Morning quickly had became her favourite time of the day, although she didn't want to admit that to herself. Also surely Sebastian had nothing to do with that, it was just that she liked how the watery sun was illuminating the streets. Today was her day off, so she would miss her much loved walk to work sadly. Nevertheless, there were other more important things to worry about. She was pacing back and forth in the kitchen to make it somehow look presentable. However, it mustn't look like she had put much effort into it and finding that balance was stressing her out. She kept moving the toaster and almost dropped it on the ground in the process. She had to calm down, she told herself. She leaned against the wall and put her hand on her chest, being stressed increased the pain in her ribs and it was hurting a lot. Calm down, just take a deep breath and everything will be fine. At that moment the doorbell rang.
When she opened the door she could see Sebastian standing there with his hands in his pockets. Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes met his and his mouth curved into a smile. He was looking perfect as always and he was wearing tighter jeans than normal.
'Hi, may I come in?' he grinned.
'Of course!' she said hastily. She had just been staring at him and his appearance had made her forget to ask him inside, this was not a good start already. She quickly took a step back and signed with her arms for him to come in. When he walked past her the smell of mint and petrol filled her nostrils and a shiver crept up her spine. She took a deep breath and followed him inside the living room while trying not to notice how round his butt looked in his jeans.
'I like it here,' he said when he walked around the room. He admired the woodwork and tried out the sofa and some of the chairs.
'Do you want something to drink?' she asked nervously standing in the doorway that separated the kitchen from the living room.
'Coffee?' he chuckled while making himself comfortable on the sofa.
'I shouldn't have asked,' she grinned. 'Coffee will be served in the kitchen.' She turned around and opened one of the cupboards to get the coffee.
'Can I help?' Sebastian had followed her into the kitchen and was now leaning against the wall. He looked like a model from some popular fashion magazine.
'Who makes coffee for a living?' she snorted.
'Point taken', he smirked and ran his fingers through his hair. 'I'll shut up and let you work.'
'I don't mind if you talk, just don't touch my coffee,' she said warningly, although she was still smiling. Focussing on the coffee was really hard when he stood there against the wall, she almost put in double the amount of coffee and only noticed it when she was almost done. Damn it Seb, go sit down or something.
'I finally decided which cake I wanted to make,' he spoke.
She turned her head in his direction and raised an eyebrow. 'Really? Which cake then?'
A corner of his mouth lifted and his eyes lit up. 'Sachertorte!'
'You really do have a chocolate obsession, don't you?' she chuckled. He looked as happy as a child and she spotted him licking his lips. She felt her stomach lurch at that sight and cursed him in her head, damn it Seb!
'Who doesn't?' he answered while rolling his eyes, like she had asked him if water was wet.
She smirked and leaned back against the kitchen counter. 'Me,' she answered with an amused grin.
His jaw dropped and he looked utterly shocked. 'You're lying!'
'Nope,' she answered and she poured the coffee into two large mugs which were standing on the counter, 'although I like Toblerone,' she added.
His eyes were still wide, but he had closed his mouth. 'At least that's something,' he muttered, 'but now I have to find another cake to make.'
'Don't be stupid, we'll make your cake. I just take a smaller piece to eat than you, simple,' she smiled and put down the coffee in front of him. 'We only still have to make a shopping list, so let's start.'
He pulled out his phone from his pocket and tried to find the recipe. A lot of curses in German were turning the air blue and she could make out of it that he wasn't able to find what he was looking for.
'Having trouble?' she grinned and he shot back an angry glare. 'Here, let me look,' she grabbed the phone and within seconds had found a recipe.
'How did you do that?' he sulked when she showed him the recipe. He put his head in his hands and planted his elbows on the table.
'Magic,' she answered dramatically.
'I knew it.'
'OK, so let's make the list. You tell me what the recipe says, I'll write it down,' she said. Normally she was quite good in making shopping lists and she didn't really know how skilled Sebastian was in this area. She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and started writing.
'Seven egg yolks,' he started to read. 'Can you buy those separately?' he asked sounding amused.
'Back home we can, but I doubt we'll find it here. Also if you had read the recipe it says seven egg whites as well, so you need seven whole eggs,' she explained.
He sighed and tugged on his hair. 'See, I'm already messing things up.'
She shrugged her shoulders and tried not to smile too broadly. 'I think it's funny,' she admitted.
'Yes, Schadenfreude it is then,' he grumbled. 'You know, you look all sweet and innocent, but I know that you're actually very mean!'
'Poor you, do I have to get your mummy?' she tried to sound concerned and picked up the pen again to continue the list.
'No, I want cake,' he said loudly while sipping from his coffee.
She smiled when she spotted his annoyed face. 'Just continue reading then,' she ordered him.
'Fine, 220 grams of dark chocolate,' he read from the screen. He was squinting his eyes to make out the exact amount correctly.
She groaned. 'Oh no, this recipe uses grams,' she wasn't used at all to using the metric system, because her country was too stupid to educate them properly. She had been using it a lot while baking lately, but it still was really confusing. Luckily the products in the shops were already in grams, so it was easier to get the right amount.
'Stupid British people,' he said happily.
'I can't disagree with that,' she sighed while writing down what they needed.
She felt a lot calmer than she thought she would be, it was actually quite nice to sit her with Sebastian. She felt almost as secure with him as with Abby and Tom, although it was still all a bit uncomfortable. Not knowing how he acted in certain situations made her hesitant to come too close to him and she also caught herself holding her breath when he walked in her direction for example. It was weird to feel this conflicted, because she really liked Seb and he almost felt like a friend and on the other hand she didn't want anything to do with guys anymore. With a sigh she went on with writing down the ingredients he was reading out loud.
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'You can't be serious, how are there more than ten sorts of sugar?'
They were standing in the supermarket and were currently trying to find the last items on their shopping list. Sebastian had been surprised by almost anything on the list and it was clear to her that he normally didn't do much shopping, or cooking, or at least bought different things once in a while. She expected him to just buy the same things over and over again and not care that there were more options than just one.
'How did you survive all those years when you're so completely ignorant about anything?' she mocked him and grabbed the right sugar from the shelf.
'I am not completely ignorant,' he said gloomily, 'maybe just in a few areas,' he added with a half smile.
'Well, I still have to find the area you do know something about,' she smirked. She picked up the basket and glanced over the list, there were only a few items left. Next up were the eggs so she figured she could sent Sebastian by himself, because what could go wrong with picking up eggs?
'OK, you can get the eggs, I'll find the right chocolate,' she said and pointed at the right isle.
'You trust me with this?' he folded his arms and an amused grin was visible on his face.
'I think so, don't let me down!' she answered. He turned around and walked in the direction she had pointed out. Her eyes were automatically drawn to him when he strolled away and she caught herself staring at his behind again, shit. She shook her head and was angry at herself which made her almost drop the basket. Taking time to refocus she took a deep breath and checked her list again, chocolate was what she needed right now.
Standing in front of the chocolate shelf she realised that this was the only thing which was better about the Swiss supermarkets than back home, oh and of course the cheese. At home there wasn't as much good quality chocolate as there was here and she could understand now why people were crazy about chocolate here.
'Please don't laugh.'
She turned around in surprise and saw a disgruntled Sebastian standing there with several boxes of eggs, o dear.
'I found out that there are also a trillion different eggs,' he sounded agitated and was having difficulties balancing all the boxes of eggs. The top one was moving dangerously, but he didn't notice.
'Just normal sized chicken eggs, the amount was specified on the list,' she pointed at the pile of eggs, 'these are duck eggs.' She tilted her head to read the other boxes, 'these are XL eggs and these are quail eggs. I'm now starting to question if you can actually read,' she added.
'I didn't know shopping was so hard!' he exclaimed. His put on his sad face to strengthen his statement. Keira only laughed, so it didn't work. One of the boxes started to move and before he could rebalance everything the top box slid of the pile. The next moment the whole isle was covered in eggs.
'You idiot!' she yelled while jumping back. Her pants were now soaked in egg and it was not something she had particularly wanted to experience in life. She could hear Sebastian curse in German and he tried to get the other boxes into safety by putting them on the ground. His wide eyes and guilty face were enough to make her annoyance go away and she started to see the funny side of the situation.
'I'm sorry for being an idiot,' he said in a tiny voice and he tried to wipe some eggshells of his trousers. It didn't help much, because they were now stuck to his hands.
'I feel sorry for the people who have to clean this,' she grinned while putting the right box of eggs into her basket. At least he brought the right ones with him and he broke the ones they didn't need.
He turned red and looked even more guilty. 'Oh God, that's horrible. I'll tell them that I want to clean it myself,' he said sheepishly. He scratched his forehead and there were now eggshells stuck on there.
She pointed at his head. 'You've got eggshells on your forehead.'
He tried to wipe them off, but instead put even more eggshells on his face. He kept rubbing and smeared them into his hair, it only got worse when he tried to get rid of them.
She tried not to laugh and pushed his hand away. 'Here, let me help you,' she said and used her own hand to clean his face.
The moment that she touched his face it felt like an electric shock ran through her body, she shivered and her fingertips tingled. He was so close right now, they never had been this close before and she could smell his peculiar scent again. She could feel his breath on her skin and they locked eyes, his bright blue eyes this close up possessed the power to make her weak at the knees. Also too close up were his slightly parted lips, she noticed how soft they looked and her eyes lingered on his lips for longer than she had intended. Feeling a flush creeping up on her face she quickly swept off the last bits of eggshell and stepped back. Their eyes were still locked and a funny expression was visible on Sebastian's face. She averted her eyes and she was awkwardly bouncing on the balls of her feet.
He spotted her pink cheeks and the way she was dodging his eyes told him she felt somewhat uncomfortable. She had just helped him clean his face and her being so close to him had made his heart race. He wasn't used to that feeling and he was slightly taken aback by it. Her long hair had tickled the skin on his arms and her round green eyes had been focused on his forehead. Her touch had been very soft and he could still feel his skin burn were she had touched him. It confused him because he had wanted the moment to last longer, but on the other hand it felt strange to be so close to her.
'OK, let's inform someone about the mess we've made,' he smiled at her to try and break the uncomfortable silence.
'The mess you've made, you mean,' she shot back at him. Her cheeks had returned to their normal colour and she straightened her back when she picked up the basket.
'Doesn't matter, it's still a mess,' he grinned.
'If you do that in my house, you can clean it yourself. Just so you know,' she said and she ran her fingers through her hair, a sly smile included.
'OK, fair enough. I'll try to keep it clean though, I don't really like cleaning,' he said while putting back the other boxes of eggs on the shelves.
'I figured,' she sniggered.
'You think you're so clever, don't you?'
'It's just a fact, you don't have to think about it,' she laughed.
'How are you so sure?'
'How are you so sure?' she retorted the question.
It was a nice change to have someone go against him. Everybody always saw him as someone they should treat like a fragile piece of glasswork and it was annoying him massively. He liked to joke around, but people never really joked back sadly. They were too afraid to upset him and it made for a very lonely existence. The people close to him were fine of course, but it was a nice change to have someone else speak his mind about him. It made him feel more normal and everything that could make him feel that way was a welcome change. He never really understood fame, how could someone be so interested in someone they didn't even know? It was part of the job, he knew that, but if he could change that bit he would do it in a heartbeat.