The Other Side (A Sebastian Stan Fanfiction Story)

This Side - Unbelievably You

A/N: I couldn't thank you enough for keeping up with this story. The next few chapters after this will be a bit rough, I actually had a hard time writing them and I hope that I can still improve it a bit before sharing them with you.

To rogerthatbarnes, thanks for voting and for supporting this story, I can't wait where you'll take us with your Tom Hiddleston fic, I'm so excited!

Anyway, on with the next chapter...as always, your comments and you lighting up the little star below the page will be very much appreciated! 

zee x

***

Charlie was staring at her phone in disbelief that she had agreed to finally meet with Ian. And in Coney Island, no less. It had been one of the places she had dreamed of going to ever since she was a little girl and she still was in awe that she'll finally be able to get her chance in two days.

She was so excited she posted a photo of its famous boardwalk on her Instagram account. Her jaw dropped at the instant reaction she got.

tomholland2013 I wanna go with! PLEASE!

rosie_ze_shrink I hope you're going with a friend..glad to see this @charliegirl34

imsebastianstan, xtianfitnessNYC and 15 others liked your photo

imsebastianstan It was nice seeing you yesterday...

Charlie's throat constricted at the last comment. She had been off of social media for so long she didn't realize her followers had grown from the low hundreds to a few thousand, all because Tom had kept on posting pictures of her dishes and tagging her everytime. She couldn't believe Sebastian was a follower. She clicked on her past posts and was floored even more at what she saw.

She only had about 150 posts up until eight months ago, but Sebastian had liked every single one of them. It was mostly photos of her catering services and a few smattering of hers with her former celebrity clients. She remembered being told to leverage her account to grow her business further, but by the time she had gotten the hang of the social media application, she was already a recluse back in her Chicago hometown.

"Oh my..." Charlie gasped. She clicked on one of the last pictures she posted, the very last service she had and scrolled quickly to the comments, knowing people would have strong reactions to what Rachel and Jasper did. She couldn't believe what she was reading.

Sebastian had responded to some of the mean comments, defending her and telling some people off. His responses confused her. In fact, his whole thing of defending her confused her. As far as she knew, she and Sebastian had only met twice; once at Tom's and the other only yesterday and yet here he was on social media, looking after her like he knew her entire story.

"What in the world is going on?" she muttered to herself.

Friday came and passed quickly and before Charlie knew it, Saturday morning was upon her and she was agonizing about what to wear and how to fix herself for her meet up with Ian. She didn't have a lot of dresses, as she was always in her jeans and tees for work.

She was currently having an inner debate between wearing her yellow sundress and darkwash jeans and a band shirt when Tom poked his head in the door.

"Hey chef," came Tom's slightly husky teenage voice. "Did you want Andy to drive you to the—uh oh."

Charlie looked up to where Tom was, smiling at her with confusion and a little desperation in her eyes.

"Um, help?"

Within minutes, Tom's stylist Amanda was on Facetime with them, helping Charlie mix and match her outfit for a casual day out. She ended up with a pair of light blue pants and a white tank top under a denim jacket, finished off with her ever reliable dirty white Chuck Taylors.

"Who are you going with anyway?" Tom asked after they hung up with Amanda. "You never did say on Instagram..ooh, ooh, wait, let me take a pic!" He whips out his phone and beckons Charlie for a pose. She obliges, though feeling a little sheepish as she did so.

"Umm..you wouldn't believe me if I tell you?"

Tom laughed at her half statement, half question. Charlie's flimsy insecurities sometimes still crept up to the surface, and through spending time with the younger actor, she was slowly learning to overcome them although there are still days when she would still feel apprehensive about letting them out in the open.

"Try me, Charlie," Tom challenged playfully.

"Well...while I was still in active therapy, my shrink told me to find an outlet for my frustrations. The outlet was my laptop and my imagination. The inspiration, well, he's uh..one of your friends..." Charlie trailed, unsure if she'd tell someone who was essentially part of that universe she'd been in. After all, he was one of the more popular subjects in that world.

Realization dawned on Tom's face, a knowing grin curling his lips upwards. Charlie's cheeks turned into a deep shade of crimson when she realized Tom knew where she was headed.

"Oh my god, you wrote fanfiction? About Sebastian?!"

Charlie nodded sheepishly and buried her face in her hands. "This is embarrassing." She proceeded to tell him about she met Ian through her story and how he'd become someone important to her over the last four months and how she'd finally agreed to meet up with him that day.

"He sounds like a great guy, Charlie, I really think so. I mean, most guys wouldn't even be caught dead reading stuff like those, but from what you told me, he seems to really be interested and it looks like he cares about you enough to want to meet you in person."

"Ian's a wonderful guy. He came in at the right time, said the right things, said them sincerely and as scary as it may sound, he became sort of my lifeline. I know it's a little dangerous to trust someone you've never met in person, but he's different. I'm different because of him."

Charlie finally managed to get on to the famous Coney Island boardwalk just about half past 10 in the morning. The place was already buzzing with people. On the beach she could see families setting up their blankets and baskets of food on the shore while kids and those kids at heart were enjoying the clear blue waters. Laughter and light hearted banter floated around and as Charlie watched, a slight tinge of sadness washed over her. She couldn't remember how long it was since she laughed with reckless abandon over something. She missed the feeling of being truly happy. She hoped it would come visit her soon.

Her phone buzzed in her purse, a signal that a text had come through. Fishing for it, she opened it and found it was Ian telling her he'd be running a little late for their 10:30 meet up, but wouldn't be coming no later than 11. Charlie decided to buy herself an ice cream cone and sat on one of the benches while she waited.

She had been so engrossed in watching the waves lap up the shore, she didn't notice someone standing behind her. At exactly 11 am, she took a glance at her watch and that's when she noticed him.

"Hi, is this seat taken?"