Sebastian had been gone for two days and Rylee was already feeling her sadness loom in. It was around eleven on Monday morning and she rolled out of bed and got ready slowly.

As she put on her makeup her phone pinged with a notification.

😍

Morning love

Rylee set her makeup brush down and texted him back.

❤️

Morning babe, you already on set?

😍

Yeah, we've been here since 5. Already a whole new man.

❤️

Oh yeah?

😍

❤️

Oh. My. God. I don't even know where to look.

The hair. The soul patch. The tattoos.

The piercings?? Just who are you.

Where's my fiancé?

😍

😂 I get to put fake tattoos and eyeliner on bright and early every morning for two hours for the next three months.

❤️

Oof. Sounds fun. Good luck with that.

😍

Yeah it's lovely. 🙃

So what're you up to

❤️

Getting ready to go see Dr. Bishop

😍

Oh yeah, I forgot that was today.

You'll have to let me know how it went when you get home. I hope it goes well.

❤️

Will do, I haven't seen him in a while.

So we'll see.

😍

Shit I'm sorry, I've gotta go 😞

Please call me later when you get home

I'll try and answer.

I love you.

❤️

It's okay, I love you

Have a good day ❤️

Rylee set her phone back down and finished her makeup. Soon enough, she was heading out the door.

——————————

Rylee was ushered back and now waited patiently in Dr. Bishop's office, lightly picking at her fingers, nervous.

"Hello, Rylee, how have you been?"

Rylee stood up to hug the man who entered. He was 6' 2", with brown hair and hazel eyes, thick framed glasses surrounding them. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a green plaid button up, and brown wingtips.

"Hi Justin. I've been okay, how about you? How's Joann?"

"We've been good, thanks for asking. We actually just had a baby girl this past summer, Sophia." He turned a picture on the side table towards her, showing Justin, Joann, and little Sophia on a hiking trail, Rylee cooed and awwed at the appropriate moments.

"Have a seat. So. What's been new in your life since we last got together?" Justin sat across from Rylee, crossing one leg over the other.

Rylee sat back down, sitting on one of her legs, the other hanging towards the floor.

It had been a few years since she'd sat in his office. Where should she start. She talked briefly about getting engaged last month, and about Sebastian. She mainly stuck with all the happy moments over the last few years that she could remember.

"Well all of that sounds pretty wonderful...But, you're not usually the type to come see me when everything is fine and dandy."

Rylee nodded, looking down into her lap, back to picking at her nails.

Justin leaned over to put his hand on top of Rylee's. "It's okay to just dive in. Wherever you want to start, we can start."

She paused, but nodded again.

"You obviously know all about Michael from before..."

Justin nodded, acknowledging Rylee so she knew she didn't have to delve that far into that portion.

Rylee began recalling the events of the last year, from Michael stalking them, to him breaking into her apartment, to him hiring someone to come for Sebastian. Everything came tumbling out and eventually it was all laid out on the table.

Justin and Rylee spoke back and forth throughout the next hour and a half, all about Michael, how he still effects Rylee, and about various coping mechanisms she could employ through out her day.

Justin then asked more about Sebastian, and Rylee's face lit up.

She spoke with Justin about Sebastian for a solid twenty minutes. About how he's been effected by her past, how he makes her feel, and what he does for her.

"You know, your face completely lights up when you talk about him." Justin said, leaning into his hand, propped up on the arm of his chair.

Rylee blushed a deep red.

"Honestly, it's really, really nice to see. You seem genuinely happy with this guy."

"I am. I really, really am. He knows everything about me. All of it, and still chooses me every time."

"That's amazing, Rylee. I'm glad you've found someone who you can be yourself with. Have you two chosen a date for the wedding?"

"No, not yet. He's got to be in LA for a few months for filming, so we kind of tabled wedding talk until he's back."

"Are you okay with that?"

"With what?"

"With waiting to talk about it."

Rylee thought about it for a moment. Was she okay with that? She originally said yes but...

"I think so."

"You hesitated."

"....I did."

Justin waited for Rylee to continue.

"Okay. Shit. Maybe I want to get married like yesterday...but I won't see Sebastian for another two weeks. And I don't really want to deal with it all over the phone, you know?"

Justin nodded.

"What?"

"Or you're afraid to talk about it."

"Why would I be afraid to talk about it?"

Justin simply shrugged, the silence of the room almost deafening.

"Why am I afraid to talk about it..." Rylee tried to reflect herself, thinking.

"Because something good is happening to you and you don't want it to get screwed up?"

Rylee stared at the floor, silence weighing down her tongue.

"What do you need to tell yourself?"

"Michael doesn't control my life."

"And?"

"I control what happens."

"Right. So?"

"I...should talk to Sebastian..."

"Indeed."

"Okay."

"Well, on that note, our times up for today. But can I give you some homework for next week?"

Rylee nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"Talk to Sebastian. Just because he's across the country doesn't mean you can't converse about the wedding."

"Alright, Justin."

"Alrighty, I'll see you next week." Justin said as he stood up, heading over to open the door for Rylee.

"Yep, I'll see you next week." Rylee hugged Justin as she headed out the door.

After Rylee left she decided to head to the coffee shop down the street. She hated not going to Round Corner but she was clear across town.

Rylee placed her order and waited patiently in line for her cold brew coffee to slide across the counter. She poked about on her phone, scrolling through social media when she felt a very sturdy bump to her elbow.

She got kind of annoyed since she always made it a point to stay out of the way in small shops, making herself as small as possible, so the fact that somebody bumped her...

"Oh my god, hi!" Rylee said as she had looked up from her phone to see Tom Holland standing beside her, acting nonchalant, even with a goofy grin creeping on his face.

"Hey, how's life?" Tom said, leaning over to hug her.

"Good good! I'm surprised you're still in town."

"Yeah, my promo schedule got tweaked a bit, so I'm here for a few more days."

"Nice, maybe we can do dinner or something before you head out."

"Absolutely! -

"Tom! Caramel macchiato for Tom!...and...cold brew for Rylee!" They heard the barista announce across the room.

They both walked up and thanked the woman and walked towards the door together.

"I'm sorry I've gotta run so soon, my managers been waiting for me for like twenty minutes and I stopped for coffee anyway," Tom laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"That's okay! Text me when you're free and we can do dinner." Rylee commented as they walked outside.

"Sounds great," Tom responded, "I'm glad we got to run into each other.

"I know! Ive missed you! And with Seb out of town it gets pretty lonely. So I'm glad I got to see a familiar face!"

Tom laughed, "Right? Zen has been gone too. NYC can be a pretty lonely place without the significant other around."

Toms phone rang in his pocket, "Anddd that's me about to get yelled at," Tom half laughed. "I'll call you this week."He leaned over again to give Rylee a hug.

"Sounds good! Bye!" Rylee said as she watched him half jog down the sidewalk the opposite direction, as he took out his phone and immediately began defending his coffee run to the person on the other line.

Rylee let out a small laugh at the sight and then made her way to the subway to head home.

——————————

Rylee ordered in Chinese which had just been delivered. She was feeling a bit lonely but was trying not to seem desperate because of the fact. Alexa was helping her parents at their house. Sebastian was gone. And everyone else she regularly talked to was working or busy.

She opened up her Chinese containers on the coffee table in the living room, wrapping herself in a thick blanket to hide away from the cold air conditioning blasting through the apartment.

She had tried to call Sebastian but his phone rang a handful of times and went to voicemail. She figured it was around five o'clock in New York, but over in LA, Sebastian would be smack dab in the middle of his day since it was only 2 o'clock there.

She decided to eat her Chinese while watching a movie and turned on the newest Ryan Reynolds movie, Red Notice.

After she finished eating, she texted Sebastian.

❤️

Hey you, call me 😘

Also, have you ever been in a movie with Ryan Reynolds? 🤔

She cuddled into her blankets, warm and comfortable beneath them. She realized a few more minutes later that she had started dozing off. She decided she didn't have anything else going on today so she cuddled up even more and turned to get comfortable in her spot in the couch. Soon enough, she caved to sleep.

Rylee heard her phone vibrating but it sounded like a dream, distant and small. Her mind let it drift as she continued to doze.

——————————

Rylee was surprised to wake up almost four hours later, her Netflix screensaver scrolling along on the tv screen. She didn't expect to full out fall asleep on the couch. She looked at the clock by the tv and saw it was now 9:12 pm.

She picked up her phone and saw she had a missed call, a voicemail, and a handful of text notifications.

She went to the voicemail and missed call first. Not surprisingly, both were Sebastian. She clicked play and listened to Sebastian's tired sounding but soothing voice.

"Hey baby. You probably had a long afternoon...if I had to take a stab in the dark, I'd guess you're probably sleeping. We're basically done for today, so I'll be free the rest of the night, give me a call when you wake up. And if you're not asleep. Well that's just rude," Sebastian laughed heartily at his own joke, "I love you. Bye babe."

Rylee smiled to herself at his words. She played the message again just to hear his voice and soon she skipped over the texts and just went straight into calling Sebastian.

The line rang twice and Sebastian picked up, sounding as tired as ever.

"Hi, baby, how's it going?"

"Hey you, oh it's going. How's work been?"

"Also going. Eh it's honestly not too bad. The hair and makeup part of it is the most bothersome."

"Yeah, I can imagine. That's a lot to put on every day."

"Mhmm. So, how was your time with Bishop today?"

"Okay." Rylee dove into a bit of what they talked about. How the main topics were Michael and Sebastian.

"He said he could just see how happy you make me. Apparently my face lights up when you're dropped into conversation."

"Does it now?" Sebastian asked. Rylee could hear the smirk appear on his face.

"According to Justin, he thinks that I'm in love with you or something."

"Huh. Well isn't that lucky."

"Lucky indeed," Rylee said as she fiddled with her engagement ring with her thumb.

"We'll, I'm glad it went well. So...what else do you have on your agenda for the evening? Even though it's almost over on the east coast?"

"Not much. I might have to go back and start that movie over...I started watching Red Notice. Oh yeah! I forgot I asked, ever work with Ryan Reynolds?"

"Not yet, but I have made out with his wife before."

There was a long pause on the line, "We we're in Gossip Girl together." Sebastian laughed as Rylee's brain caught up to the conversation.

"Ohhhhh," Rylee started to laugh, really laugh. So much so that her belly started to ache, "you've made out with Ryan Reynolds wife. I can't."

Sebastian laughed too.

Rylee curled further into the couch, still wrapped up in her blanket. She put the phone on speaker next to her ear while she laid on the couch.

Rylee and Sebastian spoke for another 10 or so minutes before Sebastian noticed that Rylee seemed to be losing focus and drifting off in conversation.

"Hey...Ryles?" Sebastian asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"You alright there, pal?"

"Mhmm," Rylee hummed in return.

"I love you."

"Mm I love you more."

"Not possible..." Sebastian responded easily, "I'll talk to you tomorrow okay? Go get caught up on some sleep."

Rylee pouted playfully into the the phone.

"Shh. Go rest. I love you."

"I love you." Rylee responded.

"Good night, baby." Sebastian spoke quietly.

"Night," Rylee answered, Sebastian hanging up the call a few seconds later.

And with that, Rylee curled ever tighter into her blanket and succumbed to the sleep that overtook her.