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Wren immediately took a shower upon being shown to the guest room in Sebastian's spacious apartment. The bedroom had an on-suite bathroom and he gave her a soft t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants to change into.
She stood under the hot water for a long time, soaking it up and trying her best not to catch any glimpses of the bruises and scars that littered her body. When she couldn't possibly stand the heat of the water anymore, she got out of the shower and quickly wrapped herself in a plush towel, making sure not to look in the mirror.
She dressed in the clothes Sebastian had given her and sat on the bed for a long time, staring at the wall in front of her and wondering what the hell she was going to do. She hadn't been kidding when she'd said she didn't have anyone or anything.
Over the five years she'd been with Josh, he'd alienated her from anyone she'd ever been close with, her family included. He'd also made sure that she didn't have any personal possessions of any value that were just hers. She didn't even have a cell phone.
He hadn't always been that way. When they'd first gotten together, he'd been sweet and doting and wonderful. She assumed it had been a cover to get her to fall in love with him. She had, of course, and after six months of dating she'd moved in with him and he suddenly became a completely different person than the one she'd known before.
He had a temper that flared up at the drop of a pin and his favorite thing was to beat the shit out of her when he was mad and then apologize profusely and promise he'd never do it again when he cooled down. It always happened again, of course, and it got to the point where she was so tired of it and so scared of him that she didn't even care if he killed her.
In fact, when she'd been lingering in the bathroom before running into Sebastian, she'd been considering whether or not she should just kill herself and get it over with. Sebastian had quite possibly actually saved her life.
There was a knock at the bedroom's door, snapping Wren out of her thoughts.
"Yeah?" she called out quietly, and a moment later Sebastian's head poked around the door.
"Hey, how're you doing?" he asked quietly and she shrugged, genuinely not sure. "When did you eat last? Are you hungry?" he asked her, and her eyes flickered to the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was almost midnight and he looked tired. She felt bad for keeping him up so late.
"Honestly, I'm starving but you totally don't have to get me anything. You've already done so much for me," she said, and he cocked his head to the side.
"So what, you think I'm going to invite you into my apartment and then not make sure you're fed? Fat chance. What do you want?" he asked, his tone light and warm in a way that she couldn't remember the last time she'd heard from a man.
"I... don't know. You really don't have to do anything. I... you can sleep if you have to work in the morning or something," she said, and he shook his head.
"We're not filming right now. I have this whole month off, actually," he said, and it was her turn to cock her head off to the side.
"Filming?" she asked, and he smiled.
"Oh, yeah. I'm an actor," he said, and an image of a character from a movie she'd glimpsed Josh watching once while she'd made dinner flashed in her mind. Then the image of him tossing the plate of food across the room when the dinner wasn't hot enough later that night took it over and she had to shake her head to clear it.
"That's right. I knew that," she said, and he nodded. He'd always been an actor. Even in high school, he'd been one of the most popular theater kids she'd ever seen.
"So, I can make you something, or we could go get something from somewhere that's still open too if you'd rather. I'm starving myself," he told her, and she thought about it.
"I'd kill for literally anything from Taco Bell. He... I haven't eaten there in a long time," she told him, almost divulging that Josh hadn't allowed her to eat fast food because he always said he wouldn't love her anymore if she was fat, not that ever really loved her to begin with.
She could immediately see in Sebastian's eyes that he knew exactly what she'd almost said. He tried his best to pretend he hadn't, though, and smiled widely at her.
"I can't usually eat there because I have to try and stay in shape for my job but you know what, fuck it. Let's go," he said, standing and offering her his hand. She looked at his extended hand for a few seconds, wondering how the hell she'd gotten so lucky to stumble across someone who already made her feel so much more alive than she had in a long time without even really trying.
Sighing lightly, she smiled back at him and took his hand, not oblivious to the fact that as soon as they joined hands, butterflies ignited themselves in her stomach.
