Love At First Text ✔️

Him

Sebastian was looking forward to Wednesday.

He wasn't sure why, because he had no idea what it would entail, but he was eager for it, nonetheless. Despite that, Seb found himself increasingly concerned at the fact the highlight of his week – his days – were reliant of Eden. Her messages, her pictures, her unintentionally funny replies. She was becoming his respite, and he wasn't sure how to handle that. He'd never become so invested in a woman before, especially not one he had never had sex with. Especially not one he hadn't even met.

"What's going on with you?" Charlotte looked over the rim of her smoothie.

She's had a lecture cancelled today, so had a long lunch in which she demanded Seb stop working himself to the bone and join her for food. He'd refused at first – he needed to overtime – but Charlotte had begun to sound like his mother over the phone, and quite bluntly explained that alcohol on an evening didn't substitute for the sustenance he lacked during the day.

Seb picked a spring roll from their share platter. They'd gone to the food court at the shopping centre, picking a few dishes from the Chinese counter. They'd ordered more than necessary for the pair of them, but Charlotte had a thirty percent student discount, and she was keen on making the most of it before she finished her uni degree.

"I don't know." Seb conceded, casting his sights away from his friend. He knew she was still looking at him – he could feel the severity of her stare.

"Come on, talk to me. You don't seem yourself." She nudged him with a chopstick to gain his attention. She used the same utensils to dip her dumpling into the pot of sweet and sour sauce.

"You're not the first person to say that."

She covered her mouth before she spoke, to shield Seb from the view of her half chewed first. "Who else?"

"Eden."

"She knows you that well, huh?" It was a question that didn't deign a response. "What's going on with the two of you?"

Seb deliberated telling Char the extent of his relationship with Eden. There wasn't much of a development since the last they spoke of her, but Seb's interest in her had certainly evolved. He wasn't sure what to even call it. An obsession? She was the first person he messaged on a morning, the only name on his phone that brightened his mood. She was the only girl that didn't fawn over him and brushed off his subtle attempts at flirting.

"We just talk." He decided to explain, though Char didn't look satiated by the answer. "Why are you looking at me that way?"

She swivelled her finger in the air, indicating to the general direction of his face. "Because you look like that. Has she upset you? Has it ended in the heartache that I said would inevitably happen?"

"Oh Chapstick, give it up." Charlotte's eyes widen slightly, and she returns her focus to her noodles. "I just – do you ever feel like your life is going nowhere?"

"This is a heavy topic for a Tuesday." She responded but laid down her food with a keen attention to Seb. "Sometimes, things feel a little stale, but then I know that its just for right now, and when I finish Uni, or when Elijah finally proposes, I'll see that things aren't stale forever."

Seb furrowed his brows in his friends direction. "He's going to propose to you?"

She batted a hand in brief dismissal. "Who knows? I keep sneaking bridal magazines in his assignment folders though." Seb grinned at her antics. "But that's not the point. Do you feel like your life is going nowhere?"

He shrugged. It was a thought that had nagged him for a while, but never this severely. He didn't want to blame Eden, but since she had come into the picture, he realised just how bland his life was before. How could it be only the exchange of messages that gives him some element of purpose? "I've got a house, and a job. And that's all it's going to be for the rest of my life. I've already peaked, and I'm just... I don't know – bored, maybe."