Just Stay (38 page)

"Hi," Seb finally says, just a little bit hesitantly, and the girl smiles.

"Hi," she says, actually giving him a small wave, as though they're already the best of friends. "You must be Sebastian."

Seb can't help but frown incredulously, in a way that he knows Evan tends to find very amusing. And this girl finds it amusing too, apparently, because her smile widens when she sees his expression.

"Yeah," she says, nodding to herself. "You're definitely Sebastian."

She frowns then, eyeing him up and down, before raising her eyebrows and making a face, actually looking kind of impressed.

"And I must say," she says, "Evan did good."

Seb opens his mouth to say something then, trying to gather his thoughts and handle this whole situation, but doesn't have the chance to speak, before he's interrupted.

"Dana?" Evan's voice carries into the hall from the living room, and Seb feels his expression change into incredulous, confused surprise.

Evan hurries out of through kitchen and steps into the hall, and as soon as he sees the girl in the doorway, his face breaks into a huge grin.

"Holy shit," he says, immediately lunging forward and throwing his arms around her. And the girl just laughs and hugged him back tightly, before they pull apart.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Evan asks, blatant, happy surprise on his face. The girl raises her eyebrows at him.

"Excuse you," she says, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "You're getting
married
. Why the hell would I
not
be here?"

Evan just smiles at her, surprise faltering into pure joy.

Then the two of them seem to remember Seb, who is just standing there, confused and slightly annoyed, and Evan turns to him.

"Seb," he says, automatically placing his hand at the small of Seb's back. "This is Dana. She's basically my sister."

Dana gives Seb another small wave, like before, smiling.

"Yo," she says, and Seb finally reanimates. He nods.

"Hey," he says. Then he turns to Evan. "I'm gonna need some more back story, here."

Evan laughs and kisses his temple.

"Sure thing," he says, then looks at Dana. "Come on in."

It's not that Seb has never heard of Dana before; Evan has mentioned her every now and then, with obvious fondness written all over his face. But Seb has never really thought about it, and he never really expected to meet her, seeing as how she apparently moved halfway across the country to become a videogame developer at a different college.

He's glad she's here, though. He's always glad to meet people who are important to Evan, and it's nice to see him so happy―and surprised.

"So," Evan says, as they sit in the living room later, the three of them. "How's life? How's Julie?"

Dana sits curled up in an armchair―the one that used to be in Seb's dorm room, before―legs pulled up underneath her, gripping a cup of tea in her hands. Evan isn't much of a tea-drinker, but Seb occasionally is, so their kitchen is pretty well stocked on the stuff.

"It's good," Dana says, nodding. "Julie's good. Got our two-year anniversary coming up. I might have an internship next summer, over at Blizzard."

She cocks her head, looking smug in a way that Seb simply knows to take as nothing but charming and sweet.

"Things are coming up Dana," she says, smiling. "What about you guys?"

Seb is sitting on the couch, next to Evan, legs crossed, indian-style, with a cup of tea cradled in his hands. Evan opted for coffee, and he's sitting pretty spread out on the couch, like he tends to do, being generally more boisterous and taking up more room than Seb does.

"Well," Evan says, cocking his head. "There is the whole engaged-thing."

Seb rolls his eyes, taking sip of his tea, and Dana laughs, as she sees it.

"Wow, you guys are adorable," she says, and Seb raises his eyebrows at her.

"What?" he says, honestly confused. "I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to," Dana says pointedly, and Seb looks back at his tea, taking another sip. "And don't worry, that's a good thing."

She sighs.

"And speaking of," she says. "What are the wedding plans, exactly?"

Seb looks up then and automatically turns to Evan, who looks at him at the exact same time. And they both half-shrug, not mentioning how Sophie has already badgered them about it so much more than necessary.

"Haven't really gotten that far, yet," Evan says, turning back to Dana. "Haven't really thought about it much."

Dana raises her eyebrows.

"You're kidding," she says; it's more of a statement, than a question. "What do you mean, 'haven't thought about it'?"

"I mean," Evan says, sounding exasperated in a big brother kind of way, "that we've got other stuff to do. And we weren't really planning on making a big deal out of it, anyway."

Seb cocks his head in agreement, and Dana nods.

"Right," she says. "I get that. But anything? A date? Place?"

Evan glances at Seb, who just shrugs.

"We were thinking, soon," Seb says, looking over at Dana. "It's not really a money issue, seeing as how it won't be a big deal, as it is. And as for the place..."

He looks at Evan again, who seems to deliberate for a moment.

"How about we get back to you on that?" he says, looking over at Dana, who rolls her eyes.

"Fine," she says. "You're lucky I can spare being away from school for a bit."

"Hey," Evan says, eyebrows raised. "No one asked you to come here."

Dana scoffs incredulously.

"Ouch," she says. "Dick move, sir."

"You know what I mean." Evan doesn't look too anxious to spare her feelings, and she doesn't seem that offended, anyway. "I would have invited you, you know, to the wedding."

"Yeah, I know." Dana runs her finger along her cup's edge. "But I had some time off, and I kind of missed you."

Evan smiles, and Dana smiles back.

"Speaking of which," she says, straightening up and putting her cup down on the coffee table. "We're going out, all of us. Jake, too, I haven't seen him in ages."

"Sounds fair," Evan says, nodding, and Seb nods, as well. He really likes Dana, actually, despite only having met her about an hour ago.

"Great." Dana gets up from the armchair. "I'm gonna hog your bathroom, and then we'll talk."

She makes her way past the couch and out into the hallway, but on the way, she turns around to say something else.

"And I'll be crashing on your couch, by the way," she says, eyebrows raised, as though daring them to stop her. "Just so you know."

Seb glances at the weekend-bag she dumped on the floor on her way in, and he doesn't even feel surprised. He gets the feeling that this spontaneous kind of behavior is kind of typical for Dana, and he finds that he really doesn't mind at all.

Jake is just as thrilled to see Dana, as Evan was. They aren't quite as close as Evan and her, but they're still basically siblings, and when they all go out together, that night, he won't stop badgering her with questions. He asks about her studies, her life, her girlfriend, while Dana playfully brushes him off, in favor of talking to Sophie. They already know each other, but have apparently only met a handful of times, before.

They're at a bar on campus, the one where Evan usually performs, although he isn't on the stage, tonight. He and Seb have just grown really fond of this place, and when it came to choosing somewhere to go out for drinks, this was it.

"Alright, you guys," Sophie says, slamming her palm down on the table. "Seriously. A date. Place. Come on."

Seb groans in frustration, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, no," Evan helpfully adds, shaking his head.

"But guys―"

"Sophie, I swear to god," Evan says, looking at her pointedly. "Just, no."

Jake cocks his head.

"I don't know," he says, fiddling with the label on his beer bottle. "It's kind of important."

Evan glares at his brother, and Jake smiles in a way that lets him know how he's just agreeing with his girlfriend right now to tease Evan.

"Well, don't you have any ideas?" Dana asks diplomatically.

"Not really," Evan says, while Seb hangs back and glares passively around the table.

"Church?" Dana says, and both Evan and Seb shake their heads, responding a little too quickly.

"No," they both say. They haven't really discussed it, but neither of them is too big on institutionalized religion, and feels no need to tie the knot in a church, anyway.

"Outside?" Dana says, her voice taking on a more sarcastic tone. "On a damn beach? Maybe in the woods, surrounded by fairies?"

Jake and Sophie both laugh then, but Seb rolls his eyes.

"Oh, for god's sake," he says, throwing his hands up slightly. "It's no big deal. Shit, we might as well have it here."

He gestures around the bar lamely, expecting murmurs and the occasional, small laugh. But none of that comes, and he narrows his eyes, as he notices everyone at the table frown a little, in thought.

"What?" he asks, and Sophie tilts her head.

"That's not a bad idea," she says, and Seb's eyebrows go right up.

"Wait, what?" he says, honestly a bit confused.

"Yeah," Jake agrees. "Maybe you should."

Seb just gapes at them, before turning to Evan, expecting some support. But instead, he's met with a surprising look of deliberation, Evan's brow furrowed in thought.

"This place is kind of important to you guys, right?" Sophie asks, and Seb looks over at her.

"Yeah," Jake agrees. "I mean, first date, and your big make-up scene. Hell, Evan even sang to you, here."

Seb shifts a little in his seat.

"Well, yeah," he admits. "But―"

"I kind of like it," Evan says, interrupting him, and Seb turns to him.

"Really?" Seb asks, frowning, and Evan half-shrugs.

"Yeah," he says. "I mean, Jake's right. This place does have some meaning. Why not?"

Seb looks at him, a little incredulously.

"It's a bar," he points out, and Evan shrugs again.

"Exactly," he says. "Sounds kind of perfect for us, don't you think?"

Seb thinks about that for a few moments, really thinks about it.

They are all right, he has to admit that; this bar does hold some meaning to both him and Evan, and for their entire relationship, really. But still. Getting married in a
bar
? Is that really how it's going to go down?

Although
, he can't help but think. Evan is right. It really does sound pretty perfect for them―nothing big, just small and simple, in a place with meaning, and with no real, big hassle. Just like their rings, it would be like them, all symbolism, more than anything.

Seb leans back in his chair, looks around the large room, tilting his beer bottle a little. It's definitely doable. Maybe they could rent it out for a day, a night? It's unorthodox, to say the least, but the more he thinks about it, the more sense it makes.

"Yeah," he finally says, and he can practically feel the pleased surprise emanating from his fiancé. "I guess so."

He turns to Evan, whose green eyes are suddenly alight, mirroring the smile that's slowly spreading across his face.

"Awesome," he says, and Seb glimpses Jake, Sophie, and Dana, all of them with dopey smiles, as Evan leans in and kisses him.

After some closer consideration, there is simply nothing about this idea that doesn't feel good.

Dana makes good on her promise to crash on their couch; by the time they get back home, it's past two a.m., and everyone left the bar feeling pleasantly tipsy, and not too drunk.

Dana seems to immediately fall asleep, as soon as her head hits the borrowed pillow that has been placed against the armrest of the couch. Evan rolls his eyes a little as he explains to Seb about Dana's apparent knack for falling asleep on command. He describes the talent as
freaky
, but also admits his great jealousy for it.

Seb is exhausted when he and Evan actually get to bed, but at the same time, he's weirdly excited. It's finally happening, after all. Well, at least the plans are. They agreed tonight that they'll go back to the bar and talk to the owner, some other time, about actually having the wedding there.

"Hey," Evan says, as they lie together in bed, his arms wrapped around Seb, who nuzzles against his throat. "Remember when we went to your cousin's wedding?"

Seb hums in confirmation, eyes closed.

"Uh-huh," he says sleepily. It was quite some time ago, now, but he remembers. "What about it?"

"Remember when we got back home," Evan says, "and I asked if you ever wanted to get married? And you freaked out a bit?"

"I did not freak out," Seb says, his tone tired and defensive. "But yeah, I remember. Why?"

"Well," Evan says, a bit hesitantly. "I know I backed off, but... Honestly, I did kind of wanna ask you."

Seb opens his eyes.

"Wait, what?" he asks, raising his head a little, so he can look at Evan, properly. And Evan gives him a small, crooked smile.

"Yeah," he confirms. "I mean, maybe not full-on
propose
, but... Yeah, I asked because, well... I felt like I wanted to marry you, somewhere down the line."

He huffs a small, rueful laugh.

"Your reaction kind of scared me off, though," he says, and Seb thinks about it. That night was months ago. Months ago, before their huge fight and falling-out, and Evan actually thought about it, even back then. And suddenly, Seb feels almost a bit guilty.

"Wait, I scared you off?" he asks, a little incredulously, and Evan does an awkward, lying-down shrug.

"Kind of," he admits. "But not forever, obviously. Seeing as how I finally grew a pair, and asked."

Seb just looks at him, slightly stunned, before smiling.

"Well, what do you know," he says, moving one hand up to Evan's face, as he gives him a soft kiss. "I could have married you, ages ago."

Evan smiles.

"You could have," he agrees. "But I suppose now is a good a time, as any."

Seb chuckles, and for a few moments, they just lie there, absently touching each other. Until Seb thinks of something else, that is. He hesitates, though, fully aware of the dangerous subject matter.