The Tattooed Prince 2

91.

The adrenaline pumping through my body faded the thoughts of Sebastian until I made contact with the water. The water was warm and I needed cold, being with Sebastian for over an hour had caused me to go into a frenzy. I was happy to see him and interact with him, however, it still hurt to think about us and what we once had. I expected to see him again and still be angry—I'm not. My heart aches to see the guy I knew, he wasn't the drunk guy who was mad all the time. Everything about him had changed for the better. It made me wonder if I was truly a different person or imitating someone I wanted to be.

I swam to the surface facing my friends who were cheering me on for jumping off. My hands gliding over my hair, bring it all back.

"Come on, Sebastian," I found myself encouraging him to him off. My constant communication to him had gotten everyone's attention. They kept giving each other side glances, surprised we were acting civil with one another.

"You don't have to jump," Esther screamed. "just hike down,"

Sebastian laughed. "Have I been away from everyone this long that everyone is adventurous now?"

We were adults now and we were acting as if we were teenagers, but if he really thought about it we never lived. All of us always had someone breathing down our neck to be what they wanted us to be. Sometimes we caused trouble, while other times all we needed was to breathe in the same room as our friends. We didn't have anyone hovering us anymore, we were free.

"We are all adventurous, we just need the right people to bring it out," I responded.

His eyes met mine and he nodded. He moved out of view and stripped down and a few seconds later he jumped off. We all threw our hands in the air laughing and cheering him on for deciding to jump. When he swam back up, he ended up inches away from me. He quickly moved back.

"Sorry," he combed hair back, clearing his face. My eyes roamed down his arm and I got lost in his tattoos. I loved touching his tattoos—he's skin.

I looked away and took in a deep breath. "Don't worry about it," and I splashed him with water.

He dropped his jaw, "oh, so you want to play dirty then?" He splashed me back. "Two can play that game!" He stuck out his tongue.

I laughed at him, "you're such a kid!"

Out of nowhere water splashed me on the side of my face, turning around Delilah was grinning maliciously. Oh, it's on. I splashed her back and we went into a splashing war.

Everything felt normal during our time in the lake, we all laughed at each other. No one seemed uncomfortable or worried to be there. It almost seemed as if we had never taken our own paths—we continued to be a family. It had finally dawned on me Sebastian is going to be relevant in my life, whether we magically get together or stay apart. We were tied together and I had to stop trying to forget him.

He's been the only person I can't walk away from. Although I was angry for a very long time with him, I never truly felt it in my heart to shut him out. I was tired of being kept in the dark and he pushed me away every time things got hard. For a period of time, I didn't find myself fitting in his life and needed to leave for my sake. I thought I could find peace by meeting strangers and visiting places. Truth is, I can't go to a therapist like he can and feel better. I need him to close these wounds so I can move on. When I left Sebastian I didn't tell him everything I needed to and the more time went by the harder it got to find my closure.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the lake until it was time for us to head back to the palace. Delilah had planned a rehearsal dinner and we needed to get back to get ready. We got dressed and hurried back to the cars. I decided to go back with Sebastian since I had arrived with him. The time we spent in the lake had helped ease the awkward between us, I had even let go of the talk we had before arriving at the lake.