The Education of Sebastian & the Education of Caroline(305)

He scrubbed at his eyes and I didn’t know what to do.

So like a complete dumbass, I said something to make it worse. “I saw Brenda today. She was looking for you.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously. “That whore better stay out of my way. Fuckin’ bitch. This is all her fault,” and he punched his pillow hard.

I cleared my throat a couple of times. “Any luck with the job hunt?”

He blew out a long breath, then nodded. “Yeah, starting at Stone’s Reef in the morning.” He flashed a small smile. “In about five hours.”

“Seriously? Why so early?”

“Gonna be a good swell—they want to be open for breakfast.”

I don’t know if he slept that night, because every time I woke up, I could see that his eyes were open.

After that, we got into a rhythm. We worked when we had to, surfed when we could, and didn’t talk about Caroline Wilson or what had gone down. But it was there, simmering under the surface. And Seb was just plain miserable. He never wanted to hang out with the guys anymore, and I felt he only just tolerated my company sometimes. He preferred to be by himself, and when we surfed, he was always the furthest away from us. Fido was pretty cut up about that.

But my best friend was hurting and I didn’t know what to do to help.

One thing that definitely wouldn’t help was Brenda fuckin’ Wiseman.

Even after I’d told her that Seb didn’t work at the country club anymore, she kept coming around and bothering me, trying to find out where he was working now.

Girl wouldn’t take no for an answer.

I was just taking my break when she turned up again.

“Ches, can’t you at least give him a message from me? I really need to see him.”

I sighed heavily. “He doesn’t want to see you, Brenda. He doesn’t want to talk to you, and you know what, he doesn’t even want to think about you. You fucking cheated on him with Jack Sullivan, and then you shit all over his new relationship. Believe me when I say you’re better off not hearing what he thinks about you.”

Her eyes watered, and I held back a frustrated curse. I hated it when girls cried. It was like the ultimate weapon against a guy.

“Does he hate me that much?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” I said, not caring to sugarcoat it.

“That … that woman, Mrs. Wilson. He was really into her? But she was, like, old?”

I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. “Yeah, he was into her. He loved her.” And still does.

Brenda looked shocked. “He told you that? He told you that he loved her?”

“For fuck’s sake, yes!”

“Well, she couldn’t have loved him back, because I heard she just drove away and left him.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her around to the side of the pool where there were fewer people who could overhear us.

“Jesus, are you so freakin’ dumb? Caroline—Mrs. Wilson—was forced to leave because Seb is underage. It was either that or get arrested.”

Brenda’s eyes widened and her mouth popped open in a silent O. Then she pulled herself together.

“Well, she was way too old for him anyway.”

It was all I could do to keep from slapping her.

“I had no idea you were such a selfish bitch, Bren. If you hadn’t screwed around on Seb, none of this would have happened.”

I wasn’t sure how true that was because there was no doubt how deep Seb was in with Caroline Wilson—and always had been.

I walked away from Brenda, but as I looked back, the breeze caught the summer dress she was wearing, and it wrapped tightly around her body. At first I thought she’d put on weight, but the blood drained from my face as I realized that her belly wasn’t just fat—she was pregnant.

She saw the look on my face and paled.

I marched toward her, and she took a step back, as if looking for somewhere to hide.

“You’re pregnant.”

It wasn’t a question.

She nodded slowly.

“Are you saying that it’s Seb’s? Is that why you’ve been stalking him?”

She bit her lip and looked down.

This time I did grab her arm and gave her a small shake.

“Tell the fuckin’ truth for once. Did Seb knock you up?”

She yanked her arm free.

“No!” she shouted. “I wish it was him, but it wasn’t. I wish…” her words broke off and this time she really was crying.

“Ah shit,” I said, quietly.

I led her out to the staff parking lot and she sat in my van, crying and ruining her makeup. What a fucked up story.

Jack Sullivan had given her some skunk—much stronger weed than she was used to. They’d had sex, even though she was still going out with Seb at the time. When she woke up in the morning and realized she wasn’t a virgin anymore, she was afraid to tell him what she’d done. So she broke up with him instead.