Brendan scratched his cheek. He knew how hard it was for her to come all this way to say this to him. Patricia, to Brendan's knowledge, had never gone anywhere without her closest friends; Natasha and Susan, and her showing up here to offer an olive branch to the person that disliked her friends and was also disliked by her friends must have taken a lot of courage.
Brendan turned his eyes to the floor for a moment and saw that one of her feet was tapping on the floor. She was shy. Of course she was. This was probably a new experience for her, stepping out of her comfort zone. He decided to end her misery at once.
'Um…sure..,' he replied finally, '…we…we could be friends.'
She could not contain her embarrassment and she stood up with her businesswoman concrete face and kissed Brendan on the cheek then she marched out of the cafeteria.
Simon and Owen returned to him. 'What did she want?' Owen was the first to ask.
'She just wanted to…She just wanted to fix our little "disagreement",' Brendan answered in the best way he thought would not mislead either of them into thinking he would be dating Patricia anytime soon, and Owen was always quick to talk about girls, his favorite topic for any conversation.
'You know, I really didn't believe in magic until now,' Owen changed the subject. 'I mean, these Supremes have been quiet for so many years so why do they plan to act now?'
'Well, you should have believed in magic,' Simon said. 'Magic is as real as a punch in the gut! Speaking of magic; I hate to bring this up, Brendan, but do you remember that Friday Thomas beat you up?'
'Yes, what about it?'
'You said you were going to show me something related to magic in Bradwield Forest the following weekend.'
'Oh…that was just a false alarm.'
'What kind of a false alarm?' Simon asked him.
'I thought I had seen a deer with two heads,' he lied.
'But what was it?' Owen joined the interrogation.
'I don't know…It must have been a doe and its young.'
They two nodded in amazement.
'If these Supreme races are as powerful as people say they are then I'm afraid our race is doomed,' Owen pointed out. 'I mean, look at these creatures: they can shoot fire from their hands and they are so skilled in voodoo, or magic or witchcraft (whatever you wanna call it) what chances could we possibly have with them?'
'Mayor Loop is prepared for any attack these freaks may be planning,' Simon spoke in confidence. 'You heard what he said on the news? "If these freaks want to start a war then I would be happy to cooperate by fighting back…" and stuff. It shows that he has the police ready with the craziest firearms.'
'Are you crazy!' Owen asserted. 'You think the police are the best form of defense in a time like this? I'll tell you what this city and island needs…An army.'
'An army?' Simon stared at him for confirmation.
'Yes, an army. All of the mayors of this island from here: Dasa, Elisa and Senina should sit down and organize a training academy for an army. I mean…what kind of nation has no army? Let's talk about some nations with tough armies overseas: China, America, Iran, Russia, just to name a few. We could even borrow a few soldiers from them. What if these Supremes can stop a bullet with the blink of an eye or set off a hand grenade before it's even thrown? We should never underestimate these beings. What we need is definitely not the police alone but also the army.'
'We shouldn't underestimate ourselves too. Ask yourselves why these things have been hiding. They're obviously afraid of us,' Simon said beating his chest in pride at the same time. 'What do you think, Brendan?' Simon immediately turned towards him as though expecting his support on the matter.
Brendan said, 'I think that we should, uh…not underestimate the aliens. We might have guns and stuff but these creatures don't just come out in the open and shout "Here I am, come and let us prove who's the best!" They are in no need of competition and they plan their murders so secretly that you find out about them a long time after they have been committed, not even wanting to dispose of the bodies because of their sickening cruelty and disregard for human emotions. It's either these creatures are shy and don't want exposure or they had been planning this comeback for a long time and have decided to put it into action now.' He took another bite of his muffin, convinced he had given them a good answer.
'Well, I don't think they're shy. I think they're embarrassed,' Simon said.
'Embarrassed of what?' Owen asked him.
'Of their faces! Didn't you see how hideous Anvil looked? Even before his fight he looked like his face had been run over by the rear wheels of a tractor!'
Brendan looked around as Simon and Owen argued some more. He spotted Samantha sitting at the far left of the table they were sitting. She was looking at him with imploring eyes.
He shrugged in ignorance.
She jerked her head towards Simon.
He shook his head vigorously.
She clasped her hands in a begging manner towards him.
He shrugged, sighed, then winked his eye.
Simon saw these signs just before they stopped. He looked in the same direction Brendan was looking and he shrugged in despair and sighed in frustration. 'Brendan; what is this you're doing now?'
'Simon, there's something I need to tell you,' Brendan said.
'What? You're getting married now? Don't bother inviting me; Hell is a very hot venue.'
'Don't be silly, she needs to talk to you.'
'I don't talk to witches…tell her that in sign language.'
'Simon, please. Give her at least ten minutes.'
'No way in Hell! Even the same way she used to get here.'
'I'll give you five gems; one for every two minutes you spend with her.'
'Double it and you've got yourself a deal.'
'Deal.'
They shook on it.
Brendan and Owen both stood up and headed for the table Samantha had been sitting at.
'Make it good,' Brendan whispered into her ear as he passed by her.
As Brendan and Owen sat, Brendan kept his gaze at the table where the two eternal enemies were.