Legacy

The morning after

Nathan

It was quiet inside. I felt relieved the guard was not here then. We spent some time wandering around the room looking for the right bookcase. It felt like it took forever, and it did not help that none of us were familiar with the place, and it was completely dark. In the end, it was Astor who found it his sensitive senses had helped locate it. I guess that might also be the reason behind I was the only one who was continually stumbling into things and never him. The guy could at least warn me, but no, he instead merely guided me around like a blind man in the room when he finally took pity on my struggle. I tried to scot around for dangers while Astor got to work on the locks on the bookcase. Of the two of us, I was the helpless one now, and that was not a great feeling to have while doing a break-in. I am sure Astor knew what he was doing, but I still wished he could get on with it a bit faster. Instead, the man acted with a frustratingly stoic attitude to the whole operation. When informed he had gotten the papers, I was more than ready to jolt out of there. No, I do not care. We need to be more careful, or that reckless actions might get us caught. I need to be gone from this campus right now before the whole ruse is up, and they realize we have stolen from them. If anything being too slow was our issue not acting recklessly. We better be out before the sun started showing, or our stealth would be ruined. Yet Astor being Astor insisted we take it slow, and he kept gripping my arm anytime I moved at a faster pace than what he deemed "safe." At dawn, we arrived back at my apartment. I nearly had a heart attack as the local paper delivery boy snuck into us. I have no idea what he thought we were doing, but I know I must have seemed pretty flustered while Astor held on to my arm.

"Good morning," Astor said deadpan.

The kid looked frightened by the perfect stern adult glare he was receiving. He muttered out a: "Morning" in reply before suddenly getting way busier with his work than before. As the kid left us, I could not help but let out a chuckle. I think the stress of all the things we had done that night finally got to both of us. We were laughing like madmen on the street none of us were able to pinpoint what was so freaking funny in the first place. Astor collected himself first, shaking off the whole moment like it never happened. I, on the other hand, tried that but found myself coughing and then cursed with hiccups as well. At least he did not make any comments on it and led me safely to my apartment. I needed some privacy to put myself together fully.

I insisted we had to celebrate. Yes, our funds were slipping up, and a party on a weekday might gather unwanted attention, but still, we could at least get some pretend fancy wine. Astor was terrified to leave his research alone, so in the end, I went on my own to get the wine, and well, if I also got some other snacks well, then that is not my fault.

"How much did you buy?" was the first thing Astor asked me when I got back.

"Not that much just some wine and different types of chocolate," I shyly replied.

"That seems like a lot of chocolates you got," he observed dryly.

"Well, maybe I thought to share some, but if you are going to be like that, then maybe not," I teased back.

We ended up enjoying quite a lot of chocolate. The flavors were wast with anything from regular milk chocolate to something more exotic with apricot mixed in. We devoured it all, getting some more wine to slush down less favorable flavors. While having our feast, Astor informed me that he had been reading through the papers while I had been gone. It was the right paper, and it contained the information we needed. It was doing this otherwise joyful moment that reality came crashing in. It started innocently enough with a comment from Astor: "With the research back, I can finally make sure my mentor's legacy is remembered and honored."

I nodded in response, not fully realizing the issue then, but as I popped another piece of chocolate into my mouth, it hit me. There was no way I could let that happen. If Astor's mentor were credited for the research, then I would gain nothing from it. I needed the papers to be credited to me or not at all released before I could look at them and make my research from the report. Otherwise, I would not be the one getting the fame and fortune from this venture. Astor must have noticed the change in my mood because he went silent. I reached out for another glass of wine to find the bottle empty. I then considered spitting out the chocolate piece; it was way too dark and bitter. We spent the rest of the day tiptoeing around each other both trying to ignore the obvious issue. Conversations were sparse and the topic of our futures dutifully kept out. Something had to break we both knew it but it would hurt too much to let it out. There was no way we could both get what we wanted from this either one of us would have to leave empty-handed or a compromise would have to be reached. But a compromise would still be a defeat because we had both given up too much to reach our goal to want to settle for second place. It was that knowledge of our pride that led me to my decision. I convinced myself of it because otherwise, I could have never done it. Not to Astor, he was too much like a real friend.