The Life Of A Crazy Girl And Her 10 Brothers

Call Me A Receptionist The Way I Be Making Appointments

When I woke, Seth had gone and my dad was the one hovering over me.

"I came back from work early and let Seth go to school," he explained, pressing a cool palm to my forehead. "Are you feeling better?"

I took inventory of my body. There was the typical dull ache in my lower abdomen, but no headache or onslaught of nausea. I nodded. "Yeah."

He proceeded to watch over my every movement for the next fifteen minutes until I waved him off, preoccupied with thoughts of Seth.

What now? I wondered. Should I just ignore it? Can I ignore it? It'd been awhile since I'd had a crush. Should I confess? I threw that idea down a five story building the moment it appeared in my head. No way in hell. Maybe I should just go with the flow.

After plenty of agonizing, I decided to ignore my feelings towards Seth. I mean, I'd been ignoring the feeling for so long already, it shouldn't be to hard to continue doing so, right?

Wrong.

Later in the day, the boys had come home. Carter and Caleb checked up on me and Corey offered some of the notes I'd missed. I'd forgotten that Seth was staying over, and was caught off guard when he peeked in before closing the door behind him.

He crossed the room in seconds and was pressing a hand to my forehead like the others had. "Are you feeling better?"

I was tired of the question, but Seth was touching me. His hand. On my forehead. Calm the fuck down, you whore. It's just a hand.

I pulled away slowly and nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"What's wrong?" he asked, lips pursed.

I huffed. Did I like forgetting that luck hated me? No. Did I still do it anyway? Yes. "Nothing," I answered.

He frowned. "You're lying."

I paused. "I am." My gaze shifted to the floor. "What about it?"

"Why?"

Because I just realized how hot you are and the feelings I have towards you are too much for me to unravel so I don't know if this is romantic or sexual attraction or both and I can't do anything about it. "Don't worry about it, it has nothing to do with you." Lies.

A pause from him and then: "Does it have something to do with why you kicked me out earlier?"

My gaze met his and skittered away, but not before catching the beginnings of a smirk. Fuck! He's hot!

"I don't know if you've noticed this, but you haven't been looking at me lately."

Why? Why would he notice something like that?! I glared pointedly at his shirt, where a hint of muscle could be seen. "I'm looking at you right now."

A lithe finger tilted my jaw until I was staring into the brown eyes I'd been trying to avoid.

"My face, Avy. You're avoiding my face."

Because it's dangerous! I let my eyes rove his face, unable to focus on his eyes. He had amazing skin. Of course he does, why wouldn't he? He just has to be- My eyes latched onto the beginnings of a pimple. Aha! In your face, Mr. Perfect.

I was struck by the urge to touch his cheeks. What the fuck! Stop thinking domestic, fluffy thoughts!

"Are you thinking about me?" he whispered, and I realized how close we'd drifted to each other.

I jerked back and stared. "What?"

"Are you thinking about me?" he repeated. "Am I not forgettable now?"

I blinked. A laugh bubbled in my chest, but I held it in. This idiot lowers his voice for two seconds and suddenly I'm a mess. Disgusting. "I thought I already told you that I didn't forget you. It was out of sight, out of mind."

"So I should stay within your sight to stay in your mind."

"No!" I shook my head. "That is not what I'm saying."

I was saved from having to explain by my phone vibrating. Thank you for saving me, Ember. The text, however, wasn't from Ember, but from Owen, the guy from the party.

Are you free tomorrow?

Like a date free?
no

No
I meant like...
Hookup free?

Oh
Yea sure
What time

I could feel Seth's eyes on me as Owen and I texted back and forth the details of tomorrow's encounter. "Is there something you need?" I asked, eyes still glued to the screen.

"Who're you texting?"

I glanced up before returning back to my phone when I saw Owen was typing again. "Why?"

"It's just," he hesitated, "if it was one of your friends, you'd have a goofy smile," —halted in the middle of typing— "and now you look kind of serious, so I was just wondering," he explained.

He watches me when I text? "Don't worry about it," I said instead and resumed typing.

The corners of his lips tightened.

Owen will be good for me, I decided. If I like Seth because I'm now realizing that he's hot, then I can use Owen to get over him because Owen is hot too.

Owen texted me an address and our plans for tomorrow were finalized.

"Why are you still here?" I asked Seth, who looked startled.

He shot me a cheeky smile. "In your sight, in your mind, remember?"

I chuckled and threw a pillow at him. "Get out!"

He tossed me a small smile and my pillow before closing the door behind him softly, leaving me struggling to get that smile out of my mind.