4. Treehouse

Sebastian Laurent. The idiotic genius. What the hell was he thinking?!

I fan the heat that consumes my cheeks, kicking a pebble off the treehouse roof. This treehouse. The very same one where Seb and I used to play house together. My whole body blushes at the thought. Arrrghh. What is happening to me? I'm supposed to be in love with Dave. 

"A! Please get down from there. Let's talk about this! Don't be such a child!" Seb calls out to me from below. 

"Don't call me a child! Just go away! Get lost, Seb!" I shout back indignantly, knowing full well that he can't follow me up to the roof, "And don't think  about sending our friends, because I'll be kicking their butts the minute they get up here." 

I don't really think Seb will involve our friends in this mess at all. He knows as well as I do that will be chaos when they hear about this.  In fact, I don't see them anywhere, so they must still be inside the house wondering what the hell is going on. 

"How dare you, Seb! This isn't some game. These are our lives we're talking about! You can't talk of marriage that lightly." I tell him. Seb starts to say something but I continue to shout over it, "You're out of your mind. And I can't believe you would let Lucien trick you into doing something like this." 

He wouldn't let his father drag him into becoming a doctor like him, but of course, he would let Lucien get away with something like this. I know it's Lucien because it couldn't have been Seb. What reason could he have for wanting to marry me? As a prank, maybe. 

"Seb?!" I shout, looking down below to look for him but I don't spot him anymore.

"Seb?" I call out one more time, but I am only met with silence. "Where the hell are you?" 

"A," his terrified whisper came. I whip my head behind me and see him crouch at the end of the roof, gripping it for dear life. His face is as white as a sheet. What the hell? I don't even hear him go up. 

"What are you doing?" I scold him, but my voice immediately softens. I hurry to his side and push his long hair out his face, urging him to inhale, "Hey, hey, it's okay, Seb. It's going to be fine. Just breathe, alright?"

He closes his eyes as he starts to sweat. I hold him tighter to my body, fearing that if he fell now, I wouldn't be able to pull him back with my feeble strength. 

"Why did you come up here? Did you forget? You're terrified of heights," I remind him gently, not trying to show the anxiety in my voice. Not long after I left for California when we were thirteen, Seb was apparently on a field trip to South Korea when a couple of bullies ganged up on him, pushing him over the edge of a two-story building by accident. Thankfully, he fell into a balcony and didn't sustain more than a busted elbow, but it was enough to scare him about heights forever. He couldn't even get up the tree house stairs then, and he loved this tree house.

"You were just shouting and not listening to me. I had to come up," Seb tells me feebly, slowly opening his eyes to meet mine. "A, would it really be that bad if we marry?" 

I stop for a second, noting the change in his voice. He asked the question with curiosity, just like he always did with a lot of things. But there was desperation in there, too. One that I must've just imagined because there is no way that Seb's thinking straight at the moment. 

"Why? Why do you want to marry me, Sebastian?" I ask him quietly. Seb pauses, taken aback. We are closer to each other now, him holding on to me for dear life. Me returning the touch just as fervently. And for a second, something opens up within me as I hold his eyes, waiting patiently for an answer. 

"Because... because I want to take care of you, too, A. You're important to me." he finally answers, blinking as if I just asked a preposterous question. 

I let out a laugh, closing my eyes in the sudden disappointment that wells in my throat. I expected this answer. I know Seb better than anyone. I know he didn't think this through and had just committed himself to it because of an obligation. It still hurt to hear it straight from his lips, though. This means he is willing to let me ruin his life. The one thing that I always bring to the table to those who are close to me. Ruin. Seb just doesn't know it yet. 

"A---" 

"I can take care of myself, Seb. I know Lucien and you will never see me that way, but I'm a big girl now. You don't need to sacrifice yourself for me." 

"Sacrifice?" Seb says, looking more confused by the second, "Wait, do you think I'm being forced to do this?" 

"Ari! Seb!" a familiar voice calls from below. Seb and I look at each other, instantly springing apart as we realize how close we've become in a span of seconds. Seb, realizing the height again, closes his eyes tightly. I grab his shirt, praying to God that Seb will hold his ground. 

I turn to the voice, trying to calm my heart down as it skipped with happiness at the sound of it.

Dave. he's back.

"Up here!" I manage to say, "Can you come up? I need help with this idiot right here. He thinks he can handle going up the tree and now he's looking like he's going to vomit his guts out anytime now." 

"Shut up." Seb mutter, looking a bit greener. 

"Sounds messy." Dave chuckles as he climbs up the tree. Slowly, the door window reveals him to me and my heart squeezes at the sight of his beautiful face. It's dusk now and Lucien's staff had already turned on the lights around the treehouse, illuminating Dave's features heartbreakingly. He smiles and salutes at me, and I try to return it, "Welcome back." He and Dina had decided to visit Botswana, where her grandmother is, at the end of class last year and had spent the past few months there. They were supposed to return for our first day of school, but their flight got delayed. 

"Happy to be back," he answers, helping me with Seb. "Yo, Sebastian. Are you still okay, or have you finally decided to turn into Shrek now?" He says teasingly, but he's gentle and strong as he assists Seb back out of the roof and into the inside of the treehouse. As soon as Seb catches his breath, Dave helps him down the stairs as well. I follow them down silently.

"Shut up, dick. For that comment alone, I am going to cancel the welcoming party I'd arranged for you and Dina." Seb answers, but he's smiling and looking better now that he's not above ground. "How's your girl, by the way?"

Dave throws his head back in amusement and like the envious, horrible person that I am, I resent that laugh. Because we've been friends our entire life and I wasn't the one who had enticed that out of him. It was Dina. It had been Dina the moment she stepped into our lives. 

"Invigorated, she says. Apparently, it was her first time ever visiting her homeland." Dave says. 

"Well, I'm glad you guys had a fun break," Seb replies. 

"I am too." Dave agrees, but then he frowns at me, "But you can't say the same, can you, Ari? I heard what happened. What a way to end your break. I'm so sorry about your mother." 

It must be because it was Dave who said it, or it must be because the grief has been hiding beneath me the entire time and had finally decided to blow up. But right then and there, the composed face I had constructed the entire time came off. I break down in front of Seb and Dave, my body wracked with heavy sobs that I can't control no matter how hard I try. 

"Ari," Dave says softly, pulling me into his chest without hesitation. I breathe his scent in, wallowing in the familiarity and the heartbreak that it brings me. And beside us, I barely notice Seb leave, his footsteps almost unheard as he moves. As if he knows that I need this, that I need to have Dave with me now, by my side.