Along Came Seth

Sam

I made my way back to my room overcome with a sense of happiness. I was about to enter my room when I made the mistake of looking into Seth’s open door. There he sat, bare chested and with his back to the door, strumming a guitar. I watched as his back muscles flexed when he readjusted the guitar and I held back a shiver. I stared at the beginnings of his tattoo, transfixed, and made a mental note to stay upright. What good was I if I fainted from his hotness?

“When did you get it?” I asked softly resting a shoulder on his doorframe.

“The guitar or the tattoo?” He asked not turning.

“Both”

“You can’t ask two questions in one” He said simply.

“The guitar” I grinned at his sarcastic tone.

“When I was thirteen”

“No elaboration?”

“This isn’t a test where I have to explain my answer, you don’t get points for it” I could hear the laugh in his voice.

“Whatever” I rolled my eyes even though I was hardly annoyed.

“Whats your favorite memory?” He asked after a bit of silence.

I stared at his back slightly confused as to where the conversation was going.

“It’s called fifty one questions. I can ask anything” He shrugged.

“I suppose” I mumbled.

“It was my sixth birthday. I went through this ‘Disney princess’ phase, where I would pretend to be stuck in a Disney story” I smiled remembering, “Dad ordered Chinese, even though Talia and Elliot hated it, and pretended to be a waiter, while Talia was my evil step sister and Elliot my fairy god brother. Even mom played along, pretending to be the evil stepmother. We played around like that, with these crazy accents and gestures, for hours and I just remember it being so funny and feeling carefree and happy.”

“I had this huge pink dress and everything” I laughed.

“How about you?” I asked feeling nostalgic. Seth sat silent for a minute before shifting on his bed to look at me. I almost gasped at the sight before me. Gone was the happy bright face I had gotten used to. This face was….tired and sad.

“What's wrong?” I asked rushing to his side.

“You can’t ask two questions, Bleu” He grinned slightly.

“Seth, honestly”

“It’s nothing, I’m just tired” He shrugged running a hand through his dark hair.

“Why are you so tired?” I wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily.

“Trish…” He looked down at his hands and shook his head, “God, things are a mess”

“Talk to me” I said gently.

“I don’t…” He stopped abruptly looking up at me. I watched him with sad eyes and saw his green eyes soften. I don’t know what compelled me to, but I wrapped my arms around him. He sat stiff for a second before squeezing me slightly.

“I’m here any time” I murmured into his shoulder.

“I know” He said quietly.

I pulled back and held him at arm’s length. Our eyes locked and I found myself in a trance. I couldn’t look away from those green eyes, no matter how hard I tried. I saw his eyes flicker down to my lips and stay there for a second before meeting my eyes again. I could hear my inner voice yelling at me to step back from the situation but my body wasn’t listening right now.