Page 27 of Harrison's Wedding

“Hey, you wanted me to call you. What’s up?”

“Yeah. Gabriel asked me if we wanted to go to dinner with him and Ariana tonight. I said I’d call you and ask.” I play it off as though he’d always intended to ask and wasn’t unsure about it.

Sebastian laughs and asks, “Any reason why Gabriel didn’t call and ask me himself?”

“Are you offended that he didn’t?” I’m actually curious about the answer to this question.

“Kind of. Seems strange that he wouldn’t call me, don’t you think?”

There’s an undercurrent to his words. He sounds pleasant enough, but this isn’t an innocent question, and I hate that I’m being put in this position.

“I told him I’d call you. I didn't know it would be an issue if I called instead of him.” I shrug my shoulders, despite Sebastian being unable to see.

“Uh huh. Sure. Heather’s in New York, isn’t she?”

“She is.”

“Yeah, I’m out.”

Of course he would be. It’s not like I’d have been able to convince Heather to go, anyway. Would any of us have been invited if Heather were here? Maybe. How did we get to such a shitty place?

“Seb, you have to forgive Ariana sometime.”

“No. I really don’t.”

A wave of frustration crashes over me. He’s being childish; refusing to forgive her instead of accepting that Gabriel has made the choice to be with Ariana and that they’re happy together.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I growl, unable to contain my annoyance.

Sebastian sounds cool and calm in the face of my obvious frustration. “You were preoccupied with Heather. Understandable. But I had to babysit Gabriel, and it wasn’t pretty.” He’s silent for a few seconds before he continues, “I saw how bad he was, and exactly what she did to him. She refused to talk to any of us. The least she could’ve done was that. If she’d at least talked to him, maybe…”—he trails off and is silent again before finally saying—“anyway, the point is that I won’t forgive her for that. So, no, I don’t want to come to dinner and pretend I’m okay with their relationship. I’ve already picked up the pieces from her before, and I won’t do it again.”

There’s a tense silence when he finishes speaking. I’m still trying to process what he’s telling me. I remember Gabriel being devastated, but that was then, and this is now. Ariana has changed, and if Sebastian would give her a chance, he’d be able to see that.

“Are we done?” he asks.

The question cuts me. I can’t help wondering if Cruise Control is done. If Sebastian won’t even have dinner with Gabriel, how can we make music together? What happens when we need to go on tour and Gabriel wants Ariana there?

I push those depressing questions away and say, “Yeah, I guess. I’ll tell him you’re busy.”

“If that’s what you want to do. Go ahead and lie to him.”

“Seb, that’s not fair. I’m just trying to keep the peace. I don’t want to lie to him, but I’m also not exactly going to say you refused to come because you hate Ariana.”

Sebastian scoffs, “Well, it’s not like you’ll be caught out in your lie. He’d have to call me to find out any different, and apparently, he doesn’t want to do that. Look, I’ll probably go out tonight to pick up, anyway. So you can lie in good conscience, since it’ll be the truth.”

“There’s a lot to unpack there.” I shake my head.

“I don’t have time for a therapy session. Enjoy dinner. I’ll talk to you later.”

He hangs up, and I sigh. I hate everything about what just happened. From lying to Sebastian about Gabriel not wanting to call him through to the fact I’ll be lying to Gabriel about Sebastian not wanting to come to dinner. I sigh and dial Gabriel’s number.

“Hey, how did it go?” he asks.

“Yeah, Seb’s busy tonight, so it looks like it’s just me.”

There’s silence for a few seconds before Gabriel asks, “Was he busy before or after you told him Ariana would be at dinner?”

I don’t really want to answer that question, so I answer it with a question of my own. “Do I really have to be in the middle of you two?”

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