Boys of West Denton ✓

chapter five

Harris

Sebastian leaves after about another half an hour, leaving me all by my lonesome to do nothing but contemplate what has gone down. There's just a couple hours till sun-up, and my hand is resting over the fresh hickey left a couple inches below the collar of my T-shirt. I never would have guessed that he would have been capable of such feats, but in all honesty, I've never felt anything like that before.

It leaves a certain sort of pang in my chest, though, because it brings me back to those first few times of hooking up with Liam. We've been fooling around since we were fifteen and sixteen respectively, although we only started really dating when we were headed into our junior year. We lasted off and on again for about seven months, and I guess we'd been playing it as casual friends with benefits since then.

Because, with Liam, the magic wore off quickly. Being with him had been intoxicating at first; being with him was like an addiction I couldn't imagine shaking—and believe me, I did try. Even now, he has this weird kind of pull on me, this allure that I can't ignore. And I love spending time with Liam, I do. But what we had was just boring, and repetitive, and I wasn't really into it, especially when he started getting wasted and trying to push me farther than I appreciated. We're better off as just friends, sans benefits.

I was kind of hoping that Seb would have wanted to try out dating for real, but I get it. We barely know each other, no matter how intense our chemistry may feel. He's nicer than I'd anticipated, especially for someone who's close with Saanvi Gaddam. Not that she's a bad person or anything, I just figured she wouldn't be friends with someone fun. And on top of that, Sebastian is unbelievably quiet. We've grown up together, a block or so apart, and yet we'd never really spoken until tonight. It's alright though, his wanting to be just casual. Call it a situationship, call it friends with benefits, call it whatever you want—I've done that with Liam before. So I know how to manage my expectations, thankfully.

I roll over onto my side and reach for my white water thermos. I'm always thirsty as hell after a night of drinking. I'm usually really hungry too, but I'm too cozy to even think about getting up right now. Earlier, laying with my head on Seb's chest like that, his heartbeat quietly thudding in my ear, I felt surprisingly calm, and not that floaty kind of numbness I feel after drinking. Legitimately content. It was nice.

I can't believe I just had the most intense make out session with Sebastian Krause.

I think it's a small town thing, calling people by their first and last name. Because, if your town is the kind of small that West Denton is, people might not know who you're talking about, but they might just recognize their last name. For Sebastian's parents, I don't know too much about them, only that Sebastian's dad is an anti-vaxxer dentist, and his very quiet mom teaches kindergarten. No siblings, at least that I know of. And he lives so close by—it's surprising we've never spent time together before.

My phone is dead, and I finally muster the strength to go half off the bed to grab the end of the charger. We must have flung it off during the whole making out thing, which, oh well.

The second my phone turns on, its screen glaringly bright in the darkness, I see the few missed text notifications from Liam come in. I'm almost upset that it's only two, but whatever. He knows I can handle myself, I guess.

          Liam: hey srry to ditch u but eli wakeman is taking me home

          Liam: see u tmrw

I want to ask him since when have we had plans for tomorrow, but we were probably going to hang out tomorrow anyway. The apparent lack of concern he has for my well-being is a little upsetting though. Just, whatever. Whatever. I don't really care.