Sebastian turned to me with half-raised curious brows. He was no doubt terrified at the sharpness in which I'd viciously snatched up the card. I should have been ashamed of myself, I really should have but at this specific moment in time, I didn't care.

All I could feel was the fiery way my blood seemed to be coursing through my veins as though it was preparing for some kind of fight. A fight for what exactly, I had no clue. All I know was that it scared me.

A breath of laughter tumbled past his lips. "Yes, Phoebe, I totally give you permission to read one of my valentine's day cards. It's totally not nosey at all," Sebastian teased sarcastically as I was mid-way through savagely ripping one open. I know, classy.

Ignoring him, I snatched the card out from its shredded envelope and started frantically scanning my eyes up and down the writing. I didn't even need to look in a mirror to know how mad I likely looked. The muscles all around my mouth were tense, and I just knew they had tugged down into a frown.

The card was written by someone named Stephanie who was thanking him for 'fixing her car; and who hoped 'it needed fixing again soon.' It was signed off with an overly-excessive series of kisses, and she'd even been bold enough to write her phone number on the end too. The fuck?

The horrible feeling from before, once again twisted through my gut painfully and distractingly as I imagined the likely shameful way Sebastian must have been flirting with her when 'he fixed her car.'

I could imagine it all – that charming, dimpling smile. Those dark eyes looking Stephanie up and down in that stupid way he always did. I bet that fucker even winked at her. He was constantly doing all that shit to me, and he hated me, so God knows the things he does and says to people he actually likes. No wonder so many girls had written him letters.

Glancing up at Sebastian, I looked him up and down snappily and sharply with my lips pressed tightly together. Be cool, Phoebe, be cool. "Whose Stephanie?" I probed.

He shrugged, his lips curving up ever so slightly. "I don't know. Is that who wrote the card?"

Leaning over me – dangerously close might I add. So close that I had to suck in a sharp breath for some reason. Oblivious to any effect he might be having on me, Sebastian pulled the open card, to his part of the table, so he could read it better.

His face set into focus and those dark brown eyes darted up and down the page for a second or so or maybe more before recollection hit his eyes.

He looked up at me. "Oh, yeah, right, I remember that girl. Her car wasn't even broken though. I literally just turned her key for her, it was really weird," he explained with a light confused chuckle.

"You do realize she was just using that as an excuse to flirt with you, right?" Blaire piped in.

Sebastian paused as though realization was only just hitting him. He was an idiot; in case you hadn't realized. "Yeah, I've realized that now, after the valentine's day card....," he trailed off with an awkward cough.

I leaned forward, in a way I hoped didn't appear too eager. Rember, Phoebe, calm, stay calm. "So, you don't like her?" I clarified sharply.

Sebastian opened his lips as though about to answer but then suddenly cut himself off. A weird expression crossed his eyes as he looked at me – one that I didn't like at all. It was an expression that felt knowing. Slowly, and scarily, his lips curved up bit by bit into a smile. "Why are you acting so weird? Are you jealous or something?"

The words parted off his lips so simply, so matter-of-factly and it felt like I'd been zapped by an electric wire.

It was clear as day from his expression, he was only teasing to get a reaction, but his words nonetheless stung. Worse than stung – they were humiliating. I could feel my cheeks flaring in heat.

"No," I snapped harshly. Too harshly. A harshness, that I knew looked suspicious.

His eyes seemed to feed off my mistake, and they almost started shining as they looked at me. He was trying not to smile wider; I could see his stupid face resisting the temptation. "Well, you sound kind of jealous."

Glaring him icily down, it took all the concentration in the world to not kick him and then tackle him down to the floor. That would teach him for daring to laugh at me. For daring to even insinuate I was jealous of girls that liked him. If anything, I felt sorry for them, not jealous. Those girls clearly needed to seek some psychiatric help.

I tried to deaden my eyes to seem as though I was unaffected by him – bored even. "I'm not, I don't care how many valentine cards you get. And besides, it was you who was the one originally getting all nosey about my valentine's day cards."

He kept smiling in a way that was really starting to piss me off. "Yeah, and now the tables have turned." Then he chuckled, in a way that made me want to shove that chuckle right back down his lying, mocking throat.

I glared off in silence, my body tense. Normally Sebastian's teasing didn't get the best of me, but this time it felt like it was driving me insane. I could tell our friends around the table were half-listening to our little spat as they casually talked amongst themselves, and it only made Sebastian's accusations more humiliating. I was not jealous!

In the silence, I found my eyes drifting over back to the other unopened red envelopes that still lay spilled out on the table. Curiosity nagged away at me at who the other girls were and what Sebastian had done to get them so interested. Had he kissed them? Touched them? What the fuck had he done?

"You know, I can see you looking," Sebastian piped up with a laugh. You could hear the joy in his voice, and it sickened me.

That's when it registered in my mind that he was never going to let me live this down. I was going to hear variations of 'Phoebe has a thing for me' jokes till the end of time.

I turned to him, annoyed, and in awe of how I managed to remain in place and not leap out and kill him. "Only, because I wondered why you haven't opened them or even so much as mentioned them this morning?"

At this point, Sebastian was smirking like he was having the time of his life and it was clear, he was greatly struggling not to full on laugh at me. That bastard...

He leaned towards me; his knee brushed me in the process causing my stomach to flip around in a way I'd rather not dwell on. His eyes flickered between mine, bright and amused. "Simple -because I didn't want to make you jealous." Then he winked.

"For the last fucking time, I'm not-"

The words halted in my throat as I saw a message ping up on my phone screen that was laid face up on the table. It was from Ava and said 'Phoebs, no offense, but you sound like a crazy jealous girlfriend, stop!'

Looking across at her at the table, I saw her subtly shake her head at me with widened eyes as though urging me to quit talking for my own sake.

Biting my tongue in further irritation, I managed to hold myself back from saying anything else. Sebastian was not going to back off that easily, and I could feel his eyes on the side of my face. "You're not fucking what?" he continued to probe, clearly enjoying the conversation too much to let it stop.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of letting him further embarrass me, I kept my gaze strictly forward, not daring to look in his direction.

Ava soon cleared her throat. "Anyway, now that, the awkward conversation has come to a close, how about we move on to a different topic. Why don't we go around the table and hear if anyone's got any evening plans for valentine's day?"

I honestly could have slapped Ava around her pretty little face for suggesting such an awful, soul-sucking idea. Sebastian was only going to get cockier when he heard I had no plans for Valentine's. The fucker would probably start doing cartwheels out of glee for my misery.

"Blaire?" Ava probed, indicating for her to answer first.

Blaire finished taking a sip of her drink, then looked up at smiled. "Nothing, really. I'm aromantic so valentine's day isn't really a holiday that appeals to me much," she answered with an easy shrug.

"Oh, right, cool, fair enough. Anyone, care to go, next?" Ava asked as her gaze swept around the table.

Don't you dare ask me, Ava, don't you dare.

"Why don't you go next, so we can go in order," I muttered with a sigh, figuring that was the best way to delay sharing my embarrassment.

I felt Sebastian lean closer to me. "Is it just me or does this feel like one of those awkward 'give me one fun fact about yourself', icebreakers," he whispered jokingly against my ear.

His breath was tickling, and distracting, and shot strange sensations down my spine. Though I wanted to laugh in agreement at what he said, I kept my head stubbornly ahead, still wanting to give him the silent treatment.

Ava cleared her throat with a smile. "Well, Cody asked me out on a little dinner date later tonight. He's actually on your swim team Seb, what'd you think of him?"

Sebastian's expression stiffened and he just shrugged, not giving a better response than that.

Glancing nervously over to Leon to assess his reaction for myself, I saw he was looking rather intensely down at his plate as he pushed his peas around with his fork. To the unsubtle eye, he just looked bored, but from the slight lock of his jaw and the tight grip he had on his spoon, I could tell he was upset at this information.

"Leon? Have you got any plans?" Ava asked politely as she turned to him next.

He lifted his head, giving off a manner as though he was barely listening, but I knew he was. "Hmm, nah, I kind of forgot it was even today, to be honest," he lied with a chuckle.

Blaire plucked up a brow at his reply, clearly as doubtful at the truth of his words as I was.

"Oh right. Well, there's still time. Maybe you can still ask someone to do something?" Ava tried to pipe in helpfully. Completely unknown to her, she was being the opposite of helpful.

Leon forced a smile and shook his head. "Nah, I've heard the girl I like is doing something with someone else anyway," he explained.

"Oh, that sucks, she clearly doesn't know what she's missing," Ava said, her lips dropping from their smile.

Sebastian let out a snort, clearly amused at the irony.

Just as Leon was busy shooting Sebastian a 'shut the fuck up or I'll kill you' look from across the table, Ava once again, cleared her throat. "Sebastian? What about you? You must have plans surely with all those valentine cards," she teased, her lips curving upward.

The sickening feeling in my stomach from before, returned at full force. That, and my heart started hammering away as I braced myself for his response. What is wrong with you Phoebe? Who the fuck, cares what this weirdo is doing?

Sebastian's lips slid up into a smile. He looked far too happy. "Actually, yeah, I should have plans if everything goes to plan."

Squeezing the knife in my hand extra hard, I stared intensely down at the table. I felt Sebastian look my way and scan me up and down with a slight smile. "You okay, Phoebs, you look a little tense?" It was a fake concern. He was reveling in the tension in my body that he arrogantly thought was there because of him. Newsflash – it wasn't.

Ignoring him, I continued staring right ahead.

"Oh, that sounds fun, good for you," Ava said with a smile.

Hardly able to focus, my brain ran wild as I wondered to myself who he had asked. I didn't even know what kind of girl Sebastian liked. And what the hell was Sebastian going to do with her? Vivid images of Sebastian making out with some blonde-haired chick ran aggressively through my mind to the point I felt sick. It wouldn't exactly surprise me if Sebastian was going to have some weird little sex party with her – the boy wasn't exactly sexually shy.

"So, what are your actual plans? Do we know the girl?" I asked as I turned his way, the words slipping out my mouth before I could stop them. I knew I was giving him exactly what he wanted, in terms of making fun of me, but I couldn't help it. The curiosity was killing me.

Sebastian's eyes seemed to shine, amusement dancing behind their darkened surfaces. "Again, why so interested in my love life?"

Knowing I clearly wasn't going to get an answer out of this obnoxious prick, I rolled my eyes and gave up questioning altogether.

"And Phoebe, you? Any plans?" Ava asked turning to me last. I felt an immediate knot build in my throat at the question, everything suddenly feeling dry and hard to swallow. The urge to lie ripped away at me.

To make it worse, Sebastian quite noticeably turned to observe me now which only heightened the anxiety I felt. I noticed his smile had slightly dipped and he was just watching me now carefully, and intently as though carefully awaiting my answer. It infuriated me that out of all the moments, this was where he was staring at me the hardest – the longest.

"Er....no, I have no plans," I finally mumbled. "I'm in the same boat as Leon, just completely forgot," I answered honestly.

My eyes darted quickly to look over at Sebastian. An action, I instantly regretted as I took in his shining eyes, and smile.

"Aww, no what a shame," Sebastian said. Except it didn't look like he felt sorry for me even in the slightest if the great big smile on his face was anything to go by.

This time, I honestly don't know how I managed to hold myself back from physically attacking him. It was one thing to make fun of me for 'allegedly' acting jealous, but it was another mother-fucking thing entirely to laugh and smirk at the fact I didn't have a date.

It was official – Sebastian Diaz was dead to me.

------------------

By half-four I was sitting wrapped up in a little angry ball on my sofa, glaring off at the TV screen before me as it played re-runs of some old episode of America's next top model. Well, I was mostly pretending to watch it. My mind was too consumed with replaying today's conversation at lunchtime over and over in my head to concentrate.

Sebastian had acted like such an ass. So, what if I didn't have any plans for Valentine's Day that was no reason for him to look so smug about it. Just because he got fourteen fucking love letters today, didn't mean he was some kind of God.

He was likely off traveling now to meet up with whatever pretty girl he was supposedly hanging out with tonight. Well, screw him. I hope he and his date had a shitty time.

That's when the doorbell rang.

Letting out an aggravated groan, I swung my feet off the edge of the sofa and marched in annoyance toward the direction of the door. Since Max was off on a valentine's date with Lara, I was the only one home to open the stupid door.

Swinging it open, I paused abruptly as I found myself staring at a thirty-year-old man in a chequered uniform holding a bouquet of red roses.

"Delivery for Phoebe Brooks," he said with a polite smile. My heart started hammering away as I stared back at the flowers in shock. "Erm...y-yeah that's me," I finally mumbled or more accurately stuttered like a fool.

Stepping a little closer, he gently lowered the bouquet into my hands, "Happy Valentine's Day, enjoy," he said. Then with a final nod goodbye, he turned on his feet and trudged his way back down my drive.

Still slightly stunned, I closed the door softly and then looked down at the roses in my hand with the utmost confusion. Finding a paper label, hanging off to the side, I flickered it around to see if it would say who it was from.

The message said, 'To Phoebe, Happy Valentine's Day, love your pathetically whipped fool.'

That's all it took for me to start smiling like an idiot. In fact, I was smiling so hard that my mouth genuinely started to hurt.

Noticing a tiny bit more writing on the back, my eyes danced over the message. It said, 'P.S The number of roses have meanings. I gave you 24.'

More than intrigued now, I put the bouquet gently down on the table in our hallway and slid my phone out of my pocket to see if I could figure out what else they were trying to say. After a quick google, my eyes drew down to a website that said 24 flowers meant 'you're always on my mind'.

My heart once again, skipped a beat, like I was some giddy love-sick fool. I couldn't help it. This was hands down the most thoughtful thing a guy had ever done for me. As I went to fetch a vase for the flowers in the kitchen, my mind started racing as I thought of who this boy could be.

Nobody naturally came to mind as the type to do this kind of thing for me. Most guys wouldn't be caught dead doing this kind of thing – most of them thought it was too cheesy, too over-the-top. Heck, Sebastian had even gone so far as to laugh at me when I brought up wanting a guy to send me flowers. He'd told me only an idiot would do it or something along those lines.

Just as I was busy filling a vase up with water, I heard the bell ring out yet again. Quickly shutting the tap, I quickly looked back towards the door in confusion, wondering if the delivery man had forgotten to deliver something else. With the vase of water in hand, I walked back over to the door and swung it back open.

Expecting to see a chequered shirt-wearing thirty-year-old man waiting for me at the door, I was stunned to the point of silence as I found a casually dressed eighteen-year-old Sebastian staring right back at me with playful eyes and a curved up smile.

"Sup, Brooks," he greeted.  

---------

Hope you enjoyed 

Next Update: Thursday