23. Arya
As days pass, Sam and I form a compromise. He promises to tune down the protectiveness and give me more room to breathe if I agree to regular meetings with our social worker. The first meeting with her after a long time went as imagined. Lots of questions about school, my social life and about Sam. It is to be expected that social workers try to dig up dirt on my living situation. It's not exactly usual to let two teenagers stay together...
While I kept up my side of the bargain, Sam didn't get to prove his side of the deal just yet. With Seth claiming to be busy with school, working and watching over his sister most of the time, I see very little of him all week. Although I wouldn't exactly say that he is ignoring me in school, he is always busy talking to teachers and running to his next class before the bell rings. Talking has become a rarity that I strangely miss.
After our heart to heart at the park I imagined... Well, what did I imagine exactly?
Now that it's Friday and school is over, I decide to take the devil by the horns and play destiny. I swing my backpack over my shoulder and stalk past my fellow students into the parking lot. There I find Seth's car in its usual spot. After a few tedious minutes, the parking lot starts to empty and I can finally see Seth coming towards me. His phone in hand, he doesn't notice me because he is engrossed in furiously typing something. Just as he reaches his car, he looks up and almost jumps back when he sees me.
"Arya," he calls out looking spooked. He quickly shoves his phone into the pocket of his jeans and unlocks his car. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you." I follow him to the driver's side and put my hand on the door before he can run away from me again. "Why are you in such a rush? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong but I really gotta get home." He pulls open the door without any effort, almost as if I'm not even trying to keep it shut. "Sorry!"
And with that he shuts the door right in my face and speeds off. Stunned and hurt, I'm unable to move. As if erased, the moment we had a few days ago feels forgotten and years in the past. Seth's mood swings are going to be the death of me. I am shattered about the fact that he doesn't feel like he can talk to me, although, I also have a nagging feeling that there's something more behind his actions.
I try to be realistic, rational. Maybe something is going on with his parents? That would explain his rush to get home. They're probably on his case about something. Maybe they're not even at home so he has to take extra care of Paulina. That would make sense.
"Hey there," a voice appears behind me and I jump in surprise. When I turn around, I come face to face with Ethan. He is wearing his usual bright smile and the sparkle in his eyes tells me that he's been watching.
"I don't want to talk about it," I shoot him down and start walking to the spot where Sam is usually waiting for me to take me home.
"But I do," he chimes, draping his arm over my shoulders, walking beside me. "Let's see... he's been ignoring you. He refuses to talk to you and he's been acting like someone with a secret. I bet he has a secret!"
Rolling my eyes, I shake his arm off and quicken my pace.
"Ouch." Ethan grabs onto his chest faking pain. "That was harsh!"
"Get lost, Ethan. I'm not in the mood," I hiss at him, clearly annoyed.
"I'm just trying to give you advice!"
I stop in my tracks and turn around, lifting my head a bit so I could make eye contact. "Who says I want your advice, Ethan?"
I throw my hands up in the air and Ethan smirks at me. "Everyone wants my advice! I'm awesome!"
Fortunately Sam rolls around at that exact moment. Taking off towards his car, I don't wait for any more of Ethan's remarks. Sam gives me a weird look as I open the door to the passenger seat and is about to say something when Ethan shouts after me.
"You're lying to yourself!"
I shut the door quickly and buckle up my seat belt. Wordlessly, Sam seems to understand and takes off without any further questions. When I turn my head, his face is slightly reddened and his hands are clutching the steering wheel.
"Thanks," I mumble, knowing that he is probably trying to hold back is protectiveness.
He just nods and lets out a sigh.
As we drive through town on our way home, Sam decides it's a good idea to go out for dinner. Honestly, I'm all for it because drowning myself in dessert sounds really good right about now. Ice cream or cake. Maybe both.
We reach our destination, a random diner just a few blocks away from school, within five minutes and head in. Sitting down with Sam feels great and the diner has a great atmosphere to it. It's not something too fancy and I can relax here. I let my thoughts drift and stare out of the window until our food arrives. I dig into my dessert while Sam starts to scarf down his huge plate heaped with french fries, a chicken sandwich and a mountain of caesar salad.
Looking back outside again, something suddenly catches my eye. My spoon drops from my head as I keep my eyes focused on the silhouette outside.
"I'll be right back," I say to Sam not ever taking my eyes off the tiny silhouette that has caught my attention.
I try to focus my eyes on it but it only becomes clear when I rush out of the diner. Little Paulina is sitting on the side of the road, crying her eyes out. She is wearing a rainbow colored backpack and her shoes are mismatched and on the wrong feet.
"Paulina?" I say as softly as possible in order not to scare her off but when she looks up at me she just starts to cry even harder.
I sit down next to her on the pavement and put my hand on her little shoulder. "Shh... It's me Arya. Remember? I'm Seth's friend... the one who sold you crayons."
Realizing how stupid that sounds, I want to slap my forehead but she finally seems to recognize me. She sniffs and stops sobbing, rubbing the back of her hand over her face. I caress her back warily and give her a reassuring smile.
"Do you want to tell me what you're doing here? Where's Seth?"
This sets her off again and she sobs out words that sound somewhat like 'parents', 'fight' and 'ran away'. Somewhere between her toddler drawl, sobs and my awkward back patting, Sam comes out of the diner. He comes jogging towards us and stops a few feet away from us.
"Who is she?" he asks, nodding towards Paulina.
"She's Seth's sister," I tell him in response and can see how hard it is for him to hold back rolling his eyes. "I don't know what happened exactly but I think she ran away from home. Do you think you could watch her for a second while I call Seth?"
He mutters something inaudible and looks extremely helpless but I need to get Paulina off the streets as she is terrified and exhausted. I leave Sam to watch over her and walk across the street to Sam's car. It's unlocked and I fetch my phone from my backpack.
Holding the phone to my ear, I wait for it to ring. As soon as it rings once, Seth picks up the phone.
"Arya, I don't have time for this right now! Poppy is gone and I can't find her anywhere!" He shouts at me, his voice panicky.
"Calm down! I--" But he doesn't let me speak and interrupts me instead.
"Calm down!? What the fuck, Arya? Did you not listen to me? My little sister is gone! Gone! I am not about to calm down! You don't get it, do you? She is everything to me!"
"Well maybe you should have taken better care of her!" I shout back.
"Whatever!" And with that he hangs up.
Inside I am fuming but try not to show any emotion as I make my way back to Sam and Paulina. Sam hovers over the little girl looking lost and confused. He reaches out to her but stops himself from touching her. It is almost comical to watch him hesitate, but I am in no mood for jokes. When I reach them, I grab Paulina under the armpits and pick her up, cradling her to my chest.
"Let's bring her home," I say sounding a bit annoyed as I can't hide my anger.
"Uh okay? Isn't Seth coming to pick her up?" I give Sam a look that tells him to shut his mouth and so he does.
In the car we listen to some kind of kid's radio channel that has Paulina singing along to high pitched songs. I think it's really adorable but you'd never know from the sour expression on my face. I get that Seth loves his little sister but he could have at least listened to me. Then all of this drama could be solved. Maybe he should try anger management because I'm not putting up with his crap any longer. People have gone through worse things than he has and he needs to realize that the world doesn't revolve around him.
"We're here," Sam states not making any attempts of getting out of the car. I sigh but get out of the car on my own. Paulina lifts her arms for me to unbuckle her seat belt and latches onto me as soon as she's freed. I bite down on my lower lip and scoop her up in my arms. She wraps her arms around my neck and holds on for dear life. She's light as a feather but the Smith's driveway is quite a walk so I better get hiking!
Paulina's hums fade into sleepy mumbles and her head lulls forward onto my shoulder as we finally reach the front door. When I ring the doorbell, my heart starts beating erratically in my chest as I wait for someone to open the door and yell at me.
Instead, I am met by the housekeeper, Lilly. She gasps when she sees Paulina and opens the door wider for me to step in. I freeze when I see both of Seth's parents waiting in the entrance of the large house. I turn my head to look at Paulina and feel extremely out of place.
"I will go call Seth and tell him she's back home," Lilly excuses herself and leaves.
"I think she's asleep," I mutter nervously, eyeing the parents who are staring me down. The mother is breathtakingly beautiful and the father looks like an exact copy of Seth, except older. Apparently beautiful parents make beautiful but slightly deranged children.
"That's alright. You can hand her over to Lilly in a second." The mother offers an almost business-like smile. "She'll take her up to her room."
"Where did you find her?" Seth's father interjects, his eyes glaring down at me. I want to step away but have the front door in back. "How did you know where to bring her?"
"I'm... I'm Arya O'Brien. I go to school with Seth," I explain, stuttering. "I was out for dinner with my cousin and we found her out on the street. She was on her own so I, I took her back here. I've been here before and... and..."
"Alright," he eyes me from head to toe, judgment clear in his eyes. If I wouldn't be holding his daughter, I would cower away from under his icy stare. Now I know where Seth gets this from. Intimidation must have been strong in their DNA.
Lilly appears beside me and takes Paulina out of my grip, smiling slightly. It seems like she is the only grown up in this household that ever truly smiles or shows any warmth at all. Knowing that she is here to take care of Paulina makes it a little easier for me to leave her behind.
"I guess I should leave," the air is thick and me being awkward does not help the situation. "Goodbye."
Mrs. Smith just nods at me but Mr. Smith steps forward, one hand holding the door shut and the other pulling out his wallet. My eyes widen when he pulls out a fifty dollar bill. Granted, Sam and I don't have a lot of money and I could surely use it but I am not about to take money from Seth's father. Especially not for bringing back his daughter! What kind of person does he take me for?
"This is for getting our daughter back," he explains, holding the money out to me.
"No thank you. I don't want your money." Although that sounds like an accusation it feels like the right thing to say. "You would do the same thing for anyone else, right?"
Mr. Smith doesn't break eye contact but lowers his arm to put the money back into his wallet. Reading him is as hard, if not harder, than reading Seth. The expression on his face is a mixture between distaste, confusion and anger.
I give them a careful smile and clear my throat. "I don't want to overstep my boundaries here but I did hear Paulina say something about the two of you fighting... She seemed really scared."
The seconds the words left my mouth, I know that I should never have said anything. My good intentions don't work here.
"What do you know about raising a child?" Mrs. Smith pipes up and steps in front of me. "We are doing the best we can!"
She stands at an intimidating height and looks down on me but if I can get my point across, I know I can help.
"I don't doubt that, Mrs. Smith. I am sure you two would be great parents if you were around more. I don't know you but I know Seth and it really affects him that you're barely ever home. He can't keep up his grades. He's just a teenage boy after all. He needs his parents and so does Paulina." I explain watching the expressions on the parents' faces carefully. "It is up to you how you raise your children but please don't put career over family. In the end, family is all you have."
Mrs. Smith sucks in a deep breath and Mr. Smith's face is surprisingly soft so I take this as my cue to leave.
"I better be going," I excuse myself and exit the house.
I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest, leaving me light and free of a burden. Hopefully Seth's parents won't take my advice the wrong way.
As I make my way back to Sam's car, Seth drives onto the property. Our eyes connect for a second and he jumps out of the vehicle without cutting the engine. After having just talked to his parents, I really don't have the energy or nerve to face him so I hop into Sam's car. Seth appears at my window before Sam can drive off but Sam locks the doors, making it impossible for Seth to get to me.
"Later," I mouth to him and lower my head as we drive off.