Page 22 of Strings

He gazes up at me from the floor. “You were home this whole time?”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Looking left and right, I check to see if any of my neighbors are watching. It’s quiet and no one is in sight. He sits up and I grab his arm and pull him in. “Hurry up and get in here before someone sees you.”

“Too late. I’m pretty sure everyone at the Sym knows I’m here. Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is for me?”

I close the door behind him as he walks through. “Embarrassing for you? You’re sitting outside my door! Why? Why are you here?”

He glances down at my outfit. I can see my nipples poking through my sweatshirt, so I cross my arms.

“Why would you let me sit out there for so long? I was waiting for you to come home and you were here the entire time? I called you four times!”

“I fell asleep.”

“Obviously,” he says, pointing to my face. “You have… Here.” He reaches his hand up and I back away. “Hold still for a second.”

My posture goes rigid as he steps closer to me once more. He gently wipes the corner of my eye with his thumb. When he pulls it away, it’s covered in my black eyeliner. It must have smudged.

I know I’m scowling at him, but I don’t care. Who does he think he is, touching me like he knows me?

He must sense my discord. “Your eyes are too pretty for all that crap.”

He walks into my kitchen and washes his hand in the sink.

I’m uncomfortable in so many ways, I don’t know what to focus on first. How does he keep doing this to me? “Well, come on in and make yourself at home!”

He steps out of the kitchen, wiping his hand on a dishtowel. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I called and came over like this, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

He seems really sad. I almost feel bad for him, but then I don’t. “I’m sorry, too. Sorry for myself and this shit show you created in my life! All day today people were staring at me. I had to lie to my assistant and tell her we were seeing each other. I’m pretty sure my boss knows. I think everyone knows!”

“Bella has a big mouth.”

“You’re blaming all this on her? I’m blaming you! Why couldn’t you just leave me alone? Why did you have to involve me in your airplane drama and hold my head on your lap like you cared? I bet if you would have pretended to not know me either time, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened or escalated.”

Placing his hands on the top of his head, he turns and starts to pace. “I know! Dammit. I know!”

“So did you tell her?”

“I was going to, but then…”

“Sebastian?” I huff out his name as my shoulders slump. “Please tell me you told Bella we broke up? You promised!”

“I was going to. I was about to, but then she…she…she called my mother.”

“What?”

“She called my mother and asked her what she thought of my new ‘boo’.” He places quotation marks in the air as he says the word and rolls his eyes. “When my mother obviously had no clue, Bella said she could see why I hadn’t mentioned you since you were…” He pauses for a moment, seems to skip part of his story and continues, “And she claimed to be worried about me and my poor choices. Bella told her you were… well, she didn’t paint you in the best light.”

He folds the dish towel like he works at The Gap and places it on the counter.

“What did that bitch say? Tell me.”

“It’s not important. None of it’s true. But my mother called me and demanded to know why I never mentioned I was in a long-distance relationship and why she had to hear it from Bella Amarishio.”

“She’s named after a fricking cherry?”

“That’s maraschino.”

“Oh. Well, who does she think she is? And why did she think it was the least bit appropriate to call your mother?”