Lament (Sebastian Sallow)

Chapter 12: A Summer Fling

Sebastian stared up at Cecil. He could see the redness that was coming upon her pale face from the jealousy.

"Right," Sebastian cleared his throat, bringing a hand up and rubbing his nose as he spoke, "Miss Silverthorn is part of the case. I told you that many times. It's part of the faculty's mission to discuss important manners if something comes up."

"And you couldn't discuss this manner with the rest of the team?"

Sebastian was getting frustrated. Frustrated because Cecil was right, but she also wasn't. There was too much to defend and to not defend in this conversation.

"Cecil,"

"Sun." Cecil blurted, correcting the nickname.

"Sun," Sebastian breathed, "It was just a last-minute informative. That was it."

"Was it?" Cecil asked, crossing her arms and pointing at his fidgeting, "You seem kind of worn off there, Sallow."

Sebastian stopped scratching his fingers over the wood and brought them up on his sides, taking in her words. He knew he was caught. There was no way out of it.

"And so was Miss Silverthorn," Cecil let out, "Or, how was it that you said? Oh, yeah, Penelope."

Sebastian flushed at the notice Cecil took from the full name call and looked over at her, "How much did you hear?"

"I heard enough." Cecil said between her teeth, "And maybe, if the door would've been open, I could've heard more."

"A few of my students were still in class." Sebastian reminded.

Cecil's left eye twitched a little and Sebastian noticed it. He knew she was upset and he didn't have the energy to keep going.

"I thought history was over between you and Miss Silverthorn, Sallow."

"It is." Sebastian lied.

"It didn't sound like it two minutes ago!" Cecil yelled out.

"It was nothing," Sebastian adjusted his posture, "Things just got out of hand, and I apologize if it was taken out of context."

"I just don't understand why things got out of hand in the first place. You said it was just a summer fling. That it was nothing. Just a silly little memory." Cecil brought up.

A summer fling = Being with Penelope Silverthorn for two years

Well, in Sebastian Sallow's state of mind. Some things were coded with others.

But he did speak about Penelope Silverthorn a lot between the years. You know, speaking about her as if she were dead. She was never going to come back. Just a silly little memory to look back to.

Just a memory.

"I just haven't seen her in years, Cec—Sun. It's normal to have adjustments to this." Sebastian explained himself.

"It's normal to yell out and bang your hands on a desk over...adjustment?" Cecil called him out, "I didn't see you react this way when that one animal girl came to work...what was her name...."

"Poppy Sweeting," Sebastian answered Cecil's thought.

"Yeah, her," Cecil said in disgust, "How come you seem perfectly committed in conversations with her? She was also someone you didn't see for years."

Sebastian felt at an edge. Cecil Greengrass was cracking him and he didn't have the energy for it. But why? It was his fiancee after all — why was he getting frustrated? Why?