the setup

23

sasha wore a navy blue silk dress that stopped mid thigh. she sat in the living room on the couch while seth paced back and fourth in front of her.

"seth, i am going to need you to get it together." she said making him look at her. he took a deep breath and nodded. "charly said the second it gets too much for you, we can leave. we will only stay for an hour, tops."

"okay and then we can come home?"

"then we can come home." she nodded wrapping her arms around his neck. "you look very handsome, tonight." she pecked his lips and she felt him untense from beneath her. she took his hand and led him outside.

they drove in a comfortable silence. the drive wasn't too long to sasha delight. when she drove in a windy car too long, her hair would always frizz. they knocked on what sasha thought was a beautiful door, she hoped to have one like that one day.

charly opened the door shortly after and welcomed them in. sasha's heart began to race once she heard all the voices erupt from inside of the house. to her surprise, seth wore a smile. "you made it."

"we said we would, char." seth chuckled, bringing her into a hug. he pulled away and looked to sasha.

"fair warning, everyone has already arrived." she said and he nodded. she emerged into the sea of people who were now whispering. sasha's palms grew sweaty. seth took her hand and walked further into the house. eyes of both disgust and judgment follow them and sasha felt horrible inside. seth bowed his head. she watched as a middle aged woman got up from her seat and stormed out of the room.

seth dragged sasha to a room and closed the door behind them. "we shouldn't have come." he said. sasha couldn't think of anything to say because in all honesty, she wanted to agree. she stood there in silence, she had no advice, no words of encouragement or anything.

"seth, this sucks."

"i know."

"and sometimes things in life just suck, but we can leave as fast as we came. we do not have to be here." she said and he nodded. he pulled her into a much needed hug.

"i'm so glad i have you."

"you'll always have me."

"okay, we can, uh, we can go." he said and she nodded. she opened the door and they headed out back towards the door they came.

they managed to sneak out without anyone knowing, but as they stepped onto the front lawn, seth froze. sasha bumped into his back from his sudden stillness. "seth, babe, what's wrong?" she asked in a whisper. he sucked in a breath, but didn't answer her question. she stepped out from behind him and saw a short woman standing with her back turned to them.

"so, you came all this way to what? leave again?"

"you never wanted me, from the day i was born. you know it, charly knows it, dad knew it, so please, just don't even go there." he spat as the woman finally turned to face them. sasha realized that she was the woman who stormed out earlier and was potentially seth's mother. they looked a lot alike.

"always the drama queen, huh?" she laughed arrogantly, dropping her cigarette to the floor before stomping on it. "if you knew this, why'd you come back?"

"for charly. i love her."

"love?" she said with a scoff. "you wouldn't know love if it hit you in your face. you are incapable of love, don't you realize that?"

"don't say that, i loved you." seth said as a tear ran down his cheek.

"loved me enough to leave me the first chance you got?"

"i called you every single day for a year, you never picked up the phone, mom, not once." he said wiping the tear when sasha heard the car door slam. she turned her head to see roman and charlotte exit their car.

"charlotte, ro? what are you guys doing here?" sasha whispered and roman laughed nervously. they approached the group when charlotte saw her aunt standing in front of seth, she knew nothing good was going to come of this.

"aunt b, why don't you go back inside? there's no use torturing your son more than you already have?"

"what you think you're hot shit because you and your sister are getting married?" she laughed, folding her arms. "whatever, there was a reason i never answered your calls, thank god you stopped." she stomped off back into the house and sasha stood there in confusion. sister? charly was charlotte's sister? seth was charlotte's cousin? what?

"you guys are related?" sasha asked and charlotte nodded. she stood back in shock, how hadn't she known this.

"i wanted to tell you, but roman said not to until you and seth were official, so we were gonna tell you two tonight."

"why would it even matter?" sasha asked before realizing seth hadn't moved nor spoke since his mother left. "anyways, seth, are you okay?"

"no."

"what do you need?" she asked holding his hand gently, but he never embraced her back. he stood there and charlotte sighed. his mother was always evil to him and she never quite understood why.

"i need to be alone, now." he said finally pulling his hand out from hers. "i'll see you guys later, uh, roman, you guys can drive sasha home. i need to go." he said darting off into the direction of his car before they watched it pull out of the parking lot.

sasha looked back to them. "we have to follow him!"

"sasha he's not like you." charlotte said making her scoff.

"what's that supposed to mean?"

"when he says he wants to be alone, he means it, he doesn't wanna anyone to follow like you do. c'mon we'll drive you home." roman said and sasha bowed her head following them into the car.

"i just hope he's okay."

a/n long time no see 😭 i'm back guys and happy new year!