Disclaimer: Me owning The OC is a resonant and resounding no.

A/N: Oh, look! I wrote another oneshot! Or actually it's gonna be more like a two-part oneshot… whatever. Anyway, I was having a few mind blocks with other things I should have been doing – ahem homework – so procrastinating at not failing out of college was my number one choice. And as for this whole plot – I'm completely sorry if it sucks. I honestly don't know where it all comes from, I just kind of sit and write (or type, actually) and then it's done. I never know what I'm writing about until it's finished – is that normal?

All right – here is my second attempt at an SS oneshot – or two-parter. It's a bit longer than I had anticipated (okay, so a lot longer than I anticipated, hence the two parts), but I hope you guys like it all the same.

Read. Enjoy. And review please telling me how you liked it and to let me know if you want me to post the other part or just leave it here.

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"No," Summer shook her head forcefully. "No, no, no."

"Summer…"

"I said no, Cohen. And I really, really mean it."

Summer crossed her arms as she stood at the side of Seth's bed. Seth still lay against his pillows, sighing back at his girlfriend. "Your flight leaves at five am tomorrow morning. You need to pack."

"No, I don't."

Seth stood up, leaving little room between his body and Summer's. "Then I guess I'll just have to pack for you. And – if I might make a small suggestion – you should probably stop me before I walk out that door because I have a habit of throwing things into a suitcase without neatly folding them causing extreme wrinkles in every piece and crevice of clothing." Seth tried to smile at his girlfriend, poking her cheeks with his pointer fingers and twisting them at the sides of her mouth.

"You are not packing for me."

"Good. Glad you took my suggestion. I'll just come with you and watch then."

"No, what I meant was I'm not leaving so there is no need to pack."

Seth pushed himself in front of Summer, trying to make his way towards his door as Summer pulled at his arm pleadingly. "Seth, no. I can't go. Don't do this. Don't make me."

Seth looked back helplessly at his girlfriend as she fell into his arms' embrace and let sobs take over her body.

Seth knew Summer didn't want to leave for Brown. He knew she had been avoiding it all summer, never getting any of the necessary supplies and ignoring the numerous calls and voicemails her future roommate had left her when trying to get in touch with her. Summer was leaving for Rhode Island in less than eight hours and she still had yet to pack anything at all.

During the past summer, it had been Seth's duty to keep Summer's spirits high. After Marissa's sudden and shocking death, Seth made it his job to keep Summer's life still stable. He let her mourn for the first month, but once Summer fell into her everyone-I-loves-leaves-me routine, then trying to break up with Seth because she was fearful of a break up during their semester apart and didn't want to have to go through the pain again, Seth took action.

"Listen to me," Seth had told her as she wailed all this nonsense on the floor of her walk-in closet, grasping onto her draping clothes, "You're not breaking up with me. And I'm not breaking up with you. We're staying together until forever and you're gonna put up with my rambling and I'm gonna put up with your rage blackouts because that's what's supposed to happen. So get up, go to the bathroom and do whatever you have to do that makes you think you look presentable, and I'll meet you downstairs so we can go get some fried food down at the pier."

Seth had then marched out of her closet and her room as Summer sat there speechless, hearing her boyfriend's steps descending down the stairs. Summer had never seen Seth so determined that her brain closed off all the crying and over-analyzing and focused on Seth's new personality trait, gathering herself from the floor and doing just as Seth had asked.

Seth liked to think he had grown a lot – emotionally wise – during the past summer. Things were sure different post-Marissa and it was reflected in almost every single Newport Beach resident. Seth felt ashamed at first that he didn't feel any different after Marissa's death. Sure, he had felt confused, angry, and upset, but he thought that was normal with any death. He just didn't realize the entire town had such strong feelings for Newport's very own teenage drunk. Seth felt like he had been living in such a daze – that the town had come to a complete halt after the accident. He hadn't been to one party, he hadn't heard of any new scandal. And he certainly wasn't drowning his tears in tequila.

He had immediately decided he needed to be strong not only for Summer, but Ryan as well. Ryan hadn't done much at all during the summer months. He brooded in the pool house, only coming out for required family dinners and get-togethers. When Seth wasn't trying to keep Summer happy, he was hanging out in the pool house with newly silent Ryan, playing video games or telling him about new comic books or planning their upcoming semester together. Because the day after Marissa's funeral, Ryan had decided to give up on his Berkeley dream, feeling that Marissa's death foretold him not to leave Newport. Like he was destined to rot his life away in this hellhole of a town and never be happy again.

Seth wasn't falling for that. So instead he had planned on a sailing trip up to Seattle – the only place Ryan would half-heartedly agree to – to leave the day after Summer left for college at Brown.

And still, Summer wasn't packed while Seth's suitcase sat in the foyer of his living room as if to remind Ryan of the trip that was actually going to happen in a matter of a few short days regardless of his less than ecstatic feelings about it.

"Summer…" Seth held her close, rubbing her back, "It will be all right. I'm coming to visit at the end of next month. That's only four weeks."

"Four weeks that I've never gone not talking to you in person," Summer mumbled into his now drenched shirt.

Seth pulled back, holding onto Summer's shoulders, looking lovingly into her eyes. "Summer. It seems to me you have forgotten fourth through ninth grade. That's three hundred and twelve weeks of never talking to me."

Summer stopped crying. "You did that math in your head?"

"No, I have it memorized to remind myself that I should never do anything stupid again that could inflict another three hundred and twelve weeks of being completely off your radar."

Summer stood on her tip-toes grazing her lips against his. "I love you, Cohen."

"I love you too."

"Good. And that's good enough reason for me not to go."

Seth rolled his eyes and let go of Summer, making his way to his door, albeit a little difficultly as Summer tried to pull his arm out of his socket to stop him from leaving the room.

"Seth!" Summer screamed like a two year old as Seth made his way down the stairs with Summer's hand secured around his forearm, "I'm not going! Stop! Cohen, stop it!"

Kirsten and Sandy threw questioning glances as their son left through the front door with his girlfriend trying unsuccessfully to stop him. Seth merely shrugged his shoulders in his parents' direction, ignoring Summer's loud pleas, and closing the door once Summer had followed him outside.

It wasn't like Seth actually wanted Summer to leave. It was just that she needed to do this. She needed to become her own person again. And after the intense and tragic summer they had just had, Summer had done either one of two things: She either clung herself to Seth, afraid to ever let him out of her sight in fear that something would happen to him if she wasn't around or, inversely, pull away into the lonely expanses of her pink-painted room for continued solitude.

Neither helped Summer become more independent or move on with her life. Seth saw the Summer he had fallen in love with slowly begin to deteriorate because of the traumatic experiences in her short life and he didn't want the sparkle in Summer's eyes to completely disappear until there was only a memory of it all. Seth vowed to make sure Summer was fully prepared for Brown and to make sure he'd make it known that he would still be her support system during their months apart but that she, in turn, had to go out and try new things.

Seth was holding up his end of the bargain. It was Summer who was having difficulty following through on hers.

"Cohen! I fucking mean it!" Summer stomped up to the car as Seth sat in the driver's seat of the Range Rover and turned the headlights on. "I'm. Not. Going."

"Yes. You. Are," Seth reiterated as he turned the engine on and Summer stared blankly at him through the passenger's seat's open window, "Now get in so we can go get this done quickly and return to our fantastically awesome last night I had planned."

"Why do you want me to leave?" Summer asked sincerely, lowering her voice for the first time since they had been in the house. "I mean, I know I've been a little difficult lately but…"

Seth immediately jumped out of his seat, swinging the door open and shutting it haphazardly as he ran to Summer's side. He engulfed his girlfriend's small, petite frame as she quietly cried into his shirt, rubbing circles on her back. "Of course I don't want you to leave. I want to stay here, in this moment, for the rest of our lives just hanging onto you as if nothing else in the world matters. But everything in the world matters right now, Sum. And you gotta go do this. You need to try out Brown – just see what it's like. Please?"

Summer looked up into Seth's comforting eyes and nodded slightly, adding, "All right. But I'm gonna hate it."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to go," Seth chuckled faintly.

"No," Summer shook her head. "I'm saying that 'cause you won't be there."

Seth felt his heart flip a little. Every time Summer said phrases like these or told him she loved him, he couldn't help but want to sneak a glance over his shoulder to make sure she was most definitely talking to him. This time was no different.

"Yes, I'm talking to you, Cohen," Summer smirked through her tears.

That was another thing that made it impossible for Seth to even think about writing his relationship with Summer off as a regular high school sweetheart deal. Summer knew him. And not in the stalkerish way Seth had known Summer before a relationship had bloomed between the two, but in the way that she made the distinct choice to be with Seth above all other possible Harbor High guys. Even when Seth thought his brain waves were going unseen and unheard, Summer would retort his unspoken comments out loud, causing Seth to wonder if he had actually said them. Of course he never had – he wasn't going mentally insane – he just couldn't understand how the Summer Roberts had become his Summer Roberts.

And a person would think that after three years of being in an off and on again relationship, Seth would be in understanding of this piece of information by now.

Nope. Seth wasn't. And hence, the still heart flippy thing.

"I know…" Seth replied, grinning widely as he held Summer closer. "You're gonna have fun. And make lots of new, interesting friends. And have all the college experiences you've been dreaming about. No parents, no curfews, no rules – just you. You're gonna be happy at Brown, Summer. You just gotta give it a chance."

"If it's so great why aren't you going?" Summer replied hotly, taking herself out of Seth's close embrace and crossing her arms. "Why don't you just pack up all of your stuff too and come with me?"

Seth sighed heavily, smiling as he did so. "I want to. So bad. But someone's gotta keep the reminder of Summer Roberts in Newport, don't they?"

"Are you saying people are gonna forget me?"

"No, no, no. That's not it all. It's just… ahh… whatever, forget I said that," Seth waved his arms carelessly through the cool California night air. "You know I'll be out there with you in January. And we still have Thanksgiving and Christmas to work with, not to mention my trip out there next month. And until then I'm just gonna hold down the fort, you know – West coast style, counting down the seconds until we're –physically – back together again."

Summer uncrossed her arms and wrapped them around Seth's torso, leaning the side of her face into his strong chest. "You're lucky I like adorable guys. Cause if I didn't I'd probably be saying something along the lines of how cheesy that just was."

"Oh, I'm cheesy?" Seth snickered. "Right. Cause your whole whining about not talking to me for four weeks or not having me out there with you would make the entire Brown experience a nightmare wasn't cheesy at all."

Summer didn't bother responding with anything more than a laugh as Seth opened the passenger's side door for her and closed it when she got inside.

Seth drove down the driveway and as he did, he saw Summer stealing last looks at the house that had been the starting point for their entire relationship – the last image of the Cohen residence becoming burned in her memories as she strained to still see it nearly a mile down the road.

Seth smiled, looking contently out onto the road in front of him. Summer may never admit it but at that moment, Seth Cohen had Summer Roberts wrapped around his finger.

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The trip to Seattle was definitely not what Seth – and Seth supposed this went for Ryan as well – had planned or predicted. First of all, they were delayed a few days due to rain – rain! – in Southern California. Last time it rained was… well… okay, so last time it rained it was awesome. Seth was able to finally woo Summer, thus having a long, amazing, and unbelievably awesome reunion in the rain in an upside down-kiss like one reenacted from the movies. But Ryan's memories? His girlfriend leaving him. Flat out, high and dry, leaving him; opting for the Windy City instead of the fine perks of the California sun and the "invitation" of Seth's grandfather as her very own father. Ryan didn't fail to mention this – it was one of the rarest of times when he chose to speak his mind this past summer – stating that it was fate telling him not to leave Newport, even for a few days, to go to Seattle.

Seth was definitely having enough of this stupid "fate" thing. With Ryan making philosophical points every time he opened his mouth, Seth's mom gently rubbing his back whenever Ryan refused to do any of the normal stuff they used to do constantly before the accident and telling him "Let fate take its course," and then Summer all "Brown isn't so bad. I kind of like it here. It's like fate, you know? Like I was destined to come here," Seth just couldn't take anything more about fate.

Seth hated fate. Fate was fucking up his best friend and screwing with his girlfriend's dwindling phrases of "I miss you's" and "I love you's."

But anyway – so this Seth-declared "momentously awesome" trip was postponed two days. Then, when they finally got going, they had to turn back three times due to forgetting things. Seth was sure he had had everything covered for the five-day trek up to Seattle, and he figured if they forgot anything they could always stop off at the various ports and get what was needed. Ryan, although, hesitated and forced Seth to turn the rented small yacht around at precisely 11:43am, 2:30pm, and 4:23pm thus causing another day delay to their trip.

It was that night that Summer had called for the first time since arriving at Brown and Seth had been anxiously awaiting to hear from her. He had told her at the airport during their long goodbye that Seth wanted Summer to wait until she had settled in to call him. Of course, he hadn't thought that it would actually take four days for Summer to squeeze in time to call him, racing through her speech, not bothering to ask how Seth's trip to Seattle was going – as if he had cell phone reception in the Pacific Ocean – and ended her ten minute call with, "All right. Henry's calling me back in! We're doing a round of shots! I'll see you! Miss you! Bye!"

Summer had declared in their short conversation that she was having an "amazing time" just as Seth said she would. She loved her roommate, she loved her dorm floor, and shockingly enough, she loved the food. She was continually screaming all of this into the phone, even after Seth had told her this, but Summer only apologized laughing, saying she was at a party for a new friend down the hall – Henry, Seth presumed later. Everything was making Summer happy and she was beyond squealish when she told Seth all of the small and insignificant details, letting Seth's heart break with each passing sentence.

Seth couldn't figure out why he had been so upset. This was exactly what he had wanted for her. For her to be happy and excited and full of energy again. It was late – or early depending on which way you want to look at it – that night/morning that Seth realized that he had wanted to be the one to change this for her. That he wanted to be able to make her the happiest she's been since before her best friend's tragic death.

So Seth wallowed the next day – along with Ryan – as they set out of the Newport Beach port and north towards Seattle, with Seth purposely leaving his cell phone behind so he didn't have to hear anything more from joyful Summer.

For the first few hours, Seth had felt relieved to have the vast ocean surrounding him, the wind wiping through the cool air, and the smell of salt encasing his senses. Seth had tried to lighten up, also trying to lighten Ryan up, but it was no use. They spent the night in the port of San Francisco, falling silently asleep to only the sounds of the swaying boat in the harbor.

The next day Seth was more determined than ever to make this an unbelievable trip. He tried to play games, joke around, and anything else he could think of even just to see his best friend crack a smile. Nothing worked. Ryan spent the entire day brooding at the end of the yacht, while Seth navigated, always keeping an eye on Ryan to make sure he didn't try throwing himself off the boat in a desperate attempt to end his misery.

----------------------------------------------------

"How about we check out the scene around here?" Seth had decided the night they stopped in some random harbor in Oregon. "It looks like a happening pace."

Seth smiled to himself as they got off the boat and onto the dock, surveying the surroundings – or lack thereof.

"There isn't anything here," Ryan replied deadpanned, not realizing the intent of Seth's joke.

"I know. It was a joke, buddy," Seth smiled as he lightly hit Ryan's back. "Come on. Let's go find some food or something."

Ryan trudged behind Seth as Seth found what looked like a decent seafood restaurant about a mile down the harbor line. Ryan had forcefully said no at first, saying he hated seafood and probably hadn't eaten it in years, but Seth stated that since they were fishermen now they should probably try eating like fishermen do. Ryan was too exhausted to argue with Seth so he followed him into the restaurant and ordered himself a tuna melt, seeing that that was the least amount of fish he could get in a place filled with all types of seafood.

That night proved to be hellish. Seth had been hoping for a fun last night sailing the high seas before they arrived in Seattle the next afternoon, but Ryan's stomach decided otherwise. Ryan spent the majority of the night flinging himself over the yacht's railing, heaving the contents of his stomach into the dark harbor. Seth had tried to help him early in the first hour but after Ryan turned around, looking pathetically sick and gross, and had mumbled bitingly, "This is why I don't eat seafood, Seth," Seth had smartly decided to stay away from him for the remainder of the night.

After an hour of holing himself up on the harbor dock, and then walking up and down the beach a couple of times, Seth came back to the boat both to check on Ryan and get Ryan's cell phone. Seth was still surprised Summer hadn't tried calling Ryan after he presumed she had called Seth's phone, never receiving an answer. But Seth didn't think too much of it and dialed Summer's number anyway as he sat on the dock, letting his legs dangle from the side like a small child's.

"Hello?" Summer answered, a little slurred.

"Summer? It's me," Seth replied sheepishly, hoping for an over resounding ecstatic squeal from Summer.

"Oh…" she trailed as faint voices could be heard around her. "Wait... who?"

"It's Seth," Seth groaned, unhappy with the greeting. "Your boyfriend."

"Oh!" Summer laughed. "I didn't recognize your voice! How are you?"

Seth sat there agape, tearing the phone away from his ear and looking at it incredulously as if it were some kind of joke. Then, almost immediately, he turned his head in all directions around him to see if cameras were hiding, waiting to make a fool out of him.

"Seth?" Summer questioned loudly through the phone. "Seth, are you there?"

Seth snapped the phone shut, feeling irate and betrayed that his own girlfriend didn't know the sound of his voice anymore. That she was off with all her new friends, forgetting he even existed.

The ring of Ryan's phone seconds later flooded the silent harbor and Seth stared down at Summer's number showing up on the screen. After a few moments, Seth decided to answer, already missing the sound of her voice. "Hi."

"Hey. I think we lost connection there. I guess cell phones don't work as well when there's… like… a lot of miles between them," Summer giggled.

Giggled. Like the fact that Seth and Summer were separated by precisely 2,987 miles of United States land was funny.

Seth sure as hell wasn't thinking it was funny at all.

"What is up with you?" Seth barked in the phone. "Why is that funny?"

"I don't know," Summer giggled again. "I guess it just is. What's up with you?"

"Oh, you know," Seth replied sarcastically. "Just sailing up the West Coast with a very sick best friend and a dead harbor with nothing to do surrounding us in every direction."

"Right!" Summer laughed again. "You were supposed to go to… where was it again?"

Seth gritted through his teeth, trying to keep his fading composure. "Seattle."

"Right! Seattle! Guys," Summer shouted away from the phone to the steady voices Seth had been hearing in the background. "My boyfriend's sailing to Seattle!"

Seth could hear a few "cool's" and "awesome's" but the one from a male voice that bothered Seth the most and rung in his ears was, "You have a boyfriend?"

Summer had ignored all the comments mostly, focusing her attention back on Seth. "So how is it?"

"I just told you Ryan was sick and there was nothing to do here."

"You're already in Seattle? Wait, I thought you just left."

Seth rolled his eyes, unbeknownst to Summer, and muttered into the phone. "We're not in Seattle. We're in Oregon. We left five days ago."

"Oh!" Summer laughed. "See, I think I knew that, it's just everything's been so crazy here. Awesome crazy, but crazy, you know? Like, it's amazing here, Seth. You'd love it. The people here are so nice and the workload isn't even that tough. It's like fate, Seth. This place is perfect!"

Seth let Summer go back to rambling about her experiences at Brown, mostly ones he already knew about, for only a few more minutes before he cut her off. "Look, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later," he told her, and then added after a beat, "I love you."

"Bye, Seth!" Summer shouted as the voices around her got louder. He figured that as soon as he had told her he had to get going she went back into the room of people, excited to resume her partying again. "I miss you!"

And that was it. She hung up leaving Seth stunned. She didn't even bother saying that simple phrase that had become so natural for them to say to each other over the past year. She didn't care about his life, didn't remember anything of importance to him, and clearly she hadn't tried calling him since before he left on this sailing trip with Ryan.

And, just like that, Seth decided he was cutting back on Summer Roberts.

He needed to stop focusing on Summer's lack of attention towards him or he'd end up ruining the relationship and, in turn, cause Summer to turn to another guy. He didn't want to play the overprotective boyfriend but he didn't want to ignore her completely so his decisive mind settled on calling her once a week before he went to visit in Rhode Island to – hopefully – make things better.

Because anything was better than sitting on a random dock in the middle of nowhere Oregon, grasping his brother's phone as he heaved over the side of the yacht in the drizzling rain.

Yeah, Seth definitely hated fate.