That week, Sebastian Spencer got his "signs".

There was a billboard outside that could be directly viewed from his department's window. The guys referred to the model wearing the green trench coat and green hat as Shirley. Shirley often caught their attention because she was clad in only a trench coat and a hat, and the coat wasn't very long.

That Tuesday, when Sebastian came over to his desk with his annoying friend Matilda in tow— scolding him with a "You can't just commit to something that is not technologically possible"— he happened to glance at the billboard and suddenly started.

"What?" Matilda asked.

There she was, Katrin Olsen, her face plastered on the billboard instead of the model. Sebastian's cheeks flamed up.

"Ooh Bas, you act like it's the first time you've seen Shirley." Scott, the short, stocky one teased when he saw Sebastian's love-struck face. But in a blink, Kat was gone and all that was left of the incident was his wildly beating heart.

Sebastian chalked it up to his imagination. He had been thinking about that woman a lot lately. He had been thinking about her since he first met her when she had fallen into his arms, quite literally. He could still vividly recall how soft she had felt in his hands and that glare she gave him that turned him on more than anything ever had. But he shook that memory away. Kat Olsen was not interested in him. And he had no interest in women who didn't want his attention.

Actually no, he did have interest in women who didn't want his attention. Those were the only types he chased. Because he knew, that they would never want anything serious. Just some fun and casual hookups. Oddly enough, most of his casual hookups always ended up wanting something serious.

The latest one had been Gwendolyn. She had seemed like the type to only want something casual but like the other women, she had misunderstood his intentions, despite him being quite clear. It had ended badly, but to her credit she still acted like a professional around the office.

Maybe he had to change his strategy.

And maybe he needed to see a shrink because there she was again, Kat, on the new banner for his company's online campaign, in place of the woman smiling and pointing at her computer screen along with her colleague. And then she was gone.

He really needed to get out more. Maybe go on a date. He hadn't been with a woman for too long.

Maybe Sarah from Accounting would be game.

"Sebasti-ahn," Gwendolyn cooed, beckoning him to her desk as he was leaving for a meeting, "Do you have a minute? I wanted to go over this report with you."

"I'm running late for a meeting Win." Damn, that woman watched his movements like a hawk. Every time he left his chair he felt her eyes on him.

"It'll just be a minute." She smiled sweetly.

Gwendolyn mostly wore red; dresses, suits, even her hair was a shade of red not naturally found but Sebastian had never seen any different colored roots to indicate they were dyed. Today she wore a very deep cut three-piece suit with the vest coming beneath her shapely breasts. Her cleavage was on full display and Sebastian was not complaining and she didn't seem to mind his glances either.

He answered her questions as quickly as he could all the while wondering whether he should ask her out again.

"So, Sebastian," She said, jutting her chest out ever so slightly, "Got any plans for this Friday?"

"Uhhhhh." He so wanted to say yes, but something in his mind was telling him to say no.

Why did I break up with her again? Oh right, she wanted commitment.

"I have plans. With Matilda."

Win's smile fell, "You mean your friend." She said it like an accusation.

"Yeah. We're just hanging out."

"Oh is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Her voice was the sexiest thing Sebastian had ever heard. He pulled at his collar, suddenly hot.

"It's not like that. Matilda is a bro." He explained.

"Oh? I did suspect her inclinations were in the other direction..." she only tilted her head.

"I don't think Tilda inclines in any direction."

Gwen seemed happy at this.

Sebastian ogled her breasts. What was I doing again?

"Didn't you have a meeting to go to?"

"Right!" He snapped out of his thoughts. Being around Gwendolyn was like being in a trance. He had to stay away.

He put all thoughts of women out of his mind when he went over to the internal demo for the new feature items. The teams usually held internal demos for the marketing people before finalizing anything so that they knew what to tell the client.

Sebastian usually hated these meetings, they were boring and he had to force himself to pay attention. Today he welcomed the task for the distraction it provided.

"—and so I asked Kat—"

"Kat?" He was surprised that he spoke up, as was everyone in the meeting room.

"What?" the quality assurance guy giving the demo asked.

"You said Kat?"

"I said Matt. I asked Matt to redo the design to make this more user friendly."

He really was losing his shit.

The QA guy went on with the demo and Sebastian kept his eyes glued to his notepad, refusing to speak anything lest he make a fool of himself again. When the demo was over he realized he had doodled Kat's name all over the notepad and not taken any notes.

It's okay, he told himself, I can get Matilda to give me a brief.

He eyed his friend as she walked out with Cara, talking in hushed tones and—was that blue glitter he saw around her? Wait no. There was nothing. It must have been his imagination.

By the time the day was over Sebastian felt thoroughly overwhelmed; he had seen Kat's face on every magazine cover, every picture, even some of his colleagues he had mistaken for Kat.

"Till, I think I'm going insane," he groaned to her at her desk. Cara had gone so he had commandeered her chair.

Matilda winced, as if she could feel his pain. As if... did she look guilty? No that was just her being empathetic.

"I'm sorry to hear that Bas."

"I can't get that woman out of my mind." He groaned.

"Well, maybe that means you need to call her. Maybe it's a sign?" She waggled her brows.

"No. It's just me being crazy."

The next day was better. No sign of Kat anywhere. The day after that he thought he saw her in his office lobby but that was an eventuality. Her company was in the same building. His heart leapt at the sign of her, and he squashed that feeling down with an imaginary boot. Still, he couldn't help but admire how sexy her freckles were.

By Friday, he had gotten over whatever insanity had made him see Kat in every other woman's face. He almost missed seeing her everywhere. He felt a little melancholy, even though Matilda was coming over to hang out.

He liked hanging out with her. He enjoyed her cutting tongue and her grumbling about everything. The suits made her look stuck up and stiff but he knew that once she was relaxed with her feet up she was cool to be around.

He drove them in his car, picking up the groceries on the way.

At home he washed up while Matilda hung around on his couch. When he came out of the shower he saw her leaning against the doorway of his bedroom.

"Who gave you that?" She pointed her chin to the dreamcatcher dangling from one corner of his headboard. She eyed the thing suspiciously.

"I don't remember. Must've bought it from a peddler or something." Sebastian liked having it there.

"I'd recommend you take it off and throw it away." She said. Matilda was surprisingly superstitious at times and it always gave him a laugh to tease her about it.

"Why? Is it going to give me nightmares?" Sebastian was more concerned that she didn't seem flustered by the fact that he was only in a towel. Her face was its default scowl. No wonder her team gave her a "Resting Witch Face" mug for her 1-year work anniversary.

"It's not a dreamcatcher. Look at how it's a hexagon, not a circle? It's a dream-maker."

Sebastian looked at it, only then realizing that it was indeed the wrong shape and structure.

"Does it matter?"

Matilda pursed her lips, "Maybe not." She left to let him change.

When he came out of his room, Matilda was cutting up the vegetables for their dinner.

"Oh no, you step out of the kitchen, woman." He took away the knife from her hands. Matilda was a very capable and hardworking business analyst, but she was a terrible cook. The kitchen was her mortal enemy. Sebastian could relay the dozens of horror stories of the messes she had made when she cooked.

"Come on! Lemme help."

"Nope. You go watch some show or something."

She gave him a sneer and sauntered over back to the couch again. After a couple of minutes of silence wherein only the sounds of him chopping carrots existed, Matilda spoke.

"Hey, what's this?" She was leaning over the counter separating his kitchen from his living room. Beneath the glass bowl that contained his keys, tucked away like a shy secret, was the napkin with Kat's phone number.

"Hey gimme that." Sebastian reached for it but Matilda pulled her hand away.

"Not so fast mister. Is this Kat's number?"

Not this again. Sebastian didn't understand why Matilda was suddenly so interested in his love life.

Was she into him?

"You should call her."

Nope, she definitely didn't like him. Otherwise she wouldn't push another woman onto him. Perhaps she was afraid that he would die alone.

"I don't want to." He told her, expecting some lecture of some kind. But she simply looked at the number and put it back.

Huh.

She went back over to the couch. He went back to his cooking.

With everything else prepped, he turned on the stove and began to pan fry the chicken.

"I think it's a bad idea if you let a girl you like just get awaaay." Matilda sang from the couch.

"I think it's none of your busineeesss." Sebastian sang back.

"What exactly are you looking for then?" Matilda turned, "For the universe to tell you you're wrong?"

"Maybe I—"

His chicken suddenly caught on fire, the flame reaching high and threatening to burn the roof. He immediately put the pan in the sink and let the water do the rest.

"Damn it! There goes our dinner."

"I'd say that was a pretty obvious sign." Matilda came over to help.

"Are you hurt?" She did not seem so concerned. Which was okay since he wasn't burned anywhere. Just traumatized.

"I don't know what happened."

"Relax. It's fine." She put a comforting hand on his back and calm spread through his spine.

"I know. But we can't just have sautéed vegetables for dinner."

"I'll order take out." She went to call up the pizza place they both loved.

Sebastian looked at the charred remains of his chicken and could not help but wonder if it meant something.

"Done. It'll be here in thirty."

"Okay I'll—" whack! His head slammed straight into an open cabinet.

"Till why didn't you close the cabinet?" He asked, holding his head.

"Who says I opened it?" She looked worried. He eyed her.

"You didn't?"

"Didn't you?"

True, he hadn't seen her open the cabinet door. It must have been him.

"I think you've pissed off the universe for not listening to its signs." She said, "Do you have a bruise?"

Oddly enough he did not. He felt fine. The pain must have just been initial shock.

"Nah I'm fine. You get back to—woah!" He slipped and fell on his bum. Out of reflex, he went to grab the counter top for support but ended up toppling a knife over which landed blade down, right between his legs.

"Woah-hoho!" Now Matilda looked shocked with her eyes wide. "Okay that totally wasn't me."

"I know Till." Sebastian said sorely. He wanted to get up but at this point he was afraid to.

Matilda came lent him a hand to help him up and pulled out the knife from where it was wedged in the floor. Sebastian gulped at how close it had been to hurting him and his manhood. Matilda threw the knife in the sink. Then she looped her arm in his and they slowly made their way to his couch.

"Are you hurt?"

"Yeah."

"Let's just stay here and not do anything till the Pizza arrives. How does that sound?"

"Super."

"Want me to put on the movie?"

"Yeah," Sebastian shifted, "why not?"

Matilda opened up Netflix and started the movie. As soon as the logos started Sebastian felt something was off. Then the title Bridget Jones' Diary came on the screen and he cursed.

"Uhhhh." Matilda looked at him a little sheepishly.

"It must be a glitch in the system. Try some other movie."

Matilda put searched for "Action Movie" and played the first one. That too "glitched" into another romcom.

"Turn it off." Sebastian laid his head back in frustration, closing his eyes.

Okay maybe the universe was trying to tell him something. His doorbell rang.

"I'll get that." Matilda got up and returned with a pizza half covered in pepperoni and half covered in pineapple.

"Don't let your pineapple touch my side," she told him.

"Don't let your pepperoni touch mine," he told her.

"Let's just watch whatever Netflix is making us watch." She suggested. He nodded his head.

They ate their pizza and watched Serendipity in agonizing silence. Neither of them was truly enjoying it. After they were done Matilda helped Sebastian over to his bed, despite his pain having mostly gone. It was still early but Sebastian was spent from the long day and he was too scared to do much after what had happened. Matilda got him a glass of water and some painkillers before leaving.

"If you're sore in the morning then call me, yeah?"

There were a lot of jokes he could make with that statement but Matilda said it with such sincere concern, a pleasant change from her usual cold tone, that he did not dare to say anything. He only nodded yes and let her tuck him in.

"Good night Bas." She smiled and he kept that image with him.

"Night, Till."

When he heard his front door click shut he got up and dialed the number on the napkin.