To Caress My Day

From within the house, Twig’s stiffened at the familiar sound of the young Rebecca’s voice. She couldn’t believe Rebecca had the guts to show her face around here again after the way she acted that night! No longer caring to wait around for Seth to answer the door to whomever was on the other side and then return to her in a flash, Twigs peeked around the corner with narrowed eyes glaring a hole through the front door where she knew Rebecca stood behind. Leaning against the side of the wall in nothing but Seth’s jacket, she crossed her arms over her chest in disapproval and listened in on her boyfriend and his maid’s sleazy daughter conversation on the threshold of his home.

Seth sighed wearily as he decided to go against his better judgement and hear Rebecca out since she was technically family to him still even after all the chaos she caused in his relationship with his girlfriend, Twigs. Glancing over his shoulder, he shot his beloved a brief reassuring smile before stepping out of his house and closing the door behind him, so she wouldn’t be seen by Rebecca. Now alone, he crossed his arms over his chest and arched a brow at the young woman he’d watch grow from an innocent child into the young troublesome college freshman that she’s is today. “I can’t believe you’re out here knocking on my door wanting to talk to me after the way you behaved that night! I don’t know how to put this likely, Rebecca, but you were acting like a drunken whore the last time I saw you.”

“I know, I know I was!” Rebecca whined with guilt, placing her hands on her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. She closed her eyes briefly to swallow that awful reminder before retuning her eyes to his again. “Look, I’m fully aware of the terrible things I did that night, and I feel like a pile of shit for behaving like that towards you…especially after seeing the fight I caused between you and miss Tahliah on your front lawn afterwards. God, I didn’t mean for any of this happen!”

Feeling his heart implode in his chest from dire, Seth froze up like a statue as his eyes widen with uneasiness. He hadn’t been aware that they had an audience that night all except for Derek, but it turned out they did. How was he supposed to explain what Rebecca had witness, or even worse, had heard exchanged between the two whilst they were arguing? There was no way he could play this off as anything but a romantic relationship at that point.

“I mean, I had no idea you two were even an item at the time but of course that still doesn’t excuse my performance that night either.” Rebecca continued without his permission, not noticing that Seth was staring at her in shock until she finally glanced up from her delicate flats. His expression caused her with distress that she may have jumped to conclusion in assuming he was in a relationship with Twigs. “Um…you two are together, right?”

“I uh…um.” Seth strifed to explain, his mind drawing an utter blank on him and abandoning him on his own to figure out a convincing lie to tell her himself. “It’s…it’s kind of complicated, you know?”

“Complicated?” Rebecca repeated with doubt while arching a questioning brow at him.

Seeing no way out of this discussion other than to tally on back to their previous topic, Seth shot her a short glare in the form of as reminder to her as to why exactly she came over there in the first place. “Hey, we’re out here talking about you and your terrible demeanor that night, remember, not me!”

“Yeah, I remember.” Rebecca mumbled with defeat as her eyes became remorseful again. “Look, I don’t know how else to explain my actions other than I was under the influence of alcohol and that’s why I said and did those things to you. I would never have done it if I were sober and I know you know that.” Her mind kept going back to the image of Seth and Twigs arguing quite passionately on the front lawn that evening. “If seeing that heart wrenching chaos I caused between you and Miss Tahliah wasn’t enough to make me feel like the biggest piece of shit on this planet then that hangover the next day sure as hell did the trick. Jesus Christ, just thinking about it makes me wanna swear off touching alcohol in the future just so nothing like this will ever happen again.”

“Wait, are you serious about that?” Seth asked her. “You’d quit drinking for the rest of your life?”

“Mr. MacFarlane, I swear on the life of my family I will never drink ever again if I can never be put anyone else in the position I put you in that night.” Rebecca promised him sincerely.

Seth accepted her instantly and gave her a nod of approval. The Guadalupe family were all extremely loyal and didn’t take their promises lightly. Rebecca was raised no differently. “Alright, I believe you.”

“What happened that night was a one-time mistake.” Rebecca swore to him before confessing sheepishly. “Don’t get me wrong, I do still think you are a very attractive man for your age, Mr. MacFarlane, but at the same time I’m mature enough now to clearly see that your way too old for me.”

Feigning offen with a gasp and a hand splayed protectively over his heart, Seth grinned down at her. “Okay, ouch! Now, you’re just being hurtful.”

Rebecca couldn’t help but burst out laughing for a moment with him before they got back to business again. “Seriously, Mr. MacFarlane, could you ever find it within yourself to forgive me for what I did?”

“I already have, kid.” Seth assured her, removing his hand from his heart.

“Really?!” Rebecca squeaked in surprise, not expecting her monumental actions to be forgiven so easily.

“Of course!” Seth assured her as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Look, I’ve known you for a long time now. I can tell when you’re being sincere or if you’re lying. Right now, I can see you mean what you say and I’m proud of you for that.” He could tell that Rebecca was so overwhelmed with relief that she wasn’t thinking straight when she stepped forward to give him a hug. Seth was quick to stop her though with a hand. “Na-uh, let’s not go there! How about instead we do this for a while.” He offered out his hand for her to shake.

Rebecca didn’t quarrel, and happily shook his hand. She had just made atonement with someone she’s known for so long and cared for like her own family. The only person left to apologize too was Twigs. Rebecca took a deep breath before boldly asking. “So, do you know where Miss Tahliah is right now?”

Seth was taken aback by the mention of his girlfriend. “Uh…Why?”

“I figured I should apologize to her also for my rash behavior.” Rebecca innocently shrugged.

Seth shook his head in disapproval. “No, I think you should just leave that up to me.”

“Really? Okay, then.” Rebecca replied before backing up. “Well, I better get going. I got tons of homework to finish. I’ll see you around, Mr. MacFarlane.”

“You too.” Seth waved before stepping back inside of his house only to jump in surprise when he saw Twigs waiting on the bench by the door.

Twigs had plenty of time to run off and hide the fact that she’d been eavesdropping on his conversation with Rebecca, but she didn’t. At first it was because she felt she had the right to listen after all she’d been through with those two, but the moment he spotted her when he walked in she suddenly felt guilty for overhearing their conversation. “Sorry for eavesdropping…”

“So, I take it you heard all that then?” Seth asked with an amused smile as he closed and locked the door behind him before leaning his back against it.

Twigs nodded guiltily, looking down at the floor. “Yeah, I did.”

“What made you decide to sit here and eavesdrop?” Seth asked her, genuinely wanting to know what had been on her mind when he stepped out with Rebecca. “Did you suspect to hear some kind of romantic conversation going on between two forbidden lovers?”

Getting off the bench, Twigs stood before him in nothing but his zipped-up coat and shook her head. “No, that wasn’t the case at all. I honestly just wanted to hear what Rebecca had to say for herself after what she did.”

Seth believed her. “And? What do you think?”

“Well, that depends on how you feel.” Twigs told him, lifting her eyes to him. “Do you believe her?”

“I do.” Seth nodded, hoping his belief in Rebecca didn’t end up getting him into trouble with his girlfriend. “After all, I’ve known her for a long time now. I know when she’s lying to an extent.”

Twigs too nodded. “As much as I didn’t like what I saw that night between you two…I trust your judgement.”

“Then trust me when I tell you that Rebecca is NOT the kind of person you saw that night. It was the alcohol that was making her act like a dumbass. The real Rebecca is a pretty cool kid.” Seth declared wholeheartedly.

Nodding once again, Twigs silently reached a hand out towards his. When Seth offered it to her, she took it in hers and lifted it to her lips to kiss the back of it before holding it against her cheek. She kept her eyes on his as she confessed. “I love you, Seth.” Seth answered her only with the passionate meeting of their lips. As always, they both fell into the pleasure each could incite within the other, and before they knew it they were making love along the way upstairs to his bedroom. By the time they reached it they were both satiated, but unfortunately Seth had to get ready to leave for the states. After Twigs was dropped back to her apartment by Derek, Seth was already headed to the airport to fly across the sea to his home, while leaving his heart back in the UK.