Sunnyside (a Sebastian Stan story)

Girl Talk

   We slipped into bed exhausted that night, nose to nose, arms wrapped tightly around one another. I don't think I could accurately guess the number of times we said "I love you". It was cheesy, but it was like the dam holding those particular words back had burst, and there was no stopping them. They were a force of nature, but so was fatigue, and eventually we fell asleep. The next day, I woke up my favorite way; Sebastian's face pressed into my hair and his breath warm on the back of my neck. His arm was draped across me and our legs were tangled.

   I stretched and rolled over to face him, waking him up in the process. He grumbled and rolled away from me. Unfortunately, he was closer to the edge of the bed than he realized and tumbled to the floor, causing me to erupt with nearly uncontrollable laughter. His head popped up over the edge of the bed the way an animal might poke it's head out of a burrow, and that combined with the groggy look on his face sent me over the edge. I could barely breathe and tears streamed down my face.

   He flopped onto the bed next to me and scowled at me until my laughter subsided. "Can we agree that love means never laughing when somebody falls off the bed?" he asked.

   "Absolutely not," I answered. "You would have laughed at me."

   "Fair point," He pulled me into his arms. "We should probably get you back to your sister soon."

   "Take us to breakfast," I stretched, and he nipped at my arm as I raised it. "I need hashbrowns and she probably needs to get out of the house."

   He craned his neck to check the clock. "Too late for breakfast, babe. But food sounds good," He hesitated for a second. "Your sister needs to pack in some calories."

   He must have thought I might be defensive of her, but I agreed. "You're right. She does. She knows she does, and I got a bunch into her the other night."
   "It's good that you guys have one another to fall back on. And you have me too, so let's get up and let me take you both out."

   Of course it wasn't that simple. With Isabel, things are either easy breezy or complicated and no in between. This was the latter, but I can't say it was her fault this time around. As we rode the elevator up, Sebastian wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled into my neck, making me giggle. We were still standing there with his arms wrapped around me and my hands pressed against his chest when the door slid open and revealed my sister with red splotched cheeks and mascara trailing its black fingers down her face.

   I disentangled myself from Sebastian and ran to her, wedging myself between her side and the arm of the couch. I pulled her to me, but she was slightly limp.

     "Iz," I said, pulling her tighter to me. "Isabel, what's wrong?" She said nothing. Sebastian was standing in front of us, pushing his hair back repeatedly and obviously unsure what to do.

   "Iz?" he coaxed, stepping closer.

   The sound of his voice seemed to snap Isabel to awareness because she looked up and him, and back at me. She rested her head against my shoulder and reached her hands for Sebastian, who looked at me before sitting on her other side and taking her hands. We sat there for a few moments, me running my fingers through her hair with an arm around her shoulder, Sebastian with her small hands wrapped in his own, resting them on her knee.

   This. This was why I fell in love with Sebastian. Because he's goofy, flirty, sassy, intelligent, geeky, and incredibly sensitive. He's capable of incredible stillness and tenderness, and in that moment, he sensed that's what my sister needed, and so that's what he gave her. His thumb ran across her knuckles, but other than that, he didn't move. Between the two of us, Isabel seemed to be able to relax, but she still didn't speak. She reminded me so much of a broken little bird, and it had my heart hurting.