Tempest // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 65*

CW: Sexual content (I apologise in advance)

Sebastian tossed himself into his bed as soon as he got back to the small apartment he'd managed to secure with Anne. He made sure to be quiet so he didn't wake her, though he managed to trip not so delicately on a rug on the way in.

He left the pub as soon as he'd seen Rosie.

He tried to follow her, but when he'd made his way to the exit, he saw her pressed against the cold wall. Sobbing. Choking on air. Her friend trying desperately to calm her down.

It wasn't the time.

So he turned the other way and went home.

Anne knocking gently on his door the following morning woke him and he quickly realised just how hungover he felt. Not just from alcohol, but from the entire situation.

"I'm off to class," she informed him.

On a Saturday?

"Okay," Sebastian groaned, not bothering to question it.

He never had to study like Anne. He got thrown into curse-breaking. But becoming a Healer was different. So he wished her luck and rolled back over trying to get more sleep.

Sebastian laid there for a while, but sleep eluded him once again so he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

He reached for his phone on the bedside table and found himself going straight to his messages, but he hesitated. What had possessed him to even think of texting Rosie? What would he even say? He barely knew her anymore, and deep inside, he knew it would only make things worse. That was if she even got the message. He knew she'd likely had blocked him.

With a heavy sigh, he pushed the thoughts away and forced himself to focus on the present. And that was his rumbling and almost nauseated stomach.

Dragging himself out of bed, Sebastian stumbled into the cramped kitchen, his head throbbing with each step until he reached the coffee maker. He began the process of grinding the beans, grinding his own teeth in sync with it as his head screamed at him to make it stop.

When the nausea-inducing noise had finished, he poured himself quite a generous cup and barely bothered to make himself jam on toast before sinking into the couch with a heavy and exaggerated sigh.

He barely even realised how long he'd been sitting there until Anne walked back in, met with the sight of her bare-chested brother still in his pyjama pants cradling an empty mug.

"Did you do anything today?" Anne scoffed, tossing her shoes in the corner.

"I had coffee. Ate toast," Sebastian replied sheepishly.

"Yes, I can see that."

He let his eyes wander to the clock on the wall. 4pm.

And he remained in the same bland state the rest of the weekend, until his Monday morning alarm reminded him he actually needed to get up and go to work. He was already pushing it by coming back to a job he'd abandoned.

He showered slowly and dressed at a similar snail-esque pace and realised just how late his dawdling had made him when he put on his watch.

Fuck.

He left the small flat, barely even muttering a goodbye to Anne and deciding he'd suffer through the awful coffee at work, rather than risk being even more late by making one at home.

Sebastian made it to his desk with not a minute to spare and had not even had a chance to put down his bag when Lucas was at his desk, informing him there was a meeting at 9am sharp to brief for the upcoming trip.