A/N Okay, so this little snippet is technically supposed to be the end of chapter 6, but I got fed up with how long the last chapter was turning out to be, and I didn't want to make you guys wait much longer for me to write this. So here you go! I wasn't expecting me to get around to this part yet, but I hit some inspiration last night and today, so here it is! Enjoy and let me know what you think!


I wasn't alone for more than five minutes before I heart the panting of two little girls running towards me. One I recognized as Claire, trailing behind another girl who I assumed was a friend of hers. The latter was the first to speak to me once they reached my log. "I'm Sarah." She said. "But everyone calls me Sarah A." She said pointing to the baby in my arms.

"Good thing." I amended. "In a year or two I'm sure that would get confusing." She beamed at me brightly. "Hey, Claire." I said to the girl who was standing directly behind Sarah A. Emily had mentioned that she was currently going through a shyness phase. I went through the same thing when I was younger. She smiled back at me timidly.

"Are you going to ask her?" Sarah A. asked her, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Ask me what?" I interjected.

"About the 'princess songs'" A gruff voice answered behind me. Oh shit. I jumped a little in my seat, quickly recovering as to not startle the baby. I turned to see Seth looking down at me, a ghost of a smile on his face. My heart began beating so hard there wasn't a doubt that he could hear it as well as I did.

"Here?" I asked partly to him, and partly to the girls. I felt my whole body tense with nerves. I definitely did not want to sing in public, especially in front of Seth.

He let out a deep laugh. "I would say no, but I think Quil is going to die of stress if you didn't." I was too nervous to be confused, but he explained anyway. "The poor guy even tried to take voice lessons once you… left. It'll be a favor to us if we never have to hear him sing 'Part of Your World' again." He laughed lightly. I still couldn't breath. Why was he acting so nonchalantly around me? Why was he being so nice? It was almost annoying.

He then abruptly walked away, I assumed he sensed how nervous I was around him. Crap. Now he probably thinks I'm crazy as well as still not over him. I sighed at my actions and then turned to the girls.

"Any requests?"


SPOV

I didn't mean to make her freak out so suddenly. In all honesty I hadn't even planned on talking to her. Like ever. I just saw Claire and her friend approach her, and then my feet began moving towards her automatically. I even pushed past Quil as he once again put out an arm to stop me. The strength of the pull I felt to be near her had taken me fully by surprise; we'd been so far apart for so long. And even just watching her from afar had me completely mesmerized.

When she looked at me for the first time, I saw her eyes darken slightly, but it was then clouded with, was that fear? I couldn't be sure. What I was sure of is the fact that every millimeter I moved closer to her, the harder and faster her heart beat ran. Her blush indicated she was extremely embarrassed as well; she knew I could sense her feelings.

Why was she so anxious? I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach. I never thought I could give her reason to fear me so much. Shame and guilt racked through my body as I tried to cheer her up about Quil and his stupid singing phase. It didn't work, I could just feel her become more tense at my prolonged presence. I quickly made the decision to retreat.

Yet, this didn't stop me from watching her every move. In fact, I must have watched her more intently. I had to study her.

It began with her breaking the ice with Claire by talking about Quil's singing. I felt angry for a moment, but then I subsided when I realized that this meant she was amused by what I said. Which was the point, and I could see her acting much more calmly. As long as I'm not there. Things became dicey as I listened and watched Tyler come up and request a song. She beamed at him, and I felt jealousy rack through my body. Pull yourself together, man. He's only ten!

I relaxed down as I saw Sarah A. unabashedly attempt to grab his attention. He seemed uninterested, but I had a feeling she wouldn't be letting him out of her sights for a long time. Serves him right.

I then noticed Emily come over and relieve her from the baby in her arms. I had almost forgotten that little Sarah was there, it just seemed so natural for Maddy to be positioned like that. She almost seemed slightly uncomfortable as the baby left her arms, like she didn't know what to do with her hands. Almost immediately after, Sam announced that the stories were starting, giving Maddy the opportunity to reposition herself on the log to face Billy. Which consequently gave me a full view of her face and body. Damn.

Unfortunately, Tyler positioned himself beside Maddy on the log as well. Too close, for my liking. I saw him whisper something to her, and she looked confused for a moment before smiling, nodding and taking his hand in her own. This time I couldn't contain my growl, and I heard Sam guffaw from the blanket to the right of me.

"You better teach your son to keep his hands to himself." I seethed. He laughed again, mockingly.

"Don't be mad that he has game." He said. "He gets it from me." He half-whispered to Emily.

"Game my ass." I muttered under my breath.

"He got farther than you in one evening, than you have in two years." I heard Jared say from my right. Why the fuck did I choose to sit next to all these damned couples?

"Leave him alone, Jared." Kim said, looking at me pityingly. I like that even less.

Before my ego dropped to an all time low, I noticed Sarah A. move over to the cozy couple. She looked longingly at the two's hands, and Maddy quickly moved so there was room between the two of them. Tyler looked sullen at the interruption, but Sarah A. couldn't have been happier as she sat between them, grabbing Tyler's hand without permission.

"HA." I said in Sam's direction.

"Just an interception, besides, now he's held two girl's hands tonight. How many have you?" I chose to ignore his latter comment. I was definitely not in the mood to size up the competition I had with a boy who could barely read chapter books.


MPOV

It was turning out to be quite a strange night. First with Seth speaking to me without any sense of anger or resentment, then Claire and her friend pushing me to sing practically every song I knew whilst they (including Quil and Tyler) watched. Not to mention the strange feeling of guilt I felt as I held Tyler's hand at the bonfire. His request was too cute for words, and I couldn't help but be flattered at his crush. That strange sensation stayed with me however, despite all my rational thought. I mean he was only in the fifth grade, and I was in no way doing anything inappropriate. Maybe I was thinking too much about it.

Needless to say, I was grateful to see Sarah A. come up, her intent to wedge Tyler and I apart being obvious. I was also more than happy to oblige her, and even giggled when I saw her grab Tyler's hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ah, young love.

And, with my luck, my night became even more strange. By some power of the universe, Seth and I happened to choose seats in direct line of each other, our gazes meeting every few seconds. I felt completely vulnerable, and incredibly awkward, but those feelings didn't even compare to the ones I felt one I realized that not only were we making too much eye contact for my liking, Seth was undeniably staring at me. I silently prayed that he didn't notice my flaming cheeks, and I was never more grateful for the presence of the bonfire at that moment. I tried to as slyly possible see his expression, but dodging the gaps in the flame only served to make me look like I was having an epileptic episode. Which earned me a glance Claire who was sitting a few feet away from me. But the same question kept running through my mind. What was he thinking?

I should have been annoyed, I mean if he had to say something to me, just pull me aside and say it to my face. This staring contest was entirely too childish for my taste. My body betrayed my pure thoughts. Because all I felt was quite a deep heart ache, and a forceful attraction due to the intensity of his gaze. I wasn't expecting such an immediate reaction to him; this feeling had been coming and leaving all night, usually accompanied by day dreams of dragging him to the trees and having my way with him. I blushed and smiled even more embarrassingly at my traitorous thoughts. Hold it together Madeleine! Damn it, he was too hot for his own good. I found myself looking at his biceps through the flickers of the flames. This can not be good for my eyes.

It's totally worth it.

Amazingly, I managed to make it through the stories with my vision in tact, but there was no doubt if Billy had prolonged his stories much longer, Seth's biceps and gazing stare would surely have been burned into my sight forever. Not bad, not bad at all.

Before leaving, I was sure to thank Billy for his efforts in telling the legends, they were truly fascinating, and every time he told them, there were more details that were unveiled.

"No, problem, my dear. I'm glad you found your way back to us again." He smiled.

"Me too." I said truthfully. He must have noticed my intense staring game with Seth, because of his next comment.

"Just give him time." His voice dropped so low, so as I was the only one who could hear it. "He hasn't yet wrapped his mind around you yet." What the hell is that supposed to mean? He better get used to it, quickly. I then considered this comment as confirmation that Seth was going to give me his two cents about coming back, and began to take my leave as quickly as possible. I did my rounds to all the girls and their imprintees, as well as the other guys (and met some new ones that I had missed in the past two years) , whilst carefully avoiding Seth, who had the duty of putting out the bonfire.

After managing to make it off the beach safely, I began walking lazily back to my car, mentally patting myself on the back for getting off the hook so easily. I was so smug up until the point I began pulling the car door closed, before a hand shot out and held it open. I managed to make it off the beach, walking lazily thinking I had gotten off easily. I almost made it to the point where I could have pulled off, before a hand grabbed my car door as I was pulling it shut. I jutted out of my seat slightly, my left foot hitting the ground at the sudden force keeping the door open. In my new position, I looked up to see the one person I was not ready to speak to yet.

"Seth." I said breathily. There goes my heart again. He smiled at me. SMILED at me. I couldn't believe he had the audacity to-argh! "What can I help you with." I said, trying my best to not convey my extreme annoyance.

"I just came to say…" He sighed. "Welcome back." Welcome back. WELCOME BACK!

I sighed heavily, hardening my grip on the door handle. "And?" He looked genuinely confused at my question.

"And what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me that you're mad at me?" I said quickly. He looked at me strangely, like I had suddenly grown two heads or something equally as distressing.

"Mad at you for what?" He asked, like it was the most ludicrous thing in the world.

"For coming back." Dumbass. I wanted to add, but I didn't have it in me.

"I could never be mad at you." He laughed dryly. After saying goodnight, he walked away. But not before I heard him mention "-especially for coming back."


MPOV

"Especially for coming back!" I mimicked, doing what must have been the worst impression of Seth in the world, while on the phone with my best friend Meghan. She was doing her best to coach me through what felt like a big moment, though she was all the way in Pittsburgh at the time, working as a social worker. She had just graduated with a degree in Psychotherapy, but she loved what she did too much to switch over right away. Not to mention the fact that she had recently started a long term relationships with a man she had casually dated for quite some time. "I swear, he has to be doing this on purpose. It would be my luck that he figured out the only way to piss me off more is to deny me the satisfaction of an argument!" I huffed. Although it had been over two hours since I had left the bonfire, I still felt a raging fire surge through me, and my emotions were fluctuating just as violently. Just a half an hour ago on the couch I laid down and couldn't get up, but now I was pacing trying to stave off the dull ache in my chest.

As I tried to calm my breathing, I heard Meghan giggle slightly over the phone. "Honestly, I don't think any man would have thought that far into it. He was probably just trying to annoy you. Which- seems to have worked." She stated. I felt myself relax slightly. Maybe she was right, maybe it wasn't the big deal I was making it. Then an abominable thought ran through my head.

"Oh no!" I groaned, thoroughly emberassed at myself. I fell onto the couch once again and covered my face with a pillow. "I fell right into it!"

"What are you talking about?" I could hear Meghan's voice become slightly worried.

"Seth!" I moaned again. "He probably thinks I'm still head-over-heels for him! And he was being so nice because he feels sorry for me!" I felt tears form in my eyes. "I can't believe I let myself act like that." I blinked rapidly, water forming at the top of my cheeks. "I mean it's bad enough that I actually do still have feelings for him, but he doesn't have to know it!" I gasped as I realized what I had admitted out loud.

"Wait, are you admitting that you still love him?" She asked, surprised at my earlier reaction.

"I don't even know anymore! I feel like a thousand different emotions go through me every time I'm near him! Not to mention how I feel when I was away." I sighed, hiccuping slightly as I tried to breathe.

"Well, not to get all psychotherapist on you or anything, I think it's a good thing you went back."

"It is?" I sniffled.

"Yea, I mean this is the most emotional you've ever been since you came back. You were positively catatonic before. This could be good for you, like facing your fears."

"I hope so." I added, not feeling a whole lot better.

"I think you should get a dog." She added. I laughed, her distraction worked.

"And why is that?"

"Well I was reading this article the other day, and it was about how they use dogs to help soldiers with PTSD."

"I can hardly relate going through a break up with experiencing war." I added dryly.

"Umm... you relive the events of your past, you can't sleep at night- you may not have it but you certainly have some symptoms." I refused to comment that I was experiencing any such thing. "Come on, a dog will be fun. You'll get to name it something cute and take it on walks!" She sounded legitimately excited. "Just think about it, promise?"

I took a deep breath. "I promise."

"Oh. Before I hang up. I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"Seth is such a dick."

"This is why I keep you around."


A/N Oh my goodness, this was not supposed to take this long, nor was it supposed to be this long. School has gotten me on a crazy schedule, but I think about this story every day! And I hope you all enjoyed it, and can leave me a comment telling me what you think! See you guys soon!