Chapter 30A: Dancing between sheets

A/N: thanks to jim for editing!

"Would you like something to drink, Rory?" Mrs. Fisher asked.

"No thank you," I replied as she closed the Fisher's front door behind me. She still reminded me of my mother in some ways, but at least I could face her. After hearing my mom's voice again, reading her thoughts and allowing myself to really remember her, Seth's mom just wasn't a comparison anymore. She was just a reminder.

"Can I take Rory to Seth's room?" Gail asked from her mother's side.

"That's okay," Seth said as he came down the stairs, smiling at me. I'd called first. He'd been expecting me. "Hey, Mom? We're just gonna be in my room for a while."

"Are you going to eat lunch?" Mrs. Fisher replied.

"We'll probably go out for something in a while," Seth insisted, waving me towards him. I didn't hesitate to go.

"Okay. If you guys need anything, let me know," she replied as I followed Seth up the stairs.

"We will," he called back, and then glanced over his shoulder to flash me another small smile; I returned it, and then made a point to look at his butt in the most obvious way possible, and he laughed.

"Sorry I didn't call you earlier," I said as we reached his room.

"That's okay. I figured you were sleeping in."

"I was talking to Eddie," I explained, but then decided that I didn't want to get into it.

"You don't have to be home anytime soon today, do you?" Seth asked as he moved away from the door and towards me, his hand finding a place on my back as we walked further into his room.

"Not that I know of," I replied, turning to him for a light kiss, mine just brushing over his. He smelled like cinnamon again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," Seth replied as his hands moved up my arms and over my shoulders--which weren't covered in sleeves today--before they moved back down, all the way to my hands where his fingers hooked mine.

"Does your mom... or, do your parents know that when I come over here..."

"They suspect," Seth answered before I could finish. "I haven't told them anything, though. They'd come up here way too much if I did--do you want me to tell them?"

"Would they come up here way too much if you did?" I teased, and then gave his hand a tug, leading him in front of the sofa so we could both sit down. Honestly, I didn't really care either way if Seth's parents knew that we were seeing each other. But at the moment, I was in favor of whatever would grant us the most privacy. The night before, I'd gone with him to take Meg and Angela home, but by the time they were dropped off, we hadn't exactly had much time to spend alone together. Now I was glad that some of that affection he'd been displaying at the bowling alley was still there as he leaned towards me on the sofa, and then completely into me as I made sure that our joined hands landed on his thigh. I lifted my free hand when he turned his head to look at me, and I took the opportunity to cup the side of his neck; my thumb stretched upwards to trace his jaw as I guided him towards me until my mouth was trapped fittingly beneath his.

Seth parted his lips, and mine with them, leaving me plenty of room to slip my tongue upwards until it came against his and I followed his slow rhythm as I reacquainted myself with the taste of cinnamon and the feel of his hat brushing over my head. I slid my hand down his neck, my fingers lightly hooking his collar bone for a brief moment before they continued their way downwards over his chest--where his shirt was a thin, silky material and I could feel the hair on his chest through it, along with the way that his nipple hardened beneath my thumb; and I found myself wondering if Seth had managed to lock his door. I discovered that he hadn't, just as my hand began moving lower, downwards over his stomach, my small finger brushing up against the hem of his jeans just before I wrenched it away, breaking our kiss in the process. But, I had good reason.

"Seth," Gail called as she took her own liberty to open Seth's door. "What are you doing?"

"Gail!" Seth was on his feet in a second, and at the door before his little sister even managed to stick her head in. Meanwhile, I was still on the sofa, straightening and hoping that I looked somewhat composed. "You have to knock!"

"But the door was open," she argued.

"It was not. Get out of here," Seth insisted.

"But Mom said I can play up here with you because she has to make lunch."

"You can't play in here," Seth informed her. "Go do something in your own room, okay?"

"But I wanna come in here."

"Well you can't, because we're leaving," Seth responded. Sounding exasperated. It was actually kind of cute, and I turned around to watch him talk to his sister.

"We are?" I asked.

Seth looked at me, his cheeks coloring slightly.

"Yeah," he replied. "You can, right?"

I nodded and stood up.

"Go where?" I asked, already fishing out my cell phone so I could call Eddie and tell him that I was with Seth, but wouldn't be at Seth's house.

"Park?" Seth asked. I thought about that for a minute. I guess there were plenty of places in the park where we could be alone. It was too light outside to park his truck somewhere, anyway, and I... I just wasn't thinking with my big head at the moment.

"Okay," I agreed. He smiled and picked up his sister.

"I wanna go to the park," Gail insisted, grabbing onto the brim of Seth's hat. Can I?"

"No," he told her, and then looked at me again, apologetically. "I'll be right back."

I nodded and sank back on the sofa to call Eddie. He thanked me for calling, and then mentioned that he'd be going out, too; but if I needed anything he'd have his phone, and as far as he knew, Luke and Dave were still asleep at the house. He also asked me if I was feeling better. I told him that I was fine. And, I think I really was.

Seth decided to leash up his mom's dogs, and the two shepherds seemed happy to get out when he set them loose in the park. They seemed a bit more rambunctious than Chey, and more interested in each other than people, but they did stay relatively close and always came when Seth whistled for them as we circled the entire park via a sidewalk that I hadn't noticed before. We were near the basketball court, and I'd just pointed out to Seth where Eddie had nailed me in the head with a baseball.

"I guess it was kinda funny," I admitted, rubbing at the place on my head that had been swollen up because of it. "I didn't think it was when it happened, though."

"When I saw you in the mall with that black eye, I thought Aaron did it," Seth said, and I looked at him curiously.

"Aaron?" I asked. "Is there a reason why you would have thought it was Aaron?" I thought it was a good question. Aaron was a lot of things, but I never would have been afraid of him hitting me. Then again, the night I was trapped in a bedroom with him at that party did seem to spark a few questions.

"I don't know," Seth responded, looking a little uncertain.

"Did he ever hit you?" I asked, becoming angry at just the thought of it. But, Seth practically laughed at that.

"No. He wouldn't have the nerve. But he's been known to have a temper every once in a while. Or, lose it. I've seen him hit his brother before."

I gasped.

"The little one?" I asked worriedly.

"No, not Alex. Cody."

"You mean the one that blackmails him?" I asked, and Seth smiled again.

"That's the one. They fight all the time. I think part of the reason why Aaron lets Cody get away with that shit is because Cody never tells when Aaron goes really hard on him. The first time I broke up with Aaron..."

"The first time?" I cut him off.

"Yeah," Seth replied. "I've only taken him back--once. The first time I broke up with him was about a week after we started going out. Aaron was really mad at his dad for something. I think it was because his dad promised to take him on some trip, but Aaron didn't wake up on time so he left without him. He asked me to come over to keep him company, and while I was there, Cody decided to be a smartass. He said something that set Aaron off and I had to pull Aaron off the kid. Cody's the only one I've ever seen him do that with, though. But, I don't know; when I saw your black eye I thought... I guess it was stupid. I called Aaron as soon as I got home to make sure he didn't do it."

"You did?" I asked, feeling a little touched, and once again, foolish over ever hating Seth.

"Yeah," he replied, lifting his arm to rest his elbow on my shoulder as we walked, and I found myself moving closer.

"Hey Seth, can we talk?" I asked. Aaron's name coming up in conversation had brought me back to yesterday. Something Aaron had said was bothering me and I was already getting tired of ignoring it.

"We are talking," he pointed out, flashing me a small smile.

"I mean, about you and me," I replied. "About... what we're doing."

"Oh," he replied, dropping his elbow from my shoulder. He looked a little nervous, and we walked in silence for at least the next four minutes. He didn't speak again until we were away from the basketball courts and all of the people there. "Yeah. What did you wanna talk about?"

"Well... what are we doing?" I asked. "I mean, I like you."

"I know," he replied simply. "I like you, too."

"So is that it?" I asked. "I like you, and you like me, and we're leaving it at that?" This felt obnoxiously like a conversation I'd had with Aaron once.

"What are you getting at?" Seth asked pointedly.

"Like, you know I'm leaving, right?" I asked him. "I mean, I'll be back for holidays, and probably next summer. But, I'm leaving in a month. So I guess what I wanna know is, are we just hanging out until then?"

Seth seemed to take a minute to think about it.

"Do we even know what things are going to be like in another month?" he finally replied.

"Huh?"

"I know you're leaving. I thought about it. A lot," he admitted. "I mean, I knew I liked you, but I didn't know if I wanted to get involved in anything if you weren't going to be around that long. But then you kissed me, and..."

"So all of this was just a mistake?" I asked him.

"No," he said quickly. I mean, it sucks that you're leaving, okay. But, I do like you. So... maybe this is a conversation we should have in a month before you leave, don't you think?"

"So until then--what? You're taking me for a test run?" I asked grudgingly, but Seth laughed at that.

"I thought we were getting to know each other," he replied, reaching for my hand. "But, if that's how you want to put it..."

"I didn't think I'd like you so much," I admitted.

"I don't think you thought you'd like me at all," he remarked.

"Yeah, I guess."

Seth whistled for his dogs to catch up as we continued to walk in silence, and I found myself leaning into him as his thumb began to move over my knuckles.

"I don't want to see other people," he finally said.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't really do the dating thing, you know?" he replied. "I like to see just one person at a time. I don't want you to see anyone else, either," he added, matter-of-factly, and I looked at him, trying really hard not to laugh at the seriousness of his tone when he said that. It sounded more like an order.

"You don't?" I responded, feigning shock.

Seth playfully narrowed his eyes at me and lifted his arm, wrapping it around my neck.

"I don't even want you to think about it," he informed me, and I smiled.

"I don't want to think about it, either," I said, turning into him as he placed a few light kisses on my face before I cupped the back of his head in a way that made his hat come right off, and I directed his lips over mine.

I helped Seth close his tailgate after we'd coaxed both dogs into the bed of his truck, but rather than walking to our respective doors, he turned towards me with a sly smile and I moved in closer, not at all in a hurry to go if it meant more kissing. But his hand hardly even had the time to find a place on my hip before his cell phone started to ring. Seth let out a breath as he lifted the phone and I watched as he rolled his eyes before he hung it up without answering and turned his attention back to me again. I smiled as I took his phone from him, sliding it into his pocket for him because his hands were busy moving back to my waist as he pulled me towards him. I could taste his mouth on mine before we were abruptly interrupted and Seth recoiled so badly that his teeth managed to hit my lip in an unpleasant way that had me cursing.

"You did not just hang up on me!" Angela said as walked around the truck with Meg, her cell phone in hand.

I licked at my lip, tasting blood on it, and Seth frowned as he moved his thumb to my mouth, touching it.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

"It's alright," I replied. Angela looked at me and her eyes widened.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rory."

"What do you want?" Seth asked her, testily but also playfully.

"I saw you guys over here and I just wanted to say hi," she explained as she fished a pack of tissues out of her purse and held them out for me. "I'm sorry."

I might have been annoyed with her if she didn't look like she actually felt bad. I gave her a small smile and took the tissues.

"Don't worry about it," I told her as I held a tissue to my lip and walked around the truck to find a mirror where I could check the damage. It wasn't that bad. By the time I got there, the bleeding had almost stopped. Angela's reflection appeared right behind mine in the mirror.