Episode 827: Poison

“You look amazing,” he whispered to Ava and kissed the top of his head. He wanted to do more than that, he wanted to marry her and run away with her where no one would find them. No one. But he couldn’t ditch his friends in the middle of Jesse’s medical issues, and Ava definitely wouldn’t leave them.

So, he started off for coffee, anything to distract from his self-centered fears. He didn’t get more than a step before Ava grasped his wrist.

“We’re still getting married,” she said.

He nodded, he kissed her, and as he walked away he took up her words as his own personal mantra. We’re still getting married. We’re still getting married. His focus however, pulled away from that as Ava’s father, Cal, stepped up alongside Sebastian.

Everyone else from the wedding who didn’t know Lila and Bowie well had given them their best and left them to deal in privacy, but for some reason Ava’s dad had tagged along. Sebastian suspected the reason had to do with him. Cal never had seemed to like him all that much.

“Thought I’d come along with you,” Cal said, “make myself useful.”

“Great,” Sebastian replied leading the way into the clinic’s small break room where the non-vending machine coffee aka the actual drinkable coffee waited.

Cal closed the door behind him. Yeah, this was not good. Not after the wedding that hadn’t happened. Not after who he thought he’d seen at the wedding. He didn’t need whatever this would be, possibly leading to Ava’s dad in her ear, warning her away.

With a frown, Cal said, “I know you’ve been taking money from your parents even though you agreed with Ava that you wouldn’t. You’ve been lying to her.”

Sebastian thought he might cry. Here it was, a truth that could ruin them, right when someone else lurked nearby, wanting exactly that.

“Well,” he finally answered after a long minute. He was not in a good head-space, if he had been, he never would have replied to his potential father-in-law so frankly or so belligerently. “I guess you need to pick your poison, Cal. What would you prefer for your daughter, a liar or a junkie?”

Episode 828: Rich Kid Blues