i should have been born a pirate;

It was a Saturday. 

The sun was out, the skies were clear, and it wasn’t oppressive like it had been the last few days. The Selznicks were all outside … and Drew was not. He’d occasionally go hiking or fishing or camping with them, but he wasn’t nearly as much of an outdoorsmen as the other three and he decided to stay behind today. 

Which was a really bad idea, considering that, since Ginny was working a double shift, he was home alone. 

And he was bored. Really bored. 

He’d walked over to Val’s but she wasn’t home and neither was her sister. He’d texted Tom, but he hadn’t answered (Drew wanted to bet that he’d probably given his phone away to someone without one again). He was about to go take a drive when he saw Seth pull up the street. 

And since he had a free day, he’d decided to head over and pay them a visit. Sometimes it was so weird being an adult. You spend all your childhood wanting the freedom to be an adult and do whatever you want and then you grow up and wish everything had just stayed the same. For Seth, that meant missing his time spent with the two sisters who had essentially raised him.

Sure, they lived not far from his new place. But living in separate residences wasn’t the same as having them there in the next room whenever he needed them.

Though apparently his need to see them was not mutual. They were always on Seth to call before popping over because sometimes they weren’t home. But Seth never listened.

Luckily, Drew happened to be home. And he was as good as family. “Hey man,” he said as he popped out of the car and clapped Drew on the shoulder, mostly just happy to see a familiar face. But a true grin broke over his face as Drew spelled out his plan.

“Excellent. I have an entire afternoon to fill and a whole bunch of new pranks that need testing. So what are we thinking? Whipped cream? Tapioca pudding?” He paused, his hand stroking his chin as he thought it threw. “Wait. I’ve got it. We dig a whole in the back yard, fill it with water and trick him into falling in it. Maybe we can trick everyone into falling in it? Call it the impromptu Selznick and Connors luau and pretend like we told them about it weeks ago.“

He laughed a little, his eyes shining. “That’s pretty good, right? What have you got, prank master? Let’s brainstorm.”

“You’re dumb.” She said, rolling her eyes, but laughing all the while. And then he was dumping his shot all over her. “Okay, whoa, Seth.” She said, shaking her head and using the napkin to wipe up what she could, “Yeah, this is it. We’re done. Time to go.”

She used to dress up for these things, but the more they went out, the less she cared (and the more she realized that by the end of the night, she’d probably be wearing more than she ended up actually drinking.) The first night, she’d sported a cute dress and a pair of heels. Tonight she’d just gone out in a pair of jeans, an old t-shirt, and a zip up hoodie. I might be turning into an alcoholic.

From the floor, she tried to stand again and that’s when she realized that her shoe wasn’t broken after all, “Oh, it’s okay,” She said, “But i’m not … “ She fell backwards and now was lying completely on the floor, her gaze following his and she located the fairy lights that hung on the ceiling. “I thought you were hallucinating for second,” She said, “Huh, I never noticed them before. They’re pretty though.”

And that’s when someone came around and yelled for them to get their asses off the floor.

“I’m so disgusting,” She said, realizing that she’d been laying down in spilled alcohol and who knows what else. She nudged him “Okay, let’s go.” They helped each other up and (somehow) managed to find their feet. Becca closed out their bill (Seth had insisted on paying for them both every time at the start, but it was getting expensive and Becca had started paying every other time).

“Mine,” She said, in answer to his question, “I’m not going to work smelling like your axe body wash anymore. Plus we can walk to my house … we just gotta try to uh, not wake my parents.” She checked her watch, “I mean I know it’s only 9:30, but trust me, they will be asleep.”

She felt like an old person, herself, wanting to go home and be in bed before 10. This was what living the wild life had done to her. They’d flown too close to the sun.

The cool sea air helped to sober her up a little. It felt good to get out of the crowded bar and breathe. “Seth … “ She began, “We’re idiots. We’ve done a lot of stupid things, but this has to be the worst. I don’t wanna be the first one to cave, but I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

The truth was, it wasn’t just that she’d gone into work hungover for the past few days (although that was a huge part of it). The biggest thing was this part: when they were still drunk and they’d go back to his place or her’s and things were quiet and familiar and all she wanted to do was kiss him. She almost had, several times, but had stopped just before she did. There was every chance that they might not remember it in the morning … and she could always pretend that she’d been drunk out of her mind, but she was afraid that, even so, it would change things. She knew that he’d just reject her … and they’d try to ignore it, but things would never go back to being like this.

The truth was, she didn’t always trust herself not to do something incredibly stupid when she was sober, let alone drunk.

"I am not.” Seth’s words ran together as he struggled to defend himself. But then Becca joined him on the floor and his train of thought was lost in peals of raucous laughter.

And that’s when the bartender decided it really was time to leave. Seth heaved himself up, grabbing Becca’s waist for support as he started to stumble. When he was sure he would remain upright, his hands moved to her shoulders and he squeezed gently as she settled their tab.

“You’re not disgusting, Bex. I’M DISGUSTING. I think I poured most of those shots in my hair.” As if to prove his point, Seth pulled one hand from her shoulder and ran it through his brown spikes. When his hand came away soaked, he progressed to shaking his head like a dog... and spraying everyone within a two foot range with drops of tequila.

“OH WHOOPS. SORRY. I DIDN’T MEAN-- SORRY.”

That was probably his cue to get out of this bar. And with that, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door. Once they were out in the cool night air (where Seth could finally both think and hear a little more better), he answered her question. “If you don’t want to wake your parents, we could just go to my place? I don’t have parents to wake. And I think Val said I don’t work tomorrow? Tomorrow’s Thursday, right? I don’t work Thursdays.”

He stopped to consider this, even going so far as to count on his fingers, trying to assess the day. When he still couldn’t quite figure it, he simply dropped his hand back to his side. “Anyway, I think you left some shampoo at my place last time? Or maybe Val did? I don’t know. Someone left something lavender in my shower and it’s all yours.”

He turned to grin at her, swinging their linked hands between them as his drunken brain continually reminded him just how much he LIKED this girl. How much they’d been through together and how much he enjoyed being with her. And how appealing her face was, especially on hangover mornings.

But there was that same small voice in the back of his head that said “But Rachel would be better.” And then Seth looked away. And wondered, for possibly the thousandth time, how he could possibly get Rachel to go out with him. She would have fun with him. Bex did. And he would definitely have fun with her. After all, she’s a GODDESS.

Seth was just on the verge of voicing these opinions and asking if he could invite Rachel the next night when Becca dropped a bomb. Seth stopped short, pulling Becca to a stop beside him as he clasped her hand a little tighter. “Bex, are you crazy?? We can’t just give up. What will people say? That we’re quitters! C’mon. We can make this thing! It’s only, what, six more days?” He paused, attempting to do some quick mental math. “Or eight? Something like that?”

With a sigh, he dropped her hand and stared at her sadly, his eyes boring into hers. “We can’t stop now. Don’t you like doing this with me? It’s your present.”

He trailed off, sadly, as he ran a hand through his hair again. It had dried a little in the night air but it was still sticky. He’d definitely need a shower when he got home. If he got home. It wasn’t that he was particuarly attached to their bar hopping pact. Actually, Seth could’ve quit there and then too and probably would’ve been far happier.

But what he was attached to was the principle of the thing. In some weird, twisted way Seth felt like finishing what they’d started would truly make them adults. This was their first truly adult decision. And if they backed out of this one, what would that mean for the rest of their lives?

He needed this. They both needed this.

“Look,” he said with a sigh, moving to grab both her hands. “Tomorrow we’ll go to Uncle John’s place. We’ll have him watch us. Not let us drink so much. We’ll cut back. No more rip-roaring drunk nights like tonight. And no more bathing in our shots. Okay?”

With a small, half smile, he squeezed both her hands before dropping the right. Pulling on the left he started walking again. “C’mon, I believe we’re headed to my place? We might even take a refreshing dunk in the lake before we get there? That’s better than a shower, after all.”

He laughed, lightly, as he slowly nudged her shoulder with his.

Oh and Seth and Steve are still friends and probably still hang out so even if Pippa wasn’t totally around a bunch while Seth and Steve worked together, they would probably see each other more now. And I think Seth really loves Pippa and thinks she’s fun and adorable! So maybe now they’re also friends outside of both being friends with Steve??

Owen stared at him for a moment, wondering what the problem was. The kid could read, couldn’t he?

“I’m gonna tell you right now that it would have been better (and easier) for me to just build the damn thing from scratch than try to put this together the way these idiots are gonna tell us, but since Natalie’s already bought this, we are gonna put it together like it’s supposed to be. Or at least, try to. I can already tell that we are gonna need to improvise, but for starters, just make sure that everything’s there. But don’t bother about that sorry ass excuse of a tool they always include. Just dig out some ratchets outta here,” He said, sliding his toolbox closer to Seth.

“You know what that is, right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Sometimes, he forget how lacking Seth’s education in this area was.

When Seth tried to explain the brush, Owen didn’t say anything. He was unconvinced, but he decided to let it go. He just needed to remember not to let Seth paint anything with that.

He started to lay out the boards one by one, checking them carefully for labels. When he was finished, he looked over at Seth who still seemed to be having a hard time matching up the hardware to the list.

He exhaled, realizing, then, that he wasn’t even sure what half of the things were. “Okay, kid, those thin little things right there, these are the washers. They help distribute the weight of the screw. And this is a thread – and you’ve got your external and internal fasteners, and the washers go on the inside. So you put the screw through, then the washer on the other side and then fasten it, like this,” He said, demonstrating, “… but why the hell they are trying to put this thing together with that, is beyond me. We can actually just switch to nails. That’ll leave a cleaner finish, too. These things are used for more heavy duty stuff – like outdoor furniture. But a bookshelf doesn’t have to be this complicated,” He exhaled, tossing the directions to the ground, “You’re right, we don’t wanna use those.”

He stood up, grabbed two pieces of the unfinished shelf and held them flush against each other. “Here, I’ll hold it steady, and you try to hammer it in.”

“That’s what I said,” Seth quickly agreed, looking up from the instructions to watch Owen work. “Real men build things themselves. They don’t buy them and put them together. But Natalie bought this anyway.” Actually Seth hadn’t even been with Natalie when she bought this shelf. But if Owen said building it from scratch was easier than using a kit, Seth believed him. Maybe he couldn’t read the directions either?

But then Owen asked him to look for the parts and Seth turned back to the directions... only to instantly wonder what on Earth a ratchet could be. Owen, it seemed, sensed that Seth didn’t know and when he asked, Seth nodded instinctively. “Of course! I use them all the time.” He pulled the toolbox closer and began to rummage through it. Maybe it would say on the handle? Didn’t hardware stores like to label their tools?

After poking through the box, Seth’s brow knit as he started going through it again. “I don’t think you have any? Maybe you left them somewhere?” Or maybe Seth just didn’t know what he was looking for.

There was a distinct possibility that Seth was way out of his league here. He briefly wondered if he could convince Chris to give him a crash course in identifying tools. He didn’t know if he could afford another embarrassing bro-sesh.

Giving up on the ratchet for the moment, Seth turned back to the directions... only to discover he still didn’t have a clue how to read them. Maybe just match everything to the pictures? The trouble was nothing really looked like the pictures? Who even drew these things? Were they looking at the same parts he was? Did they draw these from memory? If they did, they had a terrible memory.

Thankfully, Owen was on his wavelength and didn’t like the directions either. It must be their bro-senses working. Smiling gratefully, Seth watched the directions sail to the ground. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Those things are for dummies. Real men work better without their directions. All they need is a hammer, a pile of wood and some nails. We’ll make a real bookshelf. A man’s bookshelf. The bro-shelf. Right, Owen?”

He grinned up at Owen as he stood and then hopped to his feet as well. They were going, like, off-road. How cool. ....But then Owen handed him a hammer. And Seth remembered the last time he’d tried to hammer something. And the size his thumb had become after he’d spectacularly missed.

“Right. Hammer in the nail. That sounds easy enough. No-- no problem.”

“Yeah, yeah we are.” Ian confirmed. We’re moving out; we’re moving on. If not emotionally, then at least physically.

Ian was awkward and stiff. He didn’t know how Seth felt about him. He didn’t know how any of the Connors felt about him and part of him wondered if he shouldn’t just make some excuse and leave. But Seth had lightened the mood with a joke and a smile. Ian had always loved that about Seth: how he was always able to make everyone laugh, even when they thought they couldn’t. It wasn’t always intentional, but he still managed to do it anyway. Something about the his comment had taken Ian back to the days when they’d all been friends; when Ian had considered Seth to be like a brother; when Ian had thought that one day he would be.

“I heard about that,” Ian said, grinning. “Good for her. I’m really glad that she is. It’s not fair that you guys are the only ones who get to eat her food. I’m definitely going to have to stop in before I leave,” He was careful to say I and not we, “Although, I’ll probably need you to revive me,” He said, teasingly, “Seeing as her food is literally to die for.”

But the question about Lex made everything tense again. “Yeah, he is,” Ian replied, as casually as he could, even though he knew that Seth had only asked so that they could all be prepared: not that he really cared about where Lex was or wasn’t. “He’s … “ He’s not going to cause any trouble, He wanted to say, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He knew that Lex didn’t mean to, but trouble followed him wherever he went. “He’s getting married,” He finally said. He didn’t know if that would ease the Connors’ concerns or not, but it was the best he had.

Seth nodded as Ian confirmed, again, that he would be leaving. He didn’t quite know how to answer that. Good would convey that he wanted Ian to leave. Which might be the case for Natalie but Seth didn’t really have an opinion on the matter. Any other sentence he might string together would just give off vibes he didn’t know if he should give.

So he stuck with the trusty, “Oh,” and left it at that. And with an added, “Good luck,” his gaze returned to his shoes as he slowly shifted his weight to the other foot. What he wouldn’t give to be anywhere else right now. Or, at the very least, know where things stood between Ian and Natalie. Though would’ve been helpful.

But then Ian returned to familiar territory. Seth gazed up at him, his head cocked to the side as Ian promised to stop by Val’s. And for a split second Seth wondered if that was forbidden ground. If even inviting Ian Porter to breathe the same air as his sister would be too much for them all. But too late now.

He laughed a little awkwardly as he straightened, giving Ian a little wave of his hand, “Hey, that’s why Val hired me. Official towel boy, right here. I’m in charge of keeping the customers alive and making sure they come again. And tell their friends.” He grinned a little, as he added, “We can’t have the customers actually dying. Then Val would be out of business.”

But then, as Ian answered him question about Lex, the amusement died on his lips. It was just as he’d feared. Where there was one Porter, there was always sure to be another. Just as he’d feared. Natalie, he assumed, could handle herself. She had James now. But Val didn’t deserve this. Not when she already had one ex hanging around, harrassing her. The last thing she needed was another. And maybe this one was worse.

And then Ian mentioned Lex’s engagment. And Seth froze. Could it really be that simple? Would it really be that simple? Would he marry someone else and finally leave his sister alone. From what he knew of Lex Porter, the answer was probably no. But at least he could hope.

“Oh,” he said again. “Well, congratuations. I’m sure you must be happy for him. When’s the big day?” Not that he cared. He just assumed they wouldn’t get married in VA Beach. And if the wedding was soon, maybe they wouldn’t stick around long.