Page 44 of The Gargoyle in the College

I clench a fist, trying to push down the flame that threatens to burst out of me.

She glances at me but looks away soon after.

The guy keeps talking to her and she seems happy. They chat as they go down the path, where I can’t watch anymore.

Now that she’s back home, maybe I can be somewhere else.

At the door to the bar in the gargoyle’s dungeon, I pause. It’s not that I can’t be here, but... I’m usually only once a month, yet... This is far away from yet another month since a few days ago.

Mckur is going to have so much to say.

I take my hand back to myself, hoping no one has found out that I’m here. Maybe I should stay at the campus. It can’t be that bad.

As Laura said, she and I weren’t even dating to begin with. She didn’t reject me, she was just... never interested.

I wonder which stings harder.

The door shifts and moves. I take a step back, not knowing whether I should run to leave or pretend I’ve just arrived.

Mckur’s at the other side of the door, he watches me with his head tilted to the side. “So, I smell a gargoyle, then I wonder why no one’s coming in.”

I huff. “There are gargoyles everywhere around here, what do you even mean?”

He sighs as if he’s telling me to stop with the nonsense. I roll my eyes. “I mean it. We know only gargoyles are here.”

He gestures into the bar. “Come, tell me what you need, champ.”

I hiss. “Stop acting as if I don’t belong. Otherwise, if you want me gone, I can leave.”

“Hey, that’s not what I mean, come on. Just come inside, I’m not standing here with you for long.” He opens the door wider for me.

I walk through the door, hoping no one’s inside. The music is pretty loud but tolerable. Before Mckur goes to tone it down, I stop him. I don’t need the attention.

It is pretty dim here, so there’s a chance no one sees me.

“Champ, you don’t have to be... Wait... Did something happen in the campus? Are those devils back at it? Do you need—“

I lift a hand to stop him. “The campus is fine. Nothing comes along to threaten it.”

“Okay... But you seem... defeated.”

I sigh. “Give me something.” I take a seat at the bar table. “Anything.”

“I told you that’s called let the bartender choose.”

I glare at him. I’m not in the mood for this stupidity. I just want to be drunk or do something that can turn my mind off.

He shrugs. “Okay, champ. I get it. Papa Mckur knows everything.”

I suck in a breath, fighting to let it out slowly to calm myself. He’s not going to stop grinding my gear. He’s not my father, but... every gargoyle seems to find Mckur to be the father figure here. He does take care of everyone, but I’m not calling him Papa Mckur, not ever. How old are we? Come on...

He chuckles. “Don’t you hate hearing that, huh?”

He pours liquor into the mixing jar swiftly. I’m not sure whether he knows what he’s doing. All he does is pour everything in, doing it so quickly that it feels like he isn’t paying attention to what he’s putting into the jar.

But I’m here and it’s too late to back out of the mysterious mixture. I hope I won’t spend the night in the toilet from that... purple thing.

He pours the content, which I can’t even name into a glass, handing it to me. The liquid dances as the glass is set on the table. “Here you go.”

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