TALK ME DOWN → SEBASTIAN STAN

thirty five | real life

Riley stared at her hands, clenching her fists before releasing them so her palms stretched flat over her thighs. Her hands were clammy and shaky, and her leg jogged up and down.

The car whirred beneath her, so neither her nor Sebastian could actually hear the sound of her heel of her shoe bumping against the ground every so often. Still, Seb saw her leg moving out of the corner of his eye and soon rested a hand on her knee, not tearing his eyes off the road ahead of him.

They stayed that way in silence for a few minutes, before Riley let her head lull back against the headrest and sighed. "I don't want to go home," she said softly.

Seb pressed his lips together visibly, his teeth catching on his bottom lip as she glanced his way. He couldn't look at her, not wanting to lose control of the car, but he could tell she was looking at him. So he took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. "I don't want you to go home either."

Then they fell silent again and Riley sighed, feeling his thumb rub along the back of her hand. There was only another twenty or so minutes until they reached the airport. At least, there was until Seb pulled into a lay-by.

He turned to Riley, grabbed hold of her cheeks, and kissed her. She made a sound of surprise before winding her arms around his shoulders, sliding over the gap between them to straddle his waist where he sat. He tore his mouth from hers and began to kiss her jaw, moving his mouth down her neck with gentle pecks. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she sighed, moving her fingers into his long dark hair.

He started kissing her collarbone and with every kiss, a word followed. "Will," kiss, "you," kiss, "be," kiss, "my girlfriend?"

That was when she was really surprised, and she pressed her index finger to his lips, pulling back. Her eyebrows knitted together, her eyes scanning his face for any hint of a joke. When there was none, she gasped. His cheeks grew pinker and pinker when she didn't respond. "S-Seb, I —"

"It was a stupid question," he said, pressing his red lips together. "I shouldn't have —"

"Yes," she interrupted. His blue eyes met hers and his mouth fell open. "Of course I will, you idiot."

He laughed, the corners of his eyes wrinkling as he grinned wider than she'd ever seen him smile before. His blue eyes danced and he drew her against him again, kissing her hard. "I think I'm in love with you," he told her, when he drew back.

"I think I'm in love with you too," she said, her voice wobbling. The last time she'd said that to somebody was when she said it to Andrew, when he was about to propose, so even uttering those words brought tears to her eyes. Seb lifted his hands to hold her cheeks, wiping the single tear that fell. She giggled lightly. "I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. I shouldn't be crying."

"This is about Andrew," he said, certain of it. She nodded. "I guess you could say it all worked out. You got that new phone to stop him texting you and ended up texting me. And now . . ." He kissed her lightly, but took his time dragging his mouth back, "here we are."

"Thank you for everything," she said, resting her forehead against his.

"You don't have to thank me, girlfriend," he mumbled, chuckling when she laughed.

"Trust me, I do, boyfriend," she replied. And they kissed, and it was like time had stopped for them.