Requested by: YourExra
《Sam's Pov》
It's late at night on a Friday - Seb, Abi, and I are currently at the Saloon like usual; Abi is just seated on the sofa in the corner, Seb is beating me at every game, and I... well, I just can't stop thinking about my friend. Seb and I have been close for a long time - as soon as I met this Valley, and recently, I've felt more serious about him - not just as close friends, but more so in a love-type way. I don't really understand what I am truly feeling, my head is convincing me it's just because we are close, but my heart says otherwise.
"Hey, Sam. You gonna take your shot or what?" Seb says, smirking, "Or have you admitted defeat?" I realize I haven't been paying attention and quickly stiffen up.
"Hell no, I'm winning this game!" I retort back.
After a few more hours at the Saloon, we decide to part ways and go home for the night. I leave Seb and Abi and start to slowly walk back to my house - still thinking about my friend.
"I'm so stupid."
《Sebastian's Pov》
As I left the Saloon, I walked up to my house and took a right which led me to the small pond beside my house - I take out a cigarette from its package and lit it up. As I'm smoking, I started thinking about Sam. He wasn't his usual self today - or really, this whole week.
I sigh.
Sam and I are meant to be hanging out tomorrow outside his house so maybe I could take that opportunity to ask him what's up.
【The Following Day】
《Sam's Pov》
I am currently with Seb outside my house. We are doing the usual - chatting, playing video games, yknow. I still wasn't feeling completely fine and got butterflies in my stomach every time he started speaking to me. It felt... wrong?
"So..." Seb spoke up, I slightly flinch as his tone was more serious, "What's been up with you?"
"What?" I question him, knowing what he was getting at.
"You know what I mean. You haven't been yourself, man." Seb sighs, turning to me.
My heart begins to race in my chest. I have two options here:
1. I lie and say everything is fine (even though it's not), and he probably won't take that answer.
2. I tell him the truth which could leave me heartbroken, or worse - I'd lose my best friend. But maybe, I would be free from these feelings instead of hiding them away. And - who knows? Maybe he has the same feelings for me too.
After debating with the two options, weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to respond.
"Uh - well." I choke on my words, 'great start, Sam!' I mentally punch myself, "Seb, you know how we have been friends for a really long time?"
"Yeah, you're probably the only person I enjoy talking to - even if you are annoying at times. Scratch that, all the time." Seb replies.
"Well, lately I..." I tried gaining the confidence I recently had built up inside me, "Seb. I like you. More than... a friend."
Seb glances at me with widened eyes, slightly shuffling his feet backward awkwardly. There's a moment of silence - the atmosphere was very tense. I begged for him just to say something, I was practically praying to the heavens above.
"Sam... I," Sebastian finally speaks up, but pauses for a second, "I'm sorry Sam. I don't 'like' you in that way."
I felt my heart shatter - almost crumbling to the floor.
"Oh." That was the only word that came out at the minute. "Well uh- just... pretend I didn't say anything!"
"..." Seb pauses, looking away, "Yeah... aha," He coughs, "I mean - we can still be friends."
My heart was practically killing itself at this moment in time. I just wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.
"Yeah, sure." I reply.
And with that, Sebastian says goodbye and leaves for his house - I walked back to my house in shame. As I was making my way to my room, my mother stops me,
"Hey, sweetie!" She greets me, "What's wrong? You don't look like your usual self."
"I'm fine." I reply, not wanting to talk any longer - and with that, I shut my door and flopped onto my bed in defeat.
《Sebastian's Pov》
After Sam's confession, I felt... weird. Making my way back to my house felt like walking through hell. I went by the pond and sat down on the grass, under a tree. Thoughts raced through my mind. 'I'm not gay.' 'Maybe I am gay?' 'No, I don't like him like that, we are just friends.' 'Were we even friends anymore?'
All these thoughts were clouding my mind - I had nobody to talk to about this... maybe it was better that way. I mean, I couldn't be gay for Sam... Me and Abi had a thing going on at one point, sure it never went anywhere... but still.
"Hey, kiddo!" A voice startles me as I look up and see Linus. "You doing alright there?"
I pause, not wanting to talk to anyone at the moment. After a while of just sitting there, ignoring him like an asshole, I decided to speak up,
"How do you do it?"
Linus looks at me, questioningly, "What do you mean?"
"How, even though your life aint... that great, how do you keep going like everything is alright? Why are you so friendly to people even if they are being assholes?" I spit out.
"Oh..." He pauses, "Why... what's happened?"
"Nothing, it aint important." I shoo him off, "Just, forget it."
Linus stands there. I was waiting for him to leave but he didn't. I looked back up at him and saw he was in serious thought,
"You know, kid. You only live once - so you gotta make the most of it. Sure, life may be shitty sometimes but you're the only person in YOUR life who can make it... 'less' shitty. I think the best thing is to stop overthinking everything in life and do what makes you happy - and who knows, maybe if you can be happy, you can make others happy in the process."
I was kinda shocked to hear that. Hell, I was shocked to hear Linus swear honestly. But, something in me knew he was right.
And with that, I went home to rethink everything that had just happened.
【A Few Days Later】
《Sam's Pov》
I had been locked in my room since the day of my confession. I knew my mother was getting worried - even Vincent was constantly asking me what was wrong. I felt... pathetic? It wasn't Seb's fault he didn't have feelings for me.
"Hun?" I heard my mother, Jodi, call for me, "Is it alright if I come in?"
"Yeah." I reply in a melancholic tone.
Jodi enters and I can see Vincent peering around the door. She comes over and sits on my bed, looking at me sadly.
"Oh, Sammy." She says, "please, just tell me what's wrong."
I can hear the desperation in her voice. I mean - she was my mother, of course, she would want to know why I was being like this.
"Well... I told Seb I had feelings for him and..." I paused, looking down at my bedsheets, "...And he rejected me."
I would be lying to say it didn't take all my energy to tell her what had happened.
My mother looked at me as though she was pitying me, "Oh, darling." She takes my hand, "Love is a complicated thing, you may like someone but they may not return the same feelings... and that is the loneliest feeling I've ever experienced." She pauses and takes her hand away, "When I was younger, I had this massive crush on this guy called James. He was so perfect in my eyes and we became friends." She sighs, "But when it came to telling him how I felt, he just laughed and said he didn't love me. The next day, we stopped hanging out and I saw him with another girl. I felt so alone on that day - and the days after and after... but then, I met your father."
"But mom... I really do love him and I don't want anyone else." I say, pathetically.
"I know. I felt the same way about James. But everybody has somebody they can cherish their life with. I'm sure you will find your somebody soon." She gives me a slight smile.
Vincent enters the room and walks over to us. He sits beside me and hugs me tightly as I hugged back. I felt a little better after telling my mom - but I still felt broken.
【A Day Later】
《Sam's Pov》
It was the flower dance today and I felt dreadful. I rose from my bed and opened my curtains - only to get blinded by the light shining through. I yawned and got ready; showering, eating breakfast (as much as I could), brushing my teeth, getting dressed into the stupid outfit, and finally, the most important thing, styling my hair.
After I was ready, I made my way toward the festival with my mom and little brother. A lot of people were already there - including Sebastian. I walked over to our usual spot awkwardly as Seb sighed loudly - I wanted to jump off the cliff.
"I'm not doing it." Seb groans.
"Doing what?" I ask, slightly worried he would tell me to fuck off.
"The stupid dance. It's so embarrassing." He groans again.
"Yeah, I hate the dance too, but we gotta do it every year." I slightly laugh.
"Do we?" He asks and stares at me, I find myself slightly blushing.
"What do you mean?" I question.
"Let's just... hide?" He says and starts walking over to the little forest on our left, I quickly follow after him.
"Won't we get in trouble? I mean, Lewis is gonna be pissed since it's traditional and all." I state.
"Since when do you care if we get in trouble?" He asks.
"Huh, yeah. You're right."
Seb and I take a seat on the grass behind a few trees where we were out of sight from the festival. There was an awkward silence brought upon us as I just stared at a butterfly that was perched ontop of a flower.
"Sam," Sebastian breaks the silence.
"Yeah?" I ask, slightly hesitantly.
"About what you said on Saturday..." He awkwardly speaks up.
"Oh, don't worry. It's fine, I was just being stupid!" I laugh, awkwardly and put my hands up to my face, denying our need to talk about this topic further, "We are still friends anyways, nothing really changed, right?"
"Uh, well yeah, I guess you're right." Sebastian sighs.
Seb and I started talking about random nonsense, it felt nice knowing I hadn't lost a friend over what had happened. We started talking about; how the wizard is obviously Abigail's real father, how Demetrius is an asshole, and how Marnie and Lewis are totally together...
Just like how we did before.
"Hey, do you reckon the dance is over yet?" Seb asks and stands up, he starts walking towards the festival and takes a peak around the tree.
"Is it?" I ask.
"Seems like it. The majority of people are still here though. Wanna jump out and get lectured by Lewis? Or wanna keep hiding?" He turns to me and asks.
"Well... I kinda wanna try the jello...." I state, truthfully.
Seb and I laugh and decide to come out from hiding. We make our way over to the table and start scranning all the food.
"Where the hell were you? I had to do the dance with Penny - I thought maybe I could get out of doing it but no." Abi comes over, "You two are totally dead by the way, Lewis was so pissed that you 'ruined' the flower dance." She laughs and picks up a cupcake, eating half and then throwing it at us.
It then turned into a full-on food fight between the three of us.
"Stop that!" Lewis rushes over, angrily, "What on earth do you think you are doing? Look at the state of you!"
"Whoops!" Sebastian says, sarcastically.
"Oh, and you two!" Lewis pipes up, pointing at Seb and I, "You two are in so much trouble, you hear me? You ruined this year's flower dance!"
"Boo hoo," Sebastian replies, yet again, sarcastically.
Abi and I laugh as Lewis angrily storms off, calling out that the festival was over. I saw my mother slightly laughing in my direction as she walks off with Vincent and Caroline.
《Sebastian's Pov》
After the festival was over, Abi, Sam, and I walked away a mess - food covering our outfits.
"Ugh, finally it's over!" Abigail sighs, "Ew, my hair is a mess! I'm gonna head home and shower, I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Sam and I wave off Abigail and now it's just the two of us.
"So..." Sam speaks up, "I guess I'll be heading home too."
"Wait," I say before Sam could walk off, "I wanna talk with you."
"What about?" Sam questions.
"Well, I was gonna do it when we were in the forest but... I didn't and so now I'm going to."
"Oh, well... ok?" Sam laughs, "Yeah?"
"Look, Sam. I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry I rejected you. I'm sorry I haven't talked to you since Saturday, I should've been there for you." I say, completely letting it all come out.
"Nah, man. It's alright. It's fine, really!" Sam says, trying to lighten the mood.
"No, you aren't hearing me out," I say. Sam stays quiet, "I've had time to think recently... about your confession. You know, I haven't had feelings for anyone really and it's a lot to take in. But I wanna say, I think I do love you, but I don't know how to love somebody."
Sam stays quiet for a moment before speaking up, "It's alright, man. Give yourself time to think. I've learned that love is quite a complicated thing and-"
I cut him off, "No, I've given myself time to think. And I think I've made up my mind - no, I have made up my mind."
And with that, I breathe in - trying to steady myself, "I love you."
Sam looks taken aback and we stand there in silence for a while.
《Sam's Pov》
I stand there in shock and disbelief. Was he lying? Was he just tryna make me feel better? My mind was clouded with a million and one different thoughts. But suddenly, they all went away.
Sebastian walked up to me and hugged me, tight.
He... hugged me? Sebastian. Sebastian hugged me? Sebastian - the guy who hates affection and physical contact... just hugged me.
And I hugged him back.
We pulled away and I smiled brightly at him, blushing a dark red. I could see Sebastian holding back a slight smile that tugged at his lips.
"Well, I gotta get home." Sebastian blushes, which I laugh at.
"Yeah, ok." I smile, "Wanna hang out on the train tracks tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sure!" He smiles. He actually smiled.
I walk up to him and kiss his cheek as I walked by, "See ya tomorrow then!" And then I began walking back to my house with a big smile plastered onto my face. I turned around and saw Sebastian standing there, bright red.
Maybe love isn't as complicated as I once thought.