Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga, or any of its original characters.
A/N: Well, shit. I'm very sorry for the delayed update. Feel free to shoot me or whatever you feel is a good enough punishment for having neglected this story until I got back from my holiday. By the way, Morocco was lovely! :P But still, please remember to read and review...
4: Too Close to Home
I woke with a start as the alarm on my phone buzzed relentlessly. Grumbling a handful of swearwords that would've turned my mother a whiter shade of pale, I turned the alarm off and flung myself out of bed with little grace. Finding some clean clothes, I decided to get ready to avoid being late to school.
Sleep hadn't been kind to me, considering I'd had to stay up until the early hours of the morning to finish off my essay about the civil war, and by the time I reached the breakfast table I was cranky as hell.
"Good morning," My mom chirped as I sat down across from Dad at the breakfast table. As per usual, he was reading the paper and paying little attention to anything around him. "We're all out of Lucky Charms, by the way."
This morning could not get any worse.
"Can't you run to the store?" I asked her, pushing back my chair to rummage through our refrigerator.
"Ordering your mother about is very rude," Mom said. "Why don't you go to store instead, Penny?"
I grabbed a carton of orange juice, shot her a glare and said, "I'll go without."
Returning to my usual seat with a glass tumbler in my hand, I noticed that Dad was muttering to himself. He looked up at us, a withered look on his tan face, and let out a deep sigh. "You know the diner on 101?"
Did he mean the one that Seth had originally planned to take me to?
"Well," he continued, "there's an article about the murder of its owners. Apparently Mr and Mrs Fox disappeared from there late on Saturday night, and their bodies were found nearby yesterday afternoon."
Mom looked absolutely terrified as she asked, "What exactly do you mean by murder, David?"
"The police think someone killed them - and quite brutally by the sounds of it. The wounds almost resemble an animal attack,"
I finished my drink and once again got up, not really enjoying the themes of this conversation. It was too close to home - too similar to what had happened to my brother back in California. Mom would start freaking out immediately, although it would only be a shadow of the panic we all felt when Adam had first disappeared. I really wasn't ready to deal with that again.
Not now, not ever.
"I've got to get to school," I told them and made my way out of the house as quickly as possible.
It was raining heavily and by the time I made it to first period, my jacket had soaked through to my t-shirt underneath and I was physically shaking. Whether it was from my father's reading of that freaky article, or the cold, I wasn't completely sure.
"What's with you?" Kate asked as I sat down next to her.
"Nothing," I muttered. "I'm just not a big fan of this crappy weather."
"Well, either you're incredibly cranky or it's your special time of the month,"
I considered telling Kate to shut up but I knew that she wasn't being unkind, just pointing out that I was a grouch when I didn't get enough sleep.
"I'm sorry," I offered, and took out my cell phone.
"As long as you're not still like this for calculus after lunch,"
The sight of two unread text messages from Seth was enough to brighten my mood, even if just a little. As I quickly read through them, Kate seemed to notice the slight smile on my face and immediately fished the cell from my grasp.
"Hey!" I yelped in indignation, trying in vain to get it back but she had already read his messages, too.
Kate turned to me and, with an oddly disapproving expression on her face, said, "Please don't tell me you're dating Carmen's ex-boyfriend, Penny."
The rest of the day was turbulent to say the least.
Kate, being the Good Samaritan she sporadically was, had promised not to say anything until I'd asked Seth about his past relationship with Carmen. As I waited for the bell to announce the end of the school, I found myself biting my lip again and hating him even more because of it.
Part of me couldn't believe Seth had lied to me about how they'd known each other. Sure, I'd noticed in Port Angeles that Carmen obviously had the hots for him but Seth had told me that she'd dated one of his friends - not him - and I couldn't fathom why he would have said that. And, according to Kate and her numerous sources around town, whatever was between them hadn't exactly been over for long.
The truth was that I just didn't know what to think. Despite the fact that logically it wasn't that big of a deal, Seth had still lied about Carmen... So what else could he have lied to me about?
Finally the bell rang and I left the biology lab without even saying goodbye to Louise, who sat a few rows behind me and usually walked to her sister's car with me. The downpour had turned to a sticky layer of sleet and I tried my best to ignore it as I headed out to the parking lot.
I wasn't even at the door of my old Ford when my tote bag began to vibrate. It took me a long, painfully embarrassing moment to realize that it was just my cell phone and I blushed furiously as a handful of freshmen snickered.
"Hello," I answered without bothering to check the caller ID.
"Hey there," Seth replied breathlessly on the other end. "How are you?"
"I'm just... Seth, I don't see why... I'm just pretty damn confused if you want the honest truth."
Oh God. This conversation was already going terribly on my behalf. Why on earth was I letting myself get so worked up?
"Why? What's wrong, Penny?"
I slid into the driver's seat of my car to get a little more privacy from the perpetually prying eyes of my fellow highschoolers. I said, with new-found gumption, "You never told me that you and Carmen were on-and-off. Why did you lie?"
The fact that I could hear him sigh on the other end didn't make me feel any better.
"We hooked up a few times - but that was a while ago, you've got to believe me," Seth eventually said, his deep voice uneven. "It was just a summer fling."
I fixed my free hand on the steering wheel and squeezed until my knuckles turned white. I wanted to believe him - I really, really did. But I was completely torn. I trusted Kate as probably my closest friend here, and she was likely to know a lot more truthful gossip than I was... But then who was to say he wasn't being honest now?
"So why should I believe you, Seth?"
"Penny, I promise you that it's over between me and Carmen. OK?"
Without saying another word, I hung up and started the car. My phone seemed to almost burn a hole into the upholstery of the passenger seat and I found myself glancing at it numerous times as I drove across town, lamely hoping that he'd call back.
But Seth didn't, and the seeds of doubt that my mother had sown only a few days ago had now grown into over-sized vines that wrapped around every thought I had of him and seemed to suffocate the very idea of dating him.
When I arrived home Mom and Dad were both out at work still, so I parked on the driveway for once and headed straight up to my bedroom. The creaking staircase didn't even annoy me like it usually did as I ascended. I was way too preoccupied with being annoyed at myself for liking him so much so soon.
Once inside my room, I couldn't find anything to do that would take my mind off of him.
Even attempting to re-read East of Eden for probably the fourteenth time didn't work and I left Adam's copy on my bedside table without a second thought. My mind was simply plagued with images of Seth probably taking Carmen to River's Edge for a cosy date like he had taken me, too. Knowing Carmen's grudging appetite for style over substance, though, it had most likely been a five star restaurant in Seattle or somewhere similar.
And I'll bet she hadn't argued to pay for her own dinner.
Jesus Christ, I thought to myself. You're experiencing jealousy.
Having never really dated at all before I tried to remind myself for the hundredth time that I barely knew Seth. Did I even have a right to feel jealous?
Eventually I decided to go downstairs to get a drink. Flicking the kitchen light on, I instantly saw that Mom had gone to the grocery store and that there was a fresh box of Lucky Charms cereal sitting on the counter. Despite myself, I smiled and went to get another glass of orange juice. I made a mental note to thank her later on.
As I put the carton away, I saw that the broadsheet Dad had been reading this morning was still open on the tabletop. The article about the diner owners was almost staring at me through the dim lighting, and once again I felt a wave of anxiety rush through me.
Looking up from the newspaper, I saw something move on the back porch out of the corner of my eye and all of a sudden there was a tall, dark silhouette standing by the back door.
The glass dropped from my hands and shattered immediately on the linoleum floor as I tried to stifle a scream.