Chapter Nine: Seth...
[Author's Note: I'm just showing some Seth love okay? I think he needs it. That's what my mind is telling me right now.]
Seth POV
Washing dishes has always helped me think. I know it's random and weird but it does. "Maia, why don't you go play with Vulcan and Aiden and I'll take care of this." Maia stared at me. "Are you sure?" She asked. I nodded and grinned at her. I gave her a kiss on the top of head and told her to run along. She bounded off into the other room, looking for her brother and Aiden. "Aiden..." I thought back to when I saw him all bloodied and beaten. He reached out to me looking for Vulcan. I thought back to when Vulcan and I were kids. I was smaller than most kids and that made it easy to pick on me. But anyone who bullied me got the full wrath of Vulcan. "Touch him and I'll beat you every time I see you!" He'd yell at my bullies. Those words echoed in my head as I stared at a plate I had just scrubbed clean. I sighed. "Dishes...you make me think about profound things." I said to the bowls and plates still in the sink.
Vulcan once asked me when were 12 why I never called him Vee like his sister does. I asked if that was okay. He said it was perfectly fine and grinned at me with all his child innocence. But I couldn't bring myself to call him Vee. It felt like it was something just for his sister. Then his parents died. What was supposed to be a second honeymoon went horribly wrong when the plane malfunctioned and crashed into the ocean. A 13 year old boy and his infant sister suddenly orphaned. They stayed with their grandmother until she passed away from her old age. They had inherited the house and all the money their grandmother and parents had left them. My mother would check in on them. She cooked them food and took care of Maia. I remember the look my mother had on her face whenever she would take me to check on them. I was always happy to see Vulcan, but the look on her face was always one of sadness and sometimes I'd see tears. She missed Vulcan's mother. I knew it. They were as close as sisters.
I shook my head as I snapped back to the dishes. I was almost done with them. "Maybe doing the dishes wasn't such a good idea." I drained the water from the sink and dried my hands. I grabbed a spoon and opened the cabinet above me. I pulled out a jar of peanut butter and opened it. "I'll replace it." I said as I scooped a big chunk of it out and ate it. Vulcan came in then and saw me eating the peanut butter. "You owe me two jars now." He said with a smirk. I had too much peanut butter in my mouth to say anything so I just nodded. He took the spoon out of my hand and scooped some of the peanut butter. He ate it and gave the spoon back to me. "That is good." He said with a hand over his mouth. He grabbed three bottles of water from the fridge and went back to the other room.
I stared after him. I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Aiden, don't disappear on him." I whispered. This was probably part of the reason I didn't want him around Vulcan. I was afraid he'd disappear and Vulcan would feel that pain again, the pain of loss. I was his only friend. He doesn't make friends at school; it's always been just me and him. Sometimes though, if I look carefully, I can see something different when I noticed Vulcan glancing at Aiden. It's almost like he's trying to crawl into his skin, just to keep him safe from the world. I was jealous of Aiden because now he was the one being protected by Vulcan. I was no longer that small kid being picked on. I was taller than Vulcan now, I was grown up. I could take care of myself. Aiden, he's fragile, like a glass doll. I never thought that Vulcan would have another friend. I thought it would be me and him against the world. But now, now that I'm really thinking, I got this feeling that they needed each other. They were meant to meet. I smiled. "No, you won't disappear." I ate more peanut butter, content now.