Isla, Casey and Jacob finally came into view of the rest of the group that were on the balcony. Casey saw Harry, Brand, Kyle, Evan, Gemma, Sebastian, Rocky, and Heikki all sitting in a circle of soft cube chairs.
As the three of them approached, they each took an empty seat and pulled them into the circle. Casey ended up sitting between Evan and Jacob, as usual. On Jacob's right sat Seb and Heikki, and directly opposite her was the loudest of the group; Brand.
Evan flashed her a huge grin as she took her place next to him. He leaned into her hair and whispered, "I feel like I'm going to do something stupid tonight."
She laughed and whispered back, "Stupid like what?"
"Who knows! It could literally be anything," Evan replied dramatically. He dotingly pushed a strand of her light brown hair away from her face. She was wearing it down in loose waves that hung to her ribs.
"I know you well enough to know that there's a very specific thing you have in mind."
"Did you curl your hair?" Evan exclaimed, trying to distract her. She nodded in amusement, it had been him after all who had told her to do it.
"Well, you look amazing," he said kindly before leaning forward and kissing her cheek. She tilted her head suspiciously and watched his eyes dart to the left momentarily as he pulled away from her. She instantly glared at him, figuring out his game.
"Oh, stop being an idiot!" she hissed, trying to feign anger. It was so hard to be angry with Evan.
He leaned in to her again and whispered in her ear, "Seb's definitely watching."
She grabbed his chin between her fingers and shook his jaw gently, "Evan, you have to stop this before I actually have to kill you. Seriously, this balcony is like 30 stories high. You're behaving like a teenager. He'll be looking at us because you're acting like a prat on purpose."
His face contorted into a smile between her fingers and she couldn't help laughing at his deformed grin. With a frustrated growl she released his chin and shooed him away from her ear, turning her attention to the rest of the circle.
Seb could almost hear the blood rushing around his head as he tried to ignore Evan and Casey. Why did he even care? He shouldn't care, yet he couldn't help the nagging feeling in his stomach. He refused to acknowledge that it was jealousy. He looked around at the other patrons in the club, running his eyes over each woman he spotted, but none of them were really jumping out at him. Maybe he would go for a walk around and see who else was there.
"So, what is this?" Kyle suddenly blurted out, motioning to Evan and Casey. Brand, sitting next to him, snickered and folded his arms over his chest, waiting for the explanation. Almost everyone in the circle had stopped talking to listen in, "You two a thing or something?" Kyle asked tactlessly.
Casey stifled a laugh and looked at Evan. She could sense Jacob sitting extra still on her other side.
Evan seemed to be thinking frantically as she turned back to Kyle, "No, unfortunately for me he's completely in love with someone else." she replied secretively. The whole group was now giving this conversation their full attention.
Evan dropped his head like she'd punched him in the gut before sneaking her a sideways glare that screamed "shut up". She smiled back at him smugly, feeling he rightly deserved it after everything he'd done to her that day.
He expression then became thoughtful for a moment before he sat up straight and looked at Kyle, "Actually, I'm gay."
Casey's eyes bulged in shock as he casually revealed his deepest secret to the whole group. She reached over to Evan's lap and laced her fingers with his, smiling at him proudly. Seb watched with great interest as Evan's hand squeezed Casey's.
"So you've never..." Kyle continued curiously.
Evan shook his head while Casey quietly laughed to herself. "No. She's about the third to last person in this circle that I'd be interested in doing anything like that with," Evan replied with a cocky smile.
"Except that one time..." Casey joked airily. Evan snickered, "Oh yeah, how could I forget."
Kyle looked confused.
"We're kidding, the answer is like a really strong no," Evan clarified.
"About being gay or...?"
"No, that part is definitely true."
Kyle looked surprised, though quickly held out his closed fist for Evan to nudge in return, "Well, you could have fooled me."
"Honestly Kyle, that wouldn't be hard." Evan smirked playfully.
Kyle turned to Casey then, "So what's your story? Single then?"
She felt a little nervous under the combined stares of the entire circle. She nodded slowly.
"Unless you've read Twitter this weekend," Gemma piped in with a cheeky grin.
Those who had seen the pictures all laughed, while Kyle, Heikki and Harry all looked on blankly.
"They got like 3 photos of Seb and Case in the same shot and now they're pretty much a bigger love story than Twilight," Gemma explained to the confused faces.
Kyle broke out into a laugh, "Seriously? Oh shit, you're in trouble now Case. Remind me to stay away from you in the garage from now on. It could be a love triangle at any moment."
Everyone laughed, including Seb, Casey noted in relief.
"So, no boyfriend back home that's going to get all upset about this?" Kyle pushed on.
"Like an English boy? Don't be ridiculous," Casey snorted, making a face. It was an entirely intentional dig considering the majority of the circle were English. She noticed Seb smiling along out of the corner of her eye as a mixture of laughter and protest sounded around the circle.
"But really, no..." she continued, "There's nobody. I can have as many imaginary relationships as I please."
Kyle nodded slowly, "Interesting..."
"Oh, leave her be!" Isla protested, swatting Kyle from across the circle.
"So has anyone else in this circle got something to admit?" Casey asked pointedly, staring directly at Brand. His face broke into a grin and he shook his head slowly at her for transferring the attention to him. Gemma suddenly went very quiet.
"No? Nothing?" Casey pushed innocently, eyeing up Brand who was still shaking his head and now vainly trying to hide a laugh.
"Oh okay, I just... thought I saw something in the pool that time..." she continued to taunt, referring to Gemma and Brand's pool fight team of which they had both seemed very pleased about.
Evan turned to her, "Honestly this is rich coming from you," he said with a menacing glint in his eye, "You think everyone just forgot about whose shoulders you were on?"
Everyone laughed as she yanked her hand out of his.
The group continued to chat and laugh, teasing each other with gossip. Evan's sudden confession was easily swept aside and he was grateful to Casey for being a good sport. He felt free, like he weighed nothing all of a sudden. He still hadn't looked Jacob in the eye though, that part he was putting off.
Seb watched his teammates with increased interest. Apparently there was more going on than he'd ever imagined. He couldn't help being relieved that the horrible feeling in his stomach had subsided a little.
Eventually, Casey turned to look at Jacob on her other side who was being very quiet. You could never really describe him as loud or particularly talkative, but silence was even more unusual. He gave her a weak smile as she caught his eye.
She frowned back at him, suddenly realising that her comment about Evan being in love with someone else could possibly be bothering him, assuming he didn't know it was himself that she had been referring to. She suddenly realised that it had been a terrible thing to say. It's not like she could be the one to tell Jacob. That was up to Evan. But now he wouldn't know until that day arrived, if Evan ever found enough courage.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath as Jacob looked off into the distance. She wished he could understand.
Her gaze travelled back around the circle as she looked away, catching on Seb who was laughing at some story Brand was in the middle of telling. He seemed to instantly feel her eyes on him and returned her gaze, his lips forming into a lopsided smile.
Gone were the days of awkwardly looking away. Casey couldn't help but return the gesture. After a moment, she tore her eyes away from him and returned to Jacob. She reached over and lightly touched his arm. He jolted out of thought and looked down at her hand, following it back to her face.
"Can you come with me for a minute?" she whispered, nodding her head to the railing of the balcony a short distance away from the group.
He seemed to think for a moment before nodding and standing up, letting her lead the way to the edge of the balcony. They leaned against the railing and looked over the lights below.
"Tell me what's going on in that head of yours," she said.
He grunted and shrugged, "Nothing, really."
"That's a lie."
Jacob sighed, "I don't know, Case."
She sighed, mentally kicking herself for what she'd said earlier. "Is it in any relation to a certain blonde idiot?"
Jacob's brow furrowed and he glanced at her, not really confirming whether that was a yes or a no.
"You knew he was gay right?" Casey asked.
Jacob nodded, "I was about 97 percent sure yeah."
They both stood silently for a few seconds before Jacob groaned and stood up straight.
"Well you obviously have guessed something about me too then, since you think this is to do with Evan."
She gave him a small smile and shrugged, "I know nothing for certain."
He sighed in exasperation.
"Okay, I'll spit it out since you won't. And I can't deal with your sad face, it's torture," she pointed out matter-of-factly, "I think you're upset because of something I said earlier to do with Evan, and my advice to you is to stop being so dense."
She watched his perfect features as he processed her words and gave her a sideways look. Finally, she noticed the World's Smallest Smile creeping across his lips.
"Now come back to the circle, and cheer up," she instructed with an exasperated laugh.
As they turned to walk back to the group, she instantly bumped straight into a dark grey shirted chest.
"Ah, sorry Seb," she yelped, looking up into a set of increasingly familiar blue eyes.
He steadied her, holding her upper arms lightly. "It's okay, I came to get you. Do you want a drink? I think I owe you one, or ten... for all the hassle."
She raised an eyebrow and laughed, "If that will ease your conscience, who am I to refuse?"
He flashed her a grin that caused her stomach to feel like it had dropped to the floor before releasing his hold on her arms and leading the way back indoors. Jacob smirked at her as she walked away, squinting back at him in return.
"What can I get you?" Seb asked cheerfully as they arrived at the bar.
"That thing," Casey said, tapping her finger at an illustrated picture of Jacob's earlier cocktail on a menu laying nearby.
"Mr. Vettel, what can I get you?" a petite and glamorous older woman purred as she approached them from the other side of the bar.
"Hi Velda, can I get my normal and..." he paused, reaching over Casey for the menu she had been looking over, "...that thing," he said, copying her as he pointed at the one she wanted.
Casey stifled a giggle, watching the bartender nod slightly and look between them.
As they waited for their order, Seb found himself deep in thought. He was ready to admit to himself that he wanted to find out more about the girl at his side. He envied the way she had such a solid, affectionate relationship with Evan. He was sick of feeling alone, and for whatever reason, Evan & Casey's relationship had caught his attention. He couldn't seem to let it go - his mind went back to the bus in Malaysia all the time, seeing her sleeping peacefully on Evan's shoulder. Sometimes, he'd imagine himself in Evan's place. It made him feel pathetic.
Velda, the bartender, brought him back to the present as she pushed the drinks towards him over the bar. "Would you like somewhere private to sit?" she asked him.
"Uhh..." he replied awkwardly. Casey turned to listen to their exchange curiously.
"Oh, you mean upstairs," he said suddenly, "Yes actually, why not."
Velda gave him a knowing look as she watched him turn back to Casey, "I think you will like this," he grinned.
She nodded curiously and gestured for him to lead the way.