Friends and Lovers
1482 Words
Blink was in the midst of reminiscing his last conversations with Master Tszarek in the headmaster’s office when he heard a commotion outside.
Blink could overhear Berge giving Flip a terrible tongue-lashing. When it came to giving a verbal barrage, not a single soul in the Ragha Martial Arts Academy could hold a candle to Berge. It was said she got it from her mother, who had grown terribly bitter of her husband’s hopeless lack of ambition she had sharpened her tongue from all the vitriol that spewed out of it.
“What?! I was merely asking what you and Blink were doing together at early dawn.”
Blink sighed and shook his head. Flip beat all when it came to irritating girls. Worse, he didn’t even have to try.
Flip had a problem talking to girls. He could never seem to look a girl straight in the eyes even when he had known the girl for a long time. This skittish attitude of his usually led girls to suspect him of harboring unhealthy thoughts of them.
“Who are you kidding?!” Berge was getting louder now. It’s a good thing that their location was far from the dormitories. Otherwise, there would have been a lot of curious teenagers running over to see what was going on.
“Right now, when you were asking me, you were giving me a sideways glance like I have done something inappropriate.”
Blink reached them right at that moment.
“Relax,” he told Berge. “Flip truly hasn’t suspected you of anything. He is too much of an i***t to have such thoughts.”
“What?!” Flip said. His eyes glaring at Blink.
“You truly are best of friends. You both have that irritating tendency to shout ‘What?!’ You both even have that same mouth and eyes wide open look. Really, you must both think you look real cool doing that. It’s a disgusting sight.
“Wha…” Blink nearly did it. He was only able to stop himself because Berge shot him a malevolent glare. “All right, can you please just calm down. Your voice can be heard over the mountain.”
“I’ll calm down if your friend stops accusing me of any impropriety.”
“I assure you Flip is not accusing you of anything at all. You’re just making a big fuss over a small matter.”
“You! Don’t you dare try to use my words against me! Your friend was clearly giving me a dirty look.”
“He is NOT,” Blink overemphasized on the third word. “You’re just tired and emotional over everything that’s going on. And now you’re totally stressed from all that worrying.”
“This would not have happened if you only woke me up earlier,” Berge snapped back at Blink.
“Whoa! Wait a minute. You slept together last night?” Flip had never been so shocked by a girl’s revelation.
“Shut up!” Berge and Blink both glared at him.
Recalling Master Tszarek’s bidding for him to be gone before sunrise, Blink proceeded to check out the secret passageway. It took a little work to find it. Blink discovered it by feeling along the vine covered stone wall and discovered that the wall stopped at an end and there was a gap that could let a person through between the wall and another layer of wall that overlapped behind the first wall.
They followed the gap until they eventually found themselves outside the academy walls.
The trio proceeded along the edge of the wall walking eastward. Along the way, Flip just could not contain his curiosity no more.
“Did you sleep together last night?” he asked. He had to know. The two others could beat him up if they wanted to, but learn the whole truth he must.
“Yes.”
Shockingly, it was Berge who admitted first.
“It’s not what you think. Nothing happened. We just slept together on my bed.”
Flip was totally at a loss why it was that Blink and not Berge seemed to be more concerned about his image. Flip was sure any guy who managed to pluck the flower of the most beautiful maiden of the Ragha Martial Arts Academy would have every reason to declare it. And what about that earlier verbal tussle with Berge?
When Flip said nothing. Blink looked over his shoulder to glance at him.
“I said nothing happened.” Blink was obviously on the verge of fury.
Flip just looked at him nonchalantly. “Okay,” he just said, shrugging a shoulder.
“You’re asking for it!” Blink lunged at Flip, but Flip wisely hid behind Berge.
As Blink could not be stopped from going after Flip, Berge held the former on the waist.
“Something did happen between us last night,” she declared.
“Eh?” Blink was stupefied.
“Don’t you remember? You asked me to be your girlfriend? You even went down on one knee and said ‘please’?”
Flip stopped squiggling as he had a sudden understanding. “Oh, so you are officially a couple now?”
“Yes!” Berge excitedly concurred.
Blink did not join in her excitement. “I must insist that we had always been a couple even before last night,” he said.
“That’s great; I’m excited for both of you,” Flip replied. “But I’m curious about some other thing.”
The newly official couple turned their attention to Flip.
“Why are you walking around at early dawn with a bundle tied at the end of your staff?”
Blink didn’t need to think of how to respond.
“Didn’t you hear master say? He’s sending me on a mission.”
“If it’s just a mission, why do you have to leave in the dark? You could always do so after first light. It’s not like you had never been on a mission before.”
“It’s a secret mission,” Berge butted in.
Blink nodded his head, eyes trained on Flip as if what Berge just said actually explained everything.
“I still don’t get it.” Flip admitted.
“It’s Master’s order,” Blink said.
“See he even gave me a sword,” he added as though that fact should explain it all.
“Oh! Okay.” Flip responded as though he understood.
They continued walking and soon reached the gate. The gate stood at the eastern side of the academy while Master Tszarek’s residence was located at the southernmost part of the area.
The Ragha Martial Arts Academy had an area of over fifty hectares.
Along the way, Flip learned that Blink would be gone for at least five years, most probably longer. He started getting teary-eyed and was soon sobbing and sniffing. His emotional display spilled over to Berge whose eyes welled up and started to sob then the sobbing turned into moans then the moaning turned into wailing. Flip started wailing as well.
The two of them formed a horrid duet that rather annoyed Blink instead of touch his heart.
“Will you please stop embarrassing yourselves? You make it look like you’re crying over a dead man!”
“We can’t help it,” Flip said. “You’ll be gone from our lives for a long five years, maybe longer.
“Maybe forever.” Berge added.
Blink shook his head. He flashed a crooked grin at the atrocious duet.
“Stop being so dramatic,” he said.
“We’re not being dramatic. We’re just showing the appropriate emotion. You’re the one who’s acting cool and unconcerned, as if it has nothing to do with you.”
“He’s right!” Berge interjected.
“What? You want me to lose it in front of you? In your dreams!”
“What’s wrong with showing a little emotion? It’s human nature. Maybe you just don’t really care about us the way we care about you.”
“He’s right!”
“Okay, fine! I really am going to miss you both.”
Blink was about to say something more, but his emotion choked in his throat. The tears then welled up in his eyes and just gushed out in an unending stream.
Berge and Flip reached out to him and they both hugged him, one on each side of him. This lasted for a while until Blink regained his composure.
Blink looked towards the east and saw a thin line of silver on the horizon.
“I have to go now,” he said.
Yet, it took a while before they could extricate themselves from each other.
Standing before them. Blink smiled with much bitterness.
“You take care of each other now,” he said.
He turned around and walked towards the mountain pass.
- Writer
