Title: Clumsy
Pairing: Chuck/Summer friendship
Summary: What happens when a Cali babe meets a certain UES devil?
Disclaimer: I don't the awesome Chuck Bass or Summer Roberts
A/N: Very random, right? Yeah, well this came after reading 'The Park Bench' by WhatTheH-Word (an awesome OC/GG crossover btw) and so I thought I'd try a quick one-shot.
Summer Roberts hated New York City. Actually that was an overstatement. She didn't necessarily hate it; she just didn't like the weather. It seemed that every time she came to New York City, the weather was always temperamental – more so than Orange County's – and that even in the warmest temperatures, she'd still had to wear a jacket.
Today was no exception as she pulled her coat closer to her, protecting her body from the harsh autumn wind. Right now, she would've given anything to be back in Newport, lazily lying on the sand, the sun hitting her tanned body, but instead here she was in New York, trying to not give in to Mother Nature. It seemed Summer was losing though, as a gust of wind purposely blew past her, making her shriek as she felt her dress lift up in the wrong places.
"Two more days left," she mumbled to herself miserably, holding her the thin fabric of her dress in place, as she tried her best not to dawdle the street. "Come on Summer, it can't be as bad as Chino. Chino's worse, Chino's worse," she repeated, closing her eyes, mentally visualising Chino and all its 'glory'.
"Oomph!" she grumbled, suddenly bumping into a tall figure, falling backwards onto the dirty concrete. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she exclaimed, even though she was the one with her eyes still closed.
"It's alright, darling. The girls around here always manage to fall for me," replied a low, strong voice. Summer opened her eyes slowly, and found herself staring at a young man, no older than her, wearing a crisp private school uniform under a bright red coat that, against all odds, actually looked good on him. He stuck out his hand, and as soon as her fingers fell into his palm, he hoisted her up in one swift move that had her seemingly dizzy.
"Woah, where'd you learn to do that?" she said, grasping onto his arms, to steady herself.
"Talent," was his mere reply and she couldn't help but notice the smirk that fit naturally on his face as she suddenly realised he was still holding onto her.
"You can let go now," Summer said, sternly but he took no notice of her words and instead answered, "Are you sure you want me to do that? I wouldn't want you to fall down again."
"I'm not clumsy!"
"I never said that you were," the young man said, still holding onto her. "I just have a flair for making girls fall head over heels."
"Maybe it's just because their heels were too high. After all, the girls you seem to go for probably come from brothels."
"Well, no wonder I'm interested in you."
That finally did it for Summer as she gently stabbed her heel into his Italian leather shoes, making him instantly let go of her.
"You were saying?" she said sweetly, beginning to walk away but he began to trail behind her, forgetting that he was supposed to be walking in the opposite direction.
"You're not from around here," he stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Do I look like I'm from around here?" she hit back. "Don't you have anyone else to annoy? Any other girls that strike your fancy?"
"You can strike my fancy any day," he leered as she stopped walking and spun around to face him, poking her finger into his chest.
"You're heinous, you got that? And yes, I know a word like that. It was on the SATs, one of the stupid questions I got wrong," Summer scowled, but the blank look from the young man's face was enough for her to know that she had hit a chord. "What's wrong with you?"
"You, um, you remind me of someone," he said unexpectedly, retreating from her figure and spinning around to walk in the original direction he was supposed to.
"Oh, he did not just blow me off," Summer exclaimed and to her surprise, she actually chased after the young man, which was considerably easy seeing as he stood out in the crowd. "So, who's the girl?" she asked, even though that she knew it was none of her business. He ignored her and began to walk faster, but she didn't give up. "An ex-girlfriend? Did she dump you? Was it because of your fashion sense? Because if it was, I kinda understand why. Or maybe - " she was cut short when he halted and faced her with an aggravated expression on his chiselled face.
"She got back together with her ex-boyfriend who used to be my best friend. You happy now? You can leave now," he instructed harshly.
In fact, it took both him and Summer by surprise that he'd actually tell her the truth and as soon as he had, she merely scoffed and replied, "that's it? Jeez, come to the O.C. You'll find heaps more juicier stuff there."
"You're a Cali babe?" he said, his lips twitching upwards slowly.
"Where else would I get this tan from?" she said incredulously, although after spending the past two weeks in New York, she was sure she probably looked as pale as Seth's legs.
"Why are you here, anyway?" he asked.
"Well, my boyfriend who's now my ex-boyfriend dumped me right before prom because of some stupid man pride that he has which is ironic because he's Seth Cohen. Gah!" Summer exclaimed, as memories of her and Seth began to come rushing back. "And visiting Brown doesn't help and neither does shopping in New York! STUPID, STUPID COHEN!"
The young man was taken back by her slight outburst, but couldn't stop from grinning. " He sounds like an idiot."
"Oh, trust me, he like so is," she let out, but deep down, the ache for the idiot was beginning to beat harder. And from the looks of it too, so was the young man's heart, as he seemed to be pining over that girl. "I want to hate him. I really do. He can never make up his mind and he always mumbles and half the time he talks too fast for me to understand what he's saying, but he's Seth Cohen." Summer had no idea why she was pouring out her emotions to the random stranger that she had just met, but she could tell that he comprehended exactly what she was feeling despite the fact that he looked and acted like an arrogant ass.
To her surprise, though, he didn't laugh or ridicule or mock her. Instead he gave her a genuine, polite smile and said, "I, um, have to go. School."
"Oh, yeah, okay," she said, slightly sad that he had to go. She was beginning to enjoy their surprisingly comfortable atmosphere. As he turned to leave, he suddenly stopped and said unpredictably genuinely, "Good luck with the idiot."
Summer gave a heartily laugh and replied, "Good luck with your girl too. I'm Summer, by the way."
The same smirk he had given her before fell in place and as he walked away, he said with confidence and ease, "I'm Chuck Bass."
