Page 1 of Hooked On Seth

Chapter One

“Why can’t they just go away?”

There was pounding. She could hardly stand it. Jenna wasn’t sure what was worse, the throbbing in her head, the erratic heartbeat in her chest or the frantic drumming at her door. She didn’t want company. She hated people. She wanted to take lots of cold medicine and sleep until she wasn’t sick anymore.

Whoever was out there was not going away and it was hurting her head more with each rap of their fist. She’d already called her office and her secretary had threatened that Jenna shouldn’t come anywhere near there before she was partially alive again. Their only contact was to be through email when she wasn’t nauseated and could sit up long enough to get online.

She threw off her covers, sending wadded Kleenex flying all over the floor.

“This better be good” she squealed to the knocker in question “or whoever is out there will leave my door as sick as me.”

She slowly slid off the security chain, twisted each deadbolt in succession and unlocked the door handle before inching it open. She really should look through the peep holefirst but she was a bit vertically challenged. Her best friend Seth ridiculed her endlessly over it. She hated to even discuss it.

Well it wasn’t necessary this time; she should have known it would be him. They talked everyday but she was too dead to attempt a phone call this morning. She swung the door open wide to see him fully.

“What in the hell is that smell?”

Jenna stood in her entryway, clad in her warn peach plush robe.

“Seth, I am in no mood for your wonderfully painful humor today. Come in or leave, either way, I’m shutting the door.”

“It depends on what that smell is? Fine,” he said with a chuckle when she started to close the door in his face. “I’m coming in.”

“It’s vapor cream rub stuff.” She explained as she locked up behind him.

“Well it stinks. You look like shit, what’s wrong?”

“I’m sick Seth,” she pointed to her red nose, “a cold, probably the flu. Haven’t you ever been sick?”

“Nope, you’re looking at the picture of health.” He smiled his best cheeky grin. “Remind me to never get sick though if that’s what I’ll have to use.”

“You live on a ranch, you smell cows all day. How can my stuff smell worse than that?”

“Hey, smelling stuff on my ranch is salt of the earth, all natural. Besides, it grows on you after a while. I don’t notice it anymore.”

“You make me sick, go away.” Jenna turned from Seth and made her way back to bed where she could die in peace. She was all snug under her down filled duvet when she realized Seth hadn’t followed her. Then she heard cabinets slamming in herkitchen. What was he doing? Unfortunately, she was just too tired to care so she closed her eyes.

She must have drifted off because the sound of his voice, right next to her ear, startled her. “Where are your keys?”

“What?” She slowly peeled open her eyes to look at him. He was blurry, crap she couldn’t even focus.

“Your keys sunshine, where are they?” Seth stood beside her bed with his hand out, palm side up with the sincerest look about his face she had ever seen. When had he gotten so damn cute?

“Why do you need my keys? Wait, I gave you your own key, did you lose it?”

“No I didn’t lose it; I left it at home on accident. I took it off my ring when I got my truck fixed last week and they needed to keep it a few days. Come on, hand ‘em over.”

“Fine, I think they’re on my dresser somewhere but you never said why you need them.”

“Well hun, it’s obvious you can’t take care of yourself so I’m gonna to do it for you. I didn’t see any chicken noodle soup in the cabinet so I’m going to the store and I don’t want to stand in the hallway for another fifteen minutes while I wait for you to answer the door again. I’ll be back.” He bent and left a quick kiss on her forehead.

Before Jenna could argue further, or be shocked that he’d just kissed her, Seth was gone. It shouldn’t be that big of a surprise really, they’d basically spent all their free time together the last couple years and he’d given her cute little pecks and hugs all the time. Something about this one however, just felt different. Apparently now wasn’t the time to contemplate the meaning because she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Chills ran through her entire body like she was soaking in a tub of ice and she had yet to get a chance to take any medicine.

She had only enough strength left to propel her body upward, grab for the covers then slam back on to the pillow and she was down for the count.

Jenna woke sometime later to the faint smell of food lingering in her bedroom. She painstakingly opened her eyes to peer at her alarm clock and noticed her room was dark. Good Lord, how long had she slept? And where was Seth?

“So much for his unwavering attention to my health.”

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