Chapter Text
"How come you didn't tell Mom and Dad you broke up with Manda?"
Dinner was nice. Mom's food was as good as ever. They went around the table talking about their days. Sebastian helped one of the guys on the JV soccer team with passing drills. Lizzy showed the new girl where the science wing is and they got their math tests back. She got an 89 on her math test, which would have been a disappointing grade from Sebastian, but was cause for celebration from her, and only possible due to a lot of tutoring from Sebastian, so it was a celebration for him too. Aaron remembered to be gentle when petting the class guinea pigs. And Faith shared her colored pencils with three different classmates.
But Sebastian didn't mention that he broke up with Manda.
"Hi Lizzy, come in why don't you," Sebastian says, ushering her in from where she's standing in his bedroom doorway, where he's retreated after dinner. Lizzy finished the dishes and then followed him down. "How did you even hear about that?"
"Manda told Karlie and Chloe, who told Lila, who told Belle and Della," plopping down on his neatly made bed.
"Oh," Sebastian, like he was somehow unaware that Manda's been workshopping baby names for when Sebastian comes back from Mission and they get married. He sits down heavily at his desk chair and turns it around to face her. Come to think of it, he might not know. Boys can be so oblivious.
"So why didn't you say anything?" she asks again.
"I never even told Mom and Dad we were dating," he says.
"But they knew." Of course they knew. She overheard them talking about it one night when she was in bed but not quite asleep yet. It wasn't eavesdropping. She wasn't trying to listen, she could just hear them. They were talking about whether Sebastian and Manda would get married one day. Sebastian probably doesn't overhear things like that with his room all the way down here. A lot of the ward's probably talked about it though.
"Well, if they knew without me telling them, I'm sure they'll hear about us breaking up without me saying anything," Sebastian says.
"But why'd you break up?" Lizzy asks.
"Are you going to tell Della and Belle who will tell Karlie who will tell Manda?" Sebastian asks, smiling at her so she knows he's joking.
"No, come on, of course not." She knows it's wrong to be a gossip. She can't help it if people want to tell her things. But she wouldn't tell anyone something Sebastian told her in confidence. "You're my best friend."
"I know," Sebastian says. Then, "I didn't love her."
That never occurred to her. When Lila and Tim broke up it was because he was texting Sasha. And when Cara and Woodrow broke up it was because Cara's best friend's sister, Cordielia saw Woodrow kissing Kimberly in the back row of an R-rated movie. She knew Sebastian wouldn't have done that, but she thought there must have been something. She wasn't expecting something as simple as not being in love.
"Did she love you?" Lizzy asks.
"I don't know," he says. "More than I loved her, probably."
"Oh." She doesn't know what to say. If one of them was flirting with someone else, it would be easy to offer comfort. But there's no answer to this.
"I'm sorry if I hurt her," Sebastian says.
"I know," she says, because Sebastian is the nicest, kindest person she knows. "But it's probably for the best." Lizzy isn't sure why she said that, but somehow, she knows it's true
"How do you figure?" Sebastian asks.
"Manda should be with someone who loves her," Lizzy says, puzzling it out as she speaks. "And so should you. So if you didn't love her, it's good you broke up."