Page 10 of How To Resist Mr. Wrong (Mr. Wrong Chronicles #1)

“I should have texted you once I knew you were probably ready to get back in touch," he said.

“There’s no possible way you would have known when that was,” she pointed out.

“You told Ray,” Seb said.

“Oh, right,” Emily said. She wasn’t surprised that they kept in touch because Ray wasn't quiet about how much she hated them not being friends anymore.

“Yes, but I was so angry that you were talking to Ray again and not me, I just stopped trying,” he admitted. Not sounding particularly apologetic, probably a little angry.

“Still, you have no reason to be sorry,” Emily said, and she felt good about being the bigger person.

“I know. I just wanted to make you feel worse about not keeping such an adorable and thoughtful friend in your life,” Seb said, smugly.

“And humble too,” Emily said.

“Yeah,” Seb said, and he looked at Emily, giving her the full effect of his beaming face.

Emily's heart skipped a beat. She had missed that smile so much. So, she hugged him, and Seb must have felt it too because he hugged her back just as tightly.

“So we're back to normal, right?” he asked once they resumed walking.

“Sure, but I can't help but notice you know where I live. I mean, you could have dropped by once in the past two years to talk to me,” Emily said, feigning hurt.

“You mean one year and nine months?” Seb winked and wrapped his arm around Emily’s shoulders.

***

After that day, it was like nothing had changed.

Jason had decided to take his drunken ramblings seriously and was really into football for a season.

He dragged Emily to many of Seb's games, but he got over that phase quicker than the woo-woo one.

Emily was thankful for that because she was done with him fanboying over Seb whenever he was around.

Seb didn't need any more inflation to his ego.

Two months into their friendship renaissance, Seb got a girlfriend.

“This is different, Em,” he insisted.

“Isn't that what you said about Nancy?” Emily commented and continued typing her report.

Seb closed her laptop shut. “No, listen to me. I said Nancy was cool, like Emma was cool, and the girl from the Sigma Party was cool. Pia… Pia is everything.” He sighed.

Emily laughed. “Okay, this is new,” she agreed. She'd never seen Seb that dramatic. He was mildly dramatic about everything, but he made sure he never gave anyone the wrong idea when it came to hookups anymore. Emily had berated him about that after witnessing the Shelly-debacle.

“That's what I'm saying! We’re going on a date tomorrow,” Seb said, looking giddy.

Seb must have been serious because for the next few months, Pia was a part of all their hangout plans. Emily rarely got to see Seb alone. Either Jason or Pia or both of them were always tagging along.

Emily liked Pia. She really did. She had beautiful long hair, and she was an amazing baker who was always experimenting with new recipes. She always came bearing baked goods whenever they met.

“Seb told me you love strawberries, so I tried strawberry pie,” Pia said as soon as she got inside Emily’s apartment, Seb in tow. She placed the pie on the kitchen counter. “This is my first time. Please don't be too harsh,” Pia said, her nose crinkling like she was bracing for criticism.

Emily tried it, with Seb and Jason ready with their plates and spoons. Of course, it was perfect, just like everything else she did.

“It's so amazing, babe,” Seb said, kissing Pia on the cheek.

“Yes! You need to give me the recipe. The lemon tart turned out so good,” Jason said, taking another piece to his plate.

Oh yeah, Jason was all about baking now.

“It’s great, Pia,” Emily said. She declined the offer of another one, saying she needed to go for a run in an hour. And she really did, she wasn’t intentionally being a bitchy, a feeling she got looking at Pia’s disappointed face.

But then Seb took two more pieces, so she was happy again, as if he wouldn't spend an extra hour in the gym paying for it. Okay, that had a smidgen of bitchiness. Maybe it was Jason's newfound interest in feeding Emily baked goods 24/7. Yeah, that was it. She was annoyed with confectionery.

Because she was really glad Seb was happy. He wouldn’t stop talking about Pia, even on the rare occasions she wasn't with them. So, Emily was caught by surprise when Seb informed her they had broken up.

“What?” was her reaction, her eyes almost bulging out of her head, and her mouth hanging open.

Seb smiled and shook his head. “It was very clearly coming for a long time, Em. There was no future there,” he said.

“Yeah, even I saw that,” Jason said. He was taking it way too well, considering he might have just lost his teacher. “I was done with all the baking, to be honest.”

Well, that explained that. Emily rolled her eyes. “But you were so happy,” she said.

“I guess,” Seb said. “But there were just too many complications.”

“Like what?” Emily asked.

“Logistics, to begin with. She's moving back home after graduation, and I'm not leaving here. So…”

“But we still have months until graduation,” Emily pointed out, trying to make sense of the sudden change.

“Why are you so upset about it anyway? I didn't think you even liked her all that much,” Seb said accusingly.

“Of course I did,” Emily said defensively.

“Yeah, right,” Jason chimed in.

“I did,” Emily insisted.

“Okay,” Seb said, raising his hands in surrender.

***

They never spoke about the breakup, not until a few months later when Emily broke it off with Jason. A surprisingly mature and adult breakup. They even decided to stay in touch.

“I'll miss the dude,” Emily told Seb, when he dragged her to the bar and pumped her up with alcohol while he sipped his beer. “I mean, I'm relieved, but he was so nice, you know?” she lamented.

“Sure,” Seb said.

“He was just starting to explore grilling. I was excited about that too,” she said.

“Mm-hmm,” Seb said, from her side. Were they always sitting on the same side of the booth?

“I think he can be a really good chef,” Emily nodded. Jason was creative enough to do that.

“That would need him to stick to it for more than a couple of months,” Seb commented, with a note of snide in his tone.

Emily turned to look at him and his serious expression. His pursed lips made her laugh for some reason. She laughed and didn't stop until tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“I'm sorry, Em,” Seb said when she finally collected herself and rested her head on Seb's shoulder. She was starting to feel very heavy.

“You have a comfortable shoulder,” she told him.

“Thanks,” he said. He sounded sad, so Emily looked at him again. She didn't get a good view, so she straightened herself.

Seb was looking at her too. And he was still looking so, so sad. Emily didn't like how his lips curved downwards. She reached out with her thumb and index finger to point them upwards. Then, she kissed him on the mouth.

He kissed back almost immediately, and they made out very sloppily until Seb suddenly backed off.

“Fuck,” he said. He was sad again.

Wait, what was Emily doing? “Oh god, I'm so sorry,” she said. She felt like all the alcohol she had consumed had metabolized within seconds.

“You're drunk,” Seb said.

“Yes, that's it. I'm drunk,” she nodded vigorously. It had, after all, been the best stupidity defence for centuries.

“You would never do it sober,” he sighed.

“Exactly,” Emily nodded again, feeling embarrassment like a solid weight pushing her down.

“Right,” Seb said, standing up. “I'll walk you back.”

Emily gave a double thumbs-up to that. Has she ever done that before? Well, maybe she still had some alcohol left in her system after all.

***

They never talked about that night, not on the way back, not when they graduated, not when they both started interning at Emily's father's company. But nothing else changed.

Seb was back to being Seb the very next day. So Emily never mentioned it, even though she could still feel the rejection and embarrassment every time she thought about that kiss, which was now down to just a couple of times a day. A huge improvement.

“Hey! You want to come over today to binge Game of Thrones? We missed the last three episodes,” Seb said, sitting on her desk while Emily tried to focus on work and avoided looking at the guy in front of her.

“Em?” Seb said, waving his hand in front of her face.

He asked something, didn't he? “Yeah,” she said, hoping that was the right answer.

“Perfect. Let's drive together after work. When are you getting off?”

Great, she’d volunteered herself for more torture! But she’d been avoiding one-on-one time with Seb for a few weeks now. She couldn’t do more than that without raising suspicion. “Five, I guess. No one's really in a working mood after the proposal finished yesterday.”

“Yet you're sitting here working through lunch,” Seb chastised.

“Yup, that's what I was doing,” Emily said quickly.

“Okay, weirdo. Meet me in the lobby at five,” Seb said, patting her shoulder and removing his hand too slowly. Then, he was gone.

Emily wished Seb would stop touching her. Didn't he realize he was too hot for casual touches? Especially after rejecting someone no more than a few months ago. This was downright cruelty.

But Emily was a sucker, so she was in the lobby at five sharp. They decided to drive in Seb's car. Emily could pick hers up tomorrow. She'll end up spending the night at Seb's anyway, so it made sense.

It was worse than torture. She was slowly killing herself. But she must be a masochist because she couldn't stop. How fun!

Once they were in Seb's one-bedroom, she changed into her pajamas in the bathroom. She took her time to psych herself up for another night of pining.

“The popcorn's in the oven,” Seb's voice came from the bedroom when she finally found the courage to get out and face the music.

Obediently, she brought the popcorn to the center table.

She sat herself on one corner of the couch to avoid any touches, accidental or otherwise, and cued the episode they had missed.

After a couple of minutes, Seb walked in wearing a tank top, Emily's favorite, and shorts. It wasn't even hot outside!

He jumped on the couch without any care in the world.

Was he kidding her? “Are you kidding me?”

“What?” Seb looked at her innocently.

Wait, did she say that out loud? Emily didn't know what had just happened. Some circuits crossed, probably, but there were so many easy outs. She just had to make something up. Yep, that's right. “Ummm…” Why couldn't Emily remember any words?

Seb looked at her with worry. Well, good, because she was definitely worrying herself. He moved closer and rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

Emily felt the hair in his path rise. He leaned in close. Too close.

“Are you okay?” Seb asked slowly. He cupped her cheek with his other hand and helped her close her mouth. Was it open?

Seb smiled. “You're not having a stroke, are you?”

Would he be happy about that? Why was he smiling?

Seb's hand on her arm got slower and a lot more gentle. “You're not the most subtle person, you know that, Em?” he said, his eyes travelling to her lips before they slowly met her eyes again.

Wait, what? “What?” She asked.

“I'm gonna kiss you now, okay?” He said, looking at her lips.

“Okay,” Emily said. She didn't have any thoughts left.

“Okay,” Seb breathed out and closed the gap between them.

Emily kissed him back and opened her mouth as soon as their lips touched. Seb sucked her tongue into his mouth, and Emily's whole body relaxed, but she could still feel the distance between them. She climbed over his lap because she couldn't bear to have any space between them.

“Fuck, Emily,” Seb moaned. Emily felt his voice down her stomach and in her entire body.

She held him tightly, combing her hand through his hair, his arm, and his stupid tank top. She bunched it up while their tongues fought for dominance. She'd happily lose to him.

He pushed her down on the couch and climbed over her. He looked into her eyes and smiled so lovingly that Emily's heart shattered and glued back together just with that expression. She pulled him back to her lips. He explored her body with his hands, and Emily felt hot wherever his hand touched.

Suddenly, she felt too hot to bear anymore, so she pushed him back.

“What's wrong?” Seb asked, looking alarmed.

Emily realized she didn't understand what was happening. Were they just hooking up for the night? Seb rarely did relationships.

Were they together now? Did Seb love her? Oh god, did she love him?

Seb sat up and looked more worried by the second.

Emily wanted to say so many things, but all that came out of her mouth was, “Can we watch the show now?”

Seb looked at her for another second, as if assessing her for damage, before he nodded. “Yeah, okay,” he said. He sat down properly and put the show on.

Emily scooted until they were snuggling, and Seb wrapped his hand around her. Maybe that was enough for today.

But clearly, it wasn't because she woke up the next day on the couch to an empty apartment with a crick in her neck. She looked around for Seb, but only found a box of donuts in the kitchen with a note.

Can you please Uber to the office? Had to go to mum's .

If she knew that was the last thing Seb would say for over a year, she'd have probably not crumpled that note up.