Mio Sole

12 [Sebastian]

**June 19th, 4pm**

My phone lights up with a new message, and I pick it up almost immediately. The screen says it's from my father, and I the warmth in my chest lessens.

   I don't know why I hope it's Aurora every time I receive a message. Maybe because she manages to make me laugh every time we talk. Or maybe just because, despite all Nik's and Alec's warnings, I find myself attracted to her.

   Not like a typical attraction, where you see someone hot and think that maybe you wouldn't mind taking them to bed. I mean an all consuming, mind-numbing attraction to the point where she's the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about when I fall asleep. An attraction that's kind of like a solar eclipse: you know how dangerous it is to stare at it, but you just can't force yourself to look away. Like a parasite slowly stealing my every waking thought, and I just can't bring myself to tear her away, even if it means this attraction will devour me entirely.

   I try not to sign as I look at his message, just seeing requesting a confirmation that I'm going to Archer and Aurora's birthday gala. I type out a quick affirmation and close out of our messages.

I go to my email to check it briefly and see an article with my name in the headline. I click on it to see a photo taken of Aurora and I at the runway show the other day. In it, Aurora is pushing my chin to the side with a single finger, and a small grin is plastered across her face at the astonishment of mine. That's when I'd realized how the outfit switch was because the models were twins.

   I place my phone down beside me with a groan from where I'm laying on Nik's bedroom floor. Nik and Stefan are laying in the large bed facing opposite direction, and Alec is sitting straight-backed in an armchair in the corner, staring straight ahead. He looks like a king sitting on a throne and ignoring all of his subjects, and he knows it.

   "Bash," Nik says from the bed. I lift my head up slightly to meet his eyes, but he's looking down at his phone. "Are you coming tonight?"

   "Coming to what?"

   Nik finally looks at me, his eyes annoyed. "The drive-in theater. Have you seriously not heard a single thing we've been saying for the last 10 minutes?"

   No. I was thinking about Aurora and then hating myself for thinking about her. I say instead, "I'm not sure I'm up for it. I honestly just wanna be alone."

   Nik looks up to the ceiling in annoyance. "What if I said you could ask Aurora to come?"

   My head perks up at that, and Nik rolls his eyes. "Are you sure you could handle being in an enclosed space with her the whole time? I think Alec might rip her head off just for speaking."

   Alec turns his neutral gaze to me. "I will not touch her," he says. I believe him, if only because he's too impatient to bother lying.

   My gaze flicks between the two of them and Stefan, who is hanging halfway off the bed eating a GoGurt tube. Nik takes his 'no food on the bed' policy very seriously, just like Stefan takes his constant snacking. This was the compromise they came to 4 years ago, and neither have dared to break it. Sighing, I pick up my phone.

me: do you have plans tonight?

   Her response takes longer than usual, which doesn't give me confidence that her answer will be the one I want.

Rory V: nothing important
Rory V: what's up?
me: Nik, Alec, Stefan and I were gonna head to the drive-in later
me: i was wondering if you wanted to come
Rory V: hmmm
Rory V: what movie?
me: Nik and Alec couldn't agree, so it's a double screening
me: an action and then some new disney movie
Rory V: PLEASE tell me Alec suggested the disney one
me: obviously
Rory V: alright. i'll have Alaric clear my schedule for tonight
me: i thought you said you didn't have plans??
Rory V: i said nothing important
Rory V: send the details.