Save Me

Twelve

He was one of the people who had hurt me.

Those words were like a broken record that went over and over in my head. In my entire existence as Seth Andrews, never had I met Danielle. If I had, I would know. I mean, sure I never really kept track of the girls I had flings with. I was the hump and dump guy. But if I had met Danielle, then she would’ve been saved into memory because a girl as beautiful as her would be.

Meekah curled on my lap as I stared blankly at the TV screen. They were showing a footage of my funeral. It seemed so weird, seeing my entire family crying over a person that wasn’t even me. Mom was crying and Joseph’s hands were on her waist while his other hand was holding Kathryn. Caryle was hugging Mom, her face buried on our mother’s side and she was red in the face. Collin was staring blankly at my coffin, Dad was by his side and it was the first time that I’ve seen both of them standing beside each other and Dad had a hand on his shoulder. Louise was clutching on my best friend, Don’s arm, and weeping uncontrollably while he rocked her back and forth. If this was just a normal occasion, I would’ve punched Don for holding my sister that way.

A knock came to the door and I shouted for the person to come in. A few moments later, I heard the door open and shut and someone plopped beside me. I saw Roland had a smile on his face and I chuckled. In the short time I’ve been here in Wilmington, Roland seemed to be my new best friend.

“What’re you so happy about?”

“And why are you so miserably watching a funeral?”

I shrugged, “Maybe I can spot someone I know. Seth was popular in Boston.” And I just wanted to see how my family was holding up with my supposed to be death.

“Oh dude, there’s Johanna Tyler,” Roland exclaimed, pointing at a blonde girl, “She sure is something.”

“Looks can deceive you.”

He looked at me, “Really?”

I just shrugged, “So what are you doing here?”

He feigned a look of hurt and brought his right hand over his chest, where his heart was supposed to be, “Ouch. I thought you would’ve wanted to see me.”

I chuckled, “We see each other everyday. Don’t tell me you have a crush on me. As much as it flatters me, Roland, I don’t think Flo would be ecstatic to hear that.”

He rolled his eyes, “Gerry sent me here to tell you that we were all having dinner with them. Barbeque. Robbie and Angel already went since they were at the bakeshop when Gerry asked the Smith sisters.”

I nodded and motioned at grease stained white shirt, “I’ll just change my shirt.”

I headed quickly to my room, grabbing a plain gray shirt and slipping it on. I grabbed my beanie and placed it on my head, making sure my hair no longer covers my eyes. I followed Roland out of the house and into his truck. We made leisure conversation until we finally arrived at the River’s household. It was only then that I felt a wave of nervousness flood through me. It had been almost a week since I last saw Danielle. It was obvious that she was trying to avoid me.

I got out of Roland’s truck and was greeted by Landon and Daniel playing at the front yard. Denise and Monica were watching them. Denise had Paige wrapped in her arms, fast asleep, and she and Monica were discussing some things that seemed to be really important.

“But why does she have to get mad at me!” Monica exclaimed, sinking back to her seat, her face flushed with weariness and anger.

Denise looked at the younger girl, her green eyes shining with amusement, “She’s your sister, Nica. You’ve made a wrong choice. Choosing him.”

“What’s going on?” Roland asked as they neared the steps. He sat on the steps and turned his attention to his long time friends. I sat beside him, half-paying attention to what they were discussing, and half-watching the kids running around.

“Cam and Nica got into a fight again,” Denise said, shifting Paige in her arms.

Roland chuckled as if the two sisters fighting wasn’t new news at all, “What about?”

“My love life,” Nica said exasperated, “I chose Nick. And Camille’s furious about it. Come to think of it, it seems like she’s been having a bad week. None of us know why.”

“Maybe it’s just one of those days,” Roland said though I knew he was wrong. Not to be assuming or anything, it seemed like I had something to do with it.

“Maybe she’s just stressed,” I offered, “Or maybe she was just rooting for Scott rather than Nicholas.”

Monica stared at me, surprised that I knew. For a moment, I thought she was going to ask me how I knew the issue between her and the two boys but glad that she didn’t, instead, she said, “Or maybe someone just really pissed her off and she’s taking her anger on anyone who does something wrong in her point of view.”

“Sounds more like Cam to me,” Denise said with a giggle then she stood up and looked at the rest, “I better get this princess in her bed. Monica, go call Shaira and ask her where she is. Roland, I think the boys might need your help. And Falen, could you bring the kids to the backyard?”

I nodded and then went over to Landon and Daniel. The older boy’s blonde hair was curling at the nape of his neck and was wet with sweat. His yellow shirt was stained with grass and he had mud on his shoes. Daniel, looked more worse though. His dark hair was matted with grime and his white shirt was filled with stains of dirt, grass, and even mud. Both boys looked filthy and he knew they both needed a bath before he could bring them to the backyard. The two boys, one with the fair head and the other with dark, looked so different from each other but there were two things that they resembled; their filthy appearance and the playful glint in both their blue eyes.

“Boys, let’s get you two cleaned up.”

The two boys grinned at me but followed. At the same time, a car pulled up and Shaira walked towards them with a guy. He was just as tall as I was, his brown hair cut neatly and his brown eyes looked at him kindly. Shaira greeted her nephews but scolded them for looking so filthy, “Hi Falen.”

“Hey,” I greeted back and turned to the guy, “I’m Falen Rose.”

“Pleased to meet you,” he replied, “I’m Sam Johnson.”

“Are you giving them a bath?” Shaira asked and I nodded. She then turned to Sam, “I’m gonna help him, babe. I think the others are at the back, I’ll be with you shortly.”

He nodded and disappeared in the house. Shaira and I brought the two kids inside and she told me that we should just use the bathroom near the kitchen. Monica spotted us and Shaira asked her little sister to fetch clean clothes for the two boys. The two boys stripped their clothes and headed in the shower as I turned it on. Their shrieks and giggles filled the bathroom and I stared at them amused.

“You help clean up DJ,” Shaira said as she grabbed a body soap and washed the dirt from Landon’s body. I stared blankly at her and then at Daniel, clearly not knowing what to do. Shaira noticed and smiled, “Haven’t bathed a kid before?”

I shook my head no. I had no experience with kids. Sure I took care of Kathryn and Caryle and babysat them when they were younger but they were usually bathed and ready to go to bed. And if they did need showering, Louise was the one in that department, I was usually the one who put them to bed and scared the monsters under their bed and closets away.

“Never mind, I’ll clean him. Go get towels.”

I headed to the linen closet and pulled out two towels, before heading back to the bathroom, Monica joined me and we got there, we saw the two boys splashing at Shaira who looked playfully furious and was soaking wet, I whistled lowly, “Whoa.”

They all turned their attention on me and I chuckled, throwing the towels to her and she caught it. Monica giggled beside me and strode in, I followed her. When Shaira finished drying Landon, Monica helped him changed into his clothes which were khaki pants and a bright blue shirt that had a collar and made his blue eyes pop.

“Where are Daniel’s clothes?” I asked when Monica handed DJ his underwear.

“It’s with Cam,” she replied quietly.

“DJ,” a soft voice came from behind me and all our eyes turned to her. Danielle stood leaning on the bathroom doorframe. Her dark hair was tied in a messy braid that draped over her right shoulder. Her blue eyes radiated and seemed to be more noticeable because of the white dress that hugged all her curves. Her eyes were only trained on her son who moved closer to her and she quickly handed her his jeans and he changed into it. Later, she handed him a plain white shirt that he changed into briefly. She combed his dark hair and made sure it didn’t fall onto his eyes, “Both your shoes are at the back door.”

As the two boys raced to the back door, Danielle stood up and our gazes met. My gray eyes bore into her bright blue ones and I felt the familiar feeling of being pulled towards her by an invisible magnet. Just as quickly as our eyes met, she turned away and was about to leave when Shaira grabbed her hand and yanked her to turn her back to us.

“What?” she asked, in a soft but irritated voice.

Her older sister pursed her lips, “What’s going on?”

Danielle’s black thin eyebrows furrowed and she stared at the older version of her, “What do you mean?”

“We could both feel the tension when your and Falen’s gazes locked,” Monica stated, “What’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing,” both Danielle and I answered simultaneously.

Both sisters raised their dark eyebrows at us and Shaira spoke, “It doesn’t seem like nothing. Tell us or none of us are gonna leave this room.”

Danielle scoffed, “You have Sam waiting for you, Shai.”

She rolled her eyes, “He will understand if I don’t show up. And it’s not like Edwin or Patrick or any of the others won’t entertain him.”

Danielle turned her attention to her little sister, “Nicholas will be looking for you, Nica.”

She said it with almost disgust laced in her tone but Monica just shrugged, “Don’t use that tone on me, Cam. The issue isn’t on me right now.”

“Nothing is going on between Danielle and me,” I said, just wanting to get out of the room before they all figure out that we had a fight or a little misunderstanding or that we were avoiding each other at all cause.

“There is,” Shaira’s tone was accusing.

“And I’m pretty sure that’s why Cam is taking her rage on me,” Monica said with a smirk.

Danielle rolled her eyes and glared at her two sisters, “You want to know why we’re avoiding each other? I’ll tell you.”

“D,” I said, wanting to stop her. I didn’t want anyone to know we had an argument even if it wasn’t much of a big deal. I just wanted to fix it before anyone else found out.

But Danielle didn’t stop, “Falen and I had an argument a few days ago. He wanted to know why I didn’t seem to like him. I told him he reminded me of someone who hurt me.”

Both her sisters stared at her and Monica spoke, “But he’s not like Will.”

Danielle looked at her two sisters with coldness in her eyes, “I’m not talking about Will.”

“You’re talking about the guy who hurt you so badly after you got back from Boston,” Shaira whispered, seemingly realizing what her sister meant, “The one you never bothered to tell us because it hurt you so much.”

Danielle smiled at them coldly, “I’m glad you guys seemed to remember that past of mine.”

I stared at them, wondering how or why I had hurt Danielle before or if she was even in my past, “Whatever he did to you, or whoever he was. I’m not like him.” Not anymore.

Danielle just looked at me, “None of you know what he did to me. Or how cold he was. You may not be like him, but you remind me of him. And I promised myself I’d stay clear of guys like you.”

“So you will never give me a chance?” I said, exasperation evident in my voice, “Even as your friend?”

Danielle just looked at us, each one of us, Shaira, Monica, both had a sympathetic look on their faces and lastly, she looked at me. Her blue eyes held anger, pain but there was a wavering emotion there too, one that I couldn’t quite identify if it was hate or even love, “I’m sorry. But I can’t get hurt. Not again. Not after how long it took for me to be okay.”