"I CAN'T BELIEVE Dean Windsor is actually making you two do this," Hayley moans, wrapping me up in a hug. "Mondays are when we hang out."
I give her an impish grin as I hug her back. "Just one week, Hayley. And then we can go back to you force-feeding me reality TV shows until I want to puke."
"You love them," Hayley argues, pulling back from the hug a bit to see my face.
I shrug. "Well..."
Hayley laughs before pressing her lips to mine. I kiss her back easily, wrapping my hands around her waist and bringing her body closer to mine. She smiles in the kiss and tugs at my ratty sweater, nails digging into my back. Hayley doesn't hold back as she kisses me, fighting to take control of the kiss. I overpower her quickly, sliding my tongue into her mouth and trying very hard not to think how all of this felt like a lie.
I think of what Robyn said last week and sigh against her mouth. I needed to be honest with her about how I felt about Sebastian.
I begin to pull away from her to do just that when the sound of three car honks causes me to practically jump out of my skin.
Sebastian is there in his BMW, one arm hanging out the window and the other holding the steering wheel lazily. His face had almost completely healed up, save for a few yellowing bruises and he'd even been at school today. He was dressed similarly to me in casual clothes including a swim team hoodie and a black beanie that only left out tendrils of curls.
He's looking at me with an unrecognizable expression and it sends chills down my spine. I realize that tonight would be the start of a week filled to the brim of Sebastian Grey and nothing but Sebastian Grey, and my heart thumps rapidly in my chest.
"Today, Braylen," he calls out, voice emotionless. "Hi, Hayley," he adds on after a brief pause, though his voice has a little more inflection this time.
Hayley grins widely. "Hey, Ash. Take care of my boy here, will you?"
"Yeah. Of course," Sebastian says with a small smile.
I may have only imagined the sadness in his eyes at the words.
I lean down and give Hayley a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later?"
"Have fun," she responds with a nod.
I make a face at her before grabbing my backpack and walking over to Sebastian's car. I climb into the front seat and smile hesitantly at him. "Hi," I mumble. "Ready for torture?"
Sebastian pretends to groan in agony and I laugh as he pulls away from my house. The radio plays softly as he drives, an old song that I can remember my mom playing some nights when she wasactually home for once. I shut my eyes and let the music warm up my bones. When I open them, Sebastian is looking over at me. I blush immediately as he glances back at the road. "What?"
"Nothing," he responds nonchalantly, tapping his fingers on the wheel. "You and Hayley seem to be doing good."
I shrug. "It's going okay, I guess. She's a nice girl."
"'A nice girl?'" Sebastian echoes. He looks over at me again with the faintest blush along his cheeks. "She's what you want?"
I purse my lips and look out at the dark sky of Malibu, the purple and pink and red hue of nightlife surrounding us. "I don't know. I don't know if anyone ever knows exactly what they want."
"I guess. Maybe it'd be easier to ask what you don't want."
I look over at him, his chiseled jaw and relaxed expression. "I don't want to just date her for fun. I don't want to lie to her about how I'm feeling. I don't want to move too quickly with her when I'm not even sure if she's who I want to be with."
Sebastian raises an eyebrow. "Who else would you want to be with?"
The blush on my cheeks shouldn't even surprise me at that point. I drum my fingers along my thigh, trying to pivot away from this suddenly vulnerable topic. "Nobody. I don't know what I meant, exactly."
The conversation is sort of cut short after that. We continue driving silently down to the school and Sebastian parks in his usual spot in the lot. "Windsor said the back doors would be left unlocked for us to get through. And that the school is absolutely wired with cameras, so we shouldn't even bother trying to get out of this," Sebastian recounts.
I sigh. "Well, isn't that just dandy?"
We both get out of the car and walk to the back doors, slipping through them solemnly. "What's our first assignment?" I ask Sebastian as he reads the clipboard of tasks Windsor left for us.
Sebastian chuckles humorlessly. "Check it out."
He hands me the clipboard and I read over it quickly.
Dust all the tables in the library.
Water the plants in the library.
Mop the floors of the library.
Rearrange books alphabetically based on genre and year.
Janitor Irwin will be checking your work in the morning, 7 a.m. sharp. No horseplay, gentlemen. Happy cleaning.
"These aren't tasks, they're punishments!" I exclaim. "Why can he just do this?
"Because he's Dean Windsor. The almighty." Sebastian takes the clipboard and places it back on the wooden desk, sighing deeply. "Well. Better get started, eh?"
I shoot Sebastian a small smile and we trek through the eerily silent school, the only sounds being our footsteps walking at the same pace and same time. When we reach the library, Sebastian pulls open the door for us. We both instantly groan.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he yells.
Books are strewn around the tables, chairs, and leather couches. Sweaters and blazers and ties are also scattered around the room. "Is the library really this dirty every night?"
Sebastian huffs a breath, crossing his arms across his chest. "I have a newfound appreciation for dear old Irwin."
I step deeper into the room, picking up a moldy PB&J and gag.
"Like I said...torture."
¥
"Okay, would you rather lick a dirty trash can or...the bathroom floor?" I ask as I stack up books starting with H from 1986 in the genre of Historical Figures.
Sebastian makes a face. He was watering the plants, though I think drowning them would be a better word to describe what he was doing. "Brayls, what?"
"Which one would you rather do?"
"I don't understand why you're asking me that. Are you saying you're going to make me lick a dirty trash can or a bathroom floor?"
"No, but it's just like if you had to choose from those two options—"
"Who exactly is presenting me with those options?"
"I don't know, Sebastian, the freaking universe?"
"In what universe would I be given those two options?"
"In this one, Seb! In this universe!"
"But that'd never actually happen, would it? I'm not sure I understand this game, Braylen."
I heave a sigh, tossing the book I was holding at him. He narrowly dodges it, flipping me the bird as he does. "I need a break."
I sprawl out across the table, resting my head on top of a short stack of Romance novels. I shut my eyes and try to fight back the sheer exhaustion threatening to take over my body. It was past midnight at this point and we were nowhere near done. It seemed neither of us was all that stellar at janitorial services.
The sound of movement and the feeling of warmth next to me causes my eyes to flutter open. Sebastian is laying on the table next to me, head propped up underneath his hands. "Bathroom floor. Hopefully, if the stuff on the ground is toxic enough it'll kill me before I can even taste it."
When I don't respond, Sebastian nudges me. "What about you?"
My heart pounds at his proximity and I send up a silent prayer that he can't hear it. "Um, same."
I turn to look at Sebastian. He grins back at me before turning his head away. "Braylen?"
"Yeah?"
"I never really thanked you. For stopping me from going after those guys with that knife," he murmurs. When I look at him again, his eyes are misty. "I was just so tired of feeling small all the time, you know? I wanted to fight back. I wanted to...I wanted to hurt them, Brayls."
I touch his hand once. "It's okay."
Sebastian shakes his head. "It's not. You were right. I don't know what came over me that night, you know? It's not like I've never fought someone before but that was next level and I'm not that guy. I like that you don't think I am, either."
"You're a lot of things, Sebastian Grey, but psycho knife murderer isn't one of them."
We both laugh together and I find myself loving the way his voice sounded with mine. "When you slept over after Devin's party, you said that you mostly call me Sebastian to annoy me," Sebastian starts.
I blush, knowing where this is going. "Good memory."
Sebastian looks over at me. "What's the other reason?"
I shut my eyes tightly, trying to figure out how to word it. "I don't know. I just...Sebastian is who you are, you know? It's always been how I've seen you. Does that make sense?"
"Kind of. Actually, I'm a little confused."
I sigh, opening my eyes and looking at him. "I think that 'Ash' is who you think you have to be. The perfect party boy, Malibu royalty you. 'Sebastian' is you beyond all of that. The smart, funny, annoyingly good at pranks you. It's the one that cleaned up my vomit and loaned me a bed when I needed it. The you that helped stop my panic attack. The you that's alarmingly creative, the you that is a great friend to Hunter and Devin. It's the you that I know. The you that I care about."
I blush, thinking I've said too much and given myself away. Sebastian's face is unreadable but content. "I've got an idea," he murmurs, sitting up quickly.
"Should I be concerned?"
Sebastian stands up quickly and grabs my hand, pulling me off of the table and out of the library. My arm aches as he tugs me along but I'm too afraid to tell him; if I do, he might release his hold on my hand and I certainly didn't want that.
Sebastian turns around as we walk, still holding onto my hand. "We've played pranks on each other for eight years now. Endless ideas, endless laughs, endless jokes. But you know what we've never done?"
"No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me."
"We've never combined our evil masterminds to pull the absolute prank. But not on each other; on Windsor."
I purse my lips. "Seb, this sounds like the recipe for another month of clean up duties. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm exhausted after just one day. My bags have bags."
Sebastian waves his hand as we make it to the dean's office. "You look fine, Braylen. Look, this is most likely our last year together before you go to, like, Harvard or something and I'm stuck at rich people parties for the rest of my life. We have to go big or go--"
"Home? Yeah, I'm genuinely considering it right now."
"Come on. For me?" he asks, giving me the cutest puppy dog eyes that could cause even my cold heart to melt.
I blow a raspberry with my lips and Sebastian smirks knowing he's won.
"You're lucky I like you, Sebastian."
He shoots me a wink and a wide grin that sends shivers down my spine and butterflies in my stomach.
"Oh, I know. I'm counting on it."
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sorry i missed last weeks update, your girl went to prom haha !
hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you soon! be kind <3