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© 2025 S. Round. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. All sexually active characters in this work are eighteen (18) years of age or older.
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Ch. 97
Evan's restless night turned into a sleep-deprived day of school before he knew it. He was in a foul mood as soon as his alarm woke him that morning. The only good thing about his bad night was that he didn't have any of those horrible life-like nightmares when he did manage to sleep. For whatever reason, those bad dreams seemed to be a thing of the past now, and he wasn't going to complain. Evan dragged himself to his classes, but he was sure he looked like a zombie to anyone paying attention. He was walking through the courtyard when his foot dragged and caught on the sidewalk, causing him to stumble and almost fall flat on his face. He realized he was worse off than he thought and sat down on a nearby bench for a quick rest.
"What was that," Evan said to himself.
He had been dead tired many times in his life, but he had never almost collapsed while walking before. Thinking about it, he realized that, while he was tired, he wasn't so tired that he was about to pass out. He doubted he could even sleep if he went to bed. Napping had never come easy for him once he was up for the day. His misstep was just a result of him being careless. He hadn't been paying attention to what he was doing at all.
The truth was that Evan just had too many things on his mind at the moment. His plate was full with classes, magic training, and physical workouts, but now he had to worry about what nonsense the security force might be up to. It wasn't the first time he had been overwhelmed since he came to Tourmaline, but he figured it had just gotten worse when he missed out on a night of sleep.
"I need to clear my head somehow," he said to himself.
But what would be a good distraction? He could surely convince one of his girl friends to have a little fun, but he didn't think he had the energy for something like that, not that night at least. For now, he just needed to rest. But it might be nice to arrange a hang out, maybe on the weekend. Something fun away from all his responsibilities. Evan was thinking about who to call first when he suddenly remembered something important.
"Oh shit, I never called Nyla!"
The sexy green-skinned nurse had given him her phone number the last time they saw each other with the promise they would arrange a meeting between them sometime soon. However, since that time, Evan had been busy with all sorts of things, and he had completely forgotten about it. But thinking about it now, Evan felt like a day with Nyla might be just the distraction he needed. It was mid-afternoon, so Evan worried that she might be working, but he decided to give it a shot anyway. The worst-case scenario was he would leave her a quick message. The phone rang a few times before she finally answered.
"This is Nyla," she said in a business-like tone.
"Hey, Nyla. It's Evan."
"Hi, hon!" she said. "Good timing! I just started my break. You know, I was wondering when I would hear from you."
"I'm sorry. I've had a lot going on," he said.
"Oh, don't you worry about it, hon. I know you have more on your plate than an ogre on Thanksgiving!"
"Haha, yeah."
"So, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to, like, set up a date, or something like that?"
"Oh, you know I'd love that, hon," she said. "What did you have in mind?"
"I hadn't really thought of a plan yet," he said. "But I was thinking maybe we could do something this weekend? We could do whatever sounds best to you."
"How about this," she said. "Come over to my house on Saturday, and I'll cook us a meal. Sound good?"
"Yeah, that'd be great," he said. "I always enjoy some home cooking."
"Great! Ooh, it's so exciting!" she said. "Ok, well I need to go, hon, but I'll text you specifics later, ok?"
"Yep, ok. Have a good day, Nyla."
"You too, hon!"
Evan ended the call and already felt better than before. Sometimes it was as simple as having something exciting to look forward to, and he knew his time with Nyla would be great fun. She had managed to make a routine hospital checkup one of the hottest memories of Evan's life, so he was excited to see what she could do with hours of time on her home turf. He had to stop himself from letting his imagination run wild or he would have had to walk across campus with his pants tented out.
Evan was still dog tired, but the conversation did serve to clear his head, so he no longer had any problems making it back home despite his groggy state. He was eager to sit in his room and do nothing for the rest of the day, but unfortunately, there was an unwelcome visitor waiting for him in the common room when he entered Tipski hall.
"Hey, kid," Agent Jackson said. "You look like shit."
"Thanks," Evan said. "What're you doing here?"
"It's fucking annoying, but we need to talk," she said. "Let's go to your room."
"..."
Evan wasn't sure he liked the idea of having her in his room again. He knew she couldn't stay in any place long without smoking, and he wasn't looking forward to cleaning ashes off his furniture. And for all he knew, she might just want him in his room so she could lock him up against his will again.
"Something wrong?" she said when she noticed him hesitating.
"...No, it's fine," he said before sighing. "Let's go."
Evan led the way as they trudged up the stairs and over to his room. He let her inside with much less politeness than the previous time she had been there. Once again feeling the tiredness taking over, he promptly fell into his favorite chair without bothering to offer Agent Jackson anything. She didn't seem to mind, though, as she once again opted to lean against the wall instead of taking a seat.
"So, to what do I owe this honor?"
"I came to tell you that you need to lay low for a while," she said as she ran her hand over her face, looking frustrated.
"So... same old, same old then?"
"But I'm serious this time."
"Ok?"
