affluenza (1.) | ✔️

Blues

I grin goofily at him and he returns the smile. Our hands linger in each other's for just a second too long. As we're pulling apart, our food is served. I glance down at the huge sandwich in front of me. I'd let him order for me seeing as I'd never been here before and he swore he'd sampled every item on the list. It had avocado, bacon, turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, some white sauce, and dozens of pickles. I look up at him. "I'm supposed to eat all of this?"

"Gotta get your strength back," he says, chomping on a fry from his identical plate. "All that treading sure takes a lot out of a guy."

I stick my middle finger up at him, smiling at his boisterous laughter. Taking a breath, I pick up the sandwich and take a large bite. My eyes widen. This was probably the best sandwich I'd ever tasted in my life. "Holy crow," I exclaim with a mouth full of food.

"Right," Sebastian agrees. "Oh, you've got something right there." He points at a spot on his chin and I grab a napkin to get it.

"There?" I ask as I chew.

"No," he says, smirking. "Up there," he says, and then points to his forehead instead. "Actually, there." He points to his ear this time.

I make a face at him, swallowing my food. "Hilarious."

"No, seriously," he says. He leans forward and cups my face in his hands, causing my breath to catch. He looks at me intently as he uses his thumb to wipe a spot on my chin. I keep my eyes on his focused expression, mind whirring, and my stomach flipping. "There," he murmurs, looking up at my eyes instead of my chin. "I think I got it."

His grip on me lessens until it's completely gone. Sebastian leans back into his seat and I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. His phone chirps and he glances at the screen, rolling his eyes. "What's wrong?" I ask, taking a much more tame bite.

"Nothing, I'm good," he says, clicking the phone off.

I make a face at him. "Friends tell each other stuff."

Sebastian chuckles softly. "It's my stepfather. Just...parenting me from Dublin, or wherever the hell he is this weekend."

"You don't like him, or something?" I ask, stuffing a fry in my mouth.

He shrugs. "It's complicated."

"I'm pretty good with complicated," I say, swallowing another bite.

Sebastian sighs. "My mom dated a lot after my dad died. Some guys she dated were cool; they'd take me to country clubs or ball games and be nice to me. Some of them were awful, though, Braylen. And when she met Victor, she'd just had a really bad one. Victor knew I automatically didn't like him. It wasn't that he was a bad person, I just...I couldn't let myself start looking at these people as a replacement for my father, you know? All I ended up being, in the end, was hurt. So I just stopped feeling."

"I'm really sorry," I murmur.

He smiles. "It's not a problem, Brayls. We're lucky to have Victor, honestly. I'm not a fan of the guy but at least he doesn't beat my mom up. He's good to her. He protects her. That's why they got married three years ago."

"But you still don't like him," I put together. He shrugs. "Do you think that you'll ever get to know your stepfather more? You know, let him in?"

Sebastian pauses for a moment before clearing his throat. "Um, I don't know. Maybe, maybe not," he murmurs. I think he's going to say more but he picks at his sandwich instead, stuffing his mouth.