Vance was frozen. Even if he could move it would be to run up the steps. He hated this. He hated Keri for doing this to Seth, but he would hate himself even more if he actually went through with this a second time—but he didn’t have a choice. Being a victim of circumstance really sucked.
Vance slowly moved toward Keri. She dropped her pyjama pants and sensually bent over the table. Vance pulled down his pants.
Five minutes later Crystal woke. She rolled over and noticed Keri was gone, but she thought nothing of it, rolled over and closed her eyes.
A few seconds later she opened her eyes again. Something had felt off, and she noticed Vance was gone as well.
Crystal sat up on high alert.
Crystal looked up at the landing. Keri’s bedroom door was wide open. She jumped to her feet and quietly tiptoed her way to the steps leading down to the kitchen.
She turned the kitchen light on and was disappointed when Keri and Vance weren’t there. Suddenly she heard moaning. She quickly made her way to the cellar door and placed her hand on the doorknob. She gently pushed open the door and listened. At first she heard nothing, but after a moment Keri moaned with immense pleasure as she and Vance neared a finish.
Upset, Crystal turned away from the door and pushed her back against the wall. She slid down to the floor and put her head between her knees, crying.
After five minutes, Vance made more pleasurable noises. “I’m finished!” He slowly pulled out of Keri and wiped himself. She remained bent over the table, taking deep breaths. “Is this never going to end?”
Keri reached for a paper towel, wiped herself, and pulsed up her pants. “You know, I couldn’t even tell you.”
“Why the hell did you even start cheating in the first place? Is it because Seth is a bigger man with a, small manhood?”
Keri thought about the question and sighed. “No, Vance. He may be a bigger man, but his manhood is just fine. I don’t know why I started cheating. I guess I was just looking for something, new and different.”
They headed up the stairs.
Crystal heard them starting up the steps and quickly got to her feet. Vance opened the door and was shocked, paralyzed at the sight of Crystal. Vance swallowed hard. “Crystal, how long have you been standing at the door?” Crystal crossed her arms and says nothing for a moment. She tried to muster up enough courage to speak but instead spit in Vance’s face.
“I’ve been standing here long enough!” Keri jumped in front of Vance. “That was totally uncalled for!”
Crystal chuckled almost uncontrollably. “You know you’re right. It was your face I should’ve spat in, you whore!” She stomped back up the stirs to the living room.
“Seth!” Crystal cries.
“Shit!” shouted Kari as she dashed up the stairs.
“Seth! Seth!” Crystal got down on her knees and gently shook Seth. Keri and Vance bolted into the living room.
“Crystal, I swear to Christ, if you wake Seth and squeal on us,”
Seth gently stirred, sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, Seth. I’m sorry!”
Seth looked at Crystal with confusion. “What? Why are you sorry?”
Before Crystal could answer, Keri said, “She’s sorry that she woke you up—isn’t that right, Crystal?”
The room filled with thick tension. Crystal wanted nothing more than to tell Seth the truth, but she sighed heavily. “I, I apologize for waking you up, Seth.”
CHAPTER 7
The year came and went, but as the year came to an end, Keri was becoming more distant from Seth and grew closer to Vance. Vance was more willing to have a secret relationship with his best friend’s girl and was actually enjoying it.
That was why, when the time came to tell Keri the news, he was a little crushed.
“What! Moving? When?”
“Don’t worry. My father’s contract ends in early 2011, so we still have two years.”
Keri put her head down. “No, Vance, we don’t.”
“We don’t?”
Keri tried to think of an easy way of telling Vance her news. “God, this is really hard for me to say,”
Vance suddenly became uncomfortable. “Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like whatever it is you’re attempting to tell me?”
After a couple of minutes, Keri decided to just come out and tell Vance the news. “I’m moving too. My parents want to be out of the country no later than mid 2010.”
Vance took a deep breath. “So you’re moving out of the country as well?”
“Yes. My parents want to move back to Amsterdam,” Keri stopped herself. “Wait—did you say, ‘As well’?”
“Yes,”
“Where are you moving to?”
Vance smiled. “Amsterdam.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Vance, I swear to God, if you’re putting me on,”
“I cross my heart.”
Keri lit up. “That’s amazing, Babe! Wow!”
Keri and Vance stared lovingly at one another, and without really thinking, they both leaned in for a kiss.
Before their lips meet, Keri turned her head. “Oh no,”
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“We’ve got one big problem,”
They stared at each other and then, at the same time, said, “Seth.”
Keri thought for a moment. “What do we do?”
He looked at Keri and smiled warmly. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s only going on 2009. We have all the time in the world.”
*
July 15, 2009, was the beginning of the end for Seth Zimmer. On this day his fate was sealed. It was warm, clear, calm and sunny. Keri and her parents were enjoying a nice relaxing day in the pool of her grandparents, called Oma and Opa.
Keri’s oma got out of the pool and rested on the sun lounge chair. Sandwiched between Keri and Carol, Oma dabbed her face with a towel.
“So, Keri. Congratulations on graduating high school. You’re starting college in September?”
“Sure am, Oma!”
“What course, sweetheart?”
“It was a tough decision, but I finally decided upon ECE—early childhood education.”
“Good for you, Keri.”
Opa walked to the pool deck with his head covered with a towel.
“And what about Seth?” Opa asked as he sat on the end of Carol’s lounge.
Keri sighed. “He’s unfortunately still hell bent on being some kind of writer or filmmaker.”
Oma sighed and shook her head. “That boy better goddamn well beam down to earth with the rest of us!”
Carol sat up. “Thank you, Mom! See, Keri? I’m not the only one who thinks Seth is a waste of life.”
Keri looked at her mother and then her oma. All was quiet for a moment.
“Keri,” Oma sat up and placed her hand on Keri’s knee. “You’ve been dragging Seth along for four years now. You’re not a child anymore. You’ve had your fun. You’re now officially a college student. You no longer have a choice, Keri. It’s time to sever Seth from your life forever. He’s got to go.”
Keri shrugged. “I’m sorry, but it’s not that easy. The way the both of you talk, you make it sound like it’s as easy as throwing away a maxi-pad.”
Opa chuckled. “Well, this situation kind of is, Keri.”
“Really? How, Opa?”
“Simple. When the relationship is fresh and new, that’s like removing a pad from the box—you’re in control and place it where it needs to go. Then, when the pad gets too bloody, or in this case stale, you remove it and toss it away forever.”
Carol got up
and sat at the end of Kari’s lounge. “Of course it’s going to be hard, you’ve been with the asshole for four years. The longer you’re with someone, the more painful it’s going to be to end it.”
Keri looked around. “What do you suggest then? I’ve been with him long enough to know how sensitive he is, and let me tell you, this is just going to kill him; it’s going to be a real challenge.”
Opa cleared his throat and quickly injected his opinion. “I strongly suggest the Band-Aid approach: When you remove a Band-Aid from your skin, you don’t remove it slowly, because that hurts too much. But just lift one end and give it hell! One fast rip, and it’s all over.”
“Opa’s right,” Oma said. “Please don’t prolong leaving this relationship any longer than necessary, and we all agree that it’s already been four years too long.”
Keri thought long and hard for a moment. “What can I do, Oma?”
“You say you know Seth really well? Do you know what really pisses him off the most?”
“I think so, why?”
“Because if you start doing what Seth hates the most, you don’t have to worry about leaving him. You’ll have him so riled up he’ll leave you.”
“Or,” Carol interrupted. “If you want to go a much gentler route, I suggest involving him in a big lie.”
Everybody waited for Carol to elaborate. “Remember a few years ago when Seth told us Mike Rutherford and Daryl Stuermer, the guitar players for Genesis, are inspiring to him? And that he’d like to take up the guitar?”
Keri said, “Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything? How is that going to end our relationship?”
“Well, let’s pretend Seth told us he’s in a band called Re-Genesis. But in order for this plan to work, I personally have to call Seth’s parents and ask them when his band plays next and how we’d get tickets. Seth then gets in shit with his parents, he tells you, and in turn you call him a liar and don’t want to associate with him anymore and that the relationship is over.”
Oma shook her head in disbelief. “Carol, what the hell is that?”
“What?”
“That just seems too damned complicated for a freaking break-up.”
“Oh, and you can come up with something better?”
Oma turned to Keri. “Your Opa has a friend who is a doctor who works up at the hospital. I suggest we take you up there for a day, set you up in a private room and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Keri thought for a moment. “And how does this end the relationship, exactly? Tell him I’m dead?”
“No, we’ll just tell him you need so much surgery and that the recovery time is so hectic, that continuing a relationship is not feasible for the time being.”
Carol snickered. “And that’s not complicated?”
“It may be somewhat complicated, but at least it’s more believable than your pathetic idea.”
“Mom, I know Seth, alright. I know It’ll never work. It’s a terrible idea.”
CHAPTER 8
On Friday, July 17, Seth came to the conclusion that the only way to become any kind of filmmaker in his little town was to open his own business.
He thought he’d run the idea by Keri when they met next. And on the following Monday they hit the town.
Keri decided they should go out for a nice dinner and to a movie afterward, because she figured Seth deserved at least that much. They went to a lovely Italian restaurant beside the movie theatre.
After they were seated, Seth noticed a heaviness, a kind of distance between them. Seth felt uncomfortable and really didn’t like this feeling. Maybe it’s nothing, he thought, he decided to ignore it. Halfway through the meal, the feeling grew extraordinarily strong—so strong it was as though he just got punched in the stomach.
He put his fork down and gently pushed his plate aside. He slid his chair out and took deep breaths to avoid vomiting.
Keri didn’t know what was happening, and she became concerned. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Seth tried to collect himself enough to speak. “That’s what I want to know.”
Keri put her fork down. “Are you in pain? What’s wrong?”
“You know, I’ve been feeling like this on and off for the past month!”
“Really? Why the hell haven’t you said anything?”
“Would you have cared?”
Keri thought for a moment. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Seth sighed heavily. “For the past month you’ve been ignoring me, and I’ve basically been nonexistent!”
Keri became insulted. “Bullshit! We’ve talked!”
“Yeah, right. When we talked you were either in a bad mood to begin with or would eventually snap my head off. You’ve been distant and cold. What’s going on?”
A worry suddenly fell over her, and she didn’t know what to say. So she decided to say the first thing that popped into her head, as usual. “Well, I, I don’t know, Seth. I guess the stress of becoming a woman and a college student is really getting to me.”
Seth stared at her without any expression, and she swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, babe.”
Seth stared at her for another few moments but finally sighed. He couldn’t help but think something was astray. By this point, everything Keri told him sounded phoney.
“Are you sure?”
Keri crossed her heart. “Cross my heart!”
Seth grabbed his plate, and they continued to eat.
Suddenly Keri’s oma’s voice popped into her head, echoing, “Piss him off.” She shook her head like an Etch- A-Sketch to try to get rid of the voice. To her amazement it worked, but only momentarily.
Her oma’s voice returned, this time filling her head even ten times louder. She quickly reached for her water and took a long sip. “So, Seth?” Keri pushed her plate to the side and leaned back in her chair. “Have you thought any more about your future?”
“I have. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately,”
“And your conclusion?”
Seth braced himself for impact. “My conclusion is I need to go into business for myself.”
Keri stared at him, unimpressed. She didn’t make a sound. Keri didn’t even seem to be breathing.
“Your not blinking really creeps me out, Keri.”
“You’re going to go into business for yourself?”
Seth swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah,”
“And what will you be doing?” The tone of her voice was like nothing Seth had heard before. It was deep and thundering. He suddenly felt an odd stirring of sadness, and he was stunned.
He didn’t know what to do. He needed a moment to himself. “Filmmaking, of course.”
Keri shook her head in disappointment. “Filmmaking? I didn’t realize there was such a huge demand for filmmaking in this little shit hole town of ours!” Keri waited for Seth to answer.
“Well, there’s not really a demand for a business like that here. But then again, there’s nothing like that here to begin with, either.”
“All right, Seth, all right. Name someone, anyone from this godforsaken town of ours who is well known or famous!”
Seth smiled and leaned back. Without hesitation he blurted, “Scott Stevens!”
Keri was shocked. She didn’t expect Seth to come up with an answer that fast. It was as though Seth was expecting the question—either that or he really knew his celebrities.
“Who the hell is Scott Stevens?”
“The defenseman for the New Jersey Devils. You know, the hockey team?”
“Well, as impressive as that is—and believe me, I’m impressed—that just doesn’t count.”
“What the hell do you mean it doesn’t count? You said someone famous or well known, and I gave you a prime example! You didn’t specify what profession!”
“No, yo
u’re right, I didn’t. That’s because it was implied, moron!”
Seth was filled with anger and anxiety. “Fine, fine! You want me to name someone in the industry, okay. Kristin Booth!”
Keri thought for a moment. “Okay, Kristin Booth, fine. Now name two of her films, smart ass!”
Seth leaned forward and folded his arms on the table, thinking. “All right, in 2007 she acted in the film This Beautiful City. She played a character named Pretty. And in 2003, she played a character named Sam in the film Foolproof opposite Ryan Reynolds.”
Keri sat there feeling embarrassed and somewhat foolish. She really didn’t think Seth would be that quick on the trigger. She took a few moments to gather herself.
“Well, as impressive as that is Seth, again, that has nothing to do with you. Just because a hockey player and one unknown actress made it out of this shit hole town of ours doesn’t mean you will.”
Seth shook his head in disappointment. “Well aren’t you supportive!”
“No, Seth. Why should I support you and your stupid fantasy?”
He leaned back, his mouth ajar, momentarily lost for words. “Fantasy, you think I’m living in a fantasy world?”
“You must be. To actually think you, of all people, are going to become a filmmaker? Get serious!”
Seth took a moment. “And you want to work with children? That’s goddamned hilarious!”
Keri became offended. “What’s so hilarious about it? At least it’s realistic!”
Seth chuckled. “Well, if you’re having a hard time with me living in my fantasy, you’re going to have to be institutionalized because of the children.”
“What in hell does that mean?”
Seth remained quiet.
“Children are supposed to be fun and creative, and they’re supposed to have fantasies. You, you’re an adult, you’re supposed to be a level-headed man with both feet on the ground!”
“I’m a person with a dream! That’s something healthy and normal!”
Keri shook her head. “I’m so out of here. I can’t talk to you when you’re acting like an unrealistic asshole!”
Growing Pains Page 6