"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Sebastian asked.
"Holland!"
"Why Holland?"
"The tulip fields." Bethany said, taking another bite of her ice cream. They were sitting on the couch in Sebastian's apartment, eating ice cream and watching Bob's Burgers.
"Oh. Right."
"What about you? Anywhere in the world."
"Venice."
"And the reason?"
"It's beautiful and . . . I dunno. Venice."
"Very eloquent." She giggled and took another bite.
"I try."
"My patience."
"You're very snarky." He smiled and took a bite of his ice cream.
"And you're not? Oh! I like that part." She lunged for the remote to go back and dropped her bowl upside down in Sebastian's lap.
"Cold!" He jumped up and sent the bowl to floor. Half the ice cream fell on the floor and the other half stayed on his pants. He grabbed the bowl and put the ice cream back in it.
"Sorry!" Bethany said while laughing.
"No you're not."
"I am too." He smiled and shook his head.
"I'll be right back." He walked into his bedroom and Bethany found the scene she missed in their episode of Bob's. Sebastian came back with different pants on.
"I really am sorry." Bethany said still giggling.
"Oh yeah, you sound so sorry." He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him before tickling her.
"No!" She shrieked and laughed, "Don't! Stop!"
"Fine I won't." He kept tickling her until she slid off the couch still laughing. He smiled at her laying on the floor laughing so hard she was crying. He'd made a good choice.
"You're mean!" She pouted and sat back down on the opposite end of the couch.
"You threw ice cream at me!"
"Not on purpose!" Her phone vibrated and she grabbed it. "Oh fuck."
"What?"
"I forgot BBM is playing gig tomorrow which means they're doing practice now. I gotta go, but I don't wanna. We only have three more days before you leave and I wanna spend them with you."
"What if I come with you?"
"Yes! I'm not even gonna ask them 'cos I know they won't care. Well, Emmett might, but fuck him." She stood and grabbed her shoes. "We need to go now 'cos we have to pick up my drums first." Sebastian stood and turned the tv off.

———

"Why is he here?" Emmett asked as soon and he saw Bethany and Sebastian. They were practicing in the basement of Oscar's sister's house. His sister and her husband weren't home.
"Nice to see you too, asshole." Bethany said, rolling her eyes.
"That didn't answer my question."
"Why do you have to be such a dick all the fucking time?" Oscar asked, walking into the room with his guitar. Emmett flipped him off.
"If you must know he's leaving in three days and we want to spend some time together before he leaves. Not that it's any of your business." Bethany told Emmett
"If we're all here," Simon said, grabbing his bass, "Why don't we rehearse now and bicker afterwards over pizza or something."
"We're not bickering." Emmett muttered and grabbed his mic.
"You can sit down, y'know." Oscar told Sebastian, who sat down on the couch beside Hal.
"Hal, put the book down." Simon said.
"Just one more page."
"It's always one more page." Oscar said, walking over and pulling the book out of Hal's hands. Hal did not look impressed, but he stood and picked up his guitar.
"Which one are we starting with?" Oscar asked.
"I thought we had to wait for Kris." Bethany said, sitting down at her drum kit and attempting to twirl one of her drumsticks.
"We do, but we still need to pick a starting song, don't we?" Emmett said.
"Sassy." Bethany said and giggled.
"Sorry I'm late!" Kris said, running in. Her hair was a mess and she was wearing a shirt that was too big for her. "I-Uh-I don't have a good excuse, but I remembered the camera and that's really the important thing isn't it?" Emmett rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Get set up while we get ready." Simon said.
After rehearsal, which Kris filmed for them to put on their YouTube channel Oscar took Hal home, Emmett left and Kris, Simon, Bethany and Sebastian went out for supper. They went to small diner that supposedly served the best burgers in the world.
"What can I get started for you?" Their waitress was an older woman with greeting hair. Her name tag read 'Karen'.
"Tuna melt, please." Simon said, not looking up from his phone.
"I thought you didn't like tuna." Karen said.
"Krissy doesn't like tuna." Simon said, still looking up.
"Put your phone down. I raised you better than that."
"Sorry, Mom." Simon our his phone down and looked at his mom. Bethany looked from Kris and Simon to their mom and back again.
"Oh! Right! Mom, this is Benny! My friend I met this summer. Benny, this our mom."
"It's nice to meet you." Bethany said with a smile.
"You too."
"That's Sebastian." Simon said, jabbing a thumb in Sebastian's direction.
"Hi." Sebastian said. Karen smiled.
"Karen! Enough chitchat!" Called a man from the kitchen. Karen looked over at the man.
"Sorry, Allen." She looked back at the group. "What'll it be?"

———

After dinner Sebastian took Bethany home and helped her take her drums inside. Andy and Juliet weren't home.
"Want a tour of the house?" Bethany asked.
"Sure."
"Well this is the studio thing," they walked out into the hall, "laundry room is back there, living room, kitchen, dining room through there. And up here," she led him up the stairs.
"A bathroom, the family room, Panda and Jules's room, that door is actually my closet and this is my room." She opened the door and walked in, going over to the window and opening the curtains.
"That's a lot of comics." Sebastian said, looking over her bookcases. Marvel comics filled almost all of one shelf. The other shelf had a few more comic books as well as a few novels, some records, cds and what looked like a record player in a red case. Little doll things stood in front of the books.
"Been collecting them for almost six years. I started with all the kids comics. Like Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Zitz, Peanuts. Then I found Marvel and fell in love."
"What are these things?" He picked up her Thanos Funko Pop.
"Funko Pop. That's Thanos. He's the newest addition to my collection. A Christmas present from my parents."
"Is this what the inside of your head looks like?" He asked glancing over the band, movie and book posters on the walls. BVB, PTV, SWS, Palaye Royale, and the Beatles obviously as well as a few other bands he'd never heard of and various marvel posters.
"Pretty much. Usually there's music playing though." She laughed lightly and he smiled. He turned his attention back to the bookshelves and started reading the titles of the novels.
"A fantasy fan I take it?"
"Amazing worlds and less romance. Don't get me wrong, I love a good romance, but most books dedicated to romance are so cheesy and bad."
"Which one's you're favorite?"
"I dunno. Maybe Elantris. Or the Hobbit. Or maybe a Parcel of Patterns. Or Robinson Crusoe." He laughed. "I can't choose just one." She shrugged.
"What's this one about? I recognize the author, but. . ." He held the book up.
"East of Eden. One of my favorites. It's heart wrenching. But so good. It's about family and growing up and farming in a place where it's difficult to farm and loving people you shouldn't." He nodded and put it back.
"Harriet the Spy? Isn't that a kid's book?"
"That used to be one of my favorites. As you can tell by how worn it is, I read it many times." While he kept looking at the books she pulled the record player off the shelf and sat it on her bed. She grabbed a Beatles record and put it on.
"You really like this Brandon Sanderson guy, huh?"
"Yep. I have all of his books except his children's series, but I don't particularly care for them so."
"You don't strike me as a Wodehouse girl."
"Mom's dad loved Wodehouse. Those all used to be his. I've only read a couple, but I plan to read them all someday."
"I've never even heard of half these books." He turned to look at her. She was laying on her bed with her legs hanging of the edge, lightly kicking the floor.
"Pick one and we can read it together." She said, lazily conducting the music. He grabbed Elantris and sat down on the bed beside her, laying back like she was. "What'd you pick?" He held up the book and she smiled. "Good choice. You wanna start or should I?"
"You start. I want to hear your favorite book from you." She turned the volume down on the music and took the book from him.
"Prologue."

———

Next thing they knew it was going on ten o'clock. Andy and Juliet still weren't back, which didn't surprise Bethany since they were going to a birthday party for one of Juliet's closest friends. Sebastian and Bethany had long since resituated so that his back was against the head board and she was between his legs with her back against his chest.
"I should probably get going." Sebastian said.
"You don't have to." She yawned. "You could just stay. My bed is big enough for two." She tipped her head back to look at him. He raised an eyebrow. "No funny business though."
"Are you sure?"
"Would I have offered if I wasn't?" He nodded slowly.
"Well, if you're sure."
"I'm sure."
"Can I kiss you?"
"Yes." He leaned down and kissed her. "I'm gonna go put my pjs on." She slid off the bed and dug through her dresser for her pajamas. Her pajamas consisted of a pair of white shorts with elephants on them and a blue crop top that said Let Me Sleep with a pair of closed eyes above the words. She changed in the bathroom. When she went back in the bedroom Sebastian was in the bed. His shoes were sitting under the edge of the bed and he'd pulled his t-shirt off. She turned off the ceiling lamp, leaving only the lamp on her nightstand on.
"I didn't know you had a tattoo on your chest." Bethany said, lifting the covers and crawling under them. "Are they coordinates?" She asked, gently running her fingers over the tattoo.
"Yeah. They're the coordinates of the Palais Royale."
"That's cool. Can you keep a secret?" He nodded slowly. "I have a tattoo. Nobody knows about it though."
"You do?"
"Yeah." She grinned and rolled over, lifting her shirt so he could see her tattoo. The words 'Life flows on within you and without you' were written between her shoulder blades. She shivered when his cold fingers brushed over her tattoo.
"What's the significance of that?"
"Beatles lyrics."
"Ah. Of course. Stupid me." She pulled her shirt down and rolled back over.
"I'm gonna get another one soon."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna get Let it be. But I haven't decided where." They fell silent after that, just getting lost in each other's eyes. Bethany smiled.
"What?" Sebastian asked.
"The only person I've shared a bed with his Andy, this is just . . . different. But I like it." She reached out and pushed a bit of his hair behind his ear.
"Can I ask why you shared a bed with Andy?"
"When I first moved in with the Biersacks their guest room was Dad's office so I spent a few nights in Andy's room. They planned to clean it out for me. But I grew so used to sharing a bed with him and he didn't mind so they never bothered. We only shared for a couple years though because he moved out here when he turned eighteen. Have you ever shared a bed with Ratface or Em?"
"Emerson used to come crawl in bed with me a lot when we were young. He stopped when he was about thirteen. That was when the whole art thing really kicked in and he started dealing with everything he was feeling by himself. And a few times Remington had nightmares and got in bed with me. We shared sometimes when we traveled when we were younger. When the band first started we didn't get hotels very often and we didn't have a bus. But we also didn't have any money. So when we did splurge on motel rooms two of us had to share. Usually them, but sometimes one of them would share with me."
"Mmm." She yawned abs flicked the lamp off. "I should've asked if you were ready." She giggled, "sorry."
"It's fine." He reaches forward and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to him. Hands, his and hers, traveled under the blankets, delicately tracing shapes on the others skin, never going places they shouldn't. His trailed from her midriff down her leg and back again, resting on her hip. Hers traveled his chest, up his neck, into his hair and back down to his shoulder where it stopped. They shared a smile and she rested her head on his chest. She moved so one of her legs was between his and his hand slid from her hip to her back.
"Goodnight, Sebster." She whispered, eyes closed, lost in the feeling of his fingers against her skin.
"Goodnight, Bumblebee." He kissed the top of her head. He was lost in the feeling of her fingers tracing invisible shapes on his chest. This was the most intimate Bethany had ever been with guy. Sure, she'd had sex with Luke, but it was always a quick thing before one of them snuck out of the house. This was different. This was intimate in a different way. A better way. This was a kind of closeness Bethany had never realized she was missing. A kind of closeness she was lucky enough to share with someone like Sebastian. This was a kind of closeness she never wanted to lose. And, even though she didn't know it, Sebastian was thinking the same thing.

I have been waiting forever to write these cute and innocent little moments between the two of them. I'm so excited about this book!