Chapter Two

SETH

I shouldn’t have done that. I know.

I shouldn’t have left without a word, but you could say that Emily-Mae made me nervous.

I remember the first time I’d seen her a few weeks ago. I’d gotten shit-faced that night but I hadn’t forgotten her face. I had no memories of that party but she had stuck with me, and I’d continued to look for her. Sometimes spotting her in the hallways and before I could think of striking a conversation with her, she’d disappear. We didn’t even take any classes together so I didn’t know her name that time.

And then one afternoon during lunch, I saw her sitting in the campus garden alone at lunch under a large tree, eating out of a brown bag, typing something in her Macbook, and I was sitting inside the building, looking at her through the glass walls. I was surrounded by the members of my ice-hockey team who were goofing and talking about some shit that I was barely interested to sit through.

My attention was captivated by her.

She looked hot in the over-sized sweater, her nose was pink from the cold breeze, and there was a glow to her face that I couldn’t possibly describe.

She was beautiful.

I remember being subtle when I asked one of my teammates. “Who’s that girl?”

One of the guys, Landon looked out front and said, ’That’s Olivia. She’s super hot, but man she’s taken. Not sure if he called dibs but she was hooking up with him all summer.”

I looked at where the idiot was looking at. He was talking about the brunette behind the girl I actually had my eyes on.

“Not her. I’m talking about the girl sitting near the tree.”

He looked at me like I’d gone crazy, “Emily-Mae Vasquez.”

I looked at the boys.

“She taken?”

I could punch a chair if he said yes. The girl was fucking gorgeous with a capital ‘G’ so I wouldn’t be surprised if he said she had a boyfriend.

“Uh...No dude. As far as I know, I’ve never seen Sweet-Potato-Emily date anybody .”

“Why do you call her that?”

“You blind? You don’t think she’s a little...I don’t know...say on the heavier side?” Easton sniggered.

The others looked scandalized. At that moment, I knew the boys I would be backing up and the boys I would likely ram my fists into, or run my truck over. I’d picked my side.

“She’s Cale Vasquez’s little sister. He was the previous captain of our team, he’s now in college.” Kenny said.

“I think she’s pretty hot,” I admitted.

Roland chuckled, and not in a nice way. “If you like girls who eat more slices of pizza than you do, then go for it, man.”

Fuck you, asshole! I knew the type of girls Roland liked, and I’d tell you the idiot had a type. They were all the kind who wouldn’t give a shit if he wasn’t in the Hockey team. The best word to describe his type of girls was “Shallow.”

“Aren’t you body-shaming her?” I looked at the others, ”And you guys are just going to shut up?”

No one said a word so I picked up my lunch and started to leave when Roland opened his mouth again.

“Hey, don’t forget your promise.” He chuckled.

I arched my brow in question because I was a total idiot and had forgotten about the stupid bet.

“The cash.”

I ignored him and went to sit with someone else. The cheerleaders had been wanting me to join their table for a long time and the girls were cool. I’d gotten friendly with one girl on their team, inparticular, Skylar. She was a good friend, and also, she was the only one who didn’t look at me like I was a meal.

That’s how my crush on Emily-Mae Vasquez started.

Or I should say obsession? Because she sure as hell had become one big obsession in my life.

I hadn’t noticed that she was chubby, I guess it was her smile that drove me nuts. I’d seen her smile at some kids in the hallways, and it sure gave me the butterfly flutters in my stomach. And that had never happened, like ever.

Slowly, I started to find reasons to talk to her.

I wanted to say ‘Hi’ or just smile but I couldn’t find the courage. Normally I had no problem talking to girls or hooking up with them, (the latter was easy) but this...

It was a completely new world.

I was going to find a way to somehow make this right.

The next day, I’d transferred a class to Spanish because I knew it was one of the classes she took.

It’s like my mom had telepathic powers because, at the end of that day, I was standing at Emily’s doorstep.

* * *

EMILY

I had to double-check the security camera screen to make sure I was seeing correctly.

Had my crush on Seth gone so far that I’d started to imagine every guy as him?

God, please no!

I pressed the intercom.

“Who did you say you were?” I asked again.

I swear I heard a sigh on the other end of the door.

“It’s me, Seth.” The voice drifted from the intercom. “Seth Monroe from your school. You probably don’t know me. I’m the captain of the ice-hockey team, power forward.”

As if he needed to give me a detailed introduction.

I quickly ran my fingers through my hair, checked my appearance in the huge mirror in the foyer, and then opened the door.

“Hi,” I said.

What was Seth doing at my house?

Don’t Freak out!

He looked stunning as I’d seen him in Spanish class.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” His green eyes were dazzling as he apologized. “I didn’t mean to run off like that.”

He looked for my address and came to my house just to apologize for the afternoon? That was so sweet.

I checked his near vicinity. Was this some kind of a prank set up by his jock friends?

“You came all the way here to apologize to me?” I asked him bluntly.

He shrugged, “not really.”

“Then why?” I asked, “Is this some kind of a prank?”

He frowned, “Prank?”

“Yeah.”

Because everyone knows that I have a crush on you and they just want to have a little laugh on behalf of Sweet-Potato Emily.

He shook his head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Emily-Mae.” He looked genuinely clueless, he seemed far too honest for it to be acting. He slowly climbed the steps to my door.

It took me a while to realize what a giant he was. My head reached his shoulders with wedge HEELS on and it didn’t help the fact that he was so big and intimidating with the tattoos and the stud piercing in his ear, not to mention the silver barbel in his tongue and his eyebrow. It made him look tough.

“Ruth Gavin.” He said.

“She’s my housekeeper. What’s she got to do with you?”

“She’s in the hospital, right? I came to tell you that I’ll be working part-time here temporarily until she gets better.”

I frowned. “But we don’t need a replacement. Dad never told me anything.”

“I spoke to Mr. Vasquez.” He informed me all businesslike, “he said I can work for you guys. I’ll get paid for the hours, free food, and a place to crash, plus I could use the money. Besides that, I have given word to my mother that I would take over this job for her.”

“Your mom?” My head was swimming with all this information. “Your mom is Ruth Gavin? Our housekeeper?”

He laughed, “Yup.”

I folded my arms across my chest.

The side of his mouth twitched upward, and I wondered what he thought was so amusive. I had just gotten home so I wasn’t wearing my embarrassing Hello Kitty pajamas. It was still early for that.

“If your mom is Ruth, then why is your last name Monroe? Why not Gavin?"

“Really Vasquez?” He sighed, “Mom and Dad divorced when I was a kid, I was living with my dad. She changed her last name to her maiden name when they separated.”

“Oh. I see...”

She did mention she was divorced and had a son. I’d also seen a picture of her son when he was six and living with her.

I tried hard not to hyperventilate with the realization that I’d seen Seth’s picture as a cute six-year-old smol bean and did not recognize him. Who would have thought that little boy would turn out to be the love of my life?

“Can I come inside now?”

I stepped aside, “yeah. Of course.”

I led him inside and all the while I kept thinking...

Oh my god, what is this new development in my life!

He tossed his back-pack on the plush carpet floor and sat down on the leather couch, his eyes scanning the place curiously.

“Can I offer you something? Water, soda, coffee?”

He grinned, “that’ll be my line when you have guests over.” A beat later he said, “You look surprised to see me here.”

“Yeah...uh...I thought you...”

“You assumed we were similar? That I lived in a mansion, had a country club membership and treated people like shit, and drove a German car?”

“Kind of.” I admitted, “not that I care if you drive a German car or not, but most guys in our school especially your teammates...the jocks are...”

“Rich assholes?” He asked.

I laughed because I couldn’t help it, “are you going to keep completing sentences for me?”

He laughed too.

Then there was a pause, an awkward silence between us, he was the first to break it because my dumbass was busy staring at him. “Who else lives here with you?”

“I’m alone for now.”

He wiggled his eyebrows.

I giggled, “what the hell did you do that for?”

“Nothing. It’s just I’m getting all the wrong ideas since we’ll be staying here alone and all.”

“Well, you didn’t even let me finish.”

My cheeks were hurting from all the smiling, and was Seth Monroe, newest captain of the Ice-Hockey team, breaker of million hearts flirting with me?

"As you know, dad’s always out for business but my brother comes over every once in a while to check on me. He has his own apartment downtown.”

“I see, so we have to do something about that brother of yours.”

I’m sure he flirted with every other girl in school, but somehow it still made me feel giddy. No one thought I was worthy of flirting before. They only saw me good enough to “dm” me for nudes because of the size of my breasts and ass.

“So what will you have me do, Emily-Mae?” He asked, “whatever you want, or need, I’ll be at your disposal.”

Why did it sound like an innuendo?

“Well, there’s another lady who joined yesterday and she’ll be here to do the cleaning every other day. I hired her myself. So, I guess you can cook, if you know how to, that is. Your mom used to do that for me. My cooking isn’t that great so I could use the help.”

“Sure. I’ll do breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Just give me a list of foods you prefer, any allergies, or anything you hate. I can also make snacks.”

I was elated. I was convinced he was god-sent. Seth was not only going to stay in my house, (the studio from across the lawn but it will count), but I would get to eat the food he cooked with his long elegant hands.

“Sounds great!” I said a little too enthusiastically, “So when is Ruth coming back?”

“I just got here and now you want to get rid of me so soon?”

“No...I don’t mean it that way...I was just curious.”

Seth laughed, “relax. I was kidding. Mom will be in a hospital for a few days and then I told her to go live with her parents. She’s going to be there for a few months.She needs a break.”

I had firecrackers bursting inside my body. My happiness knew no bounds.

“Hey look, I have my stuff in my car. If you could show me where the studio is I can start putting things out and get comfortable. I’ll just freshen-up and start preparing dinner.”

“Okay.”

I started leading him to the studio apartment outside of the house. It used to be Cale’s photography studio which consisted of a kitchen and a bed with an attached bath. It was cozy. Since he moved out, it was turned into Ruth’s living space.

“Oh, and by the way, Emily Mae, if you talk about this to anyone at school, you’re toast.”