The Sounds of Settling

Hey everyone! This is my first story and I have just been so inspired by reading other stories, that I just had to write one of my own. Enjoy!

This story is based on Seth and Summer and how their lives have changed since highschool. I'm not really sure where this is going, but hopefully it will go okay.

The past is in italics.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely squat.

Chapter 1

High school was long over and college graduation had been the week before. After the death of Marissa, Summer seemed to shut down and found need to go somewhere. Somewhere that didn't remind her of Newport or anything else that reminded her of her life there. She talked to her dad about her needing to go somewhere else and he seemed to understand her.

Instead of attending Brown on the east coast and being with Seth, she decided to head down to Texas and make a new life for herself there. She applied to Texas A&M and was able to start in the Spring Semester. Even though she still had some time until she started, she left two weeks after Marissa had died. She needed to get settled and learn about the city that she would call her home.

Not a day went by when he didn't think about Seth. The look on his face when she told him that she had to leave would be forever embedded in her mind.

She laid down in her bed that night, looking forward to graduation and starting her new life outside of school. She fell into a deep sleep within minutes and had that reoccurring dream of the night she told Seth Cohen that they needed to move on.

A scared Summer knocked on the door of her boyfriends door.

"Hey you, can I come in? I need to talk to you to," Summer said, not able to look into his eyes that could read right though her.

" Hey, yeah I was just thinking about you. I wanted to talk to you too," Seth said, a smile playing on his lips as he was about to tell her what he had planned for them to do for the upcoming night. He thought that he would do something special for her after everything that she had gone through.

"Really? Well, can I go first, I just really need to get this out and tell you?"

"Sure, is everything okay?"

"Um.." she so desperately wanted to tell him that everything was great and jump into his arms and never leave. But of course she couldn't do that. "No, no everything's not okay," she hesitated, unable to find the right words. "See, I've been thinking a lot about this and I need to get away for a while. A couple of weeks ago I applied to Texas A&M to see if I could start in their spring semester. I got a call two days ago and they said that they still had a few spots open and that I could start when I needed to," she paused, suddenly very interested in the navy blue lines going vertically along Seth's bedspread.

He lifted his hand to her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Summer, I know that you have been through a lot, but you don't have to leave. I can help you through this. We can do this together!" He tried to hide the desperation in his voice but she could read right though it.

She knew that this was going to kill him, but if felt like it was killing her more.

"No, Seth, I need to do this alone. If I were to stay, I would need you so much that I am afraid that you would break too... and I can't let that happen," Summer said, tears making her eyes blurry, threatening to fall.

"I would do anything for you, you know that. Even if I would break, I wouldn't care, as long as I know that I helped you through something. Summer, you help me get through everyday, I look forward to your calls, your e-mails, just thinking of you, ad most importantly, seeing you," he said, not even removing the single tear that slid down his cheek.

Summer ran her hand through her hair, the smell of her shampoo filling Seth with so much calmness, he felt that he was okay for just that single second. She spoke again, bringing him back to reality.

"I know that you would do anything for me, that's why I keep coming back to you. But, I need to do this on my own, branch out of Newport for a while. You need to be able to let me go. I will be back, Cohen. I know that you'll be strong through all of this, you need to," she said nodding her head trying to reassure him, but also her as well.

He looked deeply into her eyes, seeing that this was what she needed. He was beyond devastated, but as Summer said, he needed to stay strong- for her. "Okay, as long as you know that this is what you want. I need to you be okay, Summer." This time, she looked up and into his eyes. He gave her the power to keep going.

"Thank you. I know that we don't say this very much, but, I love you, more than you can know," this time the tears started to fall, " Having you these last few years, I can't even begin to tell you..." she said, pain evident in her tone.

"I know, and you know that I feel the same way. And I do. I mean, I do know how much you love me because I love you too, that much, if not more." He slowly lifted her chin and placed a lingering kiss there. She never wanted that to end, but she was leaving the next day and still had a ton to do.

She slowly pulled away, giving a small smile as a thank you.

"When do you leave?" he asked, not really wanting to find out the answer.

"Tomorrow, my dad is driving me down with all of my stuff."

"Oh, well then I guess you better go," his words came out angry and sad at the same time. He didn't think that she would be leaving tomorrow. He knew that she had to go, but he never thought it would be so soon.

"Seth, please, don't be like this," again, new tears started to line her eyes.

"Be like what, Summer, your leaving me forever. I might not ever see you again! We were supposed to go to college together! Be together! This is all over isn't it?" He spoke the last part almost silently as realization dawned on him. This was it, it was really over.

"Cohen, stop, don't be stupid. I'll still come visit you, you can come visit me, well see each other on holidays. And even though were not together- together per se, well still love each other," Summer said, trying to reason with him.

" Yeah, okay, well I guess this is it then Summer, I'll see ya. Bye," he said.

She didn't even say anything. She just looked at him for a moment, hoping her eyes would tell him what they needed him to. She needed them to show him love, pain, sorrow, and most importantly support. As much as he didn't want to see that, he couldn't not.

And that's when it happened. She turned on her heal and walked out the door. Out of Seth Cohen's life.

Seth Cohen awoke that night with a very intense headache and his stomach grumbling. He slowly got out of bed and walked into the kitchen of the new apartment that he just bought. After him and Summer broke up, he was too depressed to do anything. He decided to reject his letter of acceptance to RISD and applied to a Newport community college.

Not a day goes by when he doesn't think about what could have been with Summer, but he has made strides in moving on. He currently has a girl friend, Jenny. They seemed like the perfect couple and got along great. But inside, he would constantly compare her to Summer. She always seemed to have a flaw, one that could never be fixed . He tried to look past that, but sometimes, he couldn't.

He opened the refrigerator door and winced as the bright lights hit his eyes. "Jesus that's bright," Seth thought aloud. He reached in, eyes still winced, and grabbed the carton of left over Chinese from the night before and a can of Mountain Dew. He placed the food in the microwave and popped the top of the soda and took a long drink.

He sat in the dark and looked around at the boxes that still needed to be unpacked. He walked over to one box and opened it. Inside were pictures and different things from high school that he kept so he could remember the good times. He picked out a picture of his mom, dad, Ryan, and himself- the day of Ryan and his graduation. He kept flipping through them, finally coming across one of him and Summer from that same night as the previous picture. They looked so young, happy, in love. It was more of a candid shot, his arms were wrapped around her waist, her arms encircling his neck. When he looked closer, he could see that he was placing a single kiss on her forehead and her mouth forming into a smile. He remembered when his mom gave him that picture, he put it in a frame right away and placed it on his side table.

The microwave beeped signaling the end of the warming process. He placed the picture back into box and got up to get his food. He looked at the clock- 1:31 am. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and dialed Jenny's cell.

"Hello?" she asks groggily.

"Hey, sorry to wake you, I was just calling to see what was up?" he asked, not really sure why he had called.

"Seth, it's 1:30 in the morning. What do you think I am doing?"

"Well, you could be thinking of me, getting ready to make some food, take a shower. Maybe your even getting ready to hit the gym.. Get your heart rate pumping.." Seth said.

"I'm sleeping, dumbass."

"Right. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? Do you want to have lunch somewhere down by the beach?"

"Well, tomorrow I have to work, but I could get off around 1 to meet you. Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah totally, I'll call you tomorrow to make sure everything is set. Does that café in Redondo Beach sound okay?"

"Perfect. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye!"

"Bye!"

The one thing that had never done for Jenny, was said that he loved her. She said it to him, but he would never say it back. It was as if he felt guilty, like even if he said it once, Summer could be able to feel it where ever she was, and be forever in pain. But, then again, it would be different if he actually loved Jenny, which was not the case. He loved the idea of her and spending time with her, but he was not in love with her.

Sure, Seth was happy that he had set up a date with his girlfriend, but the one person that he wished he could call so bad after 4 years, was Summer Roberts.

Summer woke up to the shrill sound of the alarm clock going off in her left ear. She reached over and slammed down on the snooze button needing that 10 more minutes of peace. Again, the alarm sounded and a hand reached over to touch Summer's back.

"Baby, it's time to get up. You have that job interview today at the magazine company," Danny, Summer's boyfriend of 4 years, whispered into her ear.

Danny had brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was tall, but not too tall and had that very pulled together look.

"Noooooooo, I don't want to. I neeeeeed sleep," her muffled words came out seeping through the pillow case.

"Sum, up. Now. I'll go and start the coffee. You get in the shower," Danny kissed Summer's temple and scooped down to pick her up out of bed. He turned on the shower head and looked down at her. "Okay, it will be warm in a minute."

Summer looked up at him and smiled. He was so sweet with her and she appreciated everything that he did for her. He knew that this was a big day for her and he didn't want anything to be in her way. This was her dream job, to work at Vouge in the fashion department.

"Thank you," she smiled again.

"I'll see you downstairs in a minute, or in your case, forty. Ha." Danny said.

"Haha. That was funny." Summer said sarcastically.

They lived in a small house right off the Texas A&M campus. The outside reminded her so much of her California home, but the inside had her small touches all over it.

Forty-five minutes later Summer walked down the stairs in her favorite emerald green Dolce and Gabana dress, black pumps, large Chanel bag, and her hair fell down her shoulders in loose curls.

"Do you think this is okay?" she asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Okay? It's perfect! You look gorgeous!"

"Aww, sweetie, thanks. Do you have that coffee ready yet?" Summer asked looking at the clock. She had to be there in an hour and a half.

"Yeah. Hold on," he said. He turned around for a brief moment and poured the coffee into a mug.

"Ahh, this tastes so good. I needed this!" she looked up at Danny sweetly.

"Remember, we have that graduation party tonight at Tyler's." He reminded her.

"Right! I almost forgot about that."

"Yep. You'll be home at like 4 right?"

"Yeah, speaking of the time, what time is it?"

"Yeah, it's 9:30."

"Oh God, I need to go. I cannot be late for this!" Summer said as she ran towards the front door.

"Sum, Sum, calm down. Your going to do great. Remember, breath."

"Right, breath. I can do that."

He reached down, lifted her chin and placed a sweet kiss on her lips. She pulled away before things went to far and ran out the door.

"Good luck! Love you!"

"Love you too! And thanks for the coffee!" She said just as she closed the door or her silver BMW convertible.

As much as she loved Danny, she couldn't not think about Seth whenever she said it. It was almost like she felt guilty for loving someone else. She knew that he would want her to be happy, and that's what she was. But, of course, there were those times, when she wished that she could be happy with Seth. But, as Summer came to learn, she could not dwell on the past, she needed to look into the future and be open to things that would come into her life.

After about 20 minutes on the road, she decided to call Vouge and make sure that her scheduled appointment was still on.

"Vouge Offices, Cameron speaking, how can I help you?" The receptionist at the front desk asked kindly into the phone.

"Hi! This is Summer Roberts I was just calling to see if my interview for the fashion department is still on for 11?"

"Yeah, let me check the computer to make sure everything's still set up," her words droned out as Summer could tell she was typing on the computer keyboard.

"Okay, thanks."

"Yes, Summer, your interview is still on time. You will be here, won't you?"

"Yeah, of course, I should be there in like, 30 minutes. Thank you, Cameron! Bye!"

"Sure, bye!"

Summer continued driving and thought about the dream she had had the night before. She hated having that dream. She'd had it so many times now, she couldn't even count. She thought about the call she just made and drove along thinking of all of the things that Seth would have told her if he was the one with her this morning.

Okay, so I am not really sure how this came out. Sorry about grammar and things that I may not have noticed. I do have some ideas that could potentially happen, but if you have any, I would love to hear your ideas. Please tell me if this is worth continuing and please review!