My stomach growls and I shake my head. Why am I always so damned hungry? I look around for my clothes. I see Matt’s shirt and slip that on instead. It covers me to my mid-thigh and it’ll work nicely for breakfast. I fasten up enough buttons to cover myself and I move through to the living room, humming to myself.
Ok I admit it. I’m happy. Being with Matt makes me happy, so I’m going to let go of everything else and just focus on that. Surely, when all is said and done, that’s all that really matters.
I spot a plate piled high with food and a glass of orange juice on the kitchen counter and I move closer. The plate has two croissants, some strawberries, and a huge pile of bacon. Beside it is a note which I pick up and read.
Callie,
Sorry, something came up and I had to go to work. There’s fresh coffee in the pot. I’ve left you breakfast out, but help yourself to anything else you want.
Matt x
Anything else? Holy shit, how much does he think I can eat? I can’t help but laugh as I go to the coffee pot and pour myself a cup. I take it back to the seat I sat in last night at the dining table so I can sit and look out over the city. I grab a croissant and a few of the strawberries. I tell myself that’s enough, and then I reconsider and take two rows of bacon too. I’ve eaten the bacon and the strawberries, and I’m halfway through the croissant when I hear the door open.
“How was work?” I ask.
“Perfect babe,” a voice that isn’t Matt’s answers me. “How sweet of you to ask.”
I turn around quickly, wondering who the hell it is. I feel a stab of fear which disappears when I see Sebastian.
He walks towards the kitchen and pours himself a mug of coffee. “Nice shirt,” he comments.
“Thanks. I like yours as well.” I grin.
“Yeah? I think mine would look better on you,” he says.
I feel heat rising to my cheeks. Partly because of Sebastian’s comment and partly because I am suddenly extremely conscious of the fact I’m not wearing any underwear.
I’m pleased when Sebastian sits down opposite me with his coffee. At least now the table hides my lower half and the shirt is buttoned high enough to cover my breasts. “So what brings you here so early?” I ask.
“Well, I wanted to see you obviously.” Sebastian winks. “I wanted to make sure you hadn’t been a figment of my imagination.”
I roll my eyes and he laughs.
“Okay, seriously, I was hoping to catch Matt before he left for work. Is he still in bed?”
“No, he’s already left,” I say.
“And yet, you’re still here. So it must be serious. Does that mean I’ve missed my chance to steal you away?” Sebastian says.
I don’t even know how to begin to answer that. Of course, I’m not going to let him steal me away as he so eloquently puts it, but are Matt and I serious? I just don’t know, and I’m certainly not going to start debating it with Sebastian.
“Hey, I’m just joking,” Sebastian says when I don’t answer. “I’m not really in the habit of trying to steal my brother’s girlfriend. Unless of course she wants me to, and then that’s different isn’t it? It’s almost like a public service.”
I feel the corners of my lips turn up slightly. His girlfriend. That’s the only part I focus on. Matt said that to his brother? That I’m his girlfriend. Or has Sebastian just decided that for himself because I’m still here?
Sebastian grins at my confusion and shakes his head. “Well, it looks like that was news to you. Typical Matt. If he can’t tell you, then I will, because I have a good feeling about you. I think you might just be a keeper. Matt is serious about you Callie. You know how much he loves the restaurant right?”
I nod, still trying to process the part where Sebastian is so certain Matt is serious about me.
“He insisted on running the whole operation himself to get the manager caught red handed. But he was willing to throw it all away once he met you. He was so scared you’d hate him once you found out the truth. You don’t do you?”
“Hate him? No, of course not,” I say.
“Well, I figured that seeing as you’re wearing his shirt, but women are weird so I just thought I’d check.” He grins. “You know, just in case you’re not that into him but you have some sort of shirt fetish.”
“I’m only a little bit weird.” I laugh. “And I’m more of a belt fetishist.”
I can feel myself warming to Sebastian. I wasn’t sure of him at first. He seemed cocky and so self-assured the way he swanned in and started flirting with me like he’d known me all of his life. But underneath it all, he seems to really care about Matt. And I love the fact that Matt has talked to his brother about me. It gives me the reassurance I needed that he did care about me the whole time. “So…” I say with a wicked grin. “Do you have any embarrassing stories about Matt as a kid?”
“Oh hundreds,” Sebastian says with a twinkle in his eye.
By the time I’ve finished my breakfast, I’ve heard about the time Matt got himself locked in the bathroom, and by the time his dad managed to get him out, he had emptied three full bottles of bubble bath into the tub. Sebastian laughed, telling me how long it took his mom to get rid of all of the bubbles. I’ve heard about what he was like in school, a bit of geek according to Sebastian, but I find that hard to believe, and about the time
