SETH
Carson entered the room looking like a blonde Behemoth, holding a bouquet of roses and a bottle of Champagne. He'd even cleaned himself nicely, a checkered shirt over black skinny jeans and sneakers.
"Look who's here!" Emily's dad, Diego called out cheerfully. "Carson! Come on inside."
I'd completely forgotten that Diego and Carson's father were best buds.
"Hey, Mr. Vasquez, didn't think I'd see you here." He smiled making his way towards the table and then his gaze traveled to me standing in the corner.
There was a shock first, followed by complete bafflement.
"Hey man." He called out to me.
"Sup."
Great. Lover-boy was going to sit here and gloat.
"I'm sure you know Seth from school." Diego looked between the two of us.
"Yeah. We're acquainted with each other." by our fists.
Emily looked like she didn't want to be in this room. She had a distant look in her soulful dark eyes, and the excitement for the dinner she had before had sizzled away.
Despite that, she plastered a forced smile, "Thanks for coming, Carson."
This wasn't how the dinner was supposed to go. I'd planned everything before their visit, I wanted to make her feel special today. I wanted her to understand my feelings for her when Diego and Cale decided to show up and become major killjoys. They had not only spoilt her dinner but put a damper on her mood.
I knew how much she was looking forward to this day and if that wasn't bad enough, lover boy invited himself over.
If I could just steal her from the room and get her out of here.
Carson came over to Emily and handed her the bouquet and Champagne. He even hugged her, wishing her a happy birthday.
I tried my best to keep the caveman inside me from reacting. I didn't have any other choice than watch because that's what house-staff did.
When he sat down at the table, I served Carson while trying my best not to react to the suspicious looks he kept shooting towards me.
The conversation on the table was light, Diego was surprisingly calm as if his son hadn't just screamed and accused him of things. I had a feeling he did it often. He hated confrontation more than anything so he was going to play pretend that Cale hadn't just spoilt his daughter's dinner party.
What bothered me was how Diego talked to Carson, it was as if Carson had every right to be in this house. I'm sure he wouldn't bat an eye if Carson and Emily were dated, it would only make him proud. My hands were balled into fists, I needed to get used to this.
I was never supposed to be involved with Emily. This was an attraction that shouldn't have been more than that.
Carson's gaze locked on mine, I wondered if it was some sign of a warning. He knew that Emily and I had a thing going so I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to tell Diego. In that case, I had to be ready to pack. Worst case scenario, he could put an alleviation against me for seducing his daughter.
Luckily, Carson didn't say anything.
Not yet, at least.
Diego picked up a glass of wine which slipped from his hand and crashed onto the floor, shattering the glass and spilling the red liquid.
"I'll call for cleaning staff."
Diego raised his hand, "It's okay, Carson. Seth is the house staff, he cooks and cleans around here."
"Oh."
Carson's mouth hung open for a minute. Dude didn't get the memo when he saw me serving the food.
"I'll go get the mop." I retreated towards the storage room to get the cleaning supplies.
As I started picking the glass strands from the floor, Emily came to help me. Her father didn't seem happy to see her.
"Go and sit at your table, Em. That's not your job."
She passed me a painful look and went back to the table. I wasn't embarrassed or anything because this is what I was hired for. The only thing I was worried about was Carson broadcasting this in school tomorrow using a megaphone.
This was literally me giving Carson ammo to use against me.
When it was time for dessert, Emily excused herself and said she was going upstairs to her room because she wasn't feeling okay. I got the impression that it wasn't the only reason she was bailing. She wouldn't meet my eyes.
I loaded the dishes in the dishwasher and started cleaning up the counter, putting leftovers in the giant refrigerator when I felt a presence in the kitchen.
I turned around to find Carson standing by the island, wearing the same confused expression on his face.
"You really work here?" He inquired.
"Yeah, as you can see. You can go ahead and make fun of me. I don't care."
"I'm not going to make fun of you. There's nothing wrong with what you are doing." He said quickly, leaning against the counter. "But...why though, I mean I'm sure there are a lot of other jobs that you can take."
"It's my mom's job. She's sick so I'm working in her place temporarily."
"Cool." He said awkwardly.
"Hey listen, I know that you don't like me, but I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about this in school."
"Look, if I wanted revenge I would challenge you fair and square. I won't talk shit about you at school just because you're making a living by being a housekeeper. And where Emily is concerned, you don't need to worry about that either. She flatly told me she wasn't interested in being anything more than friends and I want to be her friend so I won't rat you out."
I gave him a nod, relieved to hear him say that.
"The food was great."
"Thanks."
When Carson left, I stayed in the kitchen to finish up my work. Diego had already gone to bed. It was a good thing I cleaned all the unoccupied rooms at least thrice a week in case of visitors. I had all the training my mother had given me before she left the hospital and went to live with my grandparents.
I removed the foil covering the chocolate cake that I had baked this evening. It was supposed to be for Emily's birthday but since Diego had got a two-story pink monstrosity, mine kind of paled in comparison.
I guess I could take it to her room. I made sure Diego had gone to bed and late that night, I tiptoed upstairs to her bedroom.
I knocked on the door but there was no answer.
"Emily? It's me."
I heard her come in.
She was sitting at her desk, still wearing the maroon birthday dress that I loved so much. It made her look mature for her age. I knew she'd put so much effort and gotten dolled up just for me, and I wished I could do more for her.
Chanel gave me a nasty look as usual from the bed and went on to ignore me as she climbed onto the cat treehouse.
Emily stared at a music box that had soft music drifting from it, a ballerina moved around in circles. When it stopped, she turned the key again.
"Is that a gift from your mom?"
She looked up from the desk at me. "It is. How did you know?"
“I just do."
I put the small round cake on the table and stepped towards her.
“You miss your mom, right?”
She nodded as she leaned into me. “I wish she was around.”
I put my arm around her and kissed her head. We stayed that way for a while, and sometimes you don’t need to convey some feelings with your words, companionable silence can give more strength than words ever could. I wish I had the guts to tell her everything that happened before I moved to this town. That’s all I wanted, to be true to Emily but if I opened up the Pandora box, it was likely she would never look at me the same way, and I didn’t want to give that up.
She stood up and hugged me. She was wearing her heels so her head crossed a little past my chest, bringing her face closer to mine. I tilted her head and stared into the most beautiful dark eyes I’d ever seen.
“Happy Birthday, baby.”
Her fingers thread into my hair, she pulled my face down and when our lips met, it was fire. My entire body buzzed with desire and felt my toes curling.
Kissing Emily always affected me so I couldn’t even begin to think what sex would be like. I kissed her deeper, tasting traces of wine on her tongue and the fruity taste of her sweet lipstick or gloss, or whatever it is that girls applied.
“You look…” like my girlfriend.
She stared at me with anticipation.
“You look fucking gorgeous.” I went in for another kiss, bringing her body snug against mine. I was worried about what this relationship between us was starting to become. I didn’t know about Emily but I knew what I really wanted.
“I got a gift for you.” I fished a gift-wrapped box from my pocket which was the size of my palm and handed it to her.
Her dad had given her a set of keys as a birthday gift that I believed I’d heard was an apartment in NYC. Emily hadn’t so much as twitched when she took it. She’d accepted it with a forced smile and a ‘thank you.’ Last year, she’d gotten the BMW, and yet her eyes lit up with excitement as she carefully pulled at the ribbon of the box, I’d given her, as if I’d signed her a cheque of a billion dollars.
Inside there was a necklace, a studded heart with wings, and Emily’s name engraved on it. I could have given her a mug or something cheaper but I’d seen this at the mall the other day and I’d bought it on a whim, even asked them if they could personalize it.
“I love it.” She gave me a grin. “It must have been expensive, right?”
Truthfully, it caused a sizable dent in my wallet but I wasn’t about to admit it to her. I was weak for those smiles.
“Nah.” I brushed it off. “flip it over.”
She flipped it and on the back of it, my name was engraved on it in tiny letters.
She stared at the bracelet without uttering a word. Did it seem like I was putting a collar on her?
Shit.
“If my name bothers you, I can get it removed. The employee told me I could.” I said quickly.
She shook her head. “I want to keep it this way.”
I smiled, “Great. I’ll put it on for you.”
She turned around and let me clasp the chain around her neck and I placed a kiss there. We looked at our reflections in the mirror.
“I think we look perfect together, don’t you think?”
She nodded smiling, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. I placed a final kiss on her cheek, “I gotta go, baby. I just stopped by to give you the gift and the cake.”
Before I could leave, she grabbed my hand. “Stay the night with me.”
“Emily…your dad is down the hallway.” I reminded her.
“He won’t wake up.” She assured me and then pressed her body against mine, “Please stay. It’s my birthday. I want you to be with me.”
As I mentioned before, Emily was my weakness and I didn’t exactly have it inside me to say a firm ‘No’ when that’s exactly what I needed to do. It seemed like she’d snapped out of the gloomy cloud from earlier and that was probably because I’d decided to visit her tonight. If I walked out, I didn’t want to think how she would react to being lonely. Maybe she’d cry to sleep.
I didn’t want her crying to bed tonight.
“Okay.”