Coma

Sebastian Wallace didn’t expect Emma to call him. He figured he would have to show up at her restaurant again or hope she dropped her dog off at the groomers.

From a young age, Sebastian learned not to expect much from people. In the end, if you expected too much, you were always disappointed. People tend to let you down when you expect too much of them. Bass wasn’t bitter about this; he just didn’t like being disappointed, so he never really expected much.

Over the years, Sebastian has let a lot of people down. He let his father down when he didn’t accept the football scholarship to Texas State. Sebastian could go out and excel at any sport if he wanted to. But that was the key word, if. Sebastian didn’t want any of that. He liked sports, what guy didn’t, but he preferred music and art rather than sports, much to his father’s disgrace. Many people expected Sebastian to go on and play for the NFL. Quarterback since he was three, Bass knew anything and everything about football. By the time he hit high school, Bass had college scouts visiting him every single game. Imagine his father’s anger when Sebastian told him that he wasn’t going to play football in college.

Sebastian had disappointed his mother when he dropped out of college. Bass’ mom didn’t care where he went to school, as long as he at least got an education. Samantha Wallace wanted the best for her son, and she believed that a college education was the best for him. She wanted him to go to an Ivy League school, become a doctor or a lawyer, meet a nice, respectable woman, get married, and give her around two or three grandchildren. Imagine his mother’s sadness when Sebastian told her he wasn’t going to Harvard or Yale, let alone a college.

Sebastian Carlton Wallace had been dating Sarah Elizabeth Michaels since they were both in the tenth grade. Sarah was your average girl next door; long blond hair, blue eyes, petite. She was cheerful, friendly, and bubbly, but only to her friends; otherwise, she gave off the bitch vibe. They had the basic, clichéd story: known each other since they were five, best friends all through grade school and middle school. Like most clichéd stories, something clicked between the two sophomore year and they started dating. They knew every little thing about one another, so their relationship was as easy riding a bike. They had their first every things together: first kiss (a dare when they were eight), first love, first time making love. Everyone just assumed that they were going to get married right out of high school. Since their junior year, Sarah had their life planned out. Graduate, go to the same college and live together in an apartment near the school, graduate, and then get married. Once their careers took off, (Sebastian was a doctor and she was a lawyer, or visa versa, of course) they would start a family. Sarah wanted at least two kids: a boy and a girl. Caroline Nichole Wallace for the girl, and Sebastian Carlton Wallace Jr. for the boy, since she loved Bass’ name so much. Sarah wanted the boy to be born first, so he could look after his little sister, and she wanted them to be two years apart. Sarah wanted her children to be blond haired and dark blue eyed like her, since she didn’t really like Sebastian’s light brown hair and she thought his eyes weren’t that pretty. So, when Sebastian told Sarah he wasn’t going to college and asked her to come with him to Missouri (the first state he moved too; it was coincidently right next to Kansas), she flipped out because he was disrupting her ‘perfect’ plan. Sarah had never been outside of Kansas, and she didn’t plan on it. Moving with Sebastian to Missouri just to move was out of the question. She thought it was absolutely absurd that he wanted to travel the continental US and then eventually travel the world; Bass had always been a free spirit, and that was not something Sarah liked about him. It broke Sebastian’s heart that the girl he loved since forever wouldn’t move with him, but he figured it was destiny that she didn’t want to; Bass couldn’t imagine traveling with Sarah being a pain in his ass the whole time. Somehow, she probably would have annoyed him so much that he finally gave in and went home.

So, in his eyes, Sebastian was an expert in disappointment. Since he didn’t like letting people down, even though it happened when he didn’t want it too, he didn’t like people to disappoint him. Expecting things always led to disappointment. That is why Sebastian figured, not expected, that Emma Graham wouldn’t call him. And he was okay with that, he actually wanted to chase after her. She was smart, funny, shy, and beautiful. She had a guard up, and Sebastian had his mind, and heart, set on tearing that wall down. He wanted to know everything about her; he especially wanted to know she had a wall up. When he was around her, Sebastian could see the sadness in her eyes. Emma wasn’t happy, but she deserved to be. Emma deserved to be the girl who didn’t have a care in the world and was always smiling. Sebastian only knew Emma Graham for a few days, but he knew, he could just sense it, that he would become closer to her. And he was very happy about that.