Chapter Twelve #2
I am trying to figure out how to break away and go over to where she is, when luckily, my mom comes over to talk to her parents, effectively ending our conversation.
I move toward them, entering the circle next to her, forcing the guy beside her to take a step to the left.
A few of the girls in the circle cheer as soon as I show up.
“Seb, great party! We’re thinking Noah’s for the after-party?” our friend Joshua says, nodding to one of our friends that I’d just moved away from Saint.
“Yeah, my parents went to Atlanta to help move my sister out for the summer, so I have the place to myself till tomorrow,” Noah explains as he takes a sip of something that I’m sure they spiked themselves.
I hesitate before agreeing because I hated committing to plans that I wasn’t sure if Saint wanted to do, and as far as I knew, our only plans for tonight were to find some alone time to fuck each other’s brains out.
“Yeah… I should be able to swing by. It just depends on whether my mom wants me to spend some time with my grandparents.”
I turn my head nonchalantly toward Saint even though all I’ve wanted to do since I got over here was talk to her, “You going?”
“Of course, she is,” Greer, Saint’s closest friend, chimes in.
I liked her okay. She seemed to actually like Saint and wasn’t one of the girls who tried to use her to have sleepovers at our house to get closer to me.
Not only was it never going to happen, but it used to piss me off even more because the nights Saint had sleepovers were nights I couldn’t sneak into her room.
I hated that she was sometimes forced to spend time with people who didn’t care about her when she could have been with me.
“Unless Sara says I should hang out,” Saint says softly, and I already know what she means by those few words.
We can use that as an excuse and show up late.
“You’re both coming. No excuses,” another girl, Piper, who has been known to try to get with me, especially after a few drinks, chimes in.
“Relax, Saint and I will be there.” I chuckle before turning my back to her and away from the circle.
I make brief eye contact with Saint before leaving the area where the party is being held and entering the hallway.
My mom had rented out a space in a large hall used for big events like weddings and birthday parties, so there was definitely a place where I could have a few moments alone.
Even though I gave her the look that I know she can read, meaning, I want to be alone with you, I text her anyway to make sure.
Me: Come out in the hallway.
Her answer is immediate.
Saint: Right now?
Me: Yes. I haven’t touched you once all night.
Saint: Okay, give me a few minutes to get away from them.
Me: You have thirty seconds.
Saint: Or what? You’ll storm in and throw me over your shoulder?
Me: Or else you aren’t coming on my tongue tonight.
Saint: *shocked face* I don’t think you’ve ever threatened that!
Me: Desperate times call for desperate measures.
No more than a few seconds later, I see her peek her head out into the hallway and then make her way over to me.
“See, now was that so hard?” I ask her as I pull her gently out of the hallway and down another hallway, hoping for a more secluded area.
“Yes. Actually, Greer was literally mid-sentence, and a girl can’t exactly use ‘I have to pee. I’ll be right back’ because we travel in packs to the bathroom, hello?”
I laugh at how animated she can be before breathing a sigh of relief when I see a door labeled “exit” that I’m hoping is a stairwell. I open the door and shoot her a wicked grin when I realize it is, and before the door is even closed, I have her against the wall and my lips against hers.
“You look so beautiful. I’m trying to keep my eyes off you, but it’s hard.” I whisper against her mouth. “Do we have to go to the after-party?”
“It’s a party to celebrate you, baby.” She looks up at me with those big brown eyes that I could stare into for hours if she let me.
“You are all I need to celebrate me.”
“We can take a detour on the way there and maybe…” She shrugs. “I can tell Sara I’m staying at Greer’s, and we could go somewhere later?”
“Fuck yeah, let’s do that,” I say before pressing my lips to hers hungrily.
I wince at the memory because that night, unfortunately, we got caught, which was another thing that led to my mom sending me to stay with my Aunt Emily that summer.
I’m pulled out of my thoughts just as we pull up to the venue where they’re holding the engagement party.
It’s in a renovated greenhouse, so we can already see inside through the glass walls that run from the floor to the ceiling, as well as the slanted roof.
It takes us a few minutes to valet the car before we slowly begin walking toward the entrance.
Before we get too close to the door, I stop and pull Saint to the side without taking another step.
“No matter what happens in there… we are…” I know what I want to say and have a million ways to say it, but I’m not able to get the words out.
“I know.” Saint nods. I reach over to grab her wrist, rubbing at the tattoo of my name before briefly dragging it across my lips as inconspicuously as possible. She gives me a small smile and watches as my hand falls to my side, and I know it’s because she wants to hold my hand.
We make our way inside, and I take a second to admire the design and the overall architectural layout.
Fairy lights hang from the ceiling, with green vines threaded throughout the strings.
There are three long mahogany tables in the center of the room, all set and ready for dinner for what looks like about eighty people, as well as several standing cocktail tables around the perimeter.
Candles flicker on all the tables, giving the room a soft glow, and when I look over at Saint, I see her taking in the atmosphere because she loves shit like this.
There’s already a significant number of people here mingling and holding their drinks, which is surprising, considering we are only about ten minutes late.
“Sebastian!” I hear my mother before I see her, and then she’s floating toward me in a short-sleeved, flowy, floor-length white dress that cinches at her waist. Her dark hair dusts her shoulders, and half is pulled back with a clip, revealing diamond stud earrings in each ear.
“Hey, Mom,” I respond as I pull her in for a hug, and she squeezes me hard.
I’ll admit I’ve missed my mother’s hugs.
They were tight and warm, and she’s worn the same perfume since I was a kid, something floral with hints of jasmine, triggering feelings of nostalgia.
She pulls away and pinches my nose gently, something she’s always done before turning to Saint.
“Halle. You are such a beautiful young woman.” I see a hint of glistening over her eyes, but she blinks them away after no more than a second.
“Thanks, Sara. You look beautiful as well… and so happy.” She smiles, but I can see just a flash of hurt across her face, and I realize she may be having a painful memory regarding her father.
“There are so many people who want to see you, but Halle, you have to meet Mike. He’s excited to meet you,” she says before grabbing both of our hands and tugging us gently.
“And then we’ll get you drinks.” She pulls us toward a group of older men, with the exception of one, who I assume may be Mike’s son.
“Honey.” She beams up at him, and Mike, a very tall and broad-shouldered man, turns toward us.
His hair is almost entirely gray, and he wears glasses that sit atop a slightly crooked nose, framing brown eyes.
He smiles instantly, and while I’ve never had any bad feelings regarding him marrying my mother, I still don’t know him all that well.
“Sebastian!” he almost bellows, his voice deep and boisterous, before pulling me in for a hug and slapping my back. “Good to see you.” He immediately turns to Halle and gives her a tight smile, and I’m instantly defensive as to why he isn’t exhibiting the same enthusiasm.
“And you must be Halle,” he says with a curt nod, while looking at her from over the tops of his glasses.
“Yes, it’s very nice to meet you. Congratulations.” She looks at my mom before looking back to him. “To you both.”
“Well, thank you for coming to celebrate with us. It’s been awfully hard to get you down here. I’m glad you had some time,” he says, and while I don’t think he meant it to be sarcastic, I speak up anyway.
“Halle is in graduate school in a very rigorous program, so she’s always very busy.”
“That’s right. Business school at NYU, correct?
” He pans his gaze to me. “I’m glad you’ve both gone on to make more pragmatic choices in your lives.
” He raises his glass to us like a toast, and before I can say anything, because what is that supposed to mean?
my mother interjects. “This is Mike’s son, Dylan,” she says, waving him over from the other side of the circle.
He moves toward us and nods at me without saying anything.
Remembering my mother’s comment about him being a “free spirit,” I figure he might be shy or a little socially awkward, so I speak up.
“Sebastian.” I hold out my hand, and he gives it a look like he’s not sure he wants to before sliding his hand into mine and giving it a shake. Okay, that’s strange.
I briefly remember what it was like meeting my only other future stepsibling, and it was nothing like this.
The memories are faint, but I remember Halle’s pigtails and pink overalls and excitement over not being an only child anymore.
I remember her wanting to show me her room and asking if I wanted to play with her Barbies and giving me the Ken doll.
I also remember her telling her dad that we were hungry, even though it was only me who was, because she heard my stomach growling.
It’s different when you’re kids, I guess.