Belief in Miracles (completed)

Chapter 15: Summer

15 Summer

Sebastian's upper back and shoulders looked as though he'd been skinned. I could only imagine the pain of the scars when they'd been fresh, and the fact that he'd said they were burns made my heart break for him.

And yet he didn't want to talk to me about it.

I wouldn't force him. I understood all too well the pain a tortured past carried. The only thing that bothered me was that I'd spilled my guts to him, telling him something almost no one knew, and he'd yet to open up to me about anything. It was as though he still didn't fully trust me, and I didn't understand why.

I sat heavily on the couch while he finished changing, and looked up at him when he emerged. His expression was one I couldn't quite read when he faced me, and I watched him as he lowered into the armchair next to me. His elbows were balanced on his knees, his eyes staring holes in the table.

"I know what you're thinking." He said, and I arched a brow at him.

"Do you?"

He nodded as his eyes lifted to mine. "It's not that I don't trust you with my past." He began, and I pursed my lips. "I mean, after all you've told me, I owe you a few explanations." He licked his lips as he shook his head. "But that one in particular is very hard for me. We'll get to it one day, but I just... I need your patience with it. Okay?"

My heart breaking for him, I nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry."

"Thank you." Leaping to his feet, he grabbed his shoes, then returned to the chair to put them on. "Well, I don't know about you, but I just realized that it's almost one, and I'm starving. Are you starving?"

Trying to ignore the thoughts still toiling through my mind, I nodded. "Uh, sure."

I stood when he did, and leaned on the bar while he rounded it to the fridge. "I've got the materials to make a halfway decent bologna sandwich, or, there's this place around the corner that makes a mean Reuben if you wanna go that route." He turned to look at me, his elbow resting on the open fridge door.

Smiling, I nodded. "Reuben sounds good to me."

"Good, because I hate bologna. It's decent for what it is, but still tastes like cat food to me."

Laughing, I watched him walk back into the living and grab his jacket from the hook. "Then why do you have it?"

He shrugged and tossed me my coat, which I caught. "It was cheap." He admitted, and I rolled my eyes. "So, walk or drive?"

"Is it far?"

He shook his head. "Like... a mile."

"We can walk if you want."

Smiling, he shrugged into his jacket and opened the door, where we both stood staring at the blizzard of snow that'd started in the last five minutes. "Drive it is." He said, and swiped his keys from the hook.

We both took off at a run, though Sebastian's version was more of an awkward hobble, and dove into his SUV, breathing heavily. Sebastian's fingers were shaking as he started the car, and we both held our hands to the vents once the heat was cranked.

"One of these days, I'm gonna buy a winter home in like... Mexico." He complained as he blew on his hands before fervently rubbing them together.

I scoffed and rubbed mine as well. "Well, when you go, take me with you."

"Not as if I'd go without you." He remarked, and turned a smile to me before launching us out of the driveway.

I grunted as I slammed into the seat, earning me a sympathetic frown from him as he threw the vehicle in drive. Bracing my hands on the door handle and chair arm, I tensed as Sebastian hit the gas. We started slow at first, then, like a roller coaster, shot down the street in a blur of snow.