Rylee and Alexa had just finished off the two bottles of pink moscato Rylee had in her kitchen, buzz fully kicked in for both of them. Alexa was sitting on the floor, legs stretched out, with her back resting against the couch while Rylee laid with her head in her lap. They were still chatting away about random bits of life. Chris. Ruby's. Creepy Randy down the hall. Sebastian.

.

Speak of the devil. Rylee held up her phone to show Alexa who just texted her. "Ooooo lover boy." Rylee rolled her eyes and giggled, opening his message.

Hey you

Hey ☺️

long time no talk lol

What's up?

Not much...

I know our dates tomorrow...

but are you free tonight?

There's something I wanna talk to you about,

but I'd rather talk in person.

The first few lines made her heart dance, but the last two made it trip and fall into a ravine. How are they already about to have a "we need to talk" moment...they aren't even dating.

"Ry, you okay?" Alexa asked. She saw her happily typing away and then her body seemed to stiffen up.

Rylee just held her phone up for her to read over.

"Huh..well..that's something. I'll punch him for you. Can I punch him?" Alexa was still letting the wine talk for her.

Rylee just laughed, forgetting the message for half a second. "Lex.. we don't even know what it's about. Let's give him a chance before we throw punches."

"Why d'you always gotta be so level headed?" Alexa drunkenly giggled, throwing her hands in the air.

.

Ryles?

Yeah. Sorry. Lex is here and she distracted me.

I can absolutely be free tonight

We can talk another time if you and Alexa are hanging out.

No no, she was just about to leave.

You can come over.

"Rude." Alexa laughed out loud, reading as Rylee typed.

Okay

Be over in half an hour?

Sounds good

"So is that my cue to leave, cause I sure as fuck can't drive." Alexa gestured to the empty wine glass beside them. "Hold on. I got this.." Alexa took out her phone and hit redial.

Rylee listened carefully, wondering what she was doing. She couldn't hear the person on the other end of the conversation, but she caught on quickly.

"Heyyy Chris... I'm swell, how're you?..."

"Well I was wondering if I could ask for a favor..."

"I'm at Rylee's and we mayyy be a biiiit wine drunk and-..."

"Yeah we're okay...yeah..."

"She just invited Sebastian over and I was hoping to hightail it outta here before he-..."

"No, she's not kicking me out...he's coming over to chat about something..."

"I dunno what about...maybe it's their code for sex..who knows-..."

"Chris I'm joking...I think...anyway if I send you her address could you come pick me up?..."

"You're amazing...thank you...uh huh...okay bye!"

"What a sweetheart." Alexa said as she ended their call. "Chris is going to come pick me up so you and Sebastian can have your alooone time."

"Gee thanks," Rylee laughed. How did she find such an over the top friend.

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

Not too long after he had stopped texting Rylee, Sebastian hopped in the shower. Like clockwork, as he was getting out, his phone rang. He was surprised to see Chris' name pop up. While he answered he started to change into a pair of black pants and grey V-neck t-shirt.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Iiiii am currently on my way to Rylee's house."

"Uhh...why? I'm literally about to head there myself."

"I know," Chris laughed, "Alexa called me and asked for a ride home because apparently the girls got pretty buzzed off some wine-"

"Wait, is Ryles like...plastered right now?"

"I don't think so. Alexa seemed overall still pretty together..just not enough to drive. So take that as you will. She mentioned you were going over to 'talk' to Rylee about something and I just wanted to check in with you..make sure you knew the situation before you got there...I guess I'm glad I called you then. What're you two supposed to be talking about? Or is that code for-"

"God, Chris, come on." Sebastian half laughed, half groaned. "One I wouldn't do anything with someone who's drunk anyway...but two, I'm going over because of the article...she still hasn't seen it. I'm guessing you have though?"

"Oof yeah. Anthony told me about it right after he told you. What're you gonna tell her?"

"I don't even know man..especially if she's blitzed. Fuck.. I dunno. I'm still going to go over.. we'll see how it goes."

"Well, good luck. I think Rylee will handle it okay. She seems pretty level headed...Have you been to Rylee's place yet?"

"Just to drop her off that one day...I'm hoping tonight won't be awkward since it'll be my first time in there and we've gotta have a conversation like this."

"Eh like I said, I think it'll all be okay. I think I'm about to pull up to her place so I'm gonna go, let me know how it goes.."

"Thanks..and thanks for the heads up.."

"No problem man, later."

"Later.."

Sebastian hung up the phone and debated calling Rylee. He decided against it. Even if she was too buzzed to have this conversation he still wanted to check on her.

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

Half an hour later, it was around 7:45 and Sebastian had pulled up to Rylee's building. He buzzed outside waiting to be let in. After her doorman called to confirm Sebastian was welcome, he directed him to the elevators and her floor. Once he made it to her door, he knocked, almost hesitantly.

After a few beats, he heard the chain slide on her door and it opened. Rylee was as beautiful as ever, wearing a simple pair of black leggings and an AC/DC t-shirt, her wavy hair falling naturally to the sides of her face, framing it perfectly.

"Hey there," she said, bright eyed and bushy tailed. "Come on in."

"Hey, thanks." He stepped in, taking in the decor. It was so very Rylee. Cool tones, open spaces, but every inch used to its maximum potential in the best way possible. "I like your place."

"Thanks," Rylee smile in return.

He was still trying to gauge her sobriety, which ended up making him look like he was staring at her. "Are you okay?" Rylee asked.

"I am, are you? I heard through the grapevine that you and Alexa...devoured the grape vine." Sebastian laughed at his own dumb joke, looking at the two empty bottles on the counter.

Rylee rolled her eyes and laughed, "I'm not drunk if that's what you mean..just feeling good." She smiled.

"Well that's good."

"Been a little sketched out since your texts though..they sounded very much like a break up text and we aren't even dating," she laughed, but was still nervous. Her now light buzz was helping her be completely honest.

"Ugh god. Sorry. I didn't even think about that. This isn't like that in the slightest...but it's still important..that's why I wanna make sure you're not drunk out of your mind or something."

"No, I'm okay, we drank a good bit all at once, but we finished over an hour ago at this point, and honestly, Alexa did most of the damage." She laughed.

A moment of silence fell over the room as he nodded.

"Well..what is this thing we need to talk about?" Rylee asked gently, sitting on the couch and patting the spot next to her."

Sebastian went to sit down next to her, he began scrolling through his phone and when he found what he was looking for he paused.

"I hate this, because this next sentence is going to make me sound like some cocky douchebag, but please hear me out." He ran his open hand through his hair. "Obviously, I'm an actor, celebrity, whatever word fits best...and with that...always comes some...negativity..."

Rylee put her hand on his, which was now fidgeting in his lap. Urging him to go on.

"Paparazzi, news sites, everyone is always breathing down my neck. Looking for anything to post about for views, likes, attention. Whatever their prerogative. And I know we aren't dating...but maybe someday if we are, it will come with a price. And it's your privacy. And I don't want you to get sucked into this world and not have some kind of leg up on it.

"There's very few times I can go out and not get bombarded. I can't even go to the gym or grab coffee without someone snapping pictures or judging what I put in my coffee. Which leads me to the whole reason I came to talk to you...which is about this..." He lifted his phone and handed it to Rylee. The picture of them running to his car front and center at the beginning of an article calling her his mystery girl. She scrolled through it twice, reading every word. The room fell silent as he let her read it.

"Huh...." Rylee said shortly. She sat his phone down, pondering what she read.

"This is what they do Ryles. They take every moment and movement and make it their own. Not all articles are this kind. This is mild at best, having them assume we're together just because we were a guy and a girl drinking coffee together. If we go on our date tomorrow, or any dates after...and whatever this leads to...this is almost always what's to come. I just wanted to lay this all out on the table now before we fall too hard or-"

Rylee grabbed his face in her hands, surprising him. As she turned his face to look at her, she kissed him, hard. He was stunned for a moment by the action but immediately relaxed, reciprocating, his lips crashing back into hers. Instead of letting go then, Sebastian deepened the kiss, running his tongue along her bottom lip. When Rylee responded by opening up to him, he pulled her onto his lap causing her to straddle him.

She ran her hands from his face up into his hair and held it tight, kissing him back passionately. He latched his hands onto her waist pulling her into his chest. They weren't sure how long they stayed like this, but they eventually separated, putting their foreheads against each other's, attempting to catch their breath.

After a few moments, Rylee scooted off of Sebastian's lap, back to her spot beside him, fixing her hair. She immediately got extremely shy, as if her tongue was not just basically down this man's throat. He ran his hands through his hair as well, still stunned but smirking.

She turned, sitting on one of her legs to face him, putting her hand on his leg. "Sorry...but not sorry. I've been waiting to do that since your first night in town...but...even just hearing you utter the words hinting at us maybe being a thing someday just..." she sighed blissfully...

"But....I am not going to lie to you Seb...someday...articles and comments may bother me. I've been plagued with anxiety since I was a little kid, and it won't just go away...but I feel like as long as you're there by my side, if the earth starts crumbling, I'll be okay..we'll be okay..."

He squeezed her hand that was on his leg. "So does that mean you still want to go on our date tomorrow?" He smirked back.

She rolled her eyes and jumped back to kissing him. He put his hands on her hips and squeezed them, moving her back onto his lap, kissing her right back.