Paul and Kaitlyn: Part 1
Of all the days in my life, I think this has got to be the most confusing day in my life. Harry Clearwater had just passed away, leaving Sue Clearwater a widow and my best friend Leah and Sammy's best friend Seth, fatherless. The funeral was a week ago, but the somber feeling within our household was still suffocating.
Amber, Nate, and Melissa had gone to the Clearwater's to comfort Sue. Sue was like the mentor to Amber that she always thirsted for. Sue was the perfect housewife and mother. She was everything that Amber wanted to be. Amber, being the very compassionate person that she was, has been at their house since Harry's passing.
My twin, Samantha, was greatly affected by the death of Harry as well. She had gone back to being mute for a few days after his death. I had to make sure that she wouldn't relapse into cutting herself. I don't think that I could live through another emo episode.
Leah and Seth had gone completely missing. We haven't heard a word from them since the funeral. I was extremely worried about them, but I wasn't as drastic as Sammy was. She had been pacing the living room floor for almost an hour now. She was having an inner struggle, debating if she was going to march over to Seth and demand he talk to her, or sit on the couch and wait patiently like I was doing.
I could tell that this was really tearing her apart. Her fingernails were nibbled to the nub of her fingers, and her hair was a curly mess. Her eyes were a wild green and her lip was swollen from the assault that her teeth had implicated. Tears were on the brink of falling from her eyes and she kept sniffling. I understood her frustration. I would want nothing more than to run and hug Leah, but I knew that she needed her own time to get better. I didn't want to force this on her.
Samantha's pacing had stopped and her eyebrows were knit together. Her eyes held determination and pride. She had made her decision. I wasn't surprised when she left the living room, grabbed the keys off of the hook in the kitchen, and bolted for the door. She wasn't the patient type. She wasn't the type to sit by idly and wait for someone to get over their issues. She was the type to pull someone off of the ledge instead of waiting for them to decide if they wanted to jump or not.
I smiled to myself as I heard our jeep pull out of the driveway. I knew my sister better than she knew herself.
I sighed in confusion. I had the house to myself. I had nothing to do. I grabbed my phone and scrolled through the contacts. I didn't really want to talk to. The only person that I had gotten extremely close to Leah, and she was avoiding me. I text her for what felt like the hundredth time. Hey Leah. I didn't expect a reply. I figured that if she knew that I still acknowledged her existence, she would get better sooner.
I laid down on the couch and tried to watch TV. Apparently, every station in the world had a cooking show on right now. I watched as random people grilled, seared, steamed, and cut everything from fish and poultry to fruits and vegetables. I hated watching cooking shows. It was very boring. There was no plot. There was no turmoil. Only the sound of sizzles and pops as food cooked.
My stomach growled and I realized that I had another reason to hate cooking shows. They made you unbearably hungry. I walked into the kitchen and searched through the refrigerator. Nothing. The cupboards were just as empty. I sighed in frustration. I watch someone on TV cook a meal fit for 20 people and I don't have enough ingredients to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
I settled for some of Amber's "pregnancy cereal". Special K and soy milk was her craving. I've never met anyone with such a boring craving. Right now, I would kill for pickle ice cream compared to bland cereal.
I ate the Special K and imagined that I was eating the Chicken Noodle Soup that was being cooked on the television. It wasn't working. After eating the bird food that Amber had bought, I decided to take a little nap. I was tired of having to pretend to be happy when everyone else was depressed. I was tired of being the optimist with everything. I was tired of hearing Melissa cry in her sleep and seeing Amber with bags under her eyes. I just let all of the tiredness that I had accumulated over the past week take over and I shut my eyes.
I was awoken by the slamming of a door and someone stomping up the stairs. I sat up immediately and almost fell off of the couch. How long was I sleeping? It was only the afternoon when I took my nap, and now it was dark out. I guess I was more tired than I realized.
I ran up the stairs to find Samantha screaming and crying into her pillow. I hadn't seen her this distraught since Scar. Sammy was always very good at keeping her composure and hiding her true feelings. To see all of this emotion erupting from Samantha at one time was scary.
I ran up to her shivering body and held her as she wept. I didn't care that her tears were soaking my t-shirt or that she was squeezing me hard enough to cut off my breathing. She needed me and I'd be there for her. No matter what.
After her sobbing had decreased to a few sniffles, I took a chance and asked her what had happened to her. I knew that it had to be pretty devastating if it had Samantha the Nonchalant freaking out.
"You know how Seth was ignoring me?" I nodded my head. "Well, I found him on the beach with Sam!" My heart stopped.
Sam was Leah's ex-boyfriend. He dumped her for Emily, Leah's favorite cousin. I remember consoling her for days after that. In fact, I don't think that she had fully recovered from it. To think that Seth, Leah's younger brother, was hanging out with that douche bag was unrealistic.
"He was avoiding me, keeping me worried that he was still mourning over Harry, and he was on the beach, having a great time with Sam and his gang! I haven't slept a good night in days and there he was, laughing and smiling with his buddies. When I confronted him, all he did was stare at me. He didn't even give me an explanation. Nothing." The look on her face was heartbreaking. Her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. Tears were streaming down her face and her cheeks were red. If I found Seth, I'd kill him. He'd die.
I was still holding Sammy when there was a hard knock on the door. Sammy held on to me tighter than she had before, letting me know that she didn't want to me to leave her, even for a second. I patted her back gently. "I'll only be a second. Stay here." She nodded her head and held on to her pillow tightly.
I walked down the stairs and to the front door. I didn't even look through the peephole. I already knew who it would be. I opened the door to find Seth, shirtless, taller than he used to be, his long hair was gone, and his body way muscular than it used to be. Hot damn! Behind him, was another guy. I'm guessing one of Sam's gang members. He was almost as tall as Seth. Maybe 6'1". His hair was short, like Seth's but his body was more muscular than Seth's.
His face was beautiful. His lips were up in a smirk and his cheekbones were high. His nose was perfect. I didn't look in his eyes. I felt intimidated by his looks. That's never happened before.
"What do you want Clearwater?" I glared at him. He's lucky he brought back up. If he didn't he'd be dead by now. "I have to see Samantha." I stared at him in disbelief. Who the hell did he think he was? He makes my sister come home in tears and now here he was, making demands. I scoffed at his stupidity.
"There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm allowing you the satisfaction of being around my sister." I glared at him. "Do you know how badly you hurt her?" He nodded his head in agony. His eyes showed the pain that he felt. I didn't care.
"So, now you understand why I can't let you see her." I crossed my arms over my chest. Sammy needed a body guard. That was officially my job.
Seth didn't give up. His eyes were pleading, almost as if they were on the brink of tears. "I understand that. But, you don't understand that I HAVE to see her. I need to see her. Right now! If not, I'm going to die." I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. I wasn't going to move from this spot.
Seth, sensing my stubbornness, tried to make a deal with me. "Can she at least come to the door? Please?" If Seth's eyes were the peephole to the soul, then it was obvious that his soul was dying right now. However, my sister's happiness meant more to me than Seth's soul at the moment.
Before I could reply, I heard Samantha descend the stairs. Dammit! I told that girl to stay upstairs. As soon as Seth saw Samantha, his eyes brightened and a smile grew on his face. I could sense the dark rain cloud that was hovering over Seth just a few seconds ago, disappearing.
"Sammy, I…" "Don't talk." Samantha cut Seth off before he could say anything. She pushed passed me, Seth, and Seth's fellow gang member. She turned back around to see all of us staring at her questioningly. "Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked Seth. Seth nodded his head and nearly skipped towards her.
She just came home, crying over this guy, and now she was going to go for a walk with him. What the hell was wrong with her? "No, Sammy you can't!" I walked towards her, but Seth's friend stopped me by grabbing my upper arm. I felt a surge of electricity surge through his skin and onto mine. "Don't get involved. This has nothing to do with you." I ripped my eyes away from Seth and Samantha and glared at the dude holding my arm.
His eyes were dark brown. Like dark chocolate, they were bitter with a sweet under tone. The look in his eyes went from indifference, to love, to surprise, and hatred. I tore my eyes away from his and ripped my arm out of his grasp. "Don't tell me that you just…" Seth started. "Son of a bitch!" the guy yelled.
I don't know why my feelings were hurt with his outburst. I had heard Samantha scream "son of a bitch" all of the time. However, to hear him scream his distaste for me, put me in a bad mood. I glared at the guy and slapped him. The anger that was building up inside of me about Seth exploded when he screamed. I immediately regretted the act, but I wasn't going to apologize for it.
Seth grabbed Samantha's upper arm like the guy, whose name I didn't know, had done to me. "Let's go for that walk now." He dragged her down the streets and away from where we stood.
With Seth and Sammy gone, my full attention was on this guy in front of me. His face was still turned from the impact of the slap. His cheek was turning red. I smiled smugly at the guy and pushed passed him, into my house.
I tried to close the door behind me, but something was preventing me from doing so. I looked down to see a foot stopping the door. I looked up and glared at the owner of the foot. "What? Don't you have to go follow Seth or sell drugs or whatever it is you guys do?" He stared at me, expressionless. "Why did you slap me?" he totally ignored my question.
I shrugged. He pushed the door open and sauntered in. "Hey, get out of my house! I don't know you buddy!" He laughed at my comeback. I never really dealt well with tough situations that needed actual confrontation. That was Samantha's job. I was the one that diffused the situation with my words afterwards.
"You don't even know me," he continued on. I nodded my head. "Exactly! I don't know you. So you should probably leave." A smirk played on his lips. "I'm Paul Lahote." I stared, open mouthed at Paul.
He was Paul. He was a known on the reservation for being a womanizer. Leah had told me of countless of Paul's sexual escapades with some of the girls on the rez. I could understand why he got so many girls. He was extremely sexy.
"Well, Paul, if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave my house immediately." I touched his chest, trying to push him out of the house, but a spark flew between us and I froze. I looked up at Paul's face and was sure that his eyes mirrored my own. We were both confused. "Why does that keep happening?" I asked, mostly to myself.
"Son of a bitch!" He repeated. I bit my lip, fighting back tears. Why is it that every time he said that, or got angry, I would become sad? I felt as if though he was rejecting me. I realized that my hand was still touching him, and I snatched it back. The buzz of the electricity was still there. I realized that I didn't want to stop touching him. However, his obvious distaste for me was pissing me off.
"I'd better go." The look on his face was confused. He was having an inner turmoil. He reached for the door and yanked it open. When he opened it, we saw Seth and Samantha embraced in a kiss. With Seth's newfound height, Samantha had to stand on her tippy toes to reach his lips. I stood in disbelief. Samantha was never so forgiving.
When they noticed us, they pulled apart. They both looked away from each other, embarrassed and feeling guilty. "So, uh, I'll call you later?" Samantha asked, giving Seth the googly eyes. He nodded, a very Sethy smile gracing his face. "Of course." He leaned down and gave Samantha a quick peck on the lips. She hugged him one last time before leaving the cold and entering the house.
Paul pushed passed Seth and walked away from the house. "Fuck this. I'm out." Seth gave me an apologetic look. "What's his problem? Is he always so pissy?" Seth nodded. "He's Paul. He'll come around." I rolled my eyes at him. "I hope he never comes around again." Seth looked down at his feet, trying to avoid my gaze. "I don't know if that's possible." He mumbled. "What?" I questioned, quirking an eyebrow. "Nothing! See you around ok?" I nodded my head in confusion. "Okay?" it sounded like a question.
Seth ran towards the forest, which was exactly where Paul had disappeared to. I didn't understand those Quilete guys. They were weird. The weirdness must be contagious because Samantha was becoming weird as well. My thoughts suddenly drifted back to Paul and his Adonis body. His beautiful face was forever etched in my mind.
I rolled my eyes. The weirdness is definitely contagious. I was falling for Paul. Of course, I was. Damn him.