Page 17 of You Cake My Breath Away

“No one,” he grunts out.

With his frustration increasing, I take notice of his appearance in a new light. I thought he’d quit taking the pills after the last time, but I guess I was wrong. The state of his disheveled hair shows me he’s been dragging his fingers through it, agitated about something, and the dark circles mean he hasn’t been sleeping. I told him not to let the pressure ofour parents’ expectations to be at the top of his class weigh on him, but Sebastian only knows how to be the best.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asks Sebastian.

Sebastian slaps his hands on his thighs and rises from the bed, and the frustration that plagued him a moment ago vanishes. “You stoners wanna go see a movie? I need to chill.”

My shoulders relax, but the niggling in the back of my mind keeps me on edge.

“Yeah.” I close the window and turn off the TV. “What do you wanna see?”

“An action flick,” Sebastian says. “I need to not think for a while.”

Jessie karate chops the air. “Hell yeah.”

We barrel down the stairs but stop cold when Dad says, “And where do you think you’re going?”

I know he’s not talking to me because why would he? Ever since I told him I wasn’t going to med school he’s frozen me out. Having dreams of being the next Ty Pennington isn’t a worthy career in his mind. No, it’s not me he cares about anymore, but his prized child. The one he’s putting so much pressure on that he takes uppers just to stay awake so he can cram more knowledge than required of him into his brain.

A pang shoots through my heart knowing that the full brunt of my parents’ expectations are now the anvil weighing down Sebastian. Carrying the family name by becoming a doctor was apparently my responsibility, something I failed at miserably enough I almost flunked out of college before I found what I loved to do.

I sigh. “We’re going to a movie.”

His focus stays on Sebastian. “Don’t you have your second licensing exam coming up?”

Sebastian taps his finger on his head. “It’s all crammed in here. I won’t let you down.”

Dad’s frown is more pronounced, but Mom strolls into the room and slips her arm in his. “Let them have a night of fun, Archie. We can relax a little before we’re on call.”

She shimmies her shoulders in a suggestive move that brings the pizza back up my throat.

“Eww,” Jessie says.

“Ditto,” Sebastian and I reply simultaneously.

Piling into the car, I relax into the seat and put on some music. Sebastian and Jessie play rock, paper, scissors to decide who’ll ride shotgun. Jessie wins.

“We watching the new Tom Cruise flick or the new Statham one?” Sebastian leans between the center console, long arms resting on the backs of our seats.

We all share a look of agreement. “Statham.”

We’re nearing the theater when traffic comes to a standstill due to an accident. Sebastian types away on his phone while Jessie tries to get the girls in the car next to us to give him their number. My eyes keep flitting back to Sebastian, trying to note any symptoms of withdrawal.

Last time he was a wreck, barely able to focus on a thirty second conversation without fidgeting and sweating.

“Hey…uh, can we stop by the gas station on Wurzbach?” Sebastian asks, gaze not lifting from his phone. “I have to pee.”

I groan. “We’re almost to the theater.”

“Dude, just piss in a bottle,” Jessie says.

“I’ll fill up your tank and pay for the snacks at the movies,” Sebastian replies.

“And we’ll get three separate bags of popcorn so there’s no weird hand touching going on,” I say.

Sebastian nods. “Whatever you want. Just take me to the Corner Store.”

Flicking on my blinker, I shift lanes, throwing up a thank you to the nice elderly couple driving twenty miles less than the speed limit for letting me over.

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