Latibule s. clearwater

Chapter 5

Seth stood anxiously outside the door. Pacing and mumbling, trying to hype himself up to exude some kind of courage. After all, Hazel was his imprint, there was a reason why they were destined to be together in some way. 

The door swung open slowly, her head peaking in between the small opening and where the door frame was. "Oh. Hi Seth," she said quietly. Opening the door wider he got a glimpse of her clothing. She was wearing an apron overtop her regular clothes, flour had clearly been spilled or wiped on it at some point. 

"Are you baking? I can come back another time." 

"No, no. It's okay. You can help if you want." Hazel smiled, making his heart leap. Stepping into the small home he took a look around. There was a small couch and TV, a coffee table, and three doors beside the kitchen. 

The kitchen was small and had little to no counter space, forcing the two to be shoulder to shoulder if they both wanted to be in there. "I'm making a berry cobbler for Chief Swan. He really liked the last one but apparently Bella's a better chef than baker," Hazel laughed. "You can knead the dough if you want." 

Seth tried to move around her only for the two to bump into each other again, having to place a hand on the middle of her back he tried to move around her without doing it again. Washing his hands and drying, he cautiously began pushing and pulling at the dough, Hazel watching from beside him intently. 

With her bottom lip between her teeth she started growing antsy watching the way Seth did it. It reminded her of when Elliot would try to help her bake and she would always take over, resulting in him calling her a control freak. 

"I'll finish that if you stir the berries." Seth was flustered, having never been the one to do anything in the kitchen besides eat, he nodded. 

"Is your dad not home?" Seth asked before he mentally kicked himself, remembering that she was adopted. 

She hesitated. "Bruce isn't home. He's probably somewhere in Port Angeles." 

"How come?" 

"Um, well he likes to drink so he spends most of his time barhopping and staying at cheap motels or friends I guess." 

"Shouldn't he be home, or at work? Or at least at the hospital checking up on Elliot? Doing something besides drinking and leaving his kids alone." He was growing frustrated, not understanding how the man that was supposed to be taking care of her and her brother was a deadbeat. 

Hazel tried to word her next words carefully, "Listen, Seth. The foster system is real particular about the process of getting to adopt a kid, always picky about who they can give them to. And for a system so picky they sure do pick a lot of wrong people." 

"How? Why would he bother if he doesn't want to?" Seth asked. 

"He gets money for taking care of us. Extra money for my deafness and money for Elliot's treatments." 

Out of anger he accidentally squished a bunch of the berries, making Hazel take over that too. "Why wouldn't they have given you to a family who cares or a relative?" 

"I had a family that wanted Elliot and me," Hazel smiled at the thought of the Cullens. "But Bruce is a relative, a cousin on my mom's side or something, so he outranked them basically. They always try to keep family together if possible to make things easier, especially in cases like ours." 

Hazel and Seth didn't speak for too long after that, instead she did most of the work and Seth watched. He felt woozy at the close proximity to her, being able to take in the mixture of her floral scent and see her beauty up close. 

After awhile they both decided to sit on the couch and wait for it to bake while Seth asked more questions and she answered. She explained how it was that her voice sounded so good for not being able to hear herself, that the Cullens had worked on her speech therapy after they had met her. Hazel opened up and told him about how her mom had died giving birth to Elliot, and how he got diagnosed with cancer so young and her having to raise him while trying to raise herself. 

It was a strange feeling for Hazel. She never opened up to people, never even talked to people besides the Cullen family, Elliot, and Leah when she would come into the flower shop. There was this invisible pull that sat between Seth and herself, making her want to open up and be around with him. A safe and warm feeling that she couldn't quite explain. 

"So you weren't born deaf?" 

"No. I started to lose my hearing about a year before my mom died. My dad left us a month before my mom found out she was pregnant again, after I had finally lost the ability to hear pretty much anything." Hazel looked down at her lap. "I always thought it was my fault until I met the Cullen's. They did everything to make sure I never felt like a liability and taught me so much."

Seth put a hand on her shoulder to make her look up. "Hey, well if it means anything I think you're the greatest person I've ever met."

Hazel looked into his brown eyes, growing lightheaded at the way they stared into her so compassionately. Seeming to throw all of her better sense of judgement out the window, she hugged him close, placing her face in between his neck and shoulder and arms tightly around him and inhaling. His own arms coming around to hold her too. 

 It was quickly becoming an all around feeling of content and some fuzzy feeling she did not even want to think about for fear of growing too attached to the boy embracing her. "Thanks Seth." 

Hope you liked it. This was mostly just them talking and Seth trying to get to know Hazel. And I know I've got so many different books going on right now, but hear me out. 

A hunger games fanfic 

Think about it and let me know lol 

<3