Caught Between 💙

Chapter 3

Sebastian bangs around in their kitchen in the morning making breakfast for himself and Ashley. He knew his banging would finally wake her up and he was impatient.

She walks out of her room, "Annie?" and sees Sebastian standing in her kitchen, cooking. "What are you doing here?" She sits hesitantly at the kitchen counter. "I vaguely remember telling you to fuck off."

He sets eggs and bacon in front of her with some coffee. "You did. But I didn't. Annie said I could sleep on the couch. We need to talk. About what you told me last night."

She groans. "I don't want to. You should go."

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me. It's Saturday, you're not going anywhere today. So." He sits next to her at the counter and starts to eat his breakfast.

"I hate you."

He looks at her and smirks. He runs his tongue across his lower lip before biting it. "No you don't."

She groans. She didn't hate him at all, no matter how much she wanted to. And he knew it. He also knew he could get to her with that tongue of his. She starting to squirm in her seat thinking about what that tongue can do. She finishes her food in silence and gets up to put her stuff in the sink.

He laughs at her and she turns around. He doesn't say anything as he points to her shorts, and she remembers why. He remembered buying her those shorts for Christmas last year as a gag gift. But she loved them, and she wore them all the time. "Fuck." She puts her hands on her ass and runs to her room as she hears him laugh more and she slams the door. She takes off her shorts. She had completely forgotten she had put on the ones that said "Property of Bucky Barnes" on the ass. She changes her clothes and goes out to the living room to find Sebastian reading a book on the couch.

"You don't live here Sebastian."

"I know." He puts the book down and pats on the couch next to him. She hesitates and then sits next to him. He puts up one leg so he can turn and face her and puts one arm on the back of the couch. "I'm sorry." She starts to say something, but he puts up his hand. She turns to face him on the couch. "No. Let me finish. I love you. And I'm sorry. For everything. Everything that happened was my fault. I got drunk and made some really stupid choices, and I will always regret that night. No matter what happens here between us." He cups his hand on her face. "And I'm sorry you had to go through everything by yourself. I wish you would have told me. I would have been here for you. You shouldn't have gone through it alone. And I'm so sorry that I wasn't here." He wipes away a tear that rolls down her face. "Why didn't you tell me? Afterwards I mean."

"I don't really know. All I could picture was that girl on top of you. And I just talked myself into believing that you would have never wanted it anyways."

"What? Of course I would have wanted it. I loved you so much. I still do. I would have been so happy." He feels his own tears start to well. "We can still fix this. Please, can we start over?"

She looks down. "I don't know Seb."

He moves closer to her and puts his hand on her thigh. "Look at me, please." His voice was soft and pleading. He brings his other hand to her cheek, making her look at him. He doesn't say anything, as he just looks at her. She leans forward to allow him to kiss her softly. She puts her hands on his neck and in his hair. God he smelled good.

She rests her head on his, "Maybe we can start over Seb. We can try." She moves closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her and they just sit in silence.

Finally Sebastian breaks the silence. "Okay. I should go." He stands up. "Can I make dinner for you next weekend? At my place." He turns away and puts on his shoes and turns back to her. "At my new place. I got rid of the other apartment. I knew you would never be able to go back there."

She stands up and closes the distance between them. "You got rid of your apartment? On the off chance I would forgive you?"

"Of course I did. And besides, I couldn't stay there anymore either. All I could feel was how much I had fucked up. So, dinner? I want to start over."

She puts her arms around his neck. "Okay. Text me."

He smiles and kisses her on the forehead. "I will. Respond this time."

She laughs. "I will. I promise."

She calls Chris after Sebastian leaves.

'Hey. How are you doing? How was talking to Sebastian?'

"He wants to start over."

'Yeah? What do you want to do? Do you want me to come to New York? I can be there in a few hours.'

She laughs. "No no. But Chris? There's something else you never knew."

'What is it?'

"That night that I went to his apartment and found him with that girl, I went to tell him I was pregnant."

'What?! You're pregnant?'

"Well that's just it, I'm not anymore. I lost it. I know you were here for me and helped me through a lot. I'm sorry I never told you."

She can hear him hesitate for a moment, taking in what she just told him. 'You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm so sorry.'

"It's fine. Well it isn't, but I'm okay. I got to go, okay?"

'Sure. Talk soon.'

"Goodbye Chris."

************************************

Ashley sits at her desk on Monday morning when a delivery person walks up to her holding a bouquet of orange lilies, "Ms. Ellis?"

"Yeah, that's me." He nods and hands her the flowers. She sets the flowers on her desk and looks at the card.

To starting over.
I love you
- Sebastian

She smiles as she places the note in her purse and smells the daisies. He remembered the white ones were her favorite.

One of her co-workers comes up to her, "Hey. Meredith wants to see you."

She knocks on Meredith's open door. "Ash! Sit, close the door."

"Hey. I just wanted to say, your interviews were really good. Maybe even more so the Sebastian one. How did that go? I saw the flowers, are they from him?"

"Um. They are actually. And it went okay. I'm glad you're happy with the interviews."

"I just wanted to make sure you're careful. I remember last time." Meredith comes out from behind her desk and sits next to her and grabs her hand.

"I know. I'm fine. Really. It won't be the same. We're really just working on getting to know each other again."

"Okay. Well I'm here if you want to talk."

"Thanks."

Ashley gets up and leaves. She knew Meredith was trying to be nice, but she couldn't help but feel like there was something more nefarious under her polite demeanor. It was probably the publicity she liked. Since she had returned from Toronto, people had started talking about her and Sebastian getting back together. Speculating about what happened, especially after his interview with her. People had been flooding their site to watch it.