HIM AND I

Seth's point of view:

"How do you use these things?" she says as she struggles to use the paddles. I laugh.

"It's like this," I take mine and demonstrate

"Okay..." she tries to do it

"I go forward," I demonstrate. "And you paddle backwards," I correct her and finally she gets a hang of it.

"You have never gone canoeing before?" I ask with curiosity.

"It's been years," she chuckles. She has an amazing laugh, it's heart warming, unforgettable. I'm fascinated by her.

"Seth?..." she calls

"Huh?" I snap out of my daydreaming.

"Are you okay?"

Her sweet voice echoes in my head like a song.

"Yeah,"

She gasps with excitement looking past me. I stop paddling I turn to see.

"Did you see that?" she beams

"what?..." I ask with puzzlement, still searching in the water for this exciting thing.

"I just saw a fish splash in the water," she says looking eagerly at the water behind me, "I've never seen a live big fish before,"

"So you've only seen one on a plate with soup," I laugh. She amusedly grins. "Do you want to catch one?"

"You have a fishing rope?" she asks

"Yeah, I have one."

"I have never tried fishing before,."

"Let me check the map for where we can go fishing." he picks up the map.

***

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO

Jordan's pov:

" I'm always in his shadow, I always have been since childhood. Why can't he give me some spotlight for just once?" I hit the steering wheel while driving.

"Why must every woman want him and not me? Ladies for at his feet all the time, he has no idea what its like to be me, I'm just the younger brother"

Maybe that's why I chose to live in a forest, away from people, because that's how my brother makes me feel—ALONE! I want to hurt him so that he feels the same pain I always feel. I want people to hate him and love me. I guess maybe I just want to be loved and treated the same as my brother, "I guess I just want a brother" I exhale. Maybe I just want to be a son.

***

Rebekah's point of view:

Seth took me to a fishing spot, I caught three fishes but I put them back into the water, I just felt so sad taking them from their freedom. We took some pictures with the fish I caught on Seth's camera. We also went to a beach area where we ate and rested. It was fun.

I'm falling asleep in his white Lamborghini as he drives me home. I still don't understand how young guys like Seth and Jordan are having such expensive cars, and why are they wasting their time on poor Rebekah?

"You know…" I begin with a smile, " when I first met you, I never would have imagined that we would go canoeing together someday,"

"Me too, I hope you had fun," he says

"I did, it was better than I imagined," I

"Do you want to go home yet?" he inquires

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

"yeah," he steals a gaze at me. " I was thinking we would watch the sunset," he suggests

"Well…" I think for a bit, "I'm fine with that,"

"Okay," he says and I look out the window.

***

Seth's point of view:

The wind blows through her hair making her ponytail fly and Wiggle.

"I was a liar

Thought I knew myself better

Then you came along

You changed my life forever"

I listen to her soft singing, her voice is so out of this world.

"I got it," she takes her backpack and searches for something.

"What's wrong?" I ask with concern seeing the change on her facial expression. She looks at me.

"I forgot my phone," she sits back, "I wanted to write something down,"

"Oh, I have notepad in my backpack that you can use once we get to our destination," I offer and she looks at me, " it's in the boot,"

"Oh, thanks," she smiles. We stay silent for a while.

"So…who changed your life forever?" I ask

"No one," she shakes her head and looks out the window, " I'm trying to write a song,"

"Maybe I could help you write it."

"You can write songs?" she looks at me with surprise

"Well…I can try"

"That's good enough for me," she smiles, "we will write it together then."

"You have a beautiful voice," I compliment her

"Thanks,"

"I also want to hear you sing," she says and I chuckle.

"Maybe someday."

***

Rebekah's point of view:

We get to a beautiful beach in Columbus Ohio. I admire the beauty of the ocean as we walk along the shore. A few people seated on their chairs, a few children running around—building sand castles and splashing each other water, and two guys practicing on their surfing board. The ocean makes me feel infinite, lonely, scared as I stare at the massive area of just water. The sun is still shining.

"It looks so peaceful here," I comment, feeling the gentle breeze from the ocean.

"Yeah, earth is really not so bad."

I look at him, "the way you say is almost as if you are not from Earth," I curiously ask

"Oh, Uhm no, I'm into space stuff so…I just love saying, earth." he smiles

"Okay…"

"Come on, let's sit there," he looks at a tree further down the beach.

***

*REBEKAH'S HOUSE*

Mrs. Stevenson's point of view:

I've worriedly walk up and down the living room with my hands on my hips waiting for Rebekah.

"Where could she be?... it is almost 7 pm now." I sit down on the couch facing the television; but I'm not interested in knowing what's on it. " I just hope nothing bad happened," I worry.

I tried calling her phone but she left it, I heard the ring tone coming from her room. I thought of calling Jordan's mom to ask if he's at home, but I don't want to bother her about something that is probably not even a big deal.

***

Rebekah's point of view:

"We're here" he informs me, and I'm somewhat a little disappointed as I look out the window.

At the beach, he helped me write down a few lines for my song, the sunset inspired most of the lines I wrote— Ideas kept popping up.

"Oh, so we're are here," I disappointedly look at him looking at me his hand is on the steering wheel and the other is resting on the seat.

"Don't you want to go?" he asks with his heart melting deep voice and a smile.

"I don't know, can I sleep in here?" I ask and he chuckles looking past me at the window.

"I think that's your mom there," he says and I look to the back.

"Yeah, that's my Mom," I confirm while turning to him, "thank you for today, I really enjoyed it,"

"My pleasure," he says

"Don't go yet, I have to give you your jacket back," I grab my backpack in my hands

"Okay.

He waits as I walk out and head down to the house.

"Hey, mom." I smile, but her sight is more interested with the car behind me.

"Who is that guy in the car" she suspiciously asks. I look at his car and turn back to her immediately.

"He is a friend of mine," I profess, "he helped me out on Wednesday with an umbrella,"

"So what he is waiting for" she inquires

"I need to give back the jacket he borrowed me," I explain

"When did he borrow you a jacket?"

"On Wednesday, it was raining, remember?"

"yes,"

"I feel like I've been found guilty of murder,"

"Yeah so he borrowed me his jacket, I was getting really cold,"

"Oh, okay." she turns her focus back to the car and I make my way inside; leaving her still standing by the door.

I run upstairs into my room; throw my bag on my bed and go straight to the closet. I grab the jacket then I run back downstairs to find my mom standing by the car chatting to Seth. I walk over to them.

"What are you guys talking about," I ask

"I was just making sure he's good for you," claims my mom.

"He is just a friend," I restate

"I was just making sure he is a good friend then."

Seth chuckles and looks at me.

"Okay mom," I roll my eyes

"So...introduce him to me," she instructs.

This is not how I dreamed of introducing my first crush to my mom, this is awful. Really.

"Mom, this is Seth. Seth, this is my mom,"

"Nice to meet you," Seth politely smiles as he hand shakes my mom.

"Which university do you attend?" inquires my mom after ending their handshake.

"I'm done with school," he responds

"Oh, that's nice"

"Here is your jacket," I hand it to him.

"Thanks,"

"I guess I'll see you around then," I put my hands behind my back with a smile

"Yeah," he shakes his head. "Goodnight."

"Drive safely," she advises, "you young men don't know how to drive properly,"

Seth chuckles.

"More like Jordan doesn't know how to drive properly,"

" I will," he assures, "it was nice meeting you,"

"It was nice meeting you too," My mom smiles.

He turns to the door, gets in and I waves us before driving off, we wave back.

"so...are you going to give me the details about Seth or do I have to beg you?" she asks as we make our way to the entrance of the house.

"We're just friends mom" I insist

"I like that guy," she claims as she walks in.

"I thought you liked Jordan," I wonder as I close the door and continue forward.

"I like both of them," she responds

"Okay…"

"Why didn't Jordan drop you home," she questions.

There's no way I'm going to tell her about the whole hiking story. She walks into the kitchen and I follow behind.

"We were on our way home, then I saw Seth coming out of his car at a shop…" I begin explaining as she takes out the dishes from the dishwasher and starts wiping. I grab an extra cloth and help. I continue, "I thought it would be a great opportunity to give his clothes back, so asked Jordan if I could come home with Seth,"

"That's kind of rude" she comments

"Jordan said it was fine," I claim

"So who are you going to choose between them," she asks

"Seth and I are just friends"

"I know, you've been saying it for a while now but I was once a young woman and I know how this might end up,"

"A love triangle,"

"Yes,"

"I'll handle that when it gets to that." I respond. "But are you okay with me hanging out with them?"

"I'm okay with it," she says. "Just be careful and don't get distracted,"

I wrap my arms around her back and she hugs me back.

"I'm scared to grow up," I confide while resting my head on her left shoulder

"I know, but you will always be my little girl," she comforts. I smile.

She lets me go. "Come on, you need to eat," she says

"It's okay, I already ate,"

"Oh," she grins then she laughs. "These gentlemen know how to win your heart don't they?"

"Mom please, don't," I slightly smile

"Sorry sweetie," she apologizes with an amused smile.

"Have you already eaten?" I ask

"Yes," she starts carrying the containers of food on the kitchen counter to the fridge. "Though I didn't quite enjoy it,"

"Oh, what happened?" I question

"I was worried about you, especially knowing that you left your phone home,"

"Oh yeah…I forgot, I didn't even notice,"

"It's okay, atleast you made it home," she closes the fridge after packing the last container.

"Yep,"

She rubs her hand on my arm, "Good night sweetie," she says

"Good night mom," I smile

She begins to walk out while I stay resting my back on the counter. Daydreaming of Seth's face of course.

"Oh yeah," she turns around. 'I almost forgot, Micah and Sera came looking for you earlier," she informs

"Oh," I move away from the counter. "Did they tell you anything?" I walked to her with eagerness

"Well, they said something about an outing," she says

"I better go and check my phone,"

"Okay," she switches off the kitchen lights and after I climb up the stairs, she switches off the living room lights

When I get in my room, I grab my phone from the light stand and get in my blanket. I unlock my phone and there are 6 missed calls from Micah and 8 calls from Sera. I try to call Sera but she does not pick. I try calling Micah and she also does not pick up.

"They must be sleeping,"

It's not that late though, it's only 7:30.

Rebekah: I was not at home and forgot my phone, Can I come to your house tomorrow at 10?

I send Micah the message.

Sera: How about tomorrow we go somewhere?"

Sera sent this message yesterday at 10pm.

Sera: hey, Micah and I will come to fetch you at 11, We are just going somewhere and have fun.

I look read the last message she sent at 10:30pm.

Rebekah: I was not at home and forgot my phone, I just saw your message now but I will be at Micah's house tomorrow at 10 we should meet there <3

After sending sera the message, I put off the phone, place it on the side of my bed and lay back. I am so exhausted

"Erg, I missed gym" I put my hand on my face

"But I think the running I did today is enough."

My phone vibrates and I pick it up.

Micah: Of course, I will see you tomorrow then.

Rebekah: Great <3