Episode 993: The Man

“I can’t believe you’re doing this, and worse, I can’t believe you’re dropping this bomb on me in the middle of working your mom’s party. How am I supposed to keep my head together?”

“It’s not a bomb, Lila, it’s fine, really. I only called because I didn’t want you and Bowie to feel like I was doing anything behind your backs, like I was working with Ava to be friends with the guy and then tell him. I’m not. In fact, this is going to help your situation as much as it helps mine.”

“How do you figure that?” Lila demanded through gritted teeth as she stepped away from the party and into the house. “How is it going to help me, Bowie, and Jesse when Ava cozies up to Xavier like the old days and again her stupid moral compass decides that he needs to know about Jesse.”

Silence from Sebastian. So maybe she was getting through to him about this colossally bad idea.

“She’s not cozying up to him like the old days,” Bas said.

He was her friend and Lila didn’t want to be the one to send him spiraling, but seriously, he needed to be realistic. “Ava loved him enough to almost marry him. She still loves him enough that she was and probably still is anguished over keeping him in the dark. So yeah, you open the door to this guy and coziness is a distinct possibility.”

Silence again.

“Sebastian, do not tempt her. I mean, I know you do care what happens for us in all of this, but you have your own dog in this fight, this whole time you’ve been freaked that maybe she still has feelings for him. Do. Not. Tempt. Her.”

Silence.

“Okay,” Lila said. “I’m going back to work on this party and you are going to do the smart thing and cancel-”

“The smart thing is to stick to my plan. Haven’t you heard of keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

“That’s a fantastic plan until it blows up in your face. In our faces.”

“It won’t, I swear. Ava is going to be so impressed with how I’m handling things, so impressed with the man I’ve become that she’ll be so starry eyed in my direction that there won’t be any cozying up to anyone else. And when Xavier sees how solid we are as a couple he’s not going to stick around town to watch. He’ll leave like you and I both want. I’ve got this, Lila, I promise.”

“If you’re wrong, you’re dead to me.”

Episode 994: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do