She Fears Love

Fourteen | A Family Of Cupids

Aleah

I looked up to see if I was at the right place, looking down at my phone to make sure. I even sent Nathan a text of my location, asking him if I was. It didn't take him long to respond.

Yes! Just wait outside

Sending off a quick okay, I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against one of the buildings nearby. Maybe about ten minutes passed before a familiar face approached the same building, but it wasn't Nathan.

We were both equally confused when we saw each other.

"Aleah?" Sebastian's deep voice had a heavy hint of confusion. He looked down at his phone and sent off a quick text before looking up and giving me his full attention. "What are you doing here?"

His phone pinged with a text, and not even five seconds later, so did mine.

We gave each other a knowing look for a few seconds before we both dropped our eyes to our phone.

Have fun. Please don't hate me

I sighed. He'd been making little comments here and there for the past week that I'd be happier if I just settled down with someone who could make it easy to give up the booty calls. Maybe he saw right through me when I lied to him the week before his club party.

I always wanted to come off as emotionally unavailable, and although it was easy to in front of men I could care less about, it was a lot harder to feign it in front of friends who actually cared about me and took the time to see right through me.

"He set us up, huh?"

I laughed nervously. Seemed like Nathan's entirely family had the same idea.

They knew two single, attractive, young adults who claimed they didn't want love. If they could see right through me, I wondered if they saw right through him as well.

Otherwise, why would they set us both up? If they didn't think we'd both be okay with it. Was he okay with this?

He ran a hand through his hair and heaved a sigh, looking around at all the couples around us holding hands. Also barely noticing that detail, I suddenly felt a lot more lonely than normal. I backed further into the wall.

I could picture his inner debate as he offered his hand to me. "Well, since we're here, might as well go through with it. What do you say?"

I only gave myself a second to think about it as I saw the couples around watching us. "Yeah..."

Putting my hand in his, I felt him flinch. It was the smallest of movement, but I still felt and noticed it. His fingers curled around mine before I could question it, though.

While I was waiting, all I was doing was getting rid of some spam email, so I wasn't even sure where Nathan made me go. Now that I was looking around, I noticed it was an outdoor mall. A really fancy mall.

Palm trees lined a long fountain going through the middle of the buildings. Stores going along both sides of the walkway.

Sebastian was holding my hand like a child held onto his mom to not get lost, not like a boyfriend held his girlfriend. Something about how shy he was made me smile. It was cute.

Especially with the way he looked around at everyone around us, tightening his hold on me as if they could tell we weren't actually dating.

Overthinking was getting to him.

Wanting to ease his nerves a little, I brought myself closer to him and hugged his arm with my free hand, putting me right by his side. At that, he actually flinched noticeably, and I looked up at him. He looked down at my amused smile and groaned, not seeming to like my silent teasing.