Love At First Text ✔️

Him

Mum:
April 22nd to 26th. Your dad's birthday holiday. I'll send you the link to book plane tickets. I've rented a villa. Will you need one bed or two?

Sebastian groaned. He'd forgotten all about the agreement to go abroad for his father's birthday. His attention had been completely elsewhere these past couple of months. Still was, as he stared blankly at the message.

Seb:
I'll book off now. One bed.

He rubbed a heavy hand down his face after pressing send. He did the same after messaging Karl, requesting the three workdays as paid leave. He had no desire to be out of pocket for the sake of an uncomfortable family holiday. Especially since he was going alone.

While his phone was still in his hand, he checked the only message thread he cared for. Hers. Nothing, and it had been days. She'd seen them all, and chosen not to reply. It made him feel violently ill. He missed her. More than he had ever missed anyone. How he hated to leave things like this. After their kiss – the one he relieved in his head over and over, the way she moved and felt and the noises she made into his mouth – something had gone horribly wrong. She'd told him that they couldn't be friends. That somewhere down the line, she had begun to want more. It thrilled him, almost as much as it wounded him. He couldn't give her space, and that was all she wanted.

Space with Caleb. The guy who actually showed her how much he gave a shit.

He grabbed his beer from the coffee table and finished it in three swift gulps. Then his hand cradled his head again, fingers applying pressure to his temples to alleviate the headache. He sighed, and then he heard Charlotte make a similar noise before the sound coming from the TV stopped.

"Okay. I was really trying to ignore you because I'm enjoying this movie. But now your inner turmoil is becoming outer turmoil and it's really grating on my patience." His head fell back with exasperation before he turned to look at her. She was cuddled into Elijah's side, wound about as tight as she could be, her hand fisted around the remote. Elijah's face was nothing sort of unsympathetic. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" Seb returned, his tone bland and bored.

Char looked at her fiancé for support. "Do you think he wants me to do the whole 'play dumb' thing?" Elijah shrugged.

"Worth a shot." She nodded and then turned back to Sebastian. He watched the pair like they were a sitcom skit. He half waited for the laughing track.

"Okay." She closed her eyes, took a heavy breath, and then forced on an obviously fake expression of concern. "Hey Seb. You don't seem to be doing so great. With all that fucking sighing you're doing over there –"

"Lottie." Elijah warned.

"Right. Sorry." She tried again after patting his thigh. "I couldn't help but notice you seem to be going through something, and as your concerned – slightly irritated – best friend, I wondered if you wanted to chat about what's on your mind." She leaned back into Elijah and waited. Sebastian said nothing, hardly amused. Her brow lifted. "That wasn't an offer. Spill. Or I'm kicking you out so I can watch the rest of 'Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swan should have been endgame', part three."

"It says a lot about your taste in men when you want the drunk pirate to shack up with the Governor's daughter." Sebastian said.

"Yeah, well, I'm engaged to the man that threw smoothie over me and put a dead fish in my locker. We all know my taste isn't that great." She shuffled forward when Elijah guffawed. "Now talk."

When she was in this sort of mood, it was best not to deny Char. Besides, Seb supposed he only had himself to blame. He'd hardly been secretive about his angst and upset. He sighed again and let his head rest on the back of the sofa. "I kissed Eden on Thursday, at Zoya's."