this is me trying

chapter eleven: first day of work

tatum

I wake the next morning to the sound of my alarm clock. I slept really well last night, knowing that I was safe with Seth here. I stretch my arms above my head before climbing out of the guest bed. I make my way into the bathroom down the hall and switch on the shower.

I take a quick shower before hoping out to dry my hair with my blow dryer and changing into nice dressy clothes for work. Once my hair is dry and makeup is on my face, I move into the kitchen not before peeking into the living room to see Seth is still sleeping on the couch. I nearly giggle when I see his long body squished into the small couch. I kind of feel guilty that I hadn't argued harder for him to take the bed last night.

I begin fixing breakfast for Seth and I as I take out a carton of eggs. But my mind isn't focused on the breakfast in front of me. It's completely occupied with the person in the other room.

I don't know why Seth has been consuming my thoughts so much the past few days. And my feelings, these unknown feelings, are starting to take over. I couldn't like Seth, could I?

I have known him for so long. He was practically family. It would be weird right? To have these feels for a family friend?

And I'm sure that Seth doesn't feel the same way about me as I feel about him. So I need to force these feelings out of my head and out of my heart.

"Good morning." Seth's voice is thick with sleep as he slips into the countertop chairs. His dark hair is sticking up everywhere in a bed head look. He looks adorable.

"Good morning." I smile as I begin plating the food.

"How did you sleep last night?" Seth asks politely as I set the food in front of him. "Thanks." He murmurs.

"I slept really well." I say as I move toward the coffee machine where it just finished brewing. "Coffee?" I ask as I hold up the coffee pot. Seth nods his head. "How did you sleep? You looked so uncomfortable on the couch. I should have forced you to sleep in the bed." I say with a pout.

"I actually slept pretty well." Seth says, probably lying to me.

"Do you put anything in your coffee?" I ask as I finish pouring two cups. I add a little creamer into mine as I peak up at him.

"Black is fine." He says after swallowing a mouthful of eggs. I reach over to hand him the cup before I settle into the countertop chair beside him with my food and coffee. "Thank you for the breakfast. It's amazing."

"It's the least I could do after you spent the night cramped up on the old couch." I say with a smile. "Thank you again." I add before taking a bite of my food.

Seth gives me a sweet smile before the two of us get back to eating our breakfast in silence. After we both finished, we both stand at the sink and rinse our dishes.

I wipe my hands clean with a towel before facing Seth. His bed head dark hair is still sticking up everywhere and it's a sight that tugs at my heart.

When Seth's eyes met mine watching eyes, a lazy grin takes over his face. "Are you ready for your first day of work?" Seth asks. I can't help but notice how his eyes scan over my outfit as he asks that.

"I think so." I say lightly, tugging at the dresser sweater that I am wearing. "I'm a little nervous." I confess, honestly. I begin walking towards the front door, grabbing my shoes and meeting Seth back in the kitchen.

"I think you will do amazing." Seth says as I settle into a chair to slip on my shoes. I blush at the compliment and I feel butterflies in my stomach. "I should get going." Seth states as he slips on his shoes as well. "I wouldn't want you to be late for your first day. Plus, I'm sure Jake is expecting me at the shop."

We both lock eyes one last time before we head to the front door together. "Thank you for staying, Seth." I say one last time as we walk out into the bitter cold air.

"No problem, Tatum. Anytime." Seth grins as he walks me to my car. "Now, go kick ass at work." He says as he opens my car door for me like a gentleman. I swoon at the gesture. I settle into the driver's side seat. We both look at each other like we both have something to say but we settle on simple goodbyes before Seth gently closes the door. I watch him climb into his truck parked on the street as I start up my car.

Seth lets me back out of the driveway first before he follows suit. I keep peaking at the rearview mirror, getting glimpses of his face as I drive towards Forks. I am somewhat saddened when I see him turnoff, heading in another direction.

"Focus." I whisper to myself, trying to snap off of my Seth-induced trance. But all I could think about was Seth on my drive to my new job. I thought about his adorable bed head. I thought about his wide contagious smile. And his sweet words. And how natural it felt for us to spend the morning together.

I don't know where this crush was coming from. But I knew it had to stop. I couldn't be the one to ruin this friendship between us. Seth was becoming one of my best friends here at La Push and I needed every friend I could get right now.

But what if we did become more than friends? The little devil on my shoulder chimes into my thoughts. I could have more mornings like today. I could steal the kisses that I desired from him. And I'm sure he would make a great cuddle buddy with his muscular body.

"Stop." I whisper quickly to myself as I pull into the parking lot of the Women's Crisis Center. I can't keep thinking this way. Seth and I were just friends. And we were going to remain friends. These feelings, they had to go.

I parked my car before pulling down the visor mirror. I glance over my appearance one last time before I agree to leave my thoughts and feelings of Seth in the car. I needed to focus on work today. I could worry about suppressing those feelings tonight.

I grab my purse out of the passenger seat and open my car door. The nerves eat me up as I stood from the car and shut the door behind me. I look up at the small building and take a deep calming sigh. "I can do this." I whisper to myself before proceeding to the front door.

I enter the small building and I am instantly greeted with a friendly woman behind the front desk. "Hi, dear. What can I help you with?" She asks with a polite smile.

"Hi, I'm supposed to meet with Linda Barkley about a job." I answer, returning her smile.

"Alright, I will let her know." The receptionist says. "You can have a seat while you wait." She gestures to the small sitting area across from the front desk.

I thank her before sitting in a seat. I anxiously look around at the area, seeing that there was more to offer than just the call center that I am planning on working at. There are counselors and classes for women, informing them on various subjects. It just makes me prouder to be working somewhere where I feel I can bring a lot of good.

"Tatum?" A voice calls out. I look up to see a middle-aged woman with her brown hair pinned back in a bun. I rise from my seat. "Hi, I am Linda Barkley. I spoke with you on the phone." She reaches out her hand and I shake it in a greeting.

"Hi, Linda. It's nice to meet you." I say with a smile.

"Come with me." Linda says. "We can start in my office before I give you a tour of the place."

I follow her back to her cubicle where we go over the basics (pay, hours, benefits, etc.). After signing lots of papers, she gives me a tour of the building, which is small but is able to hold a lot of different people. Linda introduces me to my team members who will also be working the call center with me before she shows me to my desk.

At my desk, Linda gets me oriented and logged onto the computer, where she sets me up with online training videos and leaves me to finish those. Half way through my videos, a young woman who I recognize from my team member introduction comes up to me.

"Hi, Tatum." She is a girl with mousy brown hair and blue eyes. "A couple of us are going to grab some lunch, wanna join?" She asks as she grabs a coat hanging off of the back of her desk chair.

Wow, I was surprised to get the invite and I immediately jump at the invitation, hoping to gain some points with my team members. "Sure." I say with a smile.

"I'm Jessica Stanley by the way." She introduces as she waits for me to slip my coat on. "This is Katlyn Rogers and Michael Foster." She introduces two other team members of mine.

Jessica leads the way out of the building, blabbing about anything and everything. She walks across the street to a diner, leading the pack. I quietly follow their lead, sitting myself in the last seat at the table. "So, Tatum, what brings you to Forks, Washington?" Jessica asks, peering over her menu at me. The eyes of the two others look over, looking for an answer.

"I'm actually from La Push, born and raised." I say softly. "I just got back from traveling and I'm looking to settle back down."

I could see a surprised look on their faces. It wasn't often -if ever- when there was a non-Quileute living on the Rez. It always catches people off guard.

"So you must have gone to school on the Rez. I would have recognized you if you went to school in Forks." Jessica says confidently.

I nod my head. "Yes, I did." I respond. "But I went to college at University of Washington. It's been a few years since I've been back." I conclude.

"Oh, UW?" Michael chirps into the conversation. "I went there for a year. I ended up dropping out and transferring to a community college here in Forks. It was too big for me."

I don't comment, not wanting to explain why I dropped out. Thankfully, the waitress comes up to take our orders. After the waitress leaves us to place our orders, Katlyn speaks up.

"Doesn't La Push have insanely hot guys?" Her eyes widen with her smile. "I've only been to First Beach a number of times and every time I go, I see lots of beautiful men."

"Yeah, but they are all wife-d up." Jessica huffs as she rolls her eyes. Well, she is not wrong.

"Do you have a hot Quileute boyfriend?" Katlyn asks with a giggle.

My cheeks redden slightly. "No, I just got back in town a couple days ago. I have barely had time to unpack my things." My thoughts quickly flash to Seth for a moment but I shake my head and the thought away.

"They're not that cute anyways." Jessica concludes with a huff. "But trust me, if you ever visit California that's where the cute guys are. I went to college in Cali. I swear I had a new crush every week."

The rest of lunch turns into the Jessica Stanley show, which is fine. I'm just glad the attention isn't focused on me. The food was good, I remember coming here before with my family back in high school.

Once lunch is over, we walk back over to the Crisis Center and get back to work. I get immersed back into my training videos. And before too long it's the end of the day. I finish up my last training video as Jessica and Michael say their goodbyes to me. After finishing my last videos, I stop in to say bye to Linda, who informs me of my task of shadowing Jessica tomorrow.

I climb into my car and head home. I am really satisfied with how my first day went. I am really happy with the job opportunity that I have been presented with. I think happily of my job and how my day went as I drive home. When I park in the driveway of Cade's house and climb out, I shiver in the freezing cold. I pause with my key in my hand as I look at the vase filled with beautiful flowers.

My heartbeat speeds up as I bend down to pick up the vase. I knew who it was from before I even reached for the card. I enter the house and set the vase on the counter. I pull the card from the flower assortment.

T,

I hope you had a great day at work! I know you did awesome.

Seth

I can't help the smile that takes over my lips. Maybe these feelings I'm feeling aren't one-sided after all. But did that make them right?

I try to not think about whether or not these feelings were right or wrong as I placed my new flowers on the center of the dinner table. I relish in the joys of the small yet sweet gesture. I shoot Seth a thank you message and inform him of my good day.

I can't help but wish he were here though to deliver those flowers in person.

Sorry for the update. I hope you all have had a great start to 2021! Next chapter is my favorite chapter I have written so far! Can't wait for you all to read it! So continue to favorite and follow this story so you can get notified when the next chapter comes out. Also, I would love to hear what you think of the story so far so leave me a review. xx M