Page 35 of Back to You
A slow smirk tugs at his lips as he drums his fingers against the steering wheel. “When you’re done checking me out, you wanna tell me what we’re doing, daredevil?”
Busted. My face flames instantly, and I fumble for a response, clearing my throat. “Seba! You didn’t come up with anything in your ten minutes of driving over here?”
He scoffs, shaking his head. “Mariana, you didn’t come up with anything in your ten minutes of waiting for me?”
I huff, crossing my arms. “Fair.” I glance out the window and then back at him. “Okay, so what do all the cool kids do these days?”
He gives me a look, one brow quirking in amusement. “The cool kids?”
“Yes, the cool kids.”
“Mariana,” he says flatly, “We’re in our thirties. My knees are no longer part of the cool kid club.”
I chuckle, nudging his arm. “Seb, we’re always going to be part of the cool kid club. It’s us.”
He looks at me then, really looks at me, and for a moment, something flickers in his eyes—something that makes my heart stutter. Oh no. Reel it in, Mariana.
Before I can spiral too deep, Sebastian’s expression shifts, something mischievous creeping into his smirk. “Actually,” he says, tapping his fingers against the wheel, “I have an idea.”
I narrow my eyes, immediately suspicious. “Oh no. Should I be afraid?”
He glances at me, all playful confidence. “Nah, of course not.” He grins, the corner of his mouth twitching. “You’re wild, remember? You got this.” He shifts the car into drive, the engine humming beneath us as he takes off toward our mystery destination.
I sink back into my seat, watching the town blur past the window, my pulse picking up the further we go.
Universe help me—Maybe I’m not so wild after all.
"Absolutely not!" I shriek, stumbling back from the edge of the cliff, my heart lurching into my throat.
My pulse is a roaring drum in my ears, my breath coming in uneven bursts. Sebastian laughs, hands on his hips, the picture of casual amusement, like he didn’t just drag me to the literal edge of death and expect me to willingly throw myself off.
The sky stretches endlessly above us, impossibly blue, the midday sun casting golden light over everything. The breeze up here is crisp, carrying the scent of the lake below, and the sound of the water lapping gently against the rocks. It’s beautiful.
But when I look down? All I feel is pure, unfiltered terror. He’s such a jerk for bringing me here. He’s calling my bluff, and I am about to fold like a cheap lawn chair.
He cannot actually think I’m going to jump off this cliff. Is he out of his mind? Maybe he got too many hits to the head during his fire drills. Maybe some smoke inhalation scrambled his common sense.
“Don’t be a chicken, Mariana.” His voice is all teasing warmth, but there’s something else too—challenge, amusement. The smirk that makes me want to smack him and kiss him at the same time. “You said you wanted to do something spontaneous. Well, here we are.” Sebastian spreads his arms wide, a smug grin tugging at his lips.
I whirl on him, eyes wide. “Spontaneous does not mean attempting death, Sebastian.”
He chuckles, stepping up beside me, his arm brushing lightly against mine, sending a shiver through me that has nothing to do with the breeze.
My heart is hammering, and I have no idea if it’s from the height or from the fact that he’s standing so close. Either way, I’m screwed.
“I don’t know, Seba.” I gulp, looking up at him, my stomach twisted into anxious knots. “That’s a long way down.”
He tilts his head, considering me. Then, without hesitation, he hooks his pinky around mine, just like he used to when we were kids, when he’d promise me anything and mean it. And I swear, something inside me shifts.
"Do you trust me?" His voice is softer now, a little rougher, edged with something that makes my skin prickle.
I look up at him, and for the first time, I’m not thinking about the cliff. I’m thinking about him.
The steady weight of his presence. The way he has always, always been there, even when I didn’t deserve it. The way helooks at me now, like I could tell him the world is ending and he’d just ask what I needed him to do to fix it. Sebastian has always been my safest place.
“Yes, Seba,” I whisper, the words barely escaping my lips, but I mean them. More than he knows.
Something flickers across his face, something raw, something real, but before I can decipher it, he squeezes my pinky and threads his fingers through mine, holding my hand firmly in his. "Then let’s jump, Mariana," he murmurs, voice steady. “We’ll do it together.”
