this is me trying

chapter thirteen: attached at the hip

tatum

My eyes flutter open as I try to wiggle my body. My body is constricted by some sort of heavy heated thing. When my brain finally processes my surroundings, my eyes widen. I am in Seth's arms… Wow. I woke up in Seth's arms.

I can't say that I am mad about it.

Seth's face is so sweet and peaceful as he sleeps. I have the urge to brush the backs of my fingers across his cheeks, but I resist.

As I study his beautiful face and sharp jawline, memories of the many kisses we shared the night before flash into my head. My fingers brush against my lips as I remember the tingling feeling that I felt when they were pressed against Seth's a few hours ago. I almost couldn't believe it. I kissed Seth.

My memories lead me back to the little boy who used to chase after me when I was just a little girl. I probably knew more embarrassing stories about Seth than he would care for me to know. And I feel the same way. We had history. History that intertwined our two families together closely.

Could we really do this? A relationship?

I know my mom and Sue would always joke about Seth and I getting married one day. But were they being serious? Did they know the consequences that could occur if our relationship did not work out? Loss of friends. Loss of memories.

Was I willing to risk that for the feelings that I felt for Seth? Was Seth willing to do the same?

My eyes look over Seth's face again and my heart skips a beat. Just looking at him makes me want to risk it all. It makes me want to pepper his face in kisses. I want him to pull me into his arms and never let me go.

But am I being selfish by choosing my own happiness? I ponder on the idea of my own selfishness.

I nearly jump out of my skin when I feel Seth's fingers graze themselves against my cheek, effectively bringing me out of my distracting thoughts. "What has made you think so hard so early in the morning?" The sleep in his voice is thick and makes my stomach fill with butterflies.

"I-uh…" I trail off, not sure how to respond. But Seth waits patiently for me to answer with his hand still caressing my cheek and his eyes studying me intently. He watches me like I'm the most interesting person in the world. "We can't do this." I choke out.

Seth's eyes widen in response. "Why?" He asks confused. I'm sure he was very confused. He probably thought we settled my unsure feelings last night before bed. And to be honest, I did too. However, it's as if the morning brought on a new reality for me. "Is this because of the whole family friend thing?" He questions, most likely recalling the conversation from last night. "T, it doesn't matter. People get married to their childhood best friends and family friends all the time. We aren't related." A lazy grin takes over his face and I can't stop myself from leaning in to kiss that handsome face.

Seth hums in content as my lips collide with his. "Don't fight this." He whispers against my lips before applying pressure. My hands find themselves tangled up in his thick black hair, pulling his face closer to me. With my eyes closed, I allow myself to really feel all my feelings for Seth.

I like Seth a lot more than a family friend and I couldn't deny that. I knew this from the second I laid eyes at him at the bonfire at Nessie and Jake's place. He wasn't the little boy I remembered. He had changed so much since I had last seen him. But so have I. And so what we have history together. It doesn't have to be a bad thing that we know about each other's pasts. In some cases it might just be a good thing.

I pull away just when I think I might pass out from lack of oxygen. I rest my forehead against Seth's and our eyes interlock. "Good morning." Seth whispers. His warm breath fans across my face.

"Good morning." I whisper back as a smile takes over my lips.

Seth presses a quick peck to the corner of my mouth. "I love that smile." He says, bringing a red blush to my cheeks. I quickly turn my head away to hide my flaming cheeks and rest my head against Seth's muscular shoulder. Seth holds me tighter to his chest and I take a second to wish to stay wrapped up in Seth's arms forever. "Did you sleep okay?" Seth asks.

I peek my head up from his shoulder. "Yeah, I slept really well actually. You put my heated blanket to shame." I giggle, causing a goofy smile on Seth's face.

"I certainly enjoyed having a snuggle buddy." Seth says as he rubs my back. His eyes look into mine and it almost freaks me out how much emotion is held within them. I can see the adoration he has for me. But it assures me that these aren't one-sided feelings being felt on my side.

"I don't want to leave." I whisper, honestly.

Seth presses a kiss to my forehead before tucking me under his chin and cuddled against his chest. "Me neither." He agrees.

I press a kiss to his clothed chest and sigh in content. "Do you think everyone is awake?" I ask after a few moments of silence.

"Unfortunately, yes." Seth sighs.

A pout forms on my lips. Couldn't they just leave without us? I think I just wanted to live here forever. "We should probably get moving, shouldn't we?" I ask.

"Probably." Seth agrees. But neither one of us makes the move to separate.

A few minutes of cuddling in each other's arms passes before we are interrupted. "Good morning, you two. I know you're awake. Get your asses out here and eat some breakfast." Vanessa hollers through the closed tent to us.

Seth groans softly as I pull myself off of Seth and out of the warmth of the sleeping bag. I instantly shiver at the absence of Seth's heat and am tempted to crawl back into the sleeping bag with him. "I'm going to change." I say quietly to Seth in an announcement to turn around. Seth obeys like a gentleman. I dress myself in the warmest clothes I have before I reach up to see if my braid is still intact. "Gez, why didn't you tell me my hair looked like a rats nest."

Seth chuckles at the comment. "I thought it was cute." He teased from the other side of the tent.

I quickly redid my braid before asking if Seth was decent. I turned back around just as Seth was combing his fingers through his hair as his finishing touch. I grab my winter coat and slip that on top of my thick wool sweater. Seth walks over with my hat from yesterday and carefully slides that onto my head. Seth places a quick kiss on the tip of my nose before looking me in the eyes. "Ready?" He asks.

I nod my head, letting the little poof ball at the top of my hat bounce a little. Seth opens up the tent and allows me to exit first as he holds it open. Our little campsite is bustling with our friends, who are making breakfast at the fire. "Good morning, you two!" Nessie sings happily. "Breakfast will be ready in just a moment."

"Is there anything I can help with?" I ask when we get close enough to the group.

Nessie shakes her head. "I think we have it all handled." She promises me.

I nearly jump when I feel Seth grab my hand and pull me off somewhere. "Where are we going?" I question, confused, as we pass through several lines of trees and move away from our campsite. Seth stops in an opening and my eyes take in the view. "Wow, this is incredible." I say in awe. The view of the mountains was picturesque and looked straight out of a postcard. "How did you know about this?" I ask, looking over at Seth, who was watching me intently.

"We've been hiking here before." Seth comments. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I look to the view again as I grip Seth's hand a little tighter. "So beautiful." I murmur.

Seth and I admire the view for a moment before Seth tugs on my hand. "Come, breakfast is probably ready." Seth says.

I follow Seth's guidance back to the campsite, where breakfast is indeed ready and being served. I can't help but blush when I see Nessie grinning at the sight of Seth and my hands interlocked. Seth and I separate to get our own food. But we come back together as we sit on a log to eat. I lean into Seth's warmth as I munch on my food. "Taste good?" Seth whispers in my ear.

I hum in content and nod my head. Seth presses a kiss to my temple. I quickly look around to see if anyone noticed. No one seemed to be looking in our direction. I'm not really sure why I was paranoid about someone seeing Seth kiss me. I wasn't embarrassed to be with Seth by any means. I guess since it was just so new…

After breakfast and breakfast clean up, we break into groups to go hiking while others stay back at the campsite. "Do you wanna hike?" Seth questions, looking down at me.

I nod my head before grabbing his hand. "Are you going to come with me?" I ask, hopeful that he says yes.

"Of course." Seth smiles. Vanessa, Nessie, and Jake join in on the group of hikers. Jake takes the lead. I thought over how Jake always seemed to be in the lead and delegating tasks. He must be the leader of the group, I conclude to myself.

"I figured that we would head west toward the mountains." Jake begins as he points toward a particular direction. I'm just glad I'm with people who were good with directions because I certainly was not. I loved to hike though. I often would hike in the many countries that I visited. I thought it was a great way to really see the scenic sights of the countries.

The hike is gorgeous. I start to fall in love with my home state again. But not only was the view incredible, but Seth and I couldn't seem to keep our hands off of each other. I was constantly reaching for his warm bug hands. And when we were not holding hands, Seth's hand was resting on my low back. He was constantly making sure I wouldn't fall or checking to see if I was warm enough. Seth definitely ensured that I was taken care of. It was so sweet.

When we returned from our hour hike, Thomas, Quil, and Embry were sitting out by the fire. "Ready to pack up?" Nessie asks and everyone agrees.

Jake immediately starts delegating off tasks for the guys to do and they guys comply. Us girls help with the little things, like packing up our things but are sent to relax when it comes to the big things like the tents. So we settle ourselves around the burnt out fire pit.

"So you and Seth?" Nessie whispers as we watch the guys disassemble the tents. A blush rushes over my cheeks.

"Don't act like we couldn't all see you two cozied up to each other on the hike." Vanessa laughs. "Spill the tea, girl."

I glance over to Seth before looking back to the two women on either side of me. "Well…" I bite my bottom lip as I think of words to describe what happened to suddenly shift our relationship. "I was cold and Seth warmed me up." It sounds so silly when I say it aloud. "One thing led to another and we started kissing." I confess, my cheeks no doubt looked like a tomato.

Nessie squeals excitedly. "You kissed?!"

I immediately shush her, not wanting to draw the attention of the guys. "Yes. We kissed." I whisper. "Many times." I add.

Nessie squeals again before throwing her arms around me. "Omg, I'm so happy for you guys! I knew you guys would end up together!" She says happily.

I hug her back before we both separate. "So are you guys official now?" Van asks, quirking an eyebrow up at me.

"I don't know." I shrug, uncertain. "We didn't really discuss it. It just kinda happened and… I think we both really liked it." I say sheepishly.

The two women giggle at me. "Well that's obvious." Van jokes. "You two have been non-stop attached at the hip all morning." I suppose she was right. And yet, I still felt the urge to be next to him and in his arms.

"This is so exciting!" Ness cheers, grabbing onto my arm. "You two are just so cute together!" Maybe we were. Childhood friends to lovers, maybe.

"I think we are all packed up." Jake calls over to us. The three of us glance over to the men to see them with their arms full of all of our things. "You ladies ready to head out?"

Nessie hops up, pulling me up with her. The whole hike back to the car Nessie and Van share their excitement with me about my new forming relationship with Seth. And it was only hyping me up more. My previous reservations about our potential relationship were long forgotten. My head was full of joy and hopefulness of what was to come.

The conversation flows quickly into what the next steps were. Seth needs to ask you out on a date, according to Nessie. And we need to make things official, according to Vanessa. I feel like a teenager again with all of the gossiping. But I wasn't very experienced when it came to boyfriends. The last boyfriend I had was my senior year of high school. The guy was shortly scared away by my brother. I have talked to a few guys in college but nothing too serious. So I was a little inexperienced.

About an hour of gossip passed before we reached the parking lot with the cars. The guys begin loading up the cars with all of our things. Seth, once empty handed, comes over to me. "I'm very much regretting having a truck with just one bench seating." He says, wrapping me up in a hug. "I'm very tempted to pawn Nessie and Jake off to Vanessa."

I smile. "It will just give us an excuse to have to see each other soon." I say.

Seth nods his head sadly. He leans forward and presses his lips to mine. There is hooting and hollering from the group that causes us to pull apart. Seth flips them off before leaning down to kiss me again. This time the kiss is much quicker. "Text me when you get home so I know you made it home safely."

I nod my head. "I will." I promise him as I take a step toward the SUV. "Drive safe." I call out to him before climbing into the SUV.

The whole drive home Embry, Quil, and Thomas tease me about Seth. I couldn't help but giggling along with them. The camping trip was definitely one for the books.

Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I am starting my semester tomorrow so please be patient with me and updating. But please review and let me know if you liked the chapter! And if you want to continue following the story, please give this story a follow or favorite! xx M