Recollections

The Time I Came Clean To Seth

The Time I Came Clean To Seth
(song of the chapter: Secret // Maroon 5)

When I finally get home from my long day, it's nearly nine o'clock. I unlock the door to the apartment and let myself inside. To my surprise Phoebe and Elena aren't tucked away in their rooms. They're sitting in the living room talking, and there's another voice. No, two.

I step further into the apartment and tug my hoodie off. As I get the jacket off of my head, I glance up and catch sight of Austin sitting cross legged on the floor and right beside him is Raymond, Elena and Austin's cousin. My attention is directed to Elena.

"Really?" I complain.

She smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, I knew today was when you usually come home late, and we didn't think our game was going to take this long."

Game? I peek over the couch and see that they're playing Cards Against Humanity. I don't say anything else, just turn and make my way to my bedroom.

Moving quickly I toss a handful of clothes into a small bag and then I pad to the bathroom so that I can grab my toothbrush. When I've gotten all that I need, I change out of my tennis shoes and slip on some flip flops.

Everyone stares at me when I come back out into the living room. Austin stares at the back that's slung over my shoulder.

Phoebe asks the question that they're all thinking. "Where are you going?"

I turn my back to them so I don't have to see Austin's face when I tell them, "Seth's."

The apartment falls quiet, but I keep moving. I grab my keys from the counter, where I left them and then I make my way to the front door. "Goodnight guys, I'll be back in the morning."

I close the door, not giving them, time to respond. The chilly air swirls around me and I run to my parked car. As I climb inside, I'm welcomed by warm air. It's still toasty in here from my drive home not too long ago.

I don't see Seth's car immediately when I pull into the lot of his apartment complex but I start to worry that maybe I should've called. Yanking my bag onto my arm, I climb out of my car. The lot is dark but I try my best to search for Seth's car.

In the face corner of the lot, I see the outline of his four door Range Rover. Relief floods through me and I start running towards the stairs that climb up to Seth's apartment. By the time I've finished climbing the third flight, I'm out of breath and I'm knocking on his door. The door swings open and I'm standing face to face with a stunned Seth.

"Hi." I pant.

The overnight bag I've packed feels like a hundred pounds on my shoulder as Seth's stare focuses on it. His head cocks to the left fractionally and I suddenly wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole.

"Shit, I'm so stupid. I should've called." My words run together as I nervously rush to speak. "I'm sorry, I'll go."

Seth's hand calmly grabs me by the elbow and pulls me into the confines of his home. "Don't be silly, you just took me off gaurd. I'm happy to see you."

The fast pounding that's happening in my chest gradually begins to slow and my frantic breathing starts to return to normal. My bag slowly slides off of my shoulder and I carelessly let it fall to the floor. My eyes close for a moment as I try to relax. I hear Seth shut the front door and when I open my eyes he's gazing at me with a tiny smile on his face.

"What's with the smirk?"

Seth shrugs. "You never just show up unannounced. I'll come to your place without telling you, but you never do that. I'm surprised that you just dropped in, but I kinda like it." He's moved into the kitchen and I see him shuffling around with things on the counter.