Chapter Fourteen - Thalia
I’VE BEEN ON a roll ever since Sebastian agreed to have sex with me. I took my test, passing with flying colors. Owen and I are back to normal.
The boys were back as of yesterday; Owen and I hung out all afternoon, watching movies until I fell asleep on Owen’s shoulder. This meant I unfortunately missed when Sebastian came home.
I still haven’t seen him, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little excited. I’m not a patient person, and waiting an entire weekend for him to return made it feel excruciatingly long.
I know this can potentially complicate things more than it can resolve them, but I’m willing to take that gamble.
Blake has been giving me crap all weekend for how restless I’ve been. I maybe got a total of seven hours of sleep the entire weekend. It’s not healthy, but it is what it is. I didn’t tell her Bash agreed because I think she’d say not to do it. Part of me thinks I might be an idiot, because a few kisses can be taken back, but sex, not so much. Now I’m psyching myself out.
I test the door handle to find it thankfully unlocked, relieved I don’t have to fumble with my keys. I drop all my things next to the door, but I’m surprised to see the living room full of football players. Their focus shifts from whatever is on the television to look at me. “Oh, hey guys,” I say, reaching down to grab all my shit again to take to my room. The last thing I need is a bag tipping over, showing them all the underwear I bought today.
My eyes immediately find Sebastian, who is looking at all my bags, trying not to laugh. We’ll see who is laughing when he sees what I bought.
“Did you max out the credit card?” Owen asks bluntly, and I grin at him.
“Not this time, but I probably would have if my feet didn’t hurt. Vera’s a terrible person to shop with, telling me to buy every cute thing we found. I might try to do that next time, though,” I reply, lugging everything to my room.
My afternoon classes were canceled, so I asked Vera to go shopping, following through on my promise to spend more time with her. It felt like old times, but I had to call it a night when the bags we were carrying started cutting circulation off my wrist.
Eric’s jacket hangs on the back of my desk chair since I never gave it to Sebastian or Owen. I grab it and return to the living room, tossing it to Eric. “Thanks for letting me borrow this,” I say, sitting in the open spot on the ground before my brother. It’d look weird if I sat in front of Sebastian willingly.
“Any time.”
“How was the game?” I ask, noting that they’re watching a prerecorded game.
“Oh man, they throw some good parties there. You would have loved it,” Chris teases, and I roll my eyes.
“I don’t know about that. I think my partying days are behind me. Besides, Florida can’t possibly hold a torch to the ones they throw in Europe.”
He smiles, shaking his head. “Well, other than the parties, it was fine. Bash wouldn’t know; he barely left his room.”
Sebastian elbows him playfully, and it’s good to see him at ease. “Someone had to watch the game footage while the rest of you partied. I prefer to win by more than a field goal.”
Shit, if the game was that close, then I can believe he was pouring over the footage. I would have watched it on television, but I lost track of time. “It couldn’t have been that bad?” I ask, trying to keep the room upbeat. The last thing I want to do is piss Sebastian off. Usually, I’d be more than happy to, but not today. Who knows, maybe it’d make the sex more fun if Sebastian’s mad at me.
I look to Owen, who quickly shakes his head—got it. No game talk. “How’d your test go?” Owen asks, changing the topic, and I shrug.
“I think it went well. It was half multiple choice, half written. Stupid Stalin. I’d much rather learn about the Romanovs.”
I enjoy Russian history, but it can get confusing, especially after taking a year off from school.
I look over at Sebastian only to find him looking at me too. He winks at me, and I can’t help the small smile on my face. But I force myself to look back toward the television, pulling my knees up to my chest. There are too many eyes in the room who could see. “Who are we rooting for?”
“Thalia, has anyone ever told you you’re the perfect girl?” Brooks asks, laughing. I see the nervous look Chris directs at Owen above me.
I can totally diffuse this situation. “I think I have heard that from a few people before. Thanks for the ego boost. Soon, I’ll be peacocking around here like Owen.” Brooks means it as a joke, and I know that. No one laughs, which sucks because I thought my joke was funny. I daringly take another glance at Bash to find his jaw clenched, but his gaze is unwavering from the game. Oh shit. If that’s the look on his face when I mean basically nothing to him, I don’t think I want to know what Owen looks like. It’s not the right thing to say in front of my brother. Is it really that big of a deal Brooks said something? Personally, I think I am pretty perfect, and it’s nice to hear.
“Eric? Can you answer my question since no one else will? Are we watching the team or a player?” I ask, and Eric smiles tightly.
“Person. Quarterback for Notre Dame. He’s Bash’s biggest competition for the Heisman.”
“Eric?” Sebastian says, and Eric smiles, looking over at him. “Shut the hell up. I’m not in the running for it. We’re watching to locate weaknesses and see if we can learn from them.” Eric’s smile fades into a frown.
“Everything’s a learning opportunity,” Owen says, and I sit quietly. He’s not wrong. Everything is an opportunity to learn. You would think I’d have figured that out by now, but I haven’t.
I keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
Bash falls silent, too, and I wish I could read his mind.
Maybe it’s better I can’t. I don’t want to know what he thinks of me.
~
Per usual, I’m making my middle-of-the-night rounds around the apartment. I’m sitting at the island counter, clicking through photos to submit to one of my contacts at Wildlife Views. I guess they had a photographer fall through and wanted to know if I had anything I could send to them. I’ve been combing through my folders for some that other magazines haven’t used, but I keep going to the ones I shot the night I took Sebastian’s car. They turned out pretty great.
“Why am I not surprised you’re awake?” Sebastian asks, stepping into the kitchen.
He’s wearing a thin white T-shirt and shorts with apparent bedhead. It’s annoying how sexy he looks, having just woken up.Bash yawns and stretches. His shirt pulls, giving me a glimpse of his Michaelangelo-sculpted abdomen. Seriously? How is it fair he gets to look like that?
“You look like you just woke up,” I reply as Sebastian pulls a glass from one of the cabinets.This angle shows me the ink on his lower back.
“That’s because I did. For your sake, I made sure I put a shirt on. I’d hate to make you feel uncomfortable.” I wish Bash hadn’t put a shirt on.
His dark eyes shine with amusement, and I roll my eyes. “Sure, dude. Whatever you want to tell yourself.”
“Dude? Wow, I’ve made an upgrade since agreeing. Maybe we should have done this a while ago, and we could have avoided you calling me an asshole so many times,” he teases me, and I can’t help but genuinely laugh.
“Maybe. I’m sure you would have given me a reason at some point.”
Bash fills his glass with water, and I refocus on the photographs, trying to nail it down to a few specific ones. I’m not sure what they’re looking for, so I have a few picked out from when I was in Europe that I never sold and one from that night.
I can feel him staring at me. “Is there something you need?” I ask, not looking at where he’s leaning against the counter.
“I’m just watching. You’re very focused. What are you working on?”
I turn my laptop toward Bash so he can look at the ones I’ve selected. “One of the magazines I worked with last year reached out to me about a project. She told me to send whatever I had, and they’d buy what they liked. So now I have to pick a few out, make a few edits, and then send them off.”
I look at Sebastian hesitantly, only to find him looking at them with genuine interest. You can’t fake that. “I don’t know how they’ll pick just one. They’re all incredible. You have an eye for it.”
It’s weird having him praise me. Unnatural is another way it could be described. “Nature is easy. Well, not easy because it has to cooperate, but I prefer it to people.”
“What do you mean?” Bash asks curiously.
“Almost everyone has a face they like to wear for whatever reason, but the camera can see past it. It captures people for who they really are, and sometimes it’s not for the better. I don’t enjoy it as much.” I admit slowly. I’ve seen some convincing people, but a picture can’t lie. “Is Owen mad at Brooks?”
“For what?” Sebastian asks, looking at me with a neutral expression. It’s so different from his facial expression a moment ago that I feel bad for even asking him about this.
“For what he said about me being the perfect girl. Chris looked worriedly at Owen. Do…” I don’t know how to word this without sounding conceited. “The guys on the team don’t talk about me, right?”
He rubs his hands over his face, groaning. “Thalia, you don’t want to know the answer.”
“Please just tell me. I’m so tired of not knowing who is actually my friend and who is faking it to get something from me.”
Sebastian looks uncomfortable as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Look, I know that Brooks mentioned being interested in you. He was out of line today, but Brooks is harmless. Most guys on the team use common sense to know that you’re off limits, so not much is said about you. That’s a good thing. I’d probably never see the field with how many fights Owen would get himself into if you were a regular topic of conversation,” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t think Owen is wrong to worry. You never know what people are capable of, so if I were you, I wouldn’t accept a drink from anyone. Stick to making them yourself; it’s safer that way.”
“Thanks.” I already make my own drinks, but Sebastian doesn’t need to know that story.
“Don’t thank me,” he says quickly, looking conflicted. “I agreed to have sex with you to get this out of our systems, but I’m no better than Brooks. I’m smarter than him by not saying anything in front of Owen, but I’m no better than him.” What? Does he really think that about himself?
“You shouldn’t think like that.” Surprised, I look at him. “Bash, I know we don’t always get along, but I don’t think it’s comparable.”
Bash takes a few steps back, looking nervously at the hallway Owen could potentially come down. I highly doubt it because he always sleeps through everything. “Why shouldn’t I? I can’t say that I haven’t used a girl purely for her body to suit my own needs. I mean, look at what the hell we’re doing. This isn’t fair to you.”
“Fair to me? I’m the one that asked you, so if anyone is doing the using here, it’s me. Are you backing out?” I’m almost afraid he’s going to say he is.
He braces his hands behind his head, turning away from me. “I fucking should, but I can’t. Lia, you are the worst kind of distraction for me right now. You were right. I do need to get whatever this is out of my system.”
I’ve never had to plan out sex before. It’s weird and different. “Tomorrow. Owen is going with Blake to check out a potential internship. I have class until eleven and am free the rest of the afternoon. Let’s get it over with,” I say bluntly because he has been driving me absolutely crazy. The anticipation is killing me, and I’m terrified by how much I want him.
Sebastian sighs before smiling faintly. “I don’t have anything tomorrow. Works for me.”
I close the lid of my computer. “If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to. I don’t want to make you feel pressured to have sex with me.”
“You have this so off base. I want this so badly. This is a line I don’t know if we can come back from. I think I’m going to miss you calling me an asshole,” he admits, stepping close to me. Sebastian cups my face in his large hands. “Don’t think for a second that you’re pressuring me into this.”
“I can still call you an asshole. Sebastian est un connard.” Sebastian lets out a soft laugh, and just when I think Bash will kiss me, he presses his lips softly against my forehead. I’d give anything for him to kiss me on the lips right now.That’s all I’ve been thinking about the past few days.
As quickly as he appeared, Sebastian is walking down the hallway, leaving me breathless for no reason and wanting more.
So.
Much.
More.