Alex and Sebastian 54

Hello again guys, this is it. The "Epilogue" for Alex and Sebastian that y'all have been waiting for. I hope you guys enjoy! P.S. I've decided to break it up into two or three chapters so there's more to come!

Also, please continue to email me so I know someone is reading and liking what I'm writing. I also have a playlist of songs that I listen to while writing the chapters if y'all are interested.

The email you can reach me at is lore.guerra13@gmail.com for questions, comments, concerns or donations ha-ha, just kidding!

A fellow reader made a playlist with most of the songs I've either used or will use in the series. If y'all want to listen to it while reading the chapters the link for it is this:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJZWEUrY9KRSfQ98rYlMYix46VM0CJ7XS

One new song will be added on to the playlist.

Please Keep Loving Me – James TW

BTW, as promised, here's the link to my new story: Emanon

https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/emanon/

I am still working on it! My laptop charger broke so I haven't had time but now that I'm back at school, I can get working on it again.

In all seriousness, please don't forget to donate to nifty here, without which we wouldn't have this collection of great stories!

Every story is free on here, so please let's keep it that way and donate, guys.

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After Sebastian left, I looked around the room.

I was all alone again.

This was the way it was meant to end, after all. I wiped off the cold tears from my face and blinked. We had our time and we loved it, but now it was time to move on.

We were both grown-ups and, unlike last time, no one got hurt. I slumped against the hard wooden frame of my bed and sighed. Slowly, I reached under my bedside cabinet and felt around with my fingers until they landed on a small box hiding a ring inside.

Reluctantly, I pulled my hand away.

What a sad quiet death to something that once felt like a raging fire.

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3 Days Before

I know I have my moments

And at times I'm hard to be around.

I get impatient when you're getting dressed.

It's just, I thought the first one looked the best.

I held Alex's hand as we walked towards the doors of a small Italian restaurant a few towns over. For a Wednesday night, it was a little busy but the hostess found us a booth near the back.

I looked at Alex from across the booth and smiled – he looked just as happy and handsome as he did in college.

"Hey," I smiled.

"Hi," he chuckled. "Look at you all dolled up."

"Ha-ha. I know," my smirk made him laugh. "You look pretty good yourself, A."

"You sure Emma was okay having Lily be dropped off tonight?"

"Yeah," I said, remembering the small glance Emma gave me before I left. Something did feel a little odd but I decided I'd ask her about it later. "She's fine. I think they were planning a movie night, anyways."

"Your daughter is pretty amazing," Alex said.

"She is her father's daughter, after all," I laughed.

"This is a cute little restaurant," Alex said. "How'd you find it?"

"Honestly? I Googled it, ha-ha."

Alex's eyes widened. "Really? What'd you type in?"

"I typed `Best restaurant to make boyfriend put out' and this was what came up as number one." Obviously I was kidding but I couldn't keep a straight face as Alex playfully slapped my arm.

"Let's hope this restaurant is as good as you say it is then," he winked.

Your lips on my smile

Are like bees round a honeycomb.

You see through my harsh, misty windows.

And, out of all the fingerprints, only yours will show.

I smiled as I looked around the quaint little restaurant. It wasn't big but it smelled great and the authentic Italian décor was very nice to look at.

"So," I said, swallowing a huge bite of the breadsticks the waitress had left for us after getting our order. "Ralf and Mary Jane are really hitting it off, aren't they?"

Alex took a sip from his wine and nodded. "Yeah, they've been inseparable since Lea's wedding. Who would have though, huh?"

"Yeah," I smirked. "He has a bit of a slutty record, though. Doesn't he?" I laughed as Alex's face reddened. "Relax, I didn't mean it like that, A."

Alex laughed, "Yeah, I know. I just forgot about it is all." Our waitress came by again and dropped off our food. "Anyways, I wasn't the only one in this table to fall for his slut pheromones."

I stared at Alex, my mouth slightly agape. It was my turn to be embarrassed. "Well," I laughed, "He isn't too bad, you know? If there was something I really liked about Ralf it'd be ..."

"His butt." We both said it at the same time.

"Ha-ha. See, I'm not the only one who thinks so," I laughed.

"So," Alex said after swallowing his first bite of food, "I hear good things from the people I know that work with you."

I sipped my wine and smiled, "Yeah, everything's going great. There's going to be an opening in the district's administration building soon. My boss put in a really good word for me. It's – it's looking good."

"Good. I'm happy for you, Seb." Alex reached his hand over for mine and squeezed. It was so odd. If you had asked me a few years ago about how I'd feel if a guy squeezed my hand, I would have said embarrassed or shy. Only now, when Alex did it, it felt so comfortable. It felt right.

For all the mistakes I'm making I don't mean.

I don't mean them.

"Thanks," I smiled. "Here," I raised my glass and waited for Alex to raise his. "To your tenure and to my potential promotion." Alex smiled as our glasses clinked. "I'm really looking forward to our trip to Colorado next month," I said after taking a sip of my wine. "Should be fun." I winked at the mention of fun. I had been planning something special during our trip, too, but I hadn't told Alex about it yet. I wanted to surprise him with it, after all.

"Me, too." Alex wiped some marinara sauce from his mouth. "I'm thinking we could go hiking the first day and maybe spend the next day at the hotel smoking or something."

"Or something," I smiled.

"Or something," it was Alex's turn to wink.

For all the little things

That I failed to see.

My heart is on my sleeve.

We decided to skip on dessert at the restaurant and I drove us to a small park near our place back in town. I parked on the street opposite the park and walked towards the closed gate.

"What are we doing here, Seb?"

"Let's take a small walk," I said, walking around the gate that served only to keep cars out of the parking lot.

"It says it's closed." Alex protested but followed me inside.

I turned around, "It's fine. We won't be long," I said, motioning for Alex to catch up. With a smile, he jogged the remaining distance and stood next to me.

It may have been dark outside but the few trees in the park did little to block out the light from the moon above us as we made our way further down the park. In fact, it was so beautiful outside I was almost tempted to ...

My train of thought was broken as I heard Alex call out. "They've got swings!"

"Wait for me then!" I made my way towards the swing sets and saw Alex already sitting on one. He gestured for me to join him and I sat on the swing next to him making the chains jingle. We rocked back and forth on the swings as the quiet noise of the park surrounded us.

Please keep loving me.

Cause our hearts speak fluently.

"Hey, Seb," Alex asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"This past year - it's been good between us, right?" Alex took a small breath before continuing. "It's not just me but we've handled everything pretty great, right? I'm sorry - total buzz kill. Forget I said anything."

"Hey," I held out my hand for Alex to hold. "It's okay." After a minute, Alex reached over and held my hand. "Yeah, I think we've handled everything very well." I squeezed his hand. "Why do you ask?"

Alex looked over at me sheepishly. "I just think that everything's been going too good. You know? I feel like the other shoe's about to drop or something. Is that just me?"

I bit my lip as I thought Alex's question over. To be fair, yeah, I had been feeling the same shit. You can't go through what we both went through and not be a little paranoid about the quiet. I turned to face Alex, "Nah it's not just you. I feel that, too. I wouldn't let it worry you, though. It's not like we haven't dealt with almost everything this stupid Universe could throw at us."

Wherever I go – whatever I do.

The map on my heart leads to you.

"Yeah, you're right." I felt Alex squeeze my hand. "Did I freak you out? I feel like I totally jinxed us or something, ha-ha."

"No, not at all." I chuckled as I swung myself. "If anything, it's a good thing."

"How is that a good thing?" Alex let go of my hand and began to swing himself as high as me.

"Well, you know how they have that saying, `Break a leg?' It's almost the same thing."

Alex chuckled as he swung higher than me. "That's in theater, dumbass."

"Well, shit. Ha-ha. Our lives are essentially one big tragedy, no?"

I could hear Alex's laugh over the sound of the chains jingling. "Those are the ones everybody talks about, though."

Alex stopped and held his hand out for me. Bringing my swing to a stop, I took his hand and stood with him. Alex pulled my hands up to his lips. He brushed a soft kiss on my knuckles before lowering them again.

I smiled at the man in front of me and rested my forehead on his. I felt his warm breath on my chin before I leaned forward and kissed him.

So baby, please keep loving me.

Loving, loving me.

Please keep loving me.

We walked back out of the park and into our car. All the ride I couldn't keep myself from smiling and stealing glances at his face.

Funnily enough, instead of taking advantage of our time alone and sleeping together, Alex and I ended up cuddling on the couch watching Moulin Rouge. I didn't quite like it as much as I liked the original Die Hard. Still, I liked Alex very much and he liked this movie. Before we knew it, we were both quietly napping. The only reason I woke up was because I had previously set an alarm up to wake me when it was time to pick Lily up.

I kissed Alex's forehead before grabbing my keys and stepping out. The drive to Emma's didn't take long even if they lived a few miles away- at least it didn't feel that way anymore. I parked in front of her place and got out of my car. I knocked on their door in case the girls were sleeping. Emma opened the door a few seconds later.

"Hey, Sebastian." I leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

"Hey, Emma. Just here to pick Emma up. Again, thanks so much for agreeing to babysit. I really appreciate it."

Emma gave me a small smile. "It's not a problem. I actually wanted to talk to you about something, though. Right now is a best time as any."

I frowned, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," she nodded. "It's actually too good."

The way she said that made me feel odd. "What do you mean?"

She motioned for me to join her in the kitchen table. She offered me some coffee but I politely declined.

"What's the matter, Emma?"

She took a small sigh. "Okay, so Mark has been doing really good at his job lately."

The tension on my shoulders lessened but didn't quite go away. "What's wrong with that?"

"He's been doing so good, in fact, that he's been offered a promotion." Her eyes cautiously met mine. "In Corpus," she finished.

"Oh," I was blind-sided.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"That's great ... for you guys." I didn't know what to say. I hadn't even imagined coming across this bridge.

"He was offered this position earlier this week but it's not until two weeks from now that he actually has to be there. We - we're seriously considering this. We felt it'd be best to let you know as soon as possible."

I wanted to protest but I couldn't think of any rational place to start. Instead, I simply nodded. "What was the plan?"

Emma stood and grabbed herself a glass of water. "The plan was to decide what's best for all of us. Lily and Stella most importantly." She joined me back at the table and handed me a glass. I took it and sipped from it. "Mark and I, we really think moving is the way to go for us. It will help us out financially and it'll look really good for Mark's career. I just wanted to bring this up with you, too."

"What about the girls?" I said.

"That's the thing." Emma met my eyes again. "We don't want to split them up. We want you to come with us."

"What's that?" I was blind-sided again. "You want me to go with you?"

"Well, yeah. Like I said, we don't want to split the girls. Mark has until Friday to let them know. Could you please think it over till then?"

"I don't know what to say." I coughed to clear my throat. "I mean, yes, I'll think it over. I'll talk it over with Alex, too."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, do what you have to. Let me get Lily for you."

She stepped away and into the room down the hall. I sat on the table and took another drink from my water.

Fuck.

It was up to me to decide on staying or moving.

On one hand, I had my daughter and her relationship with her mother.

On the other, I had Alex, his career and his life.

Each of them as important to me as the other.

Fuck.

Well, there it was - the other shoe had dropped.