I'M NOT HERE | s.stan

014. party favour

It had been a week since Sebastian gave Joane the money, and she had given it back almost immediately. I have no idea how she got the cash, mom and dad lived by a stupid rule. They never used cash, and so neither did we. "Joane would be burnt at the stake if they found out she took out money from her account." I tell Sebastian, he looks nervous. "Well, she could just be needing it for something not related to bad things, too." He argued. I roll my eyes, "Of course."

He turns to me with a glare on his face. "What?"

I shake my head, "Hm? I didn't say anything." Sebastian looks at me for a moment, "No-no, I heard you say 'of course.' What do you mean by that?" He asks sarcastically, I scoff. "I just think it's funny how you take her side in everything." Sebastian looks taken aback by what I said.

"No I don't. Not everything."

"Yes-everything."

"Do not."

"Do too."

We are interrupted by the sound of my front door opening. Josh steps in, headphones plugged in and fast food in hand. "What's up, guys?" He says, calmly. I could almost swoon at the way he did his hair today. "Hey." I reply, my frown now replaced with a dreamy smile. He grins at me and takes his shoes off before jumping on the couch to watch TV. Sebastian, without another word, grumbles and gets up from the kitchen table.

"Where are you going?" I ask. I didn't want to know, I didn't care, but I just wanted to know how he'd answer me. I could easily figure if he was mad at me or not just by the tone of his voice. Well, it doesn't take a genius to know that. Sebastian was an open book.

"I don't know, I got a text from Joane telling me to pick her up. So..."

He was most certainly mad. I was only speaking the truth, I didn't understand why he was so butthurt anyways.

"Okay, bye." I curtly reply. I talked to him in the shortest and most unsatisfying way. The look on his face made me think he was actually surprised by my sudden change of demeanor. Nonetheless, he grabs his coat and keys, waves at Josh, and leaves. I sigh, no matter how childish it was, was that a fight?

Had Sebastian and I just have our first fight in a long time? After all that, he was mad at my indifference towards the Joane situation. The whole thing had a thin veil of subtlety hanging over it, and I was livid because she always got her way. No matter what, she could have killed three people, and Sebastian would still side with her. Not just Sebastian, Josh, Mom and Dad, too.

I didn't want it to bother me, so I decided to block the thoughts out of my head. I plopped down on the couch, next to Josh. He was watching an old re-run of 'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' and was laughing at something a character said.

"How was your day?" I asked, a tone of care evident in my voice. He shrugs, "It was okay. I haven't seen Joane all day, though." I nod along to what he says and lean my head against my hand. He continues to go on and on about his day, but I didn't hear most of it. I was too busy staring at his perfect face. His chocolate eyes, his olive skin, his pink lips, hi-

"Hello?" He snaps his fingers in front of my face, "Earth to Kay?" I shake my head to snap out of it.

"Oh, my bad. I was just thinking." I smoothly lie. "It's chill. As I was said, my day was boring anyways."

-

The next day Sebastian comes back to discuss our game plan. We felt like we were slacking off in terms of Joane and Josh. I felt like I was making a lot of progress, but Seb begged to differ. Sebastian was ready to jump to conclusions and I was tired of it.

"Maybe we should chill...and see how it plays out." I suggest, picking at my nails while he was on the verge of pulling out his own hair. "Chill? Chill? Kay, I haven't seen Joane all week. It's weird. You see Josh everyday at school."

"Yeah, but we don't talk. We only have two classes together." I interject.

"Whatever. Look, can you do me a favor?" He asks softly. I lean in to listen.

"We gotta tell them we're "dating" now." He says, emphasizing the word 'dating.' I paused for a moment to think. Had we not been so awkward with each other, they might have known sooner. I wanted to see him squirm under my grip, like he had been doing to me. I wanted to make his cheeks flush just from the touch of my hand, knowing full well none of this was real.

That's the only reason why I say yes.