Kawaii-Cherri: Damn right! Excuuuse you, Madison! Did she force herself or was it consensual? Would our Sebby really do that to Rina? Find out on this episode of- Sorry, just having my fun. Everything will be explained. Promise. *Loveheart*
AnonGuest: I'm so happy you think my writing is funny, I do try and i worry it comes across as a little schitky, thank you for reading. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! P.S, Don't worry, we're not going to slip down the whole next five chapters is miscommunication and angst cliche.
A/N: I realise that I've slipped down the hole of OC's. So only Sebastian is an official character but now we're not even in the valley! We've got Rina, his bosses, the tramp Madison etc, Poor Sebby is really out of his depth with people who doin't even canonically exist! I'm a horrible person to him! But! No fears, Sebby's happiness is paramount and the next few chapters will hopefully show this. Kinda. Maybe. There's still about 20 to go... so...
Chapter 25: That whole cliche.
It was almost five minutes later when reality returned to Sebastian and he managed to string together a couple of words. 'G-Get out.' He said in a stutter, still staring at the door that Rina had shut behind her. He could almost taste the fear and anxiety that rolled around his stomach. The ball of dread in his throat was warping into uncontrollable anger. Sebastian fought to keep his body still but he could feel his hands shaking.
'Excuse me?'
'You heard me, get out,' Sebastian said as he breathed in deeply as he looked at Madison. 'I didn't want you here, Madison. I certainly wasn't interested in anything you were suggesting and then… you pull that kinda shit on me? Now Pheebs thinks that there's something going on between us!' He snapped as he wore an expression of fury and motioned with his hand for emphasis. Rina had walked in at the worst possible time ever.
'Are you seriously complaining about a woman kissing you?' Madison huffed in disbelief, crossing her arms, 'unbelievable, you should be lucky I even look in your direc-' Sebastian didn't want to hear it. He grabbed her coat from the hook and then took her gently but firmly by the top of the arm, pulling her along with the full intent of throwing her out. Madison squealed in exaggerated pain. 'So much for your "everything"!' Madison yelped. 'She clearly doesn't care enough to stick around-'
He shook his head as he opened his door, 'sexual harassment isn't only for women, Madison. Leave,' he said as he shoved her roughly out the apartment and then bent down and chucked her heels into the hall without ceremony.
'Excuse you! Those are worth more than your shitty apartment!' Madison screamed at him as she grabbed her shoes. 'Are you fucking kidding me? Sexual harassment? You're the one harassing me! Always following me around at work and skulking about! You fucking basement troll! You just wait until Leon hears about this-' Sebastian didn't listen to the rest as he shut the door in her face and locked the chain. He could hear her squealing on and on but he ignored it as he tried to walk forward but ended up slumped against the wall that she had shoved him against. He breathed in deeply and failed to resist the tears that fell onto his cheeks as he slid down to the floor, his head cradled in his hands.
'Oh, Yoba, please let me explain, Pheebs,' he whispered to himself. His heart pounded in his chest as he pulls out his phone, staring at the blank screen. "Don't need to follow me, or explain,", was the last thing she said, it probably went without saying that she wouldn't want him to contact her either. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to ignore the pain that pulsed from his heartbeat and the anxiety in his stomach. This had all gone wrong.
-x-
She sat on the plastic bench at the train station and sighed heavily. She had no right to be upset, not really. Sebastian wasn't hers; they weren't dating or anything. Of course, she was upset for reasons he didn't understand. Rina just had to hope that he thought she was simply surprised and trying to give him space. She would hope that he would understand that she was annoyed about him not telling her, especially seeing as they had been playing house all afternoon.
Unable to sit with her thoughts while waiting for the train she pulled out her phone, and called up one of her friends, hoping it wasn't too late. 'Penny?' She said quietly. Rina loved Maru but felt a little uncomfortable when it came to talking about her brother and feelings towards him, so Penny was her go to.
'Rina, hey,' Penny replied happily.
'I'm sorry, it's not too late to call, is it?'
'Of course, not… sweetie, what's the matter? You sound upset,' Penny said softly and Rina heard her move outside so that they could get some privacy. Rina tried to hold back her tears but they flooded out of her without stopping and she babbled everything to Penny. Absolutely everything she had bottled up for years. Penny didn't interrupt her and let her get it all off her chest. There was a pause and Penny leaned against the wall of the trailer before she spoke. 'Oh, Rina, I… can't believe you've been holding all this in,' she said softly.
'Y-You won't tell him, will you?' Rina asked as she sniffed heavily and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of the shirt she was still wearing, that she had borrowed from Sebastian. She looked around, thankful that at this time of night the platform was empty. Especially to a quiet route that went through Pelican town.
Penny shook her head, even though she knew that Rina wouldn't see. 'Rina, it's not my place to tell him. That should come from you. Though personally, I think you should tell him, I think you would be pleasantly surprised about what he would have to say,' she said as she bit her lip. It wasn't that Sebastian had said anything to her but it was clear as day how he felt.
'No, no, I can't do that to him, he's finally in a good place, he doesn't need me dumping all this shit on him. An' hey, maybe the fact that he could get a girlfriend is a good thing, it'll help me get over this stupid, stupid crush,' she muttered as she thumped her leg with her other hand.
'Rina, it's not a crush, definitely not by the sounds of it. You're in love with him, you're wholeheartedly in love with Sebastian and it's a good thing. There's no need to be scared,' she said softly as she tried to coax her into accepting the truth. Like a wrangler calming a wild mare. Penny could hear Rina softly crying and sobbing on the other end of the phone. 'Rina, Rina it's going to be okay, I'm here. I'm not going to say anything, you just need to take a deep breath in and try to calm down.' Penny walked her through some breathing exercises until Rina calmed down.
Rina breathed in and exhaled, 'I just feel so stupid! Like that whole thing with Sam. I just… feel like an idiot. How did I not know that he was seeing someone?'
Penny clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, 'I highly doubt that he is,' she said simply.
It didn't matter, Rina was lost in her own world of regret. 'I even met her today! We were standing in his kitchen at work and he introduced me to her,' Rina babbled. 'I mean, I didn't notice anything from him. I mean, I would have assumed he would have been more refrained when hugging me and things and oh, also his bosses think we're married! That would go around an office fast wouldn't it? Oh Yoba, what if I've really fucked this up for him-'
'Rina!' Penny snapped making her friend jolt down the phone with an audible yelp. 'Rina, enough, you're spiralling and not in a good way,' she said simply. 'Now, what are you doing right now? Other than having a mental breakdown?'
'I'm coming back to town,' Rina mumbled, feeling scolded. 'Can you stay over please? I don't want to be alone tonight and… I don't know if he's going to contact me. I don't know what to say if he does,' she mumbled.
'Of course, I'll meet you at the train station,' Penny said softly. 'How long until your train?' Rina let her know that the train was merely minutes away and that it wouldn't be long until she was back in the town. Soon both women were back at the farmhouse. They had ordered dinner from the Saloon and picked it up on the way through the town. The walk was pretty quiet and Penny had looped her arm through Rina's as they made their way back to the farm.
Only when they had dished out food and were sat on the bed did Rina finally say more than a couple words. 'I'm sorry about all this, Penny,' she said quietly. 'I just… everything built up and I feel stupid. I shouldn't have run out on him, I should have just sucked it up instead of embarrassing him like that,' she sighed as she stabbed a piece of carrot.
Penny was halfway through a mouthful of noodles and she tilted her head in wonder. Quickly she swallowed ignoring the fact that it was only half chewed. 'What are you on about? Rina, you… aren't… the fact is…' she paused and collected her thoughts, 'I just don't get why you're worried about embarrassing him,' Penny said hoping it made sense.
'Because it's like, like, bad!' Rina said lamely, not really knowing why it was. 'He's done so much for me and how do I repay him? I embarrass him in front of a potential girlfriend by acting like one of those women who cause drama! Yoba, I acted like I was thirteen! Especially now that I've basically run away from the situation,' she tried to explain what she was feeling; which was something that she didn't understand but the anxiety in her stomach told her that this was all wrong.
Penny stared at her for a minute making Rina feel self-conscious. Then when she spoke it was in a manner of realisation. 'Oh, my, Yoba! This is about your father!' She said bluntly, causing Rina to cough and choke on the sip of fizzy drink she had taken.
'Excuse me?!' Rina replied, through a cough and a pitch too high.
'He's literally brought you up to believe that affection is transactional. That if you do anything that would 'displease' or 'tarnish' his reputation or ideals, that you're not worthy of being cared about and now you're transferring that onto Seb,' Penny said as she passed over a napkin for Rina to cough into. 'Rina, no, that's not how this works,' she cooed.
'I don't… you're… you're not making sense,' Rina relied indignantly, with offence.
'It's like, you're adamant that because you've shown negative feelings towards Sebastian and potentially caused a scene, that he's just going to, like, change his entire opinion about you,' she said simply. 'You're now starting to panic and question the entire relationship despite your past with him. Even though he's shown you no signs that he would ever do that to you, you're convinced that you've done such a sin that he won't want you in his life.'
'Penny! That makes me sound horrid! Like every friendship I've had has been about what I can get out of them!' Rina protested as she wiped her mouth.
Penny put down her plate and shook her head and her hands, 'no, no, it's about what you bring to the table, not what you receive,' she clarifies. 'You're always being such a people pleaser! Believe me, I know what that's like,' Penny sighs as she looks away for a brief moment. 'Look, all I'm trying to say is that you need to be honest with him, he's probably so confused as to why you'd run away and only the truth makes sense,' Penny pointed out. Rina frowned and looked at her phone which was just sitting there, it had been silent. He hadn't tried to contact her, which wasn't surprising, given the manner that she left.
'I'll… ring him in the morning. I'll give him some space, I need to sort out my own head before I start worrying about him,' Rina mumbled.
Penny nodded, 'just at least let him know that you're at home. Otherwise, he could be thinking all kinds of terrible things about what's happened to you. You are a magnet for trouble after all,' she teases making Rina roll her eyes playfully and pick up her phone. 'Y'know for all the good ways you two communicate, you don't half have a habit of miscommunicating the real things, feelings and such. This is just like when Seb picked up the wrong idea about you and Sam,' she points out as Rina texts Sebastian.
'Ugh, don't remind me,' Rina muttered as she concentrated. In the end, she sent something generic, she didn't need to put what she felt into a text, if she did decide to tell him, it would be face to face.
-x-
Sebastian was sitting on his bed when his phone went off. He almost threw his phone with the speed that he picked it up with. He opened the text message and read it quickly, it was from Rina.
"I'm at home. Penny is staying over tonight. I just wanted to say sorry for my reaction earlier this evening. We'll chat about it tomorrow, if that's okay? Just so you know, we're fine. Don't be stressing out or anything. It was just a surprise, that's all. Night, Pheebs xxx".
It seemed a little forced, but that could just be his perception to reading it. 'We're fine? Really?' Sebastian said to himself as he re-read the message. It didn't feel fine. Deep down he was concerned as they hadn't ever spoken about the kiss they shared in the hospital and Sebastian had convinced himself that she didn't remember it. After all that had happened and the amount of medication she had been on, he would be surprised if she had. It was for the best, going by her text, she clearly didn't feel any animosity towards him for the kiss that had happened with Madison, which just hurt his feelings more. Truly, he didn't know what he wanted from Rina, jealously would be nice, in a toxic kind of way. Perhaps he had hoped that out of all of it, Rina would admit to there being desire towards him. Mutual affection.
With a sigh, Sebastian decided not to reply. It would just be a platonic, generic message back anyway. There was a knock at his front door and he frowned, not a lot of people knew where he lived so he wondered what the hell was going on. With a fair amount of begrudgement, he got up and walked to his door, opening it a little. 'Leon?' He said in confusion and then shut the door to remove the chain lock, before opening it and inviting the older man in. 'Mr Davies, what are you doing here?' He asked.
Leon took a moment to look around before turning to Sebastian, who looked worse for wear. 'Explain,' he said simply.
Sebastian tilted his head and exhaled heavily, 'explain what?' He said as he shut the door so that the entire hall wouldn't be privy to their conversation.
'Explain to me why I had Madison appear out of nowhere. I was having a drink with a good friend of mine when an employee turned up and started shouting and making a scene about sexual harassment?!' Leon snapped. Sebastian didn't seem like someone who would do such a thing, not that there was a blueprint to how those people should look or act. 'I've decided to get your version of the story seeing as I was barely able to understand hers,' he said honestly.
Sebastian sighs and motions him to follow, sitting at the sofa, 'so that's her game huh?' He mutters as he looks for something on his phone. 'If anything, I'm the one that should be lodging a complaint with you,' he said making Leon tilt his head in confusion. 'Here,' he said as he pulled up a video.
Not going to lie, imagining Sebastian just lobbing Madison's heels into the hall makes me laugh so much. Like, I can imagine him just in that "Yeet" pose, god, it amuses me.