Chapter 40: Bathroom incident

Arthur heard the sound of high heels clicking against the floor. Getting closer.

A blond girl appeared at the end of the corridor, cutting off any chance Arthur had of entering the bathroom and dragging his friend out. The sound froze him in place.

And as she got closer, he recognized her face. It was Kat.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her high-pitched tone ringing through the entire corridor.

For once, Arthur was thankful for how loud the blond girl was. There was no way Alan hadn’t heard her, which meant he had some time to hide.

"And why do I need to tell you?" Arthur replied, annoyed. "And why are you here?"

"It’s none of your business," she huffed, blushing and taking a step back. Then she jabbed a finger at him, leaning in as she did, close enough that he caught a whiff of her perfume and a very distracting view down her collar. "And don’t you think it’s a little weird, a man loitering right beside the women’s bathroom?"

Arthur went speechless for a second. It was hard to defend himself while trying to hide Alan.

"Anyway, get out of the way, I need to use the bathroom!" she demanded, chin raised like a queen expecting her path cleared.

On instinct, Arthur stepped aside, then placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Wait. You can’t go in there."

"Why?" Kat snapped, slapping his hand away.

"A friend of mine asked me to make sure no one would interrupt them," he blurted out, the first excuse that came to mind.

Kat blinked slowly and tilted her head, confused. At first, she clearly didn’t understand what he meant.

Then her cheeks began to turn pink. Realization dawned in her eyes. And she finally went red as a tomato.

"I can’t believe this! Why are people doing that in public! And asking someone to stand watch? This is disgusting!" she shrieked, flapping her hands as if she could shake the very idea off her fingers, clearly more flustered than furious.

Then she stormed off down the corridor, only to discover there was nothing ahead. She came right back, walking just as fast.

At every step, her heels slapped against the floor. They weren’t that high, but Arthur was impressed by how quickly she could walk in them.

Only when he was sure the woman was truly gone did he call his friend.

"Come out, dumbass."

Alan finally stepped out of the bathroom, clearly relieved.

"You saved me, bro," he said. Then he smiled, showing Arthur what he had in his hands. "I don’t know who installed it, but look at what I found."

He was holding a small camera, which he had removed from wherever it had been hidden. Arthur blinked in shock. He hadn’t actually expected his friend to be right.

"So? What do you think, was it worth all the trouble?" Alan asked.

"Can we find out who installed it?"

"I’m not sure, but I’ll see how much information we can get out of it." Alan turned the little device over in his hands like a jeweler inspecting a suspicious gem. "Which raises an interesting question. If there’s one camera here..."

He trailed off, speaking about his theories, his eyes drifting down the corridor toward the men’s bathroom. Of course, he planned on checking there too.

Arthur saw it and tried to tell Alan to wait a second before barging in, but he was not fast enough.

"There may be a camera here too." Alan was already walking in. "Maybe I could find..." Just after stepping into the bathroom, he went completely silent.

Getting in, Arthur noted his best friend froze in place, and looking over his shoulder, he found out the reason.

There was already a couple inside. A girl against the wall, shirtless, her hands busy unbuckling her partner’s belt. Both of them were staring at the two intruders like deer caught in headlights.

For a moment, nobody moved.

The first one to break the silence was the unknown man, who simply turned and ran, belt dangling, as he disappeared down the corridor faster than Arthur’s brain could process.

Arthur looked, dumbfounded, at the girl left behind. She seemed just as surprised as he was.

"What a coward," he murmured almost inaudibly, feeling a bit of disgust toward the man.

"Figures," the woman said with an annoyed sigh. "I really just attract trash." She hid her exposed boobs with her left arm.

She looked more annoyed than embarrassed as her eyes shot up, landing on the two of them.

"At least it’s just two gay guys seeing me," she muttered under her breath, scanning the floor for her shirt.

Arthur thought about correcting her. Then he thought about how she’d feel either way, and decided the misconception was probably the kindest outcome for everyone involved.

"Sorry..." was all he said, stepping closer to Alan.

"No problem." The girl eyed him up and down, then looked at Alan as she finished pulling her shirt back on.

She thought the two of them didn’t look like they fit together at all. But maybe that was exactly what made them a good pair.

"That useless man ran, so I’m heading out," she announced, adjusting her collar with more dignity than the situation deserved. "The two of you can have the place."

She strolled past them without a shred of shame, leaving the two friends standing in the doorway.

Arthur turned to Alan very, very slowly.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft tone.

Alan took long and deep breaths, his lips slowly curling into a smile once again, as he calmed down.

"Sorry, I shouldn’t have barged in like that."

"It’s fine," Arthur said, shrugging. "It was not that bad."

"And at least you got to see a girl naked," he joked.

"Was she even naked?" Arthur asked, at the moment he was too worried about his best friend to actually pay attention to the girl.

He barely remembered her face.

"Dude, I think it’s quite rude that you don’t remember. I think she would be depressed to know a guy saw her naked, and thought it was so irrelevant he doesn’t even remember."

"Wouldn’t she be relieved?" Arthur tilted his head. "Anyway, let’s see if we can find this camera once and for all, before another couple comes in here."

"Even if they do, you can just tell them to fuck off, because you’re already using it with your boyfriend," Alan joked.

Just then it sank in to Arthur that people may begin thinking of them as a couple because of this incident, but it wouldn’t really happen, because there was no way that girl would go around telling about it.

And after some inspection, Alan confirmed there was no camera in that bathroom. So they decided to head back immediately, as they would actually have classes.

On their way back, Alan was talking about a funny anime he’d recently watched, in which the protagonist was weak, yet somehow everyone believed he was the strongest man alive.

Arthur was halfway through pointing out the plot hole when Iris appeared and jumped straight into his arms, hugging him and pressing her massive breasts against his chest.

The moment another person was around, Alan fell silent, so Arthur introduced him to Iris. The teacher said hi, but didn’t try to strike up a conversation, noticing Alan was shy.

Instead, she turned her attention to Arthur and hugged him once again, and this time she whispered in his ear about how sore she was, and how weak her legs still felt, all thanks to him.

Arthur felt himself throb. Then, just as suddenly, she walked away, leaving him hard.

"She really is beautiful," Alan admitted once they were alone again. "You really are impressive. Now I’m feeling jealous," he smiled, hitting his friend with his elbow. "You could at least introduce me to some good-looking girl."

As he said that, Arthur’s mind immediately went to Kat, and then he remembered the group project. Alan still needed a group for teacher William’s project.

And thinking about that, even if he normally didn’t pay much attention to her appearance, Kat definitely was good-looking.

"If all you want is to meet a good-looking girl, I can make it happen," he smirked, confident.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. As long as you’re sure you want that."

Alan agreed, and Arthur took him to find Professor Willin. He introduced Alan and explained to the eccentric art teacher that he wanted Alan in his group.

At first, Willin refused; he insisted the groups should be decided by luck, or fate, or whatever grand concept governed his teaching philosophy that day.

But then Arthur leaned in and whispered something in the professor’s ear, and the man’s eyes lit up. He nodded, saying it was indeed a very interesting idea, and finally agreed.

"What did you tell the teacher?" Alan asked.

Arthur just smiled. "I’m keeping it a secret. It’s more fun that way."