Probably wouldn't be this way....

Date night with Seth was pretty uneventful. I loved how he was with the kids, not afraid of getting down on the floor and playing with them, and I was amazed with how easily the conversation flowed between us.

And how easily the conversation flowed into kissing. How good that kissing was. We made out on the couch like teenagers, and while Seth’s stubble gave me a little bit of a burn, I loved the feeling of kissing him, the feel of his hands running up my body, stopping short in some places, unsure if he should continue or not. It really was like we were back in high school, and for some people that may have been annoying, but for me… Well, it was fun.

Just like high school, though, we got caught. Matt walked in and flicked on the lights.

“Get a room!” He grumbled embarassidly before he turned and walked away.

Seth left shortly after that, giving me one last slow goodnight kiss at the door.

“See you tomorrow?” He asked.

“Yup. Bright and early.” I replied.

I had originally planned on staying as far away from the house as possible. It would have been awkward for me to be there, and there wasn’t much for me to do anyway. Helping them would only lead to me hindering them, I’d either end up breaking something or needing to go to the hospital (I had once tried to help my Dad with remodels. It ended up with my hammering my hand and breaking it. Not fun.) But then Nick asked me to stay around, to be the runner if they needed anything, that way the guys wouldn’t have to stop what they were doing in order to leave to pick up food or supplies. I had told him that I’d stay at my own house and he could call if they needed anything, but then Toni asked me to sew a few things for the kids room, and Nick had already set up the sewing machine in Drew’s room (the one room that was finished. They had worked on that first so Drew would have some place suitable to sleep.)

I dragged my feet on the way over to the house. I didn’t want to go. Didn’t want to see Jason. Didn’t want to see the boys interact with each other. I kept telling myself over and over again that we were all adults, it would be OK, we were doing this for Toni and the new babies. While I wanted to help her as much as possible, I still didn’t want to do this. My feet kept on though, and before I knew it, I was standing on Toni’s front porch. I was trying to pep myself up to walk in, when the door swung open.

Jason.

I was not prepared to see him, and even if I thought I was prepared… Well, I would have been wrong. My heart swooped and hammered against my chest, it was so loud I was embarrassed, certain he could hear it.

“Oh. Hey.” He said, looking just as surprised as I felt. “I was wondering when I’d be seeing you.” He added with a small smile.

“Well. Now, I guess.” I stuttered.

“What?” He asked, looking confused.

“You said you were wondering when you’d be seeing me… Now... You’ll be seeing me now.” I babbled. “Never mind.” I said, waving it off. “Hi. How are you?”

I felt like a total idiot, though I’m not really sure why it mattered. Normally if you liked a guy, you wanted to impress him so he’d want to be with you, but I already knew I couldn’t be with Jason. Too much history, too much there. Still, I knew I looked like an idiot in front of him, and I hated that.

He looked good, too. His normally pasty Irish white skin had some color in it, not a lot, but enough to make us stop calling him Casper. His hair had grown out a little from his crew cut, and he just had a look to him… I realized the last couple times I had seen him, he looked… Tense. Now he looked more carefree. It angered me for a second, knowing that the reason must have been Kayla, and now that he was free of her he was happy. But I couldn’t blame him really. Sure, the way he went about breaking up with her… Well, that was horrible, but overall you can’t help who you love, and if Jason didn’t love Kayla the best thing for both of them was to go their separate ways. I just wish he had done it in the proper way.

“So. Can I get a hug?” He asked. His tone was joking, but I could see the hesitation in his eyes. He didn’t know where we stood, and neither did I for that matter.

“Sure.” I answered, not really so sure it was a good idea.

It wasn’t. Just like I was unprepared for seeing him again, I was unprepared for the feelings that washed over me when I was in his arms. I cut the hug short and stepped back.

“Anyone else here?” I asked, brushing past him and into the house.

“Drewbie’s upstairs, Nick’s in the kitchen with your roommate…”

“Matt?”

“Yeah. And there’s a car pulling up now so… Those must be your other friends.”

“Seth and Ian.” I said, peeking out the window. Seth saw me as he was stepping out of his car and waved.

“Everyone’s here!” Jason called as he went to sit on the couch. “Nick wanted to meet up with us all, he thinks it’s best if we split off into teams and tackle different rooms. His big goal is to get the twin’s room down and the kids by the end of the weekend.”

“He thinks he’s going to get three rooms done in a weekend?”

“Well, actually, more like three and a half. Drew’s been working on the twin’s room and he’s gotten a big chunk down. There’s just laying the floor and painting… So he’s hoping to get that knocked out and started on their room. He really wants to move Toni in. I mean trading spaces does a room in two days, there’s six of us, so we should be able to do a room a piece in two days, that’s three rooms.”

“Trading spaces also has their own carpenters and designers.” I countered.

“Yeah, but we’re not designing really. Toni’s ordering the furniture and all that, all we need to do is put in some new floors and hang some light fixtures and paint the walls. It shouldn’t take that long.”

“Famous last words.” I said, smirking.

“You’ll see.” He said.

Our banter almost felt like old times, where Jason and I could just talk and joke back and forth without worrying about feelings or getting hurt. Then everyone walked into the room, and it suddenly got… Weird.

Drew came down the stairs just as Nick and Matt walked in from the kitchen. A few minutes later Seth poked his head in the door.

“Hello?” He called.

“We’re in here!” I called back.

He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing my right behind the ear. I don’t know if I was being paranoid, but it’s like the room froze, and a stormy look crossed over both Drew’s and Jason’s faces. I glanced from Drew to Jason, unsure of how to react. This was such an odd situation to be in, and I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

I untangled myself from Seth’s arms and leaned back to kiss him on the cheek.

“Hey.” I said, “this is Nick, Drew, Jason, and Matt.” I pointed to each one as I said their names, and they all offered a wave or a nod. “Guys, this is Seth and his brother Ian.”

“Thanks so much for offering to help. I really appreciate it.” Nick said. “Now I’m going to get right down to business. My wife is pregnant with twins, she had a little scare, and now I’m trying to keep the stress down, and I need to get this house done as soon as possible. Now what I thought we’d do…”

“Nicky, I’m just gonna go on and start working. You all can holler if you need me.” I said, heading out.


I was glad to be away from them all. It was just too weird, and I felt like my every move was being analyzed. There were also too many feelings to consider. I didn’t want to be all touchy feely with Seth, and hurt Drew or Jason. But, I also didn’t want to snub Seth, who was kind enough to come help out with something that totally wasn’t his problem.

I rubbed the back of my neck as I started working on the curtains Toni had asked me to make.

This was going to be one long weekend.


*sorry guys, I know this is a little shorter than normal, and kind of boring... We had a long week of fun things for Cayden. The sun was FINALLY out so we went to the zoo on Thursday and again on Saturday, a park on Friday, and then Sunday we took him to COSI which is a really cool hands on science museum. Anyway, I didn't get around to writing, and on top of that, my Mom seems to think Cayden might be getting an ear infection, so I was kind of pressed. Plus, I don't really know what I want to happen... So. I'll try to make tomorrows post worth it, as long as I don't have to take Cayden to the ER/Doctor!*