LOGINELI'S POV"Sunday dinner."Jasmine repeated it slowly across the cafeteria table, her fork suspended halfway to her mouth, her eyes wide."Sunday dinner." I confirmed."Selena." She pressed."Selena." I confirmed."Arranged it after Bianca cancelled Thursday lunch." She pressed."Within twenty minutes." I confirmed.She put her fork down."Eli." She whispered. "That woman is terrifying.""I know." I acknowledged."Like genuinely." She pressed. "Clinically. Terrifyingly strategic.""I know Jasmine." I said flatly."And you are going." She pressed."We are all going." I disclosed. "Sebastian. Bianca. Lucas. Me. Sunday evening."She picked her fork back up slowly, chewing thoughtfully, watching my face with those sharp eyes of hers that never missed anything."How is Sebastian handling it?" She inquired."Tightly." I replied."Meaning?" She pressed."Meaning he has that jaw thing happening constantly." I replied. "And he keeps checking his phone every four minutes waiting for her to chan
SEBASTIAN'S POV"Alternative arrangements."I stared at Bianca's message on my phone and felt something cold move through my chest."What does that mean?" Eli noted from beside me, reading over my shoulder."It means she knew." I noted. "About the dissolution. About Bianca leaving. She knew this morning before she called me.""Before she suggested Thursday lunch." Eli noted."Yes." I confirmed.We were standing outside the east lecture building where Bianca's message had reached us mid conversation and the campus was moving normally around us completely indifferent to the fact that everything had just shifted again."She planned the lunch knowing Bianca was already leaving." Eli noted."Yes." I confirmed."Which means the lunch was never about finding out how much I matter to you." Eli noted. "She already knows that.""Yes." I confirmed."So what is it actually about?" He pressed.I looked at him."The clause." I noted. "Bianca told you about the clause.""Yes." Eli confirmed."Then y
BIANCA'S POV"She called him this morning."I dropped onto the bench beside Eli outside the literature building and he looked up from his book with that specific expression he wore when he already knew what somebody was about to say and was deciding whether he wanted to hear it."I know." He closed his book. "I was there.""On speaker." I noted."Yes." He confirmed."In the middle of the courtyard." I noted."Also yes." He confirmed.I looked at him for a moment. He looked back at me with those steady eyes of his that gave very little away and I had learned over the past weeks that the less Eli gave away the more was actually happening underneath it."You told him Thursday works." I noted."Word travels fast." He noted."Sebastian called me approximately four seconds after you walked away." I told him. "He was not calm about it.""Sebastian is never calm about anything involving his mother." Eli noted."He has a point this time." I insisted. "Selena does not do casual lunch Eli. She d
SEBASTIAN'S POV"Put your phone away."Eli whispered it without looking at me, his pen moving across his notebook, eyes fixed on the board at the front of the lecture hall.I put my phone away.Professor Daniels was halfway through something about post colonial narrative structures that I was making a genuine effort to follow and failing at completely because Eli was sitting beside me and his knee was exactly three inches from mine and I had been aware of exactly three inches for the past forty minutes."You are not listening." Eli whispered."I am listening." I whispered back."Four words in twenty minutes." He whispered, eyes still forward.I looked at my notebook.He was not wrong."The lecture is not that interesting." I whispered."Write it down anyway." He whispered.I picked up my pen and wrote two more words then put it back down and looked at the side of his face instead because that was considerably more interesting than anything Professor Daniels had said all morning.He ha
ELI'S POV"You are going to be late."Jasmine's voice came through my phone at eight forty seven as I stood in front of my mirror doing absolutely nothing useful."I am not going to be late." I replied."You have been standing in front of that mirror for eleven minutes." She noted."How do you know that?" I replied."Because I have been watching the front steps since eight thirty." She replied. "From the bench. With my coffee.""Jasmine." I warned."He is already there Eli." She breathed. "Eight fifty three and he is already there. Just standing there with his bag on his shoulder looking at his phone trying very hard to look like he is not waiting for you."I put my phone in my pocket and picked up my bag.**************************************************He was exactly where he said he would be.Front steps. Eight fifty three. Bag on his shoulder. Eyes finding mine the moment I came through the gate like he had been watching for exactly this specific angle of approach.I walked towa
ELI'S POV"So he actually said it?"Jasmine dropped her tray across from mine in the cafeteria and leaned forward with both elbows on the table, eyes wide, coffee completely forgotten beside her."Keep your voice down." I replied."I am keeping my voice down." She insisted. "Did he actually say it Eli? Out loud? In a corridor? Those exact words?""Those exact words." I confirmed.She sat back and picked up her coffee and looked at me over the rim with an expression sitting somewhere between I told you so and genuine emotional devastation on my behalf."And you told him to figure it out." She noted."Yes." I replied."To Sebastian Hale." She noted. "Who just told you he was in love with you. After being cleared by a university board. After getting Devon expelled. After everything." She paused. "You looked that man in the eye and told him to figure it out.""I also told him I had never hit anyone in my life." I replied. "And that he should draw his own conclusions from that."She set he
SEBASTIAN'S POVAnother drink was definitely going to drive me crazy but I didn't care, I poured myself just another glass of whiskey and gulped it down all at once. I didn't care about the burning sensation in my throat all I cared about was this ache that just would not stop. Fuck! I had been dr
ELI'S POV The hearing ended just the way Selena Hales and her golden son wanted. He was free from any kind of bully accusation (he had never bullied me anyway so, it kinda of fair.) I had left the moment the so called punishment had been given to him and I could hear dad calling after me the mome
Sebastian's POV“I would like to know what exactly is going on. Bully among my son's? Impossible!” Mother announced, her eyes blazing with fire as she stared at me. It was the worst doom that could befall me, my mom coming to my rescue. How did she even know where to have found me? I knew I told h
ELI'S POV. It was foolish to think I had him trapped down for good, yeah everyone of us thought the was the end for Sebastain - I did, you did, the Disciplinary Committe did and I could swear Sebastain thought it was over for him too. But that the thing with the rich kids, they never get trapped







