The Young and Gifted

86. lover's gaze

After they crashed the dinner dates, Stephanie still kept pushing to get Landon to cave in. And as promised, there was an exchange between her and Sebastian. 2 pints of blood for touching her face lovingly, 4 for kissing her cheek and so on. But at every attempt for subtle PDA, Landon seemed unbothered. It appeared that he only had eyes for Hope and it hurt Stephanie more than she wanted to admit. There were times when she just wanted to stop the whole fake relationship scheme and lock herself in her room and never come out.

But she knew that her period of all time low was over and it was now or never. If things didn't go how she planned them to go...she didn't know what she was going to do with herself next.

Stephanie walked through the halls, on a way to a study date Josie had set up for them. They had become close friends, even after Landon and Hope. Speaking of, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted the two at the other end of the hallway, embraced in each other's arms. Her stomach churned as they looked at each other in a lover's gaze. No matter how many times she'd already seen it, it still hurt to do so. She gripped her books and her eyes flickered away when Landon glanced towards her, trying to push back the incoming tears.

But luck so happens to have Sebastian approaching her with a bored expression. "I-"

Before he could terminate his sentence, she plastered herself to his body, entwining their lips. Stephanie didn't care what she was doing, didn't even acknowledge the satisfying numbing sensation escalating through her skin. She cupped his chiselled face, glad that he was returning the kiss. Their tongues danced together hungrily, as if trying to win an unspoken war. Sebastian coiled his arms around her waist, pressing her closer to his figure. At some point, she was sure his fangs had nipped her lip because she could taste the copper tang of blood.

Stephanie jerked away from him, tucking her bruising lips in. Sometimes she thought that he wasn't aware of how much force he was using. When she turned to Landon again, she frowned when he and Hope were gone.

Sebastian slouched back with a lazy posture, a lingering smirk on his face that she wished he didn't flash. "Well. That was stimulating. 7 pints." Without much more words, he pivoted away from her and left.

*

Later that night, Stephanie knocked on his door holding a small bag. She opened it and stepped in, glad that his roommate wasn't around. Sebastian had just come out of the shower and it was a mental struggle to not let her eyes dip further than his amused eyes. But from her peripheral, she could see that he had a towel. A towel that loosely hung at his hip and she knew that if he took a couple more steps, it would fall. She swallowed and straightened her back. "Hi," she croaked.

Sebastian cocked his head to the side. "7?"

She nodded and pulled out one bottle of her blood, shaking the bag to prove that there were countless. "7 packets of blood, just like you asked." It hurt to bleed herself every now and then but she knew that she had to keep up her part of the bargain. She practically forced him. Stephanie approached his desk and placed the sack on it before she turned to him, hands behind her back nervously. "I apologize for kissing you so abruptly. I didn't give you a warning and we didn't even talk about how far we could go with this. I shouldn't have done it and I'm sorry."

Sebastian only grinned and carefully approached as if he also knew that the towel was unstable. But he didn't adjust it. "Wanna practice?"

Her brows knitted together, finding it more difficult to keep her eyes straight as his figure stalked towards her. She took steps back but he kept on coming. "What?" She asked in a shaky voice.

Sebastian chuckled and soon, he backed her up to a hard surface. He planted his hand on the wall beside her head and she looked at it attentively before turning to face him. Her breathing shortened because he happened to be closer than she thought he was seconds ago. "To make sure it's professional next time."