THREE Sebastian #2
My sister’s best friend and my favorite person to rile up.
Even with distance between us, Quincy is everywhere. She occupies way too many of my thoughts, and I’ve spent years trying to figure out how to make them stop.
I’ll see her brown hair just out of the frame of a photo Nate posts to show off the new hydrangeas he brought into Wet Your Plants, the greenhouse he opened when he was twenty-five. I imagine she’s smelling the flowers. Making some comment about how perfect they’ll look in someone’s yard.
She’s there again, blurry in the background of an image with Cooper, Harlow, and Mia in Harlow’s house on game night. A deck of cards on the coffee table. Beer bottles scattered on the TV console. Head tipped back, caught midlaugh.
“No.” I tap the handle of my mug to give my hands something to do.
I’m fidgety. Warm and unsettled, and I shrug again.
“Haven’t had a chance to run into her yet, but I’m sure she’s going to be ecstatic to hear I’ll be hanging around this summer.
Seeing her at the chili cook-off later is going to be the highlight of my month. ”
“Didn’t she slam a door in your face the last time you saw her? Last summer when you asked to collaborate on research with her, right?”
Damn Cooper and his memory.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There was no door slamming.”
“She slammed the door in your face.” Nate pops a breakfast potato in his mouth. “Serves you right for saying you were the only one out of the two of you who was … what was it? Oh, yeah. Doing important work for the meteorological community.”
“Dude.” Cooper shakes his head. “Not cool.”
“I didn’t—” I grind my teeth together. “That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
The memory is hazy.
She was using big, science-y words, and it made me flustered.
Intelligence has always been my biggest turn-on, and she was throwing out some of my favorite lingo like thermodynamics and macroburst and adiabatic the way other people talk about television shows.
The nail in my coffin that makes me even weaker?
When a woman is confident and knows what she brings to the table, and Quincy has always been wildly fucking self-assured.
“This is an interrogation.” I accidentally knock the sugar shaker over then set it back upright. “Whose side are you on?”
“I’m not on any side,” Cooper says.
“Same.” Nate nods. “I’m neutral.”
“I’m still not sure why y’all don’t get along. She likes the rest of us just fine.”
“Probably because they can’t be more opposite. Sebby is chaotic and loud. Totally unorganized and flying by the seat of his pants.”
“Hey,” I interject. “I’m not—”
“It’s not a bad thing. Look how successful you are.
” Nate gestures my way. “Quincy is methodical. She sticks to research and data and science when she talks about weather, while you’re full of energy and operate on vibes most of the time.
You’re both good at what you do. You just take different approaches. ”
“You should do a segment together. You can’t make a docuseries about hurricane season without mentioning Quin. She’s a staple in your industry,” Coop adds.
“She’s something,” I mumble. “And it’s not my fault my charisma is confused with chaos.”
“Come on.” Cooper laughs. “You’re not too much of a dick to acknowledge she knows her stuff, are you?”
Knows her stuff is putting it lightly.
Quincy is the smartest meteorologist I’ve ever met. She pays attention to detail and sees the things other people miss. Years in a classroom with her have put us on a level playing field, but when she starts talking about a topic she’s passionate about?
Pretty sure my tongue hangs out of my mouth. I have hearts in my eyes, especially when she frames the conversation in a way the average person can understand.
“Nah, I’m not.” I pull on my collar. Sitting still is impossible. “She’s smart.”
“Remember the time you first met her? You looked around our chemistry classroom waiting for a dude to show up. When Quincy sat next to you, you hit on her and asked if she wanted to … what was it, Nate?”
“Play seven minutes in heaven during lunch.” Nathan Shaw, who’s always been known as the grouchiest fucker in the world, laughs at my expense. “The earful she gave you after that was pure poetry.”
I’ll never forget the look in her eye when I kicked my feet up on the table and folded my syllabus into an origami heart, tossing it her way with a wink.
What do you say we skip lunch and do something more fun? I asked.
And what would that be? she answered, opening her notebook and not paying any attention to me.
I hear seven minutes in heaven can be a blast. I promise I’ll make you see the stars.
The only thing I want to do with your arrogant ass is crush you academically.
I still haven’t admitted to my friends how much that exchange turned me on.
“I made an assumption, but it’s not totally my fault. The gender-neutral name? How she—”
Cooper cuts in with a laugh. “That’s right. Didn’t, like, four girls try to sit with you that day?”
“Thank you for finally being on my side. That’s exactly what I’m saying.
You can’t blame me for thinking my partner was going to be a guy in a band who liked history.
Besides, that’s in the past.” I grin. “We’re adults now, and I can’t wait to keep her on her toes this summer.
I should start a scorecard to keep track of how many times I piss her off. ”
“It’s nice to have you around, Sebby,” Nate says.
I have friends in New York. A group of coworkers at the news station and the guys I row with four days a week. A neighbor I’ve gotten a beer with once or twice and an acquaintance from college who reached out to me when he spent last summer in the city.
But no one compares to these two.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” I say, meaning it.
“Now that our food and lovefest is finished …” Cooper pulls out his wallet and drops money on the table. He slides out of the booth and stands. “I’m going home and collapsing in bed. Last night was the longest shift of my life. My phone is on Do Not Disturb for the next twelve hours.”
“We’re not one of your emergency bypasses?” Nate scowls. “This is why I pick the pie over you.”
“The feeling is mutual. My bed is more important. Y’all will be fine.”
“Get some sleep, man,” I say. “We’ll see you later this afternoon.”
“Hibernation is more like it.” He grins. “It is good to have you back, Seb. It’s not the same without you around.”
“It’s good to be back.” I match his smile. For the first time in what seems like ages, I feel light. There are endless possibilities ahead of me. Spending time with my sister and finding new ways to piss off a woman who doesn’t like me. “We have a fun few months ahead of us, boys.”