You'll Be Fine • {Remington Leith}

f-i-v-e

A few weeks passed. Blake and Remington didn't really talk; the band was doing a lot of press for their new album and they really kind of barely saw each other unless it was in passing when both of them were heading to bed in the middle of the night.

She didn't know what to say to him, didn't even know how to start the conversation. By the time she did have something real to say to him, it was one of the last nights of the current tour and everyone was actually staying in hotel rooms, something that was a pretty rare occurrence for them.

Blake was finishing up taking inventory of the merch for the night after the show and was annoyed to realize there was some missing again. She logged the numbers into the book she kept and sighed heavily, closing and locking the trailer and making her way up to Remington's hotel room.

She knocked on the door and almost lost her conviction a moment later when he opened it wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants that hung low on his bony hips, revealing his long and tattooed torso. His hair was wet, a rare moment when it wasn't spiked up as high as he could get it, and the aroma of shampoo and soap radiated off of him.

"Hi, B," he said quietly, and she couldn't quite read his mood. She felt like maybe he was trying to conceal it from her and it made it easier for her to remember just exactly why she'd come to see him.

"Did you take merch again?" she asked, the annoyance she'd meant for her tone to have sounding more just like moderate discomfort. He nodded.

"I'll PayPal it in the morning," he said, surprising her. The energy was different between them, for sure. In the past, he'd get so annoyed when she asked that they'd always had to have an argument before he'd put the money in the account.

Suddenly, she figured out why he was being so quick. She realized that the shower was still running in the bathroom to the left of them, and a quick glance around him and into the room told her there was feminine clothing strewn about the floor. He saw her noticing it and started to say something. She cut him off.

"Sorry, I... I should've just texted you. You're obviously busy," she said, feeling a hot blush rise to her cheeks. Remington started to speak again and she shook her head. "You don't have to say anything. I'll just... I'll go," she told him, reaching and latching onto the door handle, pulling it closed between them.

She pressed her back up against the wall off to one side of the door, taking a deep breath and shaking her head. She knew she had absolutely no right to be upset about anything Remington was doing, and she wasn't mad necessarily, mostly just hurt even though she had no right to feel that either. She and Remington weren't... anything. They were just... co-workers at most. It didn't matter. She didn't get to feel anything about what she'd just seen. She knew that, yet... she was feeling things about it, and those things were causing tears to rise rapidly to her eyes.

Sebastian's room was the closest to where she was currently standing and she prayed he wasn't also... busy. She knocked on the door and he answered in a moment. His face clouded over in concern with the state of her and he ushered her inside at once without a word.

"What's wrong, huh?" he asked gently, pulling her close to his chest and hugging her. She hugged him back, steadying herself. He also smelled freshly washed and she basked in the smell of his soap mixed with the laundry detergent of his clean t-shirt for a long moment. She blinked hard, willing the tears to leave her eyes, and after another moment they did.

"I, uh... just need someone to hang out with, if you're... free," she said, her voice unsteady. Seb pulled away enough to nod where she could see it.

"Sure, of course. I actually grabbed your bag from the bus because I didn't want you to have to go back down and get it," he said, motioning to the familiar bag where it sat in the corner of the room. "So you can shower and then we can order room service or whatever if you want," he told her, his voice still soft and gentle. She nodded thankfully, making her way to her bag.

•••••

Blake showered until the hot water pouring over her turned cold about forty minutes later. She dressed, shook out her long ginger hair, and then stepped out into the room.

"Remington was here looking for you," Sebastian said quietly, looking up at her from where his long limbs were arranged underneath him on the couch.

"Oh," Blake said, feeling vaguely anxious at the words.

"I told him you weren't here, but he definitely didn't believe me. Your phone has also been going crazy," he told her, pointing to where she'd dumped it on the small dining table. She nodded, picking it up and shutting it off completely.

She moved to Sebastian, laying sideways on the couch with her head resting on his leg. She angled herself towards the TV in the hope that he might not ask anything further, and even though she could almost physically feel how much he did want to ask, he didn't.

Instead, he just wrapped an arm around her torso and sat with her quietly. Eventually, she faded slowly off to sleep.