Belief in Miracles (completed)

Chapter 4: Sebastian

4

Sebastian

I twiddled my thumbs on my lap as the bus moved at a snail's pace across town. Outside, the world was gray and cold, with a low-bearing fog beginning to creep along the streets like sea foam. The forecast predicted rain. Perfect day for a hot cup of joe with a pretty girl. No, not pretty. Beautiful, intelligent, considerate...

What am I doing...?

That wasn't me. I didn't fall for people like that. Certainly not for someone I hardly knew. Not that I was falling for Summer. It was too soon to make such bold a claim. But I was certainly attracted to her. To pretend otherwise would be a bold-faced lie. Maybe she was attracted to me too, and maybe she was just interested in friendship. I would be okay with whatever she chose so long as I could spend time with her.

I must be out of my mind. I know better than to involve myself in another relationship.

But... we were adults, right? There was no harm in casual friendship, or even casual dating. Spending time together didn't tether us to a committed relationship. We likely both had too much baggage to bring into a courtship. And me... heck, I was dying. What did I have to offer her but what could only be a handful of months; a handful of moments? If she were smart, she'd pity me like everyone else, then keep herself at a distance so as not to break her own heart by my inevitable demise.

Yet, even so, my heart clenched at the thought of anymore abandonment. While a few faithful souls remained in my life, I'd lost too many as a side effect of my cancer. I didn't want to lose Summer. I didn't know her, not really, but there was a reason I ran into her of all people, in all places, outside my church and hit it off so easily. One could almost say God had orchestrated the meeting Himself. There had to be a purpose in it. There had to be.

I inwardly groaned as the bus slowed at a roadside bench, and people boarded and departed, my fingers tapping impatiently until we were moving again. Digging my phone from my pocket, I checked the time. If Summer wasn't there already, then she would be soon, and I was still three stops away. I could probably walk faster than that bus could drive. But, glancing down at my leg, I frowned. No, I couldn't.

When it finally rolled to a hissing halt at my stop, I shouldered my backpack and slid down the aisle, stepped out into the mist. The Starbucks was on the next corner. I could just make out the sign through the fog, and I shoved my hands in my pockets, hunched low against the weather, and made my way toward it. I'd barely walked ten feet when the sky opened, and the promised rain dumped down on me in icy sheets. What. The. Heck?

Growling at the storm, I hunched lower, moving as quickly as I could toward the end of the block, hoping that, by the time I got there, I wouldn't present myself to Summer looking like a drowned rat.

"Sebastian!"

I paused at the sound of my name, looked left to see Summer's car crawling along the curb at my side. She had the passenger window rolled down halfway, and was leaning over to see me.

"Get in!"

She didn't have to ask me twice. Despite the protests of the passing vehicles, she slowed to a stop and allowed me to scramble into the passenger seat. Already, I was soaking wet and shivering, and I held my trembling hands in front of the heater as she cranked it up.

"Fancy meeting you here." I shuttered. "Apparently, I needed a shower, too."

"You poor thing." With a saddened smile, she eased back into traffic. Reaching across me with one hand on the wheel, she opened the glovebox and pulled out a wad of napkins, handed them to me.