the setup

19

sasha was jolted awake with a hard knock on the door. she turned to see seth with his suit still in tact, she sighed. it was a dream. she should've known, seth wouldn't have forgiven her so easily as it is.

"i'm heading out, you should too. it's almost midnight." he said before turning around and she let him, she decided that maybe her dream was just that, a dream. maybe her and seth were actually over. sasha decided that if they were meant to be that everything would just work itself out.

it had been weeks since sasha had actually spoken to seth, they spoke in the mornings about work and nothing else. she pushed her glasses up on her nose, entering seth's new office. he never told her, but he missed her. she treated him like everyone around the office and he hated it. he wanted space, not to end things.

"okay, so the testing is back, half of the newer employees are stronger here and the other are stronger over at mine. shawn suggested that we just play to their strengths and not do anything new. what do you think?" she asked, but received no answer. he had been staring at her the entire time. "seth!"

"yeah, sorry. i had a long night."

"oh, uh, i get that." she said awkwardly. "that's not really any of my business though, what you do on your free time."

"no! not like that, i was just here."

"yeah, anyways, do you think we should play to their strengths too or do you have a better idea?"

"i think it's a solid plan."

"great then, i'll let shawn and hunter know and then in our last training month, we should be off to a good start." she said piling up her appear ready to leave. she stood up straight and turned around before he stopped her.

"sash?"

"i prefer sasha in the workplace please."

"well, uh, i was just wondering if we could maybe talk sometime." he said with a weak tone and she picked up on it. it was always yes with him and him and he usually knew that, but now; everything different and he knew that.

"yeah, sure. when?"

"uh." he replied. he was expecting her to say no. she had caught him a little bit off guard. "how about tonight?"

"sure."

"it's a date."

"okay, seth." she said with a chuckle. she walked out with a small smile. the day felt pretty long for seth, but it finally came to a close. he knocked on her door and she looked up at him.

"i thought it was a date?"

"it is!" he said. he hadn't actually meant it was a date, but he would never turn down a date with sasha. he tucked his hands in his pockets with a blush. he had missed her so much, it was taking everything in him not to hug her right now, but there was an underlying question. what changed? did she want more or was her stand-off-ish behaviour supposed to tell him that she was over thinking about it.

"so, i'll go home, change into a very cute, but sexy dress and meet you at an agreed upon place. seth, we've done this before."

"right, right." he chuckled softly. yup, sasha still made him nervous. "we can go that chinese place we said we'd try, but didn't."

"okay, i'll be there, at 8." she said looking over to the clock that read 6:15 pm. he nodded, exiting her office. she picked up all her papers, stuffing them into her bag while dialing roman's number.

"hey, sister!"

"hey! i have some good news!" she squealed making him chuckle. she walked downstairs while telling roman all about her date with seth that started in less than 2 hours. he was happy for her, he had been the one coaching her through the process of giving seth space, but he knew eventually they'd end up right back here. he stayed on the phone with her until it was time for her to get ready. she took a shower, straightened her hair and put on a silk, emerald green dress with red-bottom heels. she looked at the time and she had exactly 30 minutes to get there.

she headed down to her parking garage, heading off to their date. she arrived earlier than him as expected. the restaurant was pretty big, so everyone was spaced out. she chose a table at the back of the restaurant that was nearest to the window. she texted roman while she waited. she knew it was probably weird that her own brother was giving her dating advice, but it never felt weird with roman. their relationship was always playful and supportive; now more than ever with their sister being gone. seth walked into the restaurant at exactly eight. his eyes scanned the room and he found her quickly.

"hey." he said, sliding into the booth in front of her. she smiled at him. he almost melted. she looked beautiful, it gave him butterflies. sasha made him feel like a kid in love again and that's all he could've ever wanted, that's why he couldn't wait to ask his unanswered question. "what's changed?"

"huh?"

"you agreeing to come here, i'm assuming somethings changed. right?" he said with a very noticeable ping of hope in his voice. he wanted her to say she loved him, he wanted her to say she wanted to be his girlfriend, but those were only hopes, he didn't expect them to actually come true.

"yes, something did change, but i need you to listen; fully."

"okay."

"it has been pretty hard these past weeks, with you know, being around you, but not with you. you have become someone that i don't want to fully live without and i say fully because i can surely live without you, seth. it's just the matter of do i want to? sure, i can experience skydiving, but i think about how i would feel, doing it with you and i grow weak in the knees. you make me want to live, you make me feel like i matter. you make me happy and i do want what you want. i want to be with you." she said taking his hand. his heart was pounding in his throat. "but i need you to take it slow with me, please don't ask me to be your girlfriend right now, maybe next month or something. i want to fully experience this."

"what do you mean, this?"

"the part before the relationship. the part without expectations, the part with spontaneous events that liven up our sex life. oh and the pining, i want you to pine!" she said with a chuckle. he smiled brightly, this is exactly how he wanted the evening to go. this here was his ideal, perfect evening. "is this okay?"

"it's more than okay."

"good."

"now, what to do with this week we have off." he smirked.

"i'm sure we'll find something, mister rollins."

a/n LMFAO i hope y'all didn't forget about this book. i kind of have a full time job now so writing is like almost rare for me, but i'll try to update once a week! hope y'all liked this chapter bc this is the beginning of their relationship hehe love y'all byeeee