I know; I know, and I am so very sorry for the wait with this chapter. But, I couldn't get it to work in my favor for the longest time. There is a part in this chapter that does refer to the first chapter of the prequel for this story, which I haven't even finished writing yet, just know that it is in the works.
Jeremy, Dylan, Mikki and Courtney belong to KikiJuanita and cannot be used without her permission. You do need my permission to use Onyx, as she is mine. The others belong to Glee.
Enjoy!
"I am sorry you had to go through that," Seb sighed, pulling his best friend into a hug, the second she finished telling him about her night, at least the part to do with her father and Mike. "Will things be awkward when he shows up today?" He asked, not wanting there to be this weird air between them. He didn't know what he could do to make it better either, because he wasn't about to tell his girlfriend that her best friend wasn't allowed anymore, but at the same time he didn't want things to be awkward, so the alternative would be for them to cancel tonight and start it again when things weren't so weird.
"No, things with Mike are good," she stated, breaking the hug. "He's one of the few people who can relate to what I'm going through, and I can't blame him and I don't blame him. Mike's a cool dude and we have clicked from the start; I promise it won't be awkward," she told him, moving to her room, smiling seeing the empty boxes waiting for her. "Thank you," she said, feeling Seb behind her. He knew her too damn good.
"When you went to your boyfriend over your best friend with the drama last night, I figured you would be needing them," he shrugged. "Didn't think it would today, honestly," he told her leaning against the door jamb.
"You're not bitter about me going to him and not you, are ya?" She asked, placing a bunch of clothes from her closet into a box, avoiding looking at him.
"No," He nearly screeched. "I'm happy that you found someone to go to like that. Someone who clearly loves you, and you clearly love. This is good for you, Onyx; it really is," he stated, moving to help her pack up the rest of her belongings. "As your best friend, this is all I can ask for, is for you to find the guy that makes you happy, that makes you whole, and I honestly think you have found that."
"You are the best friend a girl could ask for," she smiled, giving him a nudge. "Though I think you just want me out of here so you can make the move with Mikki official," she teased.
"We did find the perfect place for the both us," he nodded. For the past few months, they had been staying at one place or the other, neither one of them really moving out of their place, but rather living at both, their belongings divided up between the two apartments. As he didn't want to leave his best friend by herself, and he had a feeling that one day sooner rather than later, she would be making the move herself.
"Then all we gotta do is pack," she sighed. "How exactly are we going to divide up the kitchen and the living room?" She asked. "I personally don't need any of it, as I don't have the room at Clint's place," she told him.
"We've got what two different sets of dishes?" He questioned, getting a nod from Onyx. "We each take a set; you've got your mugs. Then we ask our friends," Seb quickly worked out.
"Under the condition, they come get the stuff tomorrow as I want to have one more game night here and have one last night with my best friend," she told him.
"I can make that happen," Seb smiled, walking to his room to start packing his things up.
Hey baby, when you get a free minute, swing by and pick some things up for me, please? Xoxo
I'll be free in a few hours. See you then. Love you, baby.
Love you.
Knowing that her boyfriend would be around in a few hours, she found it hard not to throw her clothes right into the boxes, wrinkles be damned. However, despite her hurry, she took the time to fold her clothes and placed a few in garment bags. She didn't want them to get filled with wrinkles as she wouldn't be able to unpack them until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
"Your lover is here," Seb laughed, walking past her room.
"You're not Ryan Reynolds," she sighed, a smirk staying on her face, as she walked up to her boyfriend.
"Nice to know your standards there," he laughed, reaching out for his girlfriend. "What did you need me for?" He asked, leaning down to kiss her, the kiss growing by each passing second.
"You're above and beyond my standards," she smiled, breaking the kiss. "Those boxes go with you, and I'll unpack them tomorrow," she informed him, leaving a small bag for tomorrow.
"Um did I miss something?" He asked, failing to hold back his grin, a happy feeling exploding throughout him.
"You missed nothing and by that grin, you totally understand what's going on," she laughed. "That okay with you?"
"I'm more than okay with you moving in with me fully," he smirked. Ever since he came to see that more than half of her stuff was starting to pile up at his place he wanted all of her stuff to follow. Her dog moved in; it made sense, she join them, and they be a little happy family. "But why tomorrow?"
"Oh, I'm having one last night with Seb after Mike and Mikki leave," she explained. "Also do you know anyone that needs any furniture?" She asked, looking to the living room.
"Can't say I do," he told her. "I can ask around though," he let her know. "Anything else I can help with?"
"Honestly?" She asked looking around. "I've got a few things in the bathroom, but I'll get them tomorrow before leaving, otherwise it's just packing up a few dishes." Taking a quick look in the kitchen, she saw that Seb had already packed up what he wanted, leaving the rest for her to decide on what she wanted.
"Let's get to it," her told her. "Boxes? Newspaper?" He asked.
"Bedroom," she instructioned him, as what little bit of boxes they needed would be found there as the newspaper was sitting on the counter.
"Maybe you should come show me," he smirked, winking at her.
"Yeah, I can't wait for tomorrow," Seb remarked, grabbing his car keys. "I won't have to walk in on that anymore," he laughed.
"The feeling is mutual," Onyx remarked. "Where are you off to?" She asked.
"I'm meeting Mikki downstairs, and we're going to grab some food and snacks. Mike and Tina will be here in about a half-hour to forty-five minutes," he told his friend seeing the look of annoyance. "Play nice," Seb warned her.
"You know I will," she smiled sweetly. "Is she staying for game night? Because if so, then Clint is staying," she told her friend.
"I don't know if she is staying or not," Seb sighed. "I know it's not ideal, but would it hurt to have the one person you love deeply and your newfound brother's wife, who is your now sister-in-law stay and enjoy the night with us?" He assured with a smirk, twirling his keys on his finger.
"I might like her if she wouldn't be so judgmental about us being friends," she pointed out, giving a dramatic eye roll.
"Onyx, we've been judged a thousand times over on how we can't be friends, and everything to go along with it, the only thing that matters is that we know the truth, and you know Mikki and Clint knows the truth," Seb told her.
"I know; it's just," she sighed, Seb cutting her off.
"It's just nothing; everyone deserves to have more than one chance; she might surprise you," he told her.
"There's a handful of people that don't deserve to have one chance let alone multiple ones," she smirked. "I'm sure that's Mikki blowing your phone up, so go," she laughed shooing him out the door.
"Tina can't ruin your night if you don't let her," Clint told her, pulling her in for a hug, tightly wrapping her up in his embrace. A hug she was quick to respond to holding onto him as tight as she could, burying her face into the crook of his neck.
"I know, but I always team up with Mike, and I don't want her to change that," she told him. To her tonight meant a lot more than friends teaming up with each other, tonight it would be brother and sister teaming up, something she needed after learning the truth the night prior.
"If she decides to stay, I will team up with her," Clint stated, feeling that he knew why tonight teaming with Mike meant so much to her.
"You'd do that for me?" She asked, pulling away from him enough to lock eye contact with him.
"Duh, I love you," he laughed. "There's not much I wouldn't do," he let her know.
"The feeling is mutual, the love part, not the doing anything for you," she teased, kissing the corner of his mouth.
"That my dear is a big fat lie," he laughed, tickling her sides. Onyx laughing and struggling against him. Too busy trying to fight him off and laughing too hard to tell him to stop.
"If I had to take a guess I'd say that's your half brother," he smirked, kissing her forehead, moving to answer the phone and let whoever wanted in the building, in so they could come up. "Remember to play nice with Tina," he warned.
"Yes, sir," she saluted, getting a cold cup of water to drink while she waited for the arrival of Mike and maybe Tina. For whatever reason the knock on the door made her jump. "Mind getting that, I think I'm going to be sick," she told him, making a dash for the bathroom where she splashed some water on her face, not even caring about her makeup getting messed up. The voices didn't quell her nerves. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for the guests waiting on her.
"Seb texted, said they'll be about another 20 minutes," Mike informed her, the first to see her join them. "Can we talk?" He asked.
"I'll finish getting things sorted," Clint told her.
"Thanks babe," she smiled at him. "Follow me," she told him, walking to her bedroom. "What's going on?" She asked, shutting the door once he entered the room.
"This, us," he told her, motioning between the two of them. "I hate that with the truth last night coming out that things between us are all awkward," he sighed. "I don't want things between us to be awkward or weird, but I don't know how to make sure they're not like that," he shrugged, dropping to her bed.
"I don't know either," she told him softly. "I know it changes so much between us, and I don't want that. We can't remain friends and just ignore that we're related, not that it's something I would want to do. We're family; you're my brother and that means a lot to me, but I don't know how to move forward without it feeling forced or awkward because your best friend is dating my best friend. I keep thinking about if only I had known sooner…" she trailed off, sitting next to him.
"Same here," he told her. "I know we won't ever be as close as you are with Seb or your brother or as close as I am with Mikki, but maybe we can get there at some point in the future," he shared.
"I'd like that," she smiled. "Because I am so close to Seb, I did tell him about us being related, Clint as well," she told him. "I don't want to hide this from anyone," she stated.
"I did tell Tina because I can't keep this from her, but I haven't been able to tell Mikki any of it, and it's been driving me all sorts of crazy not having her to talk to about this," he sighed.
"I know what you mean, Seb has known me for what seems like forever and without saying anything he can calm me down instantly with a look, and it's not fair," she laughed. "Jeff feels the same way we do about this so it's hard to talk to him but Clint and Seb as much, they want to understand it all; they can't understand; they do try to keep a very open mind about it so it's easy to talk to them about it," she finished saying.
"That's how things with Mikki are as well," Mike nodded. "Do you think Jeff would be okay if I found a time to talk to him and make things not quite as weird with him?" Mike asked.
"Of course," Onyx told him. "Remind me before you go to give you his number. I haven't even talked to him. Tried but it's like radio silence from him," she shrugged.
"I don't want to be the one to put you two on the outs," Mike told her feeling horrible about it even if it wasn't his fault.
"Not your doing," she said. "After everything, we've been through growing up, this is the last thing that will divide us. He does things his way," she assured him. If anyone were to screw up her relationship with her brother, it would be her, but they were close, and sometimes he needed his space after making sure she's going to be okay.
"Don't we all?" He asked with a sigh. "We should probably get back out there," he commented.
"Everything okay?" Clint asked, pulling his girlfriend in for a hug.
"With Mike?" She asked, seeing him nod. "It is. Obviously, it's not something I can process in 24 hours, but we want things to work out and not be in this weird limbo," she told him with a smile.
"Let me know what I can do," he told her, pressing a kiss to her temple.
"Thanks for everything, for being here," she told him, pulling away to look at him with a smile on her face.
"Anytime," he smiled. "You're welcome," he whispered closing the gap to kiss her. One they easily got lost in.
"Brother in the room," Mike laughed, making Clint and Onyx break the kiss. Onyx dropping her head to her boyfriend's chest as, he chuckled, rubbing small circles on her back.
"Whose brother is in the room?" Mikki asked entering the apartment ahead of Seb.
"I didn't tell her, I wanted to, but I also figured it wasn't my place to do so," Seb explained, looking between his best friend and his girlfriend's best friend.
"What am I missing?" Mikki questioned, placing the bags she had on the counter.
"How about we get settled in and dished up, and we can fill you in," Mike suggested.
"Yes please," Onyx agreed, moving to get some of the food out so everyone could dig in. Not only would getting the food out and everyone helping themselves give her time to collect her thoughts but explain it to Mikki in a way that wouldn't totally throw her off.
"Okay we're all seated," Mikki commented, looking around the kitchen table. "We all have food and a drink," she motioned to the plates and bottles. "Somebody explain what Mike's comment ment," she stated, her patience growing thin over news that no one thought she should know, especially if the looks around the room were shared between everyone, leaving her being the only one who is lost on all fronts to what is going on.
"First off, it's not the type of news you tell your best friend over the phone," Mike started to say. "It's also the type of news one needs to digest for a good few long extended hours," he told her.
"Okay," Mikki said slowly, "I will keep that in mind if someone were so nice to fill in the big blank spaces since all of you know except for me," she said, looking around the table and her focus landing on her best friend.
"First off, remember how I had dinner plans with my mom?" Mike asked her. Mikki nodded, remembering very clearly how Mike was to have dinner with his mom while Tina was annoyed, she couldn't go along.
"I don't know if Seb told you or not, but I had dinner plans with me dad and Jeff to meet the woman he loves," Onyx said taking the conversation over for a minute.
"He might have mentioned it, got worried when Jeff called to say something happened, but didn't say what," Mikki said. "But how does that go along with what Mike is saying? Do you guys have dinner at the same place, or something?"
"Or something," Onyx commented, seeking her boyfriend's touch to keep her calm and collected.
"Remember when I moved to town with my mom?" Mike asked, before Mikki asked any more questions.
"Duh, you guys moved to town because your dad split," Mikki said, refraining from rolling her eyes.
"Yeah not my dad," Mike told her. "Found out last night that my dad happens to be…" He trailed off looking at Onyx, seeing if she wanted to take over.
"Happens to be my dad, his mom being the long-lost love to the man," Onyx took over.
"Oh wow, yeah," Mikki nodded, taking the news in. "I get it," she said. "The needing time to process it," she clarified.
"Crazy, right?" Seb questioned. "Our best friends being siblings," he laughed, still not over how bizarre the situation is.
"I don't know if I would say it's crazy," Tina muttered under her breath loud enough for the table to hear.
"Then what would you call it?" Onyx asked, trying to keep her anger under control. After the first initial meeting with Tina, she found it hard to get along with the other woman, not when she was so sure that something had to have gone on between her and Seb growing up.
"I am happy that Mike gets a sibling, well into adulthood, but it's nothing more than a stupid coincidence that it's his friend from childhood's boyfriend's friend," she said, pointing to Mikki to Seb and landing on Onyx as she talked.
"Seriously, what is your deal, Tina?" Onyx asked, squeezing her boyfriend's hand a bit too hard.
"I don't believe that you and Seb have only ever been friends, even Mikki can admit that she had a crush on Mike, there is something going on with you two," Tina stated.
"Oh no, Seb, she caught on to us," Onyx faked gasped.
"Onyx, don't," Seb warned, shaking his head. Tonight was supposed to be a good night to have with it being their last night in their apartment together.
"Ha, I knew something else happened, so what is the big dark secret you haven't told your significant other?" Tina asked with a smirk.
"What's going on?" Mikki asked looking between her boyfriend and his best friend.
"I'm with Mikki and Tina on this one, what secret don't you two want us to find out about?" Clint asked, keeping his focus solely on his girlfriend.
"It's honestly nothing and not even a deep dark secret let alone a secret of any type," Seb sighed.
"Sebastian Smythe, you're gonna tell me that my first ever date which happened to be with you on a double date with your brother, means nothing to you?" She asked, faking a sniffle.
"I knew it," Tina smirked.
Onyx rolled her eyes, and one look at Seb had her laughing, Seb joining in. Both taking deep breaths to get their laughter under control as the others looked on amused and a bit annoyed as to not having the whole story as to what they were going on about. Not to mention the fact they had always said there hadn't been anything going on between them, ever. And that they saw each other as family.
"Talk about a horrible night," Seb laughed again, remembering how the night turned out to be.
"I felt so bad for Jeremy; he was a total mess," Onyx laughed. "I honestly thought it was his first date ever. I don't think his nerves left him until the next night."
"Actually, his nerve didn't leave him for a few days when he got the courage to call her and ask for a second date, and she said yes," Seb laughed.
"Yeah, nope can't say I feel sorry for him, not after what he forced us to do," she laughed, shaking her head. "Think we should fill the rest of the table in?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at her best friend.
"It would be mean not to," he said, nodding his head. "What were 12/13 at the time?" He asked.
"About that age," she nodded.
"Jeremy had this date with the new girl at school; he liked her and leading up to date night he started to freak out, and Dylan had plans that he couldn't get out of, and he roped us into going on his date with him," Seb started to explain.
"He didn't care that we were only friends; his excuse was that we couldn't talk ourselves out of was that Seb took me to a party the weekend prior," Onyx said taking over.
"I didn't want to show up to a party by myself with the possibility of running into Jeff," Seb shared. "What else are friends for?" He smirked.
"We went to plenty of parties; some of them were pretty lame," she laughed. "But as you can see it wasn't a real date just a brother and his friend doing a favor for the friend's brother," Onyx shared.
"We just had a free meal and a free show," Seb laughed. "But it was nothing more than friends doing a favor for Jeremy. We weren't keeping it a secret from anyone; it was nothing serious and not all that important," he shrugged.
"It does sound like something you would do for your brother," Mikki laughed.
"I am curious to know what happened with your brother's date, did they start to date after the second date, did they go their separate ways, or what?" Mike asked.
"Well I guess one could say both," he nodded. "They dated for the rest of high school, being high school sweethearts, then they broke up, and they are now back together," Seb shared.
"Talk about a love story," Onyx smiled, looking at her boyfriend.
"I'm very partial to our love story," he smiled. Onyx easily agreed to that.
After dinner was eaten, games played, and the apartment to themselves for one last night, Onyx found herself laying in Seb's bed.
"Promise me that is moving on with our lives will not change our friendship," she commented.
"You serious, right now?" Seb asked in disbelief at his best friend. "How can you even think that?"
"Because over the years, you're like the only friend I have from when we were kids, and I can't lose you now," she told him. "The rest of them, I lost, but it didn't have any effect over me, but it will if I lose you as my best friend," she said.
"We don't need an apartment to stay friends. We work at the same school, didn't we also set aside one day a week to meet up and eat our fill while we play the game of catch up, not that we need because we will talk all the time, it's going to be like before we shared this apartment, Onyx. Our friendship is by far too strong to break over is moving on with our lives," he promised her.
"I know," she softly told him. "I just don't want our lives to change and get crazy busy that we just stop being friends," she sighed.
"I won't let that happen, and I know you won't let it happen. Not to mention those around us won't let it happen," he said, moving to hug her.
"No they won't," she laughed, returning the hug.
The blissful moment between friends being broken up by Onyx's phone ringing. Moving to grab her phone she frowned, seeing that Jeff is calling her nearly at midnight. Most nights it wouldn't bother her getting a call this late at night from Jeff since he started to be a late-night radio DJ, but with everything going on, it worried her just a bit.
"What's with the late night chat?" She asked answering her phone.
"Is this Onyx?" A worried, sobbing woman asked.
"It is, who is this and where's my brother?" She asked, sitting up in Seb's bed, gaining his attention as well.
"This is Courtney, his girlfriend; I know we haven't met and that is all on me, and I am sorry about that, but um," she paused.
"What's going on Courtney?" Onyx asked, getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. At this second, she didn't care about why she hadn't met Courtney yet, all she wanted to know is what's going on with her brother. "Tell me everything's okay with him?" She pleaded into the phone.
"I would if I could, but um, I don't know what's going on, they won't tell me anything. He's in surgery; that's all I know," Courtney rushed out.
"I am on my way," she said, hanging up the phone. "Jeff's in surgery, didn't think I could handle the story as to why until I get there," she told Seb as she rushed to her room to get dressed in something other than the PJs she had on.
"I will drive you," Seb said, waiting by the door for her, keys in his hand. She nodded, figuring that would be the best bet to go with. "Why don't you call Clint on the way; you might need him," he suggested as they headed down the hall.
"Maybe once I get the story of what happened and how he's doing," she told Seb, trying her hardest not to freak out over her brother being in the hospital. "I should probably call my parents at some point to, but I don't want to worry them until I have answers," she said, talking mostly to herself. "Do you think I should call Mike?" She asked, pulling her phone out to call Mike. She didn't know the protocol when it came to Mike as of yet, but it felt like the right thing to do.
"Hey, everything is going to be okay," Seb comforted her, or maybe he was trying to comfort himself; he wasn't sure which one.
"He has to be," she said with determination.
