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Chapter Text

Romy

”Mommy, can I have more chips please?” A deceptively sweet 3.5 year old asked his mother while she tried in vain to fill the dishwasher with the heaping pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen sink.

Romy sighed as discreetly as she could without hurting the little guys feelings. “I think you’ve had enough chips for today, Aiden...” She scolded gently.

Instant hysterics. Great.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, she dried her hands off on a kitchen towel and crouched down in front of her screaming child.

”Aiden, you can’t just eat chips for dinner. Would you like some fruit? Cheese? Yogurt? Anything thats not processed junk?” She begged.

“Daddy said I could have more chips!!!” Aiden pouted, dramatically wiping away the tears of frustration on his tiny face.

”Oh really.” She asked him rhetorically, gritting her teeth. “Where is Daddy right now?”

”In the garage. He said he’s really busy and to go ask Mommy for more chips.” Aiden complained with a tone of accusation, as if Romy was intentionally deceiving him by telling him that potato chips were not a healthy dinner.

She felt her face heat up in anger. Shane was supposed to be keeping an eye on Aiden so that she could finally take care of the mountain of dishes that were piled nearly up to the window behind the kitchen sink. Clearly that had been too big of an ask.

”Okay, you can have one more small bowl of chips, but you have to eat a string cheese and an apple too. Deal?” She crossed her fingers that her compromise would be enough as she pulled out the aforementioned snacks.

Aiden nodded eagerly, holding out his hands to accept the offerings. “Thank you, Mommy!”

”You’re welcome, go eat in your room okay? Mommy has to get some things done in here.”

“Okayyyy Mommy.” Aiden mumbled as he waddled down the hall with all his snacks.

Romy sighed and tried to calm herself down a bit before going to talk to her husband. She headed straight for the garage, turning the doorknob slowly, bracing herself for the impending argument she was surely about to provoke.

”Babe?” She called out to him as neutrally as she could manage.

“What?” Came Shane’s instant reply, already harboring an undertone of aggravation. It sent little waves of rage through Romy’s brain.

”I thought you were going to take care of Aiden while I tackle these dishes?” She tried her best to keep her tone light, probably failing miserably though.

“You’re not done with that yet!?” Shane asked gruffly, cracking open a new can of beer as he fiddled with a broken power tool.

”No.” She responded defensively, “I’ve only managed to get 4 dishes in at a time before Aiden asks me for something else. I’d be done by now if you were taking care of him for me.”

”I’m trying to fix this drill so I can fix the fucking lawn mower!” He replied, raising his voice enough to light Romy’s temper on fire. Screw being passive aggressive. Clearly the only option here was full on aggression.

”Okay, yes, that is important and it’s good that you’re fixing it. But I asked you to watch Aiden for 20 minutes and all you’ve done is tell him to ask me for MORE chips when he literally hasn’t eaten anything else since breakfast. It’s dinner time, Shane! He can’t just eat chips!”

“Are you serious? You couldn’t just give him something to eat real quick? I’m busy.” Shane argued in an increasingly condescending tone. “Unless you have the money for a new lawn mower?”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT. I ASKED FOR HELP FOR 20 FUCKING MINUTES AND YOU SAID OKAY! If you just did that for me I would be done with the dishes and getting him ready for bed and you would already be back out here fixing the drill.” She snapped.

Shane shot her a nasty glare. ”So what now you’re just going to leave him inside by himself while you stand out here and bitch at me!?”

”I’m just begging you for help, babe. I’m trying so hard to stay on top of everything. I need help.”

”Go back inside and take care of Aiden. I’ll fill the dishwasher when I’m done with this.” Shane said with an air of finality, not even looking in her direction.

Romy groaned in frustration and stormed back inside the house to join her son.

An hour and a half and 3 bedtime stories later, she dislodged her arm from underneath her sleeping child and silently crept out of his room. Their German Shepherd, Dakota, hopped off the bed much less gracefully than she would have liked, tripping over toys on the floor in her frantic never ending mission to follow her owner wherever she goes. 

Romy cringed as Dakota trampled over a rubber ducky with a shrill squeak, but by some miracle Aiden didn’t wake up. She quietly shut his bedroom door and headed for the master bedroom to get herself ready for bed. She was sort of surprised to find their bedroom empty but she figured Shane must be finishing up the dishes by now and would join her soon. She truly hated arguing with him. He was her best friend, always had been and hopefully always will be. Things were just… complicated, lately. For a while now. 

She tried to shake the thoughts out of her head, climbing into the shower to decompress. As the hot water poured over her body she briefly wondered how the hell they were going to afford to buy crops in the fall. This summer had been a giant money pit so far and they only had one month left. Today was August 1st and their July profits were officially an impressive negative $2,000.

It was insane, really, how suddenly their income had disappeared due to the uncharacteristic drought that had been plaguing the valley since mid June. It was honestly perplexing how the entire town wasn’t already breaking down economically. Not to say that no one else was affected, but Sweet Serenity Farm had probably taken the hardest hit. That was mostly due to the fact that their largest profits were made from crops, and crops were struggling to grow in this dry heat. Marnie had her farm animals, Pierre sold seeds, Sophia was surviving on her surplus of aging wine, and the other farmers were struggling too but with smaller land they managed to keep their crops watered a bit more than Romy and Shane could water their own. Sweet Serenity farm was just too big to maintain without rain. The sprinkler system had all but broken down completely, and everything that had been planted prior to the drought had barely grown more than halfway. Romy had felt pathetic putting all the tiny tomatoes and watermelons into the shipping bin. Who on earth would want a watermelon the size of the palm of their hand? At this point the only thing they were managing to keep up with was the fruit trees and rice paddies planted along the river that ran through the property. The banks of the river were receding more and more each week but at least it was a short walk to gather water to water them. 

Feeling hardly calmer than she did before her shower, she stepped out and toweled herself off before heading back into the bedroom. Romy frowned instantly.

Still empty. 

She glanced at the time, 10:30. What the hell was Shane doing?

Sighing in defeat, she put on a comfortable pair of pajamas and climbed into bed, immediately joined by her loyal canine who curled up against her legs.

She absentmindedly pet Dakota while she flipped through the new movies on the streaming service they would surely have to cancel next month before it renewed. They unfortunately couldn’t afford these simple luxuries right now. Better enjoy them while I can.

She picked a RomCom about two friends with benefits who weren’t supposed to catch feelings but inevitably did anyway (Duh) and promptly spaced out, laughing robotically at the scenes that were obviously meant to be funny.

Some amount of time later, an excited whine and a big fluffy tail whipping her stomach woke her up from her sleep. Groggily she glanced at the clock on the nightstand as Shane crawled into bed bedside her. 12:12am. 

“Hey,” She greeted him drowsily. 

“Hi baby.” Shane responded, pulling her towards him to cuddle.

Romy sleepily snuggled against his chest, content for a moment before remembering their argument. “Did you get the drill fixed?”

”Yeah, it was a quick fix. Just needed to clean it out and replace one little piece.”

”Oh. That’s good. You fixed the lawn mower too?” She asked.

”No, I’m saving that for tomorrow. I’m beat.” Shane answered, already closing his eyes and looking like he was seconds from falling asleep.

”What took so long then?” She tried to ask in a tone that didn’t sound too accusing.

”I called Sterling to see if he had the part I needed, he did. So he brought it over and we had a few beers.” Shane explained casually.

Irritation prickled at her skin. Not at the fact that Sterling helped them out, but at the fact that not once did Shane come inside to help her. Sterling was Aiden’s godfather after all, he would have been thrilled if Daddy and Uncle Sterling read him bedtime stories instead of boring old Mommy.

She swallowed down her rage. “Oh. Did you fill the dishwasher?” She inquired hopefully, knowing that his confirmation would calm her down a bit.

”Oh, no, I forgot. I was busy. I’ll watch Aiden in the morning while you do that.” Shane mumbled, sounding annoyed at her for even asking. “Why didn’t you do it after he fell asleep?” He added when Romy groaned in irritation.

His head would be rolling on the floor within the hour if she responded to that, so instead she rolled over to face away from him and closed her eyes. “Goodnight Shane.”

”Whatever.” He grumbled.

Romy stayed still until Shane’s breathing turned into mild snores before snatching her bottle of melatonin off the nightstand and heading to the sink for a glass of water. After swallowing the pill, she laid back down and waited for the sweet release of sleep.

——————————————————————

When she opened her eyes in the morning, the first thing she noticed was that the bed was empty beside her. That thought was cut short by the suddenly invasion of a dog standing over her licking her face and wagging her tail. “Good morning to you too, Dakota.” She giggled, gently pushing the excited pup away from her so she could climb out of bed.

Slipping her feet into a pair of fuzzy purple slippers, she padded down the hallway towards the kitchen. Empty. Dishes still in the sink, naturally. No surprise there.

She sighed deeply as she opened the side door to let Dakota out. Once that was taken care of she wandered over to the living room where Shane and Aiden were cuddled up on the couch watching an old cartoon favorite of his. She smiled at her little family, feeling thankful for a moment. 

Shane ruined it immediately with the next words out of his mouth when he noticed her standing there watching them. “Go take care of the dishes.”

Her smile dropped right off of her face. “Good morning to you too.” She muttered, shooting him a dirty look before heading back into the kitchen.

”GOOD MORNING MOMMY!!!!l” Aiden called after her. 

At least someone loves me. She thought bitterly as she prepared her daily 3 course breakfast. 1 cup of coffee, 1 extended release adderall, and 1 antidepressant. Delicious.

After the dishes had been passive aggressively cared for, Shane sent Aiden to his room with a snack and turned the baby monitor on so they could see what he was doing from the living room TV. 

“Alright, we need to talk.” Shane began.

Romy felt her heart beat a little faster. 

“About?” She asked hesitantly.

”Money. Sterling said that they’re predicting the drought is only gunna get worse.” 

“Fuck.” She whispered, hanging her head low. She had been foolishly avoiding the news, hoping that a positive attitude and hard work would pull them out of this.

”I’ve been thinking hard about it and I think you should look for a part time job working nights.”

Romy stared at her husband blankly. Her? Who the fuck would take care of Aiden?

”I know what you’re thinking, but if we can scale back the work here so that its manageable for me to get everything done during the day, then you can go to work and I can handle dinner and get Aiden to bed.” Shane continued as he placed his hands on her shoulders, looking deeply into her skeptical eyes. “It’ll be fine. Jas can come over and help me with him if I need her to.”

She took a deep breath, thinking it over. “Okay, okay… but where could I even find a night job like that here?”

”The Joja Mart Warehouse is hiring package handlers. There’s an evening shift.”

Romy laughed instinctively. “Yeah okay. I’ll send my application in right away.”

Shane just shook his head gently. “I’m serious babe, the hours are perfect and the pay is good. I would do it if you could handle everything here but I know there’s a lot of things that would be tough for you, and we need everything to go perfectly at this point or we’re going to go bankrupt.”

Romy groaned. “You can’t be serious, babe… I got away from Joja, for good. Why would I want to work for them again?”

”This is different though! You won’t be stuck in a stupid cubicle, you’ll be in a big warehouse loading trucks. It’ll be good exercise too.” Shane argued.

She could feel tears of frustration pricking her eyes as reality set in. He really was serious. “I hate this.” She said honestly, blinking back tears.

”You gotta do what you gotta do, babe. It’s not forever. Just until the drought is over, when we recover financially.”

”Fine.” She whispered, but the pit of dread was already opening up in her chest. Just as she was about to move closer to Shane to initiate the reassuring hug she desperately needed right now, he got up off the couch and clapped his hands together once.

”Alright, go hang out with Aiden, I’ve gotta go fix the lawn mower now.” He announced, turning to head for the garage door.

”Wait!” She called after him.

He stopped. “What?”

”Can I have a hug first? This is… stressful.” She admitted sheepishly.

”Yes dear.” He replied, holding his arms open for her to approach him.

She got up and clung to him tightly, trying to allow the nerves in her body to ease up as he held her but Shane released her far too soon. “Go play with Aiden.” He commanded.

She fought the urge to cry as he left the room. Aiden didn’t need to worry about her. She needed to be strong.

Chapter Text

Turns out that greedy, power hungry, parasitic corporations don’t really have much of a hiring process. Within two hours of submitting her online application to the Pelican Town Joja Mart Warehouse, she was an official employee.

They didn’t even seem to care that she had technically worked for them before and quit without warning. The automated interview consisted of two questions:

“Can you lift a minimum of 25 pounds?” Yes.

“What is your availability?” Nights and weekends.

“Congratulations! Your orientation date is tomorrow at 5:30pm.”

Great. At least she was diving head first into this without having too much time to overthink herself into a suicidal spiral. 

Part of her was upset that she would be working for Joja Corp again. She had been trapped in their web for years before her grandfather died and left her his farm. It had been the perfect escape 5 years ago. Another, admittedly larger, part of her was socially terrified by the idea of having to interact with people again.

Her and Shane were from the city. They’d know each other since middle-school. Their official relationship didn’t start until they were well into their late teens but their social circles had always crossed from time to time. They eventually formed a deep connection and fell in love. Then Shane’s best friend died in a tragic car accident, leaving behind his 4 year old daughter, Jas. Her mother had already forfeited her parental rights after her birth, so with no other suitable family, Jas ended up in the care of her godfather, Shane.

They struggled to comfortably adjust to the change in their tiny apartment, so the tragic news of Romy’s grandfather passing turned out to be a saving grace for the new little family. She inherited full ownership of Sweet Serenity Farm, and within a week she had quit her soul sucking job at Joja Corp. Before she could overthink it, they were all packed up and on their way to Pelican Town to start a new life.

The problem now was that Romy didn’t really know anyone in town. She had visited as a child, but never formed any lasting connections. Her opportunity to network was slashed right away as well. The first 6 months in P-town were spent grinding, planning, and renovating. There was so much that needed to get done that Jas had to go live with Shane’s aunt Marnie so they could focus on it all without Jas feeling neglected. They felt guilty for it but Jas was unexpectedly thriving. She even eventually told them, shyly, that she wanted to stay with Marnie instead of coming back to live on the farm once it was ready.

Romy could tell that it made Shane pretty sad to hear that, but her getting pregnant was an excellent distraction. Unfortunately, it meant that she never had the chance to be a social butterfly the way she needed to be to really put down some roots here. The first trimester had been a whirlwind of morning sickness and misery and the second wasn’t much better. Being super pregnant did nothing but exacerbate her social anxiety and mood swings which didn’t help matters at all. She had been unmedicated and miserable.

Unlike her, Shane had spent far more time in the valley in his younger years, so he had friends that were much more local than the friends Romy had left behind in the city. It was lonely. Much more lonely than she ever would have expected. 

5 years later and she barely knew anyone that wasn’t directly involved in their day to day farming business. Shane’s best friend, Sterling, was around all the time. The closest friend Romy had around was their dog, Dakota. 

Starting a new job in a warehouse essentially full of strangers was terrifying for someone who struggled with social anxiety on a good day. She had to do this though. There was no back up plan if the farm failed them. She wouldn’t allow this goddamn drought to take away everything they had worked so hard for.

That’s what she told herself anyway as she walked through the town and up the concrete steps towards the Joja Mart Warehouse. Shane told her that the building used to be a community center, but age had caused a lot of necessary repairs that the towns Mayor, Lewis, couldn’t be bothered to fix. Alas, it lay crumbling and abandoned until Joja scooped it up for pennies and renovated it into a giant warehouse for their super store chain. They even blasted a huge section of rock wall to make a road directly connecting it to the bus station. The added traffic and noise from the tractor trailers driving through was an annoying contrast from the usual peace and quiet of the valley, but it did open up a lot of jobs, unfortunately.

She wouldn’t be walking up this hill right now if it hadn’t. Maybe she should be grateful that she found a job so easily when she needed it. She hated Joja with a burning fiery passion though.

Romy found herself entering the front doors of the hideous blue building far sooner than she would have liked (never) and was quickly frisked down with a hand held metal detecting wand before being ushered through a spinning door. It felt like she was going an airport TSA. The security guards never even spoke. It didn’t do anything to ease her anxiety, if anything she kind of just felt like she was under arrest.

She was certain that there must be other people here, but her anxiety was blocking out their presences. She felt like she was in her own little bubble of torture. If there was anyone behind her or in front of her besides the guards, she certainly didn’t notice them.

Past security, there was a sign that said “Orientation” with a big arrow pointing right down a hallway. She followed it all the way down until she found herself standing in a brightly lit classroom. A man in a casual Joja uniform reserved for upper management smiled at her warmly and instructed her to have a seat wherever she saw a folder with her name on it. 

A few other people were scattered about the room, all of them already seated and looking at her curiously. She was suddenly very self conscious of her tattoos and facial piercings. She tried her best to focus on locating her seat but she couldn’t help feeling like a circus attraction.

Finally she spotted a blue folder with her name on it, right next to a girl with bright red shoulder length hair and brown eyes. 

Romy took a seat next to her and smiled shyly. “Hi” she forced herself to say to the girl. She glanced down at her folder to find out her name. Juliet.

Juliet gave her a bored look and mumbled, ”Hey.”

Romy wanted to die on the spot. Why was talking to people so horrifically embarrassing?

The man in the front of the room saved her from her self loathing as he cleared his throat and began speaking to the group. “Hello everyone, my name is Steve. I’ve been working for Joja Corporation for ten years now and I have nothing but great things to say about it. Believe me, if you work hard and reach out for guidance, you’ll be moving up the ladder here in no time. You don’t have to stay package handlers forever. There are so many opportunities here at…”

Romy zoned out for the next 4 hours. She didn’t care to hear any of this bullshit. She knew the truth. Joja was a slimy company run but slimy people. Steve was probably paid pretty well to get up here and perform this song and dance for all the new slav- er, employees, but she wasn’t fooled. She could see the lack of life behind his dead eyes. Joja poisoned everyone it touched. 

Orientation was over before she knew it. One last awkward trip through security and she was back outside in the night air, clutching the free Joja branded bag containing a translucent blue water bottle and keychain that they had so graciously gifted everyone. She could vaguely hear the crickets over the roar of truck engines but it was a distant muted noise. She looked up towards the stars but with all the light pollution from the warehouse it was harder to spot them than it was back on the farm. It almost felt like being back in the city.

With a displeased frown she took her first couple steps back home before she was caught off guard by a skinny dark haired man in a black hoodie walking past her at the speed of light. He had gotten so close to her that she could feel the slight breeze as he passed by and it startled her enough to lose her balance for a moment. She watched in surprise as he headed further up the mountain instead of down towards town, which peaked her interest more than his haste and poor manners. She wondered where he came from, he hadn’t been in her orientation class. Not that she spent much time checking out her orientation mates, but she would have remembered this odd character. 

Just as he was nearly out of sight she noticed the employee badge clipped to his hoodie, bouncing around with each hurried step. Huh, guess he works here too. That explains the attitude.

The rest of her walk home was cold and lonely and she reminded herself to bring headphones next time so she could at least listen to music.

The house was quiet when she arrived. Dakota was the only one who acknowledged her arrival, naturally. Shane and Aiden were sound asleep. She popped her head into the living room, taking note of the toys and half eaten snacks littering the room. She found that she actually wasn’t surprised at all. It was only night number one though, this was going to be a big adjustment for Shane too. She reminded herself to cut him some slack. 

She had drank an energy drink before orientation to make sure she’d be able to stay awake and pay attention, but sitting down listening to some overly enthusiastic Joja kiss-ass hadn’t burned very much energy. She found herself a little too energized to lay down just yet. 

Despite her petty side screaming at her to do something *enjoyable* with this free time, she found herself mindlessly picking up the living room. First the toys went back in their bins, and then the half eaten food in the garbage, snack bowls in the dishwasher, and finally a quick vacuum session, careful not to wake up the whole house.

She smiled looking around the clean room, kinda wishing that it could look like this all the time. A beautiful dream. Realistically, it would be trashed within one hour of waking up the next morning.

As she finally got ready for bed, her mind drifted back to the guy that had nearly knocked her over. Where was he going so late at night? As far as she knew there were only three residences up that way; Robin the carpenter and her family, Susan the farmer, and the two crippled old guys at the Adventurers Guild. Was he related to Robin somehow?

Romy didn’t know much about the locals, but she was pretty sure that Robin had at least one kid. She wondered how old they were. Her and Shane were both 27. It could be nice to make some friends? Maybe?

She felt her thoughts racing around in her head chaotically as she tried to catch them and hold onto them before they disappeared. Thinking in a straight line was hard for her sometimes. What was she thinking about?

Oh yeah. Making friends. Not that weird guy specifically but she was hoping that she would find someone to talk to in that god awful place. She used to feel pretty interesting, but staying home with a young child for years had kinda knocked her self confidence down a peg or two. She wasn’t even sure what to talk to people about anymore…

Music? She had a feeling these country bumpkins wouldn’t enjoy the types of music she listened to.

Shows? She didn’t watch much these days besides Aiden’s cartoons.

Hobbies? Ha…

She realized with a burst of anxiety that she truly had nothing to talk about besides the farm, Aiden, and Shane.

A sudden overwhelming dread overtook her as she realized that tomorrow night was her first real day and she would have to meet all sorts of people with whom she had nothing of interest to talk about.

Fuck this drought…

——————————————————————

The next morning went just like any other. Wake up in bed alone… well not quite, Dakota always stayed with her until she woke up.

Bathroom. Get dressed. Let Aiden out of his room. Let the dog out. Coffee. Medication. Let the dog in. Feed Aiden. Feed Dakota. Struggle to remember to feed herself. Give Aiden more snacks. Find Shane. Brief convo, unsatisfying. Make lunch…

Today was a little different though. The every day monotony was interrupted by anxiety about having to go to work later.

She found herself stressing about what to wear, how to introduce herself, what to talk to people about… it was all too much. 

By the time 4:30pm came around, Shane found her staring blankly at nothing. She was sitting on the living room couch while Aiden watched a cartoon on tv, half paying attention to it as he wandered about the room playing with his toys. 

“You okay, honey?” Shane asked her, startling her from her nervous trance. She hadn’t even heard him come in.

”Uhm, yeah… I just don’t know what to wear…” She mumbled, trying to express her thoughts out loud.

”It’s a warehouse, babe. Just put on some jeans and a t-shirt. Wear boots obviously. Grab a pair of gloves in case they don’t give you any.” 

He made it sound so obvious, so simple. Why couldn’t she be logical like that? It wasn’t fair.

”Yeah… okay. That makes sense.” She replied, slowly getting up off the couch and floating down the hallway to the kitchen. Grabbing a redbull out of the fridge, she cracked it open and took a huge sip before heading to the bedroom to change.

She settled on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, and a slightly baggy grey t-shirt. Socks and a pair of black boots completed her outfit. She knew it probably wouldn’t make sense to worry about her hair or makeup but her anxiety told her that she needed to make a good first impression or nobody would want to talk to her. 

Romy stared at her reflection in the mirror, nervously taking another sip of redbull. Why did she feel so uncomfortable in her own skin? She felt like she looked 20 years older than her actual age even though it was definitely all in her head. 

She tried to shake it off, chalking it up to her mind playing tricks on her. Instead of focusing on her face, she focused on her hair. She brushed it out before putting it up in a ponytail and braiding it so it would stay out her way. The last thing she needed was her long hair getting caught under a heavy box and making a fool out of her.

Once her hair was done, she focused on her face. A little powder to even out her skin tone, light waterproof mascara, and some simple winged eyeliner made her feel at least 10 years younger (than 50). She still felt way older than she really was.

Anxiety had her painfully aware of how dry her lips were. She put on a layer of semi tinted chapstick before noticing the time on her phone. Holy shit. She needed to leave now.

She flew out of the bedroom, giving Aiden a quick hug and kiss goodbye before doing the same to Shane. 

“Good luck, honey.” Shane said to her encouragingly, noticing her frantic demeanor. 

“Thanks.” She mumbled. “I love you.”

”I love you too.” He replied, patting her on the head. “I put a pair of gloves in your bag.”

“Fuck! I almost forgot! Thank you!” She ran to the kitchen, quickly finding the bag she had left on the table last night and pulling out the empty water bottle. She filled it up from the fridge dispenser and grabbed a protein bar out of the cabinet before tossing them in her bag along with her keys and wallet. 

After saying a quick goodbye to her very sad looking dog, she was finally on her way to work.

Once she was halfway there and realized she was doing pretty good on time, her racing thoughts slowed down enough to remember that she forgot her headphones. She groaned. It was going to be another boring walk back home later.

Finally approaching the building, she discreetly took notice of the other employee’s walking in with her. Having seen the layout of the main entrance and surrounding areas the night before, she was able to actually pay attention to the people around her. It seemed to be a mix of ages and personality types. More men than than women from what she could see so far. The only other girl around at the moment was her seat neighbor from orientation, Juliet. 

Accidentally catching her eyes, Romy offered her a friendly smile that went boldly unreturned. Ouch.

She was painfully aware that it was probably going to be a very long night.

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, the training process was pretty much on par with the hiring process.

The kiss-ass that ran orientation, Steve, was waiting for them just outside of maximum security land. Her and Juliet were the first from their class to arrive so Romy was forced to stand there awkwardly, next to the girl who wouldn’t even smile back at her, until the remainder of their group showed up.

Steve informed them that they were only waiting on four more people. Apparently a handful of folks had quit immediately after they were dismissed last night. She wondered what made people like that even apply for this job. An effortless few hours of pay for just sitting in a classroom for one night? She wasn’t sure if that was incredibly lazy or genius.

The remaining four people showed up one by one, only a little fashionably late. Once the last of them arrived, Steve clapped his hands together and made an announcement for them all to follow him.

Steve led them down a larger hallway than where the classroom and offices had been. He opened up a door that almost blended in with a wall of interior windows that looked out into the main warehouse. Holding the door open for everyone, they all awkwardly shuffled through, standing in a little mob waiting for their next direction.

Their guide started walking again, waving for them to follow since it was quite loud beyond that door. They silently followed Steve into a large break room labeled “The Blue Lounge”. Inside, there were several tables with chairs set up like a cafeteria. Typical break room things like a sink, refrigerator, a couple (blue) couches, and a TV lined the walls. In the back there was a little self serve market with snacks and drinks and a coffee station.

Romy didn’t realize she was spacing out while taking in her surroundings until she heard someone saying her name. Her eyes snapped forward, landing on the man who was speaking to her. It was a guy, much younger and cooler looking than Steve, wearing a blue shirt that said “Joja PH Trainer” in big black letters.

She stared at him blankly, hoping he would repeat whatever he had said to her. She expected an awkward silence but instead he gave her a friendly smile and put his hand out to shake hers. “I’m Zayne, nice to meet you. I’ll be your trainer. We’ll be working in Zone 1.”

Romy smiled back, feeling all the friendliness evaporate from her body once he moved on to introduce himself to Juliet. Of course she’s in my fucking zone…

Steve handed out their official badges while the other two trainers, that Romy had paid no mind to, finished gathering their trainees. Then they were off to their respective zones. 

Once Steve was far out of earshot, Zayne’s demeanor got much less professional than it had been in the lounge. She hadn’t really formed an opinion on the other trainers, but she felt pretty lucky to have gotten this one anyway.

”Alright guys, uh I mean girls… I won’t lie to you. This job kinda sucks, but it’s easy and it pays well. So if that’s good enough for you, then you’ll love it here.” Zayne chuckled as he guided them to Zone 1 and waved over the zone manager.

A burly man in a Joja blue polo and khakis sauntered over, speaking to someone on his radio. 

“Mike, this is Romy and Juliet. Girls, this is Mike. He’s the manager of this zone most of the week. You’ll have other managers on his days off.” Zayne introduced them politely.

”Nice to meet you. Romeo and Juliet, huh?” Mike snickered.

Romy could have died on the spot, and if Juliets scowl was any indication, so could she.

Clocking the horror on their faces, Zayne quickly ended the interaction and steered them away to begin actually training.

Thank god.

The last thing she needed was for anyone to get the idea that her and Juliet were friends. She was uncomfortable enough as is.

Seemingly able to sense that his trainee’s weren’t stoked to be grouped together, Zayne gave them a brief tour of the zone. He pointed out the bathroom, water station, and first aid cabinet and then ran through basic safety measures like which parts of the machinery jungle were most dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.

Once he got through all that, he brought them into a truck where someone was already hard at work. “Alex, this is Juliet and Romy. I’m gunna have Juliet shadow you for a bit, okay?”

A boy with brown hair and hazel eyes turned around to appraise her and her unfriendly acquaintance. His eyes quickly move up and down each of their bodies, making her skin crawl. “Hey, nice to meet you both.” His smile was predatory and she silently thanked Zayne for not pairing her up with him.

Juliet, however, seemed unphased by the douchebag vibes he was radiating. She gave Alex a flirty smile and was already moving closer to him. Romy resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

”Alright, I’ll be back to check on you in a bit, Juliet. Just pay attention to how he stacks the boxes. Follow me, Romy.” Zayne ordered politely.

Romy followed Zayne obediently as they walked down the row of garage doors. He seemed to be seeking someone specific. She let her eyes wander while he searched for the right person to pawn her off onto.

A fast moving streak of black caught her attention as her eyes automatically tracked a figure jogging after a box on the conveyor belt that was meant for oversized and oddly shaped packages.

Her eyes widened when she realized it was that guy from last night that had almost knocked her over in his haste to get… home? She still wasn’t sure.

She watched him work, transfixed by the way his scrawny frame was able to lift such heavy boxes with ease. How long has he been working here?

”Oh, there he is!” Zayne shouted, clapping his hands together as if were pleased with himself for finding his target.

Romy tore her eyes away from the mysterious guy dressed in all black and set them on the back of Zayne’s head instead. “Who?” She asked as she followed him into a truck. Her feet felt like they were on autopilot.

”Romy, Martin. Martin, Romy.” Zayne announced cheerfully, motioning between her and a geeky dude with a stoic face. He looked to be about her age, perhaps just a little less permanently exhausted though. 

“Hi!” She greeted him shyly. 

Martin raised a hand in awkward greeting. “Hello, nice to meet you.”

”Romy is going to shadow you, okay? I’ll come back to check on you in a bit.” Zayne offered her a sweet smile before disappearing, leaving her alone with this Martin character who appeared very uncomfortable with the arrangement.

”Sorry.” She mumbled, feeling a bit awkward.

Martin shook his head slightly. “Don’t be. Zayne figures I’ve been working for Joja so long I oughtta be a trainer. He forgets that the whole reason I came here instead of staying at Joja Mart was to avoid talking to people.”

Romy felt a real smile bloom across her face. “Ha, yeah, I feel you on that. People aren’t exactly my thing either.”

Martin smiled back, to her amazement. “I think we’ll get along just fine then. Alright, so you want to put the heaviest boxes at the bottom…”

——————————————————————

The rest of the shift flew by in a blink. The task was pretty straightforward so she picked it up quickly. It was sort of like playing real life tetris, except sometimes the shapes were boxes of food that busted open and you’d have to chase a stray potato as it rolled across the floor of the truck.

She found that as tedious as it was, it was almost fun in a sick sort of physical labor way. The exercise made her feel good too, natural endorphins and all that. She found herself smiling a little more easily. It was freeing. She tried to hang onto the feeling before it slipped away, all too aware of how fleeting these moments tended to be.

Working with Martin had actually been pretty fun. He was very shy, which she found easier to work with than more outgoing personalities. She was pretty quiet by nature herself.

They settled into a comfortable silence once Martin finished demonstrating the basics. She would occasionally ask him a question here and there, but for the most part they just worked together in a productive rhythm. A couple jokes snuck into the conversation that gave her the impression that he had more personality hidden underneath his shy exterior. She hoped they would be paired up again tomorrow. She couldn’t imagine feeling this comfortable in a new environment with… what was his name? Oh yeah, Alex.

I bet Juliet is having a great night… She snickered to herself. The smile dropping off her face quickly when she noticed Martin looking at her curiously. 

“I was just wondering how my fellow new coworker is fairing.” She explained awkwardly.

”Ah. The redhead girl?”

”Yeah. Her name is Juliet.” 

Martin nodded. After a beat of silence he broke the silence again.

“Who’d she get paired up with?”

”Alex?” She offered, hoping she remembered the right name.

Martin snorted. “Lucky girl.”

She felt herself smiling. “What? What’s the matter with Alex?”

Martin just shook his head. “Oh, nothing. He’s… yeah.” He closed his mouth and got back to work, giving her a clear signal that he was done talking.

She dropped it, but she secretly wondered it she could get it out of him next time they worked together.

By the time Zayne was helping her clock out at the time clock, she was actually feeling pretty good about the decision to work there. It could be good for her after all. Interaction with other adults, non-farm related exercise, opportunity to space out and let her mind wander… all things she didn’t typically have time for. Making money was just the underlying motivator, but maybe this would solve some of her mental health problems along with their financial situation.

After all, both situations were equally in ruins.

“See you tomorrow! You did great today!” Zayne said to her with a genuine smile. “Please don’t quit?”

Romy laughed. “I don’t plan on it… yet. Thank you! Bye!” She waved and turned around to leave, anxious to follow the crowd just in case she forgot the way out of this maze.

Unfortunately, she almost collided with Juliet who was apparently on her way to the time clock as well. She was walking with Alex and had been in the middle of giggling at something he said when they nearly ran into each other.

“Sorry! Shit… my bad.” Romy muttered, shooting both of them an apologetic smile.

Alex smiled back, giving her a quick once over before replying. “No worries. Have a good night!”

”You too!” Romy squeaked back, taking note of Juliet’s nasty glare.

She hurried the hell out of there before she had the chance to make things any more awkward.

Back outside, her eyes lazily scanned the parking lot. There wasn’t much to see. People getting in and out of their vehicles. Townies that lived nearby, like herself, walked off in the direction of town. Some of them headed towards the bus station and the lift to Ridgeside Village. She had only noticed one person head up the mountain. 

She hadn’t noticed him back inside when she was leaving, assuming he had already left. Not that she had really looked around for him, at least not consciously. While she was busy lollygaging around by the entrance, nosily checking out who was going where, a familiar breeze grazed her arm.

She froze. There he was again. A dark figure rushing past her, disappearing into the shadows uphill faster than she could reboot her system and get her feet moving again.

She didn’t feel like she could move again until he was nearly out of sight.

What the hell?

Shaking off the weirdness, she chalked it up to her unhealthy habit of drinking redbulls even though you’re not supposed to have too much caffeine on adderall. Oh well. I’m here for a good time not a long time, am I right?

She chuckled darkly at her thoughts, descending the mountain to head back towards home. She was so distracted by the odd interaction with the mystery guy that she didn’t even remember that she had forgotten her headphones to listen to music again until she was halfway home. 

Chapter Text

For Romy, the rest of the summer flew by in a whirlwind of brown cardboard boxes and colorful toddler toys. 

Her days were full of cartoons and temper tantrums, while her nights were full of back breaking labor and capitalism. 

Her days off? Not nearly as relaxing and refreshing as one would expect. For now, she was on a Monday-Friday schedule at work, so that her and Shane could not only tackle the farm and parenting together on the weekends, but also have a little free time to spend together. In theory.

In reality, there was so much to be done that Shane was busy catching up on farm work all weekend while she was left on parenting duty on her own, all day, exactly as she was all week long. It was a little mind numbing, not having any time for herself. The newness of her job was still providing her with a mild boost of serotonin, thank god, because she would be feeling pretty apathetic right about now if it weren’t for that slight advantage.

It was Saturday now, and like every other she woke up in a big bed void of any husbands, having her feeling extra thankful for her dog. Waking up alone had always bothered her a little. Shane was nowhere to be seen, but at least Dakota wagged her tail the moment she realized Romy was awake. It was nice to be noticed by someone even if it was a fluffy four-legged beast instead of the man she literally devoted her life to.

Her and Shane had barely spoken all month. Nearly every conversation they did have had been strictly about the farm, her new job, or Aiden.

“Mommyyyy!” Aiden whined from behind the baby gate imprisoning him inside his bedroom.

Romy sighed, her hopeful dreams of Shane letting her sleep in dashed immediately. “I’m coming Aiden, hold on!”

She stretched her arms and swung her legs over the side of the bed, groggily checking the time. 9:30am. Could be worse, I guess…

Dakota hopped off the bed and followed her to Aiden’s room, sniffing him happily when Romy opened the gate, releasing her tiny human friend.

”Puppy!!!” Aiden shouted, shielding his face from her excited kisses.

Romy smiled at them fondly, trying to blink away the exhaustion clawing at her mind. Water. She needed water, and her meds.

”Good morning Pumpkin,” she greeted her son finally, pushing Dakota to the side so she could scoop him up and plant a kiss on the top of his head.

”Good morning Mommy! I want poptarts, please.” Aiden giggled.

”Sure buddy.” She replied, carrying him to the kitchen and letting him pick out which flavor he wanted.

Once he was all set in the living room with his breakfast and a semi educational cartoons, Romy finally shifted her focus to herself.

She grabbed a clean glass out of the dishwasher, groaning internally at the thought of emptying it. Water and meds in hand, she swallowed them down and called Dakota over to the door. 

“Go potty.” She commanded the stubborn canine who was stiff as a statue in the doorway. 

Dakota looked up at her in disbelief, as if she could not fathom the level of abuse she was experiencing right now.

”It’s just rain, Dakota. You’re not going to melt.” 

Dakota just whined and turned around, quickly trotting into the living room to lay down next to Aiden. She glared at Romy from across the room.

Romy sighed, wondering where the hell Shane was hiding. She was filthy from work the night before and was beyond ready for a shower and a chance to sit down and drink her coffee uninterrupted.

She grabbed a mug out of the dishwasher and shoved it under her coffee maker, changing the settings to brew a stronger cup impulsively.

While her coffee was brewing she grabbed the cream out of the fridge, taking note of how empty the shelves were looking. They really needed some groceries. That required time though, time that they really didn’t have. Time and money…

Just as she was taking the first sip of her much needed cup of coffee, the back door flew open to reveal a very wet Shane. Droplets of water dripped from his dark brown hair, sliding down his neck. Romy just stared, thinking about the muddy boot prints he was surely about to track across the kitchen.

”I’m done planting the pumpkins and corn. I think we should stick with this for now. This is the first time its rained in weeks, I don’t think we should count on it raining again any time soon.” He informed her, shaking the water out of his hair and throwing his soaked jacket over the back of a dining chair.

“Yeah you’re probably right. I think that’s a good call.” She took a big, long sip of her coffee.

”I’m gunna go take a shower. You can take one after.” 

Romy nodded absently, wandering over to the living room to join their son in his morning cartoon marathon.

She tried to stay present but she felt her eyes unfocusing anyway. The rainbow dancing fruits on the TV screen blurred together out of focus. Aiden handed her a plastic apple, saying something about it being the same as the one dancing across the screen.

“That’s right, bud. Good job.” She said to her son, still entirely on autopilot.

He smiled at the praise and wandered off to play with Dakota.

Romy spaced out again, sipping her coffee mindlessly while scrolling through her Instagram feed. She felt a pang in her heart as she flipped through photos of her friends back home. She missed them dearly but they didn’t have a guest bedroom and visiting with a young child was never easy. They wouldn’t even be able to afford it now.

She felt her eyes filling up with tears at the realization of how alone she truly felt here manifested in her mind, growing vines that spread through the inner workings of her mind faster than she could fight away the dark thoughts.

”Showers all yours.” Shane announced, wandering back into the living room.

Startled, Romy snapped her head up to look in his direction. “O-okay…”

”What’s wrong?” He demanded, brows furrowing in concern.

”I just… miss my friends.” She admitted quietly.

”Make friends here.” Shane suggested casually, flopping down on the couch beside her. “You’ll be okay.”

Romy sighed. His advice never helped. He lacked empathy when it came to her woes, no matter how justified they were. He was very much a “suck it up, that’s life” type of guy. It was a lot easier to look past when she still had friends around to lean on when she needed emotional support.

“Yeah.” She agreed sarcastically.

Shane patted the top of her head. “Go take a shower.”

”Okay.” She brushed him off, letting his arm drop back down to his side as she stood up off the couch. She didn’t look back as she headed towards their bedroom to take a shower.

Half an hour later, her phone buzzed repeatedly in her pocket, alerting her that someone was trying to call her.

She pulled her phone out and felt her eyes widen in anxiety at the name on the caller ID. Joja.

”Hello?” She answered nervously.

”Goodmorning! This is Patty, Joja scheduling manager. May I speak to Romy?” The voice asked cheerfully.

”This is.” She responded, chewing on her bottom lip. Did she do something wrong?

”Great! So we had too many call outs for tonights twilight shift, a stomach bug or something is going around. I know you don’t usually work weekends, but do you think you could come in tonight?”

Romy weighed the options in her head. Lose a night of potential bonding with Shane that could very well lead to disappointment anyway? Or go to work and possibly have a good night chitchatting with her coworkers?

“Yeah, I can do that.” She responded after a beat of silence.

”Great! We start at 6pm tonight. Thank you Romy! Enjoy your afternoon.” *click*

”Uhm, what was that about?” Shane asked immediately, appearing in the doorway to the bedroom.

”Joja needs me to work tonight. Too many call outs, stomach bug or something she said.” She braced herself for a fight.

”Oh. Alright. I guess that’s fine…” Shane grumbled, turning around to sulk back to the living room.

Romy sighed, a mixture of annoyance and sadness rushing through her. She doubted Shane wanted to actually spend time with her tonight. He was probably just upset that Aiden would be his sole responsibility.

She glanced at the clock, noting that she only had 3ish hours before she’d have to head out. She got dressed quickly, pulling on a basic pair of black leggings and a black band tee. Then she dried her hair and put on a little makeup, idly wondering if there were different people at work on the weekends. She was a little nervous at the prospect of meeting more new people. She was still pretty new, and although she had gotten the hang of the job fairly quickly, she still didn’t really know anyone.

Zayne the trainer was cool, but he had to split his attention between everyone so they didn’t spend much time talking to each other. Besides him, Martin was really her only friendly acquaintance. Alex had tried to flirt with her a couple times when Juliet wasn’t there but she always just politely laughed it off and avoided him as discreetly as she could. She had worked with a couple other people here and there but no one that had really pushed for conversation and she wasn’t one to initiate that herself.

Satisfied with appearance, she headed back to the living room where Shane and Aiden were playing with monster trucks on the floor. Dakota lay near them, looking up at Romy with the loving and adoring gaze that only dogs can replicate. Romy walked over to her and crouched down to pet her, earning herself an excited lick on the nose. “Ewww Dakota, not before work.” She laughed, cringing and wiping her face on her sleeve.

”MOMMY!” Aiden shrieked, finally noticing his mother had returned from her shower. He glanced down at the boots she had carried into the room with her. “Mommy’s going to work?”

”Yeah, sorry bud. You’re gunna have fun with Daddy though.” She smiled encouragingly as Aiden made a displeased face at her.

”Wow, thanks Aiden.” Shane grumbled.

”Aww, you hurt Daddy’s feelings. Tell him you love him.” Romy smirked at Shane.

”I love you Daddy.” Aiden whispered, wandering off to play with his blocks.

Romy sat on the floor next to Shane and put her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Hey.” She mumbled affectionately against his neck.

”Hey.” Shane echoed, gently squeezing her thigh.

For a moment, Romy was able to clear her head and feel a sense of closeness to her husband, but the moment was over too soon.

Shane cleared his throat and removed his hand from her thigh. “I’m gunna go put away some things in the garage before you leave.”

”Oh… uhm, okay.” Romy responded, feeling cold as Shane got up and left the room, only pausing to ruffle her hair as he walked away.

She sighed, for probably the 10th time today. 

Aiden walked over and gave her a big nacho cheese dorito encrusted hug. “Hi Mommy!”

——————————————————————

After fixing her hair and brushing the snack particles off of her shirt, she gave Aiden and Shane each a hug and kiss goodbye. Shane mentioned watching a movie together when she got home, which filled her with hope that maybe it would be a good night after all. Her work bag was carefully packed with headphones and snacks for her shift with an extra one for the walk home.

She had never had a huge appetite but this job forced her to eat more than she was used to. If she skipped too many meals she definitely felt it. The dizziness and weakness wasn’t worth it. Her calorie counting, food avoiding days were officially over. Deep down she knew it was for the best.

”What are you doing here on a Saturday!?” Asked her favorite security guard, a small African man with a friendly smile and mischievous eyes. A playful smile on his face let her know he meant it in a nice way. 

Romy shrugged. “Too many call outs, I guess. They practically begged me to come in.” She joked, collecting her metal items off of the counter to place back inside her bag.

Her security friend shook his head in mock disappointment. “Don’t work too hard now.” He called after her as she made her way to the locker area to put away her phone and keys.

Joja was big on privacy. Phones were only allowed inside as long as you kept them in a locker during your shift. It was annoying but safer than leaving her phone at home, especially since she didn’t drive. Her and Shane had sold their vehicles right before they moved to Pelican town. All they had now was an old pickup that her grandfather left on the farm. It was great for running around the property harvesting and planting seeds, but she wasn’t quite sure it would make it up the mountain to drive to work.

She wondered briefly if she would still be working here come winter, and if so, what did that mean for her commute? She shivered at the thought of walking up here during a snow storm.

Hopefully this drought sorts itself out before then…

She headed over to her zone and clocked in, anxiously trying to pinpoint any new faces in the crowd. To her dismay, she spotted a few people she had never seen before.

A head of purple hair caught her attention, just as the manager began to assign them their tasks. Romy discreetly studied the purple haired girl, trying to place why she looked so familiar.

”Abigail, I’m gunna have you in truck 13.” The manager, a burly woman with tattoos and a very red face, informed the girl.

Abigail… why does that sound familiar?

”What’s your name?” The manager asked, looking directly at her with an impatient expression.

Romy swallowed nervously, feeling like she was in trouble for something. “Uh… Romy.”

”Nice to meet you, Romy. You can call me Dee. I’m gunna have you help Abigail in 13, okay?”

”Okay.” Romy nodded, anxiety flooded her system. 

Abigail had already headed over to their truck, so Romy willed her anxious legs to start moving and follow suit. 

Her purple haired coworker was already inside the truck loading boxes when she finally got over there. Romy offered her a shy smile and was relieved when the girl actually smiled back. Juliet could learn something from her…

Feeling a tiny bit less panicky, Romy pulled on her gloves and did a couple quick arm stretches before climbing up into the truck. It was silent for a moment but Abigail stopped what she was doing to hold out a hand and make eye contact with her.

“Hi, I’m Abby. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?” She asked sweetly.

”Romy. Nice to meet you too.” She reached out to shake her gloved hand, smiling back at her (hopefully) new friend.

Abby dropped her hand and picked up another box to stack. Romy copied her.

“You new?”

”Sort of. I’ve been here for like a month or so now.” Romy informed her. She was going to leave it at that, but then she remembered that people liked when you asked questions about them too, even though that felt inherently nosy to her. “You?”

”About a year. You like it so far?” Abby questioned.

She paused to think that over. Did she?

Before she could respond, Abigail laughed, filling the trailer with lighter energy. “Don’t worry, your face just said it all. I get it, this isn’t the most glorious job in the valley but it makes decent money and keeps us in shape. It sure beats working for my dad anyway.”

”Your dad?” Romy wondered out loud, still trying to make the connection of where she’d seen this girl before. Abigail didn’t seem to recognize her.

Abby stopped stacking boxes to turn and look at her incredulously. “You don’t know?”

Romy felt guilty suddenly. Was she supposed to? “Uh… I guess not, no…”

”Wow…” Abby mouthed, looking sincerely shocked. “You live in Pelican Town?”

”Yeah, uhm… My grandfather owned Sweet Serenity Farm, I inherited it when he passed. I’ve only lived here for a few years…” She explained awkwardly.

”Oh! So you’re the farmer my dad was complaining about!” Abby announced gleefully as if she was informing Romy that she had just won the lottery. What the hell?

”Uh… what?” Romy asked nervously, not appreciating this conversation anymore.

To her utter confusion, Abby laughed again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Pierre, that’s my father. He runs the general store.”

Oh.

”Oh! Uhm… he complained about me?” She chewed her bottom lip nervously. It never sat right with her when anyone disliked her.

Abby giggled. “Yeah, he said you haven’t been buying enough seeds this year.”

”I’m sorry… it’s just the drought-“ Romy started to explain, but was promptly cut off.

”Woah, listen, it’s perfectly understandable. My dad is a greedy weasel. I’m sure you wouldn’t be working here if the drought hadn’t fucked with your crops. You don’t owe Pierre anything.” Abby patted her arm reassuringly before focusing her attention back on the boxes.

Romy stood there stunned for another moment, trying to reboot her brain after that whiplash of a conversation. Talking to people was exhausting.

Luckily for her, the rest of the shift went by pretty smoothly. Abby did most of the talking and by the time they were halfway through the night, Romy found herself laughing and opening up more. Abby was pretty cool so far and it was nice to have another girl to talk to. She was mostly surrounded by boys so it was a pleasant change.

Cleaning up at the end of the night, Abigail suddenly turned around and shouted towards someone a couple trucks over. “HEY! SEB!”

Romy turned to see who her new friend was talking to and froze instantly.

That guy, the one who was always dressed in dark clothing and appeared to be in a rush, was headed their way. A full month of working here and she still hadn’t learned his name or anything about him. She wondered about him more often than she’d like to admit. Seb?

”Sup Abby?” He greeted her, coming to a stop about 5 feet away from herself and Abigail.

Romy felt her heart thudding in her chest. Meeting new people gave her intense anxiety. Especially when it was a stranger she already had weird vibes with. 

“Are we going to the saloon after this?” Abby asked him, a warning tone in her voice that Romy couldn’t quite make sense of.

”Uh… Sam didn’t mention…” Seb began, earning an eye roll from Abby.

”Of course he didn’t. We do this like every weekend dude, you’re supposed to assume.” Abby explained passive aggressively.

”Riiight…” Seb responded with a straight face. He sighed. “Yeah. We can do that I guess.”

Abby rolled her eyes again. “Well don’t do us any favors.”

”I just might have had other plans, you know?” Seb offered noncommittally. 

Abby scoffed. Romy felt like an unwelcome fly on the wall. Should she walk away?

”Right, what else would you be doing? Playing video games in your room?” Demanded Abigail.

Seb glared at her in offense. “I hang out with other people, Abigail. Why don’t you invite your new friend?” He waved his hand in Romy’s direction.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized he was looking right at her now. “Uh…”

Abigail brightened like she had completely forgotten Romy was there. “Omg! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Romy, you should totally come to the saloon tonight!”

Panic was rising in her throat. 

“Ohhhhh…. So you’re Romy.” Seb said to himself more than her. She glanced back over at him just in time to see him smirk.

”Yep… That’s me.” She laughed awkwardly, feeling immensely confused for the second time tonight. 

“Stop flirting with her, Sebastian.” Abigail scolded, grabbing Romy’s arm to steer her away from him.

”I wasn’t!” Sebastian called out after them.

Romy felt her cheeks flush. “I… uh… I don’t think I can hang tonight but I appreciate the offer.” She stammered.

”Oh no worries! I’ll give you my phone number so you can text me if anything changes, cool?” Abby responded with a reassuring smile.

”Cool.” Romy said smiling back.

Twenty minutes later, she had collected her things from her locker and begun her journey back home. Comfort music blaring in her ears through her headphones as she checked her notifications, noting with a frown that she didn’t have any texts from Shane. It was only a little after 10pm. She really hoped he was still awake.

She let herself into the house and was immediately greeted by an excited german shepherd who ran around her in circles before running off to find one of her toys to keep herself from whining. A useful trick they had taught her when Aiden was a little baby. 

Romy gave her some scratches and hugs before letting her outside to go potty. The rain had stopped before she even left for work. It had been so dry that there was barely any evidence indicating that it rained at all. The ground wasn’t even wet.

The sight of it filled her with dread. At this rate she’d be working for Joja forever.

They headed back inside the house which was eerily quiet now that Dakota had calmed down. A quick peek into the dark living room showed no signs of her husband. Disappointment began bubbling up in her chest but she swallowed it down for now.

After ditching her boots, she crept down the hallway careful not to make too much noise outside of Aiden’s room. She could hear Shane snoring before she even reached the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

Sighing, she pushed the door open quietly and switched on the light. Shane groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. 

Romy walked over to his side of the bed and pulled the blanket away from his face, giving him a kiss on his temple. “Hi honey.”

”Uhngg..” Shane groaned. “Turn off the sun.”

”No. You said we could watch a movie.” She argued.

”Turn off the goddamn light.” Shane demanded.

“FINE.” Romy conceded, switching the light off before crawling into bed and laying on top of him. “Movie?”

”I’m sleeping.” Shane grumbled.

”Really?” She asked rhetorically, anger replacing her disappointment. “You know, I actually got invited to hang out tonight but I came home to spend time with you instead.”

”Sorry I’m tired.” Shane mumbled sarcastically.

”Do you care if I go out then?” She asked bitterly.

“Whatever.” Shane responded, pulling the blanket back over his head and rolling over.

”Okay. Great.” Romy retorted, pulling her phone out to text Abby as she stalked over to the bathroom mirror to assess her appearance.

Anger was an effective override for her social anxiety. She hadn’t been very interested in hanging out with anyone other than Shane tonight, but now?

Romy : Hey! It’s Romy, from Joja… Turns out I’m free tonight after all :)

Abby’s response came almost instantly, not allowing her any time to overthink it and chicken out.

Abby: Awesome!! Come to the Stardrop Saloon!! :)

Chapter Text

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea… Romy thought to herself as she approached the center of town. Her feet already hurt from the walk home, and walking all the way back to town certainly hadn’t helped at all.

Her aching feet had been a solid distraction from her anger towards Shane, which unfortunately had the effect of her social anxiety seeping back into the cracks that her dissipating fury had left behind.

Romy sighed, feeling tired and full of regret already and the Stardrop Saloon had only just came into her field of view off in the distance. Part of her wanted to tell Abby something came up and she’d have to stay home tonight after all, but she knew she’d only feel worse by chickening out like that.

No, she made it this far. She was going to have a damn good night whether she liked it not.

At least that’s what she told herself as her hand flattened against the old wooden door, psyching herself up to push it open. She took a deep breath. You can do this, Romy. 

The door suddenly opened from other side just as she had started to push. “Ah!” She yelped as she stumbled forward, a pair of hands catching her before she could fall.

“Sorry! Sorry.” A vaguely familiar male voice apologized frantically. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at her saviors face.

”Romy?” Sebastian acknowledged her in apparent surprise. “Wow, Abigail actually guilt tripped you into coming here?”

Romy willed her brain to cooperate with her as the silence stretched on for what felt like hours. Any normal person would have said something by now but she could only focus on his subtle grin and the heat of his hands on her shoulders soaking right through her shirt and warming her skin underneath.

”Uh… Yeah.” She responded finally, laughing awkwardly in attempt to seem friendlier than she was apparently capable of being in this moment.

Sebastian looked into her eyes for a moment in what she interpreted as mild confusion before he finally glanced at his hands, rapidly dropping them back down to his sides. “Shit, sorry…” He mumbled. He looked a little embarrassed. That made two of them at least.

”I-it’s okay. Thank you! For… uh, not letting me fall.” She stammered quickly, not wanting him to think that he made her uncomfortable. She forced a smile, hoping that it looked more natural than it felt. The inner workings of her mind were on fire so it was hard to tell if she was acting like a normal person or not.

Sebastian smiled back and opened his mouth to say something in response, but he was quickly interrupted by a couple of people silently trying to get by them.

They both seemed to realize they were blocking the door at the same time, stepping to the side in opposite directions from each other. Romy felt her face flush as the two men she didn’t recognize shuffled out the door looking annoyed by the inconvenience.

“Well, I was on my way out, so have fun with Sam and Abby, they’re cool I promise. Bye!” Sebastian rambled quickly after they passed by before disappearing out the door, leaving Romy standing awkwardly by the entrance all by herself.

”Bye!” Romy attempted to respond, but he was already out of earshot. Nervously she looked around the bar, trying not to dwell on the fact that quite a few people had taken note of their awkward encounter. She swallowed hard and scanned the room for signage for a game area. Abby had told her that they would be by the pool table and arcade games.

Thankfully she didn’t have to stand around looking lost for long, because the game room was very obviously to her right. She hurried through the archway connecting it to the main bar and dining area, immediately catching sight of Abby’s bright purple hair.

She was sitting on a couch against the wall with her back to Romy, deeply engrossed in conversation with a tall boy with messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The boy in question was looking at her with pure amusement and adoration as she talked animatedly about something Romy couldn’t quite hear. Something about him just screamed skater boy. Damn. Good for her. 

Feeling a little jealous of Abigail all of a sudden, she felt nervous again. She waved shyly when the boy looked over in her direction, still working up the courage to speak.

His face brightened and he said something to Abby that caused her to leap off the couch and greet her excitedly. “ROMY!!! You’re here!”

She laughed. “I’m here!” 

Now that Abby was standing in front of her she could smell the faint smell of beer radiating off of them, finally noting the half empty mugs on the coffee table. 

She sighed an internal sigh of relief. She was gunna need alcohol to get through this without it being awkward for everyone. 

Abby redirected her attention to the boy, waving him over for introductions.

”Sam, this is Romy, my new favorite coworker. Romy, this is Sam, my boyfriend.”

”Nice to meet you, Romy.” Said Sam politely, holding out a hand to shake.

Romy felt her cheeks heat up as she awkwardly accepted his hand shake. “You too!” 

Sam gave her a dazzling friendly smile. She swooned a little. Damn, Abby.

”Want a drink?” Abby asked, seemingly oblivious to her boyfriends charming effect on her new friend.

“Yes please.” Romy replied with gratitude.

Abby grabbed her arm and steered her towards the bar, Sam staying behind to watch their drinks. 

As they approached the bar, a cute girl with short blue hair hurried over to take their order. “You finished that beer already?” She asked Abigail teasingly.

Abby scrunched her nose in mock offense. “Noooo. Just buying my new friend a drink.”

Romy blushed as the girl directed her attention to her instead. “Hi.” She said meekly, raising a hand to signify that she was the new friend.

The blue haired girl lit up as she apparently recognized her. “Oh!! You’re the farmer! Romy, right?”

She felt a pang of guilt over not knowing this girl who apparently knew of her. “Yeah, that’s me. Sorry, I…” She started to apologize awkwardly.

“Oh, no! Don’t worry, we haven’t met. I just hear thing’s working at a bar, you know? I’m Emily. It’s so nice to finally meet you!” She gushed.

Romy choked out an awkward “You too!” before Abby saved her by reentering the conversation.

”So what do you like to drink?” She asked Romy.

“Uhhh… do you have any fruity beers?” She asked quietly, already feeling annoying.

Abby raised her eyebrows, waiting for Emily to respond.

To Abby’s surprise and Romy’s delight, her face brightened as she twirled around and hurried over to a fridge underneath the counter. “I have just the thing!” She announced gleefully, producing a pitcher from the fridge and grabbing an empty glass. 

They watched in wonder as Emily poured a dark blue liquid into the glass, topping it off with a few shakes of some sort of powder in an unlabeled container before giving it a stir with a long metal spoon.

Romy’s eyes widened as she returned, sliding the glass towards her bashfully. “Give that a try.” Emily commanded with a smile.

”Woah! What is that?!” Abby demanded.

Emily held a finger up to her lips with a smile, signaling for her to shush until Romy could actually try it.

The dark blue liquid had swirls of shimmering speckles dancing around like magic dust in a glass. Romy realized with delight that it had been edible glitter in that shaker. How fun.

Romy raised the glass to her lips while Emily watched her anxiously, praying the mystery alcohol was good so she wouldn’t have to hurt her feelings. She took a sip. Then another. And another.

”Holy. Shit.” She said finally.

Emily’s eyes lit up like beacons.

”What!?” Abby demanded impatiently, dying to know what she was missing out on.

”Emily… this is fucking incredible. What is this?” Romy gushed, taking another sip before handing it to Abby to try.

”Oh just a blueberry sour beer I’ve been working on perfecting.” Emily blushed.

”It’s perfect.” Abby said suddenly, having just swallowed a discreet second sip that Romy hadn’t actually authorized.

”Oh it’s nothing, I’m glad you guys like it though!” Emily insisted.

”Like?” Romy asked, grabbing the glass out of Abby’s greedy paws. “I love this. I want to drink this every day for the rest of my life.”

Emily giggled. “I like you. We’re friends now, okay? That ones on the house, by the way.”

”Emily! You have to let me pay you for this.” Abigail insisted in disbelief.

Emily just waved her off. “Your compliments are more than enough payment, trust me. It’s hard to find good taste testers around here. Haley doesn’t drink, most of these men wouldn’t dare drink a fruity drink in public, Sterling is a good sport but he’ll drink anything…” She trailed off as more patrons came up to the bar. “You guys go have fun. I’ll bring you both another one when I get a chance.” She winked at them before going to tend to the other customers.

”Wow.” Romy said out loud as Abby led her back to the game room. “I didn’t realize how nice people were here.”

Abby looked at her quizzically. “Haven’t you lived here for like, years?”

Romy felt a little ashamed suddenly. “Yeah… uhm… I pretty much don’t know anyone.”

”Damn.” Abby replied. “I’m almost jealous.”

”Don’t be.” Romy mumbled.

Abby shot her a concerned look but Sam bounding over to them like an adorable golden retriever derailed that conversation.

Sam’s eyes landed on the glittery drink in Romy’s hand almost immediately. “Woah! What is that?!” He asked in amazement.

“Magic blueberry beer.” Romy replied with a straight face. “Emily made it herself.”

Sam shook his head. “That girl isn’t normal, I swear.”

“Leave Emily alone.” Abby scolded him, smacking his arm playfully.

”She’s my neighbor! I’m allowed to roast her!” Sam insisted. “I’m just kidding anyway. She’s the nice one. Now Haley…”

Abby rolled her eyes. “I get it, babe, you don’t like Haley. You don’t have to remind me every day.”

Sam stuck his tongue out at her and made a big show of directing his full attention towards Romy. “So, Abby’s new friend, you any good at pool?”

”I haven’t played in at least 5 years.” She admitted with a grimace. Memories of playing with Shane back when they lived in the city and didn’t have any kids to worry about rushed through her head. 

“Too bad Seb isn’t here. He’s the master.” Sam said sadly. “You actually just missed him.”

”Oh, yeah he was walking out when I was walking in. I almost fell over but he caught me before I could make a scene and embarrass myself even more...“ Romy recounted the awkward encounter to her two new friends who were listening with very amused expressions.

”I wish he would have stayed for a while. I don’t know what he had to go to do that was so important.” Sam complained.

Abby looked like she had something to add to that but Emily walked over with 3 glasses of her blueberry beer which effectively put an end to that conversation. 

After a few terrible rounds of pool and a Junimo Kart marathon, the trio finally called it a night around 12:30am after paying their tab and saying goodbye to Emily. 

Abby and Sam had been kind enough to walk her to the edge of her property before heading back into town. She insisted they didn’t have to do that, but they were worried about her walking so far alone in the dark with alcohol in her system. She felt bad but she was oddly touched at the same time. She wasn’t used to having friends anymore.

Her house felt lonely and quiet aside from the dog who had probably been anxiously waiting by the door for the past 2 hours. She let Dakota out and drank a glass of water while she waited for her to come back in, quietly reflecting on the fun night she had.

Crawling into bed beside her sleeping husband a little while later, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness thinking about how she would have probably cried herself to sleep if she had chosen to stay home.

She felt her mood deflate at the realization. Popping a melatonin first, she then squeezed her eyes shut and wiggled around under the covers until she was cozy enough to clear her head and wait for the sweet release of sleep.

Chapter Text

Sunday had been uneventful for the most part. Romy woke up a bit later than she normally would, but she felt a little happier than she usually did upon opening her eyes and letting reality settle in. 

She crawled out of bed with a more positive attitude than she could remember having in the recent (and not so recent) past. Shane and Aiden were waiting for her in the living room and she gave them both big good morning hugs.

Shane was amused by her good mood, clearly not being used to her being a morning person. She had filled him in on her fun night a little hesitantly, worried he might be angry or jealous for some reason she couldn’t predict. He hadn’t been though, all he said was “Nice!” and told her it was great that she was finally making friends here.

She wanted to spend time with him the rest of the day but he had things to do around the farm, so the only time really spent together was when he came inside around dinner time to enjoy a frozen pizza and store bought pepper poppers (that weren’t nearly as good as the homemade ones they normally indulged in) with her. 

Sunday was over before they knew it. Monday went by just as fast, then Tuesday, and Wednesday…

In what felt like the blink of an eye it was already the weekend again. Saturday morning started like any other, but then…

”Fuck!” Shane shouted from the garage, followed by the sound of something being thrown against the wall. Dakota barked and ran to the door, the fur on her back sticking straight up on guard.

Romy’s heart skipped a beat, getting up from the couch in an instant. Hesitantly opening the door to the garage, she held Dakota back from running in there blindly.

”What happened!?” She called out to her husband who was frantically searching for something on the dirty garage floor.

“I lost the fucking…. UGH!!” Shane trailed off, getting frustrated by his unproductive efforts. He got up and went straight for his phone on the work bench, making a phone call before even letting Romy know what was going on.

She watched him in mild annoyance as the phone rang, already knowing who he was calling before the call even connected.

Sure enough, just like a fucking psychic, the voice she expected to hear echoed throughout the garage on speaker phone. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

”Hey, What’s up?” Sterling asked curiously.

“Hey man. Okay so I was trying to fix the fucking pump for the sprinkler system but the piece that connects it to the pipes fucking grew legs and disappeared. I can’t find it. Do you have an extra connector?” Shane rambled in a much nicer tone than he had just been using with Romy.

“Uh… Sorry, Bud. I do not. That fucking sucks though. I doubt Joja Mart would even have that in stock.” Sterling sympathized. 

“Shit. What are you doing today?” 

Romy bristled at the question, they were supposed to spend time together later. Marnie had already agreed to take Aiden for a few hours. They hadn’t had sex in… months. Her complaints had led to Shane promising they could have some much needed alone time together tonight.

”I was just gunna go for a walk, or maybe take the bike out for a ride before it gets too much colder. If you want, we can take a ride out to the hardware store in Zuzu.” Sterling offered.

”I’m gunna look around a little more and see if I can find the damn thing, but that would be great if not. Thanks dude. I’ll call ya back in like 20?” Shane said, already looking around again.

”Yeah man no problem, later.” Sterling said before ending the call. 

Silence filled the garage aside from the racket of Shane moving things around.

Romy cleared her throat.

”Yes, dear?” Shane asked sarcastically, not even bothering to look at her.

She felt her irritation rising to the surface. “We’re still spending time together, right?”

”Babe, I don’t know how long this is going to take. Depends if I can find this connector or not, okay? If I have to to to Zuzu then probably not.” Shane explained with an air of condescension.

Romy groaned.

”Go back inside.” Shane waved her off impatiently. 

Her and Dakota headed back over to Aiden who was fully engrossed in an episode of Coco Melon.

Romy plopped down on the couch and stared blankly at the wall above the TV, waiting for an update from Shane. 

Half an hour later, she heard the door open and footsteps walking across the kitchen floor. She looked up expectantly, hoping for good news, but Shane kept walking down the hall, disappearing into their bedroom without a word.

She waited, and waited, occasionally checking the time on her smart watch.

35 minutes later he finally emerged, dressed in clothing that looked suspiciously like an outfit one would wear for a motorcycle ride on a chilly fall day.

Romy just stared at him with a blank expression.

”What?” Shane asked snippily, noticing her staring.

”So you’re going to Zuzu then?” She asked flatly.

”I can’t find the fucking connector, so, yeah.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and out. 

Shane walked into the kitchen, grabbing something out of the fridge. The familiar sound of a beer being cracked open rang out in the distance as he walked back towards the living room.

He ignored Romy as he went to sit down next to Aiden, asking him about the show he was watching.

Romy couldn’t focus on their conversation. She was seething with anger internally. Why couldn’t he ever consider her feelings? Yeah shit happens, obviously. She wasn’t naive. But would it kill him to be at least a little empathetic that their plans were ruined?

Moments later, Shane noticed her oppressive silence, turning to look at her accusingly. “What? What’s your problem?”

“So is Marnie still taking Aiden, or?” She asked as casually as she could muster.

”I told her she doesn’t have to anymore.” Shane replied, as if that wouldn’t absolutely enrage her.

”Why?!” Romy snapped.

”Because she doesn’t need to!? You’ll be home.” Shane argued as if she was being ridiculous.

”She was already planning on taking him! I’d rather go to work than just fucking sit here by myself.” She whined, feeling her eyes filling up with tears of frustration. She loved Aiden but he was 3 for crying out loud, she was so fucking lonely. At least if she worked tonight she would get to see Abby. They’d been texting here and there all week but it wasn’t the same as face to face interaction. 

“Okay so tell her you have to work tonight. Whatever.” Shane snapped, directing his attention towards the bag of chips in his hand. He took a big sip of beer to wash them down.

Romy glared at the side of his face. “Is she going to be mad? You already told her she didn’t have to watch him anymore, you didn’t even tell me first.” 

Shane sighed dramatically. “I don’t know, text her before she makes other plans!”

Romy wanted to light her husband on fire, but she obeyed anyway. Shooting Marnie a quick text, she waited on edge for a response, praying that she wouldn’t seem annoyed with her. In her head, she was already cursing Shane for making her be annoying when it was his fault for not telling HER about Zuzu first.

To her relief, Marnie responded with her usual friendliness, assuring her it was not a problem. She felt herself calm down a bit, excited to hang out with Abby even if meant physical labor would be involved.

Her sigh of relief must have been audible because Shane turned his head to look at her. “So?”

”She said she’ll watch him.”

”Okay, happy now?” He teased.

She wanted to say no, not really so badly but she bit her tongue. It wasn’t worth it. She made a face at him instead. 

He got up and ruffled her hair on his way to the kitchen just as Dakota became aware of the rumbling of a motorcycle entering their property. Her triangle ears shot up and she let out an excited “boof” before running to the door.

Aiden ran to look out the window shrieking, “UNCLE STERLING!!!!”

Romy held her hot cup of coffee against her forehead in attempt to sooth her headache before greeting her husband’s best friend.

A moment later, she found herself sitting in the living room alone as the front door opened and the entry way erupted with the chorus of laughter, toddler and german shepherd feet, and excited whining.

She felt like a storm cloud on a sunny day. Well, in an alternate reality where they weren’t currently in the midst of a drought. 

After the excitement had died down a bit, Sterling poked his head around the corner to greet Romy. “Hey! What’s up?” He asked cheerily with a little wave.

”Hey! Not much.” She replied with a forced smile that dropped immediately after Sterling vanished from view.

Sterling himself wasn’t the problem. On the contrary, she was actually quite fond of him. What she wasn’t fond of however, was the way Shane often replaced their alone time with Sterling time instead. It was infuriating. Once upon a time they had been able to hang out together and have a blast.

But that was before, back when things were still good. Back when Romy was happy.

~

The doorbell ringing followed by obnoxious barking alerted Romy of Marnie’s arrival.

She quickly finished applying mascara on her other eye before hurrying to get the door.

”Hello!” Marnie greeted her jovially as an excited Jas ended up being tackled by Dakota.

”Hi!” Romy smiled at her appreciatively, turning her attention to her dog. “Dakota! Relax.” She scolded the big furry beast. 

“It’s okay!” Jas insisted, though she was a giggling mess on the floor, dodging wet doggy kisses.

Sometimes she felt like Jas missed living with Dakota more than herself or Shane. It made her sad that Marnie was a better guardian to her than they could be but at least she was happy and that was the important thing.

Aiden wandered out of the living room to see what the commotion was all about, promptly running over to give Marnie a hug. She had essentially taken over a grandmotherly role with him despite being Shane’s aunt. 

She gave Marnie another couple minutes to settle in before gathering her work things and giving Aiden a hug and kiss goodbye. “Be a good boy, Mr. Aiden.” She said sternly, messing up his unruly light brown hair.

“Bye Mommy! Mommy’s going to work!” Aiden sang without even looking at her while he played with his legos.

“Thank you, Marnie.” She said sincerely.

Marnie waved her off. “Oh it’s no problem dear. I love spending time with him.”

Romy smiled. “Bye Jas!” She said with a wave.

“Bye.” She echoed quietly with a shy wave.

Her and Shane really needed to spend more time with her, Romy decided.

~

An hour later she was in a truck with Abigail, listening to her go on about some “super scary” haunted trail in Zuzu that she wanted to go to but Sam was being too much of a chicken.

Romy laughed, feeling guilty that she couldn’t take the obvious bait. “It does sound really fun.” She agreed, stacking a bundle of boxed mac n cheese on top of a box full of breakfast cereal. She low key hated the food trucks. It was easier to load housewares than food boxes that were often poorly taped, overfilled, and often times soggy and heavy (the worst combination for cardboard).

“You should come with me!” Abby announced, finally saying it directly.

“Uhh…” Romy started, pausing to catch a run away pomegranate that had just tumbled out of a ripped box. “I would love to? I just don’t think I would be able to get anyone to watch Aiden.” 

“Grr.” Abby growled, tossing a tiny box of spices towards the ceiling, over the top of the wall of boxes in front of them. It landed somewhere out of view.

”Sam won’t even go if you let him bring Sebastian?” Romy asked after thinking about it for a moment. His name felt so strange coming out of her mouth.

Abby sighed. “That’s the thing… Seb doesn’t really hang out with him anymore. He doesn’t know why but… I think I do.” She said conspiratorially.

”Oh?” Romy took the bait. “What’s the tea?” She asked, laughing to herself.

“Swear you won’t tell Sam, okay!?” Abby demanded, looking at her super seriously.

Romy stopped smiling and gave her a faux offended look. “Why would I do that?”

“I know you wouldn’t, I just had to make sure. Cuz if Sam finds out, he’ll go straight to Sebastian and then he’ll be pissed at me for telling Sam.” Abby rolled her eyes.

“You have my word.” Romy held up her pinky as proof. “Pinky promise.”

Abby laughed and batted her hand away. Her voice dropping to a much lower volume. “Okay. I think Sebastian is sleeping with Juliet.”

Romy felt a weird twinge of some emotion that she couldn’t quite identify. “Oh my god, really?”

Abigail took a quick look outside the truck to make sure no one was around to overhear them. Satisfied that their conversation was private, she returned to continue explaining her conspiracy theory.

”So, Seb has always been introverted at times, but never really with Sam. Lately he’s been disappearing and being really secretive about what he’s doing. He won’t say it to Sam’s face but when I ask he just tells me that he hangs out with other people and it’s not my business.” She paused to make sure Romy was following.

She was. She was hanging on every word, actually. “Wait… so… why do you suspect Juliet though?”

Abby’s face lit up with a mischievous grin. “Well, all three of us work the afternoon shift too. Seb used to hang out with me in-between shifts. Most days Sam would meet us somewhere up here and we’d all smoke a bowl or something. But lately, Seb has been clocking out for his break either way before or after me. He thinks he’s sneaky but I saw him disappear into the bushes in front of Jessie’s house.” She paused again, catching Romy’s eyes as she stood there holding a box of lemons, essentially frozen as she absorbed the details of this story.

She snapped out of her trance long enough to put the lemons down and ask a question. “I’m sorry… who is Jessie?”

Abby shook her head. “Girl… we need to get you caught up on the population of Pelican Town.”

Romy rolled her eyes playfully though she still felt weirdly anxious.

”Jessie is like Juliet’s adopted mom.” She explained.

”Oh, so Juliet lives there too?” Romy clarified.

“Yes.” Abby nodded.

”Well… maybe they’re just friends?” She offered hopefully.

Abby scoffed. “Yeah, that might be believable if it weren’t for the fact that Seb says that he can’t stand her and hates that she works here. Not to mention, I catch her staring at him from a distance all the time. Claire went up to him a couple weeks ago to ask him it he could fix her scanner and Juliet was watching them from her truck like a jealous angry gargoyle.”

Oof.

”Oh… yeah, they’re definitely fucking.” Romy concluded sadly.

Abigail burst into a fit of uncontainable laughter. “Thank you for that.” She said sincerely once she sobered up, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. “For real, I’m glad you agree with me. Sam would probably think I’m just connecting random dots using my imagination.”

”Men are clueless.” Romy sympathized.

”Tell me about it.” Abby muttered.

~

The end of the night approached rapidly, reminding Romy of how slowly week nights usually go by. “Abby, why the hell can’t you work during the week? I would love to work with you every night. I feel like I’m robbing them right now getting paid for this.”

Abby giggled. “Ugh, I fucking wish girl. My dad would neverrrrr let me work for the enemy full time. He needs me to be his wage slave. Sucks too cuz Joja pays me more than he does.”

”Fuck Pierre!” Romy groaned. “That’s seriously so unfair. Like I get it… but at the same time, he’s taking advantage of you. Why can’t he just hire someone else and let you live your life?”

”He’s the cheapest bastard ever.” Abby complained. “That’s why. He even pays Sterling more than me.”

Romy froze. “Wait… oh my god… how did I never make the connection…”

Abby looked at her in confusion. “Huh?”

”Sterling works for your dad! I knew that… but I didn’t realize that meant that you work with Sterling until just now.” Romy felt a little off balance suddenly though she wasn’t sure why she was so anxious over this.

”Wow, you actually know someone?” Abby teased, still looking very concerned by Romy’s reaction. “Seriously though, why is that a big deal?” She asked, brows furrowing in concern.

Romy shook her head. “Oh no, it’s not. Sorry! It’s just, Sterling is Shane’s best friend. Aiden’s godfather and all that. I just panicked a little trying to remember if I’ve ever complained about him to you.” She laughed, though it sounded forced.

Abby gave her the most scolding look she had ever seen on her face. “Romy. Look at me.”

She looked.

”Sterling works for my dad. We’re not friends. And even if we were, I’m not a little tattletale bitch. Okay? Relax.”

Romy laughed, feeling like an idiot. High-school must have really traumatized her. “I’m sorry… I didn’t think you were, I just…”

Abby cut her off. “I get it, don’t worry. I was just gossiping about Sebastian. I can see why you’d be paranoid. The thing is Seb’s kind of an ass, so that’s different. He’s making Sam sad with this secretive bullshit and I guess it’s just making me a little catty. I’m protective, what can I say?” She shrugged. 

Dee, their weekend manager, walked over before Romy could respond. “Abby, Romy, can you go help in 18?”

They nodded obediently, heading over to truck number 18, groaning in sync with each other when they saw the mountain of heavy and/or awkward packages outside of the truck.

Sebastian was fighting with the pull out rollers as they walked over. “Speak of the devil.” Abby mumbled to Romy, clearly about to go over and give him a hand.

A blur of bright red hair beat her to it though. Juliet hopped out of truck 19, inserting herself next to Sebastian before Abby had even taken 5 steps forward. She gave Abby an unwelcoming look before focusing her attention on the rollers.

“Never mind.” Abigail said sarcastically to no one in particular, twirling back around to face Romy. She rolled her eyes, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Watch them.”

Romy and Abby got ready to push in a big box of patio furniture, discreetly watching the potential secret couple.

They caught the way Sebastian noticed them standing there, almost looking guilty for a split second before scowling in Juliet’s direction. “Thanks.” He said to her dryly after they got the rollers pulled out up to the truck.

He waved at Romy and Abby with a friendly smile, making Romy’s heartbeat speed up just a little.

“You’re welcome.” Juliet said to him snippily, looking offended.

”Ouch.” Abigail commented in a fake sympathetic voice once Seb had his back to them again. Romy giggled. “Should I fuck with her?” Abby asked her quietly.

Romy shrugged. “Sure.”

Abigail smiled at her wickedly. “Watch this.”

They started pushing the packages into the truck while Juliet and Sebastian arranged them inside. Seb was making an obvious point not to look at Juliet at all. It was almost comical, at least it would be if it weren’t for the weird twinge of unidentified discomfort Romy was still feeling.

”Seb! Do you wanna check out the Trail of Horrors in Zuzu next Saturday night?” Abby asked him cheerily. Romy clocked Juliet’s poisonous gaze. She wondered if Abby could see it too from the corner of her eye. 

Sebastian looked a little conflicted. “Uhhh…”

Juliet’s piercing stare was directed straight at him now. He either didn’t notice, or was doing a damn good job of pretending he didn’t.

Abby piped up again before the silence could get awkward. “Sam doesn’t want to go. He thinks it’ll be too scary.” She rolled her eyes jokingly.

Sebastian’s eyes twinkled with sudden interest. “Oh my god, what a fucking chicken.” He laughed.

”We’re gunna have to each hold one of his hands in case he tries to bolt.” Abby joked, clearly using manipulation tactics to make him (Juliet being the real target) feel like it was set in stone and they were definitely going. Sneaky.

Juliet was glaring absolute daggers at the both of them while they laughed at Sam’s expense. Sebastian looked a little pained but he eventually nodded in agreement after a moment. “Okay, yeah, I’m down.”

Romy looked over at Juliet, noticing that  Abby had also redirected her gaze to the pissed off redhead. The way she was glaring at Sebastian… oh man, if looks could kill…

He took one lightning fast glance over at her, instantly appearing more tense but still keeping up his act of ignoring her existence. She ended up storming out the second they got the last package loaded. Abby watched her walk away with an evil grin on her face. Romy shook her and smiled when Abby looked her way. 

The three of them alone now, Sebastian had relaxed considerably. He and Abby were chatting about the Trail of Horrors while Romy walked alongside Abby, listening idly on their way to the time clock.

“Romy, are you coming too?” Sebastian asked her suddenly.

Startled by the sudden question, she didn’t have her excuse prepared. She looked up at him like a deer in headlights. “Oh, uhm, no, I wish… but I can’t…” she rambled like an idiot, distracted by the messy dark hair framing his face.

”Why can’t you?” Seb asked, looking a little….dare she say, disappointed?

Romy opened her mouth to say that she didn’t have a babysitter for Aiden but then she realized that Sebastian didn’t know her, like at all. She felt embarrassed suddenly though she wasn’t quite sure why.

”Uhm… well, I have a kid. He’s 3. I don’t really have anyone to watch him…” She explained awkwardly.

Sebastian’s face was unreadable. She subconsciously held her breath.

”Oh. Single mom?” He finally asked, a teasing smile on his face.

”Sebastian! Don’t be rude. She’s married!” Abby piped up before Romy could answer. Interestingly, she found herself wishing Abby hadn’t said that.

”Ohhhhh. Sorry Romy, I didn’t mean anything by that.” He said apologetically.

Internally, Romy wanted to crawl in a hole and die. Outwardly, she smiled good naturedly. “Oh I know! It’s okay. My husband, Shane, just works really hard on the farm all day and goes to sleep really early. That’s why I don’t usually work weekends. His aunt is a watching our son tonight though, which is why I couldn’t ask her to do it again next weekend… and we don’t really have anyone else.” She forced herself to stop talking, fully aware that she was doing her anxiety induced over explaining routine.

”That sucks.” Sebastian said in response, appearing more tense now all of a sudden as they approached the exit. Romy wondered if it was her fault somehow for a split second before her eyes landed on Juliet waiting just outside the entrance.

”I’ll see you guys! Bye! Gotta get home.” Sebastian said suddenly, picking up his walking speed considerably. He pushed the door open and walked straight past Juliet without even looking her way. She scowled at the back of his head for a moment before casting Abby and Romy a dirty look. She took off in the same direction Seb had gone up the mountain.

”I think we can safely assume they had plans next Saturday.” Abby announced as they walked towards town together, her tone full of sadistic glee.

Romy laughed, shaking her head at her new friend. It felt good to have another girl her age to hang out with again. Being stuck in the house with Shane and Aiden made her feel so much older than she was, a fact that she hadn’t even been aware of until recently. 

As they parted ways to head to their respective houses, she found herself really wishing that she didn’t have to go home tonight.

Chapter Text

Romy could smell the smoke in the air way before she reached their farm. She could finally see the flames leaping out of their rustic rock fire pit as she came up the path to their house. 

One of Shane’s favorite bands was playing on his outdoor radio and for a split second Romy smiled, excited to spend some quality time with her husband.

But then she heard Sterling laugh, and the smile dropped straight off of her face.

Turning on her heels, she headed for the front door instead. She took her time changing into more comfortable bonfire clothes, hoping to hear the sound of Sterling’s motorcycle carrying him off of their property.

Unfortunately all she heard was the muffled sound of the radio playing outside. With a great deal of effort she pretended to shake off her disappointment and paint a believable smile on her face as she headed out the back door and joined her husband and friend around the fire.

Dakota immediately got up from her place next to Sterling to greet her, accompanied by a giant stick she was holding in her mouth with obvious pride.

Romy smiled, scratching her behind the ears and complimenting her on the size of her tree branch. 

“Hi Honey!” Shane greeted her, tossing her a cold beer.

”Hey babe.” She replied as neutrally as possible, catching the beer and popping the tab open.

She took a big sip before turning to greet Sterling and sliding down into her plastic seat next to Shane.

For the next two hours she made idle chitchat with them, doing her best to conceal her aggravation as she discreetly checked the time every time there was a lull in the conversation. She so badly wanted Sterling to leave so they could go inside and have sex. Hell, this dry spell had gone on for so long now she would even settle for making out by the fire even if nothing else exciting followed it.

Luck was not on her side, she concluded sadly, as Sterling fist bumped them each goodbye and headed off on his bike around 12:30am. As the roar of his motor got quieter in the distance a heavy silence fell over the air between her and her husband.

She looked up at him, about to open her mouth to ask if it was too late for their originally planned activity. Before she could even get a word out, she watched him yawn dramatically, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against his chair.

Another fresh wave of disappointment rolled over her like a bucket of cold water. Wordlessly, she got up and collected the empty beer cans, depositing them into their recycling bin before storming back into the house. Dakota, the ever loyal angel, was right at her heels, apparently not concerned with leaving Shane outside by himself and frankly, neither was she.

Romy got ready for bed in a dissociative haze. Some time later when she was already under the blankets, Shane came in and quietly stripped down to his boxers. He went in the bathroom for a few minutes while Romy stared up at the ceiling, wondering what to say to express how she was feeling, or if it was even worth it to say anything at all.

Shane emerged from the bathroom and crawled into bed next to her. He rolled onto his side to face her as she lay on her back, avoiding looking directly at him. He flopped an arm over her chest in a weak attempt to cuddle. “Hi baby.”

”Hey.” She replied frigidly.

”What’s wrong?” He asked in an empathetic tone that exposed just how intoxicated he was.

”I wanted to have sex tonight. You said we could. You’re obviously too tired now.” She mumbled loud enough to be heard but lacking the passion to sound too argumentative.

Shane sighed. “Sorry.”

Romy closed her eyes and willed away the impending rejection tears. “It’s whatever.”

“I’m sorry I suck.” Shane replied, rolling over onto his other side so he was no longer facing her.

Romy bit the inside of her cheek in attempt to keep her mouth shut. He always did this, he was incapable of maturely taking any accountability for his actions. He always flipped everything back on her, as if she were the problem. Romy acknowledging a way in which he disappointed her or hurt her feelings was obviously just her being a complete asshole and making him feel like shit for no reason. Obviously.

She purposefully didn’t answer him. The double dose of melatonin she had impulsively taken when she first got inside was slowly taking over. Her eyelids felt heavy and it was getting harder to keep her eyes open and focused on anything. She heard Shane snoring beside her in what felt like mere seconds.

——————————————————————

The morning came too quickly for her liking. She was forced to get out of bed after the 5th time Shane snoozed his alarm without ever actually waking up.

Marnie would probably be waiting for them to come pick up Aiden, and she didn’t want to risk pissing her off. She was their only baby sitting option and Romy did her best to avoid abusing that privilege.

Shane finally woke from his slumber as she was zipping up her boots. “What time is it?” He grumbled, answering his own question when she pointedly ignored him.

”Morning.” He said to her passively on his way to the bathroom, putting his hand on the top of her head pseudo affectionately as he passed by her.

“Mm.” She responded, rolling her eyes.

She was already waiting by the door by the time he joined her in the kitchen. In the time it took him to take his morning shit and get dressed, she had let the dog out, fed her, made two cups of coffee to go, took her meds, and emptied the dishwasher.

“Ready?” She asked him flatly, handing him the coffee she made for him.

”Yeah. Thanks babe.” He said appreciatively, grabbing his favorite hoodie off the hook by the door.

Romy shot Marnie a quick text that they were on their way before they headed out the door in silence. Leaves crunched under their shoes as they walked across their property, Dakota following behind them happily but with a slightly concerned look at she noticed the tension between her humans.

Romy patted her head reassuringly. 

“What’s your problem?” Shane finally asked, breaking the silence.

”Shane… We spend no quality time together. I’m not entirely convinced that you even like me anymore.” She began, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could give them a second thought.

Shane scoffed in frustration. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We live together. We sleep in the same bed every night.”

Romy couldn’t stop the frustration tears that were gathering in her eyes, for pretty much the duration of the entire morning so far, from falling freely down her cheeks now.

“That’s the thing, Shane. That’s it. That’s all it is. We’re roommates who happen to be coparenting and running a farm together. When’s the last time you even told me why you love me? Because I can’t remember.”

”Oh sorry I don’t write you a love letter every night. Is that what you need?” He asked, his tone dripping with condescension.

”NO!” She nearly shouted. “I just need you to be normal! This isn’t normal.”

”We’re busy and tired, babe. I don’t know what you want from me.” He said in a slightly less aggravating tone.

”Affection. Love. Friendship. You know? I don’t think that’s a lot to ask for.” She replied, already feeling defeated. This conversation was pointless, just like she knew it would be.

”Whatever. I’m done talking about this.” Shane effectively ended the conversation as they reached the bottom of their property, finding themselves on the path leading to Marnie’s ranch.

”Of course you are.” Romy mumbled, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her jacket. 

Shane shot her a venomous look when he noticed her tears, walking a little faster to put some space in-between them. “Just go home so Marnie doesn’t question us.”

He might as well have just punched her in the face. Her and Dakota headed back to the house where she collapsed onto the front porch steps and bawled her eyes out, clinging to her dog like a safety blanket.

How could she live the rest of her life like this? Would it ever get better?

Somehow she really doubted it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Shane returned home with Aiden about 2 hours later, a bag full of breakfast goodies in hand. Marnie had apparently made breakfast for them, which made Romy feel fucking terrible about not having been there even though Shane said he told her that she wasn’t feeling well and went back home so she wouldn’t get her and Jas sick. 

She wondered if Marnie really bought that excuse. Did she know how aggravating her nephew could be? Did she suspect that they weren't exactly happy?

At least, Romy knew that she wasn't. She didn't know what exactly Shane was. Complacent, she assumed. If he wasn't happy with her, he certainly didn't talk about it or give any implications of a secret plan to leave her. Maybe he just wanted to stay together for Aiden. Was that all she was to him now, the mother of his child? Was that enough to spend the rest of their lives together? Could she really even call him a friend at this point?

”What’s wrong?” Shane asked her dryly after a long period of silence as they sat next to each other on the couch. Aiden was taking a nap, which was unusual for him especially on a weekend. 

Probably coming down with a cold. Great.

”Hm?” Romy replied distantly, lost in her own thoughts.

”You’re not really talking to me.” Shane explained, turning the volume down on the movie they (he) had been watching. “What did I do?”

Romy scoffed involuntarily. Shane’s brows instantly furrowed. She sighed. “Shane, do you even want to be with me anymore?”

His frown deepened and he looked at her intently. “Of course I do.”

”It doesn’t seem like it, honestly. I feel like we just co-exist at this point.” She replied honestly.

”I love you.” Shane argued, looking deeply offended and confused as to why she would possibly feel this way.

”Then fucking act like it!” She snapped, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the couch. She sniffled, unable to stop the tears from coming.

With her eyes still shut she couldn’t see Shane’s face but she felt the couch shift under his weight. A hesitant arm reached around her back, tugging her towards him. She buried her face in her husband’s shirt, sobbing while he gently rubbed her back.

”I’m sorry.” Shane whispered into her hair. “I’ll try harder. I promise.”

”Okay.” Romy choked out. “I love you too.”

~

Aiden waking up from his nap cut their conversation short, but the rest of the night felt a little easier than the morning had. 

Something about Shane actually seeming a little remorseful gave her the courage to ask a question she didn’t think she was capable of asking. 

She tapped her fork anxiously against the side of her paper bowl full of Joja store brand box mac n cheese. Glancing anxiously between her food, and her blissfully unaware husband watching a video on his phone, she finally cleared her throat. He glanced up at her, noting her gaze directed at him. 

“Yes?” He asked lightly.

”Uhm… so in regard to our conversation earlier… there is actually something you could do to make it up to me.” She began, her voice wavering slightly, though she wasn’t really sure why she was so nervous.

”And what is that?” Shane inquired curiously.

”Abby invited me to go to the Trail of Horrors with her and some other friends next Saturday… I told her I couldn’t go, but… Could I?” She asked hopefully, giving him her most innocent look.

Shane thought about it for a moment, probably going over everything that needed to be done around the farm this week in his head. Finally he nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Romy smiled, genuinely for once. “Thank you, babe.”

”No problem.” He smiled back.

After dinner, Romy gleefully pulled out her phone to text her new friend.

Romy:  Abby!! Great news! :)

Abby: What is it?! Did you win the lottery? Are you buying Joja? Are you my boss now? Can I have a raise? Answer quick so I can tell Pierre I quit before he goes to bed

Romy: No! But close! I can come Saturday :)

Abby: No fucking way, like, to the Trail of Horrors!?

Romy: Yes!!!!

Abby: :O FUCK YEAH, it’s gunna be soooo funnnnn. Especially now that I don’t have to third wheel

Romy: I can’t wait!! Is Sam going to cry?

Abby: he might!!! Wow, this week really needs to go by faster

Romy laughed to herself while texting Abby, unaware of Shane watching her from across the room.

”I’m glad you made a friend, honey.” He said to her suddenly.

Glancing up in shock, she took a minute to formulate a response. “Yeah, me too.” She finally replied, smiling more to herself than at him.

Chapter Text

The next few days passed by uneventfully aside from Shane being a smidge more affectionate during their brief encounters. It was better, but still not enough. She was trying not to get her hopes up. 

Uneventful never really meant good though. Aiden did in fact come down with a cold, as predicted. Between the constant boogers and coughing fits, Romy was struggling to avoid the little guys germs. Getting sick before Saturday would be an absolute bummer.

By Thursday night, she was feeling a bit better about everything now that the end of the week was nearing. She was actually really excited about her Saturday night plans. Sam and Sebastian were still mostly strangers to her, but Abby was always a blast to be around. She was also a pretty big spooky season fan herself so the halloween attraction itself was extra exciting. 

Subconsciously, she knew there was another reason she was so excited for Saturday, though she was trying really hard not to think too much about it… or who.

A blur of messy dark hair passed by her truck as she was reaching for a box of candy corn (ew). Their face was obscured by the twice their size box they were pushing across the warehouse floor, but she knew exactly who it was anyway.

She felt a pang of anxiety about Saturday, realizing for the first time that it was almost like a double date. Abby and Sam were a couple, and Sebastian was allegedly single. She wasn’t, but Shane wouldn’t be there… Was that awkward? Would Shane be mad? Should she tell him? 

Romy chewed on her bottom lip anxiously, internally battling with whether it would be more or less suspicious to tell Shane exactly who she was hanging out with. 

“Romy! Abby told me you’re coming with us after all.”

She nearly dropped the box she had just been about to put down, startled by the sudden appearance of Sebastian outside of her truck.

“Oh my god, you scared me.” She admitted, laughing nervously. She quickly put the box down and turned back towards Sebastian shyly, heart pounding as if she had been caught thinking about him just now. “But yeah, I am.”

“I scared you? Wow, how are you going to handle the Trail of Horrors then? And here I thought we only had to worry about Sam.” He teased.

Romy laughed, thinking of something funny to say but drawing a blank. “Yeah, sorry, guess I’m not as fearless as I thought.”

Sebastian shook his head mockingly. “Tsk tsk. It’s okay, we’ll just have to hold both of your hands.” He said to her, accompanied by an irresistible grin.

She laughed in response and instantly felt herself blushing, turning away to pick up another box fast before he could see her reaction. 

Switching gears, Sebastian hopped into the truck on the side opposite from where she currently was standing. “Want some help?”

The work flow was pretty tame, but she also didn’t really want him to leave yet. She glanced over at him, making the briefest eye contact in the world in fear he could read her thoughts if they locked eyes for too long. She smiled politely without quite looking at him. “Sure.”

Risking a glance in his direction again as she picked up a crate of oranges, she noticed him smiling to himself as he stacked a box on the wall of boxes. Her anxiety was cranking up while she wracked her brain for something interesting to say.

Sebastian beat her to it.

”So I guess I should warn you, it’s gunna get pretty crazy here soon. Winter is the busiest time of year. You’re not gunna quit on us, are you?” He gave her a pretend serious look.

She laughed nervously. “No, I don’t think so anyway. I ended up here because of the drought, but I think I might stay a while. We need the extra money, and I kinda like working here. Surprisingly.”

”Really? I mean I’m happy to hear that, but most people complain.” Seb gave her a curious look, probably trying to gauge whether or not she was lying.

”Yeah… I mean, this isn’t morally fulfilling work or anything, but I think it’s good for me to get out of the house.” She admittedly sheepishly.

Sebastian nodded. “I feel that.” 

Romy wondered what he meant by that. Did he have a rough home life? She couldn’t imagine Robin being a bad mother. She was such a sweetheart any time she needed her to do carpentry work on the farm. She wondered if it would be inappropriate to press for details but Sebastian started talking again too soon anyway.

“You were just working on the farm full time before the drought?” He asked politely.

She nodded. “Yeah. Between the farm and taking care of my son, I basically never left the property. That’s why I don’t really know anyone around here.”

”Sounds lonely.” Sebastian replied immediately followed up by an apologetic expression. “No offense.”

Romy laughed. He wasn’t wrong. “None taken. It is. Well, was, I mean, I’m here now so…” She trailed off, losing her train of thought with the way Sebastian was staring at her while she talked. He was a really good listener, she realized suddenly. Too good. She felt like she had stage fright all of a sudden.

She avoided his intense gaze by busying herself with picking up a heavy box and trying to jam it into a spot it wouldn’t easily fit in to.

”Well, I’m glad you’re here. We needed more cool people in this hell hole.” Sebastian replied light heartedly. 

She smiled over her shoulder before returning to her nearly impossible task. She couldn’t form a sentence to save her life right now. 

Her social anxiety induced panic spiral was interrupted by the box being smoothly removed from her hands and put down in a better spot. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if their (gloved) hands hadn’t brushed together as he took the box from her. 

Tingles shot up her arms like butterflies in her veins. She held her breath until he was a safe distance away from her again. “Thanks.” She choked out nervously, praying that she didn’t sound as thrown off by that minor interaction as she felt.

”No problem.” Sebastian grinned at her mischievously, as if he knew. Was she that obvious? Fuck. “Well, looks like Martin is struggling on the belt by himself. I better get back out there.”

At the mention of her other coworker friend, she peeked out of the truck to see Martin frantically shoving large boxes and items onto the rollers, nearly dropping his scanner in his haste to grab the next one off of the belt. “Yikes. Yeah you better go help him. Thank you again, for uh, the help.” She mumbled awkwardly, forcing a hopefully natural looking smile.

”Like I said, any time.” Sebastian smiled at her again before hopping out of the truck. 

Romy did her best not to watch him leave, admiring the way the muscles in his back moved as he pulled a heavy package off the belt.

She shook herself mentally, returning to her box stacking immediately. She couldn’t get that interaction out of her mind though. Their conversation replayed through her head for the rest of the night. 

By the time she got home and crawled into bed next to Shane, she was almost feeling guilty about Saturday.

Thankfully, two melatonin and curling up against her husband put that doom spiral to rest.

~

Friday morning, she opened her eyes, swallowed, and stared blankly at the ceiling in self pity. 

Sore throat.

”Nooooo.” She groaned out loud, worrying Dakota who promptly shimmied up the bed and licked her face.

Romy pet her furry head reassuringly. “I’m okay, Dakota. Life is just unfair.”

Dakota wagged her tail in response. Clueless.

Crawling out of bed, Romy shuffled into the bathroom to look at herself apathetically in the mirror before brushing her teeth and hair. At least she didn’t look sick, yet anyway. Maybe she would still be able to go tomorrow. Should she skip work tonight? That dusty ass warehouse surely wouldn’t help her condition.

She mulled it over in her head while she retrieved Aiden from his room and made breakfast for the two of them. Joja brand frozen waffles and syrup. Nutritious. 

“WAFFLES!!!” Aiden shouted gleefully from his high chair as she put his plate down in front of him. “Thank you, Mommy!”

Romy smiled at her son, appreciating that he was in a good mood today even though he got her sick. He had been pretty miserable all week but he seemed to be recovering now.

She took a seat next to Aiden after making herself a cup of coffee, taking her meds, and letting Dakota out to go potty. Her waffles were already cold but she didn’t really mind. Sad waffles for a sad day. Seemed appropriate to her.

Opening up the work app on her phone, she stared longingly at the call out button. Should she?

Shane’s disapproving face appeared in her head before she could bring herself to do it. He would be very upset with her if she called off tonight and then went out with her friends tomorrow night. She didn’t even have to run it by him to know that.

She sighed, feeling guilty for multiple reasons. Exiting out of the work app, she locked her phone and put her head down on the table. She groaned in frustration. Working tonight meant feeling 50 times worse in the morning. Inhaling all that dust when you’ve already got a sore throat? Torture. Just pure torture. Unfortunately, her choices were either suffer from sickness, or suffer due to FOMO.

The rest of the day dragged on, her throat feeling progressively worse. Nevertheless, she got ready for work and hugged Shane and Aiden goodbye, doing her best to act healthy so Shane wouldn’t talk her into staying home the next day.

As she set out on her journey to Joja, the chilly autumn air hit her a little harder than usual. She once again wondered how the hell she was going to get to work when it snowed. Judging by the extra crispy air, it wouldn’t be long now before the first snow of the season.

Her and Shane communicated so poorly that it was always in the back of her mind that he might expect her to quit soon. She dreaded that conversation. She knew this was supposed to be temporary but… she wasn’t really ready for it to be over. 

Pushing open the door at work when she arrived, she turned to see if there was anyone behind her before letting the door close. Unfortunately, there was. Juliet.

Romy held the door for her, forcing a smile on her face. Juliet scowled at her, putting her hand on the door immediately so that Romy could move along ASAP. “Thanks.” She muttered sarcastically as Romy was already walking forward again.

What a bitch… All the way through security, Romy wondered what the hell she ever did to make that girl dislike her so much. Once they got to the stairs, Juliet zoomed passed her, the distance between them increasing substantially by the second.

She was actually thankful for her rudeness this time. Knowing Juliet was right behind her was always majorly unsettling in an ‘unsure if she should be fearing for her life’ sort of way.

When she finally got to the time clock, a message popped up alerting her that she had accumulated enough PTO to take off one shift. She smiled, proud of herself for working enough to earn that. Dismissing the pop up, she turned to join the group for their pre-shift meeting but to her surprise she nearly walked straight into the person she hadn’t realized was directly behind her. She reflexively lifted her arms to shield herself. 

“This again? You have got to stop being so clumsy.” Sebastian scolded her with obvious amusement. 

Romy’s system rebooted so slowly it was like waiting on dial-up internet. She noticed his smokey/piney scent right away, then recognized his voice as he teased her, and finally as she looked up into his eyes in surprise and embarrassment she finally took note of his hands wrapped around her wrists. 

“Sorry!” She mumbled, frozen like a deer in headlights.

Sebastian chuckled, slowly releasing her wrists as if he was in no rush to let go. Her skin felt cold where his hands had been. She stood there awkwardly trying to regain her composure as Sebastian just stared at her with a patronizing smile.

Mildly confused why he wasn’t moving, she finally realized with shame that she was blocking the time clock.

“Fuck! Sorry again.” She exclaimed, stepping aside so he could clock in.

Sebastian let out a real laugh this time, shaking his head as he swiped his card. “Long day?” He asked her sincerely.

”Long life.” She muttered honestly.

”Yeah.” He nodded in agreement. “Same.”

She smiled at him, finally feeling a bit more grounded. Her face froze as she locked eyes with Juliet absolutely glaring daggers at her from 20 feet away where everyone in their section was gathered for the pre-shift meeting. Thankfully no one else seemed to be paying them any attention, but Juliet had definitely seen the whole incident.

Romy quickly averted her eyes, keeping her head down as she joined the group. Behind her, Sebastian must have noticed their silent exchange because she heard him mumble “fucks sake…” to himself.

She barely heard a word their manager said during her quick speech about whatever the safety topic of the week was. She was too occupied trying her hardest to act natural. It was hard to not be acutely aware of Sebastian standing less than a foot away from her. She didn’t dare look in the angry redhead’s direction to confirm, but her spidey senses told her she was still actively being watched.

A few minutes later once she was safely alone inside a truck, she breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t wait to get away from that girl and her oppressively bad vibes.

~

Towards the end of the night, she found herself simultaneously relieved and disappointed that Sebastian hadn’t come over to talk to her at all. On one hand she really didn’t want to piss off Juliet even more, but at the same time she was kinda lonely and still feeling embarrassed by the whole thing.

Romy let herself fall into autopilot mode, mindlessly stacking boxes while humming a song that was stuck in her head.

She had just reached the chorus when a familiar face appeared right outside her truck. “Hey!” She greeted him, thankful for the company at last. 

Martin smiled and waved awkwardly as he climbed into the truck. “Mind if I help? The belt is kind of dead tonight. Sebastian’s got it covered.”

”I would love that, actually. It’s been a lonely night.” She admitted.

“Hey, enjoy the peace while you can, it’s going to get crazy around here soon.” 

Romy sighed. “So I’ve heard…” 

Dropping his voice to a whisper, Martin leaned a little closer to her. “Confession, the real reason I came over here was to gossip.”

”Oooh, spill it.” She teased.

”So, I heard a conversation about you…” Martin began conspiratorially.  

Romy’s heart rate increased immediately, already having an idea of where this was going. “Oh god… what was it about and between who?”

Martin dramatically looked outside the truck ensuring the coast was clear before answering her. Romy rolled her eyes jokingly.

”Sebastian and Juliet.” He paused for dramatic effect, allowing it to soak in for a minute before continuing. Romy stared at him impatiently. “Juliet accused him of flirting with you.”

Romy groaned. “What did he say?”

Martin appraised her suspiciously. “He said he wasn’t. Did he though?”

She thought it over for a moment, trying to determine the answer to that question. Sebastian was rather flirty, but she didn’t really take it personally. She figured that’s just how he was with everyone. 

Romy shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

”Well Juliet does. After he denied it, she flipped out and said that he obviously was. He told her that she needs to stop being jealous because they’re not even dating.” Martin explained, pausing mid sentence to peek outside of the truck again.

”Oof. I bet she didn’t like that.” Romy laughed, feeling very strange about Sebastian essentially defending her. Well, more so himself but she felt like she was somehow included in that.

”No, no she did not. I didn’t catch the end of the convo but Sebastian has looked pissed ever since and Juliet looks like she should be in jail for attempted murder.”

”Great, let’s hope I don’t become her next victim.” Romy sighed deeply. She didn’t want drama in her life. This felt soooo high-school coded that it was kind of sickening.

Martin nodded. “Yeah, I’d watch your back.” He smiled at her teasingly.

”Thanks Martin.” She replied sarcastically. “Very comforting.”

”Anytime!” He laughed, hopping out of the truck, leaving her alone with her thoughts once again.

She couldn’t wait to get home and get some sleep. Being awake was exhausting and stressful. 

Chapter Text

Waking up Saturday morning was a cruel reminder of the inconveniences the universe seemed to love bestowing upon her.

It had been easy to forget she was sick while she was in the groove at work, but by the time she had gotten home and laid down to go to sleep, she realized she couldn’t go a full 5 minutes without having a coughing fit.

Luckily a swig of Nyquil had done the trick, and she was out like a light until her alarm clock began blaring on her nightstand at 9:00am. 

Rolling over miserably to shut the alarm off, she noted Shane’s absence first and the sharp pain in her throat second.

Groaning, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will the sickness away with her mind. A nuzzle of her foot reminded her of Dakota’s presence.

“Good morning, Dakota.” She croaked. Dakota flopped her tail against the bed in response.

Ugh. 

Romy climbed out of bed and shuffled groggily to the bathroom mirror. Assessing her appearance she decided she at least looked somewhat healthy even if her throat felt she swallowed a bowl of nails for a midnight snack. 

She headed towards the kitchen after clearing her throat and attempting a few phrases out loud to make sure her voice sounded passable for a healthy person. Dakota just tilted her head in confusion each time. 

Luckily Shane and Aiden weren’t in the kitchen, so she busied herself with letting Dakota out and taking her meds while a fresh cup of coffee was brewing. She reckoned that as long as she got a few sips of the hot beverage down before having to speak to her husband, maybe just maybe he wouldn’t realize her throat was absolutely fucked. 

“Morning honey.”

Fuck.

Romy froze in front of her coffee maker, carton of cream in one hand and mug of black coffee in the other. She weighed her options, take a sip of disgusting black coffee that would almost certainly burn her mouth or attempt to speak and risk blowing her cover?

She finally decided on the third and safest option… silence.

Shane walked over and squeezed her shoulder on his way to the fridge. She smiled over her shoulder and resumed pouring cream in her cup. She took a few sips quickly before clearing her throat. 

“Good morning!” She finally responded cheerily. Success. 

”Are you still planning on going out tonight?” 

“Yeah, if that’s still okay.” Her voice cracked a little but she hoped he would assume she was just still waking up.

”Yeah it’s fine. Was just checking.” Shane replied, looking a little like it wasn’t fine.

”Are you sure?” She asked hesitantly.

”Mhm.” Shane replied nodding. He ruffled her hair before heading back to the living room with a yogurt pouch for Aiden.

Romy breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t noticed her sickness. She put her coffee down and went outside to have a coughing fit in private while trying to get the dog back inside.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she nervously shot Abby a text.

Romy: Heyyy!! Uhm… so… I’m sick… but I still want to come tonight, if that’s okay with you guys?

Abby: oh noo!!!! I don’t mind, if I get sick too then maybe Pierre will actually let me take a day off lol

Romy: I was so scared you were going to tell me to stay home 😩

Abby: ain’t no way I’d let you miss out on this, don’t worry girl

Romy: what about Sam and Sebastian though?

Abby: ugh, who cares about them. 

jkjk I’ll run it by them 😜

Romy: thank you 🤞🏻 I’d feel awful if I got any of you sick 😕

~

3 hours later, Abby still hadn’t texted her back and she began mentally preparing herself for the worst outcome.

The minutes ticked by painfully slow as she sat in the living room with her husband and son who were fully engrossed in an animated movie that she could not manage to pay attention to.

Anxiety had her crawling in her skin and the worst part was that she couldn’t even talk to Shane about it because she was still pretending to be the epitome of health.

Finally after nearly 4 hours, her phone vibrated and Abby’s name popped up on her lock screen.

Expecting her to say the boys actually wanted her to keep her sick ass home, she smiled in relief at the message.

Abby: the guys don’t care either, we’ll pick you up at 5. Seb’s driving. LET’S GET SPOOKYYYY!!! 👻

“So who’s picking you up?” Shane asked her curiously.

The sudden interaction startled her. Shane hadn’t said a word in at least an hour. Did he notice her smiling at her phone? She was pretty sure this wasn’t an interrogation but her heart sped up with a wave of guilt and fear anyway. “Uh, Sebastian.”

“Oh, Robin’s son?” He replied immediately, sounding a little surprised.

“Yeah, Abby is dating his best friend, Sam. He works at Joja too. Sebastian I mean. Not Sam. Well Sam does too actually but like at the Joja store not the warehouse…” Romy rambled nervously, hoping she just sounded socially anxious ahead of her plans instead of anxious to be sharing this information with him.

“Ah.” Shane replied simply, returning to the game he was playing on his phone. Romy breathed a sigh relief thinking the conversation was over. Then Shane spoke again. “Sam is alright. Sebastian was always kind of an emo weirdo.”

Romy silently processed the fact that Shane knew the residents of Pelican Town much better than she did. He already knew who everyone was while she was still learning. She knew that, but the gravity of it was weighing on her suddenly. It made her uncomfortable that he was already aware of her new friends. Kinda felt like she only had a thin veil of privacy that could be ripped away effortlessly if Shane wanted to know more.

When she didn’t respond, Shane continued unbothered. “I mean I’m sure he’s fine when he’s with Sam but like he’s never been friendly to anyone in town really. I guess I’m just trying to say, don’t take it personally if he isn’t very nice to you. It’s just how he’s always been.”

Romy had to fight back the laugh threatening to escape her. Sebastian was already nice to her. Maybe even too nice.

”He’s been friendly at work so far, but thanks honey, I appreciate that.” She admitted.

”No problem.” Shane replied, immediately turning back to the movie. The silence returned and she was left with her thoughts again. Now that she knew for sure that she was going, she was incredibly nervous.

What if they didn’t like hanging out with her? What if her voice sounded dumb? What if she ended up coughing all night and everyone was grossed out? What if Sebastian flirted with her in front of Abby and Sam and she made a fool of herself?

Picking out her outfit was far more stressful than it should have been, but ultimately she decided on black leggings, combat boots, a red tank top layered underneath a black leather jacket, and a black beanie featuring a little skull with devil horns and a halo.

She straightened her hair and threw on some simple makeup consisting mostly of cat eye eyeliner wings and mascara. A little red tinted lip balm and she was ready to go just in time to receive Abby’s text that they were on their way.

She walked over to the full length mirror, inspecting herself with harsh judgement. Her dark red hair looked great with her outfit and she was in the best shape of her life thanks to her new job. Somehow that wasn’t enough for her to actually feel good about herself, though. She kinda just felt like she looked like she was trying too hard. 

Panicking a little, she went to find Shane to let him know she was leaving. She really really hoped he didn’t get the same impression. The last thing she needed was him worrying about who she was trying to impress.

She found Shane in the kitchen grabbing a beer out of the fridge. He turned to look when she entered the room, “Aiden’s napping by the way.” Then he appraised her for a moment before adding, “You look nice.”

Romy was taken aback, unused to hearing compliments from him out of the blue like that. “Thanks.” She replied smiling to herself. “Uhm, Abby said they’re on the way so I’m gunna go wait outside. Thank you again, for letting me go.”

Shane gave her a one armed hug, protecting his beer in his other hand. “No problem. I love you. Have fun.” 

“Thanks honey, I love you too. Bye.” She hugged him back and waved before saying goodbye to Dakota and going out on the front porch.

As she stood there waiting she realized how chilly it actually was. She could see little clouds coming from her mouth every time she let out a breath, making her extremely thankful that she decided to wear a hat and a fleece lined leather jacket. 

The cold was at least a good distraction from the crippling anxiety she felt gnawing away at the back of her mind. 

Luckily for her, she didn’t have to suffer alone with her thoughts for too long. A black all terrain vehicle pulled onto their property shortly after she got outside. She checked out the vehicle as it got closer to the house, feeling a little jealous that her and Shane didn’t have a vehicle capable of leaving the farm. Meanwhile here Sebastian was driving a lifted suv with big tires and a roomy looking cab. It looked older but still in great condition. Way nicer than the beat up old truck her and Shane were working with. 

She was relieved that the truck was parked behind the shed out of view because she’d be extremely embarrassed right now otherwise.

Her ride finally came to a stop about 10 feet away from where she stood on the front step. The windows were so tinted she couldn’t really see anything but she smiled in the general direction of them anyway, hurrying over to the back passenger door. 

“HI!!!” Abby greeted her, scooting over so Romy could sit next to her in the back seat. 

“Hey!!!” Romy replied, smiling at her friend as she clipped her seatbelt. In the front Sam and Sebastian both greeted her before Sebastian focused on turning around back to the main road.

”Watch out for the mailbox.” Sam warned.

Sebastian shot him a glare from the driver’s seat. “I’m not going to hit the mailbox, dumbass.”

Sam shrugged. “I tried Romy. Don’t blame me when he takes your mailbox out.”

She giggled in response, already amused by their dynamic. “It’s okay, I don’t like having to check the mail every day anyway.”

Sebastian just shook his head, succeeding in turning around without hitting anything. Once they hit the main road, Sebastian turned on the radio, probably so he wouldn’t have to listen to Sam critique his driving. 

Her and Abby were having their own conversation in the backseat about work and halloween, but the music had her in the mood to just stare out the window, so eventually that’s what she ended up doing. 

The silence was comfortable, luckily. She was extremely grateful that these new friends weren’t the type to be offended by a lapse in conversation. It was nice to just be still and quiet but not alone.

”So Romy, what do you listen to? Any requests?” Sebastian asked her suddenly, making eye contact with her briefly in the rear view mirror.

“Uhh…” Romy wracked her brain for bands that she liked, drawing a total blank. Feeling like an idiot she finally mumbled a weak, “I listen to pretty much everything.”

Sam scoffed. “Typical.”

”Hey! I-“ Romy started to defend herself but Abby shushed her.

”Leave her alone Samson. I’m sure she has better taste in music than you do.” Abby teased her boyfriend. 

“I’ll have you know that my taste in music is impeccable.” Sam huffed, crossing his arms dramatically.

”Dude. You listen to hipster girl music.” Sebastian deadpanned.

Romy couldn’t see his face but she imagined his jaw dropping open in disbelief. She giggled, right as she accidentally locked eyes with Sebastian in the mirror. He smiled at her reaction before she quickly looked away.

”Hipster girl music!? Name ONE band.” Sam demanded.

”Easy. The Neighborhood.” Sebastian replied smugly.

”They’re not-“ Sam started but Romy couldn’t stop herself from interrupting.

”Oh I love their song Stargazing!”

”No way! That’s my favorite!” Abby gushed.

Sebastian smiled at his offended blonde friend who was already glaring at him in anticipation. “Case and point.”

Sam threw his arms up in protest before ultimately staring out the window defeated. “Whatever.”

Their chivalrous driver humored them by putting Stargazing on, sticking his tongue out at Sam when he caught him bobbing his head along to the beat.

When the song was over, Seb passed his phone around the car, allowing everyone to take turns picking the next one. 

When it was Romy’s turn she held his phone in her hands, thumbs hovering over the keyboard while the search bar awaited her input. She had an irrational fear of this being a make or break moment where everyone was either going think she was cool or a total loser depending on what song she chose.

She finally settled on a tame Bring Me The Horizon song, deciding it would be a safe choice that Seb and Abby would probably appreciate while also not scaring Sam. She was just about to start the song when a text notification popped up. She went to swipe it away, not wanting to invade his privacy, but the name caught her eye. 

Juliet: wow, thanks for ditching me, asshole.

Romy’s eye widened, frantically swiping away the notification in fear Sebastian would be angry at her for seeing something she wasn’t supposed to. She started the song and handed Seb’s phone back to Sam in the front seat.

She noticed Abigail looking at her curiously from the corner of her eye. Somehow she got the impression that it had nothing to do with her song choice.

Guiltily, she pulled her own phone out of her pocket and shot Abby a text as discreetly as she could.

Romy: a message from Juliet popped up

Abby had the common sense to wait a couple minutes before checking her phone even though she was sure it was killing her to wait.

Finally she unlocked her phone and read Romy’s message. Her mouth opened slightly exposing her true reaction before returning to a neutral expression.

Abby: oh my goddd, what did she say?!

Romy waited until they passed a couple more highway exits before replying.

Romy: “wow thanks for ditching me asshole”

This time Abby didn’t wait to check her phone. Romy watched Seb and Sam carefully while Abby typed away next to her. Thankfully they didn’t seem to notice the secret conversation happening in the backseat. It seemed the boys were currently bickering due to Sam not telling him which exit to take until the last second. She grabbed onto the door handle for support as they took a sharp turn into the exit lane for Zuzu City.

Abby: I fucking knew it!!!!!!! Omg. Talk later!

Romy ‘thumbs up’ reacted the message and slipped her phone back in her pocket just in time for Sebastian to turn the music down and announce that they were almost there.

She stared out the window as they drove through the city blocks. A pang of homesickness washed over her as she took in all the pretty lights illuminating the vast variety of restaurants and storefronts, business towers, hotels… The city had so much more to offer than the valley. Of course the grass would look greener when you’re stuck home alone with your young child almost all of the time. 

Thinking about Aiden snapped her out of her nostalgic day dreams. She absolutely would not want to be raising a child here. An apartment in the city with a little kid running around on top of a dog that needed to be walked would be an absolute nightmare for her mental health. She was happy they were away from all of this. The city felt so alive, but it was also dangerous and unpredictable. 

“Earth to Romy.” Abby said robotically, immediately giggling at her own joke.

”Huh?” Romy turned to her friend in surprise. “Sorry! Were you talking to me?”

“We’re here!” Abby announced with glee.

Feeling disoriented, Romy looked out the window again to see that they were in fact parked in a parking lot with a big sign that said “TRAIL OF HORRORS” in giant spooky lettering just off in the distance. Had she really been that lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even register their arrival? Damn…

They exited the vehicle and followed Abby to the entrance. Well Sam and Seb followed, Romy didn’t really have a choice since Abby was pulling her along by her hand like a lost child. She was taking the lead, this having been her idea and all. It was for the best anyway, she didn’t mind at all. Having been removed from the city for so long now had her social anxiety really running rampant. The less she had to think about her next move during this outing the better. 

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure the boys were right behind them, she caught Sebastian looking at his phone with an aggravated expression on his face. 

Must have just seen the text Juliet sent him…

When they got to the ticket booth Abby paid for her and Sam and then stepped to the side so Romy and Seb could get their tickets.

“One ticket, please.” Romy went to pull her wallet out of her purse but Sebastian slid in front of her and handed his card to the girl in the booth.

”Make that two tickets.” He said to the ticket girl with a mischievous grin shot in Romy’s direction. 

Abby and Sam were both staring at him with raised eyebrows. As they moved to get in line she looked up at Sebastian in disbelief. “Thank you so much. You didn’t have to do that…Can I pay you back sometime?” She rambled nervously, unsure how to take the gesture.

Sebastian waved her off. “Consider it a welcome gift.”

”A welcome gift?” She echoed.

”Yeah, welcome to the friend group.” Seb smiled sweetly.

“Awwww!” Sam teased while his girlfriend simply gave Sebastian an unamused eyebrow raise. She clearly hadn’t forgotten about the text from Juliet.

Neither had Romy, if she was being honest with herself. It had bothered her for the rest of the car ride though she wasn’t really sure why. She justified it by telling herself that she just didn’t want Juliet thinking that him blowing her off had anything to do with her. The girl already disliked her. Romy really didn’t want to be the reason they called off their weird little secret affair. Working with someone who dislikes you is awkward enough without giving them an actual reason to.

The line to enter the attraction moved pretty quickly so the tension from Sebastian’s actions evolved into excitement for everyone except Sam. He was looking more nervous with every inch closer to the giant medieval style door guarded by two giant skeletons. 

Abby squeezed his hand reassuringly while Sebastian reminded him that he was a little bitch. Abby scolded him for being a dick but they shared a knowing amused look when Sam had his back turned.

Romy watched her friends with quiet appreciation. She still didn’t feel comfortable joining in on their banter, but spectating was enjoyable for her anyway.

She tried really hard not to notice how cute Sebastian’s smile was as he laughed at Sam. He had really perfect teeth, she noticed for not the first time. She looked away, focusing on on the giant skeletons instead. 

The line moved again and before they knew it, it was finally their turn to enter the trail.

Chapter Text

A creepy hostess dressed up like an undead victorian doll ushered them through the doors along with the couple that had been in line in front of them.

Being the antisocial group of outcasts that they were, they instinctively hung back a bit as they entered the catacombs, the giant doors closing shut behind them. Abby waited until the couple was safely out of view before heading down the long creepy hallway, scaredy cat boyfriend in tow. “C’mon guys!” She called over her shoulder.

Romy and Sebastian followed behind them, a safe distance away from each other for the time being.

“These walls are so cool.” Romy noticed out loud, appreciating all the little skeleton faces and bones carved into the stone walls. It wasn’t real, of course, but it looked pretty damn convincing in the dim lighting from the moon light above them, shining in through cracks in the makeshift ceiling.

”Yeah, I bet Seb would love to have walls just like this in his future house.” Sam mumbled teasingly.

”Oh fuck yeah, maybe I can even save some of your bones to use someday. You know, after you get scared to death tonight.” Sebastian responded in a casual tone.

Sam glared as his best friend over his shoulder. “It’s not even scary so far.” He retorted just before the creepy music got louder and the hallway narrowed and dipped downward. He visibly gripped Abigail’s hand more tightly, making the rest of them laugh.

The were walking downhill now. The dirt path became steeper as they descended, the wide hallway turning into a more enclosed structure, shut out from the night sky. The only light source now was the flickering candles on the wall spaced out a few feet apart. The creepy classical music got even louder until it was nearly impossible to hear each other.

Abby bravely led their group forward, the tunnel narrowing even more until there was only enough room to walk side by side two by two. The candles were spaced further apart now, blanketing them in relative darkness. Romy became acutely aware of Sebastian’s arm brushing against hers as they walked along in the dark. Her heart rate was accelerating, and she knew it had nothing to do with being afraid.

The tunnel took a sharp turn, opening up into a larger space full of creepy jail cells, each one decorated as a different dynamic scene. A dead body in a bath tub full of blood, red water pouring out into a grate below. The next one had a lady covered in bloody and tattered fabric shaking the bars of the cell and shrieking for help. They heard Sam whimper when she focused her attention on him, easily detecting the weakest link in their group.

“You should get her number, Sam.” Sebastian suggested helpfully.

”Fuck you, Seb.” Sam snorted back.

Abby and Romy giggled as Sam started walking faster, anxious to get away from the screaming lady.

The next scene had animatronic prisoners shackled to the walls, shaking violently. Sam flinched and continued dragging Abby forward at a faster pace.

The noises from the prison disappeared in the distance as they entered a new area where the prevalent noise was the trickling of water from a not yet visible source. The walls were adorned with Egyptian style markings and leaves. Creepy spikes shot out from the walls just before they approached them. Unexpected enough to startle them but not a real danger, of course. Sam shrieked quietly each time anyway.

The hallway opened up until they were back outside, finding themselves on a bridge over a small river with a rushing waterfall. A dead body adorned with an explorers outfit was tied to a stake over a pit of fire off to the side of where the bridge was leading them. The solid wooden planks tapered off until they were struggling to walk across a wobbly bridge that had them clutching onto the railings, laughing as they fought to get across without falling all over each other.

As Sam leapt off the last set of boards, dragging Abby along with him, the weight adjustment sent Sebastian flying towards Romy. He frantically grabbed onto the railing to stop himself from falling over which would have been no big deal if it weren’t for the fact that he had Romy caged between his arms and the railing. They were both laughing until their eyes met and the breath was suddenly sucked from her lungs. 

“Sorry.” Sebastian apologized, a smug grin on his face as he took in her reaction.

”It’s o-okay.” She stuttered, forcing a laugh, desperate to play it off as if she wasn’t overwhelmed by the warmth of his arms on either side of her and the proximity of their faces. 

Romy looked over at Abby and Sam desperately, but their backs were turned to them, looking at the glittering pile of coins, gems, and skulls of various sizes that decorated the next area.

She hesitantly returned her gaze to meet Sebastian’s. He still had that knowing smirk on his stupidly attractive face as he pulled away from her painfully slow. She felt the air finally return to her lungs once there was a proper amount of space between them. 

She was immensely thankful that they only had another step or two before they were off the wobbly bridge because she was feeling extra unsteady after that little encounter.

Catching up to Abby and Sam, they heard a real scream up ahead, probably from the couple they had intentionally lost in the beginning. Sam froze.

Abby tugged his hand forward but he wouldn’t budge. “C’mon babe.”

”No.” Sam said firmly.

Abby rolled her eyes. “It’s fine, it’s not real. Come on.”

”I don’t want to find out what made them scream like that.” Sam insisted.

”Come on, Sam. We won’t let anything hurt you.” Sebastian crooned. He grabbed Sam’s free hand. “We’ve got you.” He said sweetly, giving Sam a reassuring smile.

”I actually hate you, Sebastian.” Sam glared at him, trying to pull his hand away but Seb refused to let go.

”I love you too, Sammy.” Sebastian replied with a big smile. 

Abby turned to Romy hopefully. “Romy, lead the way while we comfort this fool?”

Romy laughed, “Yeah okay.” 

She hadn’t been scared at all but now that she was the group leader, experiencing every new thing before the rest of her friends, she found herself a little more on edge.

She led the way through a dark and winding jungle, complete with tribal music and an animatronic panther that leaped out of a curtain of leaves with a ferocious growl. 

She flinched in response but quickly smiled when she took in the sight of the big scary feline as it disappeared behind the leaves again, positive that this adorable thing was the cause of the scream they heard. She dissolved into a fit of giggles when the rest of her group came around the corner just in time for the panther to leap out again, promptly eliciting a scream from Sam’s throat. 

Abby’s eyes widened in surprise for a second before joining Romy in her laughter.

”It’s just an innocent kitty!” Romy informed Sam, discreetly teasing him while also trying to calm him down. 

Sebastian was just shaking his head at his blonde friend. “Of all the things Sam… a cat?”

Sam glared at them all, storming through the rest of the jungle, the hiding gilly suit scare actors being merciful enough to leave him alone as he passed.

A silent guilty vibe settled over the three of them as they quickly followed Sam, afraid of losing him in this maze.

They finally caught up to him just as he froze outside of a wooden door labeled “Butcher”. Understandable. Romy wasn’t too thrilled about what they’d probably find in there either. Body parts usually meant chainsaws… and for her, that was the only scary part of halloween attractions.

Sam looked back at them with relief, clearly having had enough alone time. He locked eyes with Romy, instantly recognizing the apprehension in her eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her, unfortunately catching the attention of Seb and Abby.

”What is it?” Abby asked, genuine concern in her expression.

Romy blushed, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. “Uhm… chainsaws scare me.” She admitted, feeling immensely dumb for it. “It’s just the noise. I don’t have any trauma or anything.” She added quickly with a nervous laugh, hating the pitiful looks they were all giving her.

“I don’t like them either.” Abby admitted, instantly making her feel better. “Let’s just get it over with.” She smiled and looped her arm through Romy’s. She smiled back.

Sebastian copied the gesture with Sam, earning him a sharp stab from Sam’s elbow in response. They were all laughing as they finally pushed the door open and journeyed forward, immediately finding themselves in a hallway full of legs and arms dangling from the ceiling.

”Eww!” Sam complained, pushing through the hanging body parts while gagging dramatically.

Abby released Romy’s arm so they could push through more easily.

”Ah!” She shrieked as an arm that Sebastian had just pushed out of his way swung back to smack her in the face, bouncing off in an unpleasant manner that only a smelly rubber arm could.

”Sorry!” He apologized sincerely, but not without laughing at her reaction anyway.

Romy crinkled her nose in good natured disgust, pushing the limbs out of her way until she was just barely past him, trying to catch up to Sam who was looking rather terrified at a butcher display case full of intestines and other mystery carnage.

She pushed the last leg hanging in her way in such a way that it spun backwards, knocking Sebastian in the side of his head. “Hey!” He yelled in offense. 

“You deserved that.” Abby informed him, laughing at his reaction.

He shoved an arm at her, earning him a another severed leg flying in his direction.

Their group now reunited, they carried on through the butcher shop, everyone feeling more on edge as they passed the giant meat grinder just before the back door leading out into a spooky path following along the edge of a graveyard. 

A rusty old truck stuck in a ditch flashed it’s high beams in their direction, temporarily blinding them as they walked along. Romy tensed, knowing what was almost certainly coming any moment now. 

Sure enough, the jarring sound of a chainsaw cut through the air to her right as a scary hillbilly appeared closest to her, ominously holding the deadly power tool up in the air. She flinched and froze in place, shrieking in response. 

She was instantly distracted by a warm and comforting arm encircling her shoulders, pulling her close in the opposite direction, and leading her down the path away from the source of her fear. 

A moment later when they found themselves in a comforting cave of animatronic bats that was wonderfully chainsaw-free, she registered the fact that it was Sebastian that had his arm around her protectively. 

Her mouth fell open slightly in surprise, confused as to why he hadn’t let go yet.

”You okay, Romy?” Abby checked in sweetly, although clearly distracted as she took the lead again, searching for the right way through the bat cave.

”Yeah!” Romy assured her, trying to disguise the unease in her voice that decidedly had nothing to do with the chainsaw man and everything to do with the tall, dark, and emo man that had his warm hand resting on her shoulder, his arm a comforting weight against her upper back.

If she sounded suspicious at all, Abby and Sam clearly hadn’t noticed, seeing as neither of them had turned around to witness the intimate moment unraveling behind them.

Internally freaking out as Sebastian led her along following behind their friends, she felt like she had to say something, anything to break this oppressive silence. 

“Thank you, by the way.” She finally managed to say to him. She turned her head to give him a brief smile meekly.

”No problem.” Sebastian smiled back, using his arm around her to tug her closer for a second.

The gesture knocked her off balance enough for him to notice and tighten his hold on her. It wasn’t uncomfortable, she realized somewhat unfortunately. It was nice, actually. It felt safe and warm and…

No.

Don’t even go there, Romy. You’re married. You have a husband. It was nice of him to comfort you but he should be letting go now.

…Why isn’t he letting go!? 

Her heart was pounding in her chest as they followed behind Sam and Abby. She was so overwhelmingly distracted by Sebastian’s presence and touch that she was barely registering anything around them.

They walked through a white and gray stringy mess that probably had something to do with spiders, and then a witches hut, a haunted manor, and another area that she couldn’t even make sense of due to the sensory overload in her brain accompanied by the searing heat of his touch.

Sebastian didn’t let go until they were entering a tunnel that consisted of a metal bridge with railings on either side. The “walls” were actually a spinning tube painted with a trippy black and white pattern. Strobe lights completed the disorienting effect. The optical illusion created the sensation of falling over, causing them to need two hands gripping the railings as they walked across. 

The loss of Sebastian’s arm around her left her feeling colder than she had been before, but she was somewhat relieved by the loss of contact. She could finally feel her senses returning to her as she breathed more easily. 

The tunnel was a fun enough distraction to get her nervous system cooled down enough to be a normal member of the group again.

The four of them settled into easy banter as they exited the attraction. Romy was immensely thankful they hadn’t noticed what transpired between her and Sebastian. She was confused enough without having anyone else speculating on what happened.

She carefully avoided Sebastian’s eyes as they made their way back to his vehicle, but she curiously tried to detect any changes in his demeanor, wondering if it had effected him as much as it affected her.

It was impossible to tell. He was maybe a little quieter, but they all were as they got in their seats and buckled their seatbelts. She decided that he was unaffected, succeeding in making herself feel dumb. 

She tried desperately to push it out of her head. She had fun tonight, she didn’t want her intrusive thoughts and anxiety to ruin what had been a great night so far.

”That was fun!” She said cheerily, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over them as Sebastian got the GPS ready for the ride home.

“I guess so.” Sam agreed dramatically, catching her and Abby’s eyes in the rearview mirror so they could see the smile on his face.

”I’m glad you guys had fun.” Abby beamed. “See? I have good ideas.” She smirked triumphantly.

“Yeah, this is a good group.” Sebastian agreed. “We should hang out again.”

Romy couldn’t help but notice the surprised, maybe even a little suspicious, looks that Abby and Sam were casting in his direction.

Neither of them commented on whatever they were thinking but Abby finally agreed nonchalantly. “Yeah definitely.”

Uneasiness spread through Romy’s chest, suddenly feeling like she had done something wrong. She chewed the inside of her cheek nervously as they pulled out of the parking lot and embarked on their journey back to Pelican Town. 

The awkwardness that had manifested during that conversation dissipated quickly. They drove past a club that appeared to be bustling with the typical city night life crowd, prompting Sam to ask why they couldn’t have done something less scary like that.

Abby answered for them, reminding Sam that large groups of people all drinking and dancing around them was scary if not even scarier than the Trail of Horrors had been. Romy and Sebastian had earnestly agreed with her statement.

Sam huffed and puffed about them being a bunch of unfriendly emo kids. Sebastian shut him up by blasting My Chemical Romance, bringing Abby to life like a sleeper agent belting every word to Teenagers. It proved Sam’s point, but punished him for it at the same time. He crossed his arms and stared out the window until it was over and Abby calmed back down.

The whole thing was funny but kind of raised some questions she hadn’t considered before. Like what exactly Sam and Abby actually had in common that made them get together in the first place.

As they all chatted about nothing in particular, Romy felt her nerves melting a bit. Talking to all of them was easy, especially in a group like this. There was no pressure on her to keep the conversation going smoothly or to over analyze every word that came out of her mouth. 

When they were just a couple more exits away from Pelican Town, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Instantly nervous upon seeing a notification from Shane, she hesitantly opened the message.

Shane: hey honey, having fun? I’m heading to bed

Romy: yeah! We’re on our way back. Goodnight, I love you

Shane: okay that’s good, I love you too, goodnight

Romy let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t sound mad or anything. Shane was generally pretty easy going, but he could sometimes have a way of making her feel immensely guilty. It didn’t happen often, but enough to be a minor fear of hers.

Focusing back on her friends, she noted the time and how lively they all still were. It was kind of a startling realization. Shane always got really sleepy after dinner time, rarely ever staying up late to spend time with her. She had developed somewhat of a melatonin addiction to cope with the crippling loneliness she often felt at night. She was a night owl by nature, so having a sleeping husband and toddler in the house forcing her to tip toe around all by her lonesome got pretty damn depressing some nights.

Sitting here driving on the highway at 10:30pm with three other adults around her age, who were all awake and alive and having fun, was oddly validating for her. She hadn’t even noticed a single one of them yawning. Shane always made her feel like the weird one for staying up late. Maybe he was the weird one though because…why shouldn’t nights be fun like this? What was so inherently wrong about enjoying the night?

Maybe his judgement was purely fabricated by her overthinking mind, but she swore she could always feel the contempt radiating off of him when he woke up in the middle of the night to find her still playing a game on her phone or reading a book. 

As they got off the highway and rolled into town, she was hit with a wave of sadness realizing that this fun night was probably just a one night thing. When would she get this opportunity again? Surely she couldn’t ask Shane to go out again any time soon. She was shook that he even let her go this time. 

She found herself dreading being dropped back off at home, right as Sebastian slowed to a stop and turned to address them all. “It’s only 10:30, you guys want to come hang at my place?”

Only 10:30…

God, that was the easily the most attractive thing that she had ever heard Sebastian say. How she longed to ever hear that sentiment from Shane.

She opened her mouth to sadly protest anyway, feeling instant anxiety at the prospect of staying out super late after already telling Shane they were headed back. 

She was having trouble getting the words out though.

”Yeah sounds good, man. I’m down. Abs?” Sam directed his attention to his very emo girlfriend. 

”Uhm…” Abby didn’t answer him right away, turning to Romy with a hopeful questioning expression instead. “Romy? Can you come?”

She was torn, staring back at Abby’s benevolent face while her mind raced. She absolutely wanted to, but could she? Would Shane be mad? It was anyone’s guess really. He wouldn’t yell at her, of course, that wasn’t what she was afraid of. No, Shane’s anger usually took the deadly form of quiet disappointment that made her feel like an absolute piece of shit every time. 

But he was sleeping… and she hadn’t mentioned that they were almost home. Maybe they had literally just left the place. Maybe they stopped for food. Of course she couldn’t lie… it was Robin’s house too after all, and what if they crossed paths and she mentioned Romy having been there. That would be awkward. She’d have to tell Shane the truth if she was going to go… 

Was it worth the disappointment he might express towards her in the morning? Abby’s pretty blue eyes, sparkling with anticipation, gave her the impression that it was. 

Involuntarily, her eyes flicked over to Sebastian who was also looking at her awaiting her response. He looked almost as hopeful as Abby did. 

“Yeah, okay. I can’t stay too late though.” The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could overthink them. 

“Yay!!!” Abby cheered, her excited smile mirroring the one Romy noticed on Sebastian’s face right before he turned around to continue driving. 

Anxiety was rippling throughout her body as they ascended the mountain, passing by the Joja warehouse on their way.

Her anxious thoughts were interrupted when Sebastian, Sam, and Abby all flipped off the Joja building in near perfect synchronization. She couldn’t help but laugh, instantly feeling a sense of relief. This was fun. This was worth it. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She needed to stop feeling so goddamn guilty all of the time. 

Old habits die hard, though.

Chapter Text

Nerves were getting the best of her as Sebastian parked the vehicle in front of his house. She wondered why he was parking off to the side underneath a tree instead of inside the garage but she figured it wasn’t her business to question it.

Sebastian and Sam hopped out of the front seat, waiting patiently for Abigail and Romy to follow suit. Romy had her fingers curled around the door handle ready to pull when Abby’s hand on her other arm suddenly stopped her.

“Juliet follows me on Instagram. Can I post a pic of us in Seb’s house to piss her off?” Abby whispered with a devilish grin.

“Uhm…” Panic flooded her system momentarily, wondering how Shane would react to that, but then she remembered that she intended on telling him that she was here anyway. 

But what if he woke up randomly before she got home… or if he woke up before her in the morning…

”It’s okay if you don’t want to be involved, I know drama isn’t really your thing.” Abby added apologetically.

”No! It’s not that, I just…” Romy sighed deeply. “I just don’t want Shane to get pissed off.”

”Ohhh.” Abby replied. “You weren’t going to tell him about this, huh?”

Romy chewed on her bottom lip anxiously. “I considered it, but… I’m going to tell him. It’s okay. You can post a picture.”

”Are you sure?” 

“Yeah.” Romy assured her, not wanting to sound as spineless as she felt.

“Okay.” Abby replied, squeezing her arm affectionately before removing her hand. 

They scrambled out of the car to catch up to the boys who had given up waiting for them and went to head inside without them.

They caught up to them just inside the entry way to Robin’s carpentry shop. Where most people had a living room or front porch of some sort, Robin’s house had a consultation room for her business. 

It was weird being here at night when the shop was closed, and Robin was most likely cozy in her bed with her husband. She could hear a tv on somewhere in the house, very clearly on the HGTV channel. She recognized that right away. 

Romy had been in the shop several times, she had even sat at the kitchen table before when Robin had offered her some lemonade while they discussed plans for the farm.

Romy had never gone down these steps that clearly led to the basement though. Following behind her friends like a little lost duckling, she was fully expecting to find herself in a finished basement or at least an unfinished basement that was set up comfortably as a place to hang out.

She couldn’t see anything around her in the darkness, but the moment Sebastian switched on the light her eyes widened in surprise.

This had to be Sebastian’s bedroom. She was in his fucking bedroom. Anxiety coursed through her veins. How would Shane feel about this?!

”Welcome to my humble abode.” Sebastian announced, looking directly at Romy since she was the only newcomer here.

She smiled meekly. “Thanks, I like it.”

And she did. It was a pretty big room. Big enough to have 3 separate areas. His bed was tucked away in one corner with a dresser, nightstand, and tv. Then he had an area with a big L shaped computer desk that housed two computers for whatever purpose unknown to her. The rest of the room was set up like a living room with a big table as the center focal point. No windows, but he had a lot of cool color changing led lights. It was actually a really nice vibe, she decided.

Sebastian smiled back. “Good.”

His pleased expression was too much for her nervous system, so she quickly looked away, focusing on Abigail instead. She followed her friend over to the couch and took a seat next to her. 

Sam looked like he was contemplating squeezing in-between them but Abby shook her head and gave him a brisk “Don’t even think about it.”

Rejected, he settled down on a furry black beanbag chair instead.

Meanwhile, Sebastian pulled a wooden box out from the shelf on his nightstand as she got comfy on the couch next to Abigail, feeling herself start to calm down.

She wondered what Sebastian was doing, watching curiously as he placed the box on his bed and started pulling things out of it. He seemed to be arranging them on the bed and fiddling around with them, though she couldn’t really see due to him blocking her view. She was getting a bad feeling that whatever it was, it was drug related.

The crippling anxiety was back. Not because she had anything against marijuana… on the contrary, she was actually quite fond of it. Shane would not be okay with this though. Her being at a guys house, smoking weed, this late at night… in his bedroom to top it off.

“Fuck…” She muttered under her breath as the smell of freshly ground weed reached her nose, knowing damn well that she wasn’t going to say no.

”Let’s get a selfie before our eyes turn red.” Abby giggled beside her, snapping her out of her internal doom spiral.

”Oh, yeah, good idea.” Romy replied on auto pilot, scooching closer to her friend who was holding her phone up in front of them ready to snap a pic. She mirrored Abby’s smile and copied her peace sign, laughing as they dropped their poses and inspected the selfie they just took. 

“We’re adorable.” Abby stated matter-of-factly. Romy nodded her head in agreement. In a hushed tone Abby added, “She’s gunna be so jealous.”

Romy laughed as Abby added the selfie to her story and put her phone back in her pocket. Just in time for Sebastian to join them around the table, packed bowl in hand and mischievous smile on his handsome face.

She really needed to stop noticing how attractive he was. It was hard though, especially when she was literally seated in his bedroom feeling simultaneously thrilled and horrendously out of place.

Romy had struggled with low self esteem almost her entire life, and even now as a married adult, she still felt that bullied little girl inside her screaming that she didn’t belong here. Or anywhere. 

Why would someone as cool as Sebastian want her in his house? Pity? Kindness? A favor to Abigail? 

The self deprecating thoughts were cut short when Sebastian settled down in an arm chair to her right, suddenly making Sam’s choice of seating make more sense. It was Sebastian’s room, so naturally he would have the best seat at the head of the table.

If the dice, boxes, and papers strewn about across it were any indication, this was clearly a table that was used for some sort of games. Squinting her eyes to discreetly get a better look at the name on the biggest box, she was finally able to make out what it said. Solarion Chronicles: The Game. How precious.

She smiled to herself, suddenly feeling a little less awkward. Sebastian and his friends were just a bunch of cool nerds. She didn’t have to feel so out of place and judged. It was all in her head.

”Romy?” Sebastian asked sweetly, snapping her attention away from the objects on the table. “Would you like some?”

”Sure. Thank you.” She smiled, accepting the warm glass bowl that was still burning from Sebastian’s hit. Not wanting to waste any of his weed by dilly dallying, she quickly found the carb and held her finger over it while she put her mouth on the mouth piece and inhaled. The harsh smoke filled her lungs and she held it for a few seconds, admiring the swirls of black and red throughout the otherwise clear glass, before letting it out and coughing a bit into her elbow.

It had been years since she smoked from a bowl but it was a skill she’d never forget. Just like riding a bike. She smiled at her own stupid comparison. As if riding a bike and smoking weed were comparable…

Oh yeah, she was high.

She passed the bowl to Abigail, giggling when Abby gave her a knowing smirk.

Then she made the mistake of looking back at Sebastian, who was obviously watching her with an expression that she didn’t dare interpret as awe, though she wasn’t sure what else to think of it.

When their eyes met, the corner of his lips twitched up in a half smile that sent shivers down her spine.

She looked away, suddenly very interested in a loose thread on the wristband of her jacket.

Beside her, Abigail had just taken two hits before passing the bowl to Sam and turning back to Romy with glassy eyes and a big smile. “I wish we met you sooner.” She confessed. “I can’t believe you’ve been living here this whole time.”

Romy felt her eyes tear up a little, blinking rapidly to avoid shedding any actual tears. “Yeah… me too. I’ve been… so lonely.” She admitted, feeling a wave of sadness wash over her. 

“Well, you’re not alone anymore.” Abby said decisively, throwing her arms around Romy in a quick side hug. 

“Thank you.” She replied with a sincere smile, still feeling overwhelmed with emotions. Embarrassment was quickly taking over as she remembered Sam and Sebastian were witnessing this intimate exchange and were probably a little uncomfortable.

”She wasn’t alone.” Sam corrected his girlfriend as he got up to hand the bowl back to Sebastian. “She has a husband.”

Abby shot Sam a murderous look. “Mind your business.”

Sam threw up his hands in defense. “Down girl, I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I’m just saying, you told Romy she’s not alone anymore but she wasn’t alone. She has a husband. And a kid.” He directed his gaze to Romy, giving her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry if that offended you Romy… I just thought that was kind of rude of Abby to just dismiss your family like that.” 

Abby initially looked like she wanted to pour acid into his eyeballs but then he looked directly at her, tilting his head and glancing over at Sebastian in a lightning fast gesture that Romy almost missed. Sebastian had certainly missed it, distracted by the hit he had been taking that required extra attention with the lighter as the weed burned unevenly.

Abby’s eyes shifted from violently angry to understanding in a flash. She nodded in understanding. “Yeah, Sam has a point. Sorry Romy, I didn’t mean to dismiss your family.”

”It’s okay guys, really.” Romy assured them with a smile, but internally she felt her heart sinking. She was suddenly reminded of the weird vibes in the car when Sebastian had mentioned hanging out again.

Maybe they hadn’t noticed his touchyness at the Trail of Horrors after the chainsaw man incident, but they were definitely picking up on something. And whatever that something was, they clearly didn’t approve of it.

The crippling guilt returned. She shouldn’t be here. She…

”Another hit?” Sebastian asked, willfully or actually oblivious to the tension in the room. She couldn’t be sure.

She shouldn’t. The anxiety coursing through her veins was screaming at her to just go home. But maybe this is what she needed to calm down enough to get through the rest of this night.

”Okay.” She graciously accepted, taking the bowl from Sebastian, trying hard to ignore the feeling of her fingertips brushing against his own.

Her second hit was harsher than the first, resulting in her urgently passing the bowl to Abby so she could focus on her own coughing fit. Face buried in the sleeve of her jacket, a comforting hand on her shoulder prompted her to look up with her teary eyes, finding herself staring into a set of very dark but very obviously concerned eyes.

”I’m gunna go get you a drink. Water? Juice?” Sebastian stared into her eyes while she struggled to form a sentence.

”Uhm…” Her brain short circuited. “What kind of juice?”

Sebastian smiled, scattering her remaining braincells in every direction. “Cran-raspberry?”

Her fucking favorite.

Her eyes must have literally lit up because he laughed and nodded before she could even get a word out. “I’ll be right back. Sam, Abby, drinks?”

”I’ll take some juice too.” Abby replied.

”Beer?” Sam asked hopefully.

“You know where it is.” Sebastian said dismissively, disappearing up the stairs.

”He fucking likes you.” Abby stage whispered the moment they heard the fridge open upstairs.

”What!?” Romy coughed out, choking on her own saliva as her friend caught her off guard. She had admittedly been staring at Sam while he retrieved a beer from a mini fridge she hadn’t noticed earlier. Not for any particular reason, just high and nosey and sort of fascinated by Sebastian’s basement. What else did he have in here?

Sam groaned as he plopped back down in the beanbag chair and cracked open his beer. “Abby… don’t start.”

”Hey! I’m not saying anything that isn’t true.” Abby defended herself.

“We don’t know that and it’s not our business.” Sam continued, taking a few glugs from his can.

“Of course you’d say that, he’s your best friend. But he literally had plans with Juliet tonight that he bailed on to hang out with us, so…” Abby continued conspiratorially. 

Sam’s eyes actually widened in surprise. “How did you know-“ He shook his head suddenly, rethinking it. “Nevermind. We can talk later, but so? Why does that matter?”

”Because he has no business liking Romy when he clearly has something going on with that bitch!” 

“Abby! Chill.” Sam warned, casting a worried look in the direction of the stairs.

Abby huffed and puffed but dropped the subject, casting Romy an apologetic look as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

Sebastian reappeared in front of them, seemingly unaware of the chatter that had just taken place. He handed the two glasses of juice to Abby and Romy, leaving him with just a bottle of water that he had balanced in-between his chest and elbow while his hands were full of juice.

”Thank you.” Romy said to him with an appreciative smile. Abby notably did not thank him.

He smiled back at Romy and plopped down in the armchair, unscrewing the cap on his water while she sipped on her juice.

It tasted like love and happiness. She closed her eyes, savoring it.

”Mmm, I love juice.” Abby murmured next to her.

”Me too.” Romy replied dreamily.

“Oh. So I’m the only one drinking?” Sam complained, placing his empty sounding beer can down on the table.

“I can’t drink, Sam. How will Romy get home?”

Romy opened her eyes at the mention of her name. “Huh? Oh…” She felt bad suddenly. “Don’t let me ruin your night, I can walk home if you want to drink. It’s fine.”

”Nonsense.” Sebastian responded immediately. “I’m not letting you walk home high this late at night.”

”You can bring me home now if you want-“ Romy started to offer, feeling more like a burden with every passing second.

”No.” Sebastian said firmly. Softening once he noticed everyone appeared a bit taken aback by his reaction he added, “I mean, unless you want to go home now. I just meant I’m not kicking you out just so I can drink. I don’t care about that.”

Desperate to change the subject, Romy just nodded and smiled awkwardly. “Thank you.”

“Way to go, Sam.” She heard Abby mutter under her breath.

”ANYWAY!” Sebastian began after clearing his throat. “Who wants to watch Queen of Sauce?”

~

The next couple hours were a blast. Sebastian moved his tv closer to the couch from where he had it set up to watch from his bed.

They watched 4 episodes of the popular cooking show Queen of Sauce while they bantered back and forth. Eventually they all got so hungry, after passing around another bowl, that Sebastian had to go retrieve snacks for them all to share.

Popcorn and mini chocolate chip cookies were the two most delicious things she’d had ever eaten, in the moment anyway. Good ole marijuana. She had probably missed this aspect of smoking the most. Eating anything was always such a good time.

Romy was so content that she had completely lost track of the time until her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out mindlessly to check the notification. It was just a spam email but her eyes widened in fear when she noticed the time. 1:30am.

”Fuck!” She said to herself loudly enough that 3 heads turned to look at her.

”What’s wrong?” Abby asked, seeming alarmed.

”It’s really late. I… gotta get home. Sorry.” She explained guiltily. 

Abby checked her phone. “Oh shit, it is really late. I didn’t even realize.”

Sam groaned. “I’m crashing here.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Of course you are. Abby, are you staying too? I don’t mind.”

“Nah. I should probably go home. Pierre’s been a dick lately.” Abby replied, getting up from the couch and offering a hand to Romy to help her up too.

Sam scoffed as he got up off the beanbag and sprawled out on the now vacant couch. “Lately?” 

Abby kicked his leg with her foot. “Are you gunna come for the ride?”

“Nah. I’m too comfy right here.” Sam said with his eyes closed, head resting back against the couch cushions.

Abigail rolled her eyes. “Bye then.”

”Night Abs.” Sam murmured dismissively.

Sebastian shook his head. “Dick.” 

Sam just flipped him off, reaching up to pull a throw blanket off the top of the couch, promptly burrito-ing himself with it.

”Bye Sam.” Romy said politely as the girls followed Sebastian towards the door.

”Bye Romy!” Sam called out sleepily.

Walking through the house upstairs again was awkward and disorienting but the chilly night air was instantly sobering in contrast.

However, with clarity came anxiety, unfortunately. The only thing on her mind now was how pissed Shane was going to be at her for getting home at 2am. 

Romy automatically got in the back of Seb’s vehicle. She was pleasantly surprised when Abby got in the back too. 

“Who wants to get dropped off first?” Seb asked, looking at them both through the rearview mirror.

”Me? I mean, unless Romy wants to get home asap.” Abby suggested.

”Uh…” Romy panicked. “Can I-“

Abby put a hand on her knee. “I get it.” She turned to Sebastian. “Romy first.”

”Got it.” He replied. “I’ll take the short cut.”

Romy watched in awe as he drove along some road she never knew existed. Confused as hell, her eyes opened wide in disbelief when they were suddenly on her property. How?

“I never knew that was there…” Romy mumbled, awestruck.

Sebastian chuckled. “Yeah it’s a bit of a hidden path. I’m surprised Shane doesn’t know about it though.”

The mention of her husband’s name sent fresh waves of anxiety through her system, igniting a new urgency to get out of this vehicle. 

“Well thank you guys so much for everything. I had a great night.” She thanked them sincerely as she opened the door.

“We have to hang out again!” Abby demanded, leaning over to give her a quick hug.

“Yeah we definitely do.” Sebastian agreed, turning around to give her a farewell fist bump. 

The brief knuckles to knuckles contact felt more scandalous than it should have out here in front of her house that contained her husband and child. “We will! Okay thanks again, bye guys!” She squeaked nervously, shutting the door before anyone could say anything else. 

She took a deep shuddering breath as she unlocked the front door, waiting for the sound of Seb’s engine to quiet down as he drove towards Abby’s house before actually opening the door. 

Dakota greeted her immediately, nearly knocking her over in her haste to get outside to pee. Romy felt a prickle of aggravation assuming Shane hadn’t let her out to go potty before he went to bed.

Once her canine companion had returned to her side, she locked back up and kicked her shoes off anxiously, terrified to go in the bedroom and find her husband awake and asking questions.

But when she finally made it to their bedroom, she found that he was very obviously not awake judging by his snores and sprawled out position.

Somehow, ironically, that almost made her feel worse. 

Chapter Text

Romy woke up around 10am to the sound of Dakota groaning like a dying elephant.

She sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and looked at her canine companion.

The instant they made eye contact, Dakota wagged her tail, making it thump against the mattress, before wiggling her way up the bed like a worm.

She giggled, scratching Dakota’s furry head  and enjoying a moment of peace and contentedness before reality set in for the day.

”Do you have to go potty?” 

Dakota whined in response, leaping off the bed and prancing over to the door.

”You could have asked Shane, you know.” She scolded Dakota half seriously.

The second she said his name out loud, her brain finished waking up. Anxiety pouring into her stream of consciousness like a dam had just broken.

Taking a few calming breaths in and out, she made her way across the room, down the hall, and into the kitchen. She could hear Shane and Aiden in the living room but she focused on letting Dakota out and doing her little morning routine before joining them. 

“Good afternoon, Honey.” 

Romy flinched, startled by the sudden intrusion. “It’s only 10am!” She replied defensively.

“Yeah well, we’ve been up since 6:30.” Shane teased.

Romy rolled her eyes. “Thanks for letting me sleep.”

She appreciated him letting her sleep in most weekends, really. It was just that he was always so goddamn condescending about it. 

“Mhm.” Shane replied, ruffling her hair on his way to put a bowl in the sink. “So did you have fun last night?”

Romy’s anxiety resurfaced instantly. “Yeah! It was fun.”

”You got home pretty late. What’d you do after the Trail of Horrors?” He asked curiously.

Fuck. She was really hoping he wouldn’t ask. She had no doubt that her anxious voice would make her sound guilty even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

”Well, it was still early for them since we’re all used to working at night. So on the way back Sebastian offered for us to hang out at his place for a little bit.” She began, trying her hardest to sound casual.

“What did you guys do?” Shane pressed, tone unreadable.

”Smoked and just hung out.” She decided to just rip off the bandaid, bracing herself for whatever came next.

“Oh… you smoked?” Shane asked, just a little too innocently to quell her nerves.

“Yeah, not too much though. It was fun, we just ate some snacks and watched Queen of Sauce.”

“Glad you had fun, honey.” Shane responded after a tense moment of silence.

“Me too. Thanks again, for letting me go.” She went to give him a hug but he only circled one arm around her to pat her on the back.

“You’re welcome.” He said, pulling away to get an energy drink out of the fridge. “Well, I’ve got some stuff to do today. I’ll be outside if you need me.”

“Oh, okay.” Romy replied, feeling rejected.

Her phone chimed on the table as the garage door slammed shut. Thankful for the distraction, she hurried over to check her phone, smiling at Abby’s name on her lock screen.

Wasn’t she at work though? She wondered as she opened up the message and read it curiously.

Oh shit…

Abby: Typing this as quickly as I possibly can before I have to put my phone away. I just witnessed Juliet freaking out at Seb outside.

Something about “You were smoking with those bitches instead of hanging out with me!?”

I don’t even know how she knew we smoked??

Seb told her to get off his back and that he’s allowed to have friends

Juliet said she doesn’t believe that you’re just a friend 😳😳😳

OK gtg!!!! Update later

Romy groaned. She knew Abby posting a picture of them in Seb’s house was a bad idea. Now this girl was probably going to hate her even more and she didn’t even do anything. Besides, she was wrong with her accusations. Her and Sebastian are just friends. Right?

…Right?

It was still weird to her how he had paid for her ticket and left his arm around her far longer than he needed to. That wasn’t exactly platonic behavior in her experience but she also wasn’t used to having touchy friends. Maybe he was just an affectionate guy?

Yeah, that had to be it.

She joined her son in the living room, scooping him up for a good morning hug and kiss on the top of his head.

”Good morning pumpkin!”

”Good morning, Mommy!!” Aiden squealed, laughing as she swung him around before placing him back on the floor.

Her obsessive thoughts came back as Aiden lost interest in her and returned to his toys.

Why would he like her anyway? Why would he want anything more than friendship from a girl he barely knows who has a whole husband and young child?

The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed to even consider that Sebastian was into her. It was harmless behavior. Just being friendly and trying to make her feel more welcome. Maybe he could pick up on her anxiety from a mile away and pitied her for it.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was a blur. Finally around dinner time, Shane came back in and started making dinner. He was being normal to her but she was still on edge, feeling guilty for some reason even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“It’s supposed to snow Tuesday night.” Shane informed her when she sat down to eat the grilled cheese sandwich he made for her.

She swallowed hard, fearing the next words out of his mouth. “Oh, a lot?”

Shane picked up his phone and opened up the weather app. “Yeah, 8 to 12 inches.”

”Oh shit.” Romy replied sincerely.

”So I guess you’ll be taking the night off.” He concluded.

”Yeah I guess so.” She sighed, still terrified of where this conversation was headed.

”Are they going to be okay with you not coming in every time it snows?” Shane asked her in a tone that almost sounded hopeful, like he wanted her to say no.

”Probably not.” She admitted glumly.

”Maybe it’s time to focus on the farm again, Sweetheart.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to find the right words that wouldn’t escalate this conversation into an argument. “It’s winter though, there isn’t much to do around here. Wouldn’t it be better for us financially if I kept working?”

”I mean… you could focus on finding other ways to make money here like we usually do in the winter.”

”You know there isn’t nearly enough work for the two of us here.” Romy argued.

”Okay, but you can’t just call out every time it snows and we can’t afford a new truck right now.”

”I know!” She sighed, beginning to feel hopeless.

”Is there anyone who can give you a ride for a few bucks here and there? Sebastian maybe?”

Guilt swished around in her stomach like suddenly. She felt like she could puke at any moment. “Uhm… yeah, maybe. I guess I could ask him.” She replied uneasily.

Shane nodded. “If not then it’s time to put in your two weeks.”

She was nearly silent for the rest of the night, only really interacting with Aiden and Dakota. It wasn’t Shane’s fault really, but she found herself having absolutely nothing to say anyway.

~

Romy was nearly asleep next to her snoring husband who had passed out two hours ago at 9:45pm on the dot. She had laid in bed next to him staring at the ceiling trying not to think about the Joja transportation predicament, or Abby’s texts about Juliet.

After about half an hour she had given up on falling asleep naturally, reaching for her melatonin gummies like a lifeline.

She had just started chewing when her phone started buzzing chaotically. Anxiety crawled through her veins when she realized it was a phone call and not just a series of texts.

Abby. 

Romy waited until it stopped ringing to shoot her a quick text letting her know she’d call back in a minute.

Glancing nervously at her sleeping husband, she climbed out of bed and crept into the hallway, immediately followed by her dog who wouldn’t dream of letting her go anywhere in the house without her this late at night.

Bracing herself for the clickety clacking of her nails waking Aiden up, she was relieved when the house was still silent when they reached the living room. 

Dakota gave her a concerned look while she curled up on the couch, nervously preparing herself to call Abby back. 

“It’s okay.” She whispered reassuringly, patting Dakota on her soft not-so-little head.

Dakota was unconvinced.

After a moment of calming deep breaths, she tapped the phone icon next to Abby’s name, holding her breath while it rang.

“Romy!!!” Abby screeched when she picked up the phone, making her flinch and turn the volume down on her phone immediately.

”Hi! I have to be quiet, everyone’s sleeping. What’s up?” She whispered loudly enough for Abby to hear her.

”Oh shit sorry, I’ll stop yelling. But giiiirrrrllllll I have gossip for you. I just couldn’t text all this, I had to call.”

“It’s okay, what happened???” She asked impatiently.

”Okay! So I already told you what happened before day shift. DURING day shift this bitch was giving me dirty looks left and right. Sebastian was like avoiding me, looking all guilty cuz he knew I heard their fight in the parking lot.”

”She’s so childish.” Romy commented, waiting for her to continue.

”Mhmmm. Just wait til you hear what she did. Anyway, during our break I WANTED to talk to Sebastian, but him and the bitch disappeared immediately. So I got my phone and went outside to call Sam. I was sitting on the bench like going up towards Seb’s house. I was on the phone with Sam for a while just venting about how sick I am of this little bitch and how Sebastian won’t tell us anything about their little quote unquote secret relationship, if you can even call it that.” Abby paused to take a breath.

“What did Sam say?” Romy wondered.

“Basically just told me to ignore it, that he understands where I’m coming from but it’s not worth fighting with her. Blah blah blah. BUT THEN!!!” Abby continued, pausing dramatically first. “I see Sebastian and Juliet coming down the path from her house. I ducked behind the fence before they spotted me but it looked like Juliet was adjusting her clothes. Coincidence? I doubt it.” 

Romy let a wave of uncomfortable feelings wash over her, unable to identify what they were. She breathed out slowly before replying. “I’m assuming that’s not all that happened?” She pressed.

”Nope! Anyway so I told Sam and he just kinda got quiet because he was forced to finally accept that I’ve been right all along about them. It was almost time to go back inside anyway so I waited a few minutes before heading back in. They must have split up to not look obvious because Juliet was at her locker and he was nowhere to be found. She gave me another dirty look unprovoked. I ignored her. We clocked back in. Sebastian shows up, no clue where he was all that time.”

Romy had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like where this was going. Silently she waited for Abby to finish her story, petting Dakota for comfort.

”So we’re working, everything is pretty much fine and normal. I gave Sebastian a couple raised eyebrow looks just to keep him on his toes. I didn’t do anything to provoke Juliet, at all. I was being a good girl and taking Sam’s advice. But then at the end of the night when we’re cleaning up, this bitch SHOVES a box at me so hard it scratched my arm and actually drew blood.”

”Oh no…” Romy muttered in shock. “She didn’t.”

”OH SHE DID. That was the last fucking straw. Especially because she did it when we were alone and no one saw what she did. She’s such an evil little coward. Anyway so I was like WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!? And she starts going off about how me and you are bad news and Sebastian shouldn’t be hanging out with us because he’s too good for us. I was like excuse me!? And who the fuck are you? His girlfriend? Because I really don’t think so since none of his friends are aware that you mean anything to him at all.”

”Oh god, Abby…” Romy groaned, hating that she was involved in this drama.

Abby ignored her, continuing her story. “So she tells me that they’re not official yet but they will be when he’s ready, and told me to tell you that you better stay away from him.”

”What the fuck??? I didn’t even do anything.” Romy argued. “I’m married!”

”Yeah well Juliet doesn’t care about that apparently, because she’s fully convinced you’re trying to fuck her man.” 

”This is so ridiculous.” Romy grumbled.

”Oh I know girl, trust me. I told her that she doesn’t own Sebastian and he can be friends with whoever the fuck he wants. She didn’t like that but she had to shut her dumb mouth because other people were walking over and she’s a coward.”

“Is that everything?” Romy asked, really hoping that it was.

”Not yet. Anyway I made Sebastian walk me home and asked him what the hell is going on with them. He insisted that it’s nothing and I should just ignore her. I finally admitted that I saw them leaving her house. He looked so nervous. He finally admitted that they kind of have a friends with benefits arrangement but she’s like totally in love with him and he doesn’t feel the same. I don’t know what to believe but I told him he needs to keep his bitch in check then because she’s physically harmed me now and I’ll kill her if she does anything to you.”

Romy hadn’t even really considered that possibility. Apprehension coursed through her veins. Maybe she should just quit…

”Sebastian seemed a little angry that she hurt me but once I mentioned her hurting you…”

Romy held her breath.

”He said he would kill her too. So… clearly he cares about you more than me already. He fucking likes you, dude. I’m telling you. Sam won’t admit it but he definitely sees it too. I can tell because he wouldn’t have made such a big deal about you having a family last night if he didn’t suspect Sebastian wanted to make a move.” Abby chattered on as if this wasn’t deeply unsettling news. She made it sound like petty gossip.

Romy was jealous that she couldn’t see it that way too. But the idea of asking Sebastian for rides to work now seemed preposterous and maybe even a little dangerous.

She was going to have to quit…

Tears filled her eyes as Abby continued yapping. After an involuntary sniffle, Abby paused and worriedly asked her if she was okay. She lied and said she was just still sick and sniffly and the sleep meds she took were starting to kick in.

Abby apologized for keeping her up and let her get off the phone. Once the call ended, Romy sobbed for a good 20 minutes before apathetically going back to her bed.

Tomorrow was going to be rough.

Chapter Text

Romy woke up in the morning feeling suspiciously calm. It took her until she groggily reached the kitchen and heard the weather man talking about the incoming storm on the TV to remember the bad news.

She groaned.

”What’s the matter honey?” Shane questioned from the other room.

”I forgot about the storm.” She muttered just loudly enough for him to hear her.

”Ask someone for a ride tomorrow while you’re there tonight. Or let them know you won’t be coming in. Up to you.” Shane added somewhat condescendingly.

“Yep. Will do.” She grumbled, shoving an empty mug under her coffee machine a little more aggressively than usual.

After stirring in the cream and swallowing her meds, she leaned against the door frame with her warm mug in her hands, waiting for Dakota to come back to the door.

Shutting her eyes, she tried to will the anxiety away. She usually couldn’t wait to go to work but today was different.

On top of the transportation predicament, there was also the fact that she was on the shit list of a psycho bitch whom she never even intentionally wronged. Would Juliet be crazy enough to fuck with her? 

It’s not like she was provoking her on purpose the way Abby had been. Maybe she would leave her alone if she just kept doing what she was doing. Confrontation and revenge had never really been her thing. She was a peace keeping people pleaser to a fault. 

She was in such a dissociative daze that she barely registered the hours slipping by until it was already time to get ready for work.

With a great deal of apathy, she slipped into some warm and stretchy black jeggings, a long sleeve band tee, black boots, a black hoodie, and a warm black beanie with two colorful pompoms sticking out of the top.

She begrudgingly threw on some mascara and eyeliner too. If this was one of her last shifts at the Joja warehouse, she at least wanted to be remembered as someone who was at least mildly put together.

When it was time to head out, she gave Shane and Aiden each a hug and a kiss goodbye in the living room. Dakota followed her to the door, looking at her curiously as if she could tell something wasn’t right. 

Romy crouched down to give her a big hug, burying her fingers and face in her soft fur. Dakota licked her face when she pulled away. “Ew Dakota!” she laughed as she wiped off the drool with the sleeve of her jacket, giving her a final pat on the head before closing the door behind her.

Feeling a little bit better, she pulled her phone out of her pocket to put on some music. Slipping her headphones into her ears with one hand while she scrolled through her music library with the other, she nearly tripped over a stray tree branch laying across the path.

Thankfully she caught herself before she fell, but frustration had her making the snap decision to abandon her usual route. She turned around, storming towards the path up the mountain that Sebastian had used to bring her home the other night. 

It had been too dark to see much of anything but now that she was walking the same path in the day light she was able to take it in for real. 

Music in her ears along with the change of scenery had her work commute feeling like a fever dream. The further up the mountain she got, the prettier her surroundings became. She felt kind of sad that she didn’t know about this path back when the weather was still nicer and the foliage was more attractive to look at. Most of the trees were missing their leaves at this point, but the view of her farm from up above was still a pretty cool sight to see. The squirrels leaping between branches were more entertaining than the town residents she usually crossed paths with when she walked through town to get to work. This route was much, much nicer.

Too bad this would probably be the only time she’d ever get to use it.

The end of the path brought her to a clearing right above Sebastian’s house. She felt a little creepy walking past it but she reminded herself that this was all public property and no one would find her weird for using a shortcut to get to work.

She put some pep in her step anyway though.

“Hey, you took the path! Nice!” A voice called out to her from somewhere behind her as she reached the top of the incline heading down towards Joja.

Startled, she spun around to locate the source of the voice, eyes landing on Sebastian walking down the front steps of his house.

He started to say something else as he walked over to her but the sudden blaring music in her ears made her miss whatever he said.

”Shit! Sorry!” She apologized, scrambling to take her earbuds out and slip them back into their case. “You caught me in-between songs. What’d you say?”

Sebastian chuckled at her awkwardness. “I said you’re welcome. For showing you the path.”

”Oh. Thank you, honestly, that was a much nicer walk than I’m used to.” She admitted.

He caught up to her and they fell into step side by side as they descended the mountain.

“Yeah when the farm was abandoned I used to go down that way just to be alone and smoke sometimes when I needed to get away from my family.” 

Romy found herself wanting to ask why he would need to get away from his family, but she was also incredibly on edge due to the fact that they were walking together coming from the direction of his house. She had not forgotten about Juliet’s warning.

”I’m sorry I ruined your secret spot.” She joked instead.

”Nah. That wasn’t my secret spot. My secret spot is much cooler, no offense.” Seb teased.

“Oh? Cooler than my farm? I gotta see this.” She challenged.

“If I show you then it won’t be a secret anymore!” He argued jokingly.

“Fine then, keep your secrets.” She conceded, shooting him a faux offended look.

He laughed, bumping into her affectionately as they walked. “Maybe I’ll show you some day. You gotta earn it though.”

Unsure how to take that, Romy just laughed. She figured he probably was baiting her to ask what she’d have to do to “earn” it, but that felt like a flirty conversation that she really wasn’t in the mood for under all the current circumstances.

They fell into a somewhat tense silence. It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, but she could tell Sebastian wasn’t sure how to perceive her silence.

Even so, she realized she was smiling a little involuntarily. His presence by her side was enough to lift some of the fog that had been clouding her mood the entire day.

“Did you hear about the storm?” Sebastian asked suddenly, making conversation.

Romy sighed, feeling that little smile on her face disappear. “Yeah… about that… I’m probably going to have to quit soon.”

“WHAT!?” Sebastian asked in disbelief. “Why? Tell me you’re joking.”

“It’s kind of embarrassing but I have no way of getting here when it snows…” She mumbled, not really wanting to talk to him about it even though she knew she was supposed to. Shane had suggested it after all.

“Dude, I can pick you up. Don’t quit!” Sebastian stopped walking just a step ahead of her, twirling around to place a hand on her shoulder to stop her too.

She froze, looking up at his very serious expression. “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you…” She trailed off, giving him a chance to persuade her as much as she really didn’t feel comfortable with his offer for a multitude of reasons.

“Romy, don’t quit. Seriously. It’s no problem. My truck is awesome in the snow, it’ll only take me like 10-15 minutes to get to you. MAX. I promise.” Sebastian’s dark brown eyes stared down into her green ones. His words were pleading but his tone made it feel more like a command.

Feeling like she wasn’t really in any position to refuse, she reluctantly nodded her head. “Okay. Thank you, Sebastian. I really really appreciate it.”

Sebastian smiled, pleased with himself for winning the argument so easily. “Okay, great.”

“For real though, you’re okay with picking me up and bringing me home every time it snows?” She asked skeptically as they started walking again. 

“Yes. I swear.” Sebastian assured her.

”Why…” She couldn’t stop herself from asking, feeling embarrassed and annoying the second the word left her mouth.

“Uhmmm….” Sebastian stalled, seemingly choosing his words carefully. “You’re my friend and I don’t want you to quit. I’d be afraid we’d never see you again.”

Touched, Romy wasn’t sure what to say. Luckily she didn’t have to respond, because they had finally reached the front door and the chatter of all the people around them effectively paused their conversation.

One thing she hated about this place was the cigarette smokers that crowded around the front entrance. She didn’t recognize any of them. The people in Pelican Town weren’t really big smokers. She assumed most of these people were probably bussed in from Zuzu City. 

They weren’t very friendly either. 

She wasn’t surprised to notice Juliet standing amongst them, vaping whatever it was that the device in her hand contained. She silently prayed that Juliet wouldn’t notice her and Sebastian walking together. Her angry, jealous eyes landed on them anyway though. Romy flinched, walking faster, trying hard to pretend they arrived at the same time by pure coincidence.

Unfortunately, Sebastian matched her pace. He was either oblivious or very brave, she couldn’t be sure which.

They were both quiet while they made their way through security and the locker area. Neither of them spoke until they were relatively alone again, walking across the warehouse towards their section.

Romy was uneasy, knowing Juliet was somewhere behind them. Watching. Glaring. Plotting.

She shivered.

”Cold?” Sebastian asked with a teasing grin.

She considered lying. The words tumbled out of her mouth without her consent anyway. “No, Abby told me what Juliet said… I guess I just don’t like knowing she’s probably behind us, glaring at me, plotting my death.”

At least she had said it quietly enough that Juliet wouldn’t have heard it even if she were right behind them. The warehouse was a noisy place which could be a blessing and  a curse depending on the situation. 

To her utter shock and minor aggravation, Sebastian laughed.

”Uhm, how is that funny?” She questioned, eyes narrowing.

Sebastian shook his head. “The way you said that was just funny. But in all seriousness, I’m sorry about… her, I guess. She won’t do anything to you.”

”She attacked Abby with a box.” Romy shot back. “And I’m the one she actually has a problem with.” 

Sebastian looked over his shoulder casually, making sure she wasn’t within earshot before he responded. “She’s probably jealous of you. She’s not jealous of Abigail.”

”Jealous of me, why!?” Romy couldn’t help but ask him. 

He shrugged. “Because we’re friends, and she probably thinks you’re pretty.”

Romy blushed. Why would he say that? Did he think she was pretty? Did he think Juliet was pretty? She had so many questions that she knew she couldn’t ask… so she just scoffed instead. “Pretty sure she wants me dead.”

Sebastian just laughed again. “Don’t worry about her.”

”Kinda hard not to.” Romy grumbled, dropping the subject as they approached the time clock.

They joined the group for their pre-shift meeting and Romy kept her eyes on their manager as Juliet finally arrived. From the corner of her eye she could see the girl glaring daggers at her but she did her best to appear oblivious.

Thankfully their manager had her and Juliet on opposite ends of the dock so she didn’t have to worry about working near her. 

Her and Martin were assigned to a busy truck far towards the end of the dock, while Juliet was stuck up front with a new girl. She hadn’t looked very happy about it, causing her to wonder if she had beef with her too, but then again Juliet wasn’t a friendly person in general. She reminded herself that it wasn’t all personal. 

As her and Martin made their way down the dock towards their assigned truck, Romy heard the manager telling Sebastian to cover the high end of the belt. That meant that he would be working closely to her. 

Great. That’ll really calm Juliet down. She thought to herself bitterly.

As they fell into their routines, Romy felt some of the tension she was harboring finally start to ease up. She enjoyed working with Martin, even though Abby was her favorite coworker. Abby didn’t work weekdays, so Martin was a welcome replacement. 

Conversation flowed easily as they chatted about video games and old TV shows. She had calmed down so much that she had actually stopped noticing Sebastian’s silhouette every time he passed by their truck. In fact, she nearly forgot he was even out there at all by the time Martin slipped away for a bathroom break.

She shrieked when she turned around after placing a box down and noticed a dark figure standing about 5 feet away from her. “Holy shit, Sebastian. You scared me.”

Sebastian laughed at her reaction, apologizing insincerely. “My bad.”

”You totally snuck in here on purpose.” She rebutted.

”It’s not my fault I’m stealthy, like a cat.” Sebastian argued, pretending to be very interested in his fingernails to avoid eye contact.

”Like a cat?! More like a fucking assassin.” She replied incredulously. “You could have been Juliet coming to kill me for all I knew.”

”Listen, don’t worry about her.” He began. “We’re just neighbors.”

Romy stared at him unamused.

”What?” He asked, trying to decipher the look she was giving him.

”Neighbors…” She trailed off, pausing for dramatic effect. “With benefits?”

“What!?” Sebastian shouted in fake confusion. 

Romy rolled her eyes.

”Remind me not to talk to Abby anymore.” He mumbled.

”Seb, you don’t have to lie to me. I’m not going to tell anyone your secrets. The girl freaking hates me, I think I deserve to know why, don’t you?” She gave him a pleading look, tired of this drama.

Sebastian opened his mouth to respond but Martin returned before he could get the words out. “Sup Martin.” He greeted him instead of whatever he had been about to say. 

Romy deflated internally, worrying she had crossed a line and ruined her only opportunity to continue working here. She needed to stay on Sebastian’s good side. Her job depended on it now.

She realized with a wave of disappointment that she was going to have to drop this whole Juliet thing and simply keep the peace. She didn’t have any other options besides retreating back to her sad and lonely life on the farm with Shane.

”Sup?” Martin replied, getting back to work without paying much attention to Sebastian.

Romy turned to pick up another box, locking eyes with Sebastian who was still standing there awkwardly, glancing between her and Martin. She couldn’t decipher the look he was giving her but she didn’t let her gaze linger for too long. 

By the time she had placed the box in her hands and turned to pick up another one, Sebastian was already silently exiting the trailer. 

Romy sighed quietly, trying to mentally psych herself up to return to the easy state of mind she had been in before Martin took his bathroom break.

”What was that all about?” Martin asked her curiously once Seb was out of earshot.

Romy chewed her bottom lip, trying to decide how much to say without rocking the boat. She didn’t really consider Martin to be a big gossiper but talking to anyone about this situation felt dangerous.

”Juliet really thinks that there’s something going on between me and him.” She finally admitted. 

Martin just looked at her patiently, sensing there was more to the story.

She reluctantly continued, casting nervous glances outside of the truck. “She told Abby to warn me to stay away from him. He keeps telling me I don’t have to worry about her, but he’s going to be giving me rides to work when it snows from now on so that I don’t have to quit.”

Martin raised his eyebrows at that piece of information as if she had just told him something scandalous. 

She glared at him playfully. “What!? I don’t have a vehicle I can drive in the snow to get here and he does.”

”So do a lot of people here.” Martin teased.

”Okay but I’m not friends with them, I’m friends with Sebastian. And he OFFERED.”

”Yeah, I think Juliet is onto something.” Martin concluded, turning away from her to focus on his work.

”WHAT!?” Romy exclaimed, staring him down instead of focusing on the packages like she should have been.

Martin kept the straight face for another couple seconds before laughing his ass off. “I’m KIDDING, Romy, jeez.” 

She huffed, getting back to work and giving him the silent treatment. 

“In all seriousness though, you aren’t doing anything wrong. What’s going on between them is their issue. You know you’re innocent, so does Sebastian, that’s all that really matters.” Martin assured her. “If she comes at you sideways, it’s not your fault and you don’t have to put up with it. Report her if she starts harassing you.”

Romy groaned. “You’re right, but I don’t think I could ever report her. She’d probably just retaliate even harder outside of here.”

Martin shrugged. “I mean, don’t start anything with her, but if you have to finish what she starts, that’s another story.”

Romy just shook her head. She wasn’t good at conflict. Too bad it was starting to seem like the near future was full of it.

At the end of the night, Martin walked out to the parking lot with Romy so she wouldn’t be anxious about running into Juliet. They hadn’t seen her or Sebastian leave which was kind of strange but they weren’t going out of their way to look for them either.

They parted ways when Martin got near his car, giving her a wave goodbye before leaving her alone in the crispy night air. 

She could feel that it was about to snow. The air just had that smell and feel to it. 

Thankful for her warm hat and and gloves that she had tucked away in her bag for later, she decided taking the mountain path home was worth the risk of running into Juliet and Seb, or god forbid just Juliet…

She was nervous as she ascended the mountain, opting not to listen to music so she could keep an ear out for any suspicious noises. Luckily she made it all the way up to Seb’s house without any run ins with the devil.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made her freeze in place at the top the stone stairs leading to the cliff above the 24 Mountain Road residence. She turned back around, surprised to see Sebastian jogging up the steps to catch up to her.

”Hey!” He called out to her, slightly out of breath by the time he arrived at her side.

”Hey.” She responded carefully, looking around to see if any particular psychos had been following him. 

“Uhm, I realized that we don’t have each other’s phone numbers and we probably should if we’re going to be carpooling, right?” Sebastian sounded as nervous as she felt. It was kind of unsettling. He had a point though.

”Yeah! Yeah, definitely. You’re right.” She rambled as she fished her phone out of her coat pocket. 

“Cool, cool.” Sebastian mumbled, pulling his phone out too.

They kind of just stared at each other for a moment awkwardly before laughing and swapping phones already on the screen to add a new contact.

Romy just put her name with a cardboard box emoji next to it so he would know she was a Joja coworker.

Sebastian put the sunglasses smiley emoji next to his, causing her to roll her eyes and smile when she saw it.

”Thank you, again, for offering to drive me. I really appreciate it and I fully intend on giving you gas money.” She looked at him appreciatively while she talked, trying not to sound as socially awkward as she always felt. She wasn’t sure how big of a deal to make out of this situation. She didn’t want him to think she was comfortable mooching.

”Gas money? For what? That short little drive? Absolutely not.” Sebastian shook his head as if he were a disappointed parent.

”Sebastian, I can’t let you just waste your time and gas and energy carting me around and not even give you some money for your troubles.” She argued.

He put a hand up in the air to silence her. “You can and you will.” He said with an air of finality, that irresistible grin stretching across his face.

She nearly growled in frustration. “Fine! But I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

Sebastian raised one eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. “Oh?”

Romy felt her face heat up in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean it like that… I meant like-“ 

Sebastian laughed, facial expression returning to normal. “I’m just fucking with you. Goodnight, Romy. I’ll see you tomorrow! I’ll let you know when I’m on my way to pick you up.” He smiled at her genuinely, waving goodbye as he started walking back down the steps.

Shaking off the awkwardness she returned the wave. “Goodnight! See you tomorrow, thank you again!” She turned to continue walking home but Seb’s voice stopped her again.

”Oh, Romy? By the way, cute hat.” 

She turned around just in time to see him at the bottom of the steps, grinning up at her with a goofy smile. 

“Thanks.” She squeaked out, feeling herself blushing even harder. She picked up the pace big time, anxious to get the hell home already.

She tried to clear her thoughts and just get some rest without overthinking everything for once. She was doing a pretty good job of dissociating through her bed time routine until she climbed into bed beside her sleeping husband.

He sleepily rolled over when she got under the covers, draping an arm across her chest lazily. “Hey, did you find a ride for tomorrow?” Shane asked her quietly without even opening his eyes.

”Yeah.” She whispered back, not offering any more information unless he asked directly.

He didn’t. “Oh. That’s good.” 

His tone didn’t match his words though.

”Yep.” Romy agreed anyway. Only time would tell if she was making the right decision.

Chapter Text

Staring out the kitchen window watching the fat snow flakes falling from the sky in slow motion was almost therapeutic for her racing heart.

Sebastian had just texted her to let her know he was getting ready to leave his house. She was already mostly ready to go but she had flown through the rest of her get ready routine at lightning speed and was now standing at the window perfectly still like a gargoyle watching the city from a rooftop above.

She was staring so intently at nothing in particular out in the yard that her husbands voice startled the hell out of her.

“So who’s picking you up?” Shane asked her curiously.

She flinched at the sudden noise before regaining her composure.

Romy took a slow sip of her winter edition Redbull that she was shocked to find in stock at Joja Mart so early in the season. She willed her nerves to chill out a little so her anxious tone wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

”Sebastian.” She replied as casually as she could manage.

”Oh… Wow.” Shane mumbled in response.

”Wow?” Romy echoed.

”Yeah, I just never took him as the helpful friendly type. Dude was always kinda quiet and moody.”

“Oh. Well… maybe he grew up?” She offered noncommittally.

“He offered? Or did you ask him nicely with a gun to his head?”

She laughed, relieved that Shane hadn’t gotten angry about it. “Yeah actually I didn’t even have to ask, I just mentioned I might have to quit soon and he asked why. I explained and he offered immediately.”

”Hmm…” Shane hummed. His expression was unreadable.

Her anxiety creeped back in. Maybe she had said too much…

”He on his way?” Shane questioned after a beat of mildly uncomfortable silence.

Romy nodded, taking another sip of redbull as an excuse for not using words.

”Alright. I’m gunna go give Aiden a bath so… see you later.” Shane wrapped an arm around her in a half-assed hug. “Love you.” He gave her a kiss on the top of her head before wandering off to the bathroom to get the bath ready.

”Love you too.” She mumbled back, already headed to the living room to stare out that window instead so she could keep an eye on Aiden.

“Mommy go work?” Her son asked her, noticing her standing there in her work clothes and winter jacket.

”Yep. Mommy is going to work.” 

“Bye Mommy!” Aiden hugged her leg before scampering off down the hall to find his father.

”I love you! Bye!” She called after him. He didn’t respond. Typical.

Headlights appearing outside the house sent her entire nervous system into a category 4 hurricane. She felt like she was having an out of body experience as she walked outside and opened the passenger side door.

”Hey!” She greeted him cheerfully, trying her best to be a normal human.

Sebastian smiled at her sincerely and reached forward to give her a friendly fist bump. “Hey.”

She climbed in and focused on buckling her seatbelt, trying not to overthink her behavior. Interacting with other people was so hard. It constantly amazed her how she had friends at all.

“Ready?” Sebastian asked her, glancing in her direction again after giving her some privacy while she buckled up.

”Yep!” She squeaked, feeling like she could faint at any moment.

Sebastian chuckled and threw the vehicle back into drive. 

They drove back towards the mountain road in somewhat peaceful silence. Between the heat blowing through the air vents and the snow crunching under the tires, she didn’t really feel the need to speak. 

Aside from that, Romy was painfully aware that this was the first time she had ever truly been alone with Sebastian.

The dangerous terrain of the snow covered mountainside was a welcome distraction for both of them since he was too busy focusing on driving to have time to send her nervous system even further into a panic. Which was something that she was unfortunately coming to realize he was very skilled at doing.

The front wheels slipped a little going around the first bend. She felt a wave of guilt crash over her as they regained traction.

“I would feel awful if you crashed and died out here because of me.” Romy worried out loud, thinking over all the awful scenarios that could go down here on this “road”.

Sebastian laughed. “It’s really not a big deal, this is fun for me.”

“Dying?” She asked.

“Driving in the snow.” Sebastian clarified with an easy smile on his face. “But yeah, dying too.”

“I can’t believe you’d be okay with dying because of me.” She grumbled, flinching in her seat as the vehicle slid to the side a little before Seb corrected their trajectory.

“Not because of you, Romy. For you.” He added quietly, just when she thought the conversation was over.

She froze. “Uhhh…”

Sebastian let the tense silence stretch for another moment before laughing and punching her leg lightly with his fist. “I’m kidding! God, I love teasing you. It’s too easy.” 

She just turned her head to look at him with her mouth slightly open, feeling certain that she was blushing like a motherfucker. “Thanks…” She mumbled awkwardly.

Sebastian glanced over with mild concern in his eyes. “I’m sorry if that was too far.”

Romy forced herself to chuckle unnaturally. “It’s okay, really. I’m fine.” She smiled at him in good nature, though she was sure she probably looked pained from his point of view.

”I just like how easy it is to make you blush, I’m sorry if I ever make you uncomfortable.” Sebastian rambled on, making her feel even more awkward and guilty.

”No! No, it really is fine. I swear. You just caught me off guard.” She insisted.

Feeling like she ruined the easy atmosphere, she sighed silently and turned the other way to look out the window self loathingly.

Sebastian cleared his throat. “So.. uhh.. I guess I do owe you an explanation.”

Romy turned back to him in surprise. “Huh?”

“Juliet…”

”Oh!” Oh.

She waited patiently, watching Sebastian’s eyes dart around the snowy landscape as he drove them further up the mountain. They were almost to the clearing above his house now. She felt kind of anxious about the ride ending now that they were getting closer to work.

“We can talk about it more some other time, if you want… but I just wanted you to know that I don’t have feelings for her or anything like that. Yeah, we’re hooking up, or… were hooking up, at least. That’s all it is though. I’m not… I’m just not into her besides that.” Sebastian explained awkwardly. 

Even though Abby had pretty much already told her that, it made her feel weird to hear Sebastian admit it to her himself. Was she jealous? No… how could she be jealous of someone who was just a convenient FWB situation? It would kill her to have some guy she was hooking up with telling people that he wasn’t really into her behind her back. She almost felt bad for Juliet… almost.

Not really though. The girl was still a certified bitch.

”Oh. Wow. Okay. Past tense, huh? Well thank you for telling me… I guess it makes sense why she doesn’t really like me then. Does she think we’re doing the same thing now?” Romy asked quickly, fear racking her fragile mind. A rumor like that was the last thing she needed.

Sebastian chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know, honestly. I told her that wasn’t the case but I’m not so sure that she believes me.”

Romy idly wondered if he was telling her the whole truth. He had planned to hang out with her the weekend they went to the Trail of Horrors… how past tense could their affair really be? The girl had just threatened Romy to stay away from him.

As Sebastian took a turn around the side of his house, she couldn’t stop herself from blurting out her next question. “When did you cut it off?”

”Uh… well the last time we fucked was the week we went to the Trail of Horrors.” He started.

Romy flinched internally at his choice of wording. The mental imagery was psychological torture.

Sebastian was distracted for a moment as they began descending the mountain towards the Joja warehouse. The tires lost traction for a moment and they almost swerved into a snowbank but Seb expertly steered them away from it and corrected their course.

Romy was vaguely aware that she had been gripping the handle on the door in anticipation. Sebastian glanced over to make sure she was okay and clocked it immediately.

”Hey, it’s okay. I won’t let you die. Trust me. I’ve been driving around in the snow for fun ever since I got my license. I’m a professional.” He grinned at her with his goofy yet cocky grin.

She felt herself smiling back despite her reasonable apprehension. “Yeah, okay. I guess I can trust you.” 

“Great!” Sebastian replied, widening his smile before his expression dropped back to neutral. “Oh… Yeah, I didn’t finish. So uhm… yeah, I hung out with her, I guess, a couple times after that, but we mostly just argued. I reminded her that it was just casual, and she didn’t really like that. So…” He trailed off, eyes scanning the parking lot for a clear spot to park.

Romy waited for him to find a spot before prodding him to continue. “So…” She teased, looking over at him expectantly.

”She was still trying to… ya know…”

”Fuck?” She offered helpfully.

Sebastian coughed, appearing to choke on his own saliva. “Yeah, fuck… but I told her if she was gunna be all weird and jealous then we needed to stop.”

”Wow. So, that’s it then? You guys are just friends now?” Romy asked curiously. 

Sebastian laughed, unbuckling his seatbelt and reaching around to grab his work backpack out of the backseat. “We were never friends. We don’t really get along like that.”

“Ah.” Romy nodded as if she understood. Truthfully though, she really didn’t.

Maybe she was just… demisexual or whatever it was called, but casual hook ups never really made sense to her. Especially not when the people don’t even get along on a basic friendly level. She couldn’t imagine getting into bed with someone she had zero feelings for. She couldn’t say that all to Sebastian though. The last thing she wanted to do was push away her new friend by making him feel like she was judging him. Silence was the best option.

Unbuckling herself and climbing out of the vehicle, she turned to Seb with a sincere expression on her face. “Hey thanks again for doing this. I really appreciate it.”

Sebastian appraised her quietly for a moment, making her skin prickle from the way he seemed to be looking into her soul. “Anytime, Romy. Seriously.”

She smiled at him shyly before they fell into step side by side on their way towards the front door.

Juliet was at the entrance again, talking to some tall guy with a snapback hat on backwards and a tacky gold chain around his neck. He was smoking a cigarette while Juliet vaped next him. Her eyes caught site of Sebastian and Romy approaching the door and her expression went from annoyed to vindictive in a matter of seconds.

Leaning closer to her nameless smoking buddy, she said something inaudible and then looked up at him with a flirty smile when he laughed. She then all too obviously looked over at Sebastian to see if he noticed.

To his credit, if he had seen her little act, he certainly didn’t appear affected by it. Sebastian had just casually reached the door and swung it open, holding it while Romy stepped through. He smiled at her when she thanked him, seeming completely unaware of the girl now scowling in their direction. 

Romy felt a little pang of fear. What if she started a rumor about Romy and Sebastian out of jealousy? She would have to quit at that point… Shane would be so suspicious of her insisting upon working here still it a rumor like that reached his ears.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t even registered going through security or putting their things away in their lockers. Sebastian putting a hand on her shoulder and forcing her to make eye contact with him shook her out of her dissociative episode.

”Hey. Romy. Are you okay?” He asked her urgently.

She blinked and took note of their surroundings, slowly returning to the present moment. They were currently standing behind a metal pillar supporting the conveyor belts rolling overhead. She felt embarrassed for a second before she realized they were likely pretty hidden from view in this particular spot, and the roar of the machinery would drown out their conversation from any potential eavesdroppers..

She let out a breath of relief. “Uhm.. yeah, I think so.”

Sebastian was still looking at her intently with his dark eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Are you sure? We haven’t even clocked in yet, we can leave if you’re not feeling up to it tonight.”

Romy shook her head quickly, feeling like a big baby. “I’m fine…” She racked her brain for a plausible explanation that wouldn’t just raise more questions. “I just spaced out for a minute.”

Sebastian scoffed in disbelief. “A minute!? Romy, you’ve looked like you’re in a trance ever since we entered the building. That orientation guy that’s way too fucking psyched about Joja… what’s his name…” He trailed off trying to remember.

”Steve?” She guessed.

Sebastian’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Steve! That fucking loser.”

”What about him?” She prodded flatly.

”Oh! Yeah! He said hi to you and you didn’t even react.” He explained.

”Shit…” She mumbled more to herself than to Sebastian. “Well now I feel bad.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Don’t feel bad, that guy thinks Joja is the greatest company to ever exist. Something isn’t right about him.”

Romy rolled her eyes but found herself smiling anyway. “He’s nice!”

”Right. Nice. Not a complete and total kiss ass at all.” Sebastian nodded in faux agreement.

”I didn’t realize you were such a hater.” Romy commented teasingly.

Sebastian removed his hand from her shoulder to lay it across his chest in offense instead. “Really!? Joja is just my part time job… I’m a full time hater. I’m actually offended.”

Romy giggled, already missing the warmth of his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah okay, I get it. Let’s go clock in.” She started heading for the time clock again.

”As long as you swear you’re alright.” Sebastian demanded, following her cautiously. 

“I’m fine!” She insisted over her shoulder.

”We’ll continue this conversation later.” Sebastian warned, sounding hilariously like a concerned father figure.

She couldn’t help but laugh as she swiped her badge on the time clock.

”It isn’t funny, Romy.” He scolded.

”Okay, you’re right. Sorry dad.” She joked innocently.

”Ooohh yeah okay, I can be your daddy.” Sebastian responded without missing a beat, his lips curved into a predatory smile. He raised an eyebrow as she stared at him wide eyed in horror.

Sebastian just burst into a fit of laughter before walking away to find their manager, leaving her alone with her burning cheeks and utter mortification.

It baffled her how Sebastian could go from sweet and caring to horn-dog in a matter of seconds. It felt kind of dangerous. Was accepting rides from him a bad idea? She was beginning to worry for more than one reason.

She did her best to not overthink it, taking into account he was still her ride home. Maybe she was just so used to being stuck in the house with a toddler and her grumpy disinterested husband that she just wasn’t used to the way normal people joked around anymore.

Yeah, that was probably it. She had just developed a stick up her ass. That’s all.

Romy laughed at her own train of thoughts as she focused on building a solid wall of packages inside her assigned truck. No stranger to overreacting, she always felt so much lighter once she thought things through enough to realize she was making a mountain out of a molehill. 

The snow storm evidently caused quite a few call outs, judging by the way the warehouse felt sort of empty. The lack of man power meant no one was paired up today, leaving her entirely alone with her thoughts. The solitude was nice in some ways, it made it easier to fall into autopilot mode.

Nowhere near a clock with no one around to ask for the time was a hidden blessing. Time flies when you’re not paying any attention to it.

Zoned all the way out, Romy shrieked and dropped the box of apples she had been holding when a sudden voice broke through her comfy blanket of warehouse white noise. 

“Crazy how no one showed up today.” Sebastian announced without so much as a warning ‘hello’.

Romy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reaching down to pick up the fallen box. “Holy shit, Sebastian.” She grumbled.

He ignored her reaction, carrying on as if she hadn’t even said anything. “Bunch of slackers, honestly.”

“Maybe they’re like me and had no way to get here.” She countered.

Sebastian scoffed. “Yeah but you found a ride. You didn’t just call out.”

”I would have had to if you hadn’t offered to bring me.” She reminded him, somewhat annoyed by his implications.

”What if I hadn’t? You would have asked around wouldn’t you?”

Romy shrugged, fully aware that he was probably the only person in this building she would have even considered getting in a motor vehicle with besides Abby and Martin. She didn’t want to admit that to him though.

“Abby doesn’t work weekends or I would have asked her. I probably would have asked Martin if you hadn’t offered first.” She hoped he wouldn’t take offense to that.

No luck.

”Oh… Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have been so forward. If you’d rather gets rides from Martin I understand.” Sebastian tried to say casually but she could easily detect the undercurrent of saltiness in his tone.

”That’s not what I meant. I meant he was my only other option. I wouldn’t trust anyone else here. Would I have been a slacker for calling out?” She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, maintaining steady eye contact.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Romy.” He started to turn away but paused and twirled back around with a goofy smile on his face. “Wait! You trust me?” 

“To transport me safely to and from work? Yes. Should I not though?” She countered.

He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“What does that mean?” She asked suspiciously.

Seb just winked at her and walked away, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

What is his deal…

Chapter Text

They had been lucky enough to not run into Juliet on their way out. She assumed their manager had her sent to help another area or something because Romy hadn’t seen her anywhere during clean up time.

And she definitely would have noticed her.

She had her head on a swivel their entire walk from the time clock to Seb’s vehicle in the parking lot. He had tried to keep her distracted at first but had apparently given up. It was all silence once they got to the top of the stairs.

She thought anyway. She couldn’t be sure. Her focus wasn’t really on him for once. It wasn’t until they were getting into the car that she realized they hadn’t spoke in a while. Hell, she had barely even taken note of the frosty chill in the air until her eyes settled on the moons reflection on the glossy snowbank Sebastian had parked against.

Romy had barely clicked her seatbelt into place before Sebastian was staring into her soul demanding answers.

“Alright, so what really happened when we walked in?”

His dark eyes were filled with determination. She knew there was no way she was getting out of this conversation.

She sighed, shoving her cold hands under her thighs to warm them up. “Juliet, she was glaring at us after you didn’t react to her obvious attempt at making you jealous with that guy she was standing next to. It just… it made me realize that her starting a rumor about me could be pretty bad for me if it got back to Shane. I would probably have to quit at that point.”

“Listen. If she started a rumor like that, I would take care of it. You don’t have to worry.” Sebastian replied sternly. He finally turned on the engine, triggering the air vents to continue blowing hot air at them again as they had been on the way there.

“Okay…” She nodded in understanding, her body shuddering at the sudden change in temperature. He seemed so serious she almost believed him and let herself relax.

Until he added cautiously, “Don’t take this the wrong way… but are you even happy with him?”

She froze. Her mouth hung open in surprise at the sudden question. Sebastian was staring at her expectantly.

”Uhm…” Romy stalled as her brain frantically tried to load an appropriate response but came up empty handed.

Sebastian’s face fell slightly. “I’m sorry if that was rude of me… I just… Please don’t be offended. I didn’t mean anything by it, I’m just curious I guess.”

Romy took a nervous breath in and out before responding. “It’s… okay… I’m not offended. What made you ask that though? Do I not seem… happy?”

Seb looked away from her, staring out the windshield instead while he most likely considered how to answer without freaking her out even more.

Her heart was pounding for some reason she couldn’t quite place. She felt an irrational fear that Shane could somehow hear their conversation and was waiting to see how she would respond to the simple question.

“Well…” Sebastian began, pausing to sigh before finally turning to look her in the eyes again. “Honestly, not really?” Quickly adding on to that he threw his hands up in defense as if she might punch him. “But only because you don’t really talk about Shane. It seems like you kind of avoid mentioning him at all unless you have to. Most happy couples I know don’t really shut up about each other, or at least mention things here and there. Shane just seems like a sore subject or something, I don’t know. Tell me if I’m totally off base.”

Romy found herself chewing her bottom lip anxiously, wanting to tell him he was wrong, that he was totally off base. It was such a simple question, wasn’t it? “Are you happy with him?” Yeah! Yes. Absolutely. Of course. Those would all be acceptable, normal responses to that question. So why was it so hard to just pick one, to just say yes?

Deep down she knew the answer to that. Because it would be a lie. Because she wasn’t happy. Would it be wrong to admit that to Sebastian though? This felt like some sort of test of her morals. Like telling her new friend the truth was somehow a moral gray area akin to cheating.

That’s ridiculous though, isn’t it? To have to lie just because Sebastian happened to be another male? A stupidly attractive male who was staring into her eyes like open doors like he already knew the goddamn answer?

And of course he did. It was obvious to anyone who spent any amount of time getting to know her. Abby probably had her suspicions too but she was too much of a sweetheart to directly ask her about it. Sebastian wasn’t though. He was very good at saying whatever came to his mind, no matter how it might be received. 

There was no point in lying about something that was as obvious as this. She knew he wouldn’t even believe her if she tried, could see it in his eyes the way they twinkled with poorly masked pity. She might as well just fucking say it.

The silence stretched on for a solid 60 seconds while she wrestled with her thoughts. Sebastian wasn’t backing down. 

She sighed deeply.

”No. I’m not. Haven’t been for a while.” She admitted, feeling like she was unknowingly wearing a wire and Shane was already on his way to dump her.

Sebastian didn’t even look the least bit surprised. It kind of stung a bit. Was it that glaringly obvious? 

“Why don’t you leave?” He asked gently, clearly not wanting to upset her by sticking his nose too far in her business.

She took a steadying breath. “Well, Aiden, first of all. I know they say you should never stay together for the kids but… He’s such a happy little kid, I don’t wanna ruin that.” She felt herself tearing up, to her horror. Sebastian clocked it immediately.

”Hey, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. I’m sorry for being nosey, I just… had a feeling and selfishly wanted to feel validated, I guess. Not that I don’t care, I do. Please don’t think that.” He rambled nervously, reaching out to place a warm hand on her arm apologetically.

“Urgghh.” Romy groaned, letting her head fall back against the head rest. She shook her head as she used the edge of her sleeve to blot the tears away. “Don’t feel bad. It’s fine. I’m just a mess. I don’t really open up about this stuff to anyone, so it’s kind of heavy to admit out loud. I’m sure that sounds stupid…”

”No, it’s not. I get it. You don’t have to answer my questions, but if you ever want to talk about it with someone who’s unbiased and will keep it to themselves, you know where to find me.” Sebastian gave her a goofy smile that made her giggle. 

He still looked like he felt guilty though, and that made her feel even worse.

“Thank you, Seb. I appreciate you.” She managed to say without making it sound too cringe. 

“Thanks.” He smiled shyly and turned to look straight ahead again. At least they were both a little emotionally/socially awkward. It was comforting. She found herself laughing to herself.

Sebastian looked at her suspiciously from the corner of his eye. “What’s so funny?”

”Nothing.” Romy replied, still chuckling a little. “I just love how we’re both awkward. It makes me feel safer talking to you. People are usually terrifying.”

She quickly shut her mouth before she said anything else, realizing too late how sentimental that sounded. Her face flushed with sudden embarrassment. She turned to look out the window so he wouldn’t see her blushing.

”Yeah…” Sebastian replied after a tense moment of silence. “I know what you mean.” 

Romy stayed quiet as he slowly backed out of the parking space and turned towards the road. The tires crunched over the now semi-packed down snow.

”You’d think a company as rich as Joja could afford to have their parking lot plowed properly.” Sebastian complained as they nearly got stuck turning around a corner. 

“I think they put that money towards the sick ass water bottles they give us in orientation instead.” Romy joked, relieved that the subject matter had officially changed. She was more than ready to not speak about her relationship for the rest of the day, if not week. Month. Year. Ever again, honestly.

“Yeah… my mom put mine in the dishwasher once and it crumpled like aluminum foil.” Sebastian replied bitterly.

Romy laughed, then realized this was an opportunity to ask a nosey question of her own. He owed her one now anyway.

”Hey, speaking of your mom… you said something about needing to get away from your family sometimes. I figured I get to ask a personal question now, if we’re being fair, so… What’s that about? Normal family drama or…?”

She was amazed at how casual and confident she managed to make that sound, because internally her heart was pounding and she was terrified that she had just crossed a line.

Sebastian turned to look at her briefly before setting his eyes back on the road. “You caught that, huh?”

She nodded. “Yep.”

”Observant.” He replied, drawing the word out unnecessarily as his eyes darted around the landscape ahead of them. He was clearly stalling. Romy waited patiently. “My dad, my real dad I mean… he’s been missing since I was little. He kinda just walked out one day and never came back. My mom met Demetrius at work and they eventually got married, moved here, built the house, had Maru… I love my mom, and my sister, but Demetrius… he’s a good guy I guess. Everyone else thinks so at least. I’ve never really had a relationship with him though. It’s just hard, sometimes.”

Romy listened carefully, absorbing his every word like a sponge. She got the impression that he wasn’t looking for sympathy, and definitely wouldn’t appreciate a cliche “Omg, I’m so sorry!”

She went out on a limb and took a different approach instead. ”They put you in the dungeon, huh?”

Sebastian paused, caught off guard for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Yeah. Yeah they did. Those bastards.”

”Hey, it’s cool though. I could never smoke weed in my room when I lived with my parents. I longed for that amount of privacy. I could only go for a walk in the woods so many times before it became suspicious.” Romy admitted.

He smirked, glancing over at her for a moment. “Romy the teenage rebel? I wish I could have seen that.”

She scoffed. “Yeah right, so rebellious. I wouldn’t even try marijuana until I was nearly 18. I was terrified of getting in trouble.”

”Strict parents?” He questioned, appearing amused by her confession.

”Not really, just only child syndrome I think. Too much attention on me, no one else to deflect any of it.” She replied thoughtfully. 

“I barely remember those days. Maru was born when I was 5.” Sebastian mumbled as they passed his house and turned onto the “road” leading to her farm.

Romy thought hard about whether or not she had ever actually interacted with his half-sister before. She worked somewhere in town… she was sure of that much. The guilt of not really getting to know anyone here settled in again. She was practically a hermit.

She didn’t have to come up with a response though after all, because Sebastian suddenly bopped the steering wheel with his fist lightly. “Oh!”

Romy turned to him in anticipation.

”I almost forgot! I’m going to be in Zuzu next week. The forecast isn’t showing snow right now, but if anything changes while I’m there I’ll come home so you don’t have to call out of work.” He explained casually, as if that wasn’t an incredibly guilt-inducing statement.

”What!? You don’t have to cut your… vacation, I assume… short just for me.” She protested.

”It’s not really a vacation.” Sebastian explained calmly. “I’m just going to visit some friends. I go all the time. It’s no big deal.” 

“You don’t have to ditch your friends early for me either. I would feel so bad!”

“I know I don’t have to, Romy. I don’t have to stay the entire week when I promised to give you rides if it snows either. It’s my choice either way. If it snows I’ll come home.” He concluded decisively.

Romy was silent for a minute, trying to wrap her head around why this person she barely knew was willing to inconvenience himself for her with nothing in return. It seemed too good to be true. At a complete loss for words, she finally just mumbled “Thank you.”

”My pleasure.” Sebastian replied brightly, satisfied with himself for “winning” the argument.

She just shook her head in disbelief as they pulled up in front of her house. Once Sebastian shifted into park, the air between them became a little tense. 

“Uhm… thank you again.” She awkwardly mumbled as she unclipped her seatbelt.

Sebastian stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles before lazily looking over at her with a smile. “Sure. I’ll pick you up same time tomorrow?”

Romy froze. She hadn’t considered that as a possibility. Of course the snow wouldn’t just magically disappear overnight. Did she really intend on walking there… I’m such an idiot.

Sebastian saw right through her hesitation, chuckling at her obvious internal panic. “You weren’t really planning on traveling by foot, were you? You got a team of sled dogs I don’t know about?”

She shook her head, laughing at her own ridiculousness. “Ah… I guess not. Yeah, that would be great, if you don’t mind. I still feel bad that you’re going out of your way for me like this.”

”Nonsense, Romy. I enjoy your company and like I said, I love driving in the snow. Don’t worry about it.”

She felt herself blushing at the first part of that sentence, suddenly very aware that her husband was right inside the house they were currently parked in front of. “Thank you, Seb. Really. See you tomorrow! Bye!” She opened the door before she could over think it, hopping out of the truck before turning around to wait for Sebastian’s reply.

He cocked his head to the side curiously at her behavior but apparently decided not to comment on it. “No problem. Have a good night, Romy.” He lifted a hand in a sleepy wave goodbye.

She smiled and shut the door, waving back before scurrying to her front door. She turned the key in the lock and was instantly barreled into by a frantic German Shepherd who ran straight past her down the front steps to pee in the snow.

Romy turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of Sebastian laughing as he drove away, Dakota eyeing him intensely while she squatted in the snow. Why are dogs so embarrassing…

Dakota finished peeing and trotted across the yard to make sure Sebastian was actually off the property before returning to her unamused owner waiting for her at the door. Once they were back inside her canine companion showered her with happy licks and whines as if she had literally just gotten home. 

“Okay, okay, I love you too.” She laughed, pushing Dakota away so she could remove her snowy boots and heavy jacket.

”Hey.” 

Romy’s heart skipped a beat as she twirled around to see her husband sleepily standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “Hey honey. What are you doing up? You scared me.” 

Shane yawned and leaned his weight against the door frame. “I just wanted to make sure you got home okay. I take it Sebastian didn’t take you back to his emo lair and murder you?”

Romy felt like she was supposed to laugh but she didn’t really find the Sebastian slander very funny. She forced a chuckle anyway though. “Nope, no murdering. Just drove me straight home. Sorry if you were counting on that life insurance money.” She joked.

Shane snickered. “Okay, good. Just making sure. I’m going back to bed now. Night honey.”

”Goodnight, I’ll be in bed soon.” She promised, crossing the room to give him a quick hug and kiss.

Shane ruffled her hair affectionately before sleepily waddling off back down the hall to their bedroom.

Once she was alone again she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out, squinting at the bright screen in the dark kitchen. 

The notification was alerting her of a new friend request on Instagram.

Sebastian Hayes.

”Fuck.” She whispered to herself before hesitantly accepting the request. Tapping on his profile, she was unsurprised to find that his account was private. She requested to follow him before she could overthink it.

Within 30 seconds she got the notification that her request was approved. Letting out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding, she returned to his profile. He didn’t have a ton of posts but the ones that were there just left her with even more questions about his life.

Almost none of the pictures were taken in Pelican Town as far as she could tell. It looked like he traveled a lot. Which made sense she supposed, considering he did mention going to visit friends in Zuzu regularly. It was still kind of surprising though. 

Feeling extra nosey, she clicked on his followers. Aside from Abby and Sam and a couple other townies she assumed must be around their age, it was mostly strangers. Except for Juliet.

Ugh. 

Curious, she switched over to the list of accounts he was following. Interestingly, Juliet was not on the list. She even double checked to be sure she hadn’t just missed her name. Huh. 

She felt a tiny wave of satisfaction that he was following her and not Juliet, but then she came to her senses and realized this would just be food to further fuel Juliet’s rage if she happened to notice. Was Sebastian trying to piss that girl off?

Groaning quietly she dragged herself to the bedroom and flopped down next to Shane who was already dead asleep. Dakota hopped up a moment later and curled up against her legs, resting her head on one of Romy’s feet. 

She was envious of their shared ability to fall asleep quickly. She spent at least half an hour trying to fall asleep in vain before giving up and reaching for the melatonin.

Finally drifting off to sleep, she had the most peculiar dream.

She was laying in a big bed with fluffy white bedding and a wall of windows in the background. It appeared to be some sort of hotel. She thought she was alone at first, but then a head of messy black hair emerged from under the blanket on the other side of the bed. 

Sebastian rolled over to face her, giving her a big sleepy smile. “Good morning.”

”Morning.” She smiled back.

Chapter Text

Romy woke up suddenly feeling dizzy and disoriented. The dream she’d been in the middle of having drifted back to her in bits and pieces.

In bed in a hotel with… Sebastian? What the fuck…

She shook her head trying to erase the thought like an etch-a-sketch. Reaching desperately for the water on her nightstand, she knocked her phone onto the floor by accident. “Shit…”

After a few gulps of water, she leaned over the side of the bed to pick up her phone. It had slid further away from the bed than she expected but she did not feel ready to get up yet. Reaching as far as she could, she managed to catch the corner of her phone case with her fingertips and pulled it closer.

The screen lit up to display her most recent notifications. One in particular immediately caught her eye. Sebastian had shared a post with her…

Tapping it with curiosity, forgetting she was still dangling off the edge of the bed, she opened up the message to see that the post he shared with her was one of her own. An old, pre-Aiden, photo of her on the beach in a bikini, to be specific.

Alarmed, she lost her balance and tumbled onto the floor. “Ow…”

Rubbing her sore elbow, she poked her head up like a meerkat just to double check that Shane was long gone. She rarely woke up before him, but the guilt coursing through her veins had her paranoia on high. 

Determining that the coast was in fact clear, she settled into a comfy crisscross applesauce position on the floor. Her eyes immediately locking in on the message underneath her beach photo.

Wow, I had no idea you had so many tattoos. Barely recognized you.

What the hell? 

Romy wasn’t sure how to take that. On one hand, it could be completely innocent. A simple surprised observation. On the other hand, why was he looking so closely at her body? It wasn’t a close up. It was a picture of her and her old friends back in the city. They had a beach day and met some other random people while they were there. A bit of day drinking had them taking silly group photos as if they were long time acquaintances. If they hadn’t been tagged in the photo she honestly wouldn’t even remember their names.

The more she overthought it the stupider she felt. There were 8 people in the photograph. Of course Sebastian would be surprised when he noticed the girl covered in tattoos was her. He probably thought it was just some stranger at first. It had nothing to do with him being attracted to her body.

She felt so stupid for even thinking that.

Rolling her eyes at herself, she quickly typed a message back to him.

lol yeah I guess most of them are covered. Wow, that was a long time ago…

It was almost alarming how quickly Sebastian replied. The receipt under her message changed from delivered to seen nearly instantly. Her heart rate that had been calming down sped back up in anticipation.

You don’t really post anymore, why not?

Romy made a humorless noise. That was an easy question. 

Nothing to post, I guess

What was she going to post? A photo of Shane sleeping? Her bag of Joja new employee swag? Aiden? No way.

No one cared and she wasn’t the type to post photos of her child online. There were creeps everywhere and she didn’t feel the need to post anything about her life online for everyone to see. Maybe she was just jaded by her unfulfilling life, but mostly she felt like she had just outgrown the need for using social media in that way. The last post she had made was one of Dakota playing in a pile of fall leaves… two years ago. Damn, time really flies.

That’s kind of sad

No offense lol

Romy rolled her eyes again. She could sit here and feel sorry for herself that Sebastian was unimpressed by her life, but unfortunately she had more pressing matters to deal with. For example, the dog whining to go outside and the child who was now awake, singing about breakfast in his bedroom patiently waiting for her to come fetch him.

Thanks lol

She typed a final message to Sebastian before vowing to forget about him until it was time for him to pick her up for work.

Shane came in from the garage about an hour into their morning routine. He had clearly taken off his boots, hat, and jacket before entering the house but his beard glittered with tiny specks of ice. He looked tired but a little more content than usual.

"Done for the day?" Romy asked him curiously as she rinsed her empty coffee mug in the sink.

"Yeah, not much I can really do. It's miserable out there." Shane complained on his way to the fridge.

"I noticed." She agreed sympathetically.

It wasn't snowing anymore, but it was still so cold that none of the snow had melted. The yard had actually turned into a giant at least a foot high smooth sheet of ice. When she let Dakota out to go potty the poor dog could barely avoid slipping with every step. She had to do an awkward dance skating across the frozen clearing Shane had shoveled out for her when the snow was still fresh and soft. As if that weren't bad enough, the wind was really starting to pick up, causing all the snow stuck on the roof and in the trees to blow around like clouds of microscopic ice particles. Not great for visibility, or general quality of life trying to do anything productive out there. Shane's frozen beard and eyelashes were proof of that.

"Hey at least you can relax the rest of the day and not feel guilty about it." She added when she didn't get an immediate reply.

Shane made a grumpy sort of agreeing noise before finally saying, "Yeah you're probably right."

"It's okay to take a break once in a while. You work too hard." Romy rubbed his shoulder affectionately.

"I have to." Shane replied bleakly.

Romy sighed quietly, not sure how to take his response. Was it a dig at her? She would hope not. The whole reason she got the job at Joja was so that they wouldn't have to worry as much about money. If Shane was upset that she wasn't helping enough around the farm...

Guilt panged at her chest. Shane had already implied that he wanted her to focus on the farm again. She kept forgetting about that because quite honestly, she didn't want to think about it.

"I know. I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"It's not your fault."

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes dear. Are you staying home tonight?" Shane asked, quickly changing the subject. He sounded annoyed at her questions. Reassurance had never been his strongest skill.

"Oh, uhm, I don't think so? Sebastian said he would drive me again." She hoped her voice didn't sound as nervous as she suddenly felt.

"The ground is a sheet of ice." Shane replied incredulously, his expression unreadable as usual. "When did he say that? Last night?"

"Yeah..."

"Did you check in with him today? I wouldn't be surprised if he changes his mind. I don't know why anyone would choose to drive all the way down here if they don't absolutely have to. Unless the sun comes out, and I highly doubt it's going to, that path is going to be an icy death slide." Shane rambled condescendingly.

Romy groaned. "I'll text him."

"Good idea." Shane replied before heading into the living room to watch Scooby-doo with Aiden.

Feeling uneasy for a reason she couldn't quite pinpoint, Romy picked up her phone and opened up her messages with Sebastian. She was a little too nervous about the possibility of Shane coming back to hover over her shoulder or ask to see the conversation, so she subconsciously began drafting her message like a business email.

Romy: Hey, sorry to bother you but I was just wondering if you were still willing to bring me to work/home tonight? I know the weather is kind of abysmal. 

She almost rambled on to include something about how she would understand if he didn't want to, but her message already seemed too long. Too formal. She felt like an idiot. Shane wasn't going to ask to read it, and even if he did, so what? What was she hiding?

The typing indicator dots suddenly dancing at the bottom of the screen made her hold her breath. The reason behind her anxiety about this came to her suddenly. She was more afraid of what Sebastian would say than what Shane would think of her own messages. She realized suddenly that she was hoping her odd tone would give him the hint that he needed to be... maybe a little less like himself. Normal instead of the wild card that he actually was.

Sebastian: Yeah I was still planning on it, I don't want you to have to call out.

"What'd he say?" Shane called out from the other room.

"He said he's still planning on coming." She replied loud enough for him to hear her.

"Tell him not to bother. Joja can go fuck themselves if they have a problem with anyone calling out today. It's fucking dangerous out there." Shane ranted.

Romy chewed her bottom lip nervously. Shane absolutely had a point but she found herself really hesitating to agree with him. She wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling, but it felt a bit like FOMO. Was she looking forward to hanging out with Sebastian enough that she was actually disappointed at the prospect of staying home tonight?

Guilt was gnawing at her chest like a swarm of angry horse flies. Shane was done working for the rest of the day. They could potentially have some nice family bonding time if she called out of work. Shouldn't that be more appealing than going to work? Why was she so apprehensive to tell Sebastian not to worry about picking her up?

The seconds ticking by felt like minutes as her thumbs hovered over the keyboard, trying to formulate a response.

Romy: Are you sure? The path is like a death slide of ice, according to Shane.

She was definitely stalling. Did she really want to go to work that badly? God, what was wrong with her... 

Sebastian: I mean he's definitely right, but the road down into town is pretty safe. I figured I'd just take the long way. It's really no big deal. 

"Did you tell him not to come?" Shane asked after a few minutes of silence had passed.

Remi swallowed her anxiety down and walked into the living room to actually talk to him.

"Uhm, I told him you said the path is dangerous, he agreed but he said he was planning on taking the road through town anyway so it's fine..." She trailed off, waiting for the impending argument.

Shane looked thoughtful for a moment as the silence was eating her alive. "Yeah I mean if he's willing to pick you up then I guess it's up to you. I'd feel bad, personally."

Romy groaned. "Do you want me to stay home?"

"It's your choice." Shane reiterated.

"I know but you're making me feel bad!" She exclaimed, getting frustrated.

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I just wouldn't make anyone come pick me up when the roads are dangerous like this, but if he insists it's fine then I guess that's on him if something happens." Shane replied smugly.

"Ugh. Babe you're really stressing me out right now. I don't know what to do."

"Just go if he's willing to drive you. I guess I'm just surprised that Sebastian would be so charitable. Never really took him as the type."

Romy was torn between wanting to defend him and feeling like that wouldn't be the smartest choice. She chose to just ignore that comment entirely.

"I'll just tell him that it's okay if he changes his mind last minute on the way over. I'd feel bad too if something happened." 

Shane seemed content with her response so she wandered back to the kitchen to text Sebastian.

Romy: Okay sounds good, I promise I won't be mad if you want to back out last minute though. I'd feel awful if you crashed or got stuck or something.

Sebastian: Okay great. See you later!

Romy breathed a sigh of relief before returning to the living room to sit down next to Shane on the couch. "Okay I told him."

"Okay." Shane replied simply, his eyes watching the TV instead of looking at her.

Aiden was sitting on the floor next to Dakota, drinking a juice box, completely oblivious to his mothers woes. He was too invested in this episode of Scooby-doo to notice anything going on around him. She was thankful for that at least.

The silence between her and Shane felt more tense than it probably should have. She was all too aware that most of her anxiety was self created by her own racing mind. Shane wasn't a very expressive person though. His facial expressions were unreadable most of the time, especially with his beard covering half of his face. She felt like she should be used to it by now. She should be an expert at reading and deciphering his emotions, but sadly it was quite the opposite. She constantly found herself wondering, analyzing, overthinking... always trying to figure him out and feeling like it was an impossible task.

Are all marriages this confusing? She couldn’t see that possibly being true. Who was the problem though? Her or Shane? 

Most of the time she blamed herself.

~

Sebastian: Leaving my house now. Should be there in like 20-25 mins. You’ll be ready to go right?

The text caught her off guard. She should’ve assumed he’d give them plenty of extra time so they wouldn’t be late for work but it was currently a whole hour before she was expecting him. 

Romy: Yeah! See you soon!

She played off her surprise, scurrying around to finish getting ready.

Shane gave her a questioning look as she hurried to lace up her boots.

”Sebastian’s on his way, he said he’d be here in like 20 mins.” She explained, getting frustrated when her shoe laces weren’t cooperating.

Shane nodded. “Smart. Once again, he continues to surprise me.”

”Isn’t this like extra extra early though or am I crazy?” Romy questioned mostly rhetorically.

”No. You should be taking your time and going slow. He’s a good driver right? I don’t need to worry about him getting my wife killed?” 

Romy laughed at that, shaking her head. “No, he seems pretty confident. We lost traction for a moment last night and he handled it pretty smoothly. I wouldn’t worry.”

”Good.” Shane mumbled in response. “You giving him gas money for this?”

”I offered, he refused.”

“How chivalrous.” Shane replied unenthusiastically.

Romy ignored him, racing to fill up her work water bottle. “Can you feed Dakota dinner for me?”

”Mhm.” Shane hummed in response. 

“Thank you.” She gave him an appreciative smile before going to find Aiden to say goodbye.

The happy little kid was coloring in his room, indifferent to the presence of either of his parents.

”Bye Aiden, Mommy’s going to work now. I love you.”

”Love you Mommy.” Aiden replied, not even bothering to look up from his coloring book.

Romy shook her head, feeling a little jealous that coloring a picture of a shark wasn’t her main concern for the night. 

Shane was still in the kitchen when she returned, looking out the window pensively.

”Keeping an eye out for me?” She asked, trying to fill the silence.

”Yeah, I’ll be impressed if he actually makes it here in 20 minutes.” Shane said with a smirk. “How long ago did he say that?”

Romy checked the time stamp on his text. “18 minutes ago.”

”Hm. Running out of time.” Shane teased.

”I’m starting to get the impression you don’t like him very much.” Romy commented passively, double checking that she had all her things ready to go.

”Of course not. He has a crush on my wife.” Shane said, still smirking.

Romy nearly choked. “What!?”

“He obviously likes you, he’s risking totaling his vehicle just to give you a ride.” Shane chuckled.

”And that’s… amusing to you!?” She demanded, still in shock.

”Yeah.” Shane replied, still laughing to himself. “You’re married. What an idiot.” He laughed harder.

”He doesn’t like me…” Romy argued, feeling herself blushing anyway.

”Okay babe. Whatever you say. Oh look, he’s here.” He pointed to the headlights coming down the driveway.

Romy’s heart was pounding in her chest, feeling a mix of fear and guilt. Fear that Shane wasn’t as oblivious as she had originally thought, and guilt that Sebastian had no idea what he was saying about him. And now she had to go get in his car and act like nothing just happened? 

“He doesn’t.” She repeated again, giving him a dirty look for good measure. “Goodbye. See you later.”

”Have a good night honey. Love you.” Shane ruffled her hair and gave her a half hug as she brushed past him towards the door. 

“I love you too.” She mumbled back. “Don’t forget to feed Dakota.”

She didn’t look back as the door swung shut behind her. She urged her brain to forget the past ten minutes as she headed towards Sebastian’s vehicle.

“Hi! I’m glad you made it here okay. How was the drive?” She asked in what she hoped was a normal non-suspicious tone.

”Hey! Roads were fine. Nothing I couldn’t handle. What’s wrong?” Sebastian asked her, glancing at her long enough to make brief but unsettling eye contact before focusing his eyes on the long driveway leading back to the main road.

”Uhhhh…” She fidgeted with a loose thread on the passenger seat, stalling while she tried desperately to think of a believable half truth. 

“Did Shane say something?” Sebastian pressed, glancing at her nervously. She pretended not to notice him looking her out of the corner of her eye. 

She let out a breath of surrender before blurting out the truth before she could have a second thought. “He thinks you have a crush on me.”

Sebastian laughed. “I don’t. Tell him I don’t.”

Romy felt a sick sense of relief mixed with disappointment and rejection. It was a bizarre feeling. “I already did. He said you must if you’re willing to risk totaling your car for me.”

Sebastian shook his head. “A guy can’t do something nice for a new friend?”

“Not in his head, I guess.” She answered awkwardly, still trying to process how she was feeling about his previous statement.

”So is he mad? Is this the last time I’m allowed to transport his wife? Will you be putting in your two weeks notice tonight?”

”No! No, no…” Romy insisted quickly, feeling the sudden urge to do damage control. “He’s not mad, actually, he was laughing about it when he said it. I mean maybe he was just joking? Anyway, he didn’t say anything about not getting rides anymore. So I won’t be needing to do anything drastic. Don’t worry.” 

“Okay… I hope it doesn’t become a problem though. I’m sorry if I cause any issues between you guys. I’m just trying to help.” Sebastian somberly replied, hyper-focused on the road now. 

Romy felt like the biggest piece of shit ever. “I know. He knows too. We both appreciate it I swear. He’s just kind of an asshole sometimes. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have even said anything.”

”No, I’m glad you did.” 

Romy turned to look at him, trying to get a better gauge of how he was feeling. She was terrified she was scaring him away right now.

”Sebastian, I-“ She never got to finish her sentence because one of the front tires hit a frozen puddle, spinning them around in a circle suddenly. 

Romy shrieked and reached for the handle on the ceiling to steady herself as they spun.

“Fuck!” Sebastian exclaimed, gripping the steering wheel hard with both hands. 

Chapter Text

Everything abruptly stopped spinning just in time for them to come face to face with the snowbank they were now headed straight for.

Sebastian did something to redirect their course. She didn’t see what it was because she had her eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of the crash that never came.

“Hang on!” Sebastian commanded as she felt the vehicle make a sharp turn. A warm arm pressed her back against the seat just as she was starting to fly forward. It knocked the air out of her lungs but was comforting all the same.

Romy held her breath until she felt them driving straight again, this time at a much slower speed. Reluctantly she opened her eyes to confirm that their lives were no longer in danger.

She stared out the windshield in a daze taking in all the details of the town coming into view in front of them, recovering from the shock of their near miss.

They crawled to a stop as Sebastian pulled over by the doctors office. The arm that had saved her from whiplash dropped down, Sebastian’s hand resting on her leg instead.

Snapping out of her daze, she turned to look at him. She was suddenly aware that he was already staring at her intently, his eyes wide and laced with concern. “Romy, are you okay?”

”Y-yeah.” She stuttered, still trying to accept the fact that she was still alive and not actually bleeding out in a snowbank.

“You sure? You’re really pale.” Sebastian pressed, his hand still resting right above her knee. He sounded worried.

”I’m always pale.” She managed to reply on autopilot, her brain still not quite operating in real-time.

Sebastian laughed and finally looked down at the dashboard instead of staring into her soul. She felt the air return to her lungs.

”Yeah, I guess that’s true. Sorry if that scared you. You know, with all the taxes they take from us, you’d think Mayor Lewis could fill in the fucking potholes. There wouldn’t be huge patches of ice if there wasn’t two foot wide craters in the road.”

“I was never really a fan of that guy. He creeped me out when I was a kid.” Romy admitted, feeling the shock finally ease up a bit.

“He probably thinks you’re hot.” Sebastian mumbled under his breath.

”WHAT!? Ew! Why would you say that?” Romy couldn’t help the laughter that escaped her even though the thought of that was appalling.

Sebastian shrugged. “It’s true.” He said it in a serious tone but she caught the grin he was trying to hide by quickly turning his head to peer out the back window at seemingly nothing.

“That’s a disturbing thought. Thanks for that.” She giggled until her breath caught in her throat when he turned back around, locking eyes with her, his expression unreadable. All of a sudden she became aware of the hand still resting on her leg. She wondered if he even remembered it was there. She certainly hadn’t.

Sebastian’s dark eyes bore into her own. She was nervous suddenly, the air felt different in a way she didn’t want to slap a label on for fear of treading into dangerous waters. “…What?” She asked him innocently, keeping a good natured smile on her face even though internally she was panicking.

”Nothing.” Sebastian replied, removing his hand from her leg abruptly to pick up his phone and check the time.

Romy just sat there confused, trying to collect her thoughts. What the fuck was that?

“I’m gunna start driving again, if we die just know that it was Lewis who was to blame. Okay? I don’t want Shane coming for me.”

”How is he going to come for you if you’re dead too?” She questioned, smirking at his fucked up sense of humor.

”Light my casket on fire at my funeral or something, I don’t know what that guy is into.”

”Beer.” She mumbled under her breath, hoping Sebastian didn’t actually hear her. Luckily, the silence that followed made it seem like he hadn’t.

~

They arrived at work in one piece despite hitting a couple more icy patches along the way. Each of which had launched Sebastian into a more heated rant about how “maybe if Lewis spent more tax money on repairing infrastructure and less on golden statues of himself…”

She had to admit that even though he was a little over the top, Sebastian’s rants were entertaining. She loved listening to him talk about anything, even it was just complaints. She chalked it up to him being an entertaining person, rather than anything deeper. The guy just told her he didn’t have a crush on her. She wasn’t about to develop one on him now.

A little voice in the back of her head whispered that it was already too late for that but she silenced that voice by impulsively opening the car door before Sebastian had even unbuckled his seatbelt.

”Uh, Romy?”

”Yes?” She asked, nervously turning to look at him amidst exiting the vehicle.

”We’re still like… 20 minutes early.”

“Oh… right.” She laughed nervously, feeling slightly embarrassed as she closed the door and settled back into the passenger seat. 

“You’re okay, right? You seem like you can’t wait to get out of here.” Sebastian looked at her with genuine concern in his dark eyes.

Her people pleasing tendencies kicked into overdrive, immediately feeling horrible for making him feel bad. “I’m fine! I’m sorry, I’m just not used to being so early. It was just a routine thing. Don’t worry about me! Thank you so much for picking me up in this weather.” She had to force herself to shut up before she continued rambling. 

Why did Sebastian enjoy her company? She could hardly handle being alone with him for 20 minutes before breaking down and almost entirely forgetting how to mimic human behavior. 

“I don’t mind that. You know that. I’m just worried that almost crashing freaked you out more than you’re admitting.” 

Romy sighed, willing her tense muscles to relax. She decided to go with honesty. “It’s not just the near death experience. I just… I have social anxiety. I can’t help it. It’s not you… you’re…” She struggled to say something that wouldn’t sound cheesy.

Sebastian was staring at her expectantly waiting for her to finish the sentence. “I’m…?” He prodded with an amused smirk.

”You just don’t give me as much anxiety as most people do. But if I’m ever acting weird… that’s why. Just don’t take it personally, okay? I wouldn’t even get in your car if you freaked me out that much. I promise.” She felt like she needed to do damage control even though Sebastian really didn’t look offended. She didn’t want to take any chances.

“Okay, buddy. So… can I ask you a question?” Sebastian’s gaze wandered until he was looking out the driver’s side window. 

The sudden change in topic made her heart  race. “Uhm, yeah, sure.”

”You said Shane is into beer. He an alcoholic or something?” 

Romy tried to decipher his tone as her mind raced. How should she answer this? Honestly? That felt like betraying Shane in a way, but why should she have to lie to her own friend anyway…

”Uhm…” She stalled, searching for the right words.

”I’m sorry if that was too personal…” Seb started to apologize.

“No! No it’s okay, I’m just… thinking.” 

Sebastian nodded, busying himself with watching some their fellow coworkers get off the bus from Zuzu. Romy was surprised the busses were even running during this storm. Zuzu must not have gotten hit as bad as they did down in the valley.

Romy sighed deeply, playing up the melodramatics so Sebastian would get the hint that it was a loaded question that wasn’t easy for her to answer. “He’s not an alcoholic in the bad scary way… it’s more in a concerning for his physical and mental health kind of way. If that makes sense? He doesn’t get mean or violent or angry, he’s just kind of… depressed seeming all the time and I don’t think the drinking really helps like he thinks it does.”

Sebastian glanced over at her to show that he heard what she said, but he looked away again, appearing to be deep in thought.

Internally, she felt like she just completely betrayed her husband. Her heart was beginning to race the longer he took to respond.

“I don’t really drink, so I guess I don’t really understand.” Sebastian finally replied simply.

”I don’t either… only when it’s a social thing. I never really understood getting drunk alone.” Romy admitted. 

“Yeeeaahhhh…. Same.” Seb responded, looking out the window again before picking up his phone and going on Tiktok. 

Romy didn’t want him to think she was staring at his phone so she diverted her gaze to her own, aimlessly scrolling through her emails just to appear busy.

Sebastian apparently wasn’t satisfied with that though because within seconds he said “look” before promptly holding his phone out in from of him so they could both see the video playing on the screen.

It was a 20 second clip of a black bear crossing a roadway before getting hit by an oncoming SUV. The driver and passenger shriek as the bear is flung diagonally across the road, spinning around in circles as it disappears off screen. It was unclear how injured the bear actually was. 

Sebastian cackled and turned the volume up on his phone, letting the video play again. Romy gave glanced at his face to try to get a better gauge on his sanity. What kind of sick bastard? After the third loop, Sebastians laugh was so contagious she couldn’t help seeing the humor in it. The shrieks were comically girly and the way the bear was spinning looked borderline like AI instead of real. The fourth loop had her involuntarily laughing along with him.

Sebastian’s head turned to look at her so fast it almost startled her. He was absolutely beaming. “You think this is funny too!?”

”I mean-“… she trailed off, not wanting to lie but not wanting him to stop looking at her the way he was right now. “I was surprised at first but it actually is pretty funny.”

Sebastian continued smiling at her, apparently pleased with her response. “Yeah I know my sense of humor is kind of dark. It’s cool that I can show you things like this though. Usually girls get mad at me for it.”

Romy just smiled and shook her head as if she were teasingly judging him. In a way she kind of was, but who was she to tell someone what they should and shouldn’t laugh at? The world was bleak anyway, maybe everyone should lighten up a little.

Sebastian showed her a few more funny tiktoks he had saved before it was time to head inside. Her social anxiety had almost entirely melted after 15 minutes of laughing with him so having to go inside and be suddenly surrounded by fellow Joja employees was kind of jarring.

She noticed herself walking closer to Sebastian than she normally did, subconsciously seeking comfort like he was her security blanket. After the third time their shoulders bumped together, she snapped out of it and put more space in between them as they walked down the stairs heading into the main work space. To her surprise, he actually seemed to pick up on the sudden change, glancing over at her with a mild look of concern. She gave him a small smile to show she was okay which was thankfully enough for him to not question her.

There was a different manager in their section, giving Romy instant anxiety. She hated change. Would this guy make her work harder? Critique her work? She could never be sure what the vibe was when their usual manager wasn’t there.

They clocked in, joining the small group that had gathered around the main computer where the new manager stood waiting for them.

“Hey guys, my name is Kevin. There isn’t a lot of work tonight, we didn’t get as many trucks in with this snow storm so we’re gunna be pretty light on the heavy stuff. I only need one of you on the belt. Any takers?”

Romy glanced up at Sebastian questioningly, kind of shocked he wasn’t speaking up. He was always on the belt. Her attention snapped back to the group when she heard Kevin acknowledge someones offer.

“What’s your name?”

”Martin.”

“Alright. Thank you Martin. Grab a scanner.”

Romy was shocked to finally notice her friend standing right there in plain sight. When had he walked in? She hadn’t even noticed him. Catching his eyes as he headed to the basket of scanners she gave him a greeting smile. He smiled back and looked away but not before glancing between her and Sebastian and raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Kevin continued taking names, scribbling them down on the clipboard he was holding, and assigning people to trucks. Sebastian and Romy were the last ones standing as everyone else dispersed.

“Names?” Kevin asked, glancing between them.

”Sebastian.” He replied flatly, unimpressed by management in general.

“Romy.” She answered for herself, in a much more friendly tone than her companion.

Kevin scribbled their names down on his list before looking back up at them. “I noticed you guys walk in together, do you want to work together on the high side? There’s not much going on so I just need you guys to float around wherever the work is. Sound good?”

“Yeah!” Romy spoke up, maybe a little too quickly, unaware that Sebastian had already been nodding his agreement next to her. She felt her cheeks flush at her obvious eagerness.

“Great. Thanks guys. Let me know if you need anything.” Kevin gave them a polite smile and turned back to his computer, leaving them to it.

Still feeling a bit embarrassed, Romy let Sebastian lead the way, leaving the choice of which truck to begin in up to him. He led her towards the furthest truck, stopping suddenly at 28 instead of making it all the way down to 30.

They put their bags down and Romy busied herself with her usual beginning of the shift routine. Jacket off. Dig through bag in search of a hair tie that should really have a designated home in one of the pockets by now. She was in the process of putting her hair up in a pony tail when she noticed Sebastian watching her with a bemused smile on his face. "What?" She asked him self-consciously, fumbling with the hair tie now that she was too aware of her movements under his gaze.

"Your head is so small. Like you have a TINY head." He explained factually, pretending to appraise her like a cow in the county fair.

"I do not!" Romy glared at him until she couldn't help smirking at his obnoxious show of looking at her head from every angle. She caught herself giggling, feeling her heart skip a beat when their eyes met as Sebastian smiled in reaction to her laughter.

Thankfully he cut the moment short by heading into the truck to get to work.

She shook her "tiny" head, scrambling to fix her ponytail and get her work gloves on.

"Hurry up!" Sebastian scolded her from inside the truck as she slid on her second glove.

"Omg I'm coming! Calm down." She retorted, climbing up into the truck.

Sebastian gently shoved a box into her unready hands to prove his point.

"Hey!" She managed to grab onto it before it fell onto their feet.

"Get to work, Romy." He said with a straight face, turning to pick up another box and drop it into the belly of the truck. 

She stared at him with a forced unamused expression, breaking into a smile as soon as her back was towards him as she put a box down next to the other one.

They settled into a comfortable silence, finishing all the work in the truck quickly. Sebastian hopped out, motioning for her to come along. She followed him obediently, allowing him to lead her into 24, a long rail that was mostly empty. She quietly got to work, leaving conversation up to Sebastian while she internally struggled to come up with something to say. They had been alone in his vehicle, but for some reason being alone in the back of this big tractor trailer felt a million times more secluded. Most of their fellow coworkers were on the low end, including Martin on the belt. The only eyes on them were the security guards that were probably not even paying any mind to the camera surveillance footage. Romy became hyper aware of every movement she was making.

Finally Sebastian saved her by breaking the silence. "Okay, I'm sorry, I have to pry."

Romy held her breath, wishing he had said something less anxiety inducing. The relief she felt from him filling the silence quickly vanished.

"What is it?" She asked anxiously when he didn't immediately continue.

"I can't stop thinking about what you said yesterday. You said you haven't been happy with Shane for a while?" He sounded equally nervous as he did curious.

"It's... complicated." She began hesitantly.

"I have time." Sebastian replied instantly, motioning to the lack of work to do around them.

Romy chewed on her bottom lip anxiously. "Yeahhhh...."

He waited quietly while she tried to process her thoughts, wondering how honest she was allowed to be. 

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before turning away from Sebastian. She couldn't look him in the eyes while she spilled her guts. "OKAY, basically we used to get along great, we were literally best friends. I was so sure he was my soulmate. We moved here to take over the farm and then we had Aiden and then we kind of just drifted apart... He's always busy doing things around the farm, I'm always busy with Aiden, even when we HAVE time to spend together it doesn't feel the way it used to. We don't get along so easily anymore. It feels like most of our interactions are forced or hollow. Like it's not real. Sometimes it just feels like we're roommates who happen to be co-parenting a child. He's barely affectionate, I can't even talk to him about all this without him shutting me down and acting like it's all in my head..." She trailed off, nervously glancing over at Sebastian to get a glimpse of his reaction. She wasn't sure where she was going with this rant anymore. The sadness was settling in, making her lose steam.

Sebastian appraised her quietly for a moment. "You've tried to talk to him about how you feel?"

"Soooo many times." She replied.

"And what does he say?" His tone was still steady, not giving any of his thoughts away.

"Absolutely nothing of value. Reassurance is a foreign concept to him." She muttered more to herself than to him, turning around to stack a crate of bananas.

"Romy." He said her name seriously, causing her to turn back around to look at him. "You deserve so much better."

She could feel her cheeks heating up and really hoped he wouldn't notice. "Thank you... I appreciate that."

"It doesn't make me feel good that my suspicions were right, by the way. I know I said I would feel validated but I don't. That really sucks."

Romy wasn't really sure what to say that. It wasn't like him to be this sincere. Was he fucking with her? "Uhm thanks, I guess." She laughed awkwardly.

"I mean it. He should treat you better." Sebastian insisted seriously.

"I don't mean to make him sound horrible, he doesn't treat me badly he just... feels like a stranger sometimes. I can tell he's depressed in general or maybe just unhappy with me, I don't know because he doesn't open up to me anymore. I've tried to be there for him and figure out what's going on inside his head but he's so fucking avoidant... He would rather just drink beer constantly than tell me what he's feeling. It's so frustrating because we used to be so close and now it's like I can barely remember what that felt like." She felt tears welling up in her eyes despite swearing to herself that she wasn't going to get emotional. "Ugh, can we talk about something else now? I don't wanna cry at work." She sniffled before covering it up with a self deprecating laugh.

"Yeahhh.. please don't start crying. I never know what to do when people are crying." He admitted.

Romy actually laughed at that. "Me either. Don't worry, I would never make that your problem."

"Great, thank you."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Romy smiled at him before a tense silence fell over them.

Sebastian cleared his throat awkwardly. "Question."

"Yeah?" She asked, already feeling her heart rate speeding up uncomfortably. 

"You said he's barely affectionate... does he even like...hug you?" 

Chapter Text

Sebastian stared at her, waiting eagerly for her to respond. For some reason she wanted to lie, maybe just to make herself feel less pathetic and unwanted, but something about him made her feel like she had to be honest. No matter what he asked her. He was like truth serum personified. A truly terrifying thought.

"I mean, yeah. He does. It's just never really enough for me I guess." She admitted with a sigh. "It's usually me initiating it, and he's pretty much always the first to let go. It's like hugging a cat. He'll tolerate it momentarily but then he just wants to get away. That's how it feels at least."

God, she felt pathetic. “Maybe I’m just overreacting.” She added unconvincingly.

"That's not... good." Sebastian began slowly, giving her the impression he was trying not to upset her. "You shouldn't feel tolerated. You should feel wanted and loved."

"I know... it sucks because I'm really affectionate and he's not anymore. He was in the beginning but that was so freaking long ago. I've asked him about it but he just gaslights me into thinking it's in my head and nothing has changed."

"Yeah, I'm pretty affectionate too. I can't imagine being with someone like that. I think I would be pretty unhappy."

"Yeah... so you see the problem."

"I'm sorry, Romy. You really deserve better. I hope he changes some day."

"Me too."

Silence fell over them as they continued working, neither of them sure of what to say after that. Romy hated how depressing she could be. Here they were having a nice chill night at work and she had to go and be a debby downer.

~

The rest of their shift flew by. It was almost time to go before they knew it. Kevin hadn’t been exaggerating when he said they didn’t have much work to do. There were only a few boxes coming down every few minutes in the trucks Romy and Sebastian were responsible for and there was nearly nothing at all for Martin to do on the belt. 

Sebastian was pretty good at changing the subject to keep the conversation going but Romy couldn’t really shake the dismal mood she had fallen into until Martin came over to chat with them.

“What’s up guys?” He approached them with a goofy grin, fist bumping them both as if he had just remembered they were here all along.

Romy raised an eyebrow at him once Sebastian had his back turned, certain that he was very aware they were there and had also schemed to get them alone together by volunteering to work the belt. 

Martin gave her a fake confused look. She flipped him off. He laughed.

Sebastian turned back around and gave Martin a once over. “I don’t know how you handle all those heavy things. You’re built like a string bean.”

Martin gasped as if he was deeply offended. “Sebastian! I’m jacked, I don’t know what you mean.”

Sebastian appraised him again. “Sure buddy.” 

“You’re so mean.” Romy weakly defended her friend. 

They both ignored her, locked in on each other in some kind of bromance stare down. She shook her head and went to stack the two whole boxes that had just come down the chute. Boys. Such strange creatures.

”Martin, you should add us on discord.” Sebastian suggested.

”Romy, you have discord?” Martin asked her excitedly, disregarding the fact that she wasn’t even the one talking to him.

”Huh? What’s that?” She asked curiously. The thought of adding anyone on anything always gave her a jolt of social anxiety.

”It’s like a chatroom for gaming.” He explained quickly. 

“Oh… uhm, yeah I don’t have that.”

Sebastian looked at her quizzically. “Do you even game?”

”Does The Sims count?” She asked sheepishly.

“Yes.” Martin replied, beaming.

“No.” Sebastian responded simultaneously.

She gave him a dirty look. “Then no I guess I don’t game.”

”Well you’re gunna make a discord account and talk to us anyway. You can watch us stream.”

Romy started to make a face at the demand but then caught herself smiling instead. That actually… sounded kind of fun. “Okay.”

Sebastian smiled at her in a way that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. It was nice to feel like someone wanted to hang out with her even when they didn’t have to.

A sudden overheard announcement on the loudspeakers interrupted their conversation.

“We are now done for the night. All non-essential staff please clock out.”

”That’s us!” Martin cheered.

Sebastian scoffed. “Maybe you guys, I’m essential.”

”Oh yeah, you worked really hard tonight.” Martin agreed, nodding emphatically.

“I did! Tell him Romy.” Sebastian looked her pleadingly.

“Uh, yeah. Very hard.” She agreed halfheartedly.

”I will be later.” Sebastian mumbled quietly enough that only she could hear him.

”Right. Sorry, Sir.” Martin apologized sarcastically, oblivious to the startled look Romy was giving Sebastian. He was already heading towards his coat and backpack, leaving the two of them behind.

Sebastian glanced over at her awkwardly. “What?”

”Nothing.” She muttered quickly, already wishing she had just pretended not to hear that comment. Her cheeks felt hot. She did not want to think about Sebastian’s dick. 

By the time they got outside, the awkwardness had already subsided and the boys were busy chatting away about what games they were going to stream on discord. 

They said their goodbyes to Martin, and climbed up into Sebastians jeep. She had barely buckled her seatbelt before Sebastian was already looking at her super seriously. “What!?” She demanded, feeling a little startled already.

”Do you even have a headset?” 

“Oh.” She felt pretty dumb for not considering it already. “No I guess I don’t.”

Sebastian shook his head as if she were absolute fool. “I have an extra one you can use. We’ll just stop at my house real quick.”

Romy was touched. “Thank you!”

”Ew. Don’t make it awkward.” Sebastian grumbled.

”Sorry.” She apologized sheepishly. 

Seb pushed a couple buttons on the radio and tapped away on his phone instead of adding anything to the conversation. Just when she was about to force herself to say something, music started blasting at an alarming volume. He turned it up louder to her absolute shock. 

“I love this song!” He shouted to her, bobbing his head around as the bass absolutely rattled the entire vehicle.

Romy looked around anxiously, fully expecting parking lot security to come scold them, maybe even take Sebastian away in handcuffs. 

“You don’t like it?” He asked loudly over the music.

”I do! It’s just… won’t we get in trouble for making so much noise?” She said as loudly as she could, being naturally quiet to a fault.

Sebastian shook his head like she was overreacting but he turned it down a bit anyway. She instantly felt like a buzzkill. “This song is really good though. I like it.”

He studied her carefully. “Okay.” He started pulling out of the parking spot while she tried to decipher the meaning of that response. Why did feel like every interaction was a test that she consistently failed? 

They didn’t talk on the way up the mountain towards his house, but the music was loud enough that the silence between them wasn’t awkward. As they pulled up to the garage, Seb cut the music and Romy caught a glimpse of Maru disappearing into the house. 

Sebastian apparently noticed her as well, because he grumbled “Oh shit…” to himself.  “Didn’t think anyone would be awake,” He explained when she gave him a concerned look. “Don’t let anyone see you, I’ll be right back.” He gave her a super serious warning look before hopping out of the vehicle and disappearing into the house.

Weird.

A light flickered on in the kitchen window and she ducked reflexively, feeling like a delinquent teenager even though she had no idea why Sebastian was being so paranoid about his family seeing her.

He returned a few moments later and pulled a headset out from underneath his jacket. “Here.”

”Thank you!” She replied, accepting it gratefully and setting it down on her lap.

”Yeah whatever.” Sebastian mumbled, backing up to get back on the road. He was quiet until they were totally out of sight of his house.

”Is everything okay?” Romy asked quietly, feeling really nervous about the vibe shift since they left the work parking lot. 

“Yeah. Why?” Sebastian asked in a tone that was entirely unconvincing but gave the impression that pressing further wasn’t the best choice.

Romy chewed the inside of her cheek, internally struggling with the decision to ask why he was being so weird or to just drop it and continue to wonder. 

Sebastian sighed before she could decide. “I just like to keep my business private. I don’t really… get along with my family, I guess. I love my mom though. And Maru, but we just… I don’t know. I don’t really talk to her. I keep to myself for the most part.”

”I get that, you don’t have to explain.” Romy replied quickly, not wanting him to feel like she was prying into his personal life.

”I wanted to. Hey, uhm, since it’s still kind of early do you want to just hang out for a little while? We could smoke, I have some weed in the glovebox.”

The question totally threw her off and her mind started spinning a mile a minute. “Uhm… wouldn’t that be dangerous for you to be driving in this snow high?” God she sounded like such a square but she was sincerely concerned for his (and her own) safety.

Sebastian laughed awkwardly like he was embarrassed for even suggesting it. “Ah, yeah. You have a good point, buddy.” He was silent for a brief moment before turning to her sheepishly. “Do you want to just hang out anyway?”

”Okay.” Romy agreed quietly, hoping her eyes weren’t actually as wide and nervous looking as the felt.  

“Only if you want to, of course, I don’t want to make you feel like you have to not to hurt my feelings…” Sebastian rambled nervously.

”No I want to! I promise.” She insisted.

“Okay… cool, sorry.” Sebastian smiled at her in relief as he chose a safe spot to park. 

Once they were officially no longer moving, he turned to her seriously. “Romy?”

”Yes?” Her heart was beating out of her chest as she began to panic internally.

“I can’t stop thinking about how he doesn’t hug you. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”

He looked so serious it was really tripping her out. “Yeah… it sucks. I’m just affection deprived all the time.” She admitted wistfully.

”I don’t really have anyone to hug right now either, so I get it I guess. I’m affection deprived too…” He trailed off, staring down at nothing, and the vibes changed immediately. Romy almost wanted to laugh.

Then she actually did, unable to hold it back. 

Sebastian looked up at her alarmed. “What!?”

“I know what you’re doing.” She said, still giggling.

“What am I doing?” He asked indignantly even though his face now resembled someone who knew they were caught.

”You’re trying to hug me but you want it to be my idea.” She regretted saying it immediately but the look on his face made it worth it. Caught red handed.

”I- No-… uhm… would that be bad?” Sebastian stuttered awkwardly, clearly thrown off whatever game he started the conversation off with.

Romy tried to stop and think about her response before opening her mouth but it seemed her voice box didn’t really get the memo because she heard herself saying “No…” before she could put any thought into it. She blushed instantly, she could feel her cheeks getting hot and tingly.

”So… is that okay…? Can I?” Sebastian looked her hopefully.

“Yeah.” Romy laughed nervously. “Sure. Why not?”

Chapter Text

Sebastian looked at her in surprise as if he’d honestly expected her to say no. “We don’t have to…” He mumbled nervously.

Romy laughed at his shyness, actually feeling emboldened by his hesitation. “It’s okay, really.”

The whole ‘other person having worse anxiety canceling out your own’ magic was probably really dangerous in this situation but it was too late to change her mind. The words had already left her mouth and she wasn’t about to make it awkward now.

Sebastian looked like a deer in headlights as she turned towards him with her arms open. He started to move towards her slowly, clearly still nervous about it even though it had literally been his idea. A second longer and Romy probably would’ve chickened out herself, but finally their arms awkwardly encircled each others shoulders.

“I can’t believe we’re hugging.” Sebastian announced in a tone that mirrored child-like wonder.

His reaction made her laugh which helped keep the anxiety from creeping up on her. They both let go at the same time, looking at each other shyly for a moment before mutually avoiding eye contact.

“That was nice.” Sebastian commented, looking like he was really afraid she would disagree.

She didn’t want to seem too into it or anything so she only offered a “yeah” with an agreeable smile in response. The silence following her response made her feel like he didn’t really buy it. Oops.

Sebastian looked jittery and unsure of what to do with himself and she was internally panicking about ruining the moment with her awkward response. He finally resorted to putting music on to fill the silence, saving them both from having to endure another painfully awkward second.

An edm song started playing and he turned it up like he had in the parking lot at work, but not quite as loud since they were up in the mountain now and the sound would carry much farther without all the Joja racket to drown it out.

”I love this song!” He yelled to her over the music, swaying in his seat to the beat. 

He looked so peaceful and silly moving his head around and waving his hands in the air with a goofy smile on his face. Romy was enamored by it, even though he looked kind of ridiculous. 

Sebastian glanced over at her and caught her giggling as she watched his performance. “Are you laughing at me?” He demanded playfully.

”No! I mean yes, but not in a judgy way.” She explained quickly.

”Do you like this song?” 

Truthfully she’d been more focused on him than the song but she figured she would’ve noticed if she hadn’t liked it. “Yeah!”

That must have encouraged him because he showed her a few more songs by the same artist before turning the music way down so they could actually talk.

”So, we should probably get you home soon, huh?” He started off, glancing first at her and then off at something in the distance.

Romy glanced at the time, shocked to see it was much later than she had thought it was. “Oh shit! Yeah, I didn’t realize how late it got.”

Time flies when you’re having forbidden fun, Romy.

The guilt started creeping in, or maybe it was just anticipation of Shane asking her why she was getting home so late and having to explain that she just wanted to hang out with Sebastian. It occurred to her suddenly that he’d probably be pretty worried if he woke up and saw how late it was. Anxiety rose up in her chest like a swarm of mosquitoes.

”Yeah, that felt like 20 minutes to me, I can’t believe it’s been over an hour.” Sebastian admitted. “Uhm, before we go though, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t make things weird by wanting to hang out like this, or uhm, the hugging.”

”Not at all! I’ve been having a blast honestly…” She tried to sound sincere, but the anxiety she was feeling was apparent in her tone anyway.

“Really?” He sounded skeptical.

Not wanting him to feel bad about what happened was enough to override her internal feeling of doom enough to sound more convincing. “Dude… you know I don’t get out much. This is actually really fun for me. As sad as that may be. I’m sure I sound super lame.”

”No! I mean kind of but I’ve been having a good time too.” He teased. “Seriously though, you can tell me if the hug was weird. I feel like it was awkward.”

Romy started to second guess herself, was she the one who made it weird? 

“It wasn’t weird to me… I mean of course it was a little awkward, it was our first hug.” She reassured him, feeling extremely insecure all of a sudden.

”You’re right, so does that mean you’d be willing to do it again sometime?”

Romy laughed in relief. “Yeah, sure.”

”Okay! Great! When?” The smile he was directing at her was intoxicating, tempting her to make stupid decisions.

She didn’t feel anything with the first hug but that was due to the awkward and juvenile way they went about it. She should leave it at that and not invite him to do anything to trigger her already developing crush on him. Getting too familiar with touching each other was a stupid idea even if this was a completely innocent gesture between two touch deprived friends. A bad idea, indubitably.

“Now?” Stupid, stupid fool.

Sebastian beamed, reaching across the center console to pull her in. Romy reached out too, trying to reconfigure her arms in a more comfortable way than last time. 

It was just as awkward as the first time but it felt like they were both a little calmer about it at least. They took turns giggling at the awkwardness as they both readjusted. This time neither one of them seemed to want to let go. 

Her heart was beating a mile a minute but she masked it by staying still, letting Sebastian take the lead with his constant movements. “Sorry, I move around a lot.” He apologized nervously. 

“It’s okay!” She assured him, readjusting slightly when the cup holder stabbed her in the hip bone.

Sebastian readjusted again, moving his head from one of her shoulders to the other. His hair brushed her cheek and she couldn’t help but notice how soft it felt. She shivered involuntarily.

”What’s wrong?” He asked immediately, freezing but not letting go.

”Nothing! Your hair just tickled me, that’s all.” She laughed, hoping she wasn’t making it weird again. He was jumpier than she had expected him to be. She thought she was the anxious one but he was like a fish out of water the way he couldn’t stay still now. It was kind of refreshing being the calm one in comparison. 

“Okay…” He replied, sounding relieved. He resumed his fidgeting, moving one of his hands to her side, landing on the outside of her upper thigh. “Omg, I’m so sorry.” He apologized, moving his hand immediately.

”For what?” She asked, genuinely confused.

”Accidentally touching your butt.” He explained quickly, sounding embarrassed.

”That was not my butt. Don’t worry.” She laughed into his shoulder, resting her head against it in a way that hopefully felt platonic. She was honestly just getting uncomfortable from being in this twisted position for so long, but she wasn’t ready to let go just yet.

”Oh thank god, okay.” He mumbled, putting his hand back where it was except ever so slightly closer to her butt this time. She didn’t say anything, assuming it was an accident and not wanting to draw attention to it. She was wearing really thick leggings anyway, it wasn’t like she could actually feel anything. She might as well have been wearing jeans. 

Romy forgot his hand was even in a sketchy spot by the time he readjusted again. He’d been still for so long she was kind of zoning out just enjoying the warm embrace of another human.

”Sorry! Sorry…”

It took her a moment to realize his hand was actually on her ass now. Just the edge of it, but still, definitely not platonic. Her reaction time was so slow that he had already moved his hand to her shoulder before she could even reply. “Oh, it’s okay. I didn’t even notice, honestly. These pants are so thick.” She laughed awkwardly, hoping that would at least reassure him that she wasn’t feeling sexually assaulted. She could feel the guilt radiating off of him even though she couldn’t currently see his face.

”Oh yeah, I meant to tell you I like these pants. They look like… tactical.” 

Romy laughed, secretly pleased that he had even noticed. “Thank you! Yeah these are my favorite leggings.” Shane had never noticed them. She always felt like a badass when she wore them. Like some sort of ninja.

”They look good on you.”

”Thank you.”

She was really glad he couldn’t see her blushing right then.

”You have to get home.” He reminded her as if he wasn’t the one in the drivers seat.

“Yeah.” She agreed, still anxious about the time but quite a bit less in a hurry to get there than she was before.

Another moment of silence passed between them before they both slowly let go. The air between them didn’t feel that awkward but it was hard to pin point exactly what she was feeling.

She was a little too comfortable with this stranger but he didn’t really feel unfamiliar at all. She felt like she could trust him even though this whole scenario felt like playing with fire. At least she wasn’t feeling head over heels for this guy. It still felt platonic. Innocent. She could live with this. She didn’t need to feel guilty. 

~

The sink full of dishes and puddle of dog pee on the kitchen floor greeted her as she walked into the house.

The sound of tires driving over crunchy snow and gravel growing quieter as Sebastian drove away back towards his house was a painful reminder of how much happier she had felt just minutes before.

Sighing in frustration she put her work bag down and headed straight for the paper towels.

Dakota waddled into the kitchen sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with her like she felt incredibly guilty for her actions.

“It’s okay baby, it’s not your fault.” She cooed at her precious dog, waving her over for head scratches and a hug. “Do you need to go out again?”

Dakota’s ears perked up and she hurried over to the door. Romy let her out and then finished cleaning up the mess, feeling every ounce of residual guilt for what just happened with Sebastian leave her body.

Shane couldn’t even be bothered to let the dog out while she was at work. Or do the dishes. Or shoot her a text asking why she wasn’t home yet. Why should she feel guilty for spending a little extra time after work hanging out with and hugging a friend? It’s not like she was being appreciated very much at home. 

When she was done sopping up the puddle, she tossed the soggy paper towels in the trash and let Dakota back inside. She dried her paws off with a towel that was hanging from a hook by the door, thinking about how this was probably the reason Shane didn’t let her out himself. Too lazy to dry the wet snow off of her paws. Better to just make her hold it all night until she got home, clearly.

Her frustration clouded her judgement as she began her bedtime routine, fully prepared to scold Shane by the time she entered their bedroom.

There was a beer can on his nightstand that hadn’t been there in the morning. She scoffed to herself. Of course.

His snores faltered as she discarded her clothes into the hamper and picked a pair of pajamas out of her dresser. She took the opportunity to antagonize him, making sure their bedroom door was closed first as to not wake up Aiden.

”Hey!”

Shane made a mildly irritated noise that she accepted as proof that he was at least somewhat awake.

”Thanks a lot for letting Dakota out. She peed on the kitchen floor. Really appreciated having to clean that up after work.” 

Shane muttered something into his pillow that sounded rude but she couldn’t actually make out the words. Ignoring him she just went into the bathroom hoping she got her point across without pushing for a full blown argument. It was almost never worth it. 

By the time she was done washing her face and brushing her teeth, she felt the anger subside enough to start overthinking about what just happened with Sebastian.

That jittery, insecure side of him was one she had not seen before now and it was confusing to say the least. He had always seemed so much more confident than her. Was he into her? He couldn’t be… 

Her bottle of melatonin was singing her name as she crawled into bed next to her husband who she was still very irritated at. She swallowed two pills and settled into bed as far away from him as possible facing the opposite direction. Dakota jumped up onto the bed, settling down in-between them which usually made her feel disappointed that she was disconnected from Shane, but not tonight. Tonight she didn’t give a fuck.

She gave Dakota an encouraging head rub before getting comfy cozy on her side, settling into a fetal position.

Her thoughts returned to Sebastian as her head sunk into her pillow. How soft his hair had felt against her face, how oddly comfortable the whole thing had been despite being extremely awkward at the same time…

Underneath all that though, she felt understood. Seen. It had been so long since she had someone to just vibe with like that. Of course Abby was an awesome friend but she hadn’t had a bond with a guy like this since… Well, Shane. In the beginning. Before he got ice cold and seemingly shut her out for good. They used to be friends too. It certainly didn’t feel like it anymore though.

She drifted off to sleep feeling bitter but vindicated.

Chapter Text

"Hey!"

Romy's eyes shot open to see her husband staring down at her with his hands on her shoulders, shaking her awake.

"What!?" She asked groggily. "Is the house on fire?"

"Get up." Shane commanded. His eyes showed no emotion, as usual. Just dark and serious.

Her heart started beating a little faster as the previous night started coming back to her. "Okay, okay..." She sat up rubbing her eyes nervously, glancing towards her nightstand to see if her phone had been moved from the spot she left it. It appeared untouched. She instantly felt a little calmer. "What's going on?" She asked again looking back at Shane.

"The ice is starting to melt, I have shit to do outside." Shane explained curtly, already walking out of the room.

"Good morning to you too, Honey..." She muttered passive aggressively as he disappeared down the hallway.

Dakota wagged her tail and booped her arm with her wet nose, clearly displeased that neither of her owners had acknowledged her yet.

"Sorry girl." She apologized, scratching behind her ears before reluctantly swinging her legs over the side of the bed, slipping her feet into the soft purple clouds on the floor. Small luxuries. Most of her stuff was old, from before the move since all the money they made since had gone towards the farm, Jas, or Aiden. These slippers were a Christmas gift from Marnie the year before, and she cherished them every single morning.

Aiden was waiting for her in the living room when she emerged. Shane was already disappearing into the garage as soon as he heard her footsteps coming down the hall, energy drink and nicotine vape in hand. She wasn't the only one with bad habits, but it was hard to tell who had more some days. She wanted to roll her eyes at his "breakfast" but she wasn't any better with her morning cocktail of pharmaceuticals. Shane wasn't on anything.

Maybe he should be. She thought bitterly as she started brewing her coffee. 

Aiden wandered into the kitchen and gave her a hug. "HI MOMMY!"

"Good morning, Pumpkin." She ruffled his hair that was getting longer by the day. He was adorable with his big blue-green eyes and light brown hair. He looked more like her than Shane. A lot more. It was funny how genetics worked like that. The only thing he seemingly inherited from Shane was his skin tone being a smidge tanner than hers, even in the dead of winter. It really wasn't fair how pale she was. 

Satisfied with their brief interaction, Aiden wandered back into the living room giggling after having his face licked enthusiastically by Dakota.

Romy sighed wistfully, lamenting the perfect little life she could have had if her relationship with Shane wasn't chronically so damn disappointing. She had it all, didn't she? So why didn't it feel like it...?

Dakota whining at the door pulled her out of her thoughts, reminding her that she hadn't let her out yet. She opened the door for her, taking in the droplets of melting ice forming on every tree branch as she waited, transfixed as they delicately descended to the shrinking layer of soon-to-be slush on the ground. She could probably walk to work tonight, though her boots would probably be absolutely soaked through by the time she got there...

Her loyal canine was back at the door within a couple minutes. It always surprised her that she would rather be cooped up inside with her and a toddler rather than following Shane around the farm.

Sometimes she got the impression that Dakota just tolerated him but secretly hated his vibes. She figured it had more to do with inheriting her when her grandfather got too sick to care for her anymore than anything Shane actually did to offend her though.  Surely she had followed her grandfather around the farm when he was still alive, but maybe now she was more focused on keeping Romy and Aiden safe than being a dog and having fun outside. The thought made Romy sad, but she was thankful for the companionship. Before they inherited Dakota, Shane wouldn't let her get a dog. He argued that constantly having to take them for walks in the city was too big of a burden. She kind of agreed but she always had a dog growing up, so the sudden total lack of one was hard for her to get used to. Especially as someone with so much anxiety, having a protective presence constantly around them helped her to breathe a little easier. Shane slept the dead, probably due to all the beer before bed, so night time was scary especially with the baby. She was certain she would have needed even more medications to get any rest at all if they didn't have Dakota.

A few minutes later she was curled up on the couch under a cozy blanket, watching Aiden build a house with bristle blocks while Dakota sniffed it suspiciously, probably making sure it was up to code. Aiden giggled and pushed her head away with his little hands which she just licked in response, making him laugh even harder.

She took the opportunity to quietly turn off the TV while Dakota had Aiden distracted. The atmosphere instantly got less overstimulating as the sound of the Dragon Ball Z intro music stopped abruptly. She hated how Shane would always turn the TV on first thing in the morning. It wasn't good for Aiden or her, but trying to explain that to him was futile. He was one of those people who needed the TV on to fall asleep, and on in the background any time he was inside the house. He needed the constant noise, and she needed the opposite. It was a bad match, one that was much less annoying before they had a child that reshaped their daily routines. 

Now that it was quiet enough to clearly hear whatever Aiden got up to, she was free to fluff up a throw pillow and lay her head down, shifting her body horizontally on the couch. She let out a sigh as she settled in, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander aimlessly for a moment, deciding not to worry about work just yet. It was still early and she knew she had that PTO day if she needed it. A fact that she hadn't yet mentioned to Shane, knowing he definitely would have made her use it on the storm. If she ended up needing it today, she would just tell him that she got the message about it when she clocked in last night. He didn't need to know about it before she decided to use it. She hated having her free will taken from her, and she would bet her life on him trying to dictate when she used that paid day off if he knew it was available.

Her thoughts drifted back to the night before against her will. She had been consciously rejecting her mind from going there so far this morning, but now it was all coming back to her at once.

Sebastian had shown her a completely different side of him than the one she had been getting used to. The way he acted last night seemed so out of character from the knowledge she had of him so far. His nervous energy and juvenile behavior was the opposite of what she expected, but it was almost... refreshing? Shane was so self assured and serious. Even in their youth he hadn't been nearly as awkward as Sebastian was last night, which she didn't think was a bad thing, but it was definitely a staggering difference in comparison. Here they were approaching 30, alarmingly, and she felt like she was dealing with a middle school crush. Except, her and Sebastian didn't really like each other, right? He said he didn't have a crush on her and she believed that when he said it...

But then last night happened, and now that she was thinking about it, his claims didn't really make sense. He had said he didn't have anyone to hug, and he was touch deprived just like her, but then what the fuck was Juliet to him? Did their friends with benefits arrangement start the same way? Did they have little moments like that?

Romy felt sick suddenly, but then she remembered what he said about not really getting along or being friends outside of the sex. The sudden nausea faded a little but she still had more questions than answers. Seriously, how did hook ups like that even come about!? She could not relate in the least. Sleeping with someone she couldn't even stand to hang out with platonically was so confusing of a concept she couldn't even begin to wrap her head around it. Maybe she could get Sebastian to explain it to her better sometime if she ever dared to ask.

She tried to picture Sebastian and Juliet hugging like her and Sebastian had last night and realized she couldn't. It just didn't seem right, especially not when she replayed all their tense interactions she'd been witness to so far. They really didn't seem like they got along well at all, which just begged the question of why Juliet liked him so much even now that he was clearly making her feel rejected. Was it an ego thing? Did she just need to be wanted?

It wasn't that she couldn't understand how anyone could have feelings for him, but how someone so clearly incompatible with him could was what perplexed her. At the same time she wondered why Sebastian didn't just find someone else entirely. Surely he wouldn't struggle too hard to find someone more suited for him than that girl.

Her phone buzzed loudly at the same time Aiden dumped out the entire bucket of blocks. She opened her eyes and sat up with a jolt. A quick glance over at Aiden assured her he was fine, just being a typical messy little kid. She averted her attention to the lock screen on her phone, sucking in an anxious breath through her nose when she saw it was a text from Sebastian. Speak of the devil...

Sebastian: Hey, it's pretty wet outside. Want a ride tonight? Can't imagine walking in this...

She idly wondered how Shane would feel about her getting a ride from this guy for the third night in a row, but it was cold and wet out there and if he was offering, why would Shane want her to suffer?

Romy: If you really wouldn't mind, sure! Wasn't really looking forward to working all night with soaking wet boots but I wasn't going to ask... lol

Sebastian: Why not? 

Romy: I feel bad making you do this, it's not your fault I don't have any other transportation.

Sebastian: Don't feel bad. Seriously. It's nbd. You're not making me, I offered in the first place, remember?

Romy: I guess you're right. I'm sorry. I feel chronically guilty for everything, this is no exception. lol

After she hit send on the last message, she groaned in embarrassment while waiting for him to respond. Why was she so pathetically honest with him? He was going to think she was a big depressed baby if she kept this up. That's the last thing she wanted but she couldn't seem to stop herself from saying way too much.

Sebastian: Romy, no. Stop. I'm picking you up, and I'm happy to do so. See you later!

Romy: Ugh, fine! Thank you again!!!

Even in her haze of irritation with herself, she couldn't help but smile a little at his bold reassurance as she laid back down. She wasn't used to it. Getting any sort of reassurance out of Shane was like pulling teeth and even if she got him to say something reassuring on the surface, his tone usually left her feeling even worse than she did before. Sebastian had sounded kind of annoyed too, but she could hear his voice in her head as she read his messages and she knew that his tone wouldn't have sounded that way in person. It was weird that she felt like she already knew him well enough to read his texts in his voice and personality when she struggled to do that with most people.

She usually felt like everyone hated her over text. It was awful and part of the reason why she was such a bad texter. She had almost completely lost touch with her friends from back home because of it. Not seeing them in person anymore had eroded her intuitive understanding of how they talked, and all their messages sounded forced to her. It probably wasn't true, but she found herself struggling to keep up conversations.

Texting Abby was nice because she had a particularly enthusiastic way of texting that made her feel at ease, but her old friends never really had that energy with her anymore. They'd probably moved on, found new friends that weren't trapped on a farm with a kid preventing them from even visiting. None of them had children yet, which had made her feel even more isolated and alone all this time. From what she saw online, it seemed like they all had vibrant and fulfilling lives, and then there was Romy... who could only seem to post a picture of her dog every couple of years.

The door to the garage swung open abruptly, effectively clearing her self deprecating thoughts from her mind. Footsteps approached the living room until they stopped in the doorway. Romy lifted her head to look over her husband standing there like a storm cloud on a winter day. She realized suddenly that his presence gave her anxiety. But why?

Was it just her and her mental health issues that made it that way? She wasn't sure.

Shane stared back at her for a moment, pausing to smile at Aiden who had finally noticed his father standing there. "HI DADDY!"

"Hi buddy." He responded, the smile leaving his face as he turned his attention back to Romy. "So, are you working tonight?"

"Uhh.." She stalled for a second, wondering where this was going. "I was planning on it."

"Are you planning on walking?" He asked in a tone that clearly conveyed that he thought that was a bad idea.

"Yeah, uhm, Sebastian already offered to drive me again. He said he couldn't imagine walking in this."

"Okay." Shane nodded in approval. "Yeah, I was going to say to just stay home if you didn't have a ride. It's like 6 inches of slush out there right now."

Romy wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed that Shane didn't sound jealous. A mixture of both, probably.

"If Sebastian didn't offer first I probably would have stayed home." She agreed, impulsively rubbing it in that he offered. She wasn't sure why she was doing that. Maybe just desperately trying to get a reaction to prove he cared at all.

Shane didn't take the bait the way she wanted him to. Instead the corners of his lips curled up in a mean spirited smile. "He must really like you."

Romy frowned. "We're friends." She was already kicking herself for starting this. Stupid, Romy. Stupid.

"Yeah, I bet he's really interested in your friendship." Shane scoffed, still seeming amused despite his sarcastic tone.

Her eyes narrowed and the defensive words tumbled out of her mouth faster than she could think about them. "It's not like that, he's hooking up with someone. This girl that lives near him. Juliet."

Fuck.

Shane's eyes widened before he burst into a fit of laughter. "Juliet... like red hair, lives in the boarding house behind Joja, Juliet?"

She was kind of surprised that Shane knew exactly who she was talking about. Her annoyance quickly morphed into anxiety. Did Juliet already try to do something to fuck with her?

"Oh my god, that's... that's too good. Too good." Shane continued chuckling to himself.

Romy felt her eyes narrowing again. "Are you going to explain or?"

Shane stopped laughing long enough to take a swig of his beer. "She's only here on probation. She's not even from around here. I think she's from Grampleton or something? She has to work for Joja as community service as part of her sentence."

Romy tried to process that but she had too many questions for any of it to settle in. "Wait, what do you mean? Probation for what? How do you even know all this?"

Shane looked at her with mild amusement. "I forget that you don't really keep up with news in town. Sterling told me all about her a few weeks ago. The lady that owns the boarding house keeps it hush hush so most of the town just thinks Jessie is her relative or something. Sterling got the real story though straight from Juliet herself. He said she hit on him every time she came into the store when he was working, and then he found her up at the train tracks drunk one night. She apparently threw herself at him and just started trauma dumping. He had to politely reject her advances but now she thinks they're friends or something. He avoids her as much as he can."

The gears in Romy's head were turning, trying to piece together the puzzle that was slowly coming together. So Juliet didn't have roots here after all, so she probably was kind of a stranger to Sebastian... and desperate for companionship around here. That explained why Abigail and Sam didn't seem to know too much about her either. The train tracks were up in the mountain, and she imagined Sebastian would hang out there a lot as well living so close to them. Maybe they didn't meet at work? Maybe that's why Sebastian said he hated that she worked there? Maybe their... arrangement... came about in a similar way. Maybe she threw herself at him like she allegedly did with Sterling. Did Sebastian know her story? Is that why he didn't just tell her to fuck off? Does he feel bad for her?

"Earth to Romy... HellooOooOo."

Romy made eye contact with her husband again in surprise. "Huh?"

"You didn't respond. You've been staring at the wall." Shane lifted an eyebrow at her accusingly.

"Oh, sorry. I was just... taking it all in." She decided to go with honesty. This was the first non-responsibilities based conversation her and Shane had in a while and she wasn't about to waste the opportunity to connect. He was actually talking. "I don't think she likes me. She's kind of a bitch to Abby, and I tried to be nice to her but she just gives me dirty looks and is unpleasant to be around to say the least. She's really the only person at work that I have a problem with."

"She probably thinks you're gunna take Sebastian away from her." He laughed to himself again. "He must really be desperate if he's into her, and a married woman."

Romy's immediate instinct was to defend Sebastian, but she wasn't sure that was such a good idea. She decided to defend herself instead. "He is not into me. And even if he was, I'm obviously only interested in friendship. You know I miss my friends, and how lonely I've been since we moved here. Hanging out with him and Abby and Sam has been so good for my mental health."

Shane just looked at her for a minute before responding. "I'm happy for you honey, honestly. Just watch out for Juliet." He wandered back towards the garage snickering to himself like he still found their whole affair to be extremely humorous.

Romy didn't know how to feel. It was a lot to take in. On one hand, she felt a little less paranoid now that she knew Shane had a very poor opinion of Juliet's character. That meant that if she did try to start some shit to meddle in her relationship, Shane probably wouldn't take her very seriously, especially now that she filled him in on her connection to Sebastian.

But on the other hand, now she wondered even more why Sebastian had gotten himself so involved with her, and what exactly that said about him. 

A thought occurred to her suddenly. "BABE! WAIT!"

He paused, taking a couple steps backwards so he could hear her more easily. "Yes?"

"Don't tell anyone about what I told you, please? I don't think Sebastian wants anyone to know about it... Abby had a really hard time getting him to admit it to her at all."

"I won't tell anyone about your friends gross sex life, don't worry." She could hear his eyes roll.

"Not even Sterling." She added threateningly.

"OKAY DEAR!" Shane yelled back dismissively as he vanished back into the garage.

~

By the time Sebastian pulled up in front of her house, she was still in a complete mental fog, still trying to process her and Shane's conversation.

Sebastian clocked it immediately, just like she knew he would.

"Hey!" He greeted her with a big smile as she climbed in and buckled her seatbelt.

"Hi!" She smiled back, placing her backpack on the floor by her feet. She fiddled with her water bottle that didn't seem to want to stay upright. She would be so pissed if water spilled inside her bag, or worse, all over the floor of Sebastian's truck.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Sebastian demanded in a concerned parental tone.

Romy straightened up and blinked a couple times, looking out the window. They had barely exited her property. Damn, he's quick.

She tried to play it off, giving him the most confused and innocent look she could manage. "Huh? Nothing. I was just trying to keep my water bottle from spilling everywhere."

Sebastian looked over at her, raising his eyebrow skeptically. "No... that's not it." He said with an air of finality.

Romy sighed. She knew he wasn't going to believe her charade. "Promise you won't be mad?"

Sebastian gave her another concerned look before focusing on the road again. "Okay... Promise."

"Shane brought up you liking me again, and I panicked and told him about you and Juliet, but he won't tell anyone about it I swear, I made sure. I'm sorry, I'm sure you didn't want me to tell anyone, I didn't mean to break your trust, I just didn't want him to think somethings going on with us because then I'd probably have to quit and i just really don't want to have to do that..." She was rambling at the speed of light, feeling her eyes filling up with tears the further she got into her explanation.

Sebastian came to a stop on an empty road and turned to her suddenly, reaching out to place his hand on her arm. "Romy, slow down. It's okay. I completely understand why you told him about that. I mean yeah, I would prefer no one knew my business, but if telling him helps our case then I'm glad you did it. I appreciate you telling him not to tell anyone, but even if he does it's okay, I'll just deny it. I won't be mad at you, okay? Calm down."

Romy breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling ridiculous but comforted at the same time. "Are you sure? I feel really bad for telling him."

"Yes." He looked her in the eyes seriously as he said it. "Honestly, I'm just relieved that's all it was, and not me freaking you out last night."

A new wave of guilt coursed through her. She hadn't even considered that he would think that.

"Oh my god, no not at all. I'm sorry I made you think that. You didn't freak me out. It was... nice." She trailed off, feeling like maybe she shouldn't have added that last part, but she was just trying to reassure him.

"Yeah, it was. Do you want to hang out again for a bit if we get out early again?" He asked her with what seemed like a forced tone of innocence but then again he was probably just nervous.

"I mean, you have to bring me home anyway." She joked.

"You know what I mean. Last night was nice, I just thought it would be cool to spend more time together before I leave."

Oh yeah. She had almost forgotten about that entirely. 

Her face must have shown her disappointment because Sebastian immediately looked apologetic. "I swear if snow ends up being in the forecast I'll head straight home."

Romy shook her head quickly. "No, no, that's not... I just forgot you won't be around next week. I don't want you to cut your trip short for me, I have a PTO day I can use if I need to. Seriously, do not come back just to give me a ride."

Sebastian smiled, appraising her for a moment before responding. "So if it wasn't about rides, does that mean you're going to miss me?"

Romy felt herself blush instantly. "Uhh.." What could she even say to that!?

He just laughed beside her. "I don't think I'll ever get bored of that."

"Bored of what?" She asked, still blushing but thankful that she didn't have to answer the question.

"Making you blush. It's seriously too easy." He admitted. 

It wasn't until Sebastian started looking around with determination that she realized they were already at work, looking for a parking spot that wasn't covered in slush. When did he even start driving again!?

Romy stared out her window while Sebastian picked a good spot to park, completely bewildered by the effect he had on her. No one had ever told her it was easy to make her blush before, and it was alarming how easily she became so focused on him that she became completely unaware of their surroundings.

What the hell was she getting herself into?

Chapter Text

Sebastian shifted into park and turned to face her. "I can just bring you home, or we can hang out for a bit first. Either option is fine with me. I won't be offended if you don't want to hang out again. I'm sorry if last night got weird for you. I didn't mean to...  I don't know, I just didn't mean to make it weird."

Romy sighed in mild frustration. "Sebastian, once again, it was not weird. And I want to hang out with you again, I swear."

He looked like he felt annoying, which she could immediately pick up on because it was a familiar feeling she often felt herself. "I'm sorry, I need a lot of reassurance sometimes. I've always been like this."

Romy laughed, causing his face to scrunch in confusion. "What's so funny about that?"

She shook her head before responding, smiling down at her feet as she picked her backpack up off the floor, too afraid of making eye contact with him during this vulnerable moment.

"It's funny because I'm the same way, and you never need to apologize to me for it. I'll give you as much reassurance as you need, whenever you need it." 

The silence that followed made her wonder if she sounded a little too emotional. She hadn't meant to make it sound so... intimate, as if this was more than just a friendship between two coworkers.

She was just being empathetic because she struggled with the same thing, and she didn't want anyone to feel the way she always did when she desperately needed reassurance and it just... wasn't available.

Despite her apprehension, she finally looked over at Sebastian who was quietly staring at her with a look she couldn't quite understand. "What?" She asked nervously, "Was that too much?"

Sebastian quickly shook his head, seemingly snapping out of whatever daze he had been in.

"No. Sorry, I just didn't expect anyone to be so understanding. Usually when I push for too much reassurance people get annoyed with me and I've had to learn to just keep my mouth shut after a while."

Romy nodded empathetically, every bad memory of her begging Shane for the tiniest shred of reassurance swirling around in her brain. "Same..."

A comfortable silence fell over them for a moment.

Sebastian cleared his throat, and glanced at the time. "We gotta go. Come on."

"Oh shit" She agreed, noticing they only had 3 minutes to get all the way down to the time clock before they'd be considered late. She reached for the door handle to get out of the car but a hand on her shoulder suddenly stopped her and made her turn back around.

"Wait!" Sebastian stared into her eyes with a serious expression on his face. "Promise me you won't freak out again if we see Juliet? I swear you do not need to worry about her. If she does anything to you I will take care of it. Okay?"

Romy nodded, suddenly overloaded by the memory of everything Shane had said to her earlier. She knew she should probably talk to him about her new understanding of Juliet, but now wasn't the time. "Okay. I promise."

"Good. Let's go."

~

Tonight was as dead as the night before. Unfortunately Martin wasn't there to take over the belt again, so Sebastian wasn't able to work with her. She wasn't sure if he even wanted to anyway. It seemed like being on the belt instead of working inside the trucks was a preference for him.

She decided not to get used to working with him, figuring it wouldn't happen very often. Better to not expect it than be disappointed.

A few minutes into the shift, she noticed a flash of red in her peripheral vision as she reached to pick up a box. She looked up just in time to catch the sight of Juliet arriving late.

Romy groaned internally. Even though she was technically less afraid of her causing her to lose Shane now, she still worried that there would be some kind of conflict.

Moments later she saw Juliet walk by again in the opposite direction. She had an obvious scowl on her face which deepened after she glanced over and noticed Romy who was trying her best not to look like she was watching her.

Taking a risk, Romy waited for her to pass by then poked her head out of the truck to see where she was going. To her relief she was headed away from Zone 1, further into the warehouse. Must have gotten sent somewhere else for being late. Ha. She must be fuming. 

She was alone with her thoughts most of the night after that, which wasn't the worst thing ever. She was rarely given the opportunity for that at home, so to be paid to bask in her own solitude was honestly kind of a blessing. Another huge reason she didn't want to give up this job.

Her late night thoughts came with more clarity here than they ever did while lying in bed next to her sleeping husband. There was a neutrality here, alone, rather than the sadness and loneliness she usually felt as she laid awake next to him.

Romy zoned out, falling into the groove of stacking the boxes that came down the chute every minute or so. It was slow, but they had her in a truck that was actually on the busier side compared to the others tonight. She was thankful for that, boredom was her true enemy. Working too hard wasn't fun, but neither was barely working at all.

The most insistent thing on her mind tonight was wondering what she was going to say to Sebastian about Juliet. Should she just tell him verbatim what Shane said? That seemed too gossipy, and she didn't want to spread anything about Sterling around whether she trusted Seb or not. Maybe she could just leave the romantic advances out of the story? But then Sterling might sound like an asshole for just spreading personal information that someone had confided in him about without giving the proper context of why he didn't really respect her enough to keep it to himself.

Maybe Sebastian doesn't even know...

That possibility would open a bigger can of worms, because Sebastian was completely unpredictable in the sense that she wasn't sure if he'd confront her about what he heard. She didn't know him well enough to be certain, but he seemed like the type of person who had trouble holding back when they had something to say.

Yeah he was obviously good at keeping secrets, though Abigail might disagree with that. But if Juliet lied to him about her circumstances would he pissed off enough to tell her off? She didn't want to accidentally put anyone, including herself, in the crossfire of that. 

She decided that keeping her mouth shut all together was the safest option. 

~

The packages eventually started slowing down, making her wonder what time it was. It didn't feel like a whole shift had gone by, but then again it was easy to lose track of time in here. She leaned against the wall of the truck, staring up at the chute for any sign of incoming packages. The cold metal on her back was a good sensory trigger to keep her from getting too anxious while standing around doing nothing. For a little while anyway. She eventually resorted to pacing back and forth up and down the truck just to stay moving. 

"What are you doing?

Romy flinched and spun around to see who had so rudely interrupted her ADHD routine, hoping it wasn't a manager ready to accuse her of slacking off. 

A smile involuntarily appeared on her face when she realized it was just Sebastian.

She was so happy and surprised to see him that she forgot to answer the question.

He just stared at her, waiting for a response that wasn't coming. 

Her brain finished loading after a few more awkward seconds of looking at each other silently.

"Oh! Uh, just pacing. There's nothing really coming down so... Didn't want whoever is watching the cameras to think I'm lazy." That had nothing to do with it, truthfully, but it sounded better in her head.

"I've been watching you for a couple minutes, you looked like a tiger stuck in a cage." Sebastian teased her with a stupidly cute smile on her face.

Romy nodded her head in acknowledgement, playing along instead of defending herself. "Zoochosis." She replied solemnly. "There is not enough enrichment in my enclosure."

Sebastian laughed, giving her a view of his perfect white teeth. She tried not to stare. She wasn't sure what it was, but she always found herself attracted to people with pointier canines. His teeth probably weren't actually as "perfect" up close, but that didn't really matter. They were distracting enough every time she caught a glimpse of them.

When he stopped laughing, her focus finally snapped back up to his eyes. He was staring at her quizzically, probably wondering why she was looking at him like a weirdo. She felt her cheeks heating up, but the overhead speaker system saved her from having to explain herself.

All non-essential employees please punch out. We're done for the night. Thank you.

Sebastian looked down at his scanner. "Damn!" He snapped his head back up to look at her with a pleased smile on his face. "It's only 8:45."

Romy felt a little uneasy suddenly. Shane wouldn't expect her to be home until at least 11. Not that he'll be up waiting...

That meant they had at least 2 hours of uninterrupted alone time before she needed to be home, unless she awkwardly asked to go home sooner... Excuses that wouldn't come off as white lies to protect his feelings swam through her brain, eventually landing on the perfect reason, should she need to use it. She thought back to the puddle of dog pee on the floor, a completely true and valid reason to not want to stay out too late. She couldn't trust Shane to actually let Dakota out before he fell asleep for the night.

Her sudden nervousness must have shown clearly on her face because Sebastian's excited smile dropped into one that looked unsure and maybe even a little embarrassed. "Oh, uhm, if you'd rather hang out with Shane... I know he's probably still awake this early."

Romy laughed in disbelief that it hadn't even occurred to her. Sebastian was right. Shane probably was still awake.

Sebastian's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, surely having no idea why that was funny to her.

Instead of telling him the truth, that she was more worried about pissing Shane off and making him suspicious rather than spending time with him, she explained it away with an explanation that was actually not a lie. "He's probably awake right now, but by the time we actually get to my house I'm sure he'll be sound asleep if not close to it."

"Even if you text him right when we get outside telling him you're on your way?" Sebastian sounded so sincere, like he really just wanted Romy to be happy even if it meant not hanging out with him as planned.

Romy considered it for a moment. Would he stay up?  It could turn into an opportunity for sex if he did...

She didn't get to finish that thought though. Mike, the manager on tonight, walked briskly past their truck, shooting them a warning glance as he passed. "We're all done guys. You heard the announcement."

Sebastian rolled his eyes at the warning, but she felt like she just been seriously apprehended. Hopping out of the truck that she had been too consumed in her thoughts to realize she was still standing in for no reason, she followed Sebastian towards the time clock. He stopped at the scanner basket, taking his time undoing the velcro that held the tiny screen around his wrist. 

She stopped walking too, waiting for him on autopilot. She watched the way his hands moved, noticing for maybe the first time how long and delicate his fingers looked. 

"Off the clock guys, come on. Don't make me have to tell you again. I'm out of here. Have a good night."

Romy was yanked out of her daze as Mike brushed past them, pulling on his coat. "Sorry, you too!" She responded timidly. Mike waved a hand in the air without turning back around. 

She moved towards the time clock, sneaking a glance at Sebastian to see if he was following. He had finally dropped his scanner in the basket but he was still standing there, staring at Mike as he walked away with his eyes ever so slightly narrowed.

"Don't apologize to him." He ordered with a slight tinge of aggravation in his tone.

She realized he hadn't said anything to Mike when he scolded them. "Why not?"

"We weren't doing anything wrong. Joja can afford to pay us for 5 minutes. So fucking greedy." Sebastian complained behind her while she swiped her badge on the time clock.

"Yeahhhh..." She nodded her head in agreement, resisting the smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she moved out of the way so he could clock out too.

He swiped his badge, spinning around in a huff. He glanced at her, taking in her expression. "What?"

She let her face drop, eyes widening innocently. "Nothing."

He gave her one last untrusting look before stalking off towards the exit. Romy followed, unsure if it was weirder to walk next to him or behind him. They walked together multiple times before but always when there were other people around or it was so loud that walking close together side by side was the only way to hear each other speak. Right now, she was pretty sure they were the last people out on the floor. No wonder Mike was getting annoyed with them...

The oppressive silence and Sebastian's residual annoyance made it easy to not talk until they were out in the parking lot walking towards Sebastian's truck. The silence was somewhat tense, but not uncomfortable in way that would make her take it personally.

"Watch out." Was all she heard before two hands closed down around her shoulders and steered her to the side.

Romy allowed herself to be redirected but she whipped her head around in confusion to see what she was supposed to be watching out for. Immediately she noticed a pothole full of melting snow right where she would have been walking had Sebastian not intervened.

"Oh, shit. Thanks." She laughed at herself as she turned to look straight again at Sebastian, realizing his hands had left her shoulders just as quickly as they appeared and he was already several feet ahead of her. The brief encounter with his warm hands left her feeling chillier than she had been before it. She shivered involuntarily before picking up her pace to catch up with him.

They climbed into his truck, getting their bags settled and seatbelts on.

Sebastian cleared his throat. She turned to look at him, instantly noting that something was bothering him even though his demeanor seemed normal. She determined his mouth was a little too straight, noticing the absence of the ghost of a smile he typically had around her. 

"So..." He started, sounding like he felt uncomfortable saying whatever he was about to say next. "Are you going to text Shane?"

Her eyes widened in recognition, suddenly remembering she never got to finish what she was saying before Mike interrupted them. That explained it. Seb was probably just confused.

Romy shook her head fervently. "Nooo." She laughed, hoping to ease his obvious tension. "There's no point. Even if he tried to stay up for me, I doubt he'd actually succeed. It's not worth the risk just to end up spending the rest of the night alone. I'd rather just hang out with you than chance it."

Sebastian looked only mildly comforted by her words, but as the realization that they were hanging out after all settled over them the easy smile returned to his face. She didn't need a mirror to see that her smile probably mirrored his automatically.

"His loss." Sebastian decided with a smirk turning to look out his window. Romy was thankful for the break in being perceived to get her own face under control.

He turned back to her, dark eyes twinkling in the moonlight that was shining in on them through the windshield. "So what do you wanna do?"

"I thought you had ideas!" She teased, but truthfully she had no idea what she wanted to do, because she didn't really care what they did. They could sit right here for two hours and she'd have a great time.

"Yeah my idea was to hang out. You were supposed to take over from there!" He insisted playfully, shaking his head.

"We could just stay here?" She offered half seriously, ready to say she was just kidding if he thought that was as fucking lame as it sounded.

Sebastian made a face at her. "Wouldn't you be bored?" 

"No." She answered quietly, honestly. She looked down at her feet as she said it, pretending to be really interested in the zipper on her backpack.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sebastian shaking his head in disbelief. "Weird." He mumbled more to himself than to her.

Romy laughed anyway. "I don't think I could be bored with you."

Now Sebastian looked legitimately confused. "Uhm.. I don't think that's real." Before she could protest, he started pulling out of the parking spot abruptly, focusing on not hitting anything or driving over one of the many giant potholes that seemed to have multiplied recently. 

She was getting ready to ask where they were going but Sebastian started ranting about Mayor Lewis and taxes again after having to swerve around a crater just outside the exit of the parking lot. Romy listened with a smile fixed on her face involuntarily. The way he talked was just so entertaining, it was hard to imagine ever getting bored of listening to him talk, no matter what it was about. Maybe she just didn't know him well enough yet but she got the impression that wasn't the case.

Deciding to just let their destination remain a mystery for now, Romy joined in on his rant, reminding him how disgusting it was when he said Mayor Lewis probably thought she was hot.

"Well it's true!" Sebastian insisted.

Romy laughed before realizing that she wasn't sure what he meant by that, and this is the second time he had said it now. What was true? That Lewis thought so? Or... was he saying that he thought she was hot? As much as she wanted to know, she didn't dare ask. She reached for her water bottle instead.

"Everyone's saying he's sleeping with Marnie anyway, so I guess you don't have to worry."

Romy choked on the sip of water she had just taken. "WHAT!?"

"Yeah. That's what they're saying."

"Who is saying that!?" Romy demanded.

"Everyone." Sebastian concluded unhelpfully.

"Sebastian. You realize Marnie is Shane's aunt right?" She pressed incredulously.

He froze. "Oh... Shit."

His reaction caused her to fall into a fit of laughter. "Oh my god, Marnie... That's... horrible." She couldn't stop laughing despite the disturbing news.

Sebastian kept glancing over at her as he continued driving, he looked equally confused by her laughter as he appeared amused by it. His mouth twitched in a vaguely unsure smile every time he looked over at her.

Romy finally pulled herself together long enough to say, "I can't wait to tell Shane." 

She had said it without thinking but the way the smile vanished from Sebastian's face made her instantly regret it. 

"Great." He responded nonchalantly like he couldn’t care less even though his facial expression totally gave him away. 

Romy wasn’t sure what to say, so she shifted her focus to the window, curious where he was taking her.

She never really came up here, but she knew the train tracks were a popular spot for the degenerate youth of Pelican Town. She wasn’t judging though, she knew damn well she’d have hung out here too if she grew up here. 

Sebastian didn’t drive up that far though, he stopped at the bath house, driving around to the side furthest from view of the road, parking alongside the building. It felt secluded but not scary. 

“Is this okay?” He asked her, probably trying to make sure she wasn’t internally freaking out about him having ulterior motives. 

“Uh. Yeah, why not?” She replied, not really needing him to explain anyway. It was a small town and there was nowhere really private to go unless you wanted to have everyone in your business.

”I’m not going to murder you and throw your body on the next passing train, I swear.”

“I… wasn’t at all worried about it, but thank you for that clarification.” 

She smiled at his dark humor with a pang of guilt, knowing where it was coming from. His mood had definitely taken a hit but he was trying not to show it. Deflecting it away with humor was an obvious coping mechanism.

The real question was why? What was bothering him?

She went out on a limb. “I get the impression you don’t like Shane very much…”