Sebastian Bear (complete)

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SIX

"So you want me forever?"

"I-" Madeline faltered. Even in the dark, she was sure the pink of her cheeks glowed neon behind her skin. Sebastian had wasted no time jumping into his interrogation. He was watching her so carefully. Her every move felt scrutinized, studied. She waited until Jackson and Ezra disappeared over the dunes. She waited until there were no possibilities that she could be overheard in her embarrassment.

"Madsy?" He was closer. Madeline could see him from the corner of her vision, his presence pressed against her aura, begging for attention. She bit her lips closed.

"Madsy?"

"That's how it works right?" Madeline shrugged. "I drank that stupid serum so we both know what I said was a hundred percent true so why even bother having this conversation?"

She wasn't sure why she was so angry? There was a part of her that thought maybe she had been caught, like some thief with their hand in someone else's purse. She felt irritable. His questions weren't necessary.

"Are you mad?" Sebastian laughed.

"I think so," Madeline answered honestly. "I didn't want to play that game."

"You should've said so."

"I didn't know I didn't want to play," she grumbled. " I mean I didn't know it was going to get so personal." She turned her back on him, annoyed with the blatant emotion dancing across her features. She didn't want him to know that she was so affected, that everything affected her so deeply that she was constantly overwhelmed and unsure. She hated being who she was sometimes. She hated loving Nolan and being so completely disregarded. She hated being alone. She hated not being alone. She hated being 18. She hated it all.

Sebastian moved up behind her, his arms circling around her middle, his chin resting atop of her windblown mess of hair. They both watched that strange glowing water, a sad whine echoed from the horizon like a heavy pull of a violin's strings.

"Why are you so scared to tell me?" There was no amusement in his tone. Madeline didn't look back. She couldn't trust her words when looking at his beautiful face. She kept her eyes on the sudsy trails left by the tide. "I want to be with you forever. You know that. If there was a longer option if I could be with you longer than forever."

"There is nothing longer than forever," Madeline mumbled.

"If there was," Sebastian tugged her back playfully. "I want that. Longer than forever."

"You make no sense," Madeline smiled. She couldn't help it. He wasn't real. He didn't feel real. This is what she had always wanted. She wanted someone to love her and want forever with her. She had it, wrapped around her like a heated blanket but for some reason, she just couldn't accept that it was actually meant for her.

"Can I take you somewhere?" As soon as Madeline agreed to his request a path fell out behind them with a drumming light that thrummed at their feet. Sebastian held her hand, their quiet breaths the only sound.

"I didn't know Ezra and Jackson weren't matches," Madeline glanced over at Seb who nodded. "They are so good together so I just assumed they were meant for each other."

"They've been together for a long time," Sebastian explained. "We were all friends before we were assigned to our mortals. The chemistry between them came from friendship, not a match. It could still work." He didn't sound sure though. Madeline noticed his quiet curiosity, the fingers that weren't clutching hers running along the thin strips of minty grass growing off the sides of their new path.