Actions Speak Louder Than Fortune Cookies

63 - Rachel

Rylee was awoken by a loud noise from the living room. She looked at the clock and saw it was 7:12 am. She realized quickly that the loud noise was the front door closing. Chris must have just left. Rylee still dozed and soon she felt the bed dip, and Sebastian wrapped his arms around her, squeezing. She took in his sweet, woodsy cologne, relaxing into his touch.
She backed up to make herself a little spoon and she drifted back off to sleep, warm in his embrace.

Rylee was rattled from her sleep yet again at 10:00, when she heard a loud noise and Sebastian cursing the air almost immediately after.

"Baby?"

Silence.

"Sebastian?"

Silence.

Rylee stretched her arms above her head, hearing what felt like every bone in her back crack in such a satisfyingly grotesque way.

She hopped out of bed and grabbed one of Sebastian's hoodies that was draped on the back of the couch. The December air was a bit much for her sometimes.

She padded around the corner and poked out her head to see Sebastian in the kitchen. He was hunched over the sink, leaning heavily on his right foot, his hand under the heavy flow of water, unmoving.

"Are you okay?" Rylee asked from her spot, but he didn't acknowledge her. She padded closer towards him and realized he had AirPods in.

"Stupid fuckin' pan." Sebastian whispered under his breath, still completely unaware of Rylee behind him. He tapped his headphones quickly and said "hello?"

Instead of accidentally scaring him, she decided to sit at the bar on the outskirts of the kitchen, behind him, and wait for him to be done. She piddled around on her phone as she sat down. He continued talking, she assumed someone had called him as she was standing there.

"Hey Rachel," Sebastian continued in almost a whisper, "yeah...listen I had called you cause I'm gonna have to reschedule this all again...I know...yeah...well the press tours happening soon...and now I've got surgery again...no she still doesn't know..."

Rylee's ears perked up at the last sentence. She still looked at her phone in her hand, but now she was fully eavesdropping.

"No. I'm not gonna tell her....I feel like if she knew she'd kill me....Rachel...you're too good. Alright. Let me know. I'll swing by in a few hours then...Alrighty. Bye."

He tapped his AirPod again, signaling the end of the call, shifting back to whatever music he had playing.

At that point Rylee was already gone from the bar and had dove back into bed, straight under the covers, pretending to be asleep.

Who's Rachel?
And what don't I know?
What is happening?

She heard the kitchen sink turn off and Sebastian shuffle around some plates. She heard his crutches clicking on the ground getting louder as he got closer to the bed.

He plopped lightly on his side of the bed, and pushed some stray hair off of Rylee's face. "Hey baby, rise and shine."

Rylee rolled back over, causing Sebastian to laugh lightly. "Come on, love, I made breakfast. May have even been mortally wounded while doing so." He looked down at his hand that had a nice plump red line across the back. He should get it wrapped up.

"I'm not hungry." Rylee stated easily.

Sebastian was surprised. "Are...are you sure? Is everything alright? Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah, just wanna sleep."

"Okay, well if you get hungry it'll be out there, okay? And if there's anything I can do, let me know...I love you."