Okay so basically that whole new style of writing thing is done with..not going to write that anymore, reverting back to my old ways..hehe….and by the way I realized I messed up earlier…Seth came back from Portland not Tahiti, and Luke is still there…..

Besides that though, enjoy and please review

Misery Loves Company

'Hey..' Ryan shifted uncomfortably back and forth. He really had no idea how Seth would react to finally seeing him after all this time. Ryan nervously offered out his hand.

'Pssh, please we hug it out like men.. Brothers even. ' Seth opened his arms out and enveloped Ryan into an unwanted hug

'Okay Seth, this is really….'

'Awkward I know…' Seth leaned on the countertop while Ryan gradually began stepping further and further away.

'Well now that we got that out of the way, Ryan will you be staying with us?' Sandy finally spoke up and everyone could see the bristle of hope he had shimmering in his eyes. Seth looked on eagerly.

'Uhh haha well you know…If I'm allowed to…I know I kinda just took off before, so if you don't want to I completely underst-'

'-Nonsense Ryan. Of course we want you to stay. Just so you know, nobody leaves this family twice.' Sandy finished with a smirk and walked across the room and hugged Ryan firmly.

'Is this a moment I see forming?' Ryan shot Seth glares from overtop of Sandy's shoulder.

'Seth don't even…'

'Come here you!' Seth joined in and loosely laid a hand on Ryan's shoulder during Sandy's embrace.

'God I immediately regret leaving Chino..' Sandy chuckled and walked back over to the kitchen table while Seth just smirked. 'What's up with you anyway….Is it just that time of the month?'

'Funny Ryan, I see your sense of humor has blossomed while you were in comedy central, Chino.'

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'Coop! What am I going to do! Cohen, like totally hates me…' Summer ran a hand frustratingly through her hair. 'God this is so not the way I pictured it…'

'Chill Sum, everything will be just fine..' Summer looked incredulous over at Marissa. What the hell did she know? She's been sulking over Ryan basically ever since the whole Oliver situation, but that gives her no right to talk like she knew exactly what was going on. 'Well how did you picture it Sum?' Marissa glared up from her magazine briefly then rolled her eyes once she looked away.

'Well, originally I thought Cohen would come back all determined or whatever to get me back, then he'd confess his undeniable love for me. Not his undeniable hatred…' Summer frowned then looked up at Marissa for an answer. Marissa was nervously glancing from Summer, to the magazine, to out the window. Almost as if she was expecting someone.

'Don't worry about it Sum, its just Seth Cohen…He doesn't function properly without you and he'll realize it soon enough..' Summer huffed and crossed her arms abruptly. Clearly she was not satisfied with Marissa's answer. ' I'm just saying…Remember how in elementary school, you never even knew who the hell Seth was and always had planned to date some celebrity or something? Well what if dating Seth, now only makes you realize you're not destined for each other and that well….you're better than him…' Marissa looked down almost ashamed and Summer cupped a hand over her mouth and gasped.

'First off,Its not just Seth Cohen. Secondly, Coop you've never seen the way he looks at me, like truly looks at me. Like I'm the only one in the room that matters and everything else can wait. Theres no way in hell I'm ditching my Cohen to some celebrity, though the thought is tempting…We were kids anyway, it doesn't matter.'

Summer glared at Marissa, while she just countered by eagerly gazing out the window. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a sudden ring. Summer was awoken from her fuming glares at Marissa and she checked her purse. She grabbed her phone and checked the caller, hoping it was a certain comic book reading, jew fro brunette. Summer let out a deep sigh and grunted when she read that it was Zach.

'What do you want?' Summer muttered bitterly.

'Well hello to you to girlfriend…god that just sounds so awesome…girlfriend…Summer Roberts is my girlfriend.'

'Unfortunately yes, but thanks for stating the obviously Einstein.' Summer said angrily, not even caring about hurting his feelings.

'Well I was just wondering if we coul..-'

'Sum! You gotta go, I've got a visitor…" Marissa hissed as Summer completely zoned out from her conversation with Zach.

'All of that sounds awesome! Not. I've gotta go.' Summer snapped her phone shut then continued to observe Marissa's strange behavior. 'Okay, whats going on Coop?'

'Nothing, but you really should be going..Bye' Marissa plastered on a fake smile and ushered Summer toward the door and eventually slammed it shut with a thud. Summer was left puzzled out front of her door. Visitor? What visitor? All I see is a flower truck…

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'So what exactly happened here while I was gone?" Ryan asked incredulously as he began to unpack all of the contents in his gym bag into the poolhouse. Seth really had no idea how to approach this question. So much had changed since last year, he didn't even know where to begin.

'Well for starters…Summer left me, well not technically see as you know I left her, but everyone knows it was only a matter of time before she'd leave me, which I guess is only fair. I mean she already replaced me with Zach' Seth used air quotes with his fingers 'And now I'm hear wallowing in self pity.'

'I mean what else happened beside the usual Seth/Summer drama? All of Newport doesn't revolve around you Seth.'

'I guess you're right…But imagine if it did…Anyways I suppose your talking about Marissa' Seth air quoted yet again.

'Stop with the air quoting, its starting to freak me out.' Ryan slowly took a seat on the edge of the bed and stared at Seth cautiously.

'I'm okay with that. I don't really know about her man, I just saw her for the first time today.' Seth saw as Ryan's eyes showed a glimmer of hope. He really didn't know what to tell Ryan about her. He knew she hadn't been herself lately, but he wasn't sure as to how much she changed. Being away from Summer for the, well summer, made Seth realize all of the little things about her that changed. For starters, he could tell she changed her hairstyle and even was beginning to wear less and less makeup. Not that he was stalking or anything, its just he would always be able to spot those things out on her.

'Maybe I should go see her than…'Ryan jumped up from the his seat on the bed and bounded for the door. He was already out the door and now headed for the kitchen.

'Ryan, buddy I don't think that's such a ….' Seth was cut off by the sound of the engine roaring as Ryan sped off out of the driveway. '…good idea.'

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Summer was now frantically pacing back in forth in her room, trying desperately to make up her mind and stick with it. On one side of the spectrum, there was Seth who obviously still might have feelings for her, but there was still some doubt. Especially after their encounter earlier at the beach, then there's Zach, who was just recently added to the mounds of problems Summer had. The only reason was because she wanted Seth to be jealous, once again, resulting in everything revolving around Seth. God she was screwed.

'Summer, baby..' Zach entered her room and sprung across to kiss her on the cheek. He doesn't kiss like Cohen

'What are you doing, I thought I told you not to bother me.' Summer said huskily.

'Well after hearing you on the phone, you sounded frustrated so I decided to come keep you company..' Zach eyed her room up and quickly began rummaging through her bookshelves. 'does a movie sound good?'

Summer was stunned at Zach's lack of intelligence. Did he not listen to a word she just said. She lowered her head and began quietly cussing herself for ever getting involved in this mess.

'Sum? Are you going to watch?' Zach remained content and calm as he sat at the end of her bed. Summer remained silent and only nodded her head briefly. She really wasn't in to this.

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'I've waited soo long to do that…' Marissa said with joy as she was buried underneath a body that was ever increasingly pressing against her. She never once imagined she'd be with this guy, but she just figured everything would play itself out in the end and everything would eventually be solved. But however, she did not know how horribly wrong she was. She was ultimately having an affair, with the yard guy. Though she wasn't in a relationship, it sure felt like cheating.

'I know, I know but I've got to get back to work.' The man finally pried himself from Marissa, and stood up to begin getting dressed.

'Not without another kiss!' Marissa pleaded with her eyes, then rose to cover the distance separating their faces…

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'From what Seth's told me, she should be happy to see me, not angry and bitter like I originally thought.' Ryan began flying different scenarios around in his head about what his first encounter with Marissa would be like, nevertheless he could not wipe the smile off his face as he pulled into Marissa's driveway. There was a flower truck parked just ahead of him but he thought nothing of it. He approached her door and saw it was flung wide open and could faintly hear noises coming from upstairs.

'Maybe she already knows and is planning some crazy party or something..' Ryan laughed at the prospect of a huge party going on in Marissa's room. He ascended the stairs and approached her doorway, still unable to wipe away the smile.

'God this is just so great, I'm out of Chino, back with my family and friends, away from Theresa, and possibly back with….'Ryan flung the door open to a scene he wished he didn't see. Marissa was pressed against her dresser making out with some guy. He had his hands pinned firmly over top of her and she was beginning to work on his belt. Ryan's smile instantly fell. '…..Marissa…'.

Marissa looked up with a stunned look on her face, the man also looked equally as shocked as she was. She quickly shoved him away and directed her attention to Ryan.

'I-I-I I gotta go…' Ryan sprinted out of the house and tried to keep his composure. At least till he got home, besides it wasn't like him to cry and he sure as hell hoped it wouldn't start now. It was more of Seth's thing anyways.

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'I guess Ryan had it right all along, getting everything out of the way is the best approach to a relationship…'Seth tapped his foot to a song he last heard on the radio as he stood outside of the Roberts mansion. He finally gave in and decided to confront Summer about all of their issues, and he hoped it would go over as smoothly as he pictured it would. Of course his image of it was Summer confessing how wrong she was and striping naked. But he guessed that wasn't going to happen, so he'd have to settle for the next best thing. An inevitable shouting match with Summer.

He knocked on the door and timidly awaited for someone to answer. To his dismay, it was the one person he wished wouldn't.

'Ahhh…ummm hi Doctor Roberts…' Seth mumbled out and gave an uneasy smile.

'What are you doing here?'

'I uhhh came to see Summer, sir.'

'You know you really hurt her…I won't let you do that again.'

'Well I just need to apologize so if you would please….' Seth motioned for the hand blocking the doorway. 'just let me talk to her. It'll be 10 minutes tops.'

Neil looked hesitantly from the doorway to the stairs and debated about allowing him in. It was as if he knew something was going that Seth didn't. Suddenly a smug grin came to Neil's face and he graciously stepped out of the way.

'You got 10 minutes. Though I believe you'll be leaving much sooner than that.' He crossed his arms as Seth passed him.

'Nice to see I have your support sir.'

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Okay, just breathe Cohen. Everything will be juuust fine. Keep breathing. Your going to walk in there, declare your love for her, and completely erase any doubts she ever had about you. And as for those idiotic words you hashed out on her earlier at the pier? Completely redeemed. This should be just fine.

Seth stood outside of Summer's room and quietly pushed the door open. It was dark inside, the only source of light being the TV. A movie was on, Seth couldn't quite pick out which one. He couldn't really hear anything either, the TV was turned up way to loud for anyone's good.

'Sum…'

'Hmmm…'Summer moaned as she kept her gaze fixed on the screen.

'I just wanted to tell you how happy I am we're finally dating. It was about time you ditched that Cohen queer.' Zach made his move ever so subtly. He slowly reached an arm over an wrapped it around Summer's spread out body. She was sprawled right out on the bed with Zach lying next to her. She looked away from the screen and confusedly searched his eyes for any reasoning for his actions. Zach took both of his hands and cupped her face so she was looking only at him. She stared directly into his eyes frightfully but he just shook it off, and finally captured her lips with his.

Seth was still smirking to himself. He would rather stand outside her door and whip up possible scenarios as to how everything could turn out. They all mostly involved Summer ending up naked, but that was beside the point. It was the thought that counts.

He searched around the hallway for anything to give to her. He found a vase that was sitting right near the entrance to presumably her father's room. He pulled out a few of the fake flowers that were situated in there only for show. He grabbed them and shrugged. It was the thought that counted.

He bounded back toward Summer's room this time without stopping. He sprung the door wide open and with a smile. His original plan was to enter with the look of 'the man with the plan' and try to act confident. However his confidence was completely dashed within a matter of seconds.

'Summer….'It started out cheerful and finished off more upset and teary.

Summer was sprawled out across the bed with her head cocked entirely to the side making out with the guy beside her. Seth saw who the guy was, it was Zach, who else. They both sprung apart and looked up at him. Summer smacked Zach but kept her eyes fixed on Seth, while Zach was grinning cockily.

'S-Seth I….' Summer looked frantically around the room as if searching for a possible explanation. She whipped her head back around and finally took notice of what Seth had. He had flowers in his hand, though she distinctively remembered seeing those exact ones in her house earlier, but hey it was the thought that counts. It was the thought, it was past tense now. Summer mentally smacked herself for screwing up yet again. She was beginning to feel like the saint in her and Cohen's….relationship? God she didn't know what they were.

'Uhhhh these are for you…hey Zach…' Seth didn't attempt to look up at them, instead finding something better to stare at on the ground. He blindly held his hand out for Summer to take the flowers. He rubbed his face and sniffled.

'I-I-I I gotta go…' Seth turned on his heel and sprung out of the room before either had a chance to explain. Well before one, had a chance. Zach was grinning like an idiot. Summer shook off her tearful emotions of receiving the flowers from Seth and bounded down the stairs after him. Neil had his arms crossed and remained by the door as Seth ran by.

'Leaving so soon?" Neil smirked as Seth didn't even attempt to glare at him, and just ran out the open door. Neil however was not pleased with finding Summer racing out the door after him. He never had a chance to shut the door before she made it out, he was busy soaking in his trickery.

'Cohen wait…I'm sorry'

'No really Summer, I gotta go. Sorry I interrupted whatever you had going there.' Seth lowered his head as he started the car.

'So that's it? Your going to come over here and just leave. Talk to me Seth.'

'No I'd rather not, save that for your boyfriend'

'Don't be silly, you're my boyfr-' Summer stared absentmindedly at Seth and he just slowly nodded his head and shifted the car in gear. Realization dawned on Summer, Cohen was no longer her's. They weren't dating.

'See yeah. Enjoy the rest of your night…' Seth finally looked up and gave one last tearful gaze, then pulled out of the driveway. Summer remained frozen on the spot, watching for the second time that day, him leaving.

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Ryan sat in the poolhouse with his hands buried in his head. All of his worst suspicions were confirmed. Marissa didn't wait for him like he had hoped. She moved right along and found someone knew. Who the hell was that guy anyway? He sure as hell had never seen him. The thing that killed him the most was that Ryan actually had waited for Marissa, its just that she never knew that. His relationship with Theresa was strictly based around the baby. The only reason he stayed after they lost the baby was so that Theresa wasn't utterly alone.

The pool house doors flung open and Seth came walking in with less swagger than before and was looking very depressed. Despite whatever was going on with Seth, Ryan felt like being alone.

'Seth, this is really isn't the best time….' Seth remained emotionless and did a complete 180 of Ryan's wishes. He plopped down on the chair and stared aimlessly into nowhere. Ryan just sighed then fell back on his bed. They remained quiet for several minutes.

'I really shouldn't have gone over there….' Ryan quietly muttered and swiped away furiously at his hair.

'I know what you mean, I know what you mean…'