Flowers for Lilah (Seth Clearwater)

chapter two

Knock-Knock. 

I shifted from foot to foot, the biting cold making me inch my way into the sunlight as I stood in front of the Clearwater's humble home. They lived a street down from me, a five minute walk at a leisurely pace. It was weird to think how many times my parents or grandparent's had been in their house, yet I'd never even talked to the Clearwater's besides Sue.

I was new to town, only being here for a year. I hadn't exactly made a hoard of friends at high school yet, I preferred to keep silent with my head down. If my shyness wasn't enough to ward off people, I'm sure the fact that my parent's had both passed away made people even more wary of me. I know how I probably came off; quiet, painfully boring, plain.

I stood in front of the door for a minute longer, and realized that the Clearwater's probably never heard my timid knocking. Though there was only one beat up car in the driveway, there was enough loud voices on the other side of the door that got me to believe there was a great amount of people there.

Weighing my options carefully, I knocked on the door a little louder this time.

"One minute!" I heard a manly voice call on the other side of the door, and my heart started pounding in my chest. Like I always did in any nervous situation, I felt my mind go completely to fuzz and my tongue get stuck in my throat.

The wooden door flings open, revealing Sue Clearwater, looking friendly, yet lines of sadness etched onto her face. "Oh, Lilah, sweetie. Come on in." She leads me into the small entrance of her home, I'm immediately overwhelmed by the amount of noise and chaos going on in the tiny space. Dozens and friends and family members and bustling around the house.

"Sorry about the mess-" Sue starts, then turns to me, her eyes fixing on the brownies. "What's this?"


I look around the room and see the bustle of the Clearwater family hustling around. Embry and Quil, two boys from my school, are throwing what appears to be a vase back and forth through the living room, while Leah Clearwater attempts to re arrange the chairs at the small dinning room table to fit as many people as possible.

Me, used to the quiet life of my grandparents and I, freak at the commotion. "B-brownies. Uh. Brownies from my, uh. my grandma..." I begin to choke out, but am cut off when a loud crash rings from the kitchen, glass obviously broken.

"Oh great." Sue rolls her eyes, "Seth! Come out here and greet our guest- Excuse me one second," She looks at me apologetically, "This house isn't big enough for this many people."

I chuckle nervously, and freak out when she flees the room towards the sound of the crash. I shift awkwardly from foot to foot in the room, before Quil and Embry finally notice me.

"Hey, I know you." Embry says. "You're Lilah, right?"

I nod, too many times to be a normal amount. "Y-yeah. Embry, right?"

"Yeah. This is Quil." He nods to the tall boy next to him.

Quil's eyes focus in on the brownies I'm holding, "Whoa, are those brownies?"

Embry hits, "Show some respect. It's for the Clearwaters."

"What's for me?" I hear a ruggedly soft voice emerge into the room, immediately forcing my eyes off of my feet and to snap into the direction of the voice. Seth Clearwater, a boy in my grade who I'd never spoken a word to.

In an instant he's right next to me, too close to me, and I feel myself getting uncomfortably warm, redness pooling to my neck.

"What are these-" His eyes lift from the brownies and look straight into mine and he cuts off, his mouth freezing mid-word. My eyebrows crinkle, but I find myself unable to look away from his gaze. I feel myself lock up, unable to form a single coherent thought.

I vaguely notice I've gained Leah's attention, as she breaths out, "Is it happening?"

I can't bring myself to comprehend what she's saying, or Quil's loud cackle as he watches on, I'm too hypnotized by Seth's glare. How long has he been looking at me with that strange look? A second, a minute, an hour?

I'm caught off guard by Embry lightly pushing Seth's shoulder, causing Seth to shake out of his trance, and me to freak.

I thrust the plate of brownies forward into his hands and step away as fast as I can, avoiding any eye contact at all. "I-i'm sorry." I say looking at him in the eye, then shifting my gaze to Leah. "To both. Both, of you I mean." I ramble. "For your-" I'm about to say I'm sorry for their loss, but am struck with a flashback of all the times I was told those exact words when my parents had died. "Nevermind. I'm just going to go."

I turn as quickly as I can and flee out the door, the hard slam behind me concreting all of the stupid things I just said. 

I'm such an idiot.