this is me trying

chapter fifteen: unpacking

tatum

"So Cade left the house in your name?" Seth asks as he brings in another load of things from my car. We have been unloading my car and chatting for the past two hours. Seth was amazed that I was able to get all of these things to fit in my little car in the first place.

"No, he left it in all three of our names." I answer, referring to my triplet sisters. "But my sisters wanted no part of it and immediately signed it over to me. So technically it is all mine now." I say with a shrug. I took a look around the living room and sighed. "I think I should paint in here." I say, motioning to the living room walls. "Maybe brighten it up."

Seth looks to the walls as if he is envisioning what I was saying. "I think new paint could do this place wonders." Seth agrees with a nod of his head.

I pause, thinking back to my brother and his home (now my home) that he was always so proud of. "Do you think it's wrong of me to change things up?" I ask, hoping for honesty from Seth. "Am I a bad person for wanting this place to look like mine?" I elaborate. I am starting to feel guilty now that I was officially moving things in and converting Cade's space into mine.

Seth frowns and walks over to me. "Of course you're not a bad person for making it your own. Cade would have wanted you to do this. He would not have left it in you and your sister's names if he didn't want you to make it your own. Besides, I think keeping the place is a good remembrance of him." Seth answers. I nod my head still unsure. My stomach starts to churn uneasily. "T." Seth says as he lifts my chin up so that I am looking him in the eyes. "You are not a bad person for doing this. You're not forgetting your brother just because you decide to rearrange some things and paint the walls."

I nod my head, trying to ingrain the words he is saying to me into my head. I mean he is somewhat right. Cade wouldn't have wanted me to live in a Cade museum like this.

Seth reaches for my hand and gives me a pull towards the front door. "Let's get the rest out of the car. We are almost done." Seth says as he pulls me outside, snapping me out of my thoughts.

We gather the rest of the things from the car before closing up and locking my car. And when we set the rest of the stuff in the house, I can't help but sigh. "Where to start?" I whisper to myself. I shake my head, suddenly overwhelmed with everything. "Let's order pizza first."

Seth nods his head, complying to what I want. "We can do that." He quickly agrees.

I take a seat at the countertop chair. "I was thinking about pizza and maybe some of those cinnamon things for dessert." I suggest.

"Sounds perfect." Seth agrees.

I quickly order over the phone before hanging up and looking over to Seth. "Wanna start unpacking while we wait for food?" I ask, tilting my head to the side a little.

"I'm down with whatever." Seth assures me. I move towards the pile of boxes and begin opening things up. I let Seth know that he can do the same. After a moment of trying to figure out all that I have, Seth speaks up. "Oh cool, you have a record player." He chirps as he carefully pulls the record player out of the box.

"I forgot about this thing." I confess as I lean over to brush some dust off of the leather covering.

"Do you have any records for it?" Seth asks as he sets it on the kitchen counter.

"I'm sure I do... somewhere in here." I say as I quickly search through some of the boxes. "Here they are." I say as I find them after looking through several boxes. I began pulling out the small collections of vinyls that I had stored away. I scan through the albums that I have before I hold one up. "It might be nice to have some music while we unpack." I suggest.

Seth plugs in the record player as I set up the vinyl on the turntable. I set the needle on the record and the music begins playing. I look up to Seth, realizing with our actions of setting up the music we've gotten a lot closer. The soft melody of Lord Huron fills my ears, setting the scene. Seth brushes some of my hair that has fallen into my face out of the way. Our eyes interlock.

It is a perfect scene, straight from a romance movie.

Seth cups my jaw. I stand on my tip toes to meet him for a kiss. Our lips mold together. My fingers weave into his thick hair just as his strong hands settle on my hips. Seth lifts me up with ease and sets me on the kitchen counter beside the record player without separating our lips once. My arms settle on his muscular shoulders as our lips continue to mold together.

When we finally separate to breathe, our faces remain close together. Seth's calloused fingertips brush against my cheek. "I like kissing you." He grins with his confession.

I giggle, resting my forehead against his. "I like kissing you, too." I scrape my fingernails on his scalp, causing Seth to hum out content. "You're a good kisser." I say, presses a quick kiss to his lips.

After the short-lived second kiss, Seth presses a peck to my nose. In return, I scrunch up my nose. Seth lets out a laugh. "You are so cute." He laughs.

I stare into his chocolate brown eyes and I can't help but wonder. "What are we?" I whisper, curiously.

"What do you want us to be?" Seth asks as he continues to caress my cheek. I don't know how to respond to his question. I was too new to relationships to really know what I wanted.

I shake my head slowly. "I-I…" I choke out. "I love what we have now." I confess. "B-But… I have never been in a relationship. Not a serious one, at least." I swallow, nervously. "What if… what if I'm not good at it?"

Seth brushes my hair back. "Why don't we just take it day by day?" He suggests softly. "We don't need to label it. No stress, no worries."

I am still very unsure. "I don't know if I know how to do that." I say honestly. "What does that entail? What do I do? What if I mess up?"

"Well… We could start by going on a date." Seth offers.

"A date?" I question, almost as if it is a foreign word. I haven't been on a date in years. My last date was in college with some fraternity guy. It ended horribly.

"Yes, a date." Seth smiles a cute boyish smile at me. "I can plan it. It could be fun."

"A date?" I mutter under my breath.

Seth nods his head. "Is that something you want to do?"

"Yes." I murmur. I think it over for a moment. "No labels, no pressure?" I ask for certainty. Maybe I could do that. I like what Seth and I have right now. If there wasn't an official label, there was nothing to mess up. Nothing to ruin. "I think I would like to go on a date with you." I confirm.

Seth leans in and kisses my lips. "It's official then. We are going on a date." The doorbell rings, effectively separating the two of us.

"The pizza." I say as I hop off of the counter. I move to the front door, grabbing a twenty dollar bill on the way. I answer the door and exchange the money for the pizza. I carry the box into the kitchen where Seth has pulled out plates and drinks for us.

I open the box once I'm in the kitchen and divide up slides for us. We settle at the high top chairs and begin eating.

"When should we have this said date?" I ask after a few moments of eating. I peak over to Seth who is already done with his second slice of pizza. I look down at my first half eaten slice and shake my head in disbelief.

"Next weekend." Seth answers confidently.

We continue eating in silence. I stand up to flip the record and music fills the air again. "Nessie made some cupcakes for you." Seth said after we both polished off the pizza. Well, mainly Seth polished off the pizza. "I left the out in the truck. Let me run out and get them."

I throw away the empty box and clean up a little during Seth's short absence. When Seth comes back in, he is carrying a plastic container filled with several cupcakes. Seth opens the plastic container and hands me a delicious looking cupcake. "Looks yummy." I say before taking a bite.

Seth takes a bite of his own cupcake and nods his head. "Nessie is a really good baker. She also is a really good cook as well."

I hum as I munch on a second bite. "If her food is half as good as this, I might have to have her make me dinner sometime." I say, motioning to the cupcake in my hand.

"She makes dinner for the uh-friend group quite a bit. You will have to join me next time." Seth says. I nod my head in agreement as I take another bite of the delicious cupcake.

After finishing each of our cupcakes, Seth and I get right back to work with unloading the boxes. The amount of things that I have from the things packed away from college is insane. I end up making a pile of things I need to donate as well as another pile of things I wanted to keep.

After unboxing everything and separating my belongings out into piles, Seth and I settle on the couch, exhausted. "I owe you one." I say as I look over to Seth on the other side of the couch.

Seth gives me a lazy smile. "You don't owe me anything, T." He assures me. "I'm glad I was able to help. Plus, it was nice that I got to spend more time with you."

I smile. "We made quite a dent in my unpacking and making it homey. I wouldn't have been able to do that without you."

"We were very productive. Even squeezed in planning a date." Seth says, winking at me.

I giggle. "Yes, our date. I am excited for it." A yawn slips from my lips, absentmindedly.

Seth sits up. "I should probably head out and let you get some rest for work tomorrow. You've had a long day with all of that traveling." He stands from the couch and I stand up with him.

We both walk slowly to the front door before I pull Seth in for a hug. "Thank you so much for your help." I mumble into his shoulder.

Seth's hands rub my back soothingly before we separate. "No problem, T. Have a good day at work tomorrow. And I will text you about our date this weekend."

I smile before he leans down to give me a quick peck of a kiss. We both say goodbyes before I shut the door and lock up.

Hi guys! I hope you are doing well. This chapter is definitely not one of my favorite chapters I have written and is more of a filler. But I wanted to update the story. The next chapter is really good I promise! Let me know what you guys think of this chapter. Please be sure to leave a review or favorite/follow the story! xx M