The Special Two

My skin felt frozen by the time I reached the small tan two story that I called home.

"Oh, I'll just walk to First Beach," I muttered and quoted myself from earlier today, "It's not that far, and look! It's sunny."

The stone sidewalk leading up to my front door was a depressing mixture of browns, blacks, grays, and of course, green. In Florida, there are always light colors, dry, lifeless, light colors. This whole darkness thing was going to take a while to get used to. I hopped up the two steps to the front door and shivered. I needed new clothes. I made a mental list as I unlocked the door and stepped inside the heated house.

Jeans, sweaters, socks, sweatshirts, and the biggest parka I can find.

My flip-flops squeaked against the dark hardwood floors in the soft green entry. It seemed no matter where I went in this town; I couldn't get away from the green. I tossed my keys at the small table by the door. My toes hit the hard wood and I shivered. This place was so cold.

I hopped to my left, away from the carpeted staircase, and into the small living room covered in a fluffy gray carpet. Raindrops beat against the large sliding glass door to the left, and I let out a huge sigh. At least I managed to avoid being pelted by the rain.

After I made the decision that I wasn't going to leave this house until the wet crap stopped falling from the sky, I walked upstairs to change out of my jeans. I had taken the master bedroom without a second thought. I had never spent any time in it as a child, so it didn't threaten my wall. I pulled out soft blue Victoria Secret sweatpants and slid them on with dark gray t-shirt.

I yanked my hair into a messy bun, which sat on the top of my head. I looked into the mirror above my dresser; the reflection that stared back at me looked tired, bored, and all too hard to be a seventeen year old. Its smile looked forced and careless. I sighed and went back downstairs.

The kitchen was the same cream color I remembered, but the old counters had been torn up and replaced with dark granite. I was thankful for the stainless steel appliances, our fridge at home was the same so it was easy to replicate where I put the food. The white tile made my feet recoil as I walked in to grab the bag of frozen Chinese food.

I had put just started to stir it into the wok when the doorbell rang. It made me uneasy. People made me uneasy, especially old friends.

The locks on the door were twisted and flipped until I finally yanked the oak door open. What was waiting on the other side was quite a sight. Seven grown men, the same who were had shown up for the surprise visit yesterday, were standing in front of me. Apparently, they didn't know how to call.

"What the hell?" I said and stared at the group of them. Sometimes, I had a problem filtering my words.

Seth Clearwater chuckled, "Hello to you too Clara."

I smiled and shook my head to try to snap out of it. Seth and I were good friends before I moved; I had a tiny crush on him back then. We were each other’s valentines for four years. He was at least a four inches taller than I now was which is saying something at my height. Similar to the rest of the guys now, his dark hair was short and his skin was tanner than I remembered. But his eyes, like burnt chocolate, were exactly the same.

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his large frame, "Hey, Seth."

He returned the hug and I felt like a kid again. Whenever I was upset, Seth's hugs would make me feel better. Being wrapped up in his arms again made me feel vulnerable, I pulled away.

"You're wet."

"It's raining." Jake stated, pointing out the obvious.

My heart leapt and tugged all at once at the sound of his voice.

Stop it. I told myself, Stop it right now.

I just nodded with a locked jaw, looking up at the sky as if to confirm.

Seth chuckled out of nowhere, "Do you think we could come in, Clara?"

I sighed with my arms over my chest, and kicked the door to the side.

"I don't see why not. There's a freaking hurricane going on outside."

As they piled in and kicked their shoes off as if they were scared I was going to beat them for tracking in mud, I walked over to my wok and stirred. Pieces of chicken and carrots had molded to the bottom and I sighed. Rotten timing.

"I don't think we've met, I'm Quil."

I looked up from the food and gave a smile, and hoped it returned the friendly look that seemed to be carved into him.

"Nice to meet you Quil, Clara Robins." I stuck out my right hand for him to shake.

The room went silent.

Slowly, Quil extended his hand and shook mine. It was like a bear shaking hands with a rabbit, everyone here was so massive. I felt self-conscious as the silence continued. The timer beeped to tell me the food was done so I reached in the cabinet for a plate. Once I turned around, I was met with seven pairs of interrogating eyes. Seth got up slowly and took my right arm in his massive hands.

"Clara, what's on your arm?"