Consuming Darkness: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 41

-Ronnie-

I sent an owl to Finnian asking him to meet me in the library near the front in a more secluded room, so we wouldn't be bothered by the other students who had also procrastinated their homework. I arrived earlier than I had told Finnian to, in hopes to make up slightly for how much I had been slacking. I had wanted to come even earlier but the pounding in my head had convinced me to stay in bed longer. I wanted to kill Gareth for basically poisoning me last night. I had gathered a few useful books and was taking notes when Finnian arrived. Immediately I tensed. We had not left things on great terms. Sebastian had been insisting on coming with me but I figured it would be best if he stayed away. I needed to smooth things out and Sebastian's temper would surely hinder any attempt I made.

"Hey!" Finnian greeted as he walked in the room. He glanced around at the books and notes that I had scattered across the table. "Already at it? Did I misread your letter? Am I late?" he asked hurriedly as he sat down and pulled out his supplies.

"No, I got here early and figured I'd work on it a little to... ya know... make up for the fact that you've had to do most of the heavy lifting," I laughed. I was grateful for Finnian's easy going attitude, it helped ease the tension.

"I'm sorry about last night..." I said as I looked at him, gauging his reaction. He stopped fiddling with his quill and met my eyes. He really was handsome kid and his ears, that were a little too big for his head, only made sense with his demeanor.

His blue eyes filed with sympathy. "I'm sorry that you have to deal with all of that... The more I learn about you, the more I realize how incredible you are. To deal with all that you have and still manage to keep yourself together... I know I couldn't," he praised. He placed his hand on top on mine that had been resting on the table. My eyes flicked to his hand on top of mine. If he hadn't confessed to having feelings for me, just last night, I might have been able to blow it off as a friendly gesture. But maybe it was? I didn't dare shove him off, for fear that I would offend him and all of my efforts to help mend things would be in vain.

I shrugged. He squeezed my hand and then removed it from mine. Maybe I had been over thinking and he was just being friendly? "Thanks Finn... I'm trying to figure it all out, but as you... and... seemingly everyone in the school seems to have seen that I have not been keeping it together very well the last few weeks..." I sighed out with an uneasy laugh.

"You've been through a lot... only makes sense," he smiled revealing his dimples.

I let out another uneasy chuckle. "I was supposed to be making you feel better after last night," I offered him a weak smile.

"No need," he replied. "I'm doing dandy."

I laughed at his word choice and his sing-song tone of voice. "If you say so..." I eyed him and he chuckled.

We started working on the assignment. After a few hours we had almost completed all of it. He was really easy to work with and be around. While we had been very productive we also had joked around and had quite a bit of fun figuring out the presentation, much to my surprise.

Something caught my eye by the entrance to the little room we were in. When I looked up I saw Sebastian leaning against the door frame watching me. When my eyes met his offered me half-hearted smirk. "You two make a cute pair of study buddies," he scoffed out. I flashed him a warning look and he moved off the wall, grimacing slightly with pain, as he held up his hands in surrender. "Just came to make sure you're taking a break for dinner," he said.

"Oh! I didn't even realize we'd been here that long!" Finnian replied, his cheeks blushing, and began to collect some of the stuff we had strewn about on the table.

I started helping him as Sebastian walked over. When he bent down and picked up my bag I saw pain flash across his face. It didn't seem to stop him from slinging the bag over his shoulder. The emotion that remained on his face was poorly masked annoyance. I handed him my books and notebooks and he put them in the bag. His eyes boring into Finnian, ignoring my concerned look. "Did you guys finish the assignment?" He asked coldly.

"Almost," I told Sebastian. "We could meet back after dinner and finish it?" I offered to Finnian. I didn't want him to be stressed about it if we waited to finish it until tomorrow.

"I don't know if my brain is working any more," he laughed. "Why don't we just meet up same time tomorrow?"

"Perfect," I smiled. His eyes lit up and he smiled back at me.

Sebastian groaned loudly. "Perfect," he mocked. "Ready?" He asked with sarcastic enthusiasm. I knew there was more he wanted to say but held back.

"Seb, are we good?" Finn asked, causing Sebastian to pause for a moment.

"Yeah," he huffed out. "Yeah, we're good Finn," he repeated in a nicer tone. "It's just a lot, man. There are somethings that I really don't want to share with everyone..." The way Sebastian looked at me made me wonder if that last statement had more than one meaning.

"I understand," Finnian exclaimed, his eyes flashing to me. They definitely were talking about more than just the secret I'd revealed last night.

Sebastian helped me up and kept a hold of my hand. He was holding something in his other hand. I wasn't quite sure what it was, and before I had time to figure it out Sebastian dropped it in Finnian's lap as he said casually, "Here's your robe back."

I rolled my eyes. "See you tomorrow Finn," I chimed, trying and failing to break the tension between the two of them as Sebastian practically pulled me out of the library.

"Could you play nice?" I whispered to him.

He looked offended. "I was!"

I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"I really just wanted to strangle that daft wanker with his own robes, so I feel like that was much nicer than I could have been," he said sweetly.

I rolled my eyes again and Sebastian lightly spanked my rear. I gasped. "Sebastian!"

He just smirked, as my thoughts took me back to some our personal moments.

"Can you be healed up already?" I groaned.

He put his hands on my waist and quickly yanked me against his body. I looked up at him longingly. "Would you have me take you right here and now?" He teased. "Show you how much it turns me on when you roll your eyes? Or maybe teach you to stop flirting with other guys?"

My cheeks flushed. "Maybe somewhere with significantly less people?" I giggled and looked around at some of the people staring at us, including Finnian.

His hands slid lower down my back, his finger tips slightly tucked under the waistband of my pants. "Maybe that's a good idea," he whispered into my ear. Then he pulled away and smirked in a way that did not convince me that he would not take me right now, in front of the library, if I agreed.

I shoved him off of me with a laugh. "Where do you get all of these indecent ideas Sebastian?" I teased as I tried to get a hold of myself. My body ached for him and there was nothing I could do to ease that need. Everything he did, just him existing this close to me, was only causing it to grow.

He swung his arm over my shoulder and tucked me close to him, whispering in my ear. "There is more than just dark magic, forbidden spells and forgotten history in the restricted section."

My cheeks must have turned a bright red at his words. "What sort of things?" I wondered.

"You are a curious little thing," he chuckled. "I'll show you a few of my favorites when we go tonight."