Note: Okay, this chapter was easier. But I found out that my lovely computer cut the last chapter off, but I think it was better like this, so I guess it's okay. But since it was cut off I didn't get to give my homie Ben Gibbard credit for "Movie Script Ending." Newsflash, you guys, the lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie wrote the song that I mentioned was sung by none other than Death Cab For Cutie. That song has been in my head all friggin day...okay, that's it. This chapter's a little more dramatic and next chapter gets to be a wedding. And I am a girl so I do love weddings. Please leave a review; I love my little review alerts. Peace and love...
Summer blew a bubble and let it pop back into her mouth. Marissa was downstairs watching something on t.v. but Summer was comfortable just lying down and...thinking or something. She hadn't been home for a week and didn't plan on going back anytime soon. Her father was getting married next Sunday. Tracy was officially out, and Lara was in. So Summer didn't plan on going back for at least another month. She was so not in the mood to be around the newlyweds. She had to go to the wedding, though. Almost all of Newport was going to be there, mostly out of respect, for she was sure that no one really liked her dad that much. And no one knew who Lara was. Apparently she had done some modeling awhile ago, but Summer hadn't seen anything.
There was a soft knock on the door. Summer didn't even turn her head.
"Marissa's downstairs."
"Summer, sweetheart, can I talk to you?"
"Uh, yeah, Mr. Cooper, come in."
She sat up and pushed her gum back into her mouth. Jimmy came in with a forced smile on his face. He sat on the bed next to her.
"Summer, are you sure you're okay with all this? I mean, you know that neither my wife nor I mind you staying here; we're glad to have you. But is something wrong at home or something? Because they are your family."
"Yeah, I know, it's just very...they're getting ready for the wedding and all, so I guess it's better to be here. Stay out of their way. But I mean, if you guys want me to go soon, then..."
"No, no. That's not it at all. We love having you here. It's good for Marissa. Can I just ask you, I mean without sounding rude, when you'll be going back home?"
Suddenly, she was extremely embarrassed. She was coming off as the little girl who hated her parents and depended on someone else. People that weren't responsible for her were providing for her.
"Um, soon. Probably in about a week. You know, let them have some time alone and then get back."
He nodded and smiled.
"Okay. We're going to be eating outside, so if you want to get dressed."
"Um, okay, thanks."
She smiled back and he left. She looked down at her pajamas and changed her pants into soft shorts. She put a bra on under her tank top and pulled her hair up. On the way out, she caught Marissa.
"Hey, what did my dad say to you?"
"He just wanted to know how long I was going to stay."
"Oh. Okay. What did you tell him?"
"Next week."
"You really going to go next week?"
"Yeah, I mean, I said I would, so..."
"But aren't your par...your dad and Lara going on a honeymoon for, like, three weeks?"
"Yeah."
"You're going to be alone?"
"Yeah, it's-it's okay."
"Are you sure? Because my dad wouldn't mind..."
"No, it's okay. I'll go."
"But Summer..."
"It's okay. Let's eat."
She grinned and walked past Marissa. Marissa watched her leave with a frown on her face as her best friend pretended to not care about being in her huge house all alone for three weeks.
Summer was sick of it. She was sick of watching Marissa pick at a salad and ignoring her hamburger all together. She was sick of her father trying to call her and tell her how much he loved her. She was sick of everyone telling her to believe him. She was sick of pretending to be something she could never be. Happy.
She lay across the table after they had finished eating and watched the stars fall into their places. A mist seemed to rebound off of the grass that made her feel tired. Maybe she was making it all up.
"Summer."
She sat up smoothly and saw Seth sitting on the roof of his parents' car.
"You were just watching me?"
"Hey, I was out here before you. And so, sorry, beautiful, but no. I wasn't just watching you."
"You don't have to act like you're smarter than me." He opened his mouth but she cut him off. "And if you say 'who's acting,' I swear I'll hit you."
"That actually was not what I was going to say."
"Oh. What was it then?"
"I guess you'll never know. You should trust me more, beautiful."
"Can you stop calling me that?"
"What? Beautiful? Why?"
"Because...because I'm not."
He looked at her with his head cocked a little bit and shook it vigorously.
"Excuse me, what?"
"I'm not...that."
"Are you serious? Have you, I mean, have you seen you?"
"Stop, okay? It's not funny."
"You're right. It's not funny. You don't see it? You're gorgeous."
"Cohen, stop."
"Oh my god. I mean, you hear that girls have low self esteem, but damn. I mean, if you can't see it, then I feel bad for some of those other girls."
"Cohen...just..."
"Summer. You're gorgeous and I don't know what these people have been telling you, but you've always been gorgeous."
"You talk a lot."
"Yeah."
She could feel the smile creeping back to her lips and she shook her head while she started to laugh. He grinned.
"What?"
"You're so...different."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"I dunno, Cohen."
"Okay."
He grinned farther and she shook her head with a smile spread across her face.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Make me smile."
"Just lucky I guess."
The door opened behind Summer, who spun around.
"Coop! Hi, um, what's up?"
"You coming in? You wanna watch a movie or something?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. Just one minute, okay?"
"Okay. Were you talking to someone out here?"
"Um, no. Why?"
"Thought I heard something. Never mind. See you in a sec."
"All right, Coop."
Marissa smiled and closed the door. Summer spun back around to look at Seth. He had his eyebrows scrunched up again.
"Listen, Cohen, I have to..."
"Why-why didn't you tell her you were talking to...I dunno, me?"
"Cohen, it's not imp..."
"Not important? You completely froze me out. I don't matter or something?"
"No. No, that's-that's not it. I just..."
"Don't want anyone to know you were actually speaking to me."
"You don't know me; you can't finish my sentences."
"But I think I know what you mean. Where you're coming from. I'm not from your circle of friends. Of course you weren't speaking to me."
"Why do you have to be so difficult?"
"I'm not being difficult."
"Oh really? Could've fooled me."
"You don't know what you're doing. You're afraid of the people you hang out with. You don't have anyone you can completely trust. No one."
"I have Marissa, dickhead. Don't pretend to know me so goddamn well."
"But you're not able to tell Marissa that you were talking to me. Because you were...afraid of what she might say. Or that she might say something to her lovely boyfriend who might tell other people that you think are your friends and then you'll be ridiculed for the rest of your life. And believe me, and I would know, that's not a lot of fun."
"Cohen, what are you..."
"And the 'Cohen' thing? What's that?"
"It's your name."
"Try, uh, no. It's my last name. But I guess I can forgive that. You're the kind of person where it only matters what family you belong to. You don't care who I am. Who's the jackass now?"
"Did you just call me a..."
"Wait. That was Marissa."
"You don't even know who you're making fun of anymore. You're pathetic. You want people to think you don't care and that you're all that when you don't even think it yourself. That's kind of really sad."
"You don't know me either, princess."
He said it with so much sarcasm that tears almost sprung to her eyes. She had gone from an honest beautiful to a snide princess in a few minutes. Had to be a record. And it was also what her father called her.
"Shut up. Bye, Cohen."
"Ooh, that was a good one."
She stuck up her middle finger and meant it for the first time in her life. He rolled his eyes and looked away. Looked away so that she couldn't see the tears that had sprung to his eyes too.
Summer walked into the Coopers' house and wiped away the threats of tears that were messing up her makeup. Marissa was walking toward her so she lifted her mouth into a yawn.
"Hey, Sum, do you...wait. Were you crying?"
"N-N-No." Stifle another yawn. "Sorry, Coop, I'm so tired. D'you think we could do this some other time?"
"Um, yeah, sure. I mean, if you're that tired."
"Yeah. Okay. See you tomorrow. Night Coop."
"Summer, tomorrow's your father's wedding."
"Oh right. I forgot."
"Um, okay. So you have to get up at 8. so maybe it is a good thing you're going to bed now."
"Yeah. All right. Night, Coop."
"Good night, Sum. Love you."
"Love you too."
Summer went up to Marissa's room and stole a look at the gown Lara had given her a few days ago. It was a light pink and had a lov cut boat neck. It fell somewhere right above the knees. Right beneath her breasts there was a princess hem with a darker pink twisted cord. The perfect gown for a princess aiding the queen. Lara. She was going to be her stepmother a week after her previous stepmother's divorce had been final from her father. Lara. Sounded like a queen's name.
She rolled over on top of the comforter, trapping herself inside it. No air holes. Her hair spilled out onto the pillow and she stared at the ceiling once again. Seth hated her. That was another one. Everyone hated her these days. Her father, Lara, Tracy, Mr. Cooper, Mrs. Cooper, Luke, even Marissa. Seth had been safe. He told her he liked her. A lot. But she ruined that too. He was right, too. She didn't have any friends she could trust. Marissa had Luke and she sure as hell liked him more than Summer. And her mother had...well, sometimes apparently Lara wasn't as dumb as she looked.
And she had to go to their goddamn wedding.
Marissa came in about an hour later. Summer pretended to be asleep as she slid into the bed next to her. She didn't want to talk to Marissa. Marissa didn't understand.
Summer got up wordlessly the next morning at six to get ready. She wasn't going to look like crap when Lara picked her up. That would give Lara too much power.
She pulled the dress over her head and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked different. She looked like a clone of Lara and her posse. She brushed her hair a dozen times and twisted it up high and stuck a jaw clip over it. She did her own makeup and it wasn't that bad. A little too much eyeliner, but it worked. She found a purse that matched; a light pink bunched Chanel with a beaded strap that fell gracefully over her shoulder.
She looked older. She looked like one of those girls that giggled uncontrollably when her father spoke. She looked like she belonged in Newport. She slid her eyeliner under her eye one more time. And she changed her necklace. It was a cross that Tracy had given her for her thirteenth birthday. It was black with a silver border. The chain linked around her neck, but the cross barely disappeared into her neckline. This was all she had to fight the stereotype. She was going to be a noopsie when she grew up. She was going to find some rich kid with a trust fund and they wouldn't be happy together. She would borrow his checkbook and he would sign blank checks for her so she could buy anything she wanted. Or she'd write them to cash and just have a lot of cash on her at all times. She'd smile behind Gucci sunglasses and cross her legs in front of the pool boy. She'd have dozens of affairs and become Lara. Or she'd just leave. Soon too. Run away. Who would notice? And if they did, who would care?
She painted on a smile and kissed Marissa's forehead before running out. She waited at the end of Marissa's driveway for the evil step mother to be to arrive. She leaned against the gate and picked at her nails. She finally gave up and pulled a nail file out of her purse. After finishing exactly one nail, she dropped the file into the wet grass.
"Dammit."
She bent down to pick up the file and felt something sweep past her back. Taking a peek over her shoulder, she saw him slide up his driveway. He didn't look at her. This was so stupid.
"Cohen!"
His face turned to hers, most definitely due to shock, but he did look at her. And that was something.
"What?"
"I...uh..."
"Yeah, well I uh too."
He slipped into his house and slammed the door. She shook her head as Lara's familiar perfect car came rolling up.
"Get in."
"Why, thank you, Lara, I will."
"Don't be smart."
"Why? So I can be like you?"
"You can't even be nice to me on my wedding day?"
"I'm nice."
"Since when?"
"I could be nice if you were nice to me."
"I am nice to you."
"Oh, sure. But let's just be nice for my dad. You can slap me when you're done but be nice for him."
"Duh, kid. I'm not stupid."
"Could've fooled me."
"Shut up."
"You first."
Lara sighed and drove straight to the church without another year. Summer blinked her eyes over and over again. This was really going to happen.
