Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning (13 page)

“
Hay-fever.” Kasey-Ray piped, to my relief.

“Oh
, okay.” His face relaxed as he finally leaned down to kiss me. “I missed you.” He smiled as we came up for air. Then he quickly stepped away, making me wonder if I'd done something wrong. “Sorry.” He quickly looked down at my clothes. I followed his gaze and realised my clothes were wet. “I forgot how sweaty I am.”

“No, it's okay.” I felt embarrassed on his behalf. I hadn't even noticed I was wet. “I'll quickly go get changed.” I reached up and kissed him again. If I was already wet I may as well do it in style.

It was Kasey-
Ray's coughing that made me realise we weren't alone.

“Sorry
.” It was my turn to apologise, as my face turned a deep shade of red. “Be back in a mo.” I ran off, leaving Sean with my sister, jumping over the hoover wire as I went.

Before I
'd gotten to my room, I'd managed to take off my clothes. I had no idea what I was going to wear as I threw my clothes into the washing basket and went to rummage through my drawers.

After five minutes I still hadn
't found anything to wear, so I decided to go into Kasey-Ray's room. She was more fashion conscious than me, and had a lot more clothes, and of course it didn't take me long to find a purple, strappy, ankle length dress.

I quickly put it on and checked myself in Kasey-
Ray's mirror. Before I left, I could hear voices coming from the back garden, so I decided to eavesdrop through my sisters opened bedroom window.

“I
'm just warning you.” I heard Kasey-Ray's stern voice. “If you hurt her, I'll kill you.” I could hear the faint laugh from Sean in response. “It's not funny. She's never had a boyfriend or gotten close to anyone before, and I don't want you treating her like a toy that you can throw away when you're bored.”

My heart was in my mouth. I felt sick. I had no idea how or why she was speaking to him like this. Had he said or done something when I
'd left?

“Kasey-
Ray?” Sean's calm voice spoke.

“Yes?
” She huffed.

“I actually really love your sister and would never dream of hurting her
.”

“You better not.” She cut in.

“Look
, I've never felt like this about anyone before. If anyone is going to get hurt it would be me.”

There was silence then. I had no idea what was going on. Why would he get hurt? My sister must have had the same confusion on her face as Sean spoke again.

“I worry that Erin will get bored of me and won't want me. I worry that she'll never feel for me the way I feel for her."

I crouched down low on the floor, unsure if I
'd heard what I'd just heard.

“Erin? What are you doing in your sister
's room?” My mum's loud voice boomed, making me cringe as I put my finger to my lips. I was sure Sean and Kasey-Ray had heard her.

“I was looking for something to wear
.” I barely gasped.

God, how was I supposed to go down stairs and face him now? Surely they must know I was eavesdropping.

My mum looked confused as I pointed to the open window and the realisation quickly covered her face.

“Sorry
.” She whispered. “"But you shouldn't listen in on other peoples conversations anyway." She said as an afterthought, but grabbing my arm as I tried to walk past. “Everything okay though?”  She asked concerned.

“Yeah, just Kasey-
Ray warning Sean not to hurt me.” My mum laughed as I did too.

“He better watch out then
.” She joked, as she released my arm.

I forced a smile as I walked away and slowly headed down the stairs. Before heading outside, I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself, a fake smile plastered on my face.

     “I hope you don't mind?” I smiled apologetically to my sister, as I pulled at the dress. “I couldn't find anything to wear.”

“No
, no, that's fine.” She quickly and nervously told me, “It looks good on you.” She gave me a once over. “I'm going to go phone Claire. See ya later.” She quickly told me as she hurried past, leaving me timidly standing there.

“You look good
.” Sean warmly smiled. “I won't hug you til I've showered.” He laughed. “Don't want your mum giving you another row for raiding your sister’s drawers.” I blushed. He had heard.  I hoped he hadn't realised I was eavesdropping. “Shall we?”

He pointed towards the back door and I nodded as I led the way back into the house, towards the front door.

“Mum?” I called.  “I'm going out.”

My mum appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Will you be back for dinner?”

“No, she
's having dinner at mine with my family.” Sean told her. This was news to me.

“Okay, be back by ten
.” She turned back to where she'd come from.

“
"I hope you don't mind."” Sean said as he opened the front door for me.

“No
.” I forced another smile. I was nervous as I walked towards his car.

“My dad
's promised to be on his best behaviour.” Even though he said this, he didn't look like he actually believed it.

We sat in silence
for the ten minute journey. Every so often he would reach over and stroke my leg, sending tingles up and down my body.

When we pulled up outside his house, we sat there for a few minutes, still neither of us saying a word. It was Sean who finally broke the silence, when he turned to look at me.

“You heard what I said, didn't you?” I froze in my seat, not wanting to look at him or speak. I finally nodded. “I meant every word of it.” He sat there staring as I finally turned to look at him. He sighed as he realised I didn't really believe him.

Don
't get me wrong, I wanted to believe him, I really did, but I could never see how I could ever hurt him. Surely it was the other way round.

“You know I love you though, right?
”

This I did believe, even though I didn
't know why he did.

“Yes
.” I nodded. “I love you too.”

This made him look relieved.

“I can live with that.” He reached over to stroke my face. Then he gently leaned forward to kiss me. “Come on, let's get inside.” He quickly got out of the car, and walked by my side as we went into the house. “I'm just going to take a shower. Make yourself at home.”

Before I could respond, he was gone, leaving me standing there, in the living room. I wasn
't alone though, as I spotted Kelly, Paul and James. They seemed to be glued at the hips.

“Hi Erin
.” Kelly smiled as she waved me over. “Come join us.” I slowly walked over to sit down next to James, or was it Paul?

“Hi
.” I shyly spoke, as whomever I was sat next to me smiled.

The three of them were sat around a coffee table, with
what looked like a giant map.

“What
's that?” I asked as I leaned closer to get a better look.

“We're looking for Wally!” One of the twins laughed, not looking up from the map.

“Do you want to try and find him?
” The twin sitting next to me asked with a playful smile.

“Sure
.” I kneeled down to get a closer look.

It wasn’t a map
, it was a giant cartoon picture of the seaside, with hundreds of people dressed in brightly coloured clothes.

“We
're looking for this guy.” Kelly pointed to a picture of a man wearing a red and white striped top, red hat and black glasses. I nodded, as I looked back down to the bigger picture. This was going to be hard, as nearly everyone was wearing similar clothing and glasses.

It took me about five minutes, when I spotted him
Kelly cheered.

“We
've been at this for nearly an hour.” One of the twins laughed.

“You want to try another?” Kelly asked, as she rolled up the picture and pulled out another, this one was of a pirate ship.

“Sure.” I smiled, happy to be part of a group who didn't seem to judge me, and seemed happy to be in my company.

This time it took me a little longer, but still I was the first to find Wally.

“Have you done this before?” The twin sitting next to me raised an eyebrow.

“No never
.” I never had, well not giant pictures like this. I had taken a ‘Where's Wally?’ book from the library when I was younger and ended up taking it back, without even looking at it.

He sat there looking serious, then sensing my unease, smiled and raised his hand for a high five, which I responded to.

“Third time lucky?” His brother asked. I nodded as Kelly pulled out another picture.

“Wow
! You have a lot of these don't you?” I laughed.

“James's thing.”  Kelly pointed to the twin sitting next to me, which made me smile. I had been right. Maybe Kelly wasn't the only one who could tell them apart. But saying that, she never seemed to think about it. Telling them apart came naturally to her.

By the time I
'd found Wally, for the third time, Sean appeared.

“Hey
.” he came and sat next to me, with a kiss.

“Hey
."” I smiled, as I leaned into him.

“Your girlfriend has sharp eyes
.” Paul winked at me. I smiled happily, more at the fact at hearing the word girlfriend. “Either that or she's cheating.” he laughed.

“I found Wally three times
.” I boasted, proud of myself. “And no cheating involved.” I put my tongue out at Paul.

“Well done
.” Sean kissed me again, and for a moment, I forgot we weren't alone.

“I think I
'll have to go buy some more.” I heard one of the twins say, as I pulled away from Sean. It was James and he actually looked excited at the prospect of buying more of these pictures.

“Make sure you get hard ones next time
.” I teased, making everyone laugh and James act offended.

“I
'm going to see how my mum's getting on in the kitchen."” Sean whispered in my ear. “You coming?” I smiled and nodded, as Sean helped me up.

“Hey, where
are you taking Erin?” Kelly asked in an unhappy tone.

“To the kitchen. Is that okay with you?” Sean teased.

Kelly laughed and nodded.

“Bring her back when you
're done though.” She ordered, as Sean walked backwards, with me in his arms.

“She
's all mine.” He told his sister, as he held me tightly and kissed my neck.

“You can't keep her to yourself ya know.” Kelly scolded “Erin's my little sister now.”

I slowly turned around, as Sean playfully held me tight, to see Kelly sticking her tongue out at Sean.

“You can share me.” I laughed, as Sean playfully blew a raspberry on my neck, making me laugh.

“Nope, you
're all mine.” he turned me around, as he continued to walk backwards into the kitchen, as I waved bye.

“Oh
, hi Erin.” I heard Sean's mum say, making me turn in the direction of her voice.

“Hi
Ruth.” I smiled, still in the tight hold of Sean. “Do you need any help?” I politely asked, but she shook her head.

“No. I
'm pretty much done in here. Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours.”

She seemed to have everything organised, as I looked around the kitchen to see pots of vegetables, sitting on the stove, ready to be switched on.

“How long have you been here?” She asked, as she looked at the clock on the wall.

“I
'm not sure.” I laughed, looking to Sean for an answer.

“About an hour. She
's been playing ‘Where's Wally?’ with Kelly and the twins.” He pointed towards the living room, as he released me and walked towards the cupboard to pull out two glasses and raised them towards me.

“Yes please
.”

“I hope they went easy on you
." His mum said as she turned to wipe down the sides.

“She showed them a thing or two
.” Sean laughed as he pulled out a carton of fresh orange juice and held it up as I nodded.

“Three to be exact
.” I laughed.

“I hope you don't mind.” His mum looked back towards the clock. “"But I need to pop back to the gym and collect Sean's dad.”

“No
, that's fine.” I smiled, as she walked towards the kitchen door, patting my shoulder on the way out.

“Here
.” Sean handed me a glass of orange juice, as he walked past me and into the conservatory, where I followed.

Stepping into the conservatory
, I gasped when I took in the full view of the back garden. I thought it was big the last time I was here, but seeing it from here was so surreal. I don't think I'd ever seen a garden this big.