Twilight Hearts

There was a strange atmosphere between Katherine and Lucía after the whole incident. One felt uncomfortable because she had once again shown her most violent side in front of others, and the other because the whole situation exploded due to her presence in the first place. Of course, Lucía would never blame Kath for everything that happened in the same way the redhead would never think badly of the brunette for the way she handled things, but neither knew what the other was thinking.

With not much to say to each other, both girls just got on the motorcycle to leave the place. In a way, both Lucía and Kath had had enough of all kinds of emotions for one night and all they wanted now was to rest, so the silence was welcome to a certain extent.

But fate tended to have quite a dark sense of humor, and the silence didn't last long. "Miss Kath, I didn't expect to see you here so late."

To Lucía's surprise, Kath's reaction upon hearing that voice was similar yet completely different from when she heard Jonathan and his group at the Pub. On one hand, Kath's back straightened up in an instant, and you could see on her face that she was nervous, but instead of tension and fear like before, now there was only shyness and nervousness.

Seeing the owner of the voice, Lucía found herself looking at a young man, perhaps about 25 years old, tall and in good shape although not as robust as Jonathan who was an athlete. He had short brown hair slicked back, a well-maintained goatee, and a pair of glasses that adorned his honey-colored eyes.

"He's handsome." She thought. "And he takes good care of himself," she added a second later seeing the meticulously maintained appearance of the man, from his perfectly ironed shirt and jacket to his shoes that shone with cleanliness.

Lucía actually hated his type, that polite smile and practiced manners, everything seemed so artificial and practiced, so fake. She had always despised people who put up a front like that, but it wasn't like she blamed them, everyone wore their own mask in front of society.

Besides, the guy didn't have to please her, it was enough that Kath liked him, and by the maiden-in-love look on her face and the blush on her cheeks, Lucía was sure that was the case. "In fact, she might like him too much, this girl looks like she's about to faint."

Oblivious to Lucía's rude and somewhat prejudiced thoughts, Kath shifted nervously on her feet. "Hello, Professor Flamesworth, I'm actually on my way home."

"So he's a professor, I guess he gives off that vibe." Lucía thought, but seeing the lovestruck look Kath was giving the man, she couldn't help but murmur. "I still don't like him."

"You can call me Elijah when we're off school hours, Miss Kath," the professor replied before his honey-colored eyes behind his glasses focused on Lucía. "And who might this young lady be?"

"Lucía, Lucía Bernstein," Lucía replied, her tone neutral but her eyes seemed to want to analyze the professor and have him dissected with a scalpel.

"She is a friend visiting the town, she will take me home," Kath quickly added, feeling for some reason that she had to clarify her relationship with Lucía to the professor.

Elijah just smiled and nodded. "That's good. In that case, welcome to Hertford, Miss Lucía, I hope you have a memorable stay here."

"That's the plan, thanks," Lucía replied, her tone somewhat curt.

Whether he noticed or not that he was being eyed with distrust, the man didn't let it show. Instead, his attention remained always on Kath, which only served to irritate Lucía more. "Well, I'll leave you both to head on your way, but be very careful, full moon nights are dangerous," the professor said before bidding them farewell with a wave.

Watching the man walk towards the pub behind them, Lucía snorted. "I hate his type."

Unsurprisingly, Lucía turned to find Katherine blushing to the tips of her ears. The girl seemed lost in her fantasies, which only irritated Lucía more. "Do you know what he meant by that creepy comment at the end?" she asked, partly out of curiosity and partly to get the redhead's attention.

Katherine blinked dazedly for a second before focusing back on the moment. "Oh, you mean about the full moon? It's sort of a historical joke. You see, throughout history, all kinds of dark events have been associated with the lunar cycle. From more aggressive activities of wild animals, and high tides that claimed lives at sea, to particularly violent murder cases. There's some truth to it, but there's also a lot of folklore and myths around the topic. Some even say that particularly evil people are born on full moon nights and commit their crimes on similar nights, but those are just unfounded conspiracy theories."

Lucía certainly didn't expect the information dump coming her way, but she listened patiently, finding the topic interesting and not entirely unfamiliar given her profession.

"Still, isn't it a bit grim to bring up the topic out of nowhere?" Lucía commented when she finished listening.

Katherine lowered her gaze a bit, shifting nervously on her feet again though with less intensity than before. "Well, Professor Flamesworth teaches history at the high school, and this became sort of a nerdy joke between us. He always mentions it when he sees me out late at night, but only because he cares about me and hopes I'll get home soon."

Lucía wasn't entirely convinced but let it go, it wasn't her business after all, and deep down she knew she was being biased against the man because of the redhead. Of course, she let go of that topic, but that didn't mean she let Katherine off the hook. "So, what do you like more, history or your history teacher?"

With Lucía's playful comment hanging in the air, Katherine blushed even more, if that was even possible. The redhead looked away, unable to hold her friend's gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about," she murmured, her voice barely audible.

Lucía couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Hmm, I suppose it was all my idea. Although I didn't expect you to like older guys."

"He's not that old," Katherine responded with too much enthusiasm before realizing she had fallen into the trap when she saw the huge grin on Lucía's face.

Katherine bit her lip, feeling uncomfortable. "It's not that simple. He is... my teacher and I'm just the town weirdo."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucía asked as she started the motorcycle and enjoyed the roar of its engine coming to life. She didn't get a verbal response, but seeing how uncomfortable Kath was was enough for Lucía to read between the lines. "Well, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Come on, it's already very late, I don't want you to get into trouble."

Both girls mounted the motorcycle and continued their way home, leaving behind the tense conversation with a tacit understanding to leave those awkward topics behind. Sometimes, the silent support of a friend was all that was needed, that and a bit of respect for privacy.