Once I'd said goodbye to the rest of the family, Sebastian's mum ordered him to walk me to the door. My brother wasn't coming with me, he said he was sleeping over at theirs. I truly hope for everyone in the house's sake that sleeping over, just meant sleeping. It was beyond me how Sebastian's mum was so cool with it, considering how panicked she seemed at the idea of me being pregnant.
"So," Sebastian said, glancing my way as he walked. "That was an interesting evening, wasn't it?"
Stopping by the door, I turned and plucked up an eyebrow. "Interesting? Your litter sister told everyone at the table that you were winking at me, and telling me to spread my legs."
Sebastian's mouth twitched into an amused smile. "Okay, fine, maybe a little bit more than interesting."
Just as I was about to say something else, I felt movement near my feet before something jumped up on my legs. I looked down in confusion and blinked down in shock at a small jack Russell dog who was clinging on hard to my leg while humping at it.
"What the hell?" I gasped as I tried to push it off. Instead of helping, I heard Sebastian let out a loud snort before laughter filled the room.
"Otto, come on down boy, sit" Sebastian called out with a chuckle.
His dog instantly listened to him and got off me before sitting by my feet – his tail still waggling eagerly away.
I looked up at Sebastian with narrowed eyes. "Did you train him to do that, or something?"
"What? No," he laughed. "I think my dog just likes you. He doesn't do that to anyone else. Well besides, your dog, of course....did she end up pregnant, by the way?" he asked, his brow raising amusedly.
"I don't know, she's supposed to go to the vet next week," I frowned. "But if she is pregnant, I want compensation and since you're a Vetty boy, you can be the one who delivers them."
Sebastian's lips lifted higher. "Vetty boy? Well, that's new," he snickered. "Nice to know someone's been paying attention to my aspirations," he teased.
I rolled my eyes at his arrogance. "Anyway, bye, I'll guess I'll see you at school," I said as I made a move for the door.
"Wait," Sebastian said suddenly. "Hmm," I said, turning back. "When do you plan on delivering your end of our bet," he smiled.
I stared at him blankly for a handful of seconds before suddenly remembering he was once again talking about the stupid deal I made to flash him my boobs. Not mildly amused, I gave him a flat stare.
"Goodbye Sebastian," I said before abruptly turning around and swinging open the door. Sebastian just laughed as I left through the door, further driving home my anger.
"You're not getting out of this but fine, see you later, Brooks," he laughed.
-----------------
Once the coach blew the whistle, I collapsed down on the gym floor in relief. Cheer conditioning was an absolute nightmare, and I personally wanted to punch the person who invented burpees in the face. But it was fine now– the whistle meant a five-minute break.
Dragging myself off the floor, I made my way over to the bottom of the bleachers where Ava sat drinking her water. It pissed me off, how relaxed she looked after that nightmare of a workout, but that was just Ava for you. There was a reason she was cheer captain after all.
"So," Ava sang with a smile as she slid closer to me on the bench. "Any luck in breaking up Max and his girlfriend yet?"
I lifted a brow. "Are you asking that in concern for me, or because you just want to date my older brother," I asked flatly.
She flashed me a cheesy smile. "Can it not be both," she mumbled.
I rolled my eyes and took a sip of water. "Well, whatever the reason, it's not working. Any time, we attempt to break them up, it always ends with me being utterly humiliated."
Ava stifled a smile. "Like Jordan parker, and Sebastian's entire family thinking Sebastian knocked you up," she teased.
I wrinkled my nose. "Don't even remind me. It's disgusting enough to think about."
"Hey, there are worse people for everyone to assume you've had sex with. At least, it's someone hot," she piped in optimistically.
I frowned and gave her a daggered look. "What did I say about describing Sebastian like that?" I snapped.
Ava sighed. "That it's something that we don't need to mention as it would only inflate his already ginormous-sized head, I know, I know," she mumbled.
I nodded my head. "Yes and-"
I was suddenly cut off from my next few words as I noticed something over Ava's shoulder. "You've got to be kidding me...," I muttered under my breath.
Strolling at a comfortable pace deeper into the gym with a backpack slung loosely over his shoulder was none other than Sebastian Diaz himself. He scanned the gym floor, where the rest of the girls were laid out on the floor resting before finally drawing his eyes over to me.
It angered me slightly as I noticed the curious side glances, he was getting from some of my teammates who were starting to whisper about him with smiles on their faces. An amused look spread to his eyes as he saw me before he set off in our direction on the bleachers.
Ava followed my gaze and snickered as she saw who was coming. "And speaking of your baby daddy, here he is," Ava joked.
I wasted no time before slapping Ava across the arm.
"Wow, baby daddy? I didn't know you wanted me to father your children Phoebe, I'm touched," Sebastian drawled as he came to a casual stop in front of us.
Looking up, I saw to my annoyance that he had walked fast enough over to us to have overheard us.
"Yeah, of course, why do you think she peeked at you in that locker room?" Ava added in with a wink. Unhelpfully, Sebastian's lips broke out into a full grin as he laughed.
"Ava, what the fuck? Whose side are you on?" I snapped, turning to my supposed friend in absolute betrayal.
"The side of comedy," she smiled.
As Sebastian's laughter, sobered up, I turned to him with narrowed eyes. "Shouldn't you be at swim practice? Why are you here?" I asked as I scanned him with suspicion.
"I finished early and now I've got to wait for you," he explained with a simple shrug.
I plucked up an eyebrow. "Since when was waiting for me a requirement?"
Sebastian let out a heavy sigh. "Since we agreed to help break up our siblings, remember? I figured we could chat a bit once you're done. Is that okay with the princess?"
I gave him a flat look at the princess comment before reluctantly nodding my head. "Fine," I mumbled. "Just wait in the cafeteria or something, practice is only twenty more minutes," I said as I waved a flippant hand to the door.
Sebastian's lips turned up into a smile. "Who said anything about me waiting outside? I'm staying in here and watching from up there. It's not every day Phoebe Brooks gives you a private show in her booty shorts," he teased as he quickly looked me up and down. Then flashing me one last amused look, he continued up the bleacher steps before settling himself into a seat at the top.
"What a pervy little bastard," I whispered, still staring up at him in shock.
Ava snorted. "He's gutsy though, you've got to give him that."
The sharp sound of the coach's whistle flew through the air once more, and soon everyone was getting up.
"Girls, get into position, I want to go over the dance part," coach called out.
The second her words were spoken, I cringed in on myself. The dance part of our routine was the worst possible part to perform in front of the pervy-likes of Sebastian Diaz. The dance exhibited everyone's hips and legs a little bit too much for my liking.
Reluctantly I walked into my designated position next to Ava with a deep swallow. And though I knew it was a stupid idea, I lifted my head up to where I knew Sebastian was sitting. Unnervingly, his eyes were already on me, and his smile grew as he saw me. Then to further piss me off, he looked me up and down with a smug smile on his face and winked.
Oh, that little fucker...
The music soon started up, and coach counted us in. I faked a faint smile on my face, and started up the dance, focusing on hitting the beats for each of the high-energy arm isolations. The whole time I moved, I felt like I could feel Sebastian's eyes on me, following me for each and every movement.
"Girls, more energy, you've got to entertain the crowd," coach called out.
Shaking off the feeling, I jogged into the next formation and did the first tricky eight-count groove before starting to roll my body and hips to the time of the music. I usually was in my prime doing a sassy hype number but not now, not when Sebastian was intensely watching.
Sneaking another peek at him, my heart sunk through my chest as I saw he was watching me with a full-blown smile on his lips. His eyes made me feel naked, in a way that I couldn't even describe.
"Phoebe, where's your smile?" Coach called out encouragingly. I bit back the urge to tell her that my smile had gone away because of the annoying boy watching me from the top seat. None of the other girls seemed to mind if anything their energy had even improved.
Trying not to let him distract me anymore, I moved my hips sharply to the music with the other girls before bending to the floor, in a sassily seductive way with straightened legs.
It's okay, Phoebe, he's not even probably looking at you anymore. There are much hotter girls in here that must have caught his eye by now, it's fine...
As I snaked my body back up again, I made the mistake of looking back up at Sebastian. The moment I saw him, I nearly cried. He wasn't just watching me anymore, instead, he had his phone pointed in my direction with his lower lip rolled into his mouth. Sebastian Diaz was literally filming me.
"Phoebe," Ava hissed.
Widening my eyes, I realized I was supposed to be prepping for my tumbling section. Going into the corner, I ran up into a start as I got ready to throw myself into my round-off- back handspring-back tuck.
Stupidly, at the last second before I skipped into it, I thought of Sebastian watching me and that's all it took, to turn me into a nervous wreck. As I flew from my round-off into my back handspring, I lost sense of all my bearings. My foot came down at a weirder angle than I expected, and I slipped, skidding on to my back with a bang.
A sharp pain shot up and down my spine to my ribs causing me to wince and curl in on myself.
The music cut off abruptly, and through the ricocheting pain, I could only seem to focus on how much I had humiliated myself in front of Sebastian. There was no doubt about it now – he was definitely laughing at me now. I didn't even want to look at him.
"Shit, Phoebe?" Are you alright?" I heard Ava call out, her voice drawing closer.
"Girls, clear the mat, Phoebe are you conscious?" Coach called out in the distance.
Not able to resist, I looked over to where Sebastian sat through my blurred vision, but rather oddly he was no longer there. His place was completely abandoned.
With a ringing head, I tried to sit myself up but the second I got my spine straight, a large guiding hand rested itself supportively against the small of my back. Then a light masculine smell drifted under my nose. "Easy there, slower," a voice murmured sternly, near my ear.
Turning to my left, I blinked in shock to find Sebastian knelt by my side and looking down at me carefully. He wasn't smiling or laughing at all, he looked deadly serious.
"You're not...you're not laughing," I mumbled quietly.
Sebastian's eyes narrowed as though insulted. "Why the fuck would I be laughing?"
"Phoebe, honey, are you alright? What's hurt?" I heard coach call out from my other side. Turning, I found her staring down at me with concern, along with Ava.
I winced as I adjusted my torso to check. I felt Sebastian's arms move downward to wrap just below my waist. "Yeah, I think I got my ribs again," I groaned as I sat up a little straighter. "But I'll be fine, I think I can-"
"I'm taking her to the nurse," Sebastian suddenly spoke up abruptly, cutting me off.
"Come on," he said sternly, slowly rising to his feet. Grabbing onto my forearm, he coaxed me to stand while keeping a guiding hand on my hips. Not really in a position to physically protest, I let him pull me to my feet.
"Thank you for doing that," Coach said as she flashed him a smile.
Sebastian just nodded at her before grabbing my arm and lifting it up and around his shoulders. I stumbled at the action and fell clumsily into his side. Everyone's eyes were on us, making me that much more embarrassed.
I swallowed nervously. "Sebastian, you don't really have to, you know-"
"Lean on me for support, okay," Sebastian interrupted, completely ignoring me.
As he started to move to the doors, I had no other choice but to grab onto his arm as I took small little steps towards the door.
Ava quickly jogged after us with my bag slung over her shoulder. She must have gotten it from the locker room without me even realizing. . "I got this for you, do you need anything else?" she asked softly.
I shook my head with a soft smile, but before I could reach it, Sebastian had taken the bag and slung it over his free shoulder.
Sebastian led me into the corridor, with his arms still wrapped tightly around my hips. He kept sparing glances at me as we walked like he was scared something might have changed from the last time to the next. It confused the hell out of me, that he wasn't even slightly amused. Sebastian always seemed to have a stupid smile on his face, especially when I did something stupid.
I winced slightly as I breathed in a little too hard, and felt pain.
"Aren't those stupid mats supposed to be protective? Why have they got you doing stunts on mats that you can't land safely on," Sebastian snapped abruptly, his voice bitter to the sound.
I rolled my eyes. "Relax, they probably helped a little, it would have probably been worse with no mat," I argued, with a light laugh as we continued walking.
This seemed to do nothing to calm Sebastian, and his frown only deepened. "Why do you keep getting fucking injured for? You got injured twice at the end of last year, and at the beginning of this year too. You should be more careful," he grumbled.
"How do you remember all the times, I got injured perfectly...," I trailed off, sparing him an odd look from the corner of my eyes.
He pulled his eyes away from me in annoyance. "Because," he snapped, leaving his answer at that.
Soon enough, we arrived outside the door to the nurse's office and Sebastian leaned over and gave the door a knock. In no time at all, our school nurse, Mrs. Anderson, a middle-aged, blonde Irish lady appeared at the door, and scanned over Sebastian's and my figure.
Clearly sensing I was the one hurt, her eyes widened. "Oh god, Phoebe, you again? Come on in honey," she said as she propped the door open for us.
"Again?" Sebastian whispered harshly near my ear. I drowned him out as he started to rattle on in a moan about how 'only someone as reckless and accident prone as me would be on a first-name basis with the nurse.'
Sebastian helped lead me into the familiar nurse room and led me over to the small, raised nurse's bed that was covered with a thin layer of paper for hygiene.
I grunted slightly as he slowly lowered me down until I was sitting. "You good?" Sebastian murmured, his hand still resting supportively over my back.
I nodded my head slowly with a swallow, and rather oddly felt a weird faint swirling sensation rise in my stomach. Weird.
Sebastian soon backed away to the corner of the room and gently hung my bag up on the post of the bed.
Mrs. Anderson wasted no time before putting some gloves on and coming to my side. Once I told her it was my ribs again, I allowed her to gently lift my shirt a little so she could palpate and examine my ribs.
Sebastian watched carefully the whole time, without saying a word. Every few seconds, his eyes would drift to my face, then would rapidly look away again, and I wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Well," Mrs. Anderson said with a smile as she removed her hands from my side. "The good news is that they aren't broken, but when you get home, I wanted you to put lots of ice on it, and rest it. Let your friend here, wait on you, hand and feet, eh?" she teased with a wink as she nodded her head over to Sebastian.
I expected to see Sebastian roll his eyes but instead, he just nodded his head, seeming to have been listening intently.
"Thanks Mrs Anderson," I smiled as I hopped off the bed and shouldered my bag.
"No problem, Phoebe," she nodded.
The second, I'd made it halfway to the door, Sebastian was already at my side, and putting a guiding hand on my back once more.
As we exited through the door, I turned to face Sebastian and flashed him an awkward smile. "Erm...well, thanks for helping me here, but I'm good now so I'll be heading home," I nodded.
As Sebastian just blinked back at me silently, I took that as my cue to leave and turned to go.
I barely pushed off from the floor before Sebastian overtook me fast to block my way causing me to nearly bang into him in the process.
Sebastian's face pulled down into a frown. "Woah, no, who said anything about you going home alone? You're coming home with me," he stated plainly.
-----------------
Next Update: Thursday