After dinner, Ella went upstairs and Mom retreated to her study, leaving me to clean up afterwards. I took whatever leftovers we had and put them into storage containers and loaded them into the fridge. Piling the remaining empty plates up, I carried them over to the sink to wash them off. Just as I turned on the water, the doorbell rang.
I frowned, looking at the oven clock. It was almost 9 PM – we dragged dinner out long with our conversations – and it was late. Who could it be?
I walked over to the front door and peeked through the peephole. Upon seeing who it was, I grinned. I undid the locks and flung the door open, yelling, "Seth!"
"Oh God, Max, it's really you," he said, gathering me up into a tight hug and swung me around in a circle. Setting me down, he asked, "What the hell? Couldn't you give me a heads up or something? Even a short message, like, hey, I'm going to visit my dad for four months without telling anybody, so please don't think I fell off the face of the earth! Thanks!"
"If I left you a message telling you that I was going to visit my dad for four months, then I would be telling somebody," I replied like the smartass I was.
"You crazy girl," he whispered, running his hands through my hair. Then he focused on my face. "You've… changed."
"I have?" I asked, my hands flying to my face.
His hands pulled mine away. His dark eyes focused on mine, making my knees go weak. "Yeah, but not in a bad way. You seem… stronger, almost. Like you've endured so much, which I understand because you've been through all of that stuff with your dad and his cancer scare."
"Yeah, things with my dad… progressed," I said, not exactly lying.
"What exactly happened? You just vanished into thin air. Nobody knew where you went. Jacob went crazy looking for you."
"What?" My eyes widened. "Jacob?"
"For the first few months, he would run out of school as soon as it ended to go look for you," Seth explained. "And every night he would come back late with his tail drooping."
"But – I don't – Jacob hates me," I sputtered.
Seth wrinkled his brows. "Why would you think that? He doesn't hate you. You're his mate."
"There must have been a mistake. There's no way I'm supposed to be with him. He doesn't actually like me. It's his wolf-y instincts that make him think that he should be with me."
"Well, my wolf-y telepathic connection with Jake begs to differ," he said. "He went nuts." I didn't say anything, choosing to stay quiet. "I think you should talk to him and tell him you're back before somebody else does."
"I know," I sighed, leaning against the door. "I will. Soon. Tomorrow."
"Okay." Seth gave me a weak smile. "So, what was up with you leaving so suddenly?"
"Uh, well," I mumbled, trying to figure out a convincing lie. "The local hospital called me out of the blue, telling me that my dad had been admitted for what they believe to be cancer. They told me that he was currently in surgery so he couldn't talk to me, but he told them to call me and wanted me over there as soon as possible. So naturally, I went. I didn't tell my mom because, well, my parents divorced and sort of hate each other, so I just went as soon as I could. I forgot my phone charger, so I had about two hours worth of battery and then my phone died. Of course, finding a new charger was the least of my worries, since, you know, my dad was being treated and all. So… yeah."
"How did you get there?" he asked, frowning. "We checked all of the airports nearby and none of them had any record of you ordering a ticket or flying with them."
"I caught a ride with a truck passing through," I fibbed and wanted to slap myself right after. Really? A truck passing through? How in the world is that believable?
"Your disappearance left Forks searching up and down for you, through every nook and cranny. You ought to make a public statement to tell everybody what happened."
I nodded. "I should. I guess I didn't really think things through."
"No you did not," he said, shaking his head. "Anyways, what are you doing tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? Going to school, telling everybody exactly what I told you and probably getting killed by Jake after he finds out."
"Jake's not going to hurt you," Seth chuckled, rolling his eyes. "I'll pick you up after school. We can go to the police station if they need you down there tomorrow."
"Okay," I said slowly. "But why?"
"I need to show you something," he replied mysteriously. "But you'll find out soon. Later, Max."
"Bye," I said, closing the door after him. Was it just me, or did the last part of that conversation go by really fast? Like, what did I even agree to?
I sighed, walking back into the kitchen to finish cleaning. "So, it's Seth, huh?" Ella asked, leaning against the stairs.
"What?" I asked, glancing over at her. She was pretty damn sneaky for a human. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You just agreed to go on a date with him. Again," she said.
"It is not a date," I defended. "And why are you down here again? We ate, like, five minutes ago."
"I want some ice cream," she shrugged, walking to the freezer. "And don't change the subject. Seth is into you, and you're into Seth."
"I am not into Seth, you freak," I said, blushing.
"Whatever," she said, pulling out a carton of Cold Stone ice cream.
"Hey, that's mine," I accused, seeing that it was the Peanut Butter Perfection kind.
"Well, since you have been gone for the past four months, I believe that the title has been passed on," she smirked, taking out a spoon. "It's mine now."
"You little –"
"Bye, Max! And dress cute for your date tomorrow!" she sang loudly, walking up the stairs.
My mom popped her head out of her study room. "Max, you have a date tomorrow?"
I groaned, ignoring her and returning to my dishes.
"So, you left? Just like that?" Alice asked, snapping her fingers. "Without a word to anyone?"
"Yeah, I guess," I replied, eating my hamburger. "I didn't really think about the commotion it would cause."
"Yeah, like you just running away without a word wouldn't make everybody think you were kidnapped," Rosalie snapped, rolling her eyes.
"Wouldn't you like it if I were?" I shot back.
Bella cut in before we could have a real-life bitch fight. "Anyways, we're all glad you're back."
I smiled at her. "Thanks." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rosalie lean into Edward, whispering something into his ear. My hearing picked up, listening.
"So what's the real story?" Rosalie asked.
"I don't know," Edward replied, just as quietly. "I can't read her mind."
"What do you mean?" she hissed. "She's a human."
"First of all, Bella's a human. And second of all… I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but Max isn't entirely human."
"What?" I heard Rosalie gasp.
"Stop that Rose," he chastened. "Don't even think about telling anyone. You're not supposed to know until she chooses to tell you."
"And you actually think she will willingly choose to tell me that she's not human? And if she's not human, then what is she?"
"She's some kind of bird hybrid mix thing," he said, unsure of what words to use to describe me. "I'm not entirely positive of what extent her abnormalities go, but she has wings and can fly."
"Wow. I would have never thought. Was she born like that?"
"I'm not hungry anymore," I announced, slamming the remaining half of my hamburger down on my tray. "I'm going to dump the trash."
"I'll come with," Rosalie said, surprising everyone. Then I narrowed my eyes at her. I knew why she was coming.
She jumped up, walking next to me. "What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep my tone polite.
"I just wanted to talk," she replied casually. "Are you doing something after school today? I wanted to hang out, just the two of us. Girl time."
"Look," I sighed, "I know Edward told you."
She feigned surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do." I touched one of my ears. "I have a great sense of hearing. I overheard your entire conversation with him." She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. "Okay, you can think I'm a freak, that's fine. I know I'm different, but I'm not proud of it. I want to keep this a secret, just like how you want to keep that you're a vampire a secret."
"No, I wasn't going to do that," she said quickly. "I'm just… curious. I've never met anybody that wasn't human other than vampires and werewolves. And I really did want to hang out, although that was just to satisfy my curiosity."
I flipped my lunch tray over, letting everything spill into the large trash can. "I promise, there'll be a time when I will tell you all about me and… my kind. For now, can you just keep it a secret?"
She nodded. "I will. You know, I know what it's like to be different. I felt like I didn't fit in for a long time before I met all of them." She indicated to the table.
I agreed, walking in silence with Rosalie for a while before I said, "Look, we don't have to do that thing."
"That thing?" she asked, confused.
"Like, where you say something, and I say something, then one of us cries…"
"Oh," she understood. "Yeah, we can skip that. For the record, we're not friends or anything."
I frowned but said, "Alright."
"I still reserve every right to insult you."
"Okay. That's good to know."
"But I won't do it as much."
I gave her a small smile. "Thanks. That's a lot, coming from you."
She flipped her hair. "I know, I'm really generous. It's a talent." She sat back down in her seat in between Edward and Emmett.
"Max!" I heard someone call my name, and I looked toward the direction it came from. Seth waved, leaning against his motorcycle.
"Is this a wolf thing?" I asked once I reached him.
"What's a wolf thing?"
I gestured to his bike. "Riding motorcycles."
He shrugged. "I guess, but just for the younger guys. Sam has a Honda and I'm pretty sure some of the older wolfs are switching to SUVs. Ugh," he shivered.
I laughed. "So where are you taking me?"
"Hop on," he said, tossing one leg over the bike and handed me an extra helmet. "I'll show you."
I strapped it onto my head and got onto the back, wrapping my arms around his torso. "You're not taking me somewhere dangerous, are you? Because I don't think I'm ready for dangerous quite yet."
"The place itself isn't dangerous," he shrugged, revving up the bike. "But I might be treading on dangerous territory."
"What? Like trespassing?"
"In a way," he replied. I didn't ask anything else, just letting him take me wherever.
"Welcome to Chez Seth," he announced, climbing off the motorcycle.
"Your house?" I asked, taking off the helmet and setting it on the back of the bike. "I think you own this property. You have legal rights to be on it."
"Just you wait," he said, walking up to his garage. He grunted, pulling the garage door up to reveal a large, empty space filled up only by a drum set, a guitar, and a single microphone.
"Wow," I said, stepping in and touching the guitar. "Do you play?"
He shook his head. "Not really. I can strum a little, but not much."
"So is this just a backdrop for a decent Instragram picture or something?"
He chuckled, coming into the space after parking his bike. "A few years ago, my friends and I formed a band. We practice in here."
"That's cool," I chirped. "Are you like the One Direction of Washington?"
"Nah," he said. "It's just a hobby. We're not planning to audition for anything."
I was about to ask another question when a car pulled up. Two of the doors in the front opened, revealing two guys, both around Seth's age.
"Hey man," one with light brown hair greeted Seth, giving him a handshake. "What's up?"
"I want to perform one of our songs for my friend, Max." He looked toward me, and I smiled.
"Hi."
"Hello," the one with the light hair said. "I'm George."
"And I'm Hansel," the other introduced. He had longer, messier hair.
"George plays the guitar for us and Hansel is usually on drum set," Seth said. "Sometimes he sings, too."
"That's fun," I replied genuinely. "Do you guys write your own songs? Or just cover ones that have been written before?"
"A bit of both," George said. "Which one did you want us to do?" he asked Seth.
"Secret Girl," he said, making the two other boys nod and smirk.
"Is she –"
"Yes." Seth cut George off quickly. "Let's set up." He turned to me. "You can just sit back and relax. And enjoy."
"Alright," I said, sitting on the ground.
Once they were all ready, Hansel counted them off with a slow beat. Seth opened his mouth and sang:
"I barely even know your name, but I want you. I want it bad, want it bad. I've got a crazy mind, I can't fight it; I get that all the time, all the time.
"So here goes my open letter to you, 'cause I've been watching you from across the country. If I could be your star-crossed, more than friend, yeah, I would be so good to you, good to you.
"And here goes my voice, I'll sing it out. I wanna get so lost with you in the here and now. And there's nothing else I want to say, 'cause I'm losing my mind for you, so won't you be my secret girl. You could be my secret girl. Yeah you could be my secret girl.
"And if you look to the sky tonight, you will see I'm sending you a song; hope I'm singing it right! You could even be my heartbreak; I don't mind. Don't wanna keep you far; been so far all my life.
"I've been watching ya, watching ya, girl. You're so pretty when you smile at the world! You leave me weak in the knees, never fell this far for somebody I've never met before. With you I can tell.
"And here goes my voice, I'll sing it out. I wanna get so lost with you in the here and now. And there's nothing else I want to say, 'cause I'm losing my mind for you, so won't you be my secret girl. You could be my secret girl, yeah; you could be my secret girl. You could be my secret girl.
"And well live in a secret world, in a secret world… I wanna be there, where you are. If I could only get that far, with you." This entire time, Seth did not break eye contact with me.
"And here goes my voice; I'm singing to you. I know that I have finally found what I've gotta do! And there's nothing else that I can say, 'cause I'm losing my mind for you, so won't you be my secret…
"Cause I want it bad, I want it bad! You could be my secret girl; you could be my secret girl. Yeah you could be my secret girl, you could be my secret girl. Yeah you could be my secret girl."
After George strummed the final chord, Seth let out a deep breath and smiled hopefully at me. "Did you like it?"
"Did I like it?" I asked in disbelief. "Seth, that was amazing! Did you write that yourself?"
He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Yeah. It wasn't that hard; the words came pretty naturally."
"Oh my God! This was amazing!" I grinned, shaking my head. "Who knew that Forks had their own iTunes chart topper."
"You're too much," Seth said, playfully slapping my arm. He turned back to the two boys. "Do you want to go inside and grab something to eat? I'm, uh, I'm going to talk to Max for a bit."
"Okay, whatever you say, big man," Hansel said, giving Seth a suggestive look.
"Yeah, you tool," George added. "Try to keep it PG."
Seth's face was crimson. "Just go inside!" The two boys stumbled inside, laughing, and shut the door behind them. "Sorry," he apologized to me. "They're shameless."
"It's fine. I like them. You said you wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah. I wanted to talk about the song."
I raised my hands. "I'm not the right person to talk to about recording it."
"No," he chuckled, putting my hands down. I thought he would let go, but instead, he laced his fingers with mine. "I wanted to talk about the meaning behind it."
"Seth…"
"Just let me say what I need to say, okay?" he asked. Hesitantly, I nodded. "I wrote that song half a year ago. Right after I met you, actually. I didn't know what it was about you – you were just… different. And you felt so comfortable in your own skin. I admired you for that because I was sort of… just a shadow within the pack. And you made me feel noticed. And then, before I knew it, I was falling. Fast. Too quickly."
I opened my mouth to interject, but he put a finger to my lips. "Let me finish. I knew that Jacob had imprinted on you, and that you were off-limits. But I saw how unhappy you were with him, and how you were so uncertain about your relationship. I know it's wrong for me to feel like this, but Max, believe me when I say that I want you."
"I – I don't know what to say, Seth," I whispered honestly. "It's true that I'm not entirely happy and over the moon about being with Jacob, but I'm pretty sure I'd be breaking about a hundred rules by being with you."
"I know," he said quietly. "But you didn't deny me. Admit it, you feel something for me too. What I feel for you isn't one sided."
I sighed, trying to pull away. "But it's wrong –"
"This isn't wrong." His hands found mine again. "If you're in this with me, we can make it right. Max, I love you. How is this wrong?"
"Because there's Jake!" I tried to make him understand. "How is he going to feel?"
"This is between us," he said, looking straight into my eyes. "It's our little secret." He was so close – I could see the flecks of gold hidden in the deep, rich brown. "Be with me, Max. I can make you happy."
He leaned in even closer to me. My mind was screaming, Max, get away! What are you doing, you dumb girl? Jacob is your mate! Get away! This is adultery! Sin! You are sinning! Max, are you listening to me?
Eventually, I just told my mind to stop being such a buzz kill and kissed Seth.