summer in the city 「 s.stan 」

DAY 7

— AUGUST 7TH —

It had been almost one week since you'd arrived in New York, and you were having a great time. But this was destined to be your best day yet.

Over breakfast, you and Sebastian had excitedly arranged your first date. That evening, he would be taking you to see a movie (you didn't know which one – he'd wanted to surprise you) at a drive in theater, which was something that you'd always wanted to try out. Needless to say, you were counting down the hours until eight o'clock, when the date would begin.

Even so, you still spent most of your day with Sebastian. He was leaning on the kitchen counter, telling you a story from his childhood in Romania, when your phone rang, making you jump slightly.

In all honesty, you were prepared to decline the call, even when you saw Allie's name lighting up the screen. You glanced up at Sebastian and he fell silent, nodding towards your phone, prompting you to answer it.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting you to be awake," your best friend joked, laughing loudly as you set the call to speaker. "Okay, but, I have an idea."

"Oh no," you replied drily, "that's not good." You could imagine Allie rolling her eyes at your response.

"Shut up, asshat. Alright, you've been here for a week and we haven't been to any parties yet – usually you're, like, drunk every single day. So we're going out tonight! There's a pretty decent club near our new house, wanna try it out?"

You inwardly groaned. Allie was right – the whole point of spending your summer here was for you to have fun with her, Sophia and Luca. You didn't want to admit it, but meeting Sebastian had somehow changed your agenda... how could you tell your childhood friends that you couldn't hang out with her because you had plans with the guy she'd introduced you to last week?

Sensing your dilemma, Sebastian walked over to you and quickly muted the call. "Hey, don't say no just because of me, okay? We have another three weeks until you have to leave, we can just reschedule our date for another time."

"I know, I just– I was looking forward to spending more time with you," you confessed. Suddenly, an idea sparked in your head, and you confidently unmuted your phone.

"Can Sebastian come too?" you asked Allie, praying that she wouldn't say anything inappropriate. Luckily, she was distracted by a knock at her door before she could fully consider what you'd just said.

"Oh, shit– I have to go, yeah, of course he can come. I'll text you the address, meet us at, uh, ten? I think... no, ten thirty. Okay, bye!"

You blinked in confusion as she hung up, causing Sebastian to chuckle at your nonplussed expression.

It technically wasn't a date, but it was better than nothing.

⋆

Several hours later, you were standing in front of the mirror in your room, nervously pulling at your dress. It was new – made of a gorgeous black silky material that hugged your curves perfectly, leaving little to the imagination. Really, an elegant pair of stilettos would've matched the outfit well, but you wore black high top Converse instead – heels just weren't your style.

You walked out of your room and headed downstairs, where Sebastian was already waiting for you.

"Y/N, the car is outside—"

He suddenly stopped speaking when he noticed your appearance. You could feel a blush forming on your cheeks as he looked you up and down, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Pick your jaw up off the floor, Stan," you joked flirtatiously. Although, you suspected he'd noticed you obviously checking him out too – he looked incredibly handsome in a pair of black jeans, a dark blue shirt and Nike shoes, complete with that adorable little paperboy cap.

"God, you look amazing," he muttered, raising his head to meet your gaze. "Ready to go?"

As usual, Sebastian was a gentleman; he helped you in and out of the Uber and even bought your drink when you met your friends at the club. You were already thinking that you wanted to spend the entire night sitting at the bar with him – however, after Allie persuaded you to try several different flavoured shots with her, you were too drunk to stay still anymore.

You headed to the dance floor without your friends, having had just enough alcohol to make you forget about your usual awkwardness and inhibitions. The next few hours were spent mixing with random people who you'd probably never see again – until something happened that put a dampener on your mood, for sure.

You were giggling slightly drunkenly, swaying your hips to the music as a pair of hands gripped your waist. You didn't know who they belonged to, and part of you wanted to push the stranger aside, to walk away and find Sebastian. But a tiny, devilish voice in your brain reminded you that you were only here for the summer, just like always – you deserved to have a little fun without caring about the consequences.

You spun around to face whoever had decided to dance with you; a guy who seemed to be around your age, maybe a little older, with blonde hair and a nose ring. Not entirely unattractive, but not your type. Still, you entertained him for a while; he seemed to enjoy the way you moved against him, his sweaty body pressed against yours.

It was when he leaned down to kiss your neck that you finally realised – maybe you were making a mistake.

"You wanna get out of here, babe?" he muttered in your ear, in an obviously failed attempt to sound seductive.

"No, I'm– I'm good," you replied, stumbling over your words a little. You tried to pull away, scanning the crowded room for any of your friends, but the man forcefully tugged you back towards him. At this point, you felt completely sober again, and you were beginning to panic.

"Come on, I know you want me. Let me take you back to my place, we can—"

Suddenly, his speech was cut off with a groan as somebody yanked him backwards and punched him square in the jaw.

Sebastian. Thank God.

The stranger pathetically flopped onto the floor, clutching his face in pain. You sighed gratefully and leaned into Sebastian's touch when he wrapped an arm securely around your waist, guiding you towards the exit. As soon as you were safely outside, he turned to you, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"You okay? Or should I go back in there and teach that creep a lesson?"

He was visibly worried for you, but you could also tell that he was absolutely furious. Even in your shocked state, you couldn't help thinking that angry Seb was hot.

"No, it's okay. I'm okay... can we go home?" you asked timidly.

He nodded and immediately pulled out his phone, presumably to call an Uber and maybe tell the others that you were leaving. You began to shiver slightly as the night breeze hit your bare legs, and suddenly you wished that you would've just said no to Allie's plans.

Noticing your trembling, Sebastian's frown intensified. He would've given you his jacket, but he wasn't wearing one, and he couldn't exactly take off his shirt and offer it to you (well, he could, but it probably would've been weird). Instead, he placed a hand on the small of your back and nudged you towards him, before engulfing you in a huge bear hug. Your head lolled against his chest, the steady sound of his heartbeat calming you.

The two of you stood that way until your Uber arrived; Sebastian's embrace was warm and comforting, just what you needed after the almost disastrous night out. Even once you were seated inside the car, he tucked his hand into yours, squeezing your palm every so often to make sure you were okay.

The journey was silent, both of you thoroughly tired out. When you arrived at the apartment, neither of you could drag yourselves to your rooms; you collapsed on the couch together, sprawled out messily, with you practically laying on top of Sebastian. He didn't seem to mind.

"Seb?" you murmured after a while, not sure if he was asleep yet. A quiet hum escaped his lips, causing you to smile drowsily. "Thank you."

And you were asleep, out like a light before you could even hear his response.

"Orice pentru tine, îngerul meu."

And then he was gone too.