"No."
"Did he pressure you into anything?" Ivy questions.
"No."
"Did he—" Ivy consults her notebook "—respect your boundaries and treat you with basic human decency?"
"Yes to all of the above. Are we done?"
"We haven't even started." Ivy leans forward. "What happened? And don't say it's complicated. We need actual details."
So I tell them. Not everything, some moments are too private, too raw to share, but enough. The poetry. The kiss. The way he held me during the movies like I was something precious. The way he looked at me like I was the only real thing in his world.
When I finish, they're both quiet.
"Wow," Lennox says finally. "That's... actually romantic."
"Too romantic," Ivy counters. "It's a classic move. Show vulnerability, write pretty words, make grand gestures. Then once he's got you hooked, he goes back to being an asshole."
"You don't know that."
"I know that people like Sebastian Thornhill don't change. Not really. They just get better at hiding who they are." She softens slightly. "I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I'm trying to protect you."
"I know and I appreciate it. But I'm not stupid." I lean back in the chair. "I'm going into this with my eyes open. I know he could hurt me. I know this could blow up in my face. But I also know that if I don't give this a real chance, I'll spend the rest of my life wondering what if."
"So you're all in," Lennox observes.
"I'm cautiously in. There's a difference."
"Is there though?" Ivy challenges. "Because from where I'm sitting, you're falling for him and once you fall, there's no such thing as cautious."
She's not wrong. I am falling. Have been falling since the ice rink, maybe. Or the cooking class. Or last night when he handedme his journal and his heart and asked me to be gentle with both.
"Then I'm falling," I admit. "And it's terrifying. But it's also the first thing in two years that's felt like mine. My choice. My risk to take."
They exchange a look, that silent communication of longtime friends.
"Okay," Ivy says finally. "We support you. But we're also going to be realistic. He's got two more contract dates to prove himself. After that, if he's still treating you right, if he's still showing up and being honest... then we'll stop being suspicious."
"And if he's not?"
"Then we help you burn down the Legacy House." She says it so seriously I almost believe her. "Deal?"
"Deal."
Lennox pulls out wine from somewhere, it's eleven in the morning, but apparently this situation calls for day drinking and we spend the next hour talking about everything and nothing. My feelings, their love lives, the upcoming Valentine's gala.
By the time I leave, I feel lighter. Scared, but supported. Falling, but not alone.
My phone buzzes as I'm walking back to my dorm.
Sebastian:Thinking about tomorrow. Any preferences for what we do?
Me:Something normal. No fancy restaurants or expensive activities. Just... regular stuff.
Sebastian:Define regular.
Me:I don't know. What do normal college students do on Sunday afternoons?
