angst {Seth Clearwater}

Public Enemy No.1

The cult had made it quite clear that they did not like me since I had told Seth to leave me alone. I had to admit as far as wingmen go, they all sucked. It had been a week since then and with the bonfire approaching, they all made sure that they knew that I had told Seth I would go with him. They all showed this by pissing me off. Sly comments, Paul outwardly calling me a bitch, Kim accidentally talking about how Seth was hurting. And the only reason they got away with it was that Kendall was busy at her internship and Leah had thrown herself into wedding planning. 

Here's how it would usually go down. I would go downstairs for breakfast, the entire cult would be down there except for Kendall and the Clearwaters. Emily would comment on how she missed seeing Seth around. Paul would make some dickish comment about how I rudely told him to get out of my life. Rachel would explain her pity towards Seth. Jacob would throw in about how he couldn't imagine getting rejected after just trying to help. Kim would tell them to stop before theorizing that I couldn't help it. Quil and Jared would agree, throwing in more reasons why I did what I did. Sam would say something about how sad poor Seth was. Embry would roll his eyes at them and try to help but always made it worse as Collin and Brady twisted his words into taunts. I would leave quickly after not saying anything, making quite the scene, and then wonder how one could slash tires with a butter knife.

This time it was different. This time Kendall got the day off and Leah returned from the Cullen home with Nessie in tow. I never could understand why she went over there. This time it was somehow, even more, embarrassing with the others around. As I entered the kitchen, the smell of waffles invaded my nose I heard her laugh. Did you know a laugh could sound perfect and set off warning signals? That was Nessie's laugh. She was like a sign saying Danger that was placed in front of a bouncy house. Enticing. I saw her there, sitting in the spot Quil usually sat meaning that Quil was in Embry's spot, Embry in mine, and the only empty spot at the table was Seth's. Nessie laughed at some pitiful attempt at a joke Jacob made. I could feel Leah's eyes roll from my spot at the stairs. No doubt she would be pissy at me for spurning her baby brother.

The stairs creaked as I went down leaving Paul to let out a groan. Paul sucks. I'm sure he has his nice moments, but he, for some unknown reason, took me telling Seth to leave me alone to heart. Douchebag. When I showed up at the Uley cabin that day, hopping from Embry's truck and letting out a small laugh, Paul glowered at the man to both his and my confusion. Paul dragged him to the woods and later gave me an earful.

Kendall let out a snort as she looked over at me. Were my overalls out of season or something? Emily beamed as I plopped myself in Seth's spot, now sandwiched between Embry and Collin. The motherly woman gave me a plate with a waffle topped with fruit and quite the decorative swirl of whipped cream. She gestured to the maple syrup and I tried not to make it too obvious that I was drooling. As soon as it was in my grasp I began to drizzle liquid gold onto that bad boy and feasted like a king. Embry let out an amused snort and I turned to look at him, an amused glimmer in my eye roll. Nobody seemed to like this interaction, to my bewilderment.

"Hey, Leah?" Paul asked getting the older woman's attention. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "How is that darling little brother of yours?" I slowed my eating to look at his eyes that held nothing but malice. Leah and Kendall took notice of this. And Leah knew the answer to Paul's question was that Seth wasn't doing good at all. He spent his days holed up in his room at the Clearwater house. He didn't sleep and barely ate. Leaving the room to go to the bathroom and when Sue forced him to shower.

Kendall knew of this as well, but Kendall was also well aware of what happened that day in May. She also knew Seth had been prying after the meeting with the Cullens. Everyone else thought it was an overreaction, not listening when Seth had told them he was in the wrong. Now that he wasn't answering calls, the group had placed the blame. All except for Leah who Kendall had told years ago.