THE CURSE

We're being torn apart,

What is right with this madness?

To feel so unwanted,

Just want to feel you.

Changes

Pictured Mind

A ringing of the phone swept through the house but Seth ignored it as he kissed Rachel harder trying to prove that what Summer and Anna were doing was not going to get in the way of their private life.

Don't be for me, he thought to the noise as Rachel rapped her arms around him tighter. Please don't be for me.

He could feel her beneath him, a comforting heat radiating off her as his hands travelled up and down her body, amazed at how they were restraining themselves from taking the act any further. In usual circumstances the actions would have become much more serious long ago. Both of them losing control.

Rachel let out a slight moan as his lips travelled down her neck.

Suddenly footsteps could be heard on the stairs and a shout came from below.

"Seth!" Kirsten yelled. "It's for you!"

Seth began to pull away slightly but Rachel forced him back. "Don't answer it," she whispered capturing his lips again.

Seth was in no hurry to disagree, it was only when he was called again that they both stopped and looked at each other. Seth rested his forehead on her shoulder for a moment and Rachel let out a sigh.

"Don't go anywhere," he said, pushing off the bed and heading for the door.

"What took you so long?" Kirsten asked as he grabbed the phone from her.

"What do you think?" Sandy asked noticing how Seth's clothes were ruffled.

"Right again dad," Seth replied before putting the phone to his ear and saying hello.

"Seth, it's Anna, how are you?" Came the voice from the other end.

"Anna...hey...um, I'm actually a little busy right now," Seth replied, not wanting to keep Rachel waiting too long. Not wanting to keep himself waiting too long.

"Nice look," Ryan said sarcastically as he walked into the kitchen and flipped open the paper.

"Thanks man," Seth replied whilst trying to listen to Anna's ranting voice and find an opening to intercept the conversation.

"I'm just gonna..." Seth said pointing up the stairs and taking the phone with him.

When he re-entered his room Rachel was sitting with her back leaning against the headboard, her eyes closed.

Seth again tried to tell Anna that he didn't have time for her at the moment.

Rachel mouthed 'who is it?' to him without opening her eyes.

Seth covered the mouthpiece with his hand and whispered.

"Anna."

Rachel let out a sigh as he moved up and sat next to her making every attempt to cut Anna off mid-sentence. Rachel rested her head on Seth's shoulder and began to say things with every intention of Anna hearing them.

"Seth, baby, come back to bed," she whispered into the mouthpiece.

Seth couldn't help but smile at this. Rachel took hold of the blanket and scrunched it up near the phone giving the impression that someone was moving around under the covers.

"Don't you want me to show you what I was going to do?"

She was smiling now, having trouble not outright laughing. Seth let out a grunt trying to smother his amusement but only succeeded in catching Anna's attention.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Playing soccer," Seth answered.

"Come on Seth, I'm sure it's not that important. Have a little fun."

"Oh I'm having fun alright," he replied.

Anna was quiet for a moment. "It's good to know you care about other people's feelings too."

"Anna...I do care about your feelings."

This comment made Rachel stop smiling.

"Anna I really have to go," Seth insisted. "We can talk later."

He didn't wait for her reply before he hung up the phone.

"She honestly couldn't take the hint?" She asked.

"Clearly not," Seth replied setting the phone down on the bedside table. "Now, where were we?"

He rolled himself into his earlier position and kissed Rachel again but this time she pulled away.

"You don't care about them, right?" She asked.

"No way," Seth replied bringing his lips down to her neck.

"I'm serious!" Rachel exclaimed pushing him away slightly.

Seth leaned on his elbows and looked down into her eyes. He loved her so much that not even words could explain the feeling. Seeing her lying there beneath him made him think of all of the times that they had been through in the past. All the ups and downs, but most of all, all of the moments where they had expressed their love for each other.

Seth smiled. "Would I be here if they did?"

His lips again met hers and they were thrown back into their earlier actions, lost in each others touch.

The doorbell rang and Kirsten went to answer it leaving Sandy in frustration as he tried to solve his crossword puzzle. Ryan had retired to the pool house only moments before.

When she opened the door she was greeted by the toothy grin of Summer.

"Hi Mrs. Cohen," she said cheerfully.

"Summer," Kirsten replied shocked. "Hello, it's good to see you."

"Is Seth home?"

"Um..." Kirsten took a moment to answer, thinking of Seth's rushed conversation and eagerness to be left alone before. "Yes, he's upstairs."

She stepped out of the way and Summer past by giving Sandy a little wave as she headed for the stairs.

"Is it just me or is Seth attracting more attention of the female kind lately?" Kirsten asked as she again joined Sandy.

"It's not just you. All I can say is Seth better be careful because he has something great with Rachel, and he wouldn't want to ruin that," Sandy said.

Summer heard them before she saw them, the soft moans of the two behind the closed door. She had enough experience to tell the difference though and from her judgement, nothing overly serious was happening between the two.

Summer took in a deep breath and flung the door open.

"Hi all!" She cried.

Seth practically flew off Rachel landing beside her and looking at Summer in disbelief.

"Summer, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Just thought I'd pop in and see how you two were doing. I'm clearly seeing that Rachel enjoys fresh meat."

"You're a bitch Summer," Rachel replied. "We were great until a second ago," she used her thumb to dramatically wipe the side of her lip

"That's nice," Summer said walking into the room and jumping onto the bed with them. "So Seth, how are you?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows not believing that the girl was doing this. Didn't she have any decency?

This is Summer we're talking about. Of course not.

"I'm gonna go," Rachel said to Seth moving to climb off the bed.

"Wh-where are you going?" Seth stammered.

"To talk to Ry'. Don't worry, you guys have fun."

Seth could tell by the sound of her voice that the new arrival, and his complete lack of trying to get her to leave did not impress her.

Ryan was now in the pool house finishing his shower, the blinds down so he could change in peace when Rachel barged in speaking frantically. He froze in the middle of the room, only a towel around his waist and watched as she walked in unfazed and dropped onto the bed.

"I can't believe her!" She cried. "That girl has some nerve walking in and taking over the damn place."

She fell back onto her elbows before noticing Ryan's obvious bewilderment.

"What?"

He looked at her and then down at the towel that he was now clutching as though his life depended on it.

"Oh, come on Ry' grow up."

Ryan raised an eyebrow and stood there waiting for her to exit and allow him to change. Instead Rachel lay down on her back and continued her rant.

"And Anna just had to call at that exact moment. I swear those two have completely planned out this whole thing. Used hidden camera's and everything, just so they can catch us at the right moment."

By this stage Ryan had slipped out into the back room mumbling about how he would never figure his sister out and put on a pair of jeans. He walked back into the room bare chested with two shirts in his hands. Rachel was still talking about how much she hated the girls at the moment when her brother held out the clothes to her. She took one look at the garments and pointed to the one on the left, which resulted in him slipping it on and throwing the other one at her playfully.

"Calm down Rach, take a breath," he said sitting down with her.

"Ry' you don't get it," she said, her voice now almost sad. "This always happens. I find a guy and then he finds something more interesting."

"Seth doesn't find Summer or Anna more interesting than you."

"It feels like he does. Every five seconds something about them comes up or they walk into the room. God this is The Curse working wonders."

Ryan tilted his head. "Curse?"

"Yeah. You know? You find someone, you fall in love, someone else moves in on it, they catch your persons eye and wham, bye-bye love life."

"That's an interesting way to look at it...a little depressing."

"That's the way it goes, every time." She sat up and looked at Ryan. "Think about it. How many times have my relationships ended in the past because someone came in and busted them up?"

Ryan thought for a moment and then realised that the number was quite high.

"See what I mean?"

He stood from the bed and went to get a glass of water for her talking as he did.

"I think you're just paranoid. You know as well as I do that Seth is different from the guys you dated in Chino."

"Yeah, he isn't in your gang," Rachel said bluntly.

Ryan returned to the bed and sat back noticing how she was pulling at the buttons on his spare shirt in frustration. He took it out of her hands before she tore it in two. Handing over the glass of water he let out a small sigh.

"So you honestly have that little trust in Seth?"

Rachel looked up at him frowning. "I trust Seth. I don't trust the girls. Unlike you I happen to remember a certain Christmas in which I found him kissing Wonder Woman while Comic Book Making Girl watched. In what twisted way does that not give me enough reason to be worried?"

Ryan placed his hand on her shoulder. "Just calm down. Nothing is happening yet and believe me, it won't start happening. In some part of your mind you must know that because you left them alone upstairs together."

Rachel eyes went wide realising that her brother was right. She went to leave but Ryan stopped her.

"You're gonna trust him," he insisted.

Rachel reluctantly stopped and took a sip of water. "If he cheats, I'm blaming you," she said.

Ryan shook his head and smiled. "No, you'll blame The Curse," he replied teasing her.

Rachel hit him.

TO BE CONTINUED.........

(Hope you guys like it. Next chapter things start to get a bit more interesting because Caleb and Julie arrive and aren't very happy with what's going on at the Cohen's house. Please review.)