Chapter Six: Cry Baby
He coolly stood in the doorway, one arm leaning against the frame and the other hung from his front jean pocket. He looked the same. He was beautiful as always; blond hair ruffled by the wind, black shades masking his eyes, a strong jawline, and he wore his black jacket. His body had all color drained from it. His skin was milky white and his voice was smoother than honey.
You know how people say they can hear their heartbeats sometimes? Mine was beating through my ears. I felt like I was going to faint.
I heard Riley was aiming to attend college in Washington. This was unexpected, but not a complete surprise. What is he doing here at my doorsteps?
He spoke, but I was too busy admiring him to pay full attention. What was he doing here? Did he come to apologize to me? Does he want to make up? It took him a year to see me. Don't be sad. Don't cry. Don't show weakness.
I burst out in tears. I tried not to heave as I cried. I'm pathetic, honestly. Seth turned his attention back to me. His expression softened and it looked like he didn't know what to do. I held his arm so I wouldn't fall.
"Always the cry baby," Riley sighed as he started to walk inside. Seth held Riley's shoulder back. He kept Riley back at his spot in the doorway.
"Why are you here," Seth growled. Seth's voice was growing thick with anger. I could not picture him angry, yet here he was and I still couldn't comprehend it well.
I held my breath at an attempt to stop myself from tearing up. I quickly wiped my face clean of tears with the sleeve of my sweater. I have to be strong. Remember Angelina, he's the jerk that cheated on you. He's not worth your tears.
"I'm here to break the news to my baby," Riley falsely cooed as he extended his hand to wipe my tears. I stood my ground, but Seth caught Riley's hand before he touched me.
"Don't touch her," Seth commanded. He wasn't shouting. He didn't have to to convey the tone of seriousness. Seth didn't let go of his hand. It looked like he was tightening his grip on it. Riley didn't react to it. Isn't that supposed to hurt?
"Do you want to take this outside," Riley tempted Seth. Seth stood closer to Riley and stared him up. Seth was shorter than Riley, but only by 3 inches or so. Seth was deep in thought. I guess he was wondering which the smartest way to go about this is.
"No one is fighting," my voice cracks as I say this. I mentally kick myself for not clearing my throat before I spoke. I take Seth's arm and try to make him back away from Riley. Seth slides his arm up and holds my hand before stepping down.
Riley gives a bitter grin as he watches us. His head cocks to the side and I can feel it in my bones that he's going to give a sarcastic remark.
"She has you whipped, poor puppy." He puts on a fake pout while he speaks. He's getting on my nerves. My heart drops as I realize he's not here to talk about us. I don't let myself get sad about him and instead channel my inner fury.
I let go of Seth's hands and step up to Riley. He's almost a whole foot taller than me. This sucks. I pull Riley's shirt and ball my fists. I tug his shirt to make his face inches from mine. "Why don't you go home?"
"Baby, you are my home," Riley sarcastically quotes himself. He said this to me before, back when he was a sweetheart. He told me I felt like home. I hate his guts. A tear escapes and I feel my heart break all over again. He's not the same sweet Riley that was with me before. He's a pure jerk now. I wanted to punch his jaw but I know I'd just hurt myself more than I would hurt him.
I can feel Seth's stare at Riley with fiery daggers without looking at him. I know Seth is going to say something, but I beat him to it. "Riley, you're not wanted here." I try to push him out the door with all the muscle I have, but he doesn't even budge. He's like a marble column, ugh.
"You'd rather have your little doggy here break the news to you? It's family business and I know you consider me as fami-" Riley is cut off by a swift punch from Seth. Way to go!
I step back to give Seth and Riley some room. The punch that Seth threw looked effortless. Maybe it was effortless. He probably didn't give it all he had, but it was enough to send Riley staggering backwards. Riley gives a cocky smile and motions for Seth to follow him outside.
"Do you want me to beat him up," Seth asks me. I like how he made sure it was something I wanted.
"Honestly, I'd rather do it myself, but," I don't finish my sentence because I don't want to admit I'm really weak.
Seth gives me a somewhat sad smile. "Cover your eyes and ears and close this door," he softly instructs. He's about to return to fighting Riley when I hold his arm back.
"Thank you," I say. I really mean it. Seth is darling. Seth gives me a quick unexpected hug and I feel my heart melt. He gives me a small smile before he starts walking towards Riley again. I smile back at him. I close my door and silently pray that no one gets hurt too badly.
I hear Cuddle doing his "danger" stomp from the kitchen. When Cuddle's scared, he stomps his foot every two beats on a metronome scale or so. I go and softly pet him.
Less than ten minutes later, there's a knock on the door. I'm hoping it's Seth, but life is always a butt so it's probably Riley. I open the door anyway.
Seth is slightly panting and sweating. He gives me a sheepish smile, which I return.
"I won," Seth states the obvious. The grin on his face is huge and childish. I want to hug him. I feel bad for putting him in danger.
"I'm sorry for making you fight," I begin to tell him.
"It's fine. He was being a jerk to me," Seth tries to take weight off me. He speaks in a really assuring way. His voice is sweet and full of care. Every time he talks, his voice leads me on wanting more. Why didn't I notice this before? Am I making him my rebound? Oh no.
"Thank you. I hope he doesn't come back," I practice my manners. "Hey, um. Can you actually stay over a while, in case he does bother me again?"
Seth's face brightens up. His eyes turn into crescent moons and flashes smile creases. I give out a sigh of relief and fall on my back. The living room carpet catches my fall. I flip over to my right side. I'm exhausted and I don't feel like walking to my bed to lay down.
"Do you care if I ask what happened between you two?" Seth asks gently as he lays down beside me.
"He's my ex. I caught him and my sister having sex. I broke up with him the next time I saw him," I try to make it sound like I don't care. Saying that someone cheated on you is a horrible feeling. It's like saying he didn't want me.
Seth doesn't speak for a while. "Do you blame your sister?"
I don't have to think much about my answer, "No, I didn't even tell my sister I was dating him. She couldn't have known. I kept our relationship a secret because our parents are super strict about dating and boyfriends. It was all on Riley."
I can tell he wants to drop the subject when he doesn't reply.
I flip over to my right side to watch his emotions, but he was already facing me. And just like that, our faces were a centimeter apart. His chocolate eyes were open. His face was serene. His breath danced on my cheeks. It didn't even bother him that we were a centimeter away from kissing. On the other hand, my face was beat red. I probably looked shocked and embarrassed, which I was. My stomach was dancing. I had no control over myself and my emotions.
"Sorry," he mumbles as he rolls over to not face me. He notices my discomfort. I don't answer, but I do the same.
"I think I'm ready to hear about my sister," I confess. This was all getting too scary for me. I feel a bit paranoid. I know she's alive, but everything seems so off.
"Are you sure," Seth gently asks. I hope he doesn't hold back.
I nod, but then remember he can't see me. "Go ahead."
"Do you believe in super powers?" That's kinda random.
"I'd have to see it to believe it," I honestly reply. We flip sides and face each other at the same time. The tips of our noses slightly brush each other. This time he doesn't move away. He stares directly into my honey eyes and chooses his words delicately.
"Would you be scared if I showed you mine," he earnestly asks.
I look directly into his eyes and pray to God my eyes aren't crossed. "I'd be terrified."
Seth searches my eyes. Does he think I'm lying? Does he actually have powers? He called me a psychic, but I doubt it's a superpower.
"I'm going to walk you through it one step at a time, okay?" He makes sure I'm comfortable.
He gets up back on his feet and extends his hand. He helps me stand, then leads me outside through my backdoor. I never got to really explore my backyard, but now I can vaguely say that there is a beautiful opening of a forest there and that the space is huge.
"Wait here. Being open minded now would be a good thing," Seth advises.
So, I wait. Seth walks behind the trees and doesn't come back.
My eyes are tired. I vigorously rub them. That was a bad idea even though it felt so good. My contacts shift out of place and blur my vision. I try to blink them back into place, but it's no use.
Then, I see a big dark sinister blob coming out of the forest. It's advancing towards me and I want to cry. Seth told me to wait out here but what if the blob kills me. I can't risk that, yet my knees feel wobbly. I can't run. I'm going to die.
I actually start to cry. The blob abruptly stops. So, my killer has a brain. Is he going to toy with me?
The blob starts towards me again. It's a good twenty five feet away from me. This time I will my legs to back up. My goal is the house, but I know the blob could easily break its walls down.
I try to blink my tears away as if that would save my life. Surprisingly, my contacts fall back into place. I look at the blob again and it actually looks like a big rust colored dog. It looks more like a husky than a lab. Maybe it's more like a wolf. I heard wolf howls when I first came into Washington. That makes more sense.
"Seth?" I call out to wherever he is. Is this his superpower? Shape shifting into animals? The dog reacts to my voice and sits down.
I want to move closer to the dog but I don't want to be that dumb person in a horror movie that gets so fed up with the killer that they just scream "Come and get me!"
"If you're Seth, come closer," I tell the wolf. He gets up and cautiously steps towards me. He stops when he's five feet away.
"Are you Seth," I ask him. I feel so dumb right now.
The wolf makes a cooing sound from deep within its chest. It almost sounds like a whimper or half of a yawn.
I want to generically ask myself if I'm dreaming, but I already know the answer to that. I still don't want to believe that this is Seth just yet.
"What do I do now," I dumbfoundedly ask him. Wolfy decides to lay down on his paws. His outstretched body makes his head come within a foot of me now. His familiar chocolate eyes stare up at me expectantly.
"I'm not going to pet you," I half joke and half panic. If he wanted to eat me he would've done it already, right? Maybe he's playing with his food? Either way I'm dead.
I kneel down onto the slushy ground and place my right hand somewhere on his muzzle that I think would be equivalent to a human cheek.
"I'm terrified," I somewhat repeat myself.
In a quick movement, Wolfy opens his mouth in a way that places my whole right hand and some of my arm in him mouth. I can feel his teeth and I become at a loss for words once again. He's not biting me, but I'm still horrified. What's a word that's more extreme than terrified? Petrified? I'm petrified.
If wolves could laugh, it would sound like the wolfy chuckle that was coming out of his mouth. Wolf Seth lets go of my arm and runs back into the woods.
The real Seth comes jogging out of the trees with a huge grin on his face. He stands parallel to me and waits for me to say something.
"What the hell," I try to laugh but only succeed in breaking into tears yet again. He's seen me cry before. There's no point in hiding now.
Seth hugs me. My face buries into his upper chest. Why does he have to be so tall?
I cry my fears out into his hoodie. I hope tears don't ruin clothes.
"I should be more worried than you are. You were scared but you didn't scream," he jokes. I can't talk without my voice cracking, so I try to knee him. The key word is "try." He has good
"I'm sorry for traumatizing you, Angel," he apologizes. I can tell he's slightly amused by this. "This still is only the first part of the explanation."
We went back inside so I could feed Cuddle. Then, we collapsed on his bed at Sue's house. He did a good job explaining to me what happened since I came into Washington. He told me about vampires and the Quileutes. He made sure I wanted to know what he told me. He also chose his words wisely to prevent potential break downs.
I never interrupted him. I only answered "yes" when he asked if he should keep talking. I didn't even know what to say when he finished talking. We were sitting side by side on his bed. He always checked for reactions.
I don't believe him. I know he's just shown me his wolf form, but this all seemed too surreal for me. Reality would strike me in the next morning. So, I'll play along.
"So, my sister can't come home," I semi ask and semi state. I'm a little saddened by my words, but its full effect hasn't hit me yet.
"She could after she meets the Volturi," he softly corrects me.
"They're in Italy," I sigh. Courtney and I have to be back in NY in a week. A part of me is screaming "who cares; super heroes skip school and family time a lot" and the other part wants me to keep this a secret from my family. I don't want them to worry or get involved with the Volturi. They seem too lethal.
Seth wraps both arms around my waist and carefully pulls me closer to him.
I shove his chest and ask, "What are you doing?" He loosens his hold, but doesn't let go. His face is blank as far as I can tell.
"You need a hug," he indirectly answers. I agree with him, I just don't know what's holding me back.
"Okay, but-"
"You can go if you want to," he cuts me off. His tone is a little more serious now.
I look him in the eyes and mentally yell at him because he's right again. I stay in his arms and slump in defeat. I do want to be hugged. I could get wolf hugs from him. I could only get bear hugs from normal people.
"Can I say something dumb," I ask him. My stomach tightens as I become nervous. I didn't plan on saying this.
"Anything," his smile is in his voice.
"I like you," I confess. Say it back to me. Please.
"That is dumb. You've only known me for a few days," he lightly presses his face to my hair and laughs as he says this. His voice is slightly tinted with sarcasm.
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.
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Nope! Riley is not dead! Then what happened to his body? Why did he want to tell Angelina about vamps and wolves? When is the heart attack going to be relevant? Who is Courtney's imprint? Why did Leah want to break the news to Angelina? Why does Seth seem fearless? Keep reading to find out! (crowd boos)
Thank you as always for putting up with my writing!
Side Note: 99% of the time I update this story within a week.
