The Artist, The Bibliophile, and The Prince - NaNoWriMo 2022

Chapter 6

Chester POV

When Sebastian went home, Chester didn't hear a lot from him. He didn't get any calls, just brief text messages. Most of them were updates from the body guard updating him on plans. So far, they had dinner planned the night Sebastian came back and a possible hang out in Chester's hotel to stay off the radar one day. Sebastian was pretty serious about staying hidden and not going out in public right now. Chester was okay with it because it still meant they got to see each other.

The days after the festival, Chester spent mostly in his hotel room. He did go out and get groceries and another new suit to wear to dinner with Sebastian. It wasn't as finely made or as expensive as the one Sebastian gave him, but it would do the trick. More importantly, it was in his budget and it fit properly.

The rest of his time was spent watching movies and relaxing. Mostly trying to not text the body guards phone at all hours of the day to talk to Sebastian. Chester didn't even know if they were in the same building at any time. Greg could be having vacation days and at home with his family or maybe Sebastian didn't need him when he was at home. Anything was possible.

Chester's hope was that Sebastian could trust him enough to fill him in on all the details of his life. But it went both ways and although Chester didn't have many secrets, he hadn't told Sebastian anything about his family. I wasn't any big secrets, but they were important information to tell him eventually.

By the time Chester got th text that Sebastian was back in town, he was getting super bored. There really was only so much TV a person could watch at a time. Plus, Chester had been to London enough times to explore and see everything he already wanted to see. If he wanted to explore more stuff, it was well outside of London and the anticipation of Sebastian coming back was too much to keep him here waiting. What if he couldn't get back in time? What if there was complications? What if he missed their dinner date? There were too many what ifs, so he stayed put.

Finally, Sebastian called the afternoon he flew in.

"Gregory is going to come and pick you up, which hotel are you staying at?"

Chester laughed, Sebastian was just as impatient it seemed. "Well hello to you too."

That made Sebastian laughed, "hello. Will you be ready in an hour or so?"

"More ready than you think." Chester had already showered and done his hair. He was just waiting for a time frame before getting dressed. And yes, that meant he was relaxing in his underwear. Better like this to not get all sweaty just in case.

"Amazing, he will meet you in the lobby."

Chester had to refrain from answering with 'you're amazing' because he felt it was a little too cheesy. So instead he said, "and you'll meet me at the restaurant."

"I will," Sebastian said softy.

There was a short pause and Chester couldn't help but smile to himself. "We have more time tonight, right?"

Sebastian laughed, "we have all night."

That left Chester sitting around for an hour, trying to not to sweat nervously, and making sure his phone kept charging. His nerves were worse than the first date, because he was more excited then. Now this was becoming real, and a second date was even more important than a first. They were going to (hopefully) talk about my future stuff and that meant planning and perhaps secrets. Well, that's what Chester wanted to talk about anyways.

It was the most important thing to Chester tonight.

Chester finally got dressed 10 minutes before he was supposed to meet Greg in the lobby, then fixed his hair, and took his time tying his shoes. By then, he still had 5 minutes to wait. He grabbed his wallet and hotel card, and headed down to the lobby. His heart sped up hen he saw Greg already waiting for him, 3 minutes before he said he'd be there. It brought a smile to his face and he had to stop himself from running over to the body guard.

Greg still looked like he was going to laugh at Chester when he made his way over to him.

"You two are both so excited," Greg commented and Chester smiled.

"Were not allowed to be excited?"

Greg shook his head, "it is nice, to see Sebastian happy. I feel like an excited father."

That information made Chester's chest tight. What kind of secret was Sebastian holding onto that made his body guard feel like an excited father when he was going on a date? These were the things about Sebastian that Chester would really love to know.

Greg led him out to the sleek black car with overly tinter windows, and even opened the back door for him. This was was more VIP than Chester expected from a pickup. He gave Greg a nervous smile. Greg smiled back at him as if nothing was amiss. Chester slid onto the leather seats and shuffled around with the weird seatbelt while Greg closed the door behind him and came around the car so he could get into the drivers seat.

Once Greg was driving down th road, Chester spoke up. "I have a really weird question."

He watched as Greg's eyebrow rose, "for me?"

"Yea, promise to not take it weirdly."

Greg chuckled, "you'd be surprised at what I find weird these days."

Chester hoped that was a good sign. "My question is: is it always going to be like this?"

Greg sat with the question for a moment before saying, "can you elaborate?"

Chester nodded, "like if something truly happens between Sebastian and me, then are we always going to the fanciest places? And are we always going to have to meet in the back of the room like its a secret? Is everything always going to be so expensive?"

Greg smiled, "no Sebastian isn't like that." The wave of relief that came over Chester had him slouching I his seat just a little. "Most of things are only temporary, but not to worry. You two will talk about it together today."

Chester nodded and sighed, "okay good because this fancy stuff is making me a little nervous."

Greg laughed at him just as they were pulling into the valet parking at the new restaurant. Chester's heart leapt at the knowledge that Sebastian was once again in there waiting for him. Finally.