Coma

Emma wasn’t one hundred percent positive as to why she called Sebastian. She could say that it was a spur of the moment decision, but Emma was never a spur of the moment type of girl. Deep down, so deep that Emma didn’t even realize it, Emma knew she was lonely. Before the accident, she spent almost every waking moment with Mark, and now, she only saw him during visiting hours and it still wasn’t the same. It would be one thing if they could hold a conversation and him be in the hospital, but Mark was still comatose, so Emma did all the talking, and she felt idiotic talking to herself.

So Emma decided to call Bass. After much thinking and doing the whole calling and hanging up bit, Emma finally got enough courage to actually talk to him. Bass had answered hastily after five rings. Emma stuttered when she said hello, asking him if he wanted to meet up somewhere. Although Sebastian sounded casual when he answered yes, on the inside, he was bursting with happiness.

“Hey Em!” Sebastian called brightly when he saw her. They had agreed to meet at the park. Since it was a tad bit cold, Sebastian decided to buy them both hot chocolate. He didn’t know if Emma liked coffee, or how she liked her coffee, so he decided to get hot coco because everyone seemed to like the warming drink. Bass smiled when he saw Emma sitting by herself on a park bench, smiling as she watched little kids play on the playground. He laughed out loud as he noted her bundled up in a thick jacket and jeans.

“Hey, thanks,” Emma said as she accepted the steaming drink Sebastian handed her. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked when he sat down next to her. Sebastian was dressed only in a pair of black cargo shorts and a thin tee shirt.

“Nah, it’s not that cold,” he replied, sipping his hot chocolate. Bass hissed when it burned his tongue. “So, how have you been?” he asked, ignoring the fact that his taste buds were dying.

Emma shrugged, fiddling with her fingers. She tucked her wind blown strawberry blond hair behind her ear before answering. “Alright, I suppose,” she answered somewhat truthfully. “What about you? How have you been?”

“Good,” Sebastian stated, “I think I’m really moving up in the dog grooming and golf ball retrieving. I think I may even open a business where I groom the dogs, and then they go retrieve the balls for me.” Emma’s hand flew to her mouth as she fought to keep from spitting out her drink. “So, how is your fiancé?” Sebastian asked after they both caught their breath from laughing.

Emma instantly became quiet. One of the main reasons she called Bass was to forget about Mark for a while, not talk about him. Still, she answered never the less. “Not good,” she said sadly, “There has been no improvement.”

Sebastian wasn’t blind, so he could see that talking about Mark hurt her. He was quick to change the subject, sort of. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said lamely, “So, um, how did you guys meet?” So it wasn’t exactly changing the subject, seeing as they would still be talking about Mark, but Sebastian saw it as being okay since they weren’t exactly talking about him being in the hospital.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” Emma said, smiling as she remembered the five year old version of Mark.

“So you pretty much have a clichéd relationship?” Bass asked. “Known each other forever, friends, and then enemies, then dating, and now engaged?”

Emma blushed, realizing that Sebastian pin-pointed she and Mark’s relationship to a tee. “Pretty much,” she replied embarrassed.

Sebastian laughed. “It’s alright, I had a clichéd relationship too. Same instance too.”

“What happened?” Emma couldn’t help to feel curious.

Sebastian shrugged. “I asked her to travel with me; she wouldn’t, so I broke it off.”

“Oh I’m sorry.”

Sebastian shrugged again. “Eh, she was a bitch anyways,” he said bluntly. “Mind if I smoke?” Bass asked after an awkward silence. “Want one?” he asked after Emma shook her head.

“No thanks, I don’t smoke.”

“Ever?” Sebastian asked as he used a black Zippo to light the cigarette.

Emma nodded. “Never have, never will.”

“Oh come on, who can you decide you don’t want to do something if you’ve never tried it?” Bass questioned, blowing smoke out of his mouth. Sebastian wasn’t a heavy smoker, more like the occasional cigarette, but he was experienced enough to be able to blow the smoke through his nose if he wanted to. It hurt like hell, but in high school, he and his friends learned how to do it.

“Smoking kills,” Emma said simply.

“So does an ingredient in Sweet-n-Low but people still drink it,” Bass pointed out. Emma was speechless; Sebastian had a point. “Just one cigarette won’t kill you.”

“Giving into peer pressure is wrong,” Emma said lamely because she could feel herself giving in. The mixture of Sebastian’s puppy dog blue eyes and the fact that nicotine was supposed to calm you (or so she heard) was making her lean towards taking the cigarette in Bass’ out stretched hand.

“You know you want to,” Sebastian sang, waving the cigarette in front of Emma’s face.

“Fine,” she said harshly. Emma grabbed the cigarette roughly and shoved it in her mouth. Sebastian laughed as he lit the cigarette for her.

“I win,” he whispered.

“Shut the hell up,” she muttered, causing him to laugh.

It was at that moment, when Emma started coughing drastically because she sucked into much, that Sebastian made it his goal to get Emma to try things she didn’t normally do. And smoking a cigarette was number one crossed off on his imaginary list.