Chapter 3: At Wendy's

ZAIRE’S POV

"Coach is going to give us hell again today at practice. I can almost feel it," Reggie groaned, and I could almost see him replaying in his head all the torture we have been going through at practice these past two days.

"I mean, he's still pissed off about what went down at the bonfire last Friday," I said, taking a sip of my Coke. "I'm just glad that we didn't get suspended, especially with the season about to start soon."

"Yo, my dad would've killed me, bro, if we had gotten suspended," Ian muttered, shaking his head.

"Same," Jasper added, leaning back in his chair. "But I'm cut off from my allowance for a whole two months because of it. My old man said it's 'time to learn responsibility.' Whatever that means."

We all laughed.

The air inside Wendy's was buzzing with chatter - students everywhere, some from our school, some from Milton. The aroma of fries and burgers filled the air, almost like a warm hug, and for a second, it felt like things were finally cooling down after the chaos of that bonfire night.

Until Reggie froze mid-bite, a devilish smirk slowly stretching across his face.

"Well, look what we have here," he said, leaning back in his seat.

"What?" I asked, glancing over.

He tilted his chin toward the far corner of the diner. "Your favorite person in the whole goddamn world."

And just like that, my good mood evaporated.

For fuck's sake. Couldn't I just catch a break from seeing that guy's face? Was that too fucking much to ask?

Sebastian's gaze was already on me when I looked at him. A deep frown formed on my face , my hand tightening around the small bottle of coke I was holding. For a moment, we just stared at each other, no emotion whatsoever on his face before he looked away and talked to his sister. They went to sit on one of the empty booths, his composure that of an unbothered person.

That was one of the many things I hated the most about that guy. The way he always looked like nothing could touch him. Like he was above everyone else just because he looked good and could pull off some girls. I swear to god, I couldn't stand him.

Scratch the "good looking" part ,I didn't mean that.

"No fucking way he came here knowing we hang out here all the time." Ian said

"Guess the guy's got some balls," Jasper muttered.

Reggie chuckled darkly. "Or he's just begging for round two."

I tried to stay quiet, really, I did. But the more I looked at him, the more my jaw clenched. He was sitting there with that same lazy posture. I hated that even after everything, he looked so damn unbothered.

What was his fucking problem?

Reggie slammed his drink down. "Nah, I'm not sitting here watching him act like nothing happened. Let's go."

"Reggie," I warned, but it was too late. He was already standing, and Ian and Jasper followed like the loyal idiots they were. I cursed under my breath and stood too, because if I didn't go, they'd say I was scared of him.

As we got closer, Maggie noticed us first. She muttered something to Sebastian, her shoulders tensing, but he didn't even look surprised. Like he'd been expecting this.

"Well, well," Reggie started, crossing his arms. "If it isn't Milton's golden boy."

Sebastian looked up slowly, expression flat. "What do you want?"

"No what are you doing showing your face around here after the shit you and your idiot friends pulled? How dare you?" Reggie sneered.

Sebastian sighed. "Sorry, does your father own this place or something?"

That set Ian off laughing, and I could practically feel the tension snap. Reggie leaned in closer. "Watch your mouth, Burkhart. Or I will shut it up for you."

Maggie stood up, glaring at him. "Back off. You've already done enough damage."

"Sit down, sweetheart," Reggie smirked. "This is between the boys."

"Don't call her that," Sebastian said sharply, finally standing. He was taller than I remembered, eyes cold, jaw tight - and fuck, I hated how my chest tightened just seeing him like that.

"Or what?" Jasper taunted.

"Call her that again and see what fucking happens." Sebastian said, stepping closer to both Reggie and Jasper.

Without thinking, I stepped in front of my teammates, putting my palm on Sebastian's chest, and slightly pushed him back. His chest felt rigid under my skin but I forced myself to not notice that. Why did I even notice that in the first place? I didn't care about another man's chest, the fuck?

"Back off Burkhart. You don't want to get your ass smoked right here." I said, looking straight into his eyes. "There's only one of you, and there's four of us, don't be stupid."

Something like pain flashed into his eyes, but then I could have read it wrong because this was Sebastian Burkhart we were talking about. The guy never really showed any emotions other than anger or frustration. I doubted anything ever hurt him.

Sebastian's jaw twitched as his gaze slowly drifted to my hand that was still against his chest

"Get your hand off." He growled lowly as his cold eyes met mine once again.

I almost flinched at the intensity of his eyes and the venom in his voice. I removed my hand and tried to act cool like nothing just happened.

"Come on, Maggie ,let's go." Sebastian said to his sister.

Maggie nodded. "Yeah, let me get our food first."

She turned towards the counter to collect their order. Sebastian brushed past us, taking the bag of food from Maggie with one hand and walking out of Wendy's without another word, his sister following behind him. The bell above the door jingled as it closed behind them.

The tension was thick enough to choke on.

For a moment, the diner went quiet. I could feel every pair of eyes on us, and it made my skin crawl.

Reggie snorted, breaking the silence. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Bro, you scared him off," Ian said with a grin, slapping Reggie's shoulder.

But I wasn't grinning. My jaw was still tight, and I couldn't get that look Sebastian gave me out of my head. It wasn't anger. It wasn't fear either. It was... disappointment?

What the hell did he even have to be disappointed about?

"Let's bounce," Jasper said, finishing his drink. "We've made our point."

"Yeah, sure," I muttered, grabbing my jacket from the back of the chair.

We walked out into the parking lot, the late afternoon sun bouncing off the hoods of cars. My stomach felt weird, like I'd swallowed a rock. I kept replaying the whole thing in my head. The way his voice dropped when he said get your hand off. The way my body actually reacted before my brain did.

I didn't know what the hell was that.

"Yo, Zai," Reggie said, shoving me lightly. "You good, bro?"

"Yeah," I lied. "Just thinking about practice later."

He laughed. "Man, you should damn well prepare yourself ,Coach is going to drill the fuck out of us. I'm even thinking of ditching practice today."

"Yeah, do that at your own peril." Jasper said as everyone laughed.

They started talking about some other things, but my head was somewhere else. Thinking about Sebastian Burkhart. Even though I told myself I hated the guy, the truth was-I couldn't shake this feeling in my chest that maybe, just maybe, I'd crossed a line this time. And worse, for the first time, I actually regretted the way I had just treated him.

I mean, no, this had to be some kind of a joke. Or I was having some sort of concussion that I didn't know about. There was really no other explanation because there was no way I was feeling like that because of Burkhart.

I hated the guy.....right?

I shouldn't be feeling any sympathy for him. He deserved every bit of shit we were dishing up for him. Him and his stupid teammates.

But....whether I wanted to admit it or not, I felt bad, and the guilt was eating me up alive no matter how much I was trying to dismiss the weird feeling and act like nothing happened. The truth of the matter was that something did happen, and it was driving me absolutely fucking crazy.