SATURDAY
MORNING
Ryan snapped out of sleep as a knock sounded against the glass doors of the poolhouse. He rubbed his bleary eyes, stumbling out of bed in only his boxer shorts.
"Seth, it's Saturday, save the rambling for past noon." Ryan muttered under his breath, blinking as he heard thunder rumbling outside.
His eyes adjusted as he opened the door, and he saw who was standing there. It wasn't Seth. It was Lindsey, with a bemused grin on her face. A dark, cloudy sky loomed over the ocean behind her.
"Hey." He croaked, suddenly very aware that he was shirtless.
"Did I wake you?" She smiled.
"Yeah…sorry. What's up?"
"Study session? Every Saturday? 10:00?" She pointed at her AP Physics book clutched under one arm.
"Oh right, right."
"I can…come back later." Lindsey said, looking disappointed.
"No! No, it's okay. Let me just go brush my teeth…and you know, put some clothes on, and we'll get to it."
She grinned.
"All right."
Ryan walked off to the bathroom, but felt her eyes on him. He turned around.
"What?" He laughed.
"You have nice shoulders." She said, blushing slightly.
Ryan looked down self-consciously, feeling his face go a little hot.
"I'll be right back."
Lindsey sat down on the edge of Ryan's bed, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious herself. She had messed with her hair and makeup for an hour before she came over, and Ryan rolled out of bed still looking like a model. He was way too gorgeous for her…why on earth were they dating?
Ryan came back in the room, smiling to show off his freshly brushed teeth.
"Minty and clean." He grinned, sitting beside her on the bed, now wearing a wife beater.
"I'll be the judge of that." Lindsey smiled back, kissing him softly.
Man, Ryan could kiss. She sighed happily when the kiss ended.
"Well?" Ryan raised his eyebrows.
"Very minty fresh." She smiled, kissing him again.
"I thought we were working on Physics." Ryan mumbled against her lips.
"I already did it all. I just wanted an excuse to come over here."
"Linds?"
"Yeah?"
"I already did it, too." Ryan laughed.
"We are such losers."
"So, what do you want to do instead?" Ryan asked her, playing with her long red hair.
"Watch a movie, hang out, I don't care." Lindsey shrugged.
Rain began to fall down outside the pool house.
"Let's go for a walk on the beach." Ryan joked.
"Sure. As long as you think my drowned rat look is cute." Lindsey said, looking out the windows.
"Of course I do."
"Awww."
Ryan got up to turn on the TV, and he and Lindsey leaned back against the bed as they sat on the pillows on the floor.
"More fun than Physics?" Ryan put his arm around her.
"Ryan, this is Batman: The Animated Series."
"It's good." Ryan protested, making Lindsey giggle.
"Fine. Fine." She put her hands up in mock surrender.
AFTERNOON
Seth came out of his bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, coming back into his room. Suddenly, his phone rang just as he was getting dressed. Talking on the phone in the nude freaked Seth out, so he quickly put on his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as his answering machine picked up. He heard a very familiar voice.
"Hey, Cohen…it's Summer. I just need to talk to you. Please pick up if you're there."
Seth sighed, tentatively answering the phone.
"Summer?"
"Oh, good, you're home."
"What's up?"
"I just…we haven't been able to talk in awhile. With Zach and Alex and everything…I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."
"You okay? You sound kind of bummed." Seth asked, sitting down on the bed.
"I miss you."
There was a long silence. Seth cleared his throat.
"I miss you, too, Summer."
"I hate this."
"What?"
"I hate not being able to talk to you everyday. Remember how we would always meet in the commons, and talk before class? Something you said would always make me laugh during the middle of next period, and everybody would think I was crazy." She said, her voice quiet and sad.
"Summer…what are you saying? We can't be just friends, we already tried that, and we ended up with all the kissing and yelling and storming out of good concerts, remember?"
"No, I know we can't just be friends."
"So…what?"
Summer sniffled slightly. Seth looked at the phone in horror. No, no, no crying. He hated when girls cried. That made him want to cry.
"I want things to be like they were. I want you to have never left, and me to have never met Zach, and you to have never met scary tattoo girl."
"Alex isn't scary." Seth said defensively.
"Sorry. Just…you know how possessive I can get."
"But, Summer, I'm not yours to get possessive of anymore. You made it painfully clear that you didn't want me anymore."
"Of course I want you! I was so angry when you came back, but that doesn't mean I stopped caring about you. I wanted you to kiss me that night, Cohen, but I couldn't deal with wanting that. And now…it's too late. Now there's all these people we would hurt, and I don't want to hurt Zach, and you don't want to hurt her, so I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do with all these feelings." Summer's small voice cracked, and she didn't say anything else.
Seth sighed heavily.
"I don't know either."
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
"Sorry for calling like this. I just really wanted to talk to you. I didn't mean to get all emotional."
"You know you can always call me." Seth said quietly.
"Okay. Well, I better go." She said miserably.
"Summer?"
"Yeah, Cohen?"
"I love you."
Summer swallowed hard, trying not to start full on crying.
"I love you, too."
NIGHT
I married you because I loved you.
Jimmy looked away from his computer. Those seven words Julie had said to him months ago would not get out of his head. They had shared so much together-the difficult first years of marriage, countless passionate nights, the births of their two children, and then…then his stupid financial problems made everything fall apart.
He hadn't really regretted the divorce at first. He thought he was glad to be rid of her, glad to be away from her selfish, egomaniacal ways. But slowly…slowly he had started to miss her. It was so insane-to everyone else, Julie Cooper was the Newport villainess with the acerbic eyes and the ruthless greed…but he knew what was behind those eyes.
He had seen her broken, seen her crying into his shoulder, seen her laughing at some stupid TV show they always watched before they went to sleep, seen her holding her children in her arms like they were so precious to her. He knew no one else would ever understand that that side of Julie Cooper existed- simply because he was the only one she'd ever shown it to.
So what? So he was still in love with her. Not like it mattered. She was married, he wasn't even on her radar. Although…she did keep coming over to the boat. And she always seemed so happy to see him, to have someone to really talk to. He really missed just talking to her…they always had gotten each other's sense of humor. She never failed to make him laugh.
Jimmy sighed, putting his hands over his tired eyes. He wouldn't get any more work done tonight- he should just go to bed. He looked outside the window to his boat's deck, and saw it soaked with rain.
Great night for being alone, he thought to himself as he brushed his teeth.
"Jimmy!" He suddenly heard an insistent voice and a loud knocking on the door.
He crossed to the door, opening it to see Julie, soaking wet and looking miserable.
"Jules-what's wrong?" He said, taking her hand and leading her inside.
"He lied to me. He lies to me about everything. He lied to me about the money, and now, I just found out, he's had a child for the past sixteen years that he just never bothered to tell me about. But, that's Cal for you, right? He only sees me as incompetent arm candy, and I can't stand it anymore!" She was in a full-fledged rage, throwing her purse on the floor.
"You're soaked." Jimmy handed her a towel.
"Thanks." She toweled off her dark hair, taking a deep breath.
Jimmy sat down on his bed, just waiting for her to keep talking.
"Sorry to just come storming in here like this…there's nobody else. You're the only one who ever listens to a word I say." Julie said, blinking back a hot feeling in the corners of her eyes.
"You know you can always come here."
"Yeah, I do." She smiled weakly, sitting down next to him.
He put her arm around her. She froze for a moment, looking up at him.
"I don't want be this person, Jimmy. With the millions of divorces and the fake smiles…I'm so sick of all of it!"
"Then you're staying with him?"
"I can't. He's never respected me. Never loved me. You were right. I just married him for money, for security…and I just want to get away from him. I can't go back-"
Jimmy kissed her suddenly. She broke away, surprised.
"Jimmy, what are you doing?"
"Don't go back to him. Stay with me. For tonight, I mean."
"You actually still…still want me?" Julie asked.
"I'm still in love with you, Jules."
She smiled, feeling so grateful to be there with the only man who'd ever actually known her. And when he kissed her, she discovered she could still feel.
THE END
A/N- I know there's not many Julie fics out there, but I think she's a lot more complicated of a character than most people give her credit for. I hope you liked-please review!