: Events happening in two places in one short story? Events happening in two places in one short story? Is this ethical to happen in one short story (craftwise) or is it unprofessional to break

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To answer the last part of the question, the protagonist doesn't have to be present at every event. All that is necessary is that every event affects the protagonist.

The "second half" could be about the group of people deciding the fate of the protagonist. It may be a legal tribunal passing judgment and sentence, or it could even be a social "judgment," of "we don't want to have anything to do with this guy again," and why.

And it could be that this group is passing judgment at the same time that the protagonist is shown doing an example of what the group is judging him for (e.g., using drugs, heavy drinking, hanging with the "wrong" people for some value of "wrong").

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Not only can this happen, it's frequently assumed that it happens. You can't show two sets of events occurring at the same moment textually (unless you're doing some kind of weird formatting, and the reader can't read them simultaneously anyway), so you write about one set of events and then the other. Your time cues will advise the reader if events in Location X are before, during, or after events in Location Y. Having A get dressed and travel to Location Y and come in at the end of the conversation is an excellent way of showing simultaneous events in written sequence. You're totally fine.

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