To Caress My Day

Seth had fallen asleep last night on the couch in the living room instead of heading back to bed to Avery. He felt so ashamed that he WASN’T ashamed of his guilty desire for his pixie that it physically made him sick just to think about sleeping next to Avery. The poor tortured man didn’t feel like he deserved to sleep by Avery’s side that night when his mind was haunted by another woman. It’s fucked up to think of sleeping with another woman when you’re already in a committed relationship.

Seth let out a defeated sigh as he rolled over on the coach, his arm hanging over the edge. What he didn’t expect to see was Avery sitting on the couch across from him, watching him sleep. Seth rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up. What he didn’t also expect to see were two suitcases sitting beside her heels. The billionaire stared at her suitcases in silence, his face showing no emotion.

“What’s going on here?” Seth manage to say, his mind having trouble registering the obvious situation. Avery had two suitcases containing what was most likely her things yet it only confused Seth’s slumbering brain because it couldn’t quite to piece together what was going on. Did he forget a scheduled trip they had made together? That wouldn’t be much of a surprise these days. Seth’s mind has been too occupied lately thinking of another woman to be focused on Avery anymore.

Avery sat with her back painfully straight as she wringed her hands together, trying to make sure her tone sounds as gentle as she could make it despite her highly emotional state. “I can’t do this anymore, Seth.”

Seth blinked at her, still not getting what was going on. “I-I don’t understand what you mean, Ave? What can you not do anymore?”

Avery exhale sharply, her eyes too drained to cry anymore over this. “I can’t do us anymore. I can’t…be in a relationship with you any longer. We need to take a break from each other.”

Seth shook his head, Avery’s words now sinking in and becoming clearer. If he was not mistaken, it sounded like his girlfriend of four years was breaking up with him out of the blue. Oh my god…she’s fucking leaving me, Seth mentally realized, his eyes widening.

“I need to focus on my career right now. I’m at an important place in my job right now and I don’t need anything distracting me from my goals. I haven’t been myself lately and it’s been disrupting my concentration and my work is beginning to suffer for it.” Avery explained, her skin looking a little bit pale as she around the large emotional lump in her throat.

“A distraction? You are calling me…a distraction?” Seth replied softly, trying to hide his growing frustration at her description of him. He was still sitting on the couch and was staring down at the coffee table like it had insulted him in the worst way.

“I-“

Seth interrupted her as he raised his voice, standing up and towering over her. “How the hell am I a distraction!? I’ve been your supportive boyfriend for four years, since when did I start being a goddamn fucking distraction?”

Avery jumped, her eyes widening in shock. In all the four years they’ve been together, Seth has never raised his voice during ANY of their fights. This was a side of Seth MacFarlane that Avery had never seen before and to be honest it caught her off guard as he shattered away the rest of her carefully memorized speech.

“Its n-not you it’s m-me, Seth.” Avery managed to spit out, no longer looking at him. The designer had spent all last night thinking of what to say to Seth only for him scare her lies away. She no longer knew what to say to him, so she thought of any lie she could come up with without giving away the truth.

Seth shook his head slowly, continuing to shout. “No, you’re lying. You can never look me in the eyes properly when you’re lying Avery. Tell me the truth! Because I won’t stand here and listen to you tell me that I didn’t do anything wrong when you can’t think of any reasons as to why you want to break up with me. What did I do Avery to make you so unhappy? Hmm? I gave you everything I fucking got! What more do you want!?”

Avery let out a sob as she grabbed her suitcases, and stomped to the front doorway. She couldn’t continue to sit there and try and spin him more lies. The more he yelled at her, the more she wanted to spill the truth, but she knew she didn’t have the stomach to, so she had to get out. Unfortunately for her, Seth followed close behind.

“Well? Aren’t you gonna answer me!?” Seth demanded to her retreating back, his fists clenched in anger as he stomped behind her.

“I just need to get away! What more do you want me to say?!? Avery cried back, turning around abruptly to face him. Seth has been writing scripts for as long as she can remember. Right now, all she wanted was for him to write her a script so that all this unnecessary pain could disappear and they could part ways amicably.

“How about the truth this time!? Why are you leaving? Are the diamonds too few, or the mansion too small? What more could I possibly give you to make you love me for me, or is reciprocating love not something you’re capable of?” Seth brutally taunted her, making her face red in anger.

“How dare you!? You think all I’m about is materialistic things, don’t you!” Avery cried, insulted and about ready to smack him across the cheek for insulting her in such a savage way. She felt that he should show her some respect instead of insulting her. It wasn’t like this way easy for her either.

“All I’ve been doing for the last two years is spend all my money on things for you, just to get you to notice ME! For the past two years you’ve been distant, each day much worse than the last. What the hell did you expect me to do when I knew that to get your attention I’d have to go out and buy you something?”

“That’s not true!” Avery shouted, tightening her grip on her suitcase handles, completely in denial. If she was that materialistic, she would obviously know it.

“Yes it is and you know it! My love was never enough! You could never love Seth MacFarlane for who he was, only as The Billion Dollar Man. I only ever saw the love in your eyes when I had money, but god forbid if I have fifty dollars in my pocket, you’d look at me like I was penniless. If I had no money to my name, would you still love me?” Seth question Avery, looking for honesty in her narrowed eyes.

Avery let out a sigh and looked away before returning her gaze back to him. “No, I don’t think that I would have. In fact…I know I wouldn’t have. I fell in love with Seth MacFarlane: The Billion Dollar Man, not a penniless man.”

Seth’s brows lifted in awe as he took a step back to assess what she had just said. He didn’t expect her to speak with such honesty, and he didn’t expect her response to be what he had already knew deep in the darkest part of his heart. All this time she’s been in love with his money, and now that he’s heard it with his own two ears, he didn’t feel like yelling anymore. He didn’t feel like fighting anymore. She was talking about leaving him, and he was no longer upset about it. All it took was for him to hear the truth, to finally her in another way. Still, Seth felt it was expected of him to ask her to reconsider one more time.

“Avery, please. Don’t go. If it’s me, or if it’s you, we can work it out together. The answer isn’t to leave, but to stick together and help one another through our obstacles and grow from it. You don’t have to run from anything with me, I want to help you.” Seth said softly, no longer making much of an effort to change her mind with her abrupt decision. If she wanted to leave, than she would leave, despite how are he tries to convince her. When Avery was determined, no one could stop her, not even Seth.

Avery smiled a little before slowly shaking her head. “I can’t. I need to go now. My plane leaves within the next few hours.” And with that she picked up her bags and headed out the door. The sun was shining through the open doorway, illuminating Seth’s figure as he watched her step into an old fashion vehicle with an elderly driver in the front. Seth didn’t question whose car it belonged to, because it no longer mattered anymore. Seth and Avery were over: done, finished, kaput. Avery Jenkins wasn’t Seth’s anymore.

It’s was odd, he felt like he was losing more of a friend than the love of his life…

Avery sniffed and rolled down the window to see Seth one more time. “I’ll call you sometime, to check up on you, ok?”

Seth numbly nodded, watching a beautiful smile cross her crying face as the car drove off. The Billion Dollar Man was alone for the first time in four years in a mansion he had built for the same woman that just dumped him seconds ago. He was planning on marrying Avery Jenkins…eventually. Funny how he never got around to it after four years of being together. For such a long time, he never could figure out why he kept putting it off for another day, but for now he was glad he did.

Seth let out a sigh as he looked to the small glass table behind him that held a vase of beautiful fresh peach roses that his maid picked for the house whilst he was asleep. That damn color was always Avery’s favorite, Seth thought as he cupped the back of the vase. Slowly, he pushed it towards the edge of the glass table until it fell to the floor, shattering…just like their life together. Seth stepped around the mess, not caring to clean it up as he headed back to the living room.

Seth was alone and single now, and he had no idea what to do about it. He didn’t feel like going out to some hot spot to get drunk and bring a young attractive woman home so they could have sex in his and Avery’s bed as a big ‘fuck you’ to her. Hell, he didn’t feel like stepping out of his house tonight at all. He didn’t want to have to think about anything at the moment. He just wanted to get some rest and think about it at a later time. Right now, he was exhausted and empty. With a long sigh, Seth plopped onto the couch and fell asleep for the next few hours.