pajamas. He's coming back in a minute. By the way, it doesn't bother anyone that we all sleep in the same room ?

-Nope, answer Ray and Arthur at the same time.

-Not really...

What ? I'm shy ! It's normal to be uneasy when you sleep with girls...

-I'm back. The next one can use the bathroom, says Eddie as he enters the room.

Rachel gets up, takes her bag and climb the stairs, screaming :

-I go ! No picking guys !

We all blush a bit and Jane replies happily :

-See ya ! Take your time !

As soon as she's not within earshot anymore, Jay moves closer to us and ask quietly :

-Did you know that she was dating someone ?

Everybody shakes their head. Except Eddie.

-Do you know anything Ed ?

He blushes and lower his head.

-Well... Maybe I do... In fact I'm not really sure...

-Spill the beans, says Arthur angrily.

-Art', be cool please. You see he's not well.

-When... When I saw Ray for the first time, she was crying. And I saw a guy go away. It must have been Zack.

-What does he look like ?

-I don't know ! I saw him from the distance and it was dark already. Plus he had a hoodie.

Arthur's blood is boiling. It's almost funny.

-Art', calm down, you can't compete.

-I gonna kill that son of a bitch !

I take him by the shoulders and pull him against me. He jumps aside and smile weirdly, almost as he was disgusted.