by Maine, Miley
“If we’re going to the same mall from before, then won’t that shop clerk be there? You told her we were dating.”
“Serenity, it’s highly unlikely that the same woman will be working there as when we went before. And just to be safe, I promise that I’ll steer us toward some other stores instead.”
She sighed, sitting down on one of the stools in front of the counter. “I guess. I just don’t like keeping secrets from my brother.”
I reached out to cup her cheek with my hand, forcing her look up at me. I smiled at her. “That’s okay. I don’t plan on keeping things a secret for long.”
“Okay, you promise?”
“I promise.”
I withdrew my hand from her cheek just as Sebastian came downstairs, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans with a freshly-shaven face.
“I hope I didn’t take too long,” he said with a smile. “You know how these things are. Flying always makes me feel gross.”
“Hey, didn’t I buy you a first-class ticket?”
He shrugged. “You may have, but that doesn’t take away the grossness of the airport. I swear, every time it’s an ordeal. Now I can understand the appeal of having a private jet.”
I laughed, then held up the pot of fresh coffee. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please.” Sebastian slid onto one of the stools next to Serenity, putting his arm around her shoulders. “You still not drinking coffee?”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe in caffeine.”
“Ah, well, that’s easy for you to say. You’re not running a business,” Sebastian said, accepting the mug I offered to him and taking a long sip.
“That’s true.” Serenity sighed, reaching for the bowl of fruit on the counter to grab herself an orange. “I don’t know if I’ll ever give into coffee, though.” She shuddered. “That stuff is vile; I don’t know how you can drink it.”
“It’s called an acquired taste.”
“Acquired taste is just another way of saying disgusting.”
Both of us let out a laugh at this, and I ruffled her hair. “Sure, sure, whatever you want to think. One day, when you’re tired enough, you’ll change your mind”
The three of us headed out soon after, piling back into my car and driving to the mall. We parked and I helped Serenity out of the back seat. I pushed down the urge to continue holding her hand, though; I wanted to feel her soft skin against mine. Instead, I settled for giving her a reassuring squeeze before letting go.
“Well, you’re the one who wanted to come here,” I said, turning to Sebastian. “Where to first?”
He stroked his chin, looking around the outdoor mall. “To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no clue.”
Serenity laughed. “You should at least have some idea—it was you who wanted to come here.”
“See, I thought inspiration would strike me, but it appears that it hasn’t yet.”
“Alright, well, what have you gotten for her already?” Serenity asked, smiling up at her older brother.
“Let’s see: I got her some cute soaps, a new sweater, some books she said she wanted, and a few nicely scented candles.”
“That sounds like quite a bit already,” I chimed in.
“Maybe, but they all seem like small things, and besides, I like buying her gifts.” Sebastian looked down at his hands with a sheepish smile. He always got like this when he talked about his girlfriend, I could tell that he really liked her a lot, and I had faith that this relationship was going to last.
He didn’t necessarily have the best of luck with relationships. He went through quite a few girlfriends when the two of us were in college, none of them good for him. A couple cheated, some turned out to have a side he hadn’t been expecting, and some just...didn’t work out. Sebastian always saw the best in people, but that wasn’t necessarily the best trait to have when people liked to take advantage of you.
He deserved happiness and I was glad he had found it. I just hoped that he would be able to see that it was something Serenity and I deserved, too.
“Why don’t we just walk around, then,” Serenity suggested. “Maybe you’ll see something that catches your eye. And if not, we can always brainstorm more later.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
The three of us started off on our walk through the mall. Every so often Serenity would point out something, but Sebastian would shake his head. The two of us herded him away from the boutique we had gone to before, but that didn’t seem to be necessary. He wasn’t interested in it, as it was too expensive and he had already gotten his girlfriend a sweater.
“If I was going to buy her something that expensive,” he said, “I would want to make sure that it fit her first and that she liked it.”
Serenity and I exchanged a glance. Like me, she was no doubt remembering the morning that we had spent there, and all of the clothes that she had looked so beautiful in. I hoped to do that with her again soon; I liked buying her things, especially when she looked so wonderful in them.
Then something caught Sebastian’s eye.
“Hey, we should go in there,” he said, pointing to a cute little lingerie boutique. Looking at the display windows, I couldn’t help but imagine Serenity in some of those sets and I had to push down my desire. When I looked over at her, I saw that she was flustered, her face red.
But Sebastian charged straight ahead, and Serenity and I had no choice but to follow him. As we entered, the little bell above the door rang and the woman behind the shop counter turned to look at us.
“Welcome,” she said. “Let me know if I can help you find anything.” Then she took a second look at our group. “Oh! You were in here the other day; welcome back,” she said to Serenity with a wink. “I hope you and your lover enjoyed the sets you bought.” Then she turned to the two of us. “And who are these two fine gentleman?”
Sebastian’s face was completely red, and his expression was somewhere between embarrassed and confused. “I’m her brother,” he said very matter-of-factly, then he turned to Serenity. “What’s this woman talking about? I thought you were single?”
Oh, dear. Serenity must have bought some pieces in here the other day. Though the thought of her selecting some things to wear for me made me feel excited, I also knew that the situation had to be diffused.
“It must just be a misunderstanding,” I said, making the clerk look at me strangely. “We’re here to help him find a gift for his girlfriend, do you have any suggestions?” I gestured towards Sebastian, hoping that that would be enough to take the attention off of Serenity.
The clerk clapped her hands together, clearly glad to have something to do besides stand there. “Of course, why don’t you follow me this way?”
With a backwards glance over his shoulder at the two of us, Sebastian followed the shop clerk to look at some pieces for his girlfriend.
“That was a close one,” Serenity said with a sigh. “I would have stopped him, but he was going so fast and that would have probably seemed suspicious.”
“Agreed, you handled the situation fine,” I said. “Like I said, I promise that I’ll talk to him soon, before things get too messy.”
“That would be good. Do you think you can do it tonight?”
“I was going to aim for tomorrow. I figure tonight is too soon after his arrival. But I’ll get this fixed soon, I promise.”
After Sebastian selected a beautiful dressing gown and had it gift-wrapped, the three of us went to dinner at one of the nearby restaurants before heading back to my house.
I had made up my mind; tomorrow I would find some way to break things to Sebastian. In the meantime, I just had to hope that nothing blew up prematurely.
17
Serenity
I knew that the cat was out of the bag now. There was no way that Grayson was going to be surprised now that I had bought lingerie, and after being unable to touch him all day, I was craving him.
So, after I was sure that Sebastian was in his room preparing t
o go to bed and wouldn’t be coming out for the rest of the night, I grabbed the bag of lingerie and snuck over to Grayson’s room.
“Come in,” he said when I knocked, and I did, closing the door behind me. “What is it?” he asked, looking me up and down.
He was currently sitting on his bed, leaned back against the headboard, a book in his hands. He looked so handsome like this, reading and examining me from afar.
“Well, the surprise has already been spoiled,” I said, presenting the bag.
“Is that from the boutique?” he asked.
I nodded, smiling. “I did buy some sets. I was planning on showing them off for you as an early Christmas gift, but now that you know I figured there was no point in waiting any longer.”
Grayson set aside his book and stood, coming over to stand before me. “Serenity, you know that’s not a good idea right now.”
“But Sebastian’s in bed by now, and you know that he tends to go to sleep early,” I said, desperately trying to convince Grayson. “Besides, don’t you want to know what I got?” I began to open the bag but Grayson put a hand on mine, stopping me.
“There will be time for that later,” he said. “I promise.”
“But I want you now!”
“Don’t be so childish, Serenity.”
I flinched at the words; they stung deep. Of course he still saw me as a child, unable to understand what the consequences of my actions might be.
“You don’t get to call me childish; you haven’t even talked to Sebastian yet.”
“Because I told you I was planning on doing that tomorrow, you know that. Now come on, you should go back to your room before something happens that we’ll both regret.”
“Oh, is that how it is? Do you regret being with me?” I could feel the tears starting to form, even though I knew they were unfounded. It was just difficult to feel stable about things when I was being kept a secret from those closest to me by him.
“No, Serenity, you know you’re taking things out of proportion.” He took the bag from me, setting it down, and swept the tears away from my face with his thumb. I leaned into his hand as he rested it on my cheek. “I do want to be with you, and I don’t regret even a minute of it. I just want to make sure that I don’t mess anything up.”
“I know.”
“Your brother is important to me, and I know that he loves you very much. I don’t want to go about things in a way that will make him feel as though I’ve broken his trust.”
“I know.”
“Then you understand why I want to do things this way. I promise that we won’t have to hide it for much longer.”
“Okay.”
He leaned down, pressing his lips against mine, brushing away my worries as he rested his forehead on mine. His hands travelled down my back, pulling me close to him by the waist, and I sighed into his mouth. “You really are a dream.”
He laughed. “Is that so? I hope I’m a better dream than the ones you seem to be having.”
“Oh, you most definitely are. The best dream. The best dream I’ve ever had,” I said.
“Good.” He pulled me closer to him, hands gripping me tight, mouth claiming me as his. It was perfect, the perfect kiss, and I wished that it could have gone forever.
But some things are just not meant to be.
Perhaps I had left the door open, or maybe Sebastian hadn’t thought he needed to knock. Maybe he had overheard us and wanted to check on what was going on without alerting us to his presence.
Either way, the door had opened without either of us noticing, and Sebastian was standing in the doorway.
He cleared his throat, causing us both to jump apart and turn to him in surprise. There was anger in his eyes, the kind of anger that I’d never seen in him before. The kind of anger he reserved for only the worst betrayals.
“How long have you been standing there?” Grayson asked, seeming to have a difficult time finding the words to speak.
“Long enough to know all that I need to know,” Sebastian responded. His words were sharp and clipped. I could see that they wounded Grayson, and I wished I could take back everything that just happened, if only so that his face would never have that expression again.
“Sebastian, it’s not what it looks like.”
“Oh, really? Then why don’t you tell me what it’s like, Grayson.” Sebastian spat out his name like it was poison, bitter on his tongue. “Because from where I’m standing, it looked like you were kissing my little sister! Now, tell me how I managed to misinterpret that one.”
“Sebastian, I know you’re mad,” Grayson said, “but at least give me a chance to explain. I was going to talk to you about it tomorrow.”
“I thought I explicitly told you not to do anything with her,” Sebastian snarled.
“Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here!” I chipped in.
Sebastian whirled on me. “Serenity, this has nothing to do with you!”
I put my hands on my hips. “It has everything to do with me! I like Grayson a lot, okay? And we had agreed that he was going to talk to you about things tomorrow.”
“Can’t you see he’s taken advantage of you?”
“He hasn’t!”
“Maybe from your perspective. But we all know you’ve had a crush on him for the longest time. And I asked him not to do anything with you because I knew you would just get your heart broken again! Think about it, things just aren’t meant to work between the two of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re at two different places in your lives right now. And you know how much you need attention and reassurance. But he has a company to run. He doesn’t have time to be all the things you know you need.” Sebastian gestured at Grayson. “Can’t you see that I’m just trying to look out for you?”
“You don’t know what’s best for me, though. Who are you to say that this can’t work, or that the two of us can’t be happy together?” I didn’t get it, why couldn’t Sebastian understand that?
“Even if things could work out, even if the two of you were happy together, that still doesn’t change the fact that Grayson went about this the wrong way.” Sebastian turned to Grayson then. “You should have told me you were having feelings for her so I didn’t have to stumble upon things this way. The way things are, you betrayed my trust. That’s the biggest reason why I can’t approve.”
“Grayson, I was going to tell you—”
“But you didn’t! And I’m willing to bet that your original intentions weren’t wholesome either, especially for bringing her here. You lied to me! How could you do that?”
“Sebastian, I never wanted to hurt you. Really, I didn’t.”
“Then you should have thought harder about your actions.” Sebastian turned to me, an expectant look on his face. “Come on, Serenity, we’re going home.” He reached out to catch my hand, but I stepped back from him.
“We? I never said I was going with you.”
He sighed. “Come on, Serenity, don’t be like this. You know it’s better that you come home now. With the way that Grayson’s handled things, I can’t see them ending very well.”
“You’re not even giving him a chance!”
“I already gave him a chance and he blew it. When it comes to you, I have to make sure you don’t get hurt, so come on.”
“Sebastian, I knew that things weren’t going to be long-term from the beginning. Grayson was very straightforward about that. It was only later that things developed more. You shouldn’t blame him for this.”
“Look, Serenity, you’re welcome to stay here with him, but just know that it’s not the fact that you two fucked that I care about. It’s the fact that he lied to me. I just don’t see this ending very well. So, are you coming home or not?”
Sebastian extended his hand again but I shook my head and took Grayson’s instead. “No, I’m staying here. And you should, too. I think you two need to talk through this.”
“There’s nothing to talk through!
” Sebastian said stubbornly. He turned to Grayson. “Look, you can either reschedule my return trip or I’m renting a car and driving back. Either way, I don’t care. I’m going to pack now.”
“I’ll reschedule your ticket,” Grayson said, sounding defeated. “I’ll email it to you as soon as I fix it.”
“Good.” Sebastian turned, sweeping from the room on a tide of anger. I turned to Grayson now that he had left, lifting a hand to cup his cheek.
“Grayson…”
He turned away, clearly masking the hurt on his face. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We don’t have to, just let me comfort you.”
“I can’t, not right now.” He reached out, pushing my hand away, and then turned his back to me. “You should probably go help your brother pack. I can get you a ticket, too, if you want.”
“No.” I stood my ground. “I’m not leaving you, not right now. Come on, Grayson, we can get through this together.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but you really don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”
“What if I do want to?”
He turned back to look at me with a sad smile on his face. “Then I appreciate that, but I need tonight to be by myself.”
I could understand and respect that, even if the last thing I wanted to do right now was leave him to mope all by himself. “Okay. Will you wake me up for work tomorrow?”
“Of course. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and then turned his back to me again.
I got the message and I left.
18
Grayson
I didn’t want to go into work the next day.
There didn’t seem to be an urgency to anything anymore, now that I knew I wouldn’t be welcome at the Allens’ for Christmas. Really, Serenity probably should have left with Sebastian at this point. It would have made things easier for all of them, especially for her.
But definitely not for me.
I still couldn’t believe that I managed to fuck things up this royally. At this point, it didn’t seem like Sebastian would ever forgive me for what I had done or the way I went about things.
