Soulmates: Writing on Skin [Seaycee AU]

Nine

Sean's alarm rang through the air of the silent room early the next morning. He rolled over onto his back, eyes still closed, extending his arm in the direction of the nightstand to his left. He pawed around on the wood surface for several seconds before his hand came in contact with his cool leather phone case. He brought the phone in front of his face, unlocking it and switching the alarm to 'off.'

Sean pushed himself up to a seated position, arms outstretched behind him to stabilize himself. He glanced over to the two sleeping girls next to him, making sure his alarm hadn't woken them up. Neither of the curly haired had brunettes stirred. Nevertheless, he was careful to make minimal noise as he pushed himself out of bed and rummaged through his suitcase for the supplies he needed.

He pulled a box from his suitcase and checked inside to make sure everything was there so he wouldn't have to come back into the room and make more noise. Upon seeing everything that he'd be needing, he stood up and padded out into the kitchenette area of the hotel, shutting the bedroom door silently behind him. Kylie and Devon were already awake, setting up various snacks and drinks around the room.

The two Rice siblings smiled at Sean and waved, not wanting to speak and wake anyone else up. Sean returned their gestures and set his box on the counter, pulling out string, balloons, and an assortment of pictures of Kaycee.

The three worked silently, Kylie and Devon moving from food set-up to filling balloons with helium and tying different colored string to each. Sean quietly maneuvered a chair around the room, hanging pictures attached to string from the kitchen ceiling.

By the time Brad and Laura made their way out to the kitchen an hour later, the three kids were on streamer duty; taping multicolored streamers to the various doorways within the hotel room. While Brad worked on starting a pot of coffee, Laura shuffled around the room admiring the work that had already been done. She reached up to numerous pictures, turning them around in her hand carefully and smiled. Each photograph captured Kaycee's happiness perfectly, whether it was on her own, with her friends, or with her family.

"I love this one." Devon whispered, ambling over to his mother's side and reaching up to pinch the corner of the picture in front of her.

Laura smiled admirably, "That's one of my favorites." The picture was a still-shot from the final moments of Sean and Kaycee's number from The Cut. Kaycee's arms ran along Sean's back, wrapping up and around his shoulders. Sean's left arm held Kaycee's upper back tightly and his right hand cradled her head. Both of them had their heads resting on the other's shoulder, smiles embellishing their faces.

Laura turned to look behind her at the young boy hanging streamers. His brows were knitted together in concentration as he taped the colored paper to the wooden door frames. She admired all of the work he was putting into decorating; it had been all his idea, after all. He'd been planning this for the past couple of weeks, wanting to make sure Kaycee's sixteenth birthday celebration was so special. It meant the world to Laura that Sean treasured Kaycee enough to plan something so beautiful just for her. In her mind, this was more special than any tangible gift.

"I hope she likes this," Sean stepped down from the chair to admire all of the work they'd done, "and she doesn't think we went overboard."

As if on cue, the bedroom door opened, revealing Tahani, rubbing the sleep from the corners of her eyes. "What's all of this?" She stepped further into the kitchen, turning pictures over in her fingers. She stopped and looked all around the room, a smirk upturning on her lips, "This is easily the most extra thing I've ever seen."

She turned to look at Sean, eyes twinkling, "This was all you, I'm assuming?"

He shrugged, "My idea maybe, but they all helped set up, Kylie and Devon even started before I got up." Sean gestured to the two Rice siblings standing behind the counter.