Living for the fat girl [Book 2]

Part 32

32. Seth

I wake from an almost sleepless night with only Arya on my mind. I just can't get her out of it. I imagined her here with me in this room and I pictured what it would be like to spend the day with her and Paulina together. But instead I now crawl out of bed and force myself into the shower.

Once underneath the stream of hot water, I hear my phone ringing on my night stand. I quickly jump out of the shower and run towards the sleeping area, not bothering to grab a towel.

"Arya?" I answer the phone without checking caller ID.

"Seth?" My sister's voice calls back to me and my shoulders slouch forward slightly with disappointment. "When are you coming over?"

"Soon, Poppy." I rub a hand over my face and sigh. "Forty-five minutes, okay? Do you have your stuff packed?"

"Yup! Scarf, gloves, hat, sandwiches, juice pouch..." she reels off as I hear her rummaging through her backpack. "I've got everything!"

"Perfect. I'll be there before you know it, alright?"

"Can't wait," Paulina squeals and hangs up the phone.

I take a lengthy shower, brush my teeth and get dressed for the day. I don't bother drying my hair and instead just shake it out and put a beany over top of it. When I take my phone off the charger, I check for missed calls or texts but there are none so I push it into my jeans pocket and push the immediate annoyance to the back of my mind.

The receptionist greets me cheerily but I ignore her as I escape the hotel and walk towards my car. Driving eases my mind a tiny bit but once I get to my parent's house, I can feel myself getting tense all over again.

I make the decision to call the house phone from outside and pray for our maid Lilly to pick up. When she does, I ask her to get Paulina ready as I am waiting at the front door. At least like this I won't actually have to enter the house. No matter if my parents are home, simply entering this house is less than comfortable. This is no home to me anymore.

"Seth!" Paulina shouts and comes hurdling towards me.

For the first time today, I manage a smile. She looks so grown up with her hair in a high ponytail and her fancy black coat neatly tied with a black belt around her waist. Her worn out pink backpack is the only thing that assures me that she hasn't turned into a fashion mannequin for my mother quite yet.

"Have you grown since yesterday?" I grunt as Paulina throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my stomach.

"Noooo," she giggles and takes my hand with her tiny one, tugging at it. "Come on! Let's go!"

Soon enough we're on our way to the ice-skating rink. It's in indoor one and allows you to rent ice-skates. There's a little café inside there as well which is good as I'm planning to spend as much time with Paulina today as possible.

"Are we there yet?" Paulina nags, jumping up and down in her seat.

"Calm down. You're going to give yourself a heart attack," I joke, earning myself a glare from my little sister.

"You're so mean! I'm just happy!"

"That's good, baby sis." I reach out to tousle her hair but she ducks away before I reach her.

A few minutes later, Paulina spots the skating place. She gasps and almost knocks her nose into her window. I slowly pull into the parking lot and kill the engine. The second the car is stopped, Paulina jumps out of the car and pulls open the door to the backseat where she stored her backpack earlier. Listening to her struggling to get her backpack onto her back, I check my phone once more. There are still no missed calls or texts so I decide to text Arya.