After coming to the resort they unpacked
Isabell and Ashley got a room along with two other girls from their department. Isabell sang a lullaby to Ashley after she begged her for over twenty minutes and then Ashley was finally asleep on the neighboring bed and Isabell could sleep; overthink now
She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling when her cell phone vibrated with a message. She leaned towards the side table picking up her phone
Steve: Izzy…
Steve: Can you come out for a few minutes..?
Isabell felt a sense of nervousness in those two messages. She darted at the clock telling her it was ten thirty. She never replied to the messages, instead, she got up from her bed wrapping the blue woolen scarf around her neck she put her shoes on and without making a single sound she was already out of the room.
Crossing the corridor she could hear whispers of some fellows playing games in their rooms other than that there was no sound
When Isabell exited the building, Steve was already there, waiting for her on the ground, shivering from the cool breeze. He was wearing a military jacket along with cargo pants "It's freezing here, Steve. Why did you call me out?" Isabell rubbed her freezing hands, cold breaths were coming out of her mouth "I'm sorry for calling you in this- this extreme weather but—"
"Are you okay, Steve?" She asked to apparently okay looking Steve and he stared at her in confusion "What do you mean by that?"
"You apologizing? Never noticed we do those things with each other" Steve laughed, loudly at her reply "No-no I mean yeah but, I want- no I need to tell you something" Isabell moved her head up and down "Tell me what?" "Isabell, I- I" Her eyes glanced at Steve, they were opened a little wide upon hearing him calling, her by her full name. For a reason Isabell didn't like it "Isabell" He repeated while she was already looking at him, "Yes, Steve?" There was uncertainty in her voice now "You know we have been together since- since the first day- the first day we stepped into the building of Law?" Steve asked "Yeah- like of course I know, we have been friends since the first day" The level of her confusion rose
"Yeah, exactly friends, of course- of course we are but I want to, want to tell you, tell you—"
"Why do you keep on repeating words? Is everything okay?" She asked half concerned half afraid after anticipating the next words from him
"I'm sorry," he said the apology again, Isabell didn't reply but gazed at him
"Since that day- the first day my heart fell for you. I got attacked by first-sight love" Her sealed lips separated
"Steve, what are you saying?"
"I am saying that I like you, I like you a lot, Isabell, and I want to be with you" Isabell's face got numb her words lost in confusion and once again she did not know what word to say because her best friend of three years was standing in front of her, confessing his feelings and then "No" Her words started to gather "No, Steve. It can't—"
"Stop, Izzy," he said, hanging his shivering hand in the air, "Even if you reject my proposal, I can never go back. I've tried, Izzy. I swear I have tried so hard to not love you but I can't help but fall for you" She got silent all over again and Steve continued "Do you remember the first Valentine when we got into university?" He bit his lip, "I proposed to you and it wasn't a bet with Ethan or anything it was real..." His words stopped coming out when he saw Isabell and her angry eyes "Don't" She said "I- I am sorry- I am sorry, Izzy. I did- didn't want to mention him..." He stopped again. Isabell unclenched her lips
"Steve, you are my best friend and nothing more and I'm sorry but I can't accept it," She said in fury
"But- but why?" His voice shaking from sudden shock, she said nothing "Why, Izzy? Why can't we be more than that?" Isabell inhaled sharply "Because I have never considered you more than a friend, Steve"
"But you can give me a chance, maybe we can try dating for some weeks and then you can reconsider it, maybe you can change your answer then" Isabell wasn't feeling nervous anymore she was feeling annoyed, "Steve" she breathed, "Even if we date for years, I'll never have any feelings for you. You are my friend and you'll forever be an—"
"No, Izzy. I love you and and don't you feel the same? Don't you love me to—-"
"No! I don't, Steve. You—"
"Okay," his hand moved forward to Isabell's trying to stop her from speaking "Okay…okay, Izzy. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry" The weather suddenly went some degrees down as the both of them felt shivers all around their body
"I didn't want—"
"It's okay, Izzy. I don't mind. It's my- my fault, I shouldn't have brought this up" He smiled while his eyes were saying the exact opposite of it
"But, Steve. I—"
"I was crazy to think you felt the same. You know what, Izzy. Forget it, just forget all the nonsense I just barked" Silence covered all the gaps between them. Isabell was shaking from the cold and the anxiousness her body just encountered, she started at Steve in a way she never did before, there was a mixed feeling of shock and empathy in them
"Let me walk you to your room," Steve said as he might have caught Isabell looking at him with pity. Isabell silently looked at him for some moment and then nodded
Isabell walked in front of him while he traced her every step with his feet. None of them said a word
Isabell took a step up the stairs of the building, her feet stopped walking and in a corner of her eye noticed something unusual
Isabell moved her body in that direction but she wasn't looking at Steve as he was doing. Everything in her surroundings suddenly went still as a sight took her to a planet of fantasy, not even the leaves of trees were moving when she saw a man with brown wavy hair,
smiling
The same smile Ashley was talking about. Sebastian stood with Wilson on the ground next to where she was standing, wearing a casual black shirt with a muffler of the same color enfolded around his neck
Isabell couldn't hear what they were talking about but even if she could hear she never wanted to use her ear right now all she wanted was to use her visions and look at Sebastian.
To look at Sebastian smiling. Isabell's lips parted, corners reaching at the edges of her face, Sebastian's smile reflected on Isabell's lips but it bounced back when it reached Steve. He might have imagined it as the reason for her abrupt rejection and he left without saying goodbye to Isabell.
She never saw him leaving nor did she want to, all she wanted was to stare at the small dimple deepening on his cheek and the ways his eyes shrank and shone with life in them.
A real smile
Isabell didn't feel cold now because the warmth from his grin was reaching her. She stared and stared at him for moments until a guard came to check on her thinking she had seen a ghost but all Isabell told the guard was that she wanted to see that ghost again and again leaving the guard confused and frightened
----
The direct daylight from the window woke her up. She was still half awaked when
Did something good happen yesterday? Isabell asked herself trying to remember as she found herself smiling the moment she opened her eyes. And soon she found that the something was the smile of Sebastian but before she could think about it something hit her head
Steve.
"Time for breakfast, Izzy," Ashley announced, popping her head into the room "I'll be at the table in two minutes," Isabell said, jumping out of her bed "Be there in two" And Ashley left the room
The first thing she did was collect her hair in a bun and then she applied a coral shade lipstick on her lips. Lipsticks gave her confidence and she needed a lot of it to face Steve at the breakfast table "Let's go" it was she in the camera screen telling her to go, she nodded at herself a couple of times
After the two minutes were over Isabell entered the kitchen,
"Isabell, can you please turn the light on? It's feeling kinda dark in here" A classmate with curly brown hair said to her, as he saw Isabell coming and Isabell panicked
Shit! She yelled to herself
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Don't just don't don't do this with me! hell no, no no no. I don't know don't know which switch to go to, I don't even know where the switch is, don't know which is the button to turn lights on! Do you want me to make myself look like a clown, turning the fan on instead of lights in this freezing weather?
"Yeah, Sure," She said out loud,
Are my eyes hallucinating? Are they? Woah luck is on my side, Bro. All I can see is one board, only one board hanging alone, no chaos, no confusion. I can do it.
Isabell moved her legs to the corner of the kitchen where her eyes just spotted a board and then she stopped.
The hellI have anything to do with luck? One, two, three, four….one dozen, oh, oh, two dozen. Wow, two dozen buttons! What? Are they running an ice cream factory in the basement or something?
"What are you doing, Isabell? Turn the lights on, I can't eat," The classmate said in a louder voice this time.
What the hell do you mean you can't eat? There is so much light already! Or are you eating fish with a million bones in it, you dumbass?
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry just give me a moment please"
I hope every single one out of that one million bones got stuck in your throat!
Isabell lifted her hand, stopping it at one button, this one right? The hand slipped to the neighboring one, maybe this one. And again her hand moved, down this time this one looks alrighty! Trustworthy? Exactly! This one is all alright! Alright?
"Isabell, Wh—"
The second shout was cut off, Issbell felt like someone else just entered the kitchen and everyone went silent in a time equivalent to one second. She didn't turn around to check as she was already in a life-threatening situation
Isabell already knew that there was enough light but maybe the clouds had covered the sun and that was why everything turned gray in the back of her
But then
In the dark, an arm covered with black cloth, extended down to cover till the palms appeared at her side which caused Isabell to take a tiny jump to the side, the long finger moved further and clicked a button from the board and Isabell was dumbfounded when just one click turned the light on, perfect! Perfection. And one more time her mind glitched not telling her the necessary details.
Isabell stared at the arm, it was gone now, she turned around, slowly and so did the man with a black hoodie, he walked and took a seat at the table.
Perfectarian-Sebasti-Bastarian!
And just like that Isabell was lost again, she and her thoughts
How? How can someone be perfect at everything? Like there were already twenty-four choices to make and I'm sure if it was me I would have got all twenty-three of them wrong but—
"What are you doing? Why are you standing there?" Ashley whispered, and in her voice, it was a loud whisper and everyone was now staring at Isabell
Hold!Hold yourself, get a freaking hold of yourself
Move, you dumbHumanBeing
She said
She shifted
She sat
Isabell had never in her entire life been this interested in egg and bread but when she saw Sebastian sitting right in front of her across the see-through table, she had to compliment the perfectly undercooked yolk.
Steve was far and not really visible to her and she was thankful for that but what was Isabell going to do with this Sebastian staring at her more than the food. The fork in her hand was trembling and it was knocking the bread on the plate as if it could give her some idea about what to do about the situation
The amount of silence in the kitchen of the resort matched the silence of their class but a pretty tall Wilson with big eyes and messy black hair doesn't sit along with Sebastian in their class so maybe a friend of Sebastian's could help them with this horrifying hush
"You must be Isabell" That wasn't helping that was some type of dehelping. Isabell's fork stopped attacking, and she looked at Wilson
"Umm…Yeah, I am, yeah I'm Isabell" she replied as if she wasn't sure of her words "I have heard so much about you and I swear, Girl, I have always been so excited to meet you" Everyone on the table including Sebastian was staring at Wilson "Heard about me?" She asked. The person closest to Wilson from Law was Sebastian and there was no way he would have talked about Isabell with him "Yes, Se-" Wilson stopped in the middle of his words. He seemed to be in pain and when Isabell looked down she saw the reason, a shoe from the neighboring chair just smashed the living shit out of Wilson's foot. Wilson appeared to be in urgent need of screaming but he couldn't "Splendid in every year!" He almost yelled. Isabell was unable to think of a reason that why Sebastian nust stopped him from taking "Isn't it obvious that people would know about you" Everyone present there knew it already and now they didn't have to be interested so their breakfast continued
"So, pretty hazel hair girl, Is there anything new you are looking forward to on this trip" Wilson wasn't stopping anytime soon and he definitely didn't mind the continued stare of death coming from the side chair, "Pretty girl" He said again, Sebastian cleared his throat loudly "You love zoning out, don't you?" He asked.
Wait! No, preTTy giRl? this is informal, No, this is a hell of informality. Wait! No, his questions! Speak!
"Well… I- I want to try climbing mountains but" she paused thinking how should she change words from,
I'm afraid of heights like a kid and they really freak the absolute hell out of me,
to something decent "But I don't have the skills to do so" Thanks to my brain "That wouldn't be a problem" The pain on Wilson's feet was unbearable now but having fun seemed to be way more important "Seb is the king of Climbing since the college days" no thanks to the brain. Sebastian's feet fell out of Wilson's "Yeah?" She understood exactly what he had just done but still chose to stay illiterate about it
"We are going climbing today anyway so maybe Seb can assist you with that" The bread won't be able to bear even one more stab from her hands. It had already fallen apart. Isabell tried to swallow the raw air since she hadn't taken a single bite but it still puked the vacuum out
Her eyes darted at Sebastian and the dart converted into a long stare, no matter how many times Sebastian smashed his lips into each other they were definitely never going back to their dead normality and that could be the reason why Isabell never said no to Wilson. Not even moving her head, narrowing her eyes, or feeling anxiety in her body. She might have forgotten about her lifelong fear of heights, she used to remember it every second and she knew exactly how much it scared her but maybe the bare grin on Sebastian's abnormally normal face had made her never reject what Wilson said
----
"So you are going climbing with The Sebastian Lightwood?" Ashley screamed in her ear on the way to the destination "I don't know" She lied "You don't know? Like, babe, you literally announced it in front of fifty people at the breakfast" She did know that too. "Maybe," Isabell said, not sure of how to speak. She was looking at the mirror and adjusting the hair on top of her forehead for the last time: for the tenth time before she got off the bus "You sure you can survive?" Ashley asked with genuine concern on her face. Isabell never replied because she didn't know how to so she adjusted her makeup for one more time "You look pretty" Ashley told her and she agreed with a silent nod. The moment the bus stopped Steve was out of it with a swollen face making a loud sound just by taking his bag "What happened to him? Why is he a Silent and a Snubbed Steve?" Ashley asked Isabell, pointing at the now vanished Steve "I don't know, wasn't it you who made him upset yesterday" She lied, staring at her in annoyance; in manipulation "Seriously? It was just a prank. Why the heck is he taking it so bad?" She made Ashley tense
"I don't know" Isabell stood up from her seat "Let's go" She was the one to grab her arm and drag Ashley out of the bus with her
----
"Are you guys ready for the fun?" Wilson shouted standing along with Sebastian and his scream seemed to make his ears hurt "Yes!" A huge wave of shouts replied to him "So, guys, Every one of you who wants to go climbing can come with us and others can stay here and do whatever you want and be back in two hours" He announced. A few students followed him but Isabell hadn't moved yet "Pretty girl?" He is definitely not talking to me, haha "Isabell" Oh shit! It sounds like my name! present, sir. I mean
"Coming, Mr. Franklin" And she walked towards the two of them "Are you excited?" Definitely! Not, like I always have known, I was a bit crazy but this much? Oh, Isabell, you're surprising me too
"Of course I am, Mr. Franklin" Her eyes gazed at Sebastian walking silently with them as if he wasn't there
"You don't really have to be formal, Pretty girl" Sebastian hissed loudly, audibly "What do you mean by that, Mr. Franklin?" Isabell's face felt like it understood nothing "Call me Wilson, all formalities dropped down to the bottom, only Wilson" Isabell's feet paused for a step "I'm sorry but that is highly inappropriate, Mr. Franklin" She passed a nervous smile "No, Nah, it would be perfect" He turned around and winked at Isabell
"Mr. Frankli–-"
"I told ya to stop with that, Dear" It was Sebastian who had a break in his step, and he was standing side by side with Isabell with a Wilson of distance between them
"But that won't be—"
"Oh, I definitely don't mind plus you are close to Seb anyway, so it makes us close too" Isabell broke her steps again. HEllO? CLoSe? mE? To BasTaRian? HAve I FunALLy GoTTen CRAZY? Her eyes screamed as they looked at Sebastian who was finding holes in the piece of sand with the same pale face
"I sti-ll won-won't prefer it" She replied, never knowing what to say so she just gathered all the words coming casually to her tough
"Come on, Sweetie. I'm chill with that" She moved her head up and down, agreeing, halfway, not understanding why is he like this, halfway
"So you guys can take it as a couple from here,' He said blinking eyes at Sebastian 'I mean the two of you can carry on yourself from here, I gotta go find a partner or maybe take off alone" Isabell nodded while Sebastian never gave him a response
"Best of luck with that Mr. Fr- I mean Wil- Wilson" Sebastian's response came to Isabell, his face turned to her and a brow over his eyes raised which Isabell pretended to not notice
"Of course, Angel, or if I may not find someone then I can come back and steal Seb's partner—"
"Do you want to come?" a low-pitched voice asked and when Isabell moved her face from Wilson to the voice, Sebastian was already a couple of steps away from them "Ye-ah, yeah coming" She replied barely replying and moved to him "So you just ditching me like this?" Wilson asked, running a hand through his black hair "No- I- it wasn't" Isabell's words dispersed "Yeah, we are" Sebastian said moving further away "Who said I was asking you?" He whined and Sebastian never replied
"Dear Isabell!" Wilson chose to scream when Isabell wasn't even far from him
"Have fun" he waved a hand at Isabell "Hope this beast of mine will help you" Wilson walked backward "Have fun, Wilson" Isabell waved back and ignored whatever other things he said and walked to Sebastian