We got in the car and for the first time all night, it was quiet.

“Sorry about that.” Seth said. “Chloe’s something.”

“Yeah. She is. But in a good way. I like her. Your family seems nice.”

“They are… They’re just… Protective. Chloe likes to check out all the girls I hang out with. I mean all the time you hear about over-protective older brothers, which Ian and I are… But she’s an over protective little sister.” He paused for a moment, and then reached over and slipped my hand into his. He did it so naturally, with the same air of confidence he seemed to approach everything with. It made me a little nervous, but I liked it.

“You guys all seem close. I mean you and Chloe at least…” I said, trailing off, not sure what to think about Ian.

He seemed to sense where I was coming from. “We’re close to Ian as well. It’s just, Ian’s a bit… Different. He’s a really nice guy, but really closed off. He has some anxiety issues and stuff. He doesn’t like new people, but if you hang around, he’ll warm up.”

“I always wished I had brothers and sisters. It seems like built in friends.”

“It is, for the most part. Sometimes it’s hard though, built in enemies as well. Ian and I have gotten into it a couple time. Chloe and I rarely fight, but when we do it’s a pretty big blow out. Still, they’ve always had my back whenever I’ve needed them, and that’s nice too.”

“I hated being an only child… But then when I was twelve, I met a group of guys, and they became kind of like brothers.” I paused. “I’m actually only really friends with guys, come to think of it. Toni is my only female friend.”

“Really?” Seth asked, glancing over at me. “You only have one female friend, and she has a masculine name?”

I laughed. “I never really thought about it like that.”

Again, quiet enveloped the car. It wasn’t a strained or uncomfortable silence, but still, I wanted to talk, I wanted to know more, and I wasn’t really ready for the night to be over.

“So. Guy friends? Is that something I should be worried about?” Seth asked, smiling at me.

I shrugged, and then smiled slightly. “I don’t know. I’m starting to wonder if you can be just friends with the opposite sex. It hasn’t really worked out well for me.” I trailed off, thinking about Drew.

“Really? I have tons of girl-friends.” Seth replied.

I let that sit a minute. I felt stupid, saying I didn’t believe in opposite sex friends. Maybe that was all that Seth wanted from me, and here I was, assuming differently, out loud.

“How many of them have you hooked up with?” I joked, looking at him sideways. I was hoping my tone would lighten the mood.

He laughed. “True, there have been a fair share of hookups… How many of your guy friends have you hooked up with?”

I sighed. “I seriously dated two of them. I hooked up with the other, once.” I shrugged. “I’m a floozy, what can I say?” I tried to make it sound like a joke, but inside I was panicking. This conversation was getting out of hand, and if I wanted to try something with Seth… Well, I wasn’t being painted in the best of lights.

To my relief, Seth laughed. “I don’t think you’re a floozy. How many boyfriends have you had?”

“Three. And then I dated this guy briefly, but I wouldn’t call it a relationship. I actually don’t date all that often.” I admitted.

“So this is you in rare form?” Seth asked. My stomach did a flip.

“I didn’t realize this was a date.” I admitted.

Seth laughed. “What’d you think it was?”

“I wasn’t sure, to be honest.”

“So… If you had known this was a date, would you have come?” His face was more serious, but there was an amused smile playing on his lips.

“I don’t know.” I admitted again, laughing slightly. “I don’t know how much to admit without it becoming TMI or scaring you off… But I just got out of a relationship. The whole thing is really complicated right now, it’s basically a mess that I have no idea how I got into. So basically, I have no idea what I want right now. I’m trying this whole… Go with the flow mentality.”

Seth was quiet for a long moment, and I wasn’t sure what to say. We pulled up in front of the house, and I was unbuckling my seat belt to get out when Seth put the car in park, which made me pause and wonder if he was done with this conversation. He got out of the car, walking to my side and opening the door for me. He took my hand and walked me to the front door.

“So. If I asked you out right now, on another date, or even perhaps our first since you didn’t consider this a date and my sister tagged along… What would you say?” He asked, still holding my hand as we stood on the porch. Again, a small, amused smile played on his lips.

“Well.” I said, not sure how to answer.

“I just think, in the interest of go with the flow, you should try it out. You know, an experiment.” He shrugged, and though the smile was gone and his face was now serious, his blue eyes twinkled in the porch light. Again, it struck me how good looking he was.

“Well. I guess anything in the name of science….” I said, smiling up at home.

He laughed, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “I like you Ella. You… You’re fresh.”

“I’m fresh?” I said, laughing. “What a compliment.”

He smiled. “What can I say? I’m a wordsmith-Cassonova.” He trailed off, looking down at me. “What I really wanted to say was that you amuse me, but that sounded… Bad. But you do. You’re entertaining. I don’t know, a lot of girls I know, they have to show off. You just seem pretty comfortable being you. “

I turned away, blushing. I wasn’t comfortable being myself, and I had felt like such a klutz all night, but I was relieved that it didn’t come off like that.

“So,” Seth started, his voice low and intimate. “I can see you again?”

“Yeah. I think that would be OK.” I responded. I was suddenly very nervous, and I couldn’t force myself to look at him. I knew what would be coming, the kiss I had been wondering about all night. I don’t know why the thought of it set me on edge so badly, I can’t say I didn’t want it to happen, but my stomach was doing somersaults. My mind flashed briefly to Drew, and I even felt a twang of guilt. It was a little soon to be moving on, wasn’t it? But again, that guilt was replaced by anger. He didn’t want me, and he had broken up with me weeks ago. I wasn’t going to fall in another Jason situation, longing for the unattainable. I was going to enjoy the moment, and this moment meant Seth.

I looked up at him, and the moment our eyes locked, his face started slowly towards mine. He hand reached forward and rested on my waist. It was brief and sweet and left me wanting more.

But Seth pulled away. “I had a great time. I’ll call you, to make plans, OK?”

“Sure.” I answered, unable to manage more. He headed down the stairs.

“Have a good night.” He said, walking backward to his car.

“You too.” I answered. He smiled, waved, and ducked back into his car.

I walked in the door, and dropped my keys on the table. I went into the living room to pull off my shoes, and saw Toni laying on the couch.

“Hey. How was your night?” She asked, yawning and smiling tiredly at me.

“Good. Really good.” I said, smiling.

“You like him.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“I think so. I mean I know I like him, but…” I shrugged, smiling again. “Go with the flow, you know? We’ll see where it goes.”

“I’m proud of you.” She said.

“For what?” I asked, confused.

She pulled herself up into a sitting position. “For doing this. I mean, you have a tendency with guys to kind of… I don’t know. I don’t want to say become obsessed, because that’s not really it, but… You hang on longer than you should. With Jason, with Jacob… I was worried it was going to be like that with Drew.”

I felt my face cloud over as she mentioned Drew’s name.

“I still think you and Drew will end up together.” She admitted honestly. I frowned, and opened my mouth to detest, but she waved me off. “I know right now you’re angry at him, and I see how you could be. You think he’s blowing you off for a stupid reason. Maybe he is. I still maintain that in the end it’ll all work out between you too. However, I’m glad you’re trying out other options. I’m glad you’re not moping or waiting. I’m glad you’re moving on with your life. I think it shows growth.”

“Well. Thanks. I think.” I answered, not really sure how to reply to that. The truth was, I wasn’t really sure anymore if Drew and I were meant to be together. If we were, should it be this hard? With Jason it had been work all the time, at least that’s what it felt like. Now Drew was turning into that too. It also made me wonder if there was something wrong with me. I mean if all my relationships turned out the same way, didn’t that mean I was doing something wrong?

“You OK?” Toni asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah. Just thinking.” I answered.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.” I said, shaking my head.

She cocked her head to the side, looking at me worriedly.

“Toni, don’t do that. You have enough kids to mother, don’t mother me.” I meant it as a joke, but it came out a little more harshly than I meant it too. She looked a little stunned.

“I just meant…” I trailed off. I didn’t know what I meant. “You’ve got a lot of your plate. I can handle my own problems, OK?”

“Well. Just because I have a lot of my plate doesn’t mean I don’t have room for more. I won’t push, but let me know if you need to talk, OK?”

“OK.” I answered. I patted her leg. “You look tired.”

“I am.” She admitted. “I feel like I should be doing more to help out, but I’m just so tired all the time.”

“Don’t worry about it. Go to bed. I’ll pick up.”

“You sure?” She asked.

“You might as well get the rest while you can Toni.” I said, smiling.

“Alright. Well. Goodnight.” She said, getting off the couch and heading upstairs.

“Night.” I said.