Me. Me. Me.
Summary: "I'm not selfish, right Ryan? Me. Me. Me." Two characters discuss the self-absorbed and selfishness of the group. Oneshot. SS RM
Disclaimer: I don't own Summer, Ryan, Seth, Marissa, or any additional characters mentioned. Or The OC for that matter. Nor do I claim to.
A/N: Just something that came to me somehow… Probably something that played in my head as I was trying to get to sleep and then struck me as an okay idea. I'm not sure how it'll turn out yet but I'm fairly confident it will ONLY be a one-shot. This is set around about.. Hm… After the Proposal, just before the Shower? Yup. That's it, I guess. So… I better get writing. And let you get reading. So, uh, read… and… (how predictable is this?)… Review!
Me. Me. Me.
The four of them strode away from the cinema. Ryan had his arm around Marissa, Marissa had her arm around Summer, and Seth had his hands shoved into his pockets, looking downwards.
"So what are we gonna do?" Ryan finally asked.
Marissa pouted, "I wanted to go to the movies."
"Only so you guys can do PDA's without being completely public," Summer shot at them, then shrugged indifferently. "And, anyway, they only had kiddie movies or chick flicks that would make you and Cohen cry."
Seth play-frowned at her. "I don't cry. And, hey, Summer, does that mean, you're like, some kind of un-girly un-chick girl? Coz, you know, if you don't like chick flicks, I mean…"
Summer frowned for real, "No, I like them, I just don't like it when you guys cry. It kind of destroys the movie for me. Plus, I cry, too. Sometimes." She twisted out from under Marissa's arm and shoved her own hands into her pockets. Seth took his hands out and put an arm around Summer, "Sorry," he whispered.
"That's okay," she looked up at him, then grinned and kissed him on the cheek.
"Anyway," Ryan said, smiling in amusement. They had the lamest tiffs about the most random things. He guessed they enjoyed the make up sex. Ohh, bad visual. He grimaced as he asked, "What are we gonna do?"
"We could go to the beach?" Marissa suggested.
"We live on the beach," Seth scrunched up his forehead in confusion. "We go there all the time."
"Coop." Summer wrinkled her nose.
Marissa shrugged, "It was just an idea… I just thought… Since it's nighttime… And we're bored," she shrugged again.
"Whatever." She mumbled.
Ryan gave Seth a look. Seth turned to Summer.
"Lets go to the beach!" Summer smiled.
Forty five minutes later, they were lying on the sand up near some dunes. Summer was lying on Seth's right half, her head resting on his collarbone. Ryan was sitting with his legs folded, Marissa in his lap. Seth was stroking Summer's hair and dropping kisses on the top of her head, Ryan was cradling Marissa. None of them were talking, just looking out at the waves crashing onto the shore and thinking, peaceful. After a few more minutes of harmony, Marissa spoke up.
"I'm hungry," she announced. "Anyone want to come get something to eat with me? We can bring stuff back."
"I'll go," Seth volunteered after no one else did. He sat up, forcing Summer up too. They kissed for a while and Marissa pecked Ryan on the cheek as he let her go, then Seth and Marissa walked off, leaving Summer and Ryan staring into space. Suddenly cold without Seth to warm her, Summer drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.
She looked at Ryan. "You and Coop happy, Chino?"
Ryan startled out of his reverie, "Yeah. You and Seth?"
"Yeah," she grinned happily. "I just meant, like, you know… You really do forgive her again?"
"Well, yeah, I guess, I mean, I missed her. So much. And I guess I kind of forgot about –" Ryan swallowed "- Oliver. While we were broken up she just seemed so innocent… wholesome… alone… and really not happy, and I couldn't bare to think I was the one who'd caused that."
Summer nodded understandingly, "Yeah. So you're happy with her… Despite her ability to make every situation about her?" she joked.
"Yeah," Ryan smiled, then thought for a for seconds, "So I guess she kind of does that, hey?"
"Yup," Summer grinned, "A few years and you grow to love it."
"I think we both have practise with self-absorbed people," Ryan said, and the two of them looked at each other and said, "Seth" at the exact same time.
"Now he – is very self absorbed." Summer nodded, staring back out across the ocean again.
"Tell me about it. The past few months just about every word out of his mouth is 'me', 'my', 'I', 'Summer', and sometimes maybe the occasional 'Anna'." Ryan kidded.
Summer frowned, "Really? Anna?"
"Yeah but not, uh… I mean, just like as friends…" Ryan trailed off. "Or when they dated," he shrugged.
"Okay…" They sat in silence until she continued. "How did we end up with such self-obsessed people?"
"I think we did pretty good for Newport Beach," Ryan pointed out.
"I guess," Summer agreed, then paused. "And hey, look at me, I mean… I'm pretty damn selfish too."
"Kind of," Ryan agreed, "But at least when you and Riss talk you don't twist every thing around to be about you, huh?"
"Well, no… Maybe a few times though…" Summer thought about it. "What about you and Cohen?"
"Not really… Most of the time I just nod and throw in comments that he usually ignores. Sometimes we'll spend maybe two sentences talking about me and then we're back to the One Way ticket to Sethsville."
"That's like me and Coop!" Summer laughed.
"But I'm not complaining," Ryan settled back into the sand, arms above his head. "I'd rather have Seth's incoherent rambling than be stuck in Chino."
"Uh huh," Summer nodded. There was a short silence again. "Sethsville huh? That's weird because… When Cohen and I talk… he tries to make most things about me."
"That's because you're just about the only thing more important to Seth than Seth."
"Huh," Summer rested her chin on her knees. They were quiet for a few minutes, Summer marvelling in that comment and Ryan's thoughts drifting, as always, to Marissa. "You know though really," Summer lifted her head, "Me, Cohen, and Coop, we're like… all, 'me me me'. And you, you're like Ryan 'I Care Only For Others' Atwood. You like, try to be everyone's hero while all we do is talk about ourselves."
Ryan shifted uncomfortably, "You don't really talk about yourself."
"Yeah. I do. Trust me. If Coop and Cohen were less like me with the self-absorbed-ness, my self-absorbed-ness would stand out more. Plus, you spend more time with them than me so maybe you don't notice mine so much."
"I'm spending time with you now," Ryan pointed out, "And you're not talking about yourself."
They paused, then Summer laughed, "Yes I am!"
Ryan smiled, "I guess so."
"You know what?" Summer voiced her thoughts, "Coop always has a thing for the selfless guys. I mean, there's you, and there was Oliver, who was completely Marissa-obsessed, and there's Luke… Who aside from the cheating and the jealousy and doing her mom, he kind of did/does care about her, or at least he's not totally caring about himself…"
"He just liked to have other girls but didn't want Marissa to have other guys," Ryan cut in pointedly.
"Maybe that is a kind of selfish… So maybe he kind of was selfish," Summer shrugged. "But he used to be pretty devoted to her. Way back when. It's just… She likes the unselfish guys, while me, I kind of… I like the incoherent ramblings and the one way tickets to Sethsville."
"I'll bet you do," Ryan muttered, and Summer hit his arm lightly.
"You tell anyone that, and you will die," she said seriously, "Slowly and painfully."
"Uh…" Ryan swallowed.
"Who am I kidding? I bet you tell Cohen everything." Summer said mostly to herself.
"Uh? Did you miss the part about me maybe getting in two sentences? That are ignored?" Ryan waved his arm slightly. "Then again… If it were about you he'd listen…" he mused.
Summer glared at him.
"Okay, okay, I wont say anything," Ryan caved, "But I don't see the big deal. Seth already knows that you prefer him over me or Oliver or Luke."
"Oh, I'm not so sure about Oliver," Summer joked, then shuddered involuntarily at the thought of being involved with Oliver. "No, but, if he finds out I kind of like it then he'll do it all the time. It'll lose it's appeal."
"It has an appeal?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, then reminded himself.. "That's right, you don't get it all the time. I guess you're right. I probably wont tell him, I mean, for your sake. I don't want to drive you crazy."
"Well, thanks for the consideration, Chino," Summer said sarcastically, tipping her head to the side.
After a few more minutes of silence, Summer frowned, "Still its weird, though, right? I mean… a group of four, and three out of four are really self-centred. Its just, the odds are… Hey, I feel sorry for you."
Ryan shrugged, "Water under the bridge. I'm so, so used to it."
"Oh my God!" Summer said with a sudden revelation. "Anna wasn't self-absorbed either, hey? And neither were you…"
"Oh God, don't try and set us up," Ryan interjected.
"No, please…" Summer scoffed, "It's just, you guys aren't from Newport, and you guys aren't like that. Me, Coop and Cohen grew up in the Newport bubble. And we're selfish." She leant into herself, reflecting quietly, "I'm a Newport stereotype. I'm a selfish little bitch."
"Hey," Ryan said softly, "You aren't a bitch. Neither is Marissa. Or Seth."
Summer smiled slightly, then mumbled, "But I used to be." She put her face in her arms, then looked up at the stars. "This is way too much to think about."
"That, I kind of agree with," Ryan nodded. "Why are we talking about deep things, Summer? What happened to the gossip topics?"
"Oh right," Summer thought for awhile. "So, you know, I heard Luke Ward was doing Julie Cooper." She feigned ignorance.
"The one with the gay mother?"
"No, I think it's his father, and I know, crazy, right? And then, he crashed his boat."
"Dude, it was a plane."
"No, it so was a Greyhound," Summer giggled, "And don't call me 'dude'."
"Okay," Ryan smiled.
"Hmm," Summer thought a minute, "We shouldn't be making fun of Luke. He's… Okay."
"Yeah, he's sort of a good guy."
"You know he was hitting on me the whole time we were in Palm Springs?"
Ryan looked to the side, "Really?"
"Yeah. Ew," she wrinkled her nose.
"Haven't heard you say that for a while."
"You haven't? Huh," she bit her lip. "It's weird how we don't talk much, Chino."
"Yeah, Summer, I think we're friends now," he nodded, "So would you stop with the 'Chino'?"
"Ohh… Maybe," she teased. "Maybe-maybe not."
"You're so mean," he muttered sarcastically.
"Where are Coop and Cohen?" Summer asked randomly, "Ew, how bad would it be if they were off somewhere making out?"
"So you don't use the word for weeks, then you use it once and suddenly it's the new thing again?"
"Yeah. Did you not hear me or are you just ignoring me?"
"Me, me, me," he teased.
"Ass," she muttered, backhanding his arm lightly.
"Hey, I thought we registered that I am the good one?"
"Yeah, the good one – from Chino."
"Ooh, that was uncalled for," Ryan said with mock-hurt.
"Was it below the belt?" she teased. He nodded and she frowned playfully. "I'm sorry. But, also? I'm not."
"Maybe you are a bitch."
"Maybe you are an ass."
He ignored her, craning his neck, looking for the other two. "What if they are macking on each other?"
"Okay, one, no, and another thing? No." Summer paused. "They wouldn't do that… right?"
Seth and Marissa sat down opposite Summer and Ryan.
"No," Seth answered. "They most definitely would not."
"Ew," Marissa added, then eyed Seth up and down, adding a tacky, "No offense."
"Did you hear, Ryan?" Seth asked. "Apparently if you add 'no offense' to a statement, you are then allowed to imply whatever cruelness your bitter heart desires in said statement."
"Yeah, it's been like that for awhile Seth," Ryan said dryly.
"You guys got the food? I'm starved," Summer announced, and that was all it took for them all to dig in and all that could be heard where the sounds of Summer and Seth munching… and of Seth yabbering on to Ryan as Marissa bitched to Summer.
"So, guess what? This morning, Mom tries to get me away from the new Legion, but I was like, dude! I haven't read it yet! But she says that blah blah blah I must serve her blah blah blah, so I…"
"So my mom tried to call me again today, but I am so not taking her calls, but then I picked up once thinking it was you, but it was her, and she was going on about how it's a new life for us, everything will be better, I need to forgive her, she didn't sleep with a minor, and on and on. But really? She just wants me, to, like, I don't know, conform into…"
Ryan and Summer tuned out their best friends and simultaneously glanced at each other, sharing a knowing smile. But in a second, the smiles were gone, and the two turned back to their best friends, knowing that they wouldn't trade the way things were for anything else in the world.
A/N: Woo! It's over! Corny-ish ending, I know, but I couldn't find a way to end it! Review, PLEASE!
Also? I was thinking I may turn this multi-chap… I don't know, I thought maybe I could make Summer and Ryan best friends, or… something. Or, nah… I think I'll just leave it here. Its fun writing their friendship, though. I might do a Seth/Marissa. So, what do you guys think? Was it okay? Well… adios ;)