𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀
⠀ ⠀ “𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅.” ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ 𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙍𝙊𝘿𝙐𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉
ᅠᅠ

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

once. After a few minutes he looked ahead of himself and saw her. Seb looked a little gone out, noticing she hadn’t noticed him so his attempt to just turn side ways, talking as if that somehow made him completely invisible.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

Seb thanked the waitress as she returned back with his drink, he took a small swig and then turned his head, hearing his name. Smiling a little he found himself engaged in multiple conversations around the table. He somehow had a knack of keeping up with multiple conversations at

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

It was a strange one, considering she was an actual defence attorney and the lecturers were people who taught the different aspects of law but again because she’d don’t countless guest lectures over the years, she knew of some of them and one of her work friends was the one who’d

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

at the waitress who asked him what he was drinking, he requested a beer and then sat back in his chair. This wasn’t his usual style, Seb was more of a quiet guy, at home, take out and crappy tv, but maybe it would do him some good being out, socialising.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Seb headed inside and was almost immediately shown to the table where most people were already situated, he did the usual of shaking of hands, nodding along and then eventually found a spare seat. Sitting down he adjusted his shirt before looking

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

It had been the same for Nellie, she’d expected to bump into him again after how many times it had happened but she hadn’t. She wasn’t exactly looking for him either but truthfully as weird as it had been, she had also kind of liked when it had happened. No they didn’t exactly

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

That night he had finished work and popped home to shower and change, a few of the lecturers were going for a meal for someone’s birthday and Seb had been roped into going, he didn’t get much of a choice really.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

The following few days Seb hadn’t actually come across Nellie, not once, not at work, not at the local coffee shop, nor in the apartment building, not that he was particularly looking for her, but after the last week or so, the random little bump in’s, he sort of expected it.

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

When he’d mentioned having work to do and emails to catch up on, she nodded her head in understanding. “Oh no worries.” She mirrored his small smile and then walked over to the door to bring the rest of the parcels in that he’d kindly helped bring up.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

away and heading down the hallway, but not far, only a few doors down and he unlocked his own door, going inside and letting the door close behind him.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

At her offer Seb just looked at her before shaking his head. “Oh no, it’s okay. Thanks though.” He spoke with a small smile. “I have some work to do, some emails to catch up on, but thank you.” He took a step back. “Hope you have a nice night.” He said once again before turning

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

After placing the parcels down, she turned back around to look over at him, noticing that he hadn’t stepped inside. She’d probably have done the same if it was the other way around, considering they didn’t exactly know eachother all that well at all.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

As he stepped out and followed her down the hallway, getting to her door, he didn’t go inside. “I’ll just pop them here for you.” He stated as he placed them inside her doorway, well a little over to the wall so she didn’t trip over them.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

Seb followed behind her, heading towards the elevator and then stepped inside, standing at the back as he held her parcels. Thoughts were still racing through his mind of how strange this whole thing was. It just seemed so strange, that was the only way he could think about it.

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

It had always been that Nellie just didn’t like being a burden on people, asking them to take time out of their day to help her when they shouldn’t even have to but right now she kinda did need it so that’s why she’d asked him, even if she’d hesitated beforehand.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

about to head upstairs to his apartment and probably consume another sandwich whilst watching crappy American TV until he fell asleep on the sofa anyway.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

His eyes followed hers to the door and then back at her. He nodded instantly. “Of course.” Seb replied, it made no odds to him, he was happy to help. “Lead the way.” He gestured to her as he balanced her parcels in one hand and his own in his other hand. He wasn’t busy, he was

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

When he’d taken some of the parcels from her, she’d locked it up and then put the key into her pocket, still holding onto the rest of them. It did feel weird but she was also just putting it down to the fact that these were the only decent apartments around the area.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

random people who happened to pass each other, multiple times, it happened. It wasn’t uncommon, it wasn’t weird. Yes it was, who was he kidding? This was fucking strange.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

Taking some of the parcels since he only had a couple of letters under his arm and one parcel himself, he took them and watched her lock the box back up. This still felt weird, more than weird but Seb was trying to not think about it too much. It was just two people, two

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

Now Nellie was a very independent woman, she always had been. She liked to do everything herself with as little help as possible so her initial response was to say no. However, she knew full well that she wasn’t definitely going to end up dropping something if she didn’t take him

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

that she looked like she was about to drop one or maybe all of them at this point.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

A slightly awkward laugh escaped Seb’s mouth, unsure on how to respond to that comment. This was just…strange. He took a step back, watching her for a moment and then saw her juggling some parcels.

“Uh…” He mumbled. “Do you need a hand with them?” He offered politely, seeing

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

Nellie believed she was in some kind of weird dream as well because how she managed to cross paths with this man four times now in the space of two weeks? Sure this entire place maybe wasn’t massive but it wasn’t exactly small either.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

little odd, maybe this city wasn’t as big as he assumed, first at work, twice, then the local coffee shop and now this? Surely this was just some weird dream, like he was about to wake up and it wasn’t real, it was just some warped dream of seeing the same woman multiple times.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

For a moment longer Seb didn’t know what say, he heard her question but his brain didn’t quite compute with his brain for a hot minute. “Uh, yeah…” He replied with his famous one nod.

“Apartment 189.” He commented. The fact they were both in the same apartment building felt a

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

It seems for a moment the two of them just looked at each other as if one another looked like some kind of alien. She didn’t quite know what to say either, just surprised. This was very, very freakishly weird, clearly they were both thinking the same thing as well.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

he froze. Looking back at her. This was weird. Actually no, not weird, this was freakishly weird. He didn’t quite know what to say.

[𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 @thequietlecture]

Whilst stood flicking through his little pile of letters, Seb heard a voice and didn’t look up at first. Just simply replied. “Sorry.” Such a British response, he didn’t need to apologise, but he did. Stepping aside he placed the letters under his arm and looked up.

But then

[𝑵𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 @defiantverdict]

As that week went by, she’d once again after a few days been convinced she wouldn’t see the man again. He hadn’t really been on her mind after that. She’d finished work around 4:30 pm and driven back from the court house. She’d been back in her apartment first, taking