Wherever You Are

Chapter 24

Felicia's escape ended quickly. Her drive home was long and lonely and the trip that was supposed to give her closure only made her more confused. She had so many questions when she had arrived and barely any of them had been answered. As she sat in her brother's car in the drive she rested her head on the steering wheel and closed her eyes. She wanted someone to tell her what to do and how to feel? She was confused beyond her own belief.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Startling Felicia out of her entangling thoughts, she whipped her head back to see a very angry Seth standing outside of the car with his arms folded across his chest. He looked down at her with steam practically pouring from his ears.

Well, I guess he knows, Felicia thought. She innocently squished herself deeper into the seat and gave Seth a small smile. She shrugged her shoulders up and tried to put on her cutest please-have-mercy-on-me look.

Seth shook his head, reading past the cute façade and opened the car door for her. "Out. Now," he ordered.

Felicia obediently grabbed her purse from the passenger seat and stepped out of the car. She put her head down and walked toward the front door. When she opened it and stepped through Sandra was waiting on the other side. She shook her head at Felicia and gave her a concerned look, like this was the last time they would be seeing each other because Seth was about to kill her.

Felicia plopped herself over the edge of the couch and laid back with a sigh. She listened as Seth walked into the house and closed the door behind him. 

"So, is there something you wanna tell us?" Seth walked toward Felicia and stood in front of her so she was looking up at him.

She draped her hand over her face and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry I lied. I just didn't think you'd be okay with me going to see him so I just went but it was only because-"

"You did what?" Seth boomed through the house. It was enough to make the whole neighborhood shake.

Felicia sat up confused. She looked back and forth between Seth and Sandra. Sandra stood leaning against the wall with her head in her hands. She shook her head back and forth. "Oh this is worse than I thought," she said. She walked up behind Seth and patted his back. "I'm gonna leave this one to you." Sandra stood on her tip toes and kissed Seth on the cheek. "I'll be upstairs."

Felicia's eyes shifted back to Seth who stood even more furious than before. "You guys didn't know?" Felicia asked shyly. Seth was pacing now from one end of the living room to the other by the kitchen. 

"We just wanted you to explain why Jonah was running around here yesterday looking for you."

"Oh," Felicia said.

 He stopped and faced her. "But now you tell me you went to see him?"

Felicia fell back down onto the couch again. "I know you're not going to understand but I needed to go see him. If I had told you that you wouldn't have let me go so I figured I'd just go and you'd never know. I didn't know Jonah was going to be here looking for me while I was in Vermont looking for him." Felicia propped herself up on her elbows. "I needed to talk to him. I had a lot of questions and I was really confused. I thought seeing him might help me."

Seth's expression softened. He let out a sigh and took a seat beside Felicia on the couch. She swung her legs over the side and sat normally. He leaned his elbows on his knees and tilted his head to look at her. "I get it. I know it's been hard for you since he left. I just don't want to see you get hurt again. You do remember that he hurt you? Right?"

Felicia rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do. I can't forget it. I just thought seeing him again, or talking to him might help put my mind at ease."

"Did it?" he asked.

Felicia shook her head. "If anything it made it worse. I thought I was ready to confront him about everything that happened but the minute I saw him I lost it and ran off. Andrew had to come find me."

Seth could hear the pain in Felicia's voice as she spoke. She looked okay on the outside but her frustration spoke through her voice. "You know you can talk to us right?" he asked referring to himself and Sandra.

"I know," Felicia said with a nod. She leaned her head onto her brother's shoulder and closed her eyes. "I know."

"So then what happened?" Seth asked.

Felicia slowly let her breath out. "We talked. And it was really nice to talk to him again. It was really nice to sit with him and just be around him again. But things are different now. We've both changed and gone through our own stuff since. It's just different."

Seth sat silently, unsure of what to say next. He didn't want his younger sister to have to feel so much heart break. She was still just a kid in his eyes even though she had matured years past her age.

"But we've decided to stay in touch."

Seth sat up, knocking Felicia from his shoulder. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

Felicia nodded. "I do. I think it'll be good for us."

Seth nodded by the expression on his face showed her was reserved to the thought. He wrapped his arm around his baby sister and pulled her closer to him. "Just be careful okay? And remember, you're in charge. If he ever does anything to hurt you ever again, I'll beat him up."

Felicia laughed at her brother as her ruffled her hair. "Yeah, yeah."

"Seriously, tell him I said so. I want to make sure he knows what he's getting back into." Seth had a smirk on his face that reminded Felicia of how it was when Jonah had first started coming around. Seth was so protective of her. She liked seeing this side of him. It reminded her that she would always have him no matter what, even when she was going behind his back and doing stupid things we would never approve of.