Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
Zak mimed zipping his lips. “Your wish is my command, baby.”
“I’m not your baby.” Taliana sighed, suddenly exhausted. “I will never be your baby again. Give it up.”
He chuckled and relaxed back into the supple leather seat. “Whatever you say, Lia.”
When they arrived back at school ten minutes later, the last of the crowd had finally gone to class, allowing Zak and Taliana to slip out of the car unnoticed. She stopped by the office to pick up a late slip, while Zak disappeared to places unknown.
Homeroom had just ended when she stepped out of the office, and students were streaming into the hallways. She easily maneuvered her way past them and quickly sought out Michael, whose locker was at the end of the hall. He was there waiting for her when the crowd finally spit her out and wasted no time slinging an arm around her shoulders.
“You made it back alive,” he teased. “And as far as I can see, there’s no blood on your hands.”
Taliana shook her head. “It didn’t come to that, luckily.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want to visit you in jail.” He bumped his hip gently against hers. “So, what did you two talk about?”
“I’ll tell you later,” she replied, knowing she needed to get Sebastian’s side of the story before she said anything.
“That bad?”
Taliana hadn’t come to a final judgement on that one. “We’ll have to wait and see. Is Sebastian here yet?”
“Haven’t seen him,” Michael said, dropping his arm from around her. “Why? Do you know where he is?”
“No,” she lied, stomach dropping to her knees. “He said he’d be back by lunch.”
But by the time noon rolled around, Taliana was starting to wonder if that was going to happen.
She and Michael were together once again, seated at a table in Trinity’s massive cafeteria since the winter weather had forced them inside from the courtyard. The rest of their group had yet to join them, which left most of their table unoccupied, and a few underclassmen eyed the empty seats curiously, wondering if they could get away with snagging one of them. Most of them willingly stayed away, but the ones who dared to get too close were sent off with a pointed glance from Michael.
“Where is everyone?” Taliana asked, unscrewing the cap of her water bottle and taking a swig. “I saw Jude for a second, but that was it.”
“Jacob has lunch detention with Ms. Larsen, and I sent Marcus off on a pizza run. Oh, and I finally spotted Sebastian in the hall a few minutes ago, talking to Blair of all people. Whatever the conversation was about, it didn’t seem pleasant, but it wasn’t overly hostile either.” He raised and lowered a shoulder as he quickly scanned the room, eyes eventually settling on something over Taliana’s shoulder. “And speak of the devil…”
Curious, Taliana turned and immediately locked eyes with Blair, whose posse of girls was trailing behind her. She acknowledged Taliana and Michael with a subtle nod before striding toward the empty seats at the other end of the table, gracefully lowering into one and motioning for her minions to sit as well.
Taliana thought back to what Zak had told her earlier, that whatever was going on now was just one of Blair’s schemes to get Sebastian back. But then again, she had to factor in who she’d gotten this information from. Zak wasn’t a very reliable source, and it was obvious he was just trying to get his revenge on Blair. He was biased beyond belief. So why should Taliana believe him?
“What the hell?” Michael murmured, causing Taliana to look back toward him. “Those are invitation only seats, she knows that.”
Taliana shrugged, trying hard to keep from turning and glaring. “Maybe someone did invite her.”
“Yeah, but who would do tha- Oh, hey, Phillips.”
Taliana glanced up just as Sebastian slid into the seat next to hers. He slapped hands with Michael by way of greeting before wrapping an arm around Taliana’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to her forehead. He didn’t acknowledge the fact that Blair was sitting only a few feet away, even though it was something Taliana was positive he had everything to do with.
“Confusion really doesn’t become you, babe,” Sebastian chuckled as he scanned Taliana’s face. “What’s wrong?”
There were plenty of things she could’ve done right then. She could’ve made a scene, demand to know what the hell was going on, or maybe even made the girl at the other end of the table explain herself. But something stopped Taliana. Instead, she merely nodded in his ex-girlfriend’s direction.
“Do you know anything about that?”
His eyes darted to Blair. “She asked if she could sit there again, and I told her yes. I thought it would be okay as long as we stayed on separate ends.”
“And that’s it?” Taliana pressed, knowing she should’ve stopped, but she was unable to hide her suspicion. “There’s nothing else going on?”
Sebastian’s gaze fell to the floor momentarily before locking on Taliana again, a wariness in them. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. But can we do it later when there aren’t so many people around?”
Taliana nodded, figuring it was probably for the best.
After suffering through the last four classes of the day, they were released by the final bell. Though Taliana’s car was in the parking lot, force of habit had her drifting in the direction of Sebastian’s Mercedes, where they usually met up after school. Today, however, he wasn’t alone.
From where Taliana was standing on the sidewalk, she could see Blair leaning against his car with her arms folded tightly across her chest. Sebastian was facing her, his back to Taliana, and his shoulders were tight. Taliana watched as Blair said something that caused him to nod. Then, to Taliana’s surprise, Blair smiled sadly and touched his arm. The contact was brief, but it was enough to set off the alarm bells in Taliana’s head.
She was in motion after that, moving as quickly as her legs would carry her. She needed to hear his side of the story right now.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Taliana called as she approached.
Blair’s smile tightened as soon as she caught sight of Taliana. “Not at all,” she assured with a shake of her head. “I was just leaving actually.” She turned her attention back to Sebastian. “I’ll call you later to discuss it, okay?”
With one last glance in Taliana’s direction, Blair walked off. Taliana didn’t waste time watching her go. “What was that about?” she asked Sebastian, somehow managing to keep her voice level, even though her insides were simmering with anger.
He at least had the decency to look a little ashamed. “I think it’s time for us to talk.”
Taliana was tempted to snark back at him, but the dread blooming in her chest made her swallow the words.
“It’s about Blair,” he began, dragging a hand through his hair. “She needs help with something pretty serious.”
Taliana meant to keep her mouth shut, to hear him out before she said anything, but she couldn’t hold back. “What, like getting out of a forced marriage or something?”
The shock on his face would’ve been comical in any other situation, but his surprise only confirmed what Zak had said earlier.
“Who told you?” Sebastian asked, taking a step closer. “Did Blair already discuss this with you? She said she wanted to talk to you, but I told her you’d probably just jump straight to murder.”
Taliana crossed her arms, limiting how close he could get. “No, she didn’t. If you have to know, it was Zak who told me. Apparently, he saw you two this morning.”
“Zak? How did he know what we were-” Sebastian cut off suddenly, the corners of his mouth turning down. “Wait a second, why were you talking to him? Is he stalking you now? Are you okay?” He paused. “Or are you two back on good terms?”