"That's it? He took you to the rooftop, you had some wine, you kissed, and then you went back to your rooms? Seriously?"
"Hey! You weren't there, Seth. It was nice really," Renee said, remembering the last night's events.
"Maybe. That's not what I'm questioning," he corrected her false assumption that he thought it wasn't romantic enough or something. "But he didn't try anything? And, listening to you now, you certainly gave him signals that you were interested in . . ." Seth paused when he realized he wasn't talking to guys and the word "sex" should be omitted.
Renee knew where he was heading, so she replied, "I was surprised, too. We kissed goodnight, and then he walked me into my room. Actually, he didn't even enter."
"That's so not him," Seth wondered out loud.
Renee ignored Seth's comment. "Anyway," she talked as she was pouring the boiling water into the mug with a teabag in it. "I did my best to accept his strange behavior and let go. I closed the door, and that was supposed to be it. I walked toward the window to look outside and, you know, just let the sight of nature crawl into my brain to help me stop thinking about Dean, but it doesn't work when there's another building in front of you and some fat guy, wearing only his boxers, keeps staring at you," Renee dramatized. She took her mug and put it down on the table. She then sat down opposite Seth again.
"So?" Seth tried to keep her talking. He was wondering, was that the end of the story? Was there more?
"I couldn't just let it go and wait for the next time. I was thinking, why wait? The conditions were perfect. And we'd already had the romantic part of the date so we could move to the next step. I knew he wanted it. I knew I wanted it. My brain came with a plan," she remembered. Seth was increasingly curious and the break she decided to take to drink her tea was not acceptable to him.
"What plan?" he demanded to know.
"To take initiative, storm into his room and ask him to continue. Basically." She decided Seth didn't need to know the exhaustive version. She wouldn't feel comfortable telling him the details. "Then I remembered," Renee continued. "There was a quite important obstacle; he had told me he had other plans for the rest of the night."
"Oh," Seth sighed sympathetically.
"Yeah, that was a bummer."
"So it was it after all, wasn't it?" Seth predicted. Renee didn't give a straight answer, but her reaction and the sadness in her eyes was sufficient for him to be able to imagine the unpleasant situation.
"I was really disappointed. At first, I believed it could happen after all. Then, I realized it couldn't. And it wouldn't. I had to ask myself, would the date go differently if I didn't come with the whole "second date" thing?"
"It's pointless asking these kind of questions."
"I know. I realized that, too. So instead, I switched my focus on Dean and his part in the whole date thing. And the disappointment changed into anger again. Why? I asked. Why would he ask me out if he had already made other plans. I was so pissed at him at that moment. Maybe I was overreacting, but I couldn't shake this feeling of betrayal. He virtually just asked me on a date to fill the gap between training and that other thing he had later."
"I know he can be a jerk, but I'm sure he wouldn't do this," Seth was trying to defend his friend. He considered the option that it might be true, but that seemed unrealistic. Seth believed that Dean wouldn't do something so disrespectful to someone he cares about.
"I know," Renee smiled, "but that was how I felt back then. And I was really frustrated by the course of events. That was when I thought of you," Renee admitted and looked at Seth who immediately got alerted. His mixture of confusion and shock was amusing to her. He seriously seemed to have gotten scared by Renee placing him in the story.
"Me?" he asked, sounding a bit terrified.
"Relax. I just needed to talk to somebody and you were the one person that I believed that could understand."
Seth sighed when he learned she only thought of him as a friend, preferably a shoulder to cry on.
"I remember I checked the time to see if it wasn't too late to go find you." She then took a pause to make her point. "It was quarter to ten," she cried. At the moment she wished to add a swearword, but she overcame that urge in order to maintain her appearance of a well-behaved lady. Still, Seth could easily identify her irritation and disillusion. But she calmed down quickly and smiled with ease before she chose to continue with storytelling. "Since it was so early, and I remembered you and Roman were supposed to go to Cesaro's room to watch your matches and analyze them, I was determined to go there and talk to you. I didn't really want to change, although I knew very well that the dress I was wearing wouldn't be appropriate, but I didn't give a damn, really. I put on a coat to hide some distinctive features of my dress," she said without giving Seth any details, "switched the lights off and left."
"You didn't come last night," Seth pointed out the fact they both were aware of.
"I know," Renee admitted.
"So what happened?"
Renee didn't hurry to answer him, although he was desperate to know. She kept teasing him and pretended to be busy doing other things. She was eventually going to tell him, but her plans were interrupted when Dean walked into the room.
Witnessing their affectionate looks and instant and permanent smiles on their faces, Seth was even more puzzled. He had a suspicion, though. The way they were looking at each other could mean only one thing, Seth believed. And the fact that Dean seemed to completely ignore Seth was enough of a hint. One thing was sure. There was more. Dean and Renee had to meet after the end of their date. It was clear that Renee wasn't mad at Dean at all; and if the end of the date was the last time they saw each, she wouldn't be gazing into his eyes with so much love right now. Seth desperately wanted to ask them what happened, but it didn't seem appropriate. And soon they gave him a kind of answer anyway.
Dean had to know Seth was in the room, too, yet he didn't seem to care. Renee was the only object he saw and he walked straight toward her. He was looking at her the whole time, while she sat patiently and waited for him to come over. When he was beside the sofa, he offered Renee his hand, which she took without hesitation, and helped her stand up. Then he secured her closeness by putting his arm around her waist. He put aside her blonde hair from her face to be able to look into her eyes, and, without saying a word, he kissed her.
Seeing this manifestation of affection, Seth gasped. Yet those two didn't seem to be disturbed by his presence or anything that he'd do. He meant to leave them alone, even though there were so many questions on his mind. He realized there would be other time to get the information he longed for. But Seth didn't really hurry to get going.
When Dean and Renee's lips finally parted, Dean whispered something into Renee's ear, but Seth had no chance to hear what he was saying. It had to be something really sweet, though, Seth assumed, because her smile widen and, Seth couldn't really see it, but he would swear that she blushed, too.
Then Dean turned to Seth and, acting as if there was nothing interesting about what had just happened, said, "What's up, Seth?"
"What's up?" Seth repeated. "You tell me." This seemed like the right opportunity to ask what troubled him. "You two," he started hesitantly, while pointing at them with his finger and smiling rather awkwardly, "are you together now?"
As he could have expected, Dean didn't give him an answer. Thus, Seth turned to Renee, who was equally reticent about their affair. Seth considered it pointless; there was no longer a secret to hide. They could have just revealed the whole truth to him. "Dean?" he addressed his teammate. "Renee?" None of them responded. They stood there, beside each other; looking as if they were actually enjoying Seth's desperate effort to find out what was going on. "Guys," he cried. "Did you . . . What happened last night?"