CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Xeno didn't know how to pitch coming to Dr. Carmazan's retirement party to Haiden.
He decided the simplest way would be to send him a text, especially given that they weren't timetabled free at the same time.
After much deliberation, Jess had convinced him to just do it, so he sent him a text that read:
"Hey, would you wanna come to Dr. Carmazan's retirement party with me?"
To which, Haiden had responded, " Doesn't she hate me? My first impression was accusing her of.. Everything."
"I'm sure that's just water under the bridge. She doesn't hold grudges for very long." Xeno lied. Truth be told, Dr. Carmazan held the most grudges of anyone he knew. The other day, he had seen her snap at someone from history who had gossiped about her once. Twenty years ago.
"Alright, I'll see you there." Haiden had said.
After the confrontation, they hadn't really seen much of each-other.
For one, they hadn't had many same-timed break periods, and for the ones that they had, one or both of them was seemingly always busy.
There was also the matter of the kiss, which Xeno put to the back of his mind for the time being.
If he wanted to get promoted eventually, he couldn't let his emotions impede his judgement.
While preparing for the party, Xeno wondered if anyone would suspect Haiden for being there. He didn't want it to be awkward for him, especially because of the news he was going to deliver that night. He wouldn't take it too personally, right?
Xeno shook off the thought. He put on his black shirt that he'd worn to the last company party before considering that it'd probably be too cold now to just wear it, especially since the party was in a pub garden.
He hadn't noticed that in his original brief scan of the invite; he'd just assumed that it would be held in the same place as last time, in the main hall of the museum.
It made sense though, given what had happened there last time.
Still, he needed some kind of jacket. He looked in his wardrobe for one, but he could only find his old one. Luckily, it didn't look too.. alternative. Xeno slipped it on and was relieved that it still fit, especially since the last time he'd worn it was when he'd just left his family for uni.
Should he tell Haiden before or after most of the party had happened?
He decided he'd do it early, just to get it out of the way.
He wouldn't be that upset, right? He couldn't shake the anxiety that He would be distraught, but he knew that he'd have to tell him eventually.
Even as he was driving to the pub, he kept worrying.
When he got there, it was clear that he'd wildly misjudged the tone of the "party".
It was held in a quiet pub garden illuminated with fairy lights, with a few tables gathered together with "reserved" signs on them.
Scanning around, he noticed that Dr. Carmazan was there, talking to a couple of her friends from the other departments.
Looking around for anyone else he could talk to, his eyes met Dr. Aruda's.
He didn't know what to do. They'd had their falling out, but would it be fixable? They couldn't go on like this; it was just childish. He made up his mind; he was doing one uncomfortable friend-thing today, why not another?
As he walked towards Aruda, he was second-guessing himself.
"What if I make things worse?" He asked himself in his head, worried.
When he got over there, Aruda looked him up and down coldly, drink in hand.
She was almost like a secondary school "mean girl".
"Do you have something you want to say to me? " She asked.
"Hey, I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't have interrogated you like that; I should have just trusted you. I found out from Mr. Crossley everything that happened fifteen years ago. I had no idea, I'm so sorry."
She looked away, sighing. "He really told you everything?" He nodded. "Well, I suppose he couldn't resist telling anyone who asked. After all.." She smirked. "Who wouldn't want to tell everyone they courted me? I'm a catch."
Xeno grinned. He hadn't realised until then how much he'd truly missed Aruda. That was another reason to be done with all this detective business, anyway- it had caused him too many arguments. "Too right." He started. "I can't believe he fumbled you, honestly."
She laughed a crisp, clear laugh. "All right, I accept your apology. I understand why you did what you did; I hadn't exactly been transparent with you."
For the next fifteen minutes, Aruda filled Xeno in on all the company drama he had missed.
It turns out that when you only talk to a couple of people; you don't really get the full picture of what's going on.
She told him everything, from the new hire from botany accidentally growing black mould instead of penicillin to someone's niece who'd recently gotten her application rejected.
"It's a real shame." She began. "But then again, if a department's getting new hires, it must mean that they won't get cut. That's why I hope that you're going to get promoted today."
"What?" Xeno cocked his head. "Why would it be today?"
"It's always announced at the prior head's retirement party. And if Jess is leaving, you've got a pretty high chance of being selected." She paused. "And I've seen Ms. Pepper here, so we can be quite sure that she's going to announce someone."
"Why wouldn't you get promoted?" Xeno asked, confused. "You've worked here longer than any of us."
"Because I have a life?" Aruda chuckled. "I'm joking, of course. But I did ask Ms. Pepper not to promote me; I couldn't handle all that now."
"Oh, all right." He replied. "Yeah, I can't really think of.." He saw Haiden from the other side of the garden, who was talking to someone else from palaeontology. "Anyone I'd want to replace. I'm really sorry, I have to go over there; he's my plus one."
Aruda looked over her glasses at him, then back to Xeno. "See you around." She said with a knowing smile.
When Haiden noticed him, he grinned. Xeno smiled back, waving. "Hey, good of you to show up." he joked.
"Oh, shush," he began with mock annoyance. "I was barely ten minutes late. In some countries, it's considered polite."
"Not this one, though."
Haiden rolled his eyes. "I've been thinking, I think we've gotten the investigation all wrong. I think we should re-look at Aruda and Mr. Crossley, the dates on those videos can be easily faked, and-"
"Haiden, we need to talk." Xeno said. He hadn't meant to sound so serious.
"Yeah? What about?" asked Haiden, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head slightly.
Xeno gritted his teeth. "I don't want to do this with you anymore."
"The party? We can go elsewhere, if you want."
He paused. "That's not what I mean."
"Oh. Oh." Haiden replied, taking a step back.
"It's just been really stressful for me.
I could've lost my job after Mr. Crossley or Dr. Carmazan.
And I've almost lost two close friends doing it.
" He hesitated, unsure whether he should continue.
"Besides, it probably won't be astronomy that gets cut; they think I have a good chance of getting named head of department, so we don't even need to do this, anyway. "
"Is that the only reason you were doing this? To get promoted?" Haiden took a step back, folding his arms.
"No, no, I wanted to save my department too." He added hastily.
"What about my department?" He asked, shocked. "Or the stuff that got damaged? You promised me we'd figure it out, mate."
"I know. But I mean, you can't honestly have expected us to work out who it was. And even if we did, who's to say the sabotages would've stopped? Who's to say that we still wouldn't have gotten cut?" He was grasping at straws, but he needed to get him to understand.
"We almost found out. We were so close." He paused. "I know we could." He turned away. "I misjudged you, Xeno. You know what? If you don't want to, that's your decision. I don't need your help, anyway. But mark my words, this? This whole.. situation? It isn't over."
Before he could say anything, he had already turned around and was walking towards the door. "Wait, Haiden!" Xeno called out, conscious that multiple people surrounded him, but it was too late.
"Ouch, that was rough." He practically jumped out of his skin. His head whipped around, and there was Jess. True to her word, was wearing the same emerald-green dress she wore to the last party.
"Oh, it was nothing. Honestly, I don't know why he's so angry." Replied Xeno, embarrassed.
"I do." Said Jess, concerned. "You basically just told him that you're putting your job over him. He probably also thinks you won't want to hang out with him without doing your weird little detective thing. I mean, it's what brought you together, right?"
At his incredulous look, she got annoyed.
"What? You aren't the closed book you think you are.
Honestly, you think I haven't seen you going over to palaeontology all the time?
And I know you weren't sabotaging them. He's probably upset because you don't want to do what brought you together anymore, and, to be honest, you're kind of being selfish. "
"How on earth am I being selfish?"
"You told me Ms. Pepper seems to want you as the head of astronomy for whatever reason, so we probably aren't getting cut. Our departments have been sabotaging each-other, who do you think's the most likely to get axed?"
He hadn't thought about it like that before.
"If you want my advice, Xeno, I think you should apologise to the poor guy. Give it some time, though." She folded her arms.
"You told me the other day that I should tell him. You said it was better, "sooner rather than later."".
"I did, but I thought you'd be sensitive about it. Honestly, Xeno, you are such a... boy."
"That's sexist," he retorted.
"Right, you know what I mean." Her expression shifted. "Anyway, enough doom and gloom. Ms. Pepper's here; apparently they're gonna announce the next head of astronomy. Do you think it's gonna be me?" Jess joked.
She laughed; Xeno didn't. He was too lost in thought. He didn't really know the other few people in astronomy besides them. "Did I tell you I accused Dr. Carmazan of sawing the wires on that pterodactyl?" Xeno asked, laughing.
Jess' face went pale. "You did what? You`re joking. You could've been fired, Xeno. You know that, right?"
"I know, but she was our last suspect." He began. "We were almost one hundred percent sure it was her. Only, when she found out what we were doing, she seemed scared for us rather than scared of us."
The sound of a glass being tapped with a spoon drew their attention to the main stage, where Ms. Pepper was standing.