Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy the second chapter. Even if it is anonymous, a review is helpful.
I walk back to the table when everyone is just about ready to leave. "So, are we going Dutch?" They all agree and we each pay $12.04.
"I hope that you guys have a lovely evening," Rachel begins as we all leave the restaurant. When we get outside I notice that Sebastian's BMW is long gone. "I will see you guys next week." She hugs us both. Finn awkwardly follows behind her and hugs me and Tina.
"That was a lovely dinner," Tina nostalgically says as I open her car door for her. "Thank you." She enters the car and I walk around and enter the car as well. I turn it on and find a radio station with a song I know.
"'We are Young' is playing right now." I settle on this station as we both put our seat belts on.
"Babe, this summer is going to be amazing. Mr. Schue invited Rachel to go last year and she's absolutely sure that I'm going to lo…" She pauses and stares at the wheel. She's staring for a while and so I decide to look at what she's staring at. She's not looking at my gas because I have enough. There's nothing wrong with my steering wheel. And then I spot it. Sebastian Smythe's number on my hand.
Crap. "Wait, babe before you start-." I can't even finish my sentence to defend myself.
"You take a step out for one minute, and you're already getting the number of every whore you can find!" She's yelling at me, and I can tell that she's on the verge of tears. "I-I trusted you, and you go and do this. How dare you? Am I not good enough? Who is she?" She takes in shallow breaths and then repeats herself. "Who is she?"
"Babe, it isn't what you think. You'll laugh when you find out who's number it is." I try to reassure her, but it isn't working.
"This isn't funny. Or is it? Is this funny to you? Are my feelings really that insignificant to you? This relationship is just some sort of joke, huh? You are an ass, Mike." She throws my football jacket at me and gets out of the car.
"Babe, you're blowing this way out of proportion." But nothing I can do can convince her to believe me. I wait in the parking lot until Rachel comes and picks Tina up. Before she does, she steps out of the car and looks at my hand and sees Sebastian's number. She looks into my eyes and then shakes her head. It's clear that she's disappointed in me.
For some reason I can't explain, I input Sebastian's number in my phone. Maybe it's so I can call him and tell him that he created turmoil and he can't just write his number on stranger's hands. But I'm not a stranger. Well, yes, I am.
When I arrive home, I wash my hands off and take off my clothes so that I'm only wearing my boxers and tank top. Sleep doesn't come easy. It takes a while for this night to process.
The weekend passes by quickly. My calls to Tina are sent directly to her voice mail. Rachel isn't answering my calls. Finn tells me that Rachel has excommunicated me from their relationship.
This is going to make Monday super awkward. We need to be focusing on summer camp, and Tina is going to be angry at me over a huge misunderstanding. Great, just great.
I arrive to the choir room on Monday and the dread is tangible. Tina doesn't show up to the period, but the girls of show choir have clearly found out and aren't to fond of me.
"If it isn't the little slut," Santana hisses at me as I approach my seat. The guys, except Kurt, don't seem to be angry at me for what happened, but they obviously know what's going on. "I always knew you were rebellious. It's always the quiet ones. I mean, I don't blame you. Tina can get pretty boring, but it must kill her knowing that you did it."
"Shut up, Santana. Let him explain." Always Finn to the rescue.
The bell rings and Mr. Schue walks in with some sheet music that probably has to do with finals. We only have two weeks left, and this is how Tina is going to choose to end it. She's not going to talk to me.
"Goodmorning, guys!" He looks around the room and is oblivious to the tension. "Where's Tina?" Mr. Schue looks around the room again.
Usually, when there's tension in the choir room, everyone's quiet and a couple of people hash it out. But this is one of those rare occasions — like when Finn almost killed Puck after finding out that he wasn't the father of Quinn's baby, or when Finn "outed" Santana — where everyone is involved.
The room explodes. All the girls yell at me, calling me a cheater, a liar. All the guys are defending me, saying the I've been unjustly accused. I try and plead my case, but there's clearly too much going on in the choir room. Mr. Schue walks over to the piano and plays a bunch of keys, playing a chord so disgustingly ugly, that we have to stop arguing. He doesn't give us an assignment, but lectures on and on about how we are a team. I don't pay much attention, though, because I'm too concerned about Tina.
After first period, I realize that Tina just missed the choir period because she shows up for AP Chemistry. That's when I remember. Oh, that's right. She had a dentist appointment, I think to myself. Maybe, she wasn't avoiding me. This gives me a some hope, but she doesn't sit in the seat next to me. She sits in an unoccupied seat in the front. Hope crushed.
She's ignoring me.
I spend lunch with Finn and Blaine. Kurt is with Tina trying to do some damage control. The other guys are probably in the choir room helping Puck study for his European geography test.
"So, whose number was it?" Finn asks. He believes that I didn't try to flirt with someone else, but he has his suspicions. "Was it the worker from BreadstiX? She's kind of a flirt?"
I shake my head. "No." There's a long pause. Finn and Blaine clearly want me to answer. "It wasn't her. It wasn't even a girl." Another long pause. The two look at me and analyze my last statement. Not a girl. It seems as though the two have put two and two together.
"So it was a guy?" Blaine asks while taking a bite of his sandwich. No, it was a dog.
"It was Sebastian Smythe's number."
Finn gives me a confused look and calmly accepts what I've just said, but Blaine sends the piece in his mouth flying towards me. He chose a nice roast beef sandwich today, with extra mustard.
"Sorry for that, but.. Sebastian? What the hell does he want with you? Was he making sexual advances? Did he drug you?" Leave it to Blaine to go to the worst case scenarios. I'm reminded that Blaine isn't too fond of Sebastian since he tried to break apart Blaine and Kurt.
"No. He was just trying to give me his number because we're going to performing arts camp together." I clean Blaine's lunch off of my cardigan. The stain isn't too bad. "I was just being a nice person. He wasn't trying to hurt me."
"Stay away from him," Blaine warns. "You saw what he did to me. He almost blinded me. Whatever he wants with you, it isn't good business."
"He's not that bad. You see his charity work with Karofsky. He's not a bad guy — just the male Santana."
"You don't think he likes you?" Finn takes a bite of his sandwich.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I doubt it? I just need Tina to know that I wasn't trying to cheat on her or get at some other girl. Sebastian just wrote his number on my arm." The bell rings and interrupts our conversation. I'm literally saved by the bell. I don't want to explore the possibility of Sebastian being interested in me. But that kiss on my hand and the comment about me being cute can be as partial answers.
Does he like me? Hell, if I know. But his eyes. I'm brought back to the first time our eyes met. His eyes are so… No. His eyes are something I cannot think about. Tina is mad at me and his eyes aren't the solution.
School ends and I wait in the parking lot in my car for a couple of minutes to see if Tina shows up for a ride. I wait for thirty minutes, but she doesn't show up. And she doesn't show up for a ride for the whole week. By Friday, I'm certain she won't come. I've still tried sending texts and calling, but all in vain. At first, I want to visit her house, but I know that addressing her would probably have to be done when she's least expecting it.
At this point, I'm irritated with Sebastian. This is his fault. If he hadn't met me outside of the restaurant, everything would be fine. I enter my car, grab my phone, find his name in my contacts, and call.
"Hello," the snarky voice answers.
What have I just done? "Sebastian," I freeze when I realize that I'm talking to him. "D-Do you know what you've done?"
"I'm sorry, but who is this?"
I regain my composure. He isn't looking at me. He isn't staring at me. I can do this. "This is Mike, who is now probably going to end his senior year single and alone because you left your number on my hand. You can't just do that!" I don't know what else to say.
"So, you finally called." He completely dismisses everything I've just said. "Listen, I've got to go, but I think we should talk about this because it obviously sounds important. Meet me at the bench in front of the bridge at town hall at seven. Bye."
"Sebastian?" He's gone before I can finish his name. "Sebastian!" He is the most cocky person I've ever met. He clearly heard everything I said, yet chose to deliberately ignore me.
I'm even more irritated, but I do as he says and go to the bench in town square. I need to let him know that I'm not interested in his help for summer camp. I don't want him as a friend. I don't want him kissing my hands. I don't need his number. I don't want anything to do with him.
I drive to the town hall at around six thirty and wait at the bench. The sun is slowly beginning to set over the city. Sebastian's town is fifteen minutes away from Lima, so I figure he's going to be late.
He's not. He arrives on time and sits next to me. He's in his Warblers uniform, so I assume that his choir practice just ended. "Listen, I need to talk to you." And I do. I tell him about this past week, about Tina ignoring me, about how this whole issue stems from a small misunderstanding, how I'm angry that he just grabbed my arm and wrote on it.
He doesn't say much, and it's a while before he talks. "Why didn't you stop me?" he says, but less condescending and more sincere. "Wait, before you answer that, look!" He points to the sun, which is setting. "It's beautiful."
The sun is this magnificent orange ball of fire that's painting the sky warm pink and orange colors. It is beautiful. I've never taken the time to see the sunset, but I'm filled with a strange sense of gladness.
Sebastian notices the happiness and smiles. "Listen, Mike. I'm sorry. Really. I know you must think I'm a dick, and I don't blame you. I can be sometimes. But I'm working on becoming a better person. You're really cute, and it was just a failed attempt at flirting with you." He pauses so that I can absorb all he's saying. He is interested in me, but he's showing some self-control. "Tina is a lucky girl because you are so nice. I know it. If I'd done that to any other guy —written my number — I'm pretty sure I'd have a black eye."
This catches me off guard. Is he just saying something that I want to hear? I can tell from his tone of voice, however, that he's sincere. I think about it, and agree. I can be a pretty nice and lenient guy. "It's okay. I hope you understand that I'm happy with Tina. I forgive you. It's just, I'm in this mess now and I needed someone to blame. I know that you're trying. I see it in your actions, in your charity work."
He smiles and looks down at his watch. I don't realize that it's past eight. "Hey, it's getting late, but can you call me tonight?"
I try and object, but I think he and I both know that I'm too nice to say no. "Yeah, will do. Have a nice day."
He smiles at me and we make eye contact. This isn't good. Again, I'm lost in the allure of his eyes, the radiance of his smile. I'm usually great at playing it cool, but I have to use a lot of energy to break eye contact. I look down at my hands. "Goodnight," he says.
Why can't I stop staring into his eyes? I can't be doing that all summer.
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