Page 64 of Harrison's Wedding

We get swim trunks on, then head through the house to Sebastian’s pool. It’s at the back of the house, and I’m as impressed today as I was the first time Sebastian took us out here. The pool is lit with underwater lights that glow in the semi-darkness until Sebastian turns on the overhead lights. When he does, the tiny lights dotted over the dark blue background in the dropped ceiling light up to look like a starry night sky.

The large pool has the Cruise Control symbol tiled into the middle of it and is connected to a raised spa by steps that can be accessed from within the pool. There’s a glass wall on the other side of the room behind which sits Sebastian’s gym with state-of-the-art equipment. To the other side of that are huge, glass French doors leading to the outside grounds. There are also large windows allowing for a view of the rolling fields and the lake, along which we can see Gabriel and Ariana walking hand in hand.

Next to the windows is a tiled, open shower, and the rest of the room has cushioned loungers for people to relax on. The whole area is amazing, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to it. Sebastian is certainly very chill about it, as though it’s not completely insane that he owns a house like this.

I jump into the pool and swim a few laps, enjoying the feeling of working my muscles in a different way than I do when playing guitar. I make an effort to swim a bit faster, really pushing myself to work harder, and I’m breathing heavily when I finally stop at the side of the pool and hold on to the edge while catching my breath. I swim over to Hayden and Sebastian, who are sitting on the steps in the shallow end of the pool while talking.

“I’m so out of shape. That took way too much out of me,” I complain.

“Hey, my gym is right there.” Sebastian gestures to it. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in there at all while we’ve been here,” he smirks at me.

“Shhh. We don’t talk about me not working out. We just accept that I’m out of shape for some unknown reason.”

Hayden looks thoughtful. “You don’t look out of shape. I think it’s just a different type of exercise that you’re not used to.”

“Well, thanks. I’ll take it.” I grin at him.

“And yet, allI’mhearing are excuses.” Sebastian raises an eyebrow at me.

I splash him with water in response, and he launches himself at me. He grabs me by the shoulders and dunks my head under the water. I struggle out of his grip, managing to plant my feet on the bottom of the pool and get myself upright. When I do, I grab him around the waist and push him towards the deep end, but don’t manage to dunk him. We fight back and forth for a few minutes, and I get him under a few times in between him pushing me into the water.

Finally, I say, “Okay, you win! I was making excuses. I’m out of shape because I haven’t been in your gym since we got here.”

“That’s all you had to say. Truce?” Sebastian laughs and holds out his hand.

I see Hayden approaching him from behind as I nod, then reach out to shake his hand, and I smirk when Hayden dunks him as soon as our handshake is finished. I’m laughing when he gets up again.

“Traitor,” Sebastian laughs, shaking his head to get the water off his face.

“What? I didn’t do it!” I protest, but my amusement is pretty fucking obvious.

Sebastian is breathing as heavily as I am after our fight, and Hayden teases him, “You seem kind of out of shape, Seb. Been in the gym lately?”

“Yes. This morning, asshole. What about you?”

“Last night, thanks for asking.” Hayden gives him finger guns and Sebastian laughs.

We make our way to the spa, and Sebastian gets us beers to drink while we sit in there. When we’re all settled with drinks, I decide to broach the topic of Ariana.

“So, you were a good boy, earlier. Does this mean forgiveness is on the horizon for Ariana?” I raise an eyebrow at Sebastian and take a sip of my beer.

“Uh, no. I can be civil, but I still haven’t forgotten what she did to him.” Sebastian shrugs casually.

I look at Hayden, then back at him. “Seb, it’s been years. Look, I know that the way she left was shitty, but they’re happy together. Why can’t you forgive her?”

The silence that falls is tense and awkward. I can’t understand why Sebastian is still refusing to forgive Ariana, even after all this time.

“Because I can still remember with perfect clarity the day he told me he wanted to kill himself.”

I’m stunned by Sebastian’s answer. I blink at him, unable to process his words. I know Gabriel was bad, and that he was avoiding us, but suicidal? I think back to the past, weighing the memories against the information Sebastian’s just given me.

“I wondered,” Hayden says quietly. “Those times you had me watch Gabriel?”

Sebastian nods, but doesn’t say anything.

I stare at Hayden. “Sebastian had you ‘watch’ Gabriel?”

“He did,” he tells me in a croaky voice.

---