To Caress My Day

Seth hanged up his phone, ending the call his girlfriend, Twigs. Now that he was back in California, he had a whole other life to wake up to and face. Putting his phone onto the coffee table, Seth stood up to stretch and walk around his living room lazily. He turned his head at the sound of his 3 year old niece Bella blabbering and saw that she was standing on his couch overlooking the other side. His sister Rachel was keeping a hand on her daughter’s chest and the other on her back to make sure she wouldn’t stumble and fall off the couch. Rachel wore her long dark brown hair down, and had dusted her face with light and simple makeup that enhanced her already perfect features, her eyes seemed to shine with love for her daughter as she smiled at her adorableness. Seth had to admit he missed his baby sister. True, they didn’t get along back in the day when they were much younger, but as time passed they began to tolerate each other more and more. Walking over to the two only women in his life that the public knew about, Seth picked Bella up from behind, making her squeal in the process, and then lifted her over his head with a playful laugh. He spoke to his sister while he took that moment to dote on his little niece. “So, what’s been up with you since I’ve been gone?”

Rachel rolled her eyes with exhaustion. “Ugh, nothing but Halloween shopping these days.”

“Oh yeah?” Seth asked her as he lowered his niece down into his arms again, using one of his hands to tickle her stomach to make her laugh again. “And what is my little niece going to be this year?”

Glancing over at her daughter, Rachel watched the little girl reach out to hug her Uncle who granted her request by pulling her close into a big loving hug. “A scarecrow.”

Seth couldn’t help but laugh at the most ridiculous un-girly idea he had ever heard for a Halloween costume. “Are you serious? A scarecrow? Rachel, that’s not a cute costume idea for my niece to walk around in.” He leaned down to shower Bella with kisses, once again making her burst into adorable giggles.

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest defiantly and rolled her eyes at her big brother. “Oh my god, Spencer said the same damn thing too, but you know what?” She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at him. “I got this, okay? I got this shit and it’s gonna look damn cute on her!”

Sighing with doubt, Seth decided to humor her and drop the subject. He shifted his attention to his niece as he continued to spend some bonding time with her while she was here and he had the day off. He forgot about his sister for a moment as he smiled down at his niece and tried to engage her in conversation. He was unaware that his sister was watching them closely until she spoke up out of nowhere. “You know, you’d make a great dad, Seth…even though you say don’t want to be one yourself.”

Turning a bit to his right so he could face his little sister but keeping Bella’s back to her, Seth stuck his middle finger out at her so the child wouldn’t see. “Yeah, right, totally.”

Rachel feigned a gasp and then laughed at his rude gesture. “Jesus, Seth! I’m just being honest here, that’s all. The sooner you hurry up and find a woman that can stand being with you for longer than 8 months and end up knocking her up the sooner you’ll see I’m right.”

Seth pointed a stern finger at her as his niece scratched at the buttons of his shirt. “Now wait a minute, I’ve been in relationships longer than 8 months! I was with Avery for 4 years before she left me, remember that?”

Rachel dismissed that fact with a wave of her hand. “That’s beside the point, because you didn’t have a baby with the woman in those 4 long years together.”

Nodding his head, Seth had to agree with his baby sister. “Yeah, that’s true.” His mind then shifted from his ex-girlfriend to his current girlfriend, and his lips stretched into a smile as he gave his sister a shrug. “But I have a strong feeling that’s only true because she wasn’t the right one to start a family with anyway.”

“They’re never the right one, according to you.” Rachel reminded him with sympathetic smile.

Seth had to hold his tongue and not responds to his sister’s comment. He wanted to tell her she was wrong, and that he was almost certain that he had recently found the right woman for him. But he couldn’t. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t just outright say it. Twigs might not want her to know…but then again, Rachel was his sibling, and yeah they didn’t get along at first in the beginning of their lives, but that didn’t mean he loved her any less than he did now. In fact, he cared about his sister enough to want to tell her about the woman who currently owned his heart. Hell, his maid already knew about him and Twigs, why couldn’t his sister, who he cared more for, not know?

“So, Seth…” Rachel started out, leaning forward in her seat. She had a look in her eyes that Seth knew to be trouble. “Where exactly are you going to be later this month around Halloween?”

Raising a suspicious eyebrow, Seth answered back with his own question. “Why?”

Rachel sighed. “Because I wanna know if you’re gonna be running back to the UK again any time soon for whatever reasons you go over there now these days. Sure as hell ain’t a reason you haven’t thought to share with me, your baby sister, need I remind you!”

Seth knew he hadn’t yet scratched the surface as to why she REALLY wanted to know of his whereabouts then. “Again, why?”

Sending him a quick glare, Rachel hesitated on answering for a few minutes. “Because I would like to have a Halloween party this year.”

“Oh really, that sounds cool.” Seth nodded, still wondering why she couldn’t just tell him that from the beginning.

“AND I don’t want to have it at my house.” Rachel finished, awkwardly looking away.

Seth was confused as he cradled his niece who was leaning her head on his chest. “Wait, why not? What’s wrong with your house?”

Rachel rolled her eyes and leaned back into his couch again. “I don’t wanna have to deal with all the mess that comes with having a public party, and neither does Spencer. He told me he wouldn’t lift a finger to help me if the place becomes a pigsty.” She shrugs to herself. “I mean, yeah I can hire a cleaning crew, but still if something breaks I might end up going to jail that night for murder, so I figured it’s best not to have it at my place. I don’t want anything trashed or broken.”

Narrowing his eyes on her, Seth remains silent for a full minute. “…and where are you going with this?”

Rachel sat up and gave him a puppy dog face. “That you should totally have my party here for me!

Seth immediately laughed the idea off. “Oh my god, Rachel. You’re fucking hilarious!” Bella began to fuss in his arms, wanting to be let down. Bending down, he eased her down onto her own feet and released his hold on her. His eyes, however, remain on Bella like a hawk.

Sitting forward again, Rachel also kept her eyes on her child, but continued to argue her case. “Why not? You’re sitting on a 5,152-square-foot mansion with a tennis court! You have plenty of room for what I have in mind for this kind of party.”

Seth shook his head, dismissing the idea completely of having her Halloween party at his home. “No, Rachel, I will not hold YOUR PARTY at MY HOUSE, and that’s the end of this discussion.”

Rachel sighs fairly in defeat as her daughter waddled up to her and leaned against her knees for attention. Seth planned on also leaving their discussion at that until an idea suddenly popped up in his head that made his eyes light up with hope. A Halloween party usually consisted of a large group of people dressed up in different costumes that, depending on which one, could hide their identity. As much as he didn’t care for the idea of having a party at his house this could also be a clever way of getting Twigs to join too in complete disguise! Not only that, but perhaps he could in doing so, introduce her to sister without having everyone at the party involved. It could be a kind of surprise for Rachel since she seemed so determined on knowing who he was messing around with all the time. A rush of happiness caused a grin so big to stretch over his face that his sister immediately took notice of it. She raised an eyebrow at his sudden odd behavior. “Um, Seth…what are you smiling about over there?”

“You know, on second thought, I think you should definitely have that Halloween party here at my place.” Seth announced to her with a smile.

“Seriously? Do you really mean it?” Rachel exclaimed with excitement, finding it hard to believe that he just randomly changed his mind.

Seth gave her a nod of confirmation. “Yes ma’am. I’ll even go ahead and give you a list of numbers if you want a team of decorator to take care of the whole Halloween theme for you.”

Thinking about it only for a minute, Rachel gave him a nod. “Yeah, I think I actually prefer that. It’s such a thoughtful idea, Seth!” Leaning down, she picked her daughter up and walked over to Seth. She leaned her head against his shoulder in a side hug. “Thank you for being such a good big brother to me.”

“Tank you fo bein tha bess Unker.” Bella blabbered out too in support.

Seth rolled his eyes and laughed with his sister. He hugged them back before pulling away. “Alright then, how bout you call for some takeout while I make a few calls for your Halloween party?”