affluenza (1.) | ✔️

The View

Robyn grins. "I'm happy for you, Braylen. Seriously."

"I'm happy, too," I respond, grinning back at her. And for once, the words are true.

¥

Hayley ends up driving us to the airport since Oba's in the middle of a surgery and Sebastian's parents are busy with work. We wave her off as her car disappears away from the airport, her dainty hand waving us goodbye as we go. Pretty soon, it's just Sebastian and I.

"Nervous?" he questions, lip quirking up into a half smile as he takes my duffel bag from me and wraps it around his shoulder. The action sends a million butterflies up into my stomach, but I squash them down as we walk through the airport.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I wonder aloud and his breathy chuckle fills my ear. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am. When are we going to see her, again?"

Sebastian and I walk up to check in and fill out all of our information before he responds. "Sunday morning. We have all of tomorrow to ourselves. Figured it'd be a good way to keep you calm before seeing her."

I smile, even though the prospect of having all day alone with Sebastian made me more flustered than the prospect of visiting my mom. "Hey, thank you. For this. It means a lot to me."

Sebastian's hand reaches up and he ruffles my hair. "I know. I'd do anything for you."

He says the words casually but the butterflies in my stomach still take flight.

Sebastian and I both go through luggage and security. We packed lightly, him with a small black suitcase and me with my duffel bag that he insisted on carrying. Security, too, was a nonevent as we passed through the metal detectors and found our way back to each other. His hand reconnected with mine as soon as we'd been checked and I realized how cold I'd felt while we were apart.

We'd gotten here early to avoid any mishaps (my idea), and so we had an hour or so to spare as we sat near our boarding gate, curled up in the uncomfortable seats. Sebastian's arm was wrapped around my shoulders and I was leaning against his chest and I suddenly felt whole again. "Do you think she'll recognize me?" I whisper, trying to keep my voice light.

"You think she won't?" he asks back and I can see the etch in his eyebrows as he does.

I shrug against his chest. "It's been nearly a decade. I've changed a lot, you know?"

"Not to me. You're still that annoying little kid that ruined my baseball cap that first day we met. Just slightly taller," Sebastian retorts, pinching my shoulder playfully.

I smack his hand away, laughing. "You're a douchebag."

"That's exactly what you said to me that day, too. I guess some things never change, yeah?" he asks, laughing softly.

I peel back to look at him, eyes glazing over at the sight of his looking at me. "I suppose they don't," I murmur, breathing shallowly. I barely have time to exhale before his lips capture mine, connecting with my bottom lip first with both of his. He kisses me slowly and my neck hurts from the strain, but I don't mind. My hands fall limp on his lap as he kisses me, softly but surely.

I pull away first, blushing as I look around the airport. Nobody's eyes seemed to be on us and I sighed of relief. "The people, Seb," I mutter breathily, pulling away from him and sitting upright in my own seat.

I watch as his nostrils flare and his fists tighten, regret clawing up my throat. I shouldn't have pulled away. I should've just kept kissing him. "Sorry," I mumble.