"When you're gone, the pieces of my heart are missing you. When you're gone, the face I came to know is missing too. When you're gone, all the words I need to hear to always get me through the day and make it okay: I miss you." -from Avril Lavigne 'When You're Gone'
Seth's POV
I watched as Erin drove away with her cousin and Kendra, trying not to cry in front of everyone. Believe me, it was the single most difficult thing I'd ever done. Okay, second most difficult. The most difficult thing had been telling Charlie that Erin was being abused in the first place.
"All right everyone." Mom said to the crowd that was still gathered around the Barlows' house. "I think we can all go about our normal business considering that we can no longer see the car."
It had been a nice car too. Why hadn't Erin ever told me that she could actually afford things like that? Well, it was her business anyway. I had to respect that. It didn't matter anyway. She was still the same girl.
"Seth, you okay?" I turned around to see Brady watching me. No one else seemed to be around. They must have all left without me noticing. I was pretty distraught.
"No." I told him truthfully.
"You know you did the right thing by telling Charlie about her uncle." he said, walking closer to me. "She might not be here right now if you didn't. I mean, she's not here now. I mean, in this world. She is though. Because of you. Ugh. I'm an idiot."
"Yeah." I told him, laughing at him. I heaved a sigh. "So, did you even talk to Kendra at all?" I wanted to take the conversation away from me and Erin.
"Uh... no." Brady said, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets and staring down at the ground. "No, I didn't."
"Really?" I asked, curiously. "Why not? I thought you'd be visiting her in Astoria for a couple months. Thought you even got her a Christmas and birthday present."
"Yeah." he muttered. "But... uh... she has a boyfriend."
"Wait, you told her you liked her?"
"Oh, God no. I'm not that stupid, Seth." he told me, shaking his head. "No. She just mentioned him. We were talking about Erin moving back there and she said she hadn't told her what was really going on. She didn't tell her she got a boyfriend or that their friends, Jamie and Dylan, have changed a lot."
"Oh." I said sympathetically. "That's too bad, Brady."
"Yeah." he muttered sadly. "At least she doesn't seem to think I'm weird or annoying or creepy."
"That's because she hasn't gotten to really know you yet." I joked.
"Oh, that's it, Clearwater." Brady said, lunging at me.
We started wrestling around on the ground and I started laughing. "That all you got Stone?" I teased him. "Oh, come on. My grandmother can do better than that."
"Ahem. Boys."
We stopped fighting and looked up to see Mrs. Underwood staring down at us with a bag of groceries in her hands. "Busy?" she asked, smiling down at us.
We stood up and dusted ourselves off, feeling slightly ashamed that we were acting like a couple of idiots. "Sorry ma'am." we chorused, looking down at the ground like the bad kids we were.
"Did I miss Erin leaving?" she asked, sitting her bag down on the side of the road.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, she left about a half hour ago."
She gave a soft, sad smile. "Oh, I wanted to come and see her off. She was a real good kid and I'll miss her."
"Yeah." I told her. "Me too."
"Your mother told me what had been going on." she informed me. "You did a wonderful thing for her, Seth. She wasn't safe there."
"No." I said, shaking my head. "No she certainly wasn't."
"Well, next time you speak with her, you tell her I said hello." she said, bending over to pick up her bag.
"Hold on, Mrs. Underwood." I told her. "I'll take that for you. I'm sure you can find something for Brady to do too."
The old woman smiled. "I'm sure I can too."
Brady and I spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening helping Mrs. Underwood around her house. We also tried to keep our minds off our imprints. Easier said than done.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while guys. I meant to so many times but things got in the way. I got a lot of homework, I decided to learn the saxophone, I had band stuff to do, the internet decided to be stupid, and I got a little sick. I'll get another chapter up soon. Oh, sorry it was so short. I'll make up for it soon. You'll see.
