Chapter Two
A/N: I am soooooooo sorry that this chapter took me forever to write! I just haven't been inspired for this story at all. Plus I went through a bunch of shit. But I knew that I really needed to get this posted so I can continue with the easier (to write) part of the story. PROCEED!
"Hey, bro! Smore?" Paul asked Seth as we walked up to him and Abby.
"Hell yeah!" Seth said, taking a seat beside Paul. I took my seat next to Abby.
"Pretty soon me and Paul are going for a midnight swim." She whispered, then nudged me.
"So I'm guessing that's when me and Seth will get our alone time?" I laughed softly.
"Yep. I'll be sure to keep Paul occupied for a while." She winked, and giggled.
"Secrets don't make friends!" Paul yelled at us, and Seth laughed.
"Oh, hush!" Abby said to him, then stood up. She walked over to Paul, then sat on his lap. "Paul, I was thinking… You and I should go for a little swim." She said in a husky voice.
His eyes lit up. "Sounds good to me!" he said, then stood up, still holding Abby. "See you two later." He said, then ran down the cliff with her.
"Guess that leaves us by ourselves." I said, sauntering over to Seth. I sat down beside him and leaned my head on his shoulder.
He tilted my head up towards his with a finger and kissed me softly. "I love you." He murmured against my lips.
"I love you, too." I said, then laid my head on his lap. He started running his fingers through my hair, and I almost fell asleep from him doing that, so I sat up. I stood up and took his hands, then pulled him into our tent. He zipped up the door, then smiled mischievously at me. I gave him a sneaky smile back, then pulled him close to me, then kissed him.
The kiss got heated; fast. Pretty soon he was pulling at my clothes and straddling me while I tugged on his hair. It wasn't about lust, I just wanted to be close to him; as close as possible. I wouldn't see him for a week, so I wanted this last night to be as great as possible.
I woke up with my head on Seth's chest. He was still sleeping, so I closed my eyes and listened to his soft breathing pattern, and smiled. I still couldn't believe he was mine. Had we been together for a month already?
I heard Paul and Abby outside talking, so I gently shook Seth to wake him up.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then stretched. "Mornin' babe." He said, then kissed my forehead.
"Morning love bug!" Paul yelled at him, and I laughed.
"Get dressed, I'm hungry." I said, opening my bag to get my clothes.
"Aww, do we have to get dressed?" he whined, pulling me towards him. I laughed as we fell back, me on top of him.
"Yes, I'm starving. Did you not get enough last night?" I asked sarcastically.
"I'll never get enough." He said, then kissed me.
"Aww. You're too cute." I smiled at him. "Now get up." I said, then went back to getting dressed.
He chuckled, but finally got up. Once we were both dressed, we unzipped the tent and walked out into the fresh air that smelt of bacon and eggs.
"Don't worry, I made turkey bacon for you." Abby said to me, smiling.
"Aww, thank you!" I said, then hugged her.
"So how was your night?" he asked, pulling me aside.
"Amazing. How about yours?" I said, smiling widely.
"Fantastic!" she gushed. "He was so romantic!"
"Okay, I don't want all the details." I joked, then pulled her back to where Paul and Seth were finishing cooking the food.
"I wonder if they talk about it like we do." She pondered.
"I have no idea. I'm sure they talk about it, but I doubt they gush like we do." I joked, and she giggled.
"You two are such girls!" Paul joked.
"Funny, it seemed like last night you appreciated me being a girl." Abby smirked.
He glared at her playfully, the ran over, scooped her up, and ran away with her as she screamed.
Seth came over and wrapped his arms around my waist. "I'm gonna miss you, ya know." He said, then kissed the top of my head.
"I'm gonna miss you more." I said into his chest.
He sighed. "I'm not even gonna try arguing with you, because I never win."
I laughed. "At least you've learned." I pulled his head to me and kissed him.
"How did I know we'd come back to this?" Paul asked jokingly.
"Oh shut up. You did the same thing when I went to California." Abby told him, and he set her down.
"But that's different!" he whined.
"How?" she asked, laughing.
"Because I'm me and you're you." He winked, then kissed her.
"Well let's eat." Seth said, taking the pan off of the make-shift grill.
"Finally! I'm starving!" I said, grabbing a plate.
"Here you go." Abby said, dishing my plate for me.
"Why thank you Abbs." I said, smiling.
We started eating and eventually me and Seth were leaving. I said my goodbyes to Abby and Paul, promising Abby we'd hangout the second I came back.
"How much time until we have to leave for the airport?" Seth asked as we came inside my empty house.
"About ten minutes." I answered.
"You all packed?"
"Yup. Got my suitcases at the foot of the stairs." I smiled.
He smirked and played with a strand of my hair. "Quickie?" he asked. I smiled and we ran upstairs to my room.
After our little quickie, I brushed through my hair, shoved my brush back in my bag, and we loaded up Seth's car. The car ride was silent as we just enjoyed each other's company, and not wanting to ruin the moment with words of sadness. We reached the airport in okay time, since Seth was driving. If I had been, we would've been there much sooner.
The radio was a soft background noise to my thoughts as I watched Seth find a parking space. I wanted to take in every inch of his face so I could have the clearest memory of him while I was in North Carolina. I wished that he had been able to come with me, but in a way, I was happy to get to spend some alone time with my family.
"Are you gonna miss me?" I asked as we pulled into a spot.
"You know I will." He said, opening his door.
"How much?" I grinned.
"Too much." He smiled, then opened my door and kissed me. "You pack a lot." He complained as he fished my luggage from the trunk.
"Only the necessities."
"Your whole dresser is a necessity?" he questioned.
"No, but extra pairs of clothes are." I smiled.
"They wouldn't be if you were vacationing with me." He winked and grabbed my duffle.
"Then you figure out what's going on with the pack, and when I come back we'll vacation somewhere, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan." He smiled widely.
We checked in my luggage and finally he couldn't go any further. "I'm gonna miss you so much." I said, holding him tightly against me.
"I'll miss you too. I love you." He said, kissing my forehead.
"I love you, too." I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him long and hard.
I waved goodbye to him and walked into the line, taking off my shoes and putting them in a bin along with my purse that acted as my carryon. Going through security took forever since this lady in front of me couldn't figure out what was making the metal detector go off. Finding my gate was pretty easy, and I grabbed a cup of coffee from the little Seattle's Best shop located inside the gate. When we finally boarded the plane, I got a window seat right in front of the wing, my favorite spot. Luckily, I only had one person sit in my row, and they sat on the outside.
She was an older lady, but she was really sweet. We talked for a little while, then she fell asleep. I took out my iPod and one of the books I brought with me, and started reading. After about an hour, I fell asleep, only waking up to the nice lady gently shaking my shoulder.
"Sweetie, we just landed in Dallas. Do you have to switch planes or is this your connected flight?"
I rubbed my tired eyes and sat up straight. "This is my connected flight." I murmured, still sleepy.
"Oh goodie, I get to talk to you some more." She smiled at me, causing my mouth to grin back.
I didn't sleep the entire flight, all the way from Dallas to the Rocky Mount airport.
The pilot came over the loud speaker, startling me. "Ladies and Gentlemen we are about to descend to the Rocky Mount Airport. Please buckle your seatbelts and place your trays in the upright and locked position. It's been nice flying with you. Thank you for choosing Southwest and have a wonderful day."
We landed and I put everything in my purse, including the copy of Sky Mall that was allowed to be taken. We pulled up to the walkway thingy, and everyone stood up. I didn't bother, because I wouldn't be able to leave for a few minutes. Finally I could go, and I said goodbye to the lady whose name, I learned, was Nancy.
As soon as I was inside the gate, I dashed to the bathroom. Having a large cup of coffee before a 6 hour flight was not my greatest idea, considering when I realized I had to go, there was too much turbulence to be allowed to get up. I walked out of the bathroom, refreshed, and walked out of the gate to see Bryanna, Trevor, and Carter waiting for me. Bryanna ran into the gate, ignoring security, and tackled me with a hug.
"Ohemgee I missed you so much!" she squealed.
"I missed you too, Anna! Now can I breathe please?" I joked.
"Oh, sorry!" she apologized and released me. We walked together and when I reached Trevor, and grabbed me and picked me up.
"I missed ya, 'lil sis!" he said, putting me down. Even though we were twins, I was born 10 minutes after him.
"I missed you so much baby girl." Carter said, as he pulled me into an affectionate hug. He always called me his baby girl, even though he wasn't my real dad, or even my step dad anymore. I loved him like a dad, and as far as I was concerned, he was my dad. "How was your flight?"
"I was fine. Not too bumpy."
"Well that's good." Trevor said.
"Hey I need to make a call really fast. Sorry." I said, pulling out my phone. I punched in Seth's number and waited for his voice.
"Hey baby. How was your flight?"
"It was alright. Did you find out anything?"
He laughed. "Nothing yet. I'll tell you as soon as I find out. I promise." He chuckled. "I miss you already."
"I miss you, too. But hey, I need to go. I love you." I told him.
"I love you, too. Bye babe."
"Bye." I said, then shoved my phone into my pocket. "Sorry, I promised I'd call." I said, and we continued walking to the car.
"Who was that?" Trevor asked.
"Seth."
"Who's that?" he asked.
"My boyfriend." I said. I completely forgot that I didn't tell Trevor about Seth.
"What happened to Jacob?"
"I haven't been with Jake since our last family vacation. All the feelings are gone. I even hooked him up with Seth's sister, Leah." I smiled.
"How serious are you two?" Carter asked.
"Well, pretty serious. I mean, we've only been together for a little while, but we love each other."
"Are you gonna marry him?" Anna asked
"Well, if I see myself getting married to anyone, it's him. But we're just taking things one step at a time. We haven't even talked about marriage yet."
"So if you don't marry him, who will you marry?"
"Well I see myself with him as long as possible. If I don't marry him for some reason, then I guess I'll have to fall in love again."
"Would you be able to do that? Fall in love with someone else? Wouldn't you always love Seth more?"
"I don't believe there's only one person for everybody. Seth does, and it'd be impossible to change his mind about that. But I think that anyone could fall in love more than once, if they needed to."
"But... You don't believe in soul mates? You are so not a romantic person!"
"You're just a hopeless romantic… Well, no, you're just hopeless." I joked, and Carter and Trevor laughed.
"I believe the same thing, by the way. About being able to fall in love more than once." Carter said to me.
"So does mom." I said, then I realized it. Both my mom and Carter were happy. They were over each other and I just wanted my family back. But as I watched Anna and Trevor goof around ahead of me and Carter, I realized that I had my family.
"That makes me feel better. Ever since the divorce, I've felt guilty about the whole thing. I mean, I should either way, and I know this sounds kind of conceited, but I was worried that she wouldn't be able to get over us. I still care for her, and I do love her, but I'm not in love with her anymore."
"I completely understand. Like me with Jake, but not quite the same extent."
We reached the car now, and Trevor let me sit in the front seat. I dominated the radio, as always, just in case anyone in the car tried to listen to mainstream.
"So in case you haven't already, Bry and Trev, you need to play rock paper scissors or something to see who's bed I'm stealing."
"We did already. You get Anna's." Trevor beamed.
"Darn it. Trevor your bed is bigger."
"Actually I got a new bed. It's the same size as his." Anna smiled.
"Why are you smiling? I'm kicking you out." I joked.
"Why can't we share?" she whined.
"I don't sleep well with people." I fibbed.
"I know that's a lie." She smirked, and I flicked her off. "That was uncalled for!" she yelled.
"So was your remark, missy." Carter said.
"See? We're not even blood and I'm his favorite." I winked at Anna. "Notice how a moment has passed and dad hasn't denied it." I laughed, and she sneered. I even saw Carter trying his hardest not to laugh.
We laughed and joked the rest of the car ride until we reached the house. Trevor and Carter grabbed my bags and I ran inside to the familiar place. I ran upstairs and collapsed onto Anna's bed, and fell asleep.