Author's Note:
I'm back from my vacation! Yay, I know! I had tons of fun on my trip. I got to see all the monuments, memorials, Gettysburg, Mount Vernon, the Holocaust Museum, the White House, the Museum of Natural History, And the Fourth Of July Fireworks. Highlight of my life! Anyways, here's the latest update from Dakota and Seth's world, and I hope you enjoy it. And remember to review so that I have more motivation to update sooner. :) And do you like the bold lettering for author's notes? Let me know!
Happy Reading!
Ch. 12 In Which There is Applying
I opened my eyes to a unfamiliar ceiling. I almost freaked out and screamed, but then I remembered where I was. My new 'house', if that's what I could call it. I didn't want to call it home, since it really wasn't my home, nor would it ever be my home, so the term 'house' seemed like a better idea.
I lifted off whatever was covering me, it looked like a series of homeade quilts, and sat up to stretch my arms and yawn. I was in the guest room, or the room I had put all my stuff in as of yesterday. I hadn't gotten the chance to look around in it much yet, so that seemed like a good plan since I appeared to be alone. I gingerly stood up, found a change of clothes from my suitcase, and started snooping around. The room had some ugly ass wallpaper, deer antlers and bear claw prints, but hey, I wasn't one to complain.
There was a few wooden picture frames hanging on the walls. Photos of a young Seth, with a huge fish hanging from his hand, and a picture of a toothless Leah smiling in the orange glow of a fire. Lastly, there was a sepia photo of a young man and woman, one in a suit, the other in a lacy white dress. It was a wedding photo, clearly, and I knew it was probably Seth's parents. They looked so happy, as cliche as it sounds, but really. The way they were looking at each other reminded me nothing of how my own parents looked at each other. I was only four when my mother left, but in the photos left of my parents there was obviously no love in their eyes.
I moved on, admiring the minimal furniture filling the room. There was a small wooden dresser, simple with no designs, and a matching nightstand next to the bed which I had just woken up on. It was a queen-sized bed, a large improvment from my previous one. A simple wrought-iron lamp adorned the top of the nightstand, and a small digital alarm clock that read 10:23 am sat next to the lamp. Other than those few furnishings, the room was empty. I peered out the only window in the room, which gave a view of the woods surrounding the outside of the house.
Suddenly, I gasped, my heartrate increasing rapidly, as I felt warm hands on top of my shoulders.
"Goodmorning", Seth's deep voice whispered, his hot breath tickling my ear.
"You scared the fuck out of me, you ass!" I accused, turning around to face him and bang my fists on his chest, which of course, had no effect on him. Fucker.
"I'm sorry", he apologized, an amused smirk still dawning on his handsome face.
"Somehow I don't believe that", I mumbled, moving around his massive form to sit on the end of the un-made bed.
Seth sighed, the smirk fading as he walked over to sit next to me. I noticed he was wearing plaid pajama pants, a tight gray t-shirt, and his black, short hair was mussed. His bed hair was sexy. I tried to wipe that thought from my mind, though. It was distracting...
"You're staring." He grinned, and I felt my face redden as a result. God, I really need to gouge my eyes out.
"Like you don't", I challenged back.
"Touche."
There was a small silence, oddly it was comfortable. It still was a mystery to me as to how I could feel so comfortable around someone who I'd known for less than a week, but with Seth, I did.
"So...what's on the agenda for today?" I wondered, wiping some sleep from my eyes.
"Well, since you didn't get a chance to yesterday, you need to go apply at the clinic. And then, hopefully you can meet my mom. She almost decapitated me because she didn't get to meet you yesterday. And on top of that, Leah told her that we were, um..."
"Fucking?" I supplied with a small sliver of hope that he would say no. Instead, he nodded, and I groaned. Great first impression to make on Seth's mommy dearest. She's heard my gutteral sex moaning before we even met. Dakota, Dakota, always the charmer.
"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. She wasn't even mad. Well, she was mad at me, but that's not the point. The point is, she's really excited to meet you, and she was angry that I...distracted you."
Thanks, Seth, that made the whole situation so much better. Fuck.
"Great", I mumbled sarcastically, wringing my wrists.
"Really, Dakota, don't worry about it. She's so excited you're here."
I decided to change the subject. "What's for breakfast?" I questioned, my stomach rumbling right on cue.
"Cereal, toast, whatever you want", Seth answered, rising from the bed and heading down the hallway. I followed him, carefully watching for the sister from hell to make her morning debut. Seth must have noticed my not-so-discreet glances. "She's not here, if that's what your looking for. She's patrolling right now."
Oh. Well, good to know.
"Trust me, I can do some real shit with a sledge hammer."
Seth had brought me down to the clinic after we finished a hearty breakfast of Fruit Loops, and currently I was filling out the application for the secretary job. Seth was writing down my answers because apparently my handwriting wasn't very legible. Bullshit, if you ask me, but Seth said he wasn't going to take any chances of me not getting the job.
"Dakota, I'm pretty sure that's not what they mean when they say, 'List some of your useful talents'. I think they mean stuff like being a people person, or being very neat", Seth explained, scribbling down the answers that he thought would make me look good. Apparently, that's why Seth had the pen. I guess honesty wasn't the best policy in this situation.
"Seth, if I lie about this stuff, they'll fire me right away", I countered loudly, eliciting a 'look' from the secretary that was retiring, the one that I would probably replace, at least by the way Seth was answering the questions.
Don't get me wrong, I did want to get the job, honestly, but I guess I was one of those no-bullshitting kind of people. I may have made a few white lies in my life, but I never lied when things were serious. I suppose you could say I was a firm believer in karma. So the application for this job was no exception. Come to think of it...maybe that's why I had such a difficult time getting jobs. I told the truth on applications...
"C'mon Dakota, they won't fire you. All you have to do is answer the phone, write down notes, and check people in and out. It won't be that hard. You'll probably even get bored", Seth reasoned, in a softer voice.
"Okay...but if karma comes back to bite you in the ass, I won't take any of the blame for it." Seth chose not to reply, moving on to the next portion of questions instead.
"Do you have any allergies or take any medications for health conditions?" I shook my head no.
"Are you or do you ever plan to be pregnant?" What the fuck? Seth looked a little curious to know my answer on this particular question, too, which made my stomach turn even more. Double, what the fuck?
"Uh - no", I replied, my throat dry and crackly. Seth's face fell, almost in dissapointment. I refused to read into it, though, he couldn't possibly think that -
"Really? You don't want kids? Ever?" He questioned again, his tone almost incredulous. Fuck.
"Yup", I confirmed, hoping he would just drop the subject and move on. But no, in true Seth fashion, he needed a reason. Great.
"Why?" The magic word. Why was the sky blue? Why did cats have nine lives? Why are bananas yellow?
"I just don't want kids", I muttered through clenched teeth, avoiding Seth's prying eyes.
"Are you sure? Not even one?" He wondered, his brown eyes prodding and pleading, as if my answer determined whether he'd live or die. This was so fucking messed up.
"I am 100% abso-fucking-lutely sure", I seethed, ready to be done with this and leave. Seth seemed to catch my drift and finally moved onto the next question, but there was still some dissapointment lurking in his eyes and voice.
"What race are you?"
"Caucasian."
"How long do you plan on having this job?"
"A long fucking time", I knew Seth wouldn't actually put my exact words on the application, so I trusted him to edit my answer.
"Can you type?"
"I can learn."
"You know how to work phones?"
"For the most part."
"You don't mind paperwork?"
"I mind any work. Will I deal with it, though? Yeah."
"Do the work hours of 9am to 5pm work for you, aside from federal holidays and ten allotted sick days each year?"
"Uh-huh."
"Do you live A) alone, B) with family, or C) with spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend?"
Awkward.
"Do you want to just put down B?" Seth asked quietly, with an underlying sense of hope disguising itself in his tone. I was pretty sure he hoped I would tell him to put C down.
"Uh - sure. That'll work." For now, I added mentally.
Seth and I spent the rest of the afternoon touring around La Push. I had only been in the area for high school parties before, so I hadn't realized what a pretty place it truly was. The beach had been gorgeous, and I mentally made a note that if I ever needed to think and have some alone time, it would be the perfect place to go. Seth also brought me down to the general store, where I met a few locals. Quil Ateara Senior, who was an old man with a sarcastic sense of humor to match my own. That's probably why I liked the guy. He swore like a sailor, too, so that didn't hurt my opinion of him either. I also met a man named Billy Black, who was the unofficial chief of the tribe. He was a respectable man, very professional, but he was confined to a wheelchair, after a car accident, he explained. Seth talked to both of them for awhile as I wandered around the store a bit.
There was tons of fishing supplies, hiking gear, some maps, a few tourism keychains, and a small selection of food and other grocery items. It wasn't much, but I guess in a town this small, you didn't need much. Seth and I bought the ingredients for both our favorite meal, spaghetti.
When we got back to Seth's house, we spent an hour or so preparing it, so that his mom didn't have to cook when she got back from work at five. I asked Seth where Leah was all day and he said she probably decided to hang out with some friends or take a hike in the woods.
He told me she took hikes a lot these days, ever since their father died. He also mentioned something about how her longtime boyfriend broke up with her a little while before their dad died, and he said that the break-up had hit her pretty hard, too. I actually felt some sympathy for the bitter bitch, but it didn't last long. She came back right before the spaghetti was done.
"Hey, Leah", Seth had greeted cheerfully when she had stormed into the kitchen earlier this afternoon, from the back door. She was drenched in mud, and only wearing a tank top and cargo shorts, which seemed like a stupid idea considering it was only about forty five degrees outside.
She ignored Seth and stomped straight towards the bathroom, slamming the door so hard I thought it cracked, and then the sound of the shower came on.
Seth didn't seemed at all surprised by her strange attitude, and went back to stirring the sauce into the noodles, humming some tune that I didn't recognize. Did he not just see her?
"Is she always like that?" I wondered quietly, licking some stray sauce from my fingertips.
"Who? Leah?" Seth asked.
"No dumbass, Oprah. Yeah, Leah."
"I'm afraid so. I guess you sort of get used to it after awhile. She's the worst right after...work", he sighed, heading over to the sink to wash off the mixing spoon.
"Why work?" I inquired, checking the garlic toast in the oven. It still had a good fifteen minutes or so.
"Well, one of her...co-worker's is her ex-boyfriend." That might make me a sour bitch, too, but...
"Why doesn't she just quit, then?"
Seth seemed a little reluctant to answer, but he finally opened his mouth. "It's, uh, sort of complicated."
O-kay. That's a little sketchy...
"Do you wanna watch some TV until the garlic bread's done?" Seth interrupted my thoughts, nodding his head towards the television in the living room. I nodded, wiped my greasy hands on a dish towel and followed him to the sofa.
"Oh my gosh, Seth, you really have a keeper here. She's a great cook, she's cute as a button, and she keeps you in line!" Sue, Seth's mother bellowed, smiling widely between me and Seth. I had just slapped Seth's hand away from my plate after he tried to steal my piece of garlic bread. Apparently, Sue liked that.
Sue was a nice woman. She was kind. Thoughtful. Caring. Motherly. Everything that I had been missing my whole life. So, I think that was one of the reasons I couldn't stand her. I had spent a good part of my life wishing I had a mom exactly like Sue, someone to hug me and tell me everything was alright, so I think in the deep bottom of my heart, I was jealous. Seth and Leah had one of the best mothers in the world, no doubt, and I got a woman who cared about me enough to leave me when I was four and take all the money with her. Some parent.
Sitting here at the dinner table with Seth by my side, eating everything in sight, Leah across from me with her head facing her plate and not speaking a word, and then Sue sitting diagonal from me, her bubbly personality suffocating me from across the room.
"So, Dakota, or do you liked to be called Kota or Koty?"
"Dakota's fine", I muttered, stabbing a meatball viciously with my fork.
"So Dakota, Seth tells me you're very close with your dad. Is that right?" She asked conversationally, her brown eyes glowing with warmness. I squeezed the fork tightly in my fingers, turning the tan skin of my knuckles white. What right did she have to pry into my private life? None. Absolutely none.
"You could say that", I replied quietly, not looking her in the eye.
"Well, that's good. You should tell him that he's welcome here any time", she informed me, her tone happy and sickly sweet. I held back a gag as I took a long swig of water.
"I'll be sure to let him know."
"Good, good." She smiled, taking a dainty bite of a meatball. Seth shot me a worried glance, probably catching on to my uncomfortableness but I gave him a small smile and shook my head, giving him the impression it was nothing. It really wasn't his fault I couldn't stand his mother. It actually really wasn't his mother's fault either. She was nice, polite, and she hadn't done anything to offend me.
When I had first met Sue, my heart was pounding and I was nervous as hell. But after he first words, 'Oh, Seth, she's perfect', I don't really know why, but I depised her. I couldn't help but think that in her mind, I was probably just some pretty girl that could be her daughter-in-law and bare her grandchildren some day. Ugh.
So, I endured the rest of the unpleasant dinner, and excused myself to my new room. Where I preceded to fall asleep.
Alone.
Review please and thank you! I will love you forever and ever.
And ever.
:)
