Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.
A/N-So I probably shouldn't be starting another new story, but alas, I am. I got this idea when listening to the song Clark Gable by The Postal Service this morning. I find the whole idea interesting and hopefully some people will. Oh and to readers of my other stories, I haven't forgotten about those, I'm currently working updates for them! Hope everyone enjoys the first chapter and thanks to Meg for being my beta.
Seth Cohen sat in a small waiting area, bouncing his legs nervously. He had meetings like this all the time, but this one was different.
"Mr. Cohen, Mr. Johns will see you now," the receptionist said.
Seth got up and walked into the office. Michael Johns was sitting behind a desk, waiting patiently for Seth to come inside.
"Good to see you Seth," he greeted.
"You too," Seth said, shaking his hand as he sat down on the seat.
There was a moment of awkward silence for Seth as Michael shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk.
"Aha! Here it is." He held up what he had been looking for.
Seth looked at the script that was held in Michael's hands nervously. The script that he had labored over for months and months. The script that he wanted to be made into the perfect movie, if only Michael approved.
Michael sat, studying the front page of it. "Love is Real." He read the title.
"The title is just tentative, if you don't like it. I can totally change it to something different if you-".
Michael cut off Seth's ramble before it could really begin. "Seth, I loved it. Everything including the title. I had to admit though I was surprised that this had come from you of all people."
Seth shrugged. He had been getting that a lot. People had expected this to be a comic book movie or an action movie. Most people did not think that he was the type of person to write a love story. He hadn't really expected it either. It had just come to him.
"We're going to start casting as soon as possible," Michael continued talking. "This is the kind of movie we've been looking for and I think it's the perfect movie for you to make your directorial debut."
Seth practically burst with excitement at this thought. He had wanted to direct a movie since he had gotten into the whole script writing business and now he had the opportunity.
"We have to cast the perfect person as Mia. I think I have just the person in mind too."
Seth sighed. He knew exactly who the person that he was thinking of was, the person the role of Mia was based on.
Summer Roberts pushed her sunglasses down on her eyes, despite the fact that the sun was no longer bright and blinding. The sunglasses were the only way that she was going to be able to see so she could get into her building. She had already had one experience where she ran into the door after being blinded by the flashes. The paparazzi had a field day with that one. 'Summer Roberts too Drunk to Even Get in Her Building' had been the headlines for days.
She got in her building, blocking all of the noise outside. Thank God the owner of the building had banned them from following her inside. It was just the whole problem of going anywhere outside with them always being there.
She went to the elevator and got inside, thankful that it was empty. She pressed the button for the penthouse and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. She opened them when she felt the elevator abruptly stop. She looked at the floor number and smiled.
The doors opened wide to reveal two young girls standing there. They got into the elevator, giggling and looking at Summer.
"Hey Ava," Summer greeted the one girl.
The other girls eyes opened up widely in shock. "She knows your name?!" she whispered to Ava.
"Uh-huh," Ava nodded excitedly. "We've been on a first name basis forever right Summer?"
"Yep," Summer agreed.
The other girl continued to look on in shock. "I cannot believe it. You were telling the truth!"
Ava looked smugly at the girl. "I told you."
"Can I have your autograph?" the girl turned to Summer.
"Of course," Summer took the pen and paper that she was handed. "What's your name?"
"Lizzie. Ohmygosh can you write 'To Lizzie You're my best friend, Love Summer Roberts'?"
Summer just laughed and signed the piece of paper, handing it back to Lizzie. The doors opened up, they were now at her floor.
"Can we come and see your penthouse?" Lizzie questioned.
"Maybe some other time Lizzie," Ava replied for Summer."Your mom is going to be here soon anyways."
"Oh right," Lizzie looked through the doors, seeming to try to memorize every little detail.
"I'll see you later Ava. Nice meeting you Lizzie," Summer said as she stepped through the doors.
"I cannot believe you know Summer Roberts!" she heard Lizzie squeal as the doors closed.
Summer smiled to herself. Ava had lived in the same building as Summer for two years but Summer didn't know this until four months ago, when she found the 13 year old girl just sitting in the elevator. She had found this odd, but it turned out that she was waiting for her parents to notice that she wasn't at home. Summer pitied the poor girl and took her to the penthouse for some iced tea and let Ava talk. It turned out that her parents, rich and way too into their jobs, always ignored her and she had no friends at school. They ignored her and she was just a lonely girl. She was more than excited to be invited to Summer's for something to drink. She could just tell that she had made Ava's day.
Somehow, during this time, they came up with a deal. Ava would be able to bring people to meet Summer to try and see if this would help her make some friends if Ava would walk Summer's dogs, Kramer and Coco, everyday for her. It worked out very well for the two.
Summer sat down on her couch, looking around at her large penthouse. Some days she hated her celebrity status but other days, like the days when she was able to help Ava out, it made her feel better.
Truthfully one of the reasons she had decided to help Ava was because she was reminded of herself when she was younger. She had been the lonely kid though for different reasons than Ava had. It was because she was already a child star and all of the kids thought she was stuck up and a snob. She wasn't though, she had just tried her hardest to be nice to them, to live a normal life. Apparently, when you're one of the most popular child stars, that turns out to be difficult.
There had been one person who had accepted her as she was. That had been Seth Cohen. He had been the one to treat her as a normal kid, as if she was the best thing to ever happen. She thought she had loved him but she soon realized that there was no such thing as love. It was not a real thing.
She got up, deciding to get in her pajamas and just hang out at home for the night. She had a craving to order a large pizza and watch reruns of The Valley (though not the one that she guest starred in). Maybe she would call Ava up, see if she wanted to hang out. She just wanted to pull herself out of the celebrity life for a while, if only for a night.
Seth paced back and forth as he debated how he was going to do this.
He had to call Summer Roberts and ask her to star in his movie. For some reason, he knew that this was not going to go over well. He hadn't talked to her since they were 22, nearly 4 years ago. It hadn't ended so well that day, accusations had been flying everywhere and it had not been pretty.
He sat down on his couch, sighing. Sometimes it really sucked to be only 26 and already holding the job of script writing. It left him with very little time to have a normal life. He hated it some days. Most of the times he loved it, like when he was writing the movies or watching his movie that he wrote come to life. But other times-like at the moment-he wished he was doing something else.
He shouldn't have based the character of Mia on Summer, that was stupid. He couldn't help it though. She was constantly on his mind ever since that day and he realized halfway through writing his script, that this was who the character was based on. Of course Michael wouldn't realize it, he would just think that Summer was the perfect actress to do the job.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number that he had been given by Michael. He was praying that she wouldn't be home as talking to her answering machine would be so much easier than talking to her.
No such luck though. The phone was picked up, but not by Summer. It was a different voice, a younger sounding one.
"Hello, Summer Roberts's dog walker speaking, how may I help you?" the girl on the phone was giggling as she said this and he could hear more laughter in the background.
"Uh, hi. Is Summer there?"
"May I ask who's calling?"
"Seth Cohen."
"Hold on," he heard the phone being put down on something and he could muffled whispers through the phone.
Finally someone picked up the phone and he knew that it was Summer just by the first word that she said. "What do you want?"
"Why hello to you too."
"Seriously, you know that I will hang up on you if there is no point to this phone call," she said.
"There is a point."
"Well then start talking."
"Okay, so as I'm sure that you know, in the last two years I have started writing movies. I just wrote a movie script and well, we were wondering if you would consider the starring role."
He heard her make a sound, one that didn't sound excited. "I am not going to star in one of your stupid comic book movies."
"It's not a comic book movie and those aren't stupid. It's... a love story. Called Love is Real," Seth replied.
"Oh," Summer paused. He could tell that she was thinking. "Have the script faxed over to me and then I'll get back to you."
"Great," Seth said. She didn't hear him as she had already hung up the phone.
He sighed, placing the phone back down. This was bound to get interesting. He wondered if she was going to take the part or if she was going to turn it down. He was really hoping that she would take it because he wanted a second chance. He thought that this might be an opportunity for a second chance.
Summer looked down at the script in front of her. Ava was sitting next to her, quietly playing with the dogs while Summer read.
"Are you finished yet?" Ava questioned as she watched Summer put down the script.
"Yea."
"And...?"
"The script is amazing. I cannot believe that he wrote this."
"What does that mean?" Ava asked.
"It means I would be an idiot to turn this down," Summer sighed. She already knew it. This movie was going to be huge. If she turned this down, she would look like the biggest idiot in the world. She had to take it. She was pretty sure she was going to be forced to take it, by her agent. He would not let her passup this opportunity.
But working with Seth Cohen? That was something she really did not want to do. They had way too much history and it was not all good history.
The phone rang and she picked it up, already knowing who was on the other line. "Hey John."
She listened to her agent ramble on for a few minutes about how she needed to take this role no matter what. When he finally stopped to take a breath, she broke in.
"How close am I going to be working with Seth Cohen?"
He was the director. That was what she found out. Oh boy. This was interesting.
She listened to John go on for several more minutes about how he had already called and set up an audition, though it was only a formality.
She finally hung up the phone and looked at Ava who was looking confused.
"Why don't you want to work with Seth Cohen?" Ava questioned.
Summer sighed. "It's a long story."
Ava rolled her eyes. "That's the code that all adults use when they don't want to take the time to explain these things to you."
"Yes, you're probably right Ava. If you really want to know the whole story you could probably find it on the internet somewhere. I'm sure the Seth Cohen Summer Roberts saga is on there somewhere." Summer rubbed her fingers on her temple. Just thinking about the past was giving her a headache.
"Okay," Ava said, though Summer could tell she was still curious.
"I'll explain it to you eventually. Right now I am getting a massive headache."
"Oh okay," Ava said, getting up from her spot. "I should be getting home anyways. My parents might actually be wondering where I am."
"Bye Ava," Summer said as she watched the girl leave.
Summer went to her room and got underneath her covers. She seriously hoped that this was all a dream.
And if it wasn't a dream, she wondered if there was any way this could possibly get worse.
"No way in hell is he playing Christian."
Seth had said this several times and each time, no one was really listening to him. He had to be heard. There was no way that Noah Jameson was going to be Christian. Anyone but Noah.
"Seth, he's perfect for the part."
"No, he isn't!" Seth exclaimed. "He is not the nerdy kid I envisioned at all. He is no where near what I imagine Christian being."
"Just give him a chance. He's a great, amazing actor."
"No," Seth said stubbornly.
Michael gave him an annoyed look. "Just because you have a past with him does not mean he isn't good for this part. He will do so well with this part. You just have to get past your history."
"I'm doing that with Summer, isn't that enough?"
Michael shook his head. "Extend this just a little bit more. Just think about how amazing this movie is going to be with Summer Roberts and Noah Jameson acting together. It's the first movie they've done together in four years..."
"Since the asshole caused major problems," Seth grumbled.
"Put the past behind you Seth. I am begging you. We've auditioned plenty of other people and none of them are half as good as Noah. Just consider it. Watch the tape that we have of his audition and then tell me what you think."
Michael dimmed the lights in the room and Seth focused his attention on the tape. Noah appeared on the screen and Seth scowled. He hated that guy.
He managed to put that thought past him for a few minutes and watched the tape. Michael was right, Noah was good. And he was perfect for the part.
"So what do you think?" Michael questioned.
"Fine. But I swear, if there are any problems and I'm recasting."
"Seth, you've got to let this all go."
"That will never happen," Seth replied. "It happened, it screwed up my life and I'm pretty sure that I will never ever forget it. But for a while, at least while we are making this movie, I will forget what Noah Jameson did to Summer and me. Is that good?"
"Yes, that's all I ask."
Michael continued to ramble on but Seth ignored him. This movie was turning out to be a not so good idea, he realized now. He would give anything to go back and change his mind about giving this script to Michael.
It was done though. He was going to have to deal with working on a movie with his ex-fiancИe and one of the reasons that he was no longer engaged. This was just great.
"So we still need to cast Mia's best friend and Christian's family. We have a few ideas for those roles."
"Okay, that's great. Just as long as none of them had anything to do with my past please. Two people are more than enough?"
"I'll try my hardest, but I can't make any promises," Michael replied.
Seth sighed. This movie was going to be one exciting adventure.