16.

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The boys stood conversating for a half an hour before the sky fully darkened, making it impossible to make out faces. Eventually, after I began to shiver, Seth decided we should head off.

"Why didn't I know about this," Luke says giving Seth a look as he jumps in the front. 

"There's no this." Seth says giving Luke a look as if to say 'shut up.' "Just so you know. Lace and I aren't actually dating." Seth says. Luke turns and looks at me bewildered, before looking at Seth with same look. I can't help but let out a chuckle. 

"It was only an act to get those girls to leave Seth alone and stop pestering me and for the guys to stop looking at me like I was fresh meat," I say quickly.

"Interesting." Is all Luke says. I catch Seth's eyes in the rearview mirror as he begins to back out of the car park, he winks at me. I feel a little smile creeping to my face.

The drive home is peaceful, Luke connected to the aux, playing some soft indie tunes that only Luke would know. But they were nice.

Slowly, I found myself yawning, leaning my head back and closing my eyes, Luke softly singing along while Seth drove. It was night like these, that made everything just that little bit better. 

***

I wake up to light streaming in my window, a small smile playing on my lips, surrounded by my soft duvet.

I push myself out of bed. Getting into the shower and washing quickly and thoroughly. I pull on some ripped denim jeans and a bandana top, slipping on some shoes and tying my hair up in a low messy bun.

I do my makeup simply and make my way downstairs.

"Hey, munch." My dad says as I enter the kitchen kissing the top of my head.

"Good to see you are feeling alright this morning." He says noticing the effort I've put into my getup.

If I was feeling good, I would put the effort into how I look. If not. I barely would.

"How'd I get home last night?" I ask him.

"Seth put you to bed." My dad says passing me an iced coffee.

"Oh," I say with a small nod. I pull out my phone and text him.

SETH

Thank you for putting me to bed last night. Sorry if I was heavy.

It's alright you weigh next to nothing. Are you eating alright?

I'm eating fine. Also thanks for the fake dating thing. Saved my ass.

It's alright. You too. Those girls were nasty. Are all girls like that?

Oh yeah. No, a lot of girls are actually quite nice. But If you're not friends with them they can be super hostile.

Over boys?

No over camels...

Yes over boys.

Little Miss Attitude. Are we coming for dinner?

I'll ask.

"Hey, dad are the Nixon's coming over for dinner?" I ask.

"No. They came instead earlier in the week." My dad says reading through the paper.

"Where is everyone?" I ask noticing the lack of people in the house.

"Moms in bed. Roy and Jake are with their mates and Molly is in bed still." My dad informs me.

"Ahh. I might head to the Nixon's for the day." I inform him.

"Ok honey. Hey uh, I noticed you and Seth have been getting a lot closer lately." My dad comments.

"Yeah, uh he understands stuff," I say vaguely. My dad nods in understanding.

"I noticed he's got colder towards your mother. And we talked a little, about therapy and stuff aswell. I'll pay." My dad says pulling me in for a little hug.

"Yeah, thanks dad." I say, hugging him back. "It means a lot." I reply giving him a soft smile.

"No worries munch. He's a good boy you know." My dad says gently.

"I know," I say with a small smile, before wandering over to the couch while my dad made his snack.

SETH

You guys aren't coming for dinner.

Disappointing. Also, I got an answer from my therapist after you left on Friday.
She said you've got a slot right before mine on Wednesday after the game @ 8:30.

Ok, cool that works well. Thank you so much.

I put my phone into my pocket and hop up from the couch.

"Heading to Bea's now," I say, waving to my dad before heading towards the front door.

"See you later munch." My dad replies.

"See ya," I say right before the door closes behind me. I make my way towards the Nixon's house.

I step inside The Nixon's house. The smell of omelettes hit my nose.

"Man something smells delicious," I call out as I pull my shoes off.

"Courtesy of Gordon Ramsay." I hear Seth's voice reply.

As I walk into the kitchen I see Seth standing shirtless in front of the pan. Grey sweatpants hung low on his waist. And does he look like a snack.

It is majorly hot watching a shirtless guy cook. I must say, speaking from experience.

He might be gorgeous but I knew nothing would ever happen.

"Admiring me are you?" Seth says with a cocky grin.

"Nope just wondering how such a cocky person can make such delicious food," I say rolling my eyes.

"Ouch. It's the Gordon Ramsay in me what can I say." He replies holding a hand over his heart and staggering backwards.

"Oh yes, I'm sure. Where are your parents?" I ask him looking around.

"At mom's shop. They're rearranging stuff." Seth says with a shrug.

"Ahh. Is Bea upstairs?" I ask him.

"No, she's at Dallas's." He says casually shrugging.

"So I'm stuck in a house with you," I say making a face.

"Lucky you," Seth says with a grin.

"Depends. Is there an omelette involved?" I ask him swinging myself onto the bench.

"Onion and cheese," Seth says surely.

"You know me well," I say with a smirk.

"Of course I do." He says with a grin.

"What's my favourite colour?" I ask him with a grin.

"Trick question you don't have one." He says with a cocky grin. I nod impressed.

"Favourite fast food restaurant?" I ask him.

"Chipotle." He says effortlessly.

"Country I want to visit?" I ask next watching him as he pours my omelette mixture into the pan.

"Greece. And Bora Bora." He says scooping some of his omelettes into his mouth.

"Favourite food?" I ask him.

"Apple crumble." He says easily.

"Favourite store?" I ask him impressed.

"Mom's one and Victoria Secret," Seth says with a grin.

"Wow. I'm impressed." I say raising my eyebrows.

"My turn. What's my favourite food?" Seth asks.

"Spaghetti and meatballs," I answer easily. He nods and folds my Omelette pressing it gently.

"Favourite colour?" He asks me.

"Forrest green." I say easily again.

"Country I want to visit?" He asks me.

"New Zealand. For the surf." I say with a grin. Seth nods again.

"Biggest fear?" He asks me. I think for a while.

"Losing people you love?" I ask him.

"That was a question." He states with a small smile.

"Well, Mr Fearless. I had to dig deep for that one." I say as he passes me the plate.

"Yeah, that's right though." He says with a small nod.

"What are you afraid of?" He asks me.

"Never getting better. Always just feeling this shit. I just want to be able to have moments like last night and like the stargazing and the tree." I say with a sigh.

"I haven't gone to my spot in so long," I say randomly thinking about my abandoned spot.

"We could have a picnic there for lunch. You can make your apple crumble. And I'll make spaghetti and meatballs." Seth suggests.

"Perfect," I say with a grin. "Do you have all of the ingredients?" I ask opening the fridge looking for green apples.

"Knowing my mother yes we do," Seth says scooping up the last parts of his omelette. I pull out a bag of apples. Trina loved fresh produce, she was a healthy mom, but still she kept the pantry stocked with treats. 

I place them on the bench and take out the box of flour as well as the sugar and butter. Placing it all on one side of the bench. I then take a bite out of my omelette while Seth gets out his ingredients.

"Ok, we just need a can of tomatoes." Seth says surveying the ingredients.

"Go put a shirt on and we can drive to the supermarket," I suggest.

"Ok mom," Seth says rolling his eyes.

"Shut up." I snap, rolling my eyes. I stuff the last piece of Omelette into my mouth. And follow Seth towards the car.

Nicotine by Goddard blasts from the jeep's speakers. Seth and I singing along.

Seth swings the jeep effortlessly in to the parking lot and we finish the song before Seth turn's the key's in the ignition turning off the radio in the process. I jump out of the car and Seth and I make our way across the parking lot towards the door.

"Call your mom and see if she needs anything else while we're here." I say looking around the store as we enter through the automatic doors.

"Okay." Seth says pulling out his phone and dialling Trina's mobile. I start down an isle casually.

"Hey mom. We're at the supermarket. Need anything for home?" He asks in to the phone. grabbing a basket from behind him and in a few large strides catching up to me.

"Ok send me the list." He replies after a few seconds, lifting up his hat and running a hand through his hair, before putting the hat back on his head.

"Ok love you. Bye." He says before he hangs up and shoves his phone deep in to his pocket.

"She's sending a list. Let's go grab the canned tomatoes and a juice. We can work from there." He suggests. With a half nod I follow him down the canned vege isle and we find canned tomato's. I grab two cans off the shelf and put them in to the shopping basket Seth grabbed before we heads towards the juices.

I pick an apple juice, while Seth grabs pineapple juice. 

"Ok she just needs like five things." Seth says before reading the list aloud.

"Easy." I say starting down the isle towards the milk. I add the milk to the basket Seth is holding before he reminds me of the next item.

We go around grabbing the items before grabbing some chocolate. Having the old caramello, white chocolate argument. Seth eventually caves for white chocolate.

"I can't believe you chose white chocolate." Seth says shaking his head as we place the items on the counter for the cashier to ring up.

"It's better than caramello." I say rolling my eyes at him handing him his wallet out of the bottom of the basket.

"How many times do we have to have this argument. Caramello is clearly the better one." Seth says rolling his eyes and taking the wallet.

"You better listen to your girlfriend there son." An older looking man says from behind the counter, his wife sitting reading not far away.

"Oh we're not together." I say with a polite smile.

"Really?" The man says shock apparent on his face. "Ah well, you'll figure it out." He says mysteriously. I go to grab the apple juice out of the basket but Seth stops me.

"Don't worry about it. On me." He says, placing it up on the counter with the other ingredients. 

"Nah it's okay I can get it." I offer. Seth shakes his head. 

"Mom will reimburse me anyway." He shrugs it off, I sigh, there's no point arguing with that. 

The cashier gives us our total. $13.23. As Seth is paying the woman speaks up.

"Are you too really not together?" She asks. She's about middle aged, wrinkles only just beginning to show around her eyes and forehead. She was thin looking, yet delicate.

"No." I say with a polite smile.

"You should be." The cashier says with a small nod. Seth gives me a small smile and I respond with one of my own.

"Everyone keeps saying." I say taking the bags which Seth immediately takes out of my hands. I shake my head at him as he gives me a look as if to say 'let me carry them'. "Have a wonderful day." I say with a nod towards the lovely old couple.

"You too!" They call after us. 

"Well they were sweet." I say with a chuckle as we enter the carpark.

"Mmm." Is all Seth says his jaw tight, like when he's lost in thought, not the tight his jaw goes when he's angry.

I stay quiet on the drive home. So does Seth. I watch him as he drives. Focusing on the road. One arm on the steering wheel. The other hand resting on the gear box even though he has an automatic.

We pull in to the Nixon's driveway. And I climb out of the car, grabbing the bags of shopping out of the car, Seth takes a few from me and heads inside.

By the time we're back in side he's back to his talkative self. The silent, thoughtful him disappearing without a trace.

As Seth starts making the meatballs. I peel up the apples and chop them. Before adding them to a pot of water, butter and brown sugar. I make the crumb and sit down on the barstool seat while the apples stew for half an hour.

I hear a sniff from Seth and I look up. He's standing as far away from the onions as possible as he blinks rapidly.

"Aww is Seth crying?" I ask him with a small pout. He looks up and mockingly wipes away nonexistent tears off his cheeks.

I roll my eyes at him and shake my head. While Seth is cooking I make my way through my phone, looking through some pictures that Luke had taken of me at the beach before we went surfing.

I edit them slightly, adding some depth and colour, before showing them to Seth.

"Should I post it?" I ask showing him the three slides. Seth eyes them up. And nods for me to swipe through while he rolls meatballs.

"Absolutely yes." He says with a smile before he plonks a meatball down on a tray and starts on the next one.

"What should I caption it." I wonder aloud scrolling through my instagram, seeing my past captions.

"I'm a big fat poser." Seth replies. I roll my eyes at him and shake my head, looking at the post again swiping through the three photos I had chosen. Checking for any small mishaps.

I captioned the post a couple related emoji's.

"Can you tag me?" Seth asks with a hopeful smile.

"You using me for clout?" I ask him fake suspiciously.

"Me? Never." Seth says with a smirk, chuckling at my absurd accusation.

"Your such a loser." I say, not tagging him.

After a few minutes, I recheck. A bad habit. A couple likes and comments popping up. I leave the rest of them. But I reply to Carlos's comment.

@ Carlos.Santos - Wow your gorgeous.

@LACEYANNECARTER Aww thank you.

Last I quickly check the likes and it's already at 98 likes. Which for a couple minutes ago was rather decent for my account. With my 8k followers. Flexing real quick.

I click my phone off and turn my attention back to Seth who is still rolling meatballs. Each sphere satisfyingly equal to the next.

We finish making the spread and pack it up in airtight containers. And put it all in a picnic basket. Seth grabs a picnic mat and we make our way, on foot, to my spot.

I offer to take the basket but Seth refuses, taking the basket and placing the blanket on top of it. So he still has one hand free. One hand, that I almost want to hold. But it would be a bit weird.

***

"This is incredible. Aren't we the best chefs." I say flopping back onto the mat, the sticks underneath the mat pressing in to my back slightly, my head propped against a jumper, my stomach bulging. I wriggle slightly so I'm more comfortable before settling down. Looking up at the clouds.

"We really are." Seth says with a chuckle lying down beside me, not close enough for us to be touching, but close enough.

"So have you seen the graduation trip chat?" I ask him, closing my eyes, turning my head back towards the sky and placing my hands on my stomach carefully, one folded over the other.

"Yeah. Me and the boys are coming. I think a few of them have already paid the money in to the account. I need to get on to that." Seth says thoughtfully.

The trip was coming up fast and Callie had been planning long and hard. She had found two bach's down the road from each other on the beach. We all just had to chip in to pay for the rent and for food. It was mainly our general friends, most of the senior group who's houses we partied at over the course of our highschool years.

It was going to be like one massive hurrah. The final party of parties.

After we had finished chatting, laughing and eating we began to make our way towards the house. I was in desperate need of the bathroom. And it was getting sort of late, the sun beginning to turn a late afternoon yellow.


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