11
GOALS
I laughed humorlessly. "You cheated. I obviously would have won if you didn't cheat."
He smirks. "That's what losers always say that winners cheat."
I laugh. "But hey, I really had fun." I say to him as we head back to the front door of the building.
Sebastian smiled and said, "Me too Thea."
"And you still owe me $10 for cursing a lot a while ago." He adds.
I laughed softly. "You are really a cheater. But fine, since I am a fair player. I will pay you that."
He nods. "And you owe me pizza too. You lost the bet a while ago."
I face palm and just laughed while shaking my head. "Damn. I owe you a lot tonight."
We bid goodbye to the security guards who were so cool about what we just did and then we got back to his motorbike. I look up to the sky and noticed that we have been playing golf for hours since the sun is about to shine. We haven't even had any sleep at all and this night was just spectacular. It was less worrisome and just plain simple. I had a great time with Sebastian even though he's the famous son of Ned Hall.
I yawn as I fix my helmet.
"You're already sleepy? I can drive you home if you want." He asks me while he was getting on his motorbike.
"I think....." I trailed off and got on his motorbike too, right behind him. "I'm hungry."
He laughs. "Me too. What do you wanna have?"
"Hmmm... Since you took me here, let me plan where we're having breakfast."
He nods. "That would be fine."
"Are you picky when it comes to fancy and none fancy diners?" I ask.
"No. I'm like my father. I'm a big eater like him."
I smile. "Good. Let's head to Lazy Daisy. They've got one of England's best pancakes. I assure you that. It's my go to."
Sebastian turns on the engine. "Alright. I trust you on that then."
"You can count on it."
He grins and revs the motorbike. "Hold on."
Sebastian starts to drive around and I began to teach him the way to the diner. It was unusual for me to be driving around London at 5:12AM with a man I just met last night and spent the entire night with him with no sleep. I don't usually open up to men because I set walls for myself and I don't like to engage myself with random guys anymore like what I did with Sebastian because I haven't done that for the past years now.
But with Sebastian, he's so easy to be with because he's so laidback and fun to talk to. His laugh is super contagious though and he tells me stuff about him while I was with him but I'm too afraid to open up unlike how he's casually doing it. He trusts me so much about his life and he talks a lot about his father which was cool.
When we reached the diner, we entered right away as he opened the door for me and once we sat down, this lovely waitress took our orders. We were famished and I even told the waitress to hurry up our foods. We sat here for a while, just right across each other, while I was watching him looking around the entire place of Lazy Daisy. I knew it that it was his first time to be here.
"I'm guessing the owner loves daisies." He finally commented as he looked back at me.
I chuckle as I covered my lips with my hand. "You think so too?" I asked while smirking because the entire diner's walls were painted in huge daisies.
"It's not that it isn't too obvious with the walls and the waitresses' aprons. No. She definitely doesn't have a thing for daisies." He answered sarcasticallt making me laugh even louder.
Sebastian chuckles softly. "Now I wonder where the word lazy comes in."
He kept looking around before he looked back at me. "Maybe the owner's lazy." He adds.
I spurted in laughter again. "Too bad the owner couldn't justify himself with your accusations."
He smirks. "You love to come here a lot?"
I nod right away. "They serve the best foods. It's always packed here by lunch and dinner. Their coffee's underrated too. It's really really good. I love it here. I don't know why people are so focused with Starbucks."
"That's why you ordered two coffees."
"Yes because I want you to try it. I wouldn't want you to miss the taste of it. It's life-changing." I say to him with a grin on my face.
He chuckles as he throws his head back and covers his smile with the back of his hand.
Oh my god he's so handsome when he laughs like that and when he smiles like that too.
"I bet it is. You seem to love it so much. So you aren't planning to sleep after here?" He asks.
"You ordered yourself a grande coffee." He adds.
I shake my head in doubt. "I have this article about England's darling that I need to finish." Whom I know is your very very close friend.
His brows shoot up. "Article? About Benzzo? Wait. What are you? Some author, publicist or writer something?"
He called Benedict Benzzo.
"Well I'm currently an intern at Lure magazine." I answered him.
"Ah! That made sense. You work for Victoria. Tough boss?" He asked.
I nod. "She is."
"She let you interview Ben?" He asked with a grin. "She's so eager for a one interview with him since he took over S.E."
"Why do you know that?" I asked.
"We all know that. She had interviewed the five of us but never Ben. She's hardworking. I mean maintaining a lowclass magazine. No offense though." He said we. I think he meant by we are his rich ass friends who belongs to their circle of elite families in London.
"None taken." I answer. "Tell me about him. Please? How long have you known Mr. Saintclare?"
"Benedict?" He quizzed.
I nod.
"Well we met when he was 14 and I was 12. It was a get together with the families at Hawaii. Our fathers were super close and eventually we became best friends. But Benedict didn't like me right away when we met because I didn't open up to them because of what happened to my mum."
The waitress serves our cups of coffee.
"And he's the last person I got along with in our circle of friends. It kind of took me two or three years to get along with him." He adds.
"But are you closer now than before?" I ask.
He nods. "But we both have different taste in mostly everything."
I blow on my coffee.
"So did you get the article for your mag?" He asked. "I can tell Ben to let you interview him. He's kind of strict with interviews. He doesn't like that. But I'll try to persuade him."
"Why doesn't he like that?"
"Because writers would rewrite what he said over the interview and would probaly put some add ons or would cut out some parts." He answered.
I nod. But I don't do that and I wouldn't.
"Ben is really careful with his private life. He's been under the limelight when the world knew he was uncle Hugo's son. And he doesn't want his life to be invaded by people who doesn't know the real him. He doesn't want his life to be like his dad's. He doesn't want any publicity stunts, or to be the center of attention or people trailing his ass down on the streets to get an autograph." He narrated.
Sebastian puts sugar on is coffee, stir on it and said, "That's why he didn't want to enter showbusiness. He didn't follow his dad's steps on being a singer. He's very strict at work though and very career-focused. He's a workaholic."
Benedict said that himself.
"Ben loves being a philanthropist. He could be cold-hearted, mean and he could say bad stuff out of anger but he's an amazing guy despite the bad news about him. He loves to give to people who are less fortunate. I think he got it from uncle Hugo. And he's already one of the richest bachelors in the world. Why would he waste time on entering showbiz when he's already making twenty-four million euros or more a day?" He adds.
I gape.
Twenty-four million euros or more a day?!
Shit that's a LOT of zeroes. Benedict Saintclare is just insanely rich to the infinite. I mean, he could buy the world with that kind of earning. Holy asshole.
He takes a sip from his coffee. "Ahhh this is great."
I smiled shyly. "I told you."
The waitress finally served our foods and I felt really delightful when I saw my plate of pancakes and waffles on our table.
"So you want me to set you up an interview with Benzzo?" He asks.
I shake my head. "It's fine."
"That's why you went to The White Hall last night? because Benzzo was there?"
I shake my head right away. "I didn't even know he was there." Okay I lied.
"I really was to meet my friends. And to clarify, I really had no idea that you were Sebastian Hall who happens to be best friends with Mr. Saintclare. I didn't take advantage of you if you're having thoughts about that." I ramble on my words.
He laughs. "I didn't even thought a single bit. You know Thea, I don't see you as a person who would use another person for her own benefit."
I sigh inwardly and felt guilty.
But I am.
I used to.
I smile sadly and we began to eat.
After having breakfast together, he drove me home and I thanked him for so mamy reasons then we separated ways right away. When I reached my apartment, all I ever wanted to do was to finish the article and edit a few more.
By eight in the evening, I was done with my article and I was happy with what I worked so hard on for almost three days and a week or two of chasing down Benedict's ass for this interview.
My doorbell suddenly rings so I rushed my way to it to find Kylie and Jonah standing right outisde my door. I don't know what to feel right now after what happened last night but it wasn't their fault that my battery had gone empty and I think I also had done something wrong too.
"You ditched us." Kylie exclaims.
"Mostly me." Jonah adds.
I let them in and locked the door once they entered my living room.
"Where were you?!" They chimed in unison.
I sigh. "Look, you texted me that you changed venue so I drove my ass to The White Hall because Jonah said you were there."
"No. I said we were changing venues because Hub was packed and that we were on our way to The White Hall or Whitman. I didn't say we were already at The White Hall." Jonah explained.
"Okay. So I had a fault there. Miss communication. Sorry. But I thought you were really at The White Hall. So I got in there and looked for you. But my battery was--"
"Wait. You got in?" Kylie asked. "How?"
"We even had to fight that stupid bouncer because he didn't let us in. But you got through?" Jonah gapes at me.
"Well... Someone helped me. And as I was saying I was running out of battery. So when I saw your text that you were at Whitman, I was about to make a call but my phone died on me." I say.
They got quiet.
"Who helped you? It must be someone huge because you got through. And how did it happen?" Kylie asked, ignoring what I was explaining.
I sigh.
"Who helped you?" Kylie asked again.
"You guys know him pretty well and I was so stupid not to recognize him." I answer.
"Him. So it's a guy." Jonah pinpointed.
I nodded.
"Wait. Was it Benedict?" Kylie asked.
"I heard he was there last night too." Jonah adds.
I shake my head. "It wasn't him. It was someone else. It was PJ Payne. One of his best friends."
Kylie and Jonah gapes at what I said and then squealed in unison while holding hands. I laughed as they moved me back and forth.
"Holy f**k I've always wanted to see him in person. Is it true that he's really tall and super hot and super duper handsome?" Kylie squeals.
I chuckle. "Yeah he is. And I owe him for letting me in last night."
Jonah screams. "If Benedict was there and PJ was there then that means Khaleel and Sebastian was there too? Did you see them?"
I nod with a smile. "Saw and met them."
They screamed together again even louder this time and kept moving me. They were way happier for me and what happened last night. They told me how lucky I was and started forcing me to tell them what happened to me last night and so I did. I started from the beginning up to the time when Sebastian and I had breakfast together this morning until to the point that he drove me right outside my apartment.
Kylie was still fanning herself and they're even sweating from all the screaming they were doing.
"I can't believe you didn't know it was Sebastian Hall. If I know you only acted as if you didn't know who he was." Jonah teased.
"I would never do that. And I really didn't know it was him if it wasn't for that portrait." I answer.
"But you are lucky. I don't know how to explain it anymore but you are lucky for everything that happened to you last night." Kylie smiles.
"But everything that you did with Sebastian were goals. Literally goals." Jonah gushed.
"I know he's a bad guy but I didn't know he knows a way to a girl's heart." Kylie smiles as she nudges her elbow at me.
I sheepishly smile at the thought of Sebastian.
"Did he ask for your number when he drove you home?" Kylie asked.
I shake my head.
They pout.
"But hey, on the bright side he knows where you live." Jonah snaps out.
"Goals!" Kylie chimes loudly making us laugh.