Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
The reference to Sebastian made her throat tighten again, and as hard as she tried to stop it, a tear rolled down her cheek.
“Oh, shit,” Michael blurted, scrambling to wrap his arms around her shoulders again, and she allowed him to pull her against his chest. “What happened? What did he do? Do I need to kick his ass?”
She shook her head as much as she could, her cheek brushing his soft gray Georgetown sweatshirt, but the words wouldn’t come.
His tone was urging when he spoke again. “Talia, tell me what happened.”
Taliana wanted to, but at the same time, she didn’t want to remember. She didn’t want to relive it. She just didn’t want to think about it.
“Talia-“
“We broke up,” she finally choked out, her eyes closing. “I ended it. I told him I was sick of the lies, sick of Blair, sick of everything he put me through. I told him-” She cut short, the words fading as she drew in a shuddering breath. “I told him I didn’t love him, that I never had.”
Michael tensed, a silent reaction to the mistake she’d made. She expected to be either soothed or scolded, but what he said next hit harder than anything he could’ve berated her with.
“Did you love him?”
They both knew the answer, as painful as it was.
“Do,” she corrected softly. “Do, not did. I still do. I love him.”
“So you lied to him.” Michael slipped a finger under Taliana’s chin, tilting her face up. “If I didn’t respect you for standing up for yourself, I would slap you for being such an idiot.”
“It was the only way I could get him to leave.” She scowled, pulling her chin from his grip. “I had to do it.”
“Love is one thing you should never lie about, especially when the other person feels the same way.”
Taliana shook her head, refusing to believe what he was hinting at. “Sebastian never loved me. If he did, he never would’ve lied to me about Blair. Who knows what they did behind my back?”
“Don’t forget you agreed to go along with it,” Michael pointed out. “You had the opportunity to refuse. You could’ve stopped the whole thing before it even started.”
“Sebastian had his mind set on doing it, and there was no way I could’ve stopped him.” And to be honest, she probably would’ve felt guilty if she had.
Michael scoffed and pulled back slightly, arms loosening around Taliana’s shoulders. “Blind, cruel, and stupid, that’s what you are,” he mumbled, and before she could protest, he continued. “Talia, that kid would do anything to keep you happy. Deny it all you want, but Sebastian loves you.”
Taliana shook her head again, adamantly refusing to believe it. “If he loved me-“
Michael’s touch fell away completely. “There shouldn’t be an ‘if’ in that sentence. I know Sebastian better than I know myself, and I know how he feels about you.”
“What about how he feels for Blair?”
This time, Michael stayed silent.
“Yeah,” Taliana said wryly as she clambered to her feet, feeling the sudden urge to just get out of there. “Exactly.”
“Where are you going?” he called as she stalked out of the living room. “Taliana!”
She didn’t bother answering, figuring he would follow anyway.
The sunrise wasn’t far off, the streets silent and the sky beginning to lighten. Wisps of clouds were rolling in, but far more threatening ones loomed to the west, obscuring what was left of the moon. The wind smelled faintly of the impending storm, but it was clear that a change was coming.
Michael appeared beside Taliana a few moments later but said nothing as he took a seat on the top step. She followed suit. Twenty minutes passed before either one of them spoke.
“Cold?” he asked, noticing the goosebumps that had appeared on her arms.
She shook her head, barely having noticed the chill. The sensation was welcome, a sign she was still able to feel. The tears had dried, and the ache in her chest had subsided, but there was still a numb heaviness in her stomach.
Another ten minutes ticked away, but they remained wrapped in their own thoughts, not daring to share. Even if she could’ve made sense of the things rushing through her head, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to mention anything. Most of them made her feel weak, like she was a traitor to the person she’d always prided herself on being.
“Do you think I overreacted?” she finally blurted, voicing one of those thoughts, surprising both herself and Michael. “Do you… Do you think I took it too far?”
His answer was brief and honest. “Yes.”
She pursed her lips, not sure if she needed to snap back or not, but Michael continued before she could.
“I think you did the right thing by breaking up with him, I won’t lie,” he clarified, leaning back on his forearms. “And I do think this whole thing with Blair needs to end. But telling the guy you don’t love him when you clearly do? That’s taking it too far.”
“But-“
“No buts,” Michael interrupted. “He loves you, you love him.”
“And Blair?”
“Look,” he began after blowing out a breath. “You weren’t here when Blair and Sebastian were together. You saw a glimpse of them as best friends, but I don’t think you ever really saw what they were like as a couple.”
“They were an awful little pair,” Taliana grumbled, remembering their days in elementary school. “I remember they were close.”
“Well, they only got closer after you left. They were inseparable. Sebastian considers me his closest friend now, but back then, that title belonged to Blair. He told her things he would never dream of telling me, and to this day I still think she’s the only one who really knows him.”
Michael was avoiding the real question, and that wasn’t at all what Taliana needed. “Does he love her?”
When his hazel gaze met Taliana’s, she finally got her answer. “Not like he loves you.”
She nodded and drew her knees to her chest, feeling one of the knots in her stomach begin to loosen. “I just wish he hadn’t lied to me about it. If he’d been honest, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
“Try to put yourself in his shoes,” Michael reasoned softly. “The girl he’s loved for most of his life breaks his heart and disappears. In the process of trying to get over her, he meets you. For the first time in months, he’s able to think about something other than Blair cheating on him, and he finally realizes what he’s been missing out on by pining after her. But then she comes back, and he’s suddenly stuck between two worlds. Does he help his former best friend when she needs it most? Or does he ignore it and stay with the girl who stole his heart?”