back to the start • sebastian sallow x reader

chapter eighteen

The reflection in the mirror stared back at me. I looked almost unrecognizable. A small shimmer on my eyes, my lips now a darker shade of pink, my hair pulled into a waterfall braid- I was never used to seeing myself dolled up ever. I could see Nellie from the corner of the mirror, absolutely delighted at the sight before her.

"Now what did I tell you," She grinned, "There's no need for beautification potions when you have me!"

"Thank you again, Nellie." I smiled at her through the mirror, "You never fail to make me
look great." I felt her hands on my shoulder, continuing to look at me in the mirror.

"And I'm sure Sebastian will think so, too!" She chirped in my ear. I felt my cheeks blush at the mention of his name. I could only imagine the look that'll be on his face when he sees me. I haven't had the chance to really try to look good for him, but even without trying, he always seemed pleased with what he was seeing.

"I should probably get going now," I spoke, allowing my slight amount of nerves to be shown. I took one last look at myself, gently adjusting the sage green dress I was wearing that stopped right before my ankles. I was honestly shocked that Nellie didn't convince me to cut it short.

"Have a fun time tonight," Nellie said with a smile. "Poppy and I will be waiting to hear the details in the morning!"

I laughed at her comment before showing my way out. I carefully made my way down the stairs, the flats I was wearing were new and tight- they honestly hurt to wear them.

As I made it to the foot of the stairs, I could begin to feel my heart race. Feelings of both excitement and anxiousness filled my soul. I felt like time started to move in slow motion while I made my way to and through the small exit tunnel.

There he was, standing with his back to me as the door opened. I could tell his was nervous by the way it looked like he wasn't capable of standing still, yet he immediately froze when he sensed my presence. My feet made gentle contact with the ground as I lightly dusted my dress off. Sebastian's body was still frozen still. I pursed my lips together for a quick second, exhaling quietly right after. I gently tapped the boy's shoulder. He seemed reluctant to move, but he started turned around to me. As we made eye contact, I could see a small twinkle of awe in his eyes.

"Wow.." Sebastian breathed out. While his lips were apart, the corners of them were curled. "You look absolutely breath-taking tonight."

I took in his look, a short sleeved white bottom up dress shirt with black slacks. His hair was nicely brushed, not too much on the untamed side as usual. And of course, an undone green tie.

"Have you already forgotten our lessons, Sebastian?" I teased, taking a step into him and placing a hand on his chest at one of the ends of the tie. He chuckled as he slowly pulled the tie off from around his neck.

"Au contraire, I have not," Sebastian smirked, hldping his tie inbetween the two of us. "This is actually part of the date." The material suddenly covered my sight as I could feel Sebastian gently tying it as a blindfold behind my head.

"I think I read about using blindfolds in a book during the summer, you should really buy me dinner first, Sebastian" I laughed

I could tell he was flustered from the comment from the huff he let out.

"Haha. Very funny." Sebastian spoke with a monotony voice. "Let's start going before you squeeze the surprise out of me."

——-

"Okay, you can take it off now." I could hear the shakiness in his voice. He definitely became more and more nervous the closer we got to our destination. My hands went up to the knot tied behind me, fumbling around with it to get it untied. "Here, let me help.." Sebastian's hands met mine as together, we undid the knot.

I took in my surroundings, I was in astonished with everything that was before me. The room was dimmly lit, a small table with a red drape over it. The table was set with a candle lit in the center beside a bottle of wine. I could see our dinner already plated, wine also already poured into a glass for each of us. "Sebastian.." I spoke softly, still in blissful awe. "How did you do this?"

"With very little help from Ominis, and a lot of help from Deek," He laughed, gently placing his hand on my lower back. "I would have never been able to pull this together without them."

I let out a laugh, imagining Sebastian having Deek help him with setting up a date. I could feel Sebastian begin to lead us to the table. Once there, he removed his hand from my back and took a step from me. I watched him pull a chair from the table, gesturing me to sit down. I blushed, sitting down as he pushed the chair in. My eyes followed his every movement as he went to sit in front of me. He shimmied in his chair for a second, appearing to struggle with getting comfortable. He began to smile nervously as he reached out for my hand from across the table. I reached out to him, his fingers held mine gently.

"So for dinner, I asked the house elves for something a little special. I remembered what you said the other night, about having been back to France since you started at Hogwarts last year. Ominis helped me figure out popular french dishes, and Deek was able to get help from the kitchen elves. Tonight, we have french onion soup, ratatouille and gratin dauphinois. For dessert, we have caramel macarons. It may not be home, but I hope it can fill the hole."

"I-I don't know what to say," I stuttered out. "This is so thoughtful of you."

The two of us made small talk through dinner, which was surprisingly harder to do than usual. Something they never will tell you about dating a friend is while you get to skip over the awkwardness of not knowing the person, you just land yourself in a different awkwardness of trying to find things to talk about. I grew to know Sebastian very well over the last year, we practically knew everything about each other at this point. We defaulted to talking about school and friends which very much, bored the hell out of us. Not even the multiple glasses of wine were saving us in making conversation. we finished our dinner rather quickly to save our night from the awkward silence.

"I have one more thing I would like to show you," Sebastian spoke lowly, getting up from the table. He offered his hand to me to which I gladly accepted, gently getting up from the table. He leads me to the right side of the room, just a plain wall in front of us. He turns my body to face him, pressing his forehead against mine. "Close your eyes and relax for me." His gentle voice filled my ears as my eyes fluttered shut.

I could begin to hear the sounds of waves crashing against the surface from a distance. My eyes opened in curiousty. There was now a door in front of us, the sounds beginning to get louder from the other side of it. 

Sebastian's eyes met mine shortly after, "Ladies first,". He grinned at me as his head reached for the door, slowly opening it for me. I walked through the door, warmth wrapping around my body immediately. The flats began to sink into the sand. I reached down, taking them off and allowing the sand to cover my feet. I looked over at the water, the sun beginning to set over the horizon. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see a small cottage, with a small garden surrounding it. My heart sunk to my stomach, taking everything in. 

"You remembered.." I quietly said, turning my attention to Sebastian who was already smiling back at me.

"I'll always remember." He replied, even more quiet than I was. "Let's go inside."