Peek into Sebastian's world
As Sebastian walked inside his apartment, he realized that he genuinely needed a break after this tour; he had gone to LA for interviews and promotion for his album and current on-going tour. There'd been an important meeting for a new project that he was working on so it had been a long day with constant interviews, meet & greet and signings.
He had grown up in many ways since he stepped out of his grandparents' home in London for the world tour promoting his album. His meteoric rise to fame had taken even him by surprise, which was no easy maneuver. And to think he never thought of taking singing/songwriting as his first choice of profession.
Sebastian saw Halo come towards him so he smiled and bent down to pick him up. Halo was Mr. Puss's love child with Amelia, his grandmother's cat. He was white and had a bit of cute brown patch on his head that looked like a halo.
"Seb, I've made dinner so get changed and come downstairs; you can play with him after you eat," Lily told him once he sat down on the couch in the living room to which Sebastian just nodded. He scratched Halo and petted him as he went upstairs to his room.
Sebastian let the kitten down and started removing his clothes as it had been too fucking hot and sweaty for his taste in New York during this particular May. Thankfully this weekend was completely off with no scheduled appearances from him, so he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. But he was sure that by tomorrow noon, Santana and Brittany would come to pester him to spend some time with him. He went downstairs for dinner, as he hadn't eaten anything on the flight back. Lily had already served him a plate and was waiting for him.
"I made stir-fry vegetables and chicken cause I didn't know what you wanted," Lily told him.
"It's fine Miss Lily, did you have dinner already," Sebastian said as he sat down at the dining table.
"No, I was waiting for you" "Then why don't you serve yourself a plate and eat with me"
"Only if you tell me all about your trip"
This was their ritual for as long as Sebastian could remember. He used to come home from anywhere, be it school or dance practice or lacrosse, she'd wait for him, and they'd eat together. She was the only one in the house who cared about his day after his mother's death so he would sit down and recount his whole day to her.
Miss Lily had been in his life since he could remember and she had been like another mother to him. Her husband Jonathan used to be the butler at their house and she used to take care of him and his twin sister. He had lost his mother and his twin sister in a car accident, which he survived when he was 8. Miss Lily and her husband were the ones who had nursed him back to health after that accident while his father grieved the loss of his beloved wife and daughter.
Miss Lily and her husband didn't have any children of their own so they used to treat Sebastian and his sister as their own. After his father shipped him to Paris to live with his grandparents, his mother's parents, he had missed Miss Lily more than his father.
After the dinner, Lily and Sebastian continued their conversation in the informal living room while Halo and Zeus played with each other. Sebastian never treated Lily as a servant; she was family to him in the truest sense. Lily had lost her husband to cancer a few years ago and had been working as a cook at his paternal grandparents' house in London. He had asked her to come live with him when he decided to move to New York and she agreed.
"Do you have somewhere to be tomorrow or are you free?" Lily asked.
"Actually I'm free but maybe my friends will come sometime in the day," Sebastian answered while flipping channels on the television.
"Okay, just inform me when you know and I'll handle the food"
"Since everybody knows that I was out of town this week so maybe they won't come, so you don't need to worry Miss Lily"
"Fair enough. And at what time will you wake up or is it a lazy day" she asked. "Lazy day all weekend" Sebastian smiled freely.
"Not all weekend, you have a party on Sunday night" she reminded him.
"Yeah except that, it is"
Sebastian went to his room later and decided to have a shower before bed. He entered his shower and turned on all the jets to soothe his muscles after the day he had. It was just what he needed.
The last couple of days had been very busy for him after moving to New York City from London but weirdly he felt right here. He had gotten a bit of break between the various legs of the tour so he decided to move now instead of doing it after. Asking Miss Lily to come live with him had turned out to be a great decision as she took charge of moving everything with the help of Hunter while he was on tour. All of his belongings were already packed as they were in storage so all they had to do was to pack whatever wasn't and ship it all carefully.
Even though it had been years since he lived in New York, it felt like home. He couldn't even properly recall living here, as he was very small when he did, maybe only couple years old. But his friends were here, Hunter and Natasha had moved to the city this year and his stepmother, Annalise's parents also lived in Hampton's.
After drying his hair and toweling himself, he went out to his master bedroom and saw Zeus near window gazing into the expanse. Halo must have gone to Miss Lily while Zeus had come upstairs to him. He went near him after changing into shorts. The views from his bedroom were truly breathtaking, the Hudson River looked beautiful at night, and you could see the Statue of Liberty at the distance.
This apartment was Sebastian's first big purchase for himself since he started earning. It was his first big splurge since he made it big. When he turned 18, Sebastian inherited a ridiculous amount of property and money so he decided to do something with it rather than keeping it in his bank account. He invested it intelligently in real estate, business ventures, and some of it in charity. His real estate investments turned out very profitable and he multiplied up his money soon and before he even graduated from college, he had made enough money that he could retire and live out his life without working ever.
"Let's turn in for the night, we both had a long day," he said bending and petting Zeus affectionately. Zeus turned and nuzzled him. It became a habit of his to talk to Zeus like a person since they had been living together for almost 3 years. Zeus was a golden retriever with a very pale coat that sometimes in sunlight looked almost white.
Sebastian settled in his bed and turned off all the lights except for the night lamp and Zeus also got beside him and started cuddling in his own distinct way.
Turning on his iPad, he started checking his emails and messages. He replied to Chace, his manager confirming their meeting first thing this week and he found an email from Portia. That was fast. She had proposed a visit to his new apartment, some shopping, and a dinner. They had become very good friends since he first met Ellen and Portia last year. He sent a quick reply to her before going to sleep.
It was around 11 when Sebastian woke next day after feeling his phone going off. There were messages from Hunter, Santana, and Dave basically asking if he was free and if they could come to meet him.
After replying to them saying that they could come in an hour, he freshened up and went downstairs. He saw Lily in the kitchen so he greeted her good morning. Zeus and Halo came to him when they heard him.
He bent down and played with them while Lily told him, "good morning, I've already made you breakfast and it's in the warmer as I didn't know when you were going to get up. I already took out Zeus while you were sleeping and I'm going for grocery shopping for tomorrow's party so if you need anything, add it to the list on the fridge."
Sebastian just nodded and read the list on the fridge and he added Nutella to it. He took out some orange juice from the fridge and went out to the terrace.
It was a beautiful day to spend outside and he decided to take a swim before having breakfast. So he took out some towels and his swimsuit from the linen closet near the balcony door and went out with Zeus and Halo trailing behind him.
He sent out a message to Hunter to let himself and everybody in as he had the codes to the elevator. He didn't want to get out of the pool unless he wanted to.
Sebastian had spent almost half an hour in the pool when he saw everybody come out to the pool. He swam towards the edge where he saw Brittany and Natasha waiting for him.
"You look like you're having fun Sebby, " Brittany said.
"I am Britt. You ladies look beautiful," Sebastian told them.
"Thank you, Seb. Now are you going to come out or not," Natasha asked him.
"Actually I was going to, so yes" Sebastian replied.
Sebastian climbed out of the pool and took the towel that Natasha handed him. He dried himself and went where everybody else was sitting and playing with Zeus and Halo.
"Hello everybody, I'm going to change and come back so till then help yourself to whatever you want; Miss Lily isn't home. You people know more about my kitchen then I do, there's some breakfast in the warmer too" Sebastian told them.
He walked inside, went to his bedroom and quickly took a shower and changed into summer shorts and a tank top. When he came downstairs, he saw everyone inside. The girls and Andrew were in the kitchen while Hunter and Dave were mixing drinks.
"Looks like everyone's made themselves home huh?" Sebastian commented sarcastically walking down the stairs.
"You told us to help ourselves, Posh Boy," Hunter said rolling his eyes at Sebastian.
"Fuck off Captain," Sebastian said in retaliation.
"You wish" Hunter replied in it.
"Guys" Natasha trying to stop them or they'd continue this all day long. Hunter and Sebastian were best of friends and would do anything for each other but they got along like oil and water most of the time. Their usual setting was riling each other up and making fun of everything and everyone while Natasha always played referee between their squabbles.
"He started it," Sebastian said sitting down on the stool near the breakfast bar where Brittany was putting the cooked food to take it outside.
"Very mature Seb" Hunter replied. Sebastian just stuck out his tongue to which Hunter said, "like I said, very mature."
Once everything was cooked, they took everything out in the rooftop terrace garden to eat. Everybody carried something and soon they sat down to eat.
"So how was LA?" Andrew asked about Sebastian's recent trip.
"Same old, same old, I think they have the worst paparazzi of the world. I mean at least here they have a sense of personal space, there I felt like they would mob me if I didn't have Henry and Matt with me" Sebastian told everyone.
"Really? Was it that bad?" Dave asked.
"Seb's right, I had to handle Zeus while Henry and Matt covered Seb. And the most annoying thing they do is try to engage, I mean everybody knows Seb is gay yet they asked him if he's dating me or was I his fiancé once they saw my ring" Natasha telling them how bad it had been.
"And I can only imagine what your answer must have been" Santana commented.
"What were you two doing that they thought you were dating" Dave inquired what could've sparked people to ask such things. He was still in awe of how the glitzy world of celebrities was so fickle. One minute you're gay and other, media is asking if you're getting married to a woman. He still sometimes had trouble accepting that people were okay with homosexuality in general.
"Nothing, just holding hands on the way inside the airport," Natasha told them.
"Where is Lily, by the way; I wanted to ask her about something," Hunter asked changing the subject as he already knew all about it. It was kind of a daily occurrence for him that Sebastian and Natasha were assumed to be more than what they are with how close friends they were on top of being professionally related.
"She is out for grocery shopping, I think she'll be back soon so you can ask her then" Sebastian answered.
Once they had eaten, everybody helped in cleaning and then went back out. Everybody relaxed around the various seating areas under the pergola as the conversation continued.
"I have to say Seb, your home is absolutely beautiful. The best thing about it is that even though it's an apartment in the city but you don't feel like you're living in a box in the air. There's an equal amount of greenery to balance everything, I mean where do you see a garden with a water feature in the middle of an apartment" Andrew told Sebastian.
"Somebody was pretty adamant about it but I've to agree, it's one of the unique things I've seen in any home," Hunter told him before Sebastian could say anything.
"I saw it in one home that my grandmother was working on, immediately I knew that this was something I had to have in my home," Sebastian told them.
"It's great that you did," Dave said.
"I think our guest bedroom must be the size of that garden" Santana commented looking towards the sky.
"It did cost a pretty penny," Natasha remarked.
"Well, not everybody can be multi-millionaires like our Seb here at such age to afford something like this," Andrew said.
"Agreed but not everybody can work like me," Sebastian replied smirking. "So modest," Santana said teasing him.
"Eh... I think modesty is overrated. If I've worked day and night for something, why should I act like it's nothing." Sebastian told them.
"Sometimes I feel like I don't even know who I'm talking to, you've changed so much since the first time we met but then again you haven't," Dave said reflecting.
"I think it's for the better Sebby, we like you just the way you are," Brittany said looking at Sebastian.
"Thanks, Britt, even I couldn't handle the assholic version sometimes so it's for the better," Sebastian told them lying down still looking at the sky.
"If Lady Hummel could hear that, he'd have a field day," Santana remarked.
"Ha, but agreed," Sebastian said laughing. "You know what, since you brought him up, why don't you tell me what's happening on the Anderson-Hummel front. Did they pop out kids and have a New York version of the white picket fence?" he asked.
"Um... uh" Dave hesitated.
"What? Did one of them die or something, in fact, " Sebastian said looking towards others.
"No, nothing like that, in fact, they got divorced," Santana, said looking at him before anybody could pussyfoot around.
"Divorced?" Sebastian exclaimed in surprise sitting up suddenly.
"Yes, last year. We wanted to tell you but you had said that you don't want to hear anything about them, not even their names so..." Dave told him.
"It's fine, I mean why do I care. They can do whatever the fuck they feel like. I don't give a fuck but just for shits and giggles, why the sudden change of heart as I heard last, they were soul fucking mates and shit," Sebastian told them. Everybody could see that Sebastian was clearly affected by the news by the sudden change in his language but nobody commented on it.
"Kurt cheated on Blaine," Santana told him.
"What?" Sebastian was clearly shocked to hear that.
"Kurt cheated on Blaine" Santana repeated.
"Saint Hummel cheated on Anderson, Saint Hummel? Are you sure? I mean..." Sebastian asked again not believing what his ears just heard.
"Yes, we're sure. He had an affair with somebody at work and Blaine caught them red handed" Santana
"Red-handed how? Like evidence on the phone kind or between the sheets kind" Sebastian asked intrigued.
"Literally between the sheets kind"
"Ouch" Sebastian commented. A moment later laying down again he said, "I've to say I'm shocked, I mean... he used to be so virginal back then and he was cheating on Anderson, really?"
"Yes really and the kicker was that he thought Hobbit was also cheating on him but that wasn't the case. Hobbit was just busy working on his Ph.D. and working part time while Lady Hummel was having fun," Santana told him.
"He's getting a Ph.D.?" Sebastian asked her.
"Yeah, from Columbia in psychology, we don't talk much now as we didn't want to get between their issues. He's close to the blond Warbler and the short brunette one, I think they go to the same college" Santana replied.
"Jeff and Nick, so other Warblers are here too?" Hunter said, as even he didn't know the whole story. He just knew that Blaine had divorced Kurt last year.
"Yes they are, some in the city and some nearby" Brittany told them.
"Oh..." Sebastian said.
"What are you going to do Seb if you see them?" Natasha asked taking the role of a professional as well as a friend. She knew about the Warblers from both Hunter and Sebastian so she wanted to know what was going on in his head. They had to be ready for anything as Sebastian was living under public eye now.
"I don't know, I mean Hunter hasn't crossed paths with them till now and he has been living here for 6 months so maybe I wouldn't meet them anytime soon. We don't run in the same social circles now" Sebastian said after thinking for a minute.
"Seb, Hunter isn't popular like you" Andrew mentioned.
"And they didn't like me as they liked you, you were the one who saved them from my tyranny and as much as you think they didn't care about you, they did. I was there for you birthday surprise which you walked out on so I think they'd try to contact you now once they know that you're here" Hunter also told him.
"Fine, I'll do the right thing as per the situation when I face it but I'm not going out of my way to contact them" Sebastian informed them getting their point.
"Nobody's asking you to do that, we just want you to be prepared and not get blindsided if you do see them" Natasha acknowledged on behalf of everybody.
"And what about Blaine?" Dave asked pointing to the big pink elephant nobody had touched.
