“I can’t believe I’m gonna miss so much…”

“I’m sorry.”

Teddy came over and tapped on the end of the table. His sympathetic eyes were fixed on Ollie.

Ollie bobbed his head and wiped his face. “I’m all right, I’m all right. Is it time for class?”

Teddy grunted, which meant yes.

“I’ll see you later.” Ollie said, getting to his feet.

As soon as he was out of sight, Rory dropped his head into his hands and cursed. He rocked back and forth, mind whirling a million miles a minute.

“I mean, if you’re that devastated, I’m sure there’s room for one more in the class.”

Rory didn’t remove his hands. “I’m not in the mood, Sebastian.”

“Mood, mood for what?”

“This … whatever it is your doing.”

“I see you looking sad, and I have to come over and make sure you’re okay.”

“I don’t want you to be nice to me.”

Sebastian laughed lightly. “What?”

Rory heard him move around the table, then sit in the chair opposite.

“Be horrible,” Rory said.

“It’s not in me to be horrible.”

“Yeah, right.” Rory laughed darkly.

“I’m serious.”

Rory removed his hands and placed them flat on the table. “You hated me when I first came here, I saw it in your eyes.”

“You couldn’t even look at me—”

“All I saw was hatred. Look at me like that again, tell me I’m nothing, that I’m not worth the oxygen.”

“Why?”

“Because I need you to.”

“Really? You’re actually asking me to do that?”

“Yes.”

Sebastian tilted his head, then placed both his hands on top of Rory’s. His expression changed like a switch, from normal and calm to raging and spiteful. He curled back his lip, flared his nostrils, and froze Rory to the chair with a blast of his icy stare.

“Hate doesn’t do it justice. I despise you. You’re not worth the oxygen in your lungs, the food in your stomach, or the blood in your veins. You are less than nothing, and the world would be a better place without you in it.”

Rory only realized tears were running down his face when one hit the table. He looked down at the splash, then back up to Sebastian. His emotional switch had flicked again, and he wore an expression of unmasked sympathy, the skin around his eyes twitched, and he shook his head.

“Is that really what you wanted?”

Rory nodded, then shook his head, then nodded again. “I don’t know.”

“Can I ask for something in return?”

“What?”

“Never ask me to do that again.”

“Aww, how sweet.”

Rory blinked back the moisture in his eyes, then looked up at Pauly. He gestured to the table, where Sebastian’s hands were no longer pressing down on Rory’s. They had at some point, joined, and they were holding each other.