Ocean Eyes I Sebastian Stan I

47

Sebastian closes the menu and hands it to the waiter after having told him what he wanted for dinner, the boy looks at me smiling.

"Spaghetti bolognese" I smiled closing the menu

"To drink?" He asks looking at Sebastian for a second, he looks at me and I shake my head giving him to understand that I don't mind what he chooses

"Red wine" he says, the waiter turns to me for the menu, I give it to him, he winks at me and leaves.

"Has he winked at you?" Sebastian asks and glances at the waiter who walks behind us "didn't he notice..."

"What hasn't he noticed, Seb?" I ask raising my eyebrows

"This" he points to me and then to himself

"This what?" I pressure him

"Is it necessary to give it a name?" he asks and I shrug

"I don't know, you tell me"

"That's a yes" he says looking at me

"Why are you guys so complicated sometimes? Isn't it easier to say things the way you want them?" I raise my eyebrows

"That thing makes me nervous: Yes it's no, no is yes. And that -you tell me- means that I have to do it, right? I nod amused

"But I don't want to put a name to this"

"Okay" I say simply

"Okay?" I nod "That's it? No complaints or anger?" I shake my head

"When have I claimed something from you?" I ask him

"Yesterday, when we argued"

"I told you what I thought. If you want I'll stop telling you what I feel and the trust and sincerity we have will go to shit" I say upset

"I'm sorry..." he says and I nod "I'll be right back" he gets up and walks to the bathroom
....
SEBASTIAN'S POV

I walk past the waiter who has winked at Brooke, the bottle of wine in his hand.

"Sir" I stop and look at him "Is this wine good for you and your daughter?" Daughter?! I opened my mouth offended, did he just call me old? I'm only ten years older than her and the difference isn't that noticeable in my opinion. But the boy is about twenty years old, of course he sees me as an old man. I turn to see Brooke who is admiring the view from the window. She doesn't look her age, but does she really look like my daughter?

"That should be fine" I reply "And she's my girlfriend" He opens his eyes and mouth impressed, I smile falsely and go into the bathroom
....
BROOKE'S POV

"Tell me about your life" Sebastian says as soon as he sits down, causing me to giggle.

"Well, I live in this city, I'm a costume designer, I earn pretty well and I have a something without name with a man who has a girlfriend and I work with him. Doesn't that sound like a soap opera?" I tell him joking

"HA HA how funny you are" he says rolling his eyes, I smile at him "But seriously, we've been doing this for a little over a month and I don't know anything about you"

"You know I'm from Seattle and my ex cheated on me. Isn't that enough?" he shakes his head

"Everyone knows that, I mean something that not everyone knows about you."

"I don't have siblings, my father raised me, my mother abandoned us when I was three years old" I was going to continue talking but the waiter interrupted us arriving with the wine, serving it and leaving the bottle on the table

"Enjoy dinner with your girlfriend, sir" The boy says to Sebastian, I wide my eyes and laugh amused

"So girlfriend?" I speak when the boy is gone. Let's see if I can mislead him and forget about my life before coming here, it's the thing I hate to talk about the most "I thought you didn't want to name this"

"And I didn't want to, but he told me that you were my daughter" I let out a laugh "It made me feel like shit, so I've made it clear to him that you're not free and that you're everything except my daughter"

"Well, be glad he didn't recognize you. Remember? You're famous Sebby, with a less famous girlfriend but still." He makes a frightened and clumsy face, I think he hadn't thought about that.

"Don't divert the topic smartass. Keep going" he says trying to avoid what I just said

"My mother left us when I was three years old and I was raised by my father. I grew up looking for my mother, but when I was thirteen or fourteen, a girlfriend of my dad told me that she was not coming back, and she was right. Why would she come back after ten years? I stopped looking for her and focused on my studies in high school, where everyone laughed at me for being a younger girl than everyone else. But I stayed focused because I wanted to buy a house that wouldn't fall apart and wouldn't smell bad thanks to the old tanneries."

His look changes, he seems touched by what I'm telling him "Don't look at me like that, I hate being looked at with pity. My story is not that of a poor little girl who didn't have a mother and struggled to get out of misery by who look with sorrow and pride when he tells his life"

"I didn't have a mother, but it hasn't affected me that much either, because I'm going to need something that I never had? I've had a good childhood, a decent adolescence and now my effort and studies have led me to have some prestige, important contacts and have the dream job, earning a decent amount of money with which I help my father whenever he allows me, because he doesn't want to accept my money,"

"I didn't expect that, not at all" he spoke impressed "I thought you were from a close family, with at least enough money to get ahead" I shake my head with a smile

"Well, no" he takes my hand across the table, gives me a squeeze and I smile at him.

"Brooke..." I stop looking at Sebastian and turn to see who is calling me, I quickly remove my hand letting go of his "Hi..."

"Hi Jessica" I fake a smile as best I can "How are you?"

"Fine, and you?" she asks smiling

"Great" she looks at Sebastian

"I'll let you have dinner, bye" I smile at her and she leaves

I look back at Sebastian who is surprised "Well, that hur-"

"She's Ian's sister" I interrupt him "Now it doesn't hurt that much"

"They tell each other everything. Surely she is here to stay with Ian and she is going to tell him that she has seen me. That's why I let you go, I prefer that she tell him that she has seen me with a friend having dinner than that she has seen me with a man having dinner holding hands "

He laughs. "It makes sense."
....
Sebastian laughs out loud "Are you kicking me out of your house indirectly?" I don't want him to leave, I just want him to stop using my shampoo.

"No, I want you to buy your own shampoo. You've finished mine in a week" the waiter brings us the food

"You have to accept me like this if you want me to have this great hair"

"You can wash your hair with holy water if you want, but with your own shampoo. I spend twice as much on hair products since you stayed at my house"

"You earn quite well and you complain about spending twenty dollars more?" he makes fun of me

"I'm not complaining about the money, but it's my shampoo and the girl from the supermarket looks at me weird because now I buy it twice a week. She must think I have lice or something" he laughs out loud

"The guy at the store where you buy the whiskey looks at me weird since I buy bourbon. So we're even" we both laugh out loud

I think I like having dates, I'm having a great time. Except for running into my ex-sister-in-law. I'm sure Ian has told her the story of why we broke up so that he was left as the good guy who had no choice but to cheat on me with the roomie.