Grey Matter

Chapter TwentyFour - Plans, Plans, Plans

"I'm so humiliated." I sobbed, wiping my tears with the sleeve of my grey sweatshirt.

Sebastian and I were seated on the couch in the living room. I sat with my legs to my chest, my arms wrapped around my knees. Sebastian had his arms wrapped around mine. I'd been sitting in this same spot all day.

"I will take care of this. I'll contact the board and let them know you were home with me. Armadio won't get away with this." Sebastian said, his dark eyes fixed on me with concern.

"The woman in the video looks just like me Sebastian. This isn't going to end well for me. They're going to fire me. I know it." I croaked, my voice was a rasp from all the crying I'd done today.

"Hey, you're Serena Kelly. Art Gallery extraordinaire. You can do anything. When have you ever given up on anything?" Sebastian lips twisted into a light grin.

"Now." I sighed.

"I'm not going to let you. You're amazing at what you do. People recognize that. People as in me and other Art enthusiasts around the city. You're so resilience is irreplicable. I've seen it first hand. This is just another bump in the road. We'll figure this out. Okay?" Sebastian's says as he cups my face in his hands.

"Okay." I sigh.

"Good. Now why don't we make dinner?" He stands and holds both his hands out to me. I take them and he pulls me off the couch and onto my feet. "There we go."

I chuckled at his playful tone as we both walked into the kitchen.

"I'm not really in a cooking mood, Sebastian. I think we should just order something." I sat on a stool at the island as he began rummaging through the cabinets.

"Oh come on. Cooking always cheers you right up." He smiles.

"I'm not cooking tonight." I said, crossing my arms and resting my elbows on the hard surface of the counter.

Sebastian rolls his eyes, "Well I guess I'll get right to work then."

I rose my eyebrows in surprise, "You're joking right?"

"Nope." He wags his brows as he continued around the kitchen grabbing ingredients for spaghetti.

"You're really cooking?" I said in disbelief.

"Yep." He cuts the stovetop on and gets to work.

I watched him as he attempted to cook and I couldn't help but to laugh hysterically. He wasn't good at cooking at all. He overcooked the spaghetti noodles and I had to stop him from blowing up the penthouse by placing an entire jar of marinara sauce with the lid still on in the microwave.

"Bon appétit." He says as we both stare at his experiment on the plates before us.

"Sebastian." I burst out in laughter. Real, belly aching, doubled over laughter.

"What?" He grins innocently.

"Aw, babe, you really can't cook." I continued my laughing.

"Hey, this was a real effort." He faked hurt.

"It looks like the blob. I think it might actually eat my face off. Why is it green?" I giggled.

"Okay...so maybe take out was a good idea after all." He laughs.

The next morning I got up at my usual time and got ready for work only to realize I was suspended. I stood in front of the mirror after my shower, detangling my hair with my fingers. I was shocked by how long my hair had gotten. It was at least eight inches past my shoulders now. Maybe I should cut it, I thought for a moment. I actually liked it long and curly, though I did want to switch up my look.