"Guess again!" a chuckling voice replied.
My heart fell in my chest. "Sebastian" I groaned in a bothered tone.
"Jackpot" I could hear his disturbing laughter in the background.
"Is this a joke? Do you even know Luke at all?" Evelyn sent me a perplexed look.
"In fact, I'm his cousin. On his mother's side. Ignorant little girl" he ridiculed.
A bothersome fuzzy noise drowned out his voice. "Oh, uh. Seems like we're loosing the connection, it was nice talking to ya, and" fuzz fuzz fuzz. I didn't quite get the rest of what he said, as it was interrupted by the grinding sound. But I think it sounded something like 'look out for yourself'. But why would he say that? Was I in any danger?
"I got the wrong number. It was his cousin's, his aggravating cousin, Sebastian. But we lost the connection" I let my phone fall down in my lap with a sigh. "Let me guess.. You want me to go now? Well, I'll leave you two to it, do whatever you were.. Doing" I couldn't suppress a smile.
"Well, you pretty much ruined the moment there Penny" Evelyn sighed. But all of a sudden, the door bell rang. "Let me get that" she got off the couch and paced over to the hallway, with me following in her footsteps.
I could see his face through the tiny window by the door, and I was just about to stop Evelyn from opening, but it was too late. Sebastian, at Evelyn's doorstep. I don't know why I didn't want her to let him in. But there was just something about him, something alarming. A voice in the back of my mind, told me to back off. Exactly like it did when I first met Luke, but I was too stupid for my own good.
"Can I help you?" Evelyn observed the strange man attentively.
"I'm Sebastian" he drew back his lips, showing his teeth, in a grin. He walked in with a cocky air, neither of us trying to stop him.
"What are you doing here? How did you know I was here? How did you get here so fast?" I stuttered.
"Ignorance is learned; innocence is forgotten. You will learn to understand that with time, young girl" he quoted.
I gave him a confused look. "You're talking nonsense! What do you want?".
"The question is. What do you want?" he moved his head into a sloping position, looking down at me with his pale cloud gray eyes. Muted, soft-looking eyes expressing connotations of dreaminess, melancholy, and moodiness.
"Luke, I want to find Luke. Why did you give me the wrong number?".
"When I want something, I usually get it. And in this situation, your number was the object of interest. And I got it didn't I?" he said, expressing derision. "If you want to my find my cousin that badly, I'm gonna have to get something in return" he gave me an insolently smirk and pointed one of his slim fingers at me. "A few things I have in mind".
"Bring it on" I spoke harshly.
"Well, first of all. I need you to answer a question, honestly.. Why do you want to find him? I mean, if there's one thing I know, it's that my cousin is not capable of love. You can't by any chance be in love with him, can you?" he shot me a judicial look.
"I might have.. Developed.. Some sort of well, feelings for him. That's not a good excuse for tracking him down, I know. But he broke into my house, I believe. And he left me something.. A letter, a very simple letter. Forgive me it says. I don't understand".
"And you never will. Trust me Penny, there's things out there you just don't want to understand, things that you'd be better of without" he sat down on the lower stairs of Evelyn's staircase, and leaned back, resting on his elbows.
"Like what? Car wrecking? I don't give a damn" I snarled.
"Oh no no no young lady. Much worse than.. Car wrecking.. You'll see. I bet Lucas has a whole lot of it just waiting for you when he returns. Are you sure you want to be a part of this?" he didn't even look at me, he just studied his finger nails with a pensive frown.
"A part of what?! Just give me his god damn number, I want to talk to him! You're not very helpful!".
"Don't forget our deal. There's just one more thing I want from you" his fierce eyes met mine again. "Come closer" his words resembled whispers. But I complied his orders, and knelt down in front of him. He took a deep breath and placed one of his large hands on my narrow shoulder. His lips approaching my ear.
"A kiss" he spoke, with no vibrations of the vocal cords. He drew his head back to face me. Moody eyes piercing my bewildered ones. His chilled breath meeting my parted lips in slow and controlled puffs.
Cool lips met mine, in a forceful kiss. I squeezed my eyes shut, and pressed my stiff lips together in reluctance. The kiss was over in a second. It was a strange kiss. His lips had a relatively low temperature, with little or no warmth at all. It just didn't feel right.
"You know Lucas' arrogant buddy? What was his name again? Drake? If you want his number, you can start by talking to him" he got up from his sitting posture, and headed for the door.
"Why would he rather give his number to a prick like Drake, than to you?".
"No matter how intolerable Drake is.. He and Lucas are the closest of friends. You know what they say about friendship? Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed" Sebastian muttered as he made his way out of the door. "Remember, you know where to find me" he didn't turn back, he just walked away.
"May I ask what the hell you've gotten yourself into?" Evelyn stared at me with a shocked face.
"I don't know" I truly didn't know. Sebastian was but a mystery to me. A mystery to all. I've surely never met anyone like him.
"Maybe you should stop while the going is good? I don't think you're very aware of what you're dealing with" she said in a persuasive tone.
"I should go" I was out of the door in no time, and jogged out of her yard, to the open street. I decided on walking home. It's a long way, but I needed some time to think. What have I learned today? Luke might be involved in something 'dangerous'. I'm not even sure of the meaning of the word. He also has a very odd cousin. Who I just don't get.
All of a sudden, wet drops hit my face. And shortly after, the rain fell so heavily it appeared like falling stair-rods. I accelerated my pace, while repeating swear words. I was soaked with water.
Suddenly I spotted a big Volvo on the horizon, gradually slowing down as it approached me. When it reached me, it had stopped completely. At first, I felt unsafe, and quickened my pace. But as the window was rolled down, I felt nothing but relief mixed with discontent.
"Walking in the rain, all by yourself. How poetic".
