AN - Thanks for the reviews. This is the final chapter. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it. There is a song in it, "Day Old Hate" by City and Colour, I was listening to it while writing, so if you want you could listen to it while reading... So one last time, please read, hopefully enjoy, and review, please!
The Italics are flashbacks, but they're pretty easy to tell because each one starts with their age at the time
The Bold-Italics are the song, but that's also pretty easy to tell.
DISCLAIMER - I own nothing. Chapter 10: Concrete and the Fool
The dictionary defines 'concrete' as several things, one of them being, "pertaining to or concerned with realities or actual instances rather than abstractions; particular–the opposite of 'general'" another one being, "an artificial stone-like material."
Seth hated concrete, he hated the 'concrete answers' that people wanted out of him, and he hated falling on concrete, because, well, it hurt. There was only one thing that Seth had ever been completely certain about, the fact that Summer and him would end up together, even if they fought for weeks on end, they would always come back to each other; as friends or as more. Well, actually, he wasn't always so sure that him and Summer would end up together, he was sure that what he felt for Summer was far more than what regular people feel for their best friends. He didn't know why he exploded on Summer back in the house, he just knew that his mind was strange, and it was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Age 5: The First Meeting
Seth bounced on his heels, waiting to get to the front of the line; he couldn't wait to see Santa! Sure, he was Jewish, but he was Christian too, it was an unbeatable combination. He was nearing the golden gate that was supposed to look like the entrance to the North Pole. A brunette teenager in an elf costume walked up to them, a much smaller almost identical girl holding her hand. "Hi guys!" the teenager said perkily, "I'm Mandy, the assistant elf, and this is my assistant and cousin, Summer."
"Summer? Isn't that a season?" Seth asked curiously.
The small brunette girl shot him a look, "Yeah! But Summer is the most prettiful season so that makes me," she pointed to herself, "The most prettifulest girl ever."
"Okay, you are very prettiful." Seth said sheepishly.
Summer giggled, "Boys don't say prettiful! It's a girl word."
"I'm not a girl!" he retorted, without a hint of anger.
Mandy smiled at the two five year olds, "What's your name?" she asked Seth.
"I'm Seff" he grinned up at the teenager.
"Seth, would you like a lollypop?"
Seth looked up at his mom, "Grandpa sayed lollypops are bad, and I shouldn't eat them…"
Kirsten smiled, "Sure, honey, go ahead. And Grandpa doesn't know what he's talking about,"
"Thanks mommy!" Seth grabbed a red lollypop from the basket Mandy was carrying.
"Red's my favourite too," Summer said to Seth.
"Red is the bestest kind." Seth agreed, ripping the plastic cover off the lollypop.
So let's face it this was never what you wanted
But I know it's fun to pretend
Now blank stares and empty threats
Are all I have, they're all I have.
Summer looked at the crumpled tissues strewn across the couch. The long bout of crying could've been the after-effects of watching "My Girl" or the results of eating way too much Wasabi on her Sushi, or it most likely could've been, Seth. He had no right to say all those things, or actually, he had every right, because what he said was true. She had been horrible by not telling him how she felt and giving him the wrong ideas. She had been stupid. She had been the fool. But if you thought about it, Seth had been a fool too, for holding back on telling her how he felt.
A fool: noun – a person who lacks judgment or sense.
Age 6: Seth kicked the soccer ball to Troy, a friend of his, and Troy kicked it to Summer. Just as she was about to do the 'super-cool' new trick she'd learnt, of kicking the ball backwards to the person directly behind her, she tripped over the ball, landing on her knees. A few tears fell from her face as Seth ran up to her. She looked at him with watery eyes, "I scraped it... it hurts."
"Do you want me to kiss it better?" Seth asked in concern
Summer scrunched up her nose, "Only daddy and mommy do that."
"But daddy and mommy aren't here right now."
"I know that, dumb bum! Fine you can kiss it better."
Seth looked at the barely scraped knee that he was expected to kiss, he leant forward and simply brushed his lips against it. "Better?"
"Yep. Almost. You ever wonder what a real kiss would feel like?"
"No, not really."
"I do. We should try it. Your mommy and daddy kiss all the time and they always have these gigantic smiles afterwards."
"Anything for you, Summy," Seth smiled, using their old nickname that was rarely used anymore. He puckered his lips like he'd seen in movies and waited for Summer to do something.
"You are supposed to kiss me, dummy, but since you're a dummy I guess I can kiss you," she puckered her lips in the same fashion that Seth had and pecked his lips once, quickly, and then pulling away.
After two whole seconds of sitting there with his eyes closed and his lips still puckered up, he opened his eyes and looked at Summer, "You have a gigantic smile on your face."
Two weeks after their fight and Summer and Seth still hadn't said more than, "Hey," or "What's up?" "Nothing much, you?" "Same."
It was way past awkward and Seth didn't know how to mend their friendship. Or even, if he could go back to being just friends. He had been 'just friends' with her for nine years of his life and it was fine and all, but not what he wanted. He wanted to stroke her hair when she was sad, and most of all he wanted to tell her that he loved her, which he'd decided would be the second thing he knew was concretely true.
Age 13: Seth kicked his foot on the pavement, pushing himself gracefully along the pier on his skateboard. If he had to say so himself, he was pretty good at skateboarding, it was one of his many talents. As he heard his cell phone—or felt his cell phone—vibrating, he attempted the whole phone-while-skateboarding-ultra-cool move, but instead he did a face plant onto the concrete. The phone slipped out of his hands, so he fumbled around the ground, looking for it. He found it, and then he brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
All he heard was a sob on the other end.
"Summer?"
He heard "Mmhm" and then more sniffles.
"What's wrong?"
He heard her attempting to compose herself, "Come over?"
"Be right there," he waited for a response from Summer but none came, so he hung up, racing to Summer's house.
As he arrived he noticed the atmosphere was different than normal; her father wasn't there, nor was her mother.
He walked up the stairs towards Summer's room, knocking once and then entering the room. He made his way across the floor, which was covered in worn clothing. When he reached her, he didn't ignore his first instinct of enveloping her in a hug.
She touched his face, lightly, on the scrape he had from falling. She looked up at him, wide-eyed, silently asking what happened.
"It's nothing."
After several long minutes of having Summer crying into his shirt, she mumbled something along the lines of, "She's gone."
Seth stroked her hair, comforting her, "Who's gone?"
"Mom."
"Where'd she go?"
Summer shook her head.
And she let out another sob and kept crying, and Seth knew, in that second, exactly what had happened. He had once loved Summer's parents, and he still loved her dad—but he now officially hated Summer's mom.
So drown me and if you can
Or we could just have conversation.
And I fall, I fall, I falter
But I'll find you before I drift away
Summer inhaled, feeling that familiar clench in her chest that she felt whenever she thought of Seth. Her heart felt like in was in her throat, pounding rapidly. It had been a week, one day, and three hours since her and Seth had even spoken. Yes, she had counted. She allowed a few stray tears to fall, knowing that they both had screwed up horribly.
"Honey, can I come it?" Neil knocked softly on the door.
"Sure, dad."
"Well, hi, long time no see," he smiled at his daughter.
Summer grinned back, "Yeah, sorry, I've just been…busy with school."
"So I've heard. I should call those teachers and tell them they should let up on the work load…it's destroying quality father-daughter time."
She laughed slightly, "I'll be sure to tell them that."
"Well, good. I've been meaning to talk to you about something, actually."
"I'm listening."
"Okay, so I was talking to Sandy, and he talked to Ryan who talked to Seth who told us pretty much everything that happened."
"Everything?"
"I think so. Well, the gist of it anyway—you know how Seth talks."
"Oh."
"Yeah, so, I just wanted to tell you something that you may or may not know already."
"Okay."
"So, when you were about seven years old, you were in swimming lessons with Seth, and he was the only one who could get you to get off the wall of the pool. And then, the mothers started planning your wedding, when you were seven! Sandy and I thought they were crazy, but now, I can see that my baby girl actually does like Seth Cohen, in that way, maybe not a 'marrying' way, 'cause you're only 16…but in a like, like way. And I'm pretty sure he likes you back."
Summer let out a shaky laugh, "I know he likes me back."
"Then why aren't you guys speaking?"
"Because…daddy…it's just so complicated."
"Did he do something?"
"Yes and no. We both did stuff that we shouldn't have, and that ended up in us fighting—for real."
Age 7: Summer gripped the edge of the pool, her water wings holding her up. She was still afraid, though. The shallow end of four feet deep was pretty deep for her three-and-a-half-foot-tall self. Her father and mother were in the bleachers, watching their daughter attempt to get off the wall. Summer looked behind, startled as she felt a pair of small hands on her sides.
"C'mon, Summy, you can do it," Seth said softly, not demanding, really, but asking and actually telling her she could do it.
"I can't. It's so deep!" she whispered, a slight tremor in her voice.
"You have floaties," he protested, "They make you float."
"I know, I can't—,"
"Wait. I have an idea! I'll carry you!" he started to walk backwards slowly, pulling her off the wall, she squealed nervously. "It's okay, I've got you," he pulled her out so she was lying on her back and floating, so he didn't really have to do any work. After several minutes of just floating there, he asked her quietly, "Can I let go yet?"
She clutched his arm, "No! I'll get drownded!"
"No you won't!"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, fine, Sum, but you gotta learn swimming one day."
"When I'm tall enough to stand in the shallow part."
"That's never going to happen, you're gonna be shorter than me for ever and ever." Seth grinned cheekily at her, she was about to smack him, but he laughed at her, "Don't forget I'm holding your life in my hands right now!"
Now you still speak of day old hate
Though your whole world has gone up into flames
And isn't it great to find that you're really worth nothing
And how safe it is to feel safe.
Seth lifted his head from the pillow to see Ryan towering over his head. "Hey man, how's it going?"
"Oh, just…great, I finally got Marissa to break up with Luke."
"I'm very happy for you," Seth said, overly cheerful.
"What about you? Sorted out your little fight with Summer yet?"
Seth sighed, "a) It is not a little fight, and b) no I haven't."
"I think you guys are blowing this thing way out of proportion."
"Me too!"
"Then why aren't you over there apologizing?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.
Seth smirked at him, "Because she should apologize too, and she won't."
"Says who?"
"Look, I appreciate you trying to get me out of this situation, but Summer is just…stubborn."
"So are you."
"Well then, we'll get nowhere."
"Why don't you take charge and go over there," Ryan said, Seth was about to interject but Ryan continued on, "I'm not saying you have to apologize; I'm just saying you should go over there, and instead of being stupid and skipping the whole 'dating' part, Ask. Her. Out."
"What, am I just supposed to go over there like nothing happen and be like, 'Summer, you wanna grab a bite to eat?'"
"Sure. Then you guys can talk it over, and go back to being…Seth and Summer."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Marissa told me that Summer is being just like you; eating, sleeping, going to school, and that's it."
"Hey! I do other stuff…like Playstation."
"Yeah, but you always play Playstation when you mope."
"I finished moping, like, a week ago; I'm over it."
Ryan tilted his head to give Seth the 'Look,' "We both know that's not true."
"It's sorta true…I've stopped…sleeping 'til 5pm on Saturdays."
"You slept 'til 5, like, once 'cause you were up all night drawing pictures of Summer."
"Exactly! I've stopped drawing Summer—now I strictly do landscapes."
"When have you ever drawn a landscape?"
"You know…once…" Seth mumbled.
Age 12: Seth rubbed Summer's back in a comforting way, whispering random words that would make her feel better. They could still hear her parents yelling at one another.
Something had changed with her mother in the seven years Seth had known her.
She was angry all the time; at Summer and at Neil.
She wasn't supposed to be mad at Summer. It was okay for her to be angry with Neil, because all married couples fight; that was inevitable.
They heard the shatter of the wine glass against the wall and a high-pitched shriek.
And Summer clutched Seth tighter.
This was the one time Seth could hold back on his 'comedy' because for once he realized that it would only make things worse than they already were.
So drown me and if you can
Or we could just have conversation.
And I fall, I fall, I falter
But I'll find you before I drift away
"I need to talk to you right now," Seth hissed at Summer.
She ignored him, but turned her head slightly so she was almost facing him.
"Please!" he hissed again, and shot his hand up.
The teacher pointed to him, "Seth?"
"Can I go to the washroom?"
The teacher sighed, "Sign out."
"Meet me in 2 minutes at the water fountain," he whispered to Summer before standing up signing his name on the sign out sheet.
Why he had an epiphany in the middle of science class was unknown to him. It was weird, considering science was usually one of his favourite classes; to be zoning out and thinking of Summer. Well, he was always thinking of Summer, but, like, actually thinking about them. About four minutes later, Summer appeared behind him.
"What do you want, Seth?"
He inhaled, "I-I want to say," he paused, to look at her, "Sorry."
She shot him an attempted glare, "For what?"
"For saying that stuff to you, I didn't mean it. And for being such a jerk by bringing up Ryan and Marissa just when we-uh-were…kissing. And for not telling you how I felt right away, or for…"
Summer's features softened, "I get the picture, Cohen."
"Good. So, I was, uh, wondering if we could, uh, try again."
"What do you mean?"
"Like, if you wanna be friends then that's cool…or if you wanna, like, go out with me for one date, just to see how it goes…"
Summer had to work very hard to resist the impulse to smile, "When?"
"Tomorrow?"
"Where?"
"The Crab Shack?"
"Time?"
"7?"
"Okay."
And then she walked back to class. If Seth didn't know her as well as he already did, he would've thought she was being cruel. But she wasn't. She was just being Summer. But she wasn't being his Summer; she was being the Summer she was to everyone else. The Summer with her walls built up and who showed little to no emotion.
Fool: verb – to pretend.
"I want it to be perfect," Seth demanded into the phone.
"And what am I supposed to do about that?" Ryan even sounded like he was giving him 'The Look.'
"Advice, man, A-D-V-I-C-E, Advice."
"Advice?"
"Dude…I just said that like five times."
"Yeah, I know. So, perfect date—first date…what about the classic: dinner and a movie."
"Every guy would do that. I want to, like, stand out."
"Okay fine, how about something special, like from your guys' 'history.'"
"Have you seen the movie My Girl?"
"Yeah, I think…it's with Macaulay Culkin, right?"
"That's the one. Well, our first kiss was like straight out of that movie—minus the bees and the asking to marry thing."
"I don't really remember it all that well…"
"In the movie, the girl asks Macaulay Culkin to kiss her, just to see what it feels like—and then he asks her to marry him when they get older if their teacher doesn't like her back. Well, when we were six, Summer asked me to kiss her because she said my parents always smiled after they kissed so she wanted to see what the big deal was."
"So…why don't you rent My Girl?"
"That's, like, one of the saddest movies ever! I can't handle it, Ryan."
"Oh. Well, is there anything else?"
"Uh, nope, not that could make anything good…unless I use something bad from the past…"
"Like…?"
"I could rent Lord of the Rings 3; it was supposed to be the movie we saw on our almost first date back in seventh grade."
—————————————
Summer admired her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a light blue top and a mini skirt—it was almost the perfect outfit, if she had to say so herself. She had demanded that Seth picked her up because that was what he was supposed to do. As she finished applying the last of her cherry flavoured lip gloss, she heard the doorbell ringing.
She walked slowly down the stairs, noticing that her dad had already answered the door.
"Seth! Long time no see!" Neil slapped a hand on Seth's shoulder.
"Uh, yeah, hi," Seth winced slightly in pain.
"I assume you're here for Summer?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, she's upstairs, but first, could I have a word with you?"
"Sure…but quickly, because I don't want to make her upset by being late…"
"It'll be quick, don't worry. I just wanna tell you that she's been miserable lately."
"Really?"
"Yeah, so just be sure not to mess this up, because I can't stand to see her like this any longer."
Seth's eyes widened in fear, the pressure was on! "Don't worry…I'll make sure we at least stay friends."
"Good. Now go, before she gets angry."
"Thanks, Neil, see ya," Seth shifted nervously before noticing Summer on the stairs; looking wonderful, as always.
"Hey, Seth. You wanna go?" Summer spoke softly.
He cringed slightly, as she still was calling him Seth, "Yeah, c'mon."
—————————————
"That was you, there's no possible way I could've eaten that," Seth smirked.
"No! I remember it so well, I even gave you the five bucks after," Summer grinned back.
Their date had been going extremely well, after about twenty minutes of awkward small talk, they had settled into a nice—comfortable—conversation zone. Meaning, they hadn't brought up any of the stuff that needed to be discussed.
"Oh, right, and then we were stuck listening to my Grandfather discuss stocks for the next hour or so."
"No, that was later, wasn't it?"
"I dunno…too many memories to keep track," he laughed slightly, "So, how've you been?"
Summer shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "Um, okay, normal, I guess. What about you?"
"I've, uh, been the same,"
"Good. So what prompted…" she gestured between the two of them, "…this?"
"Lots of stuff, I mean, I was okay, but my life's not nearly as…interesting without you in it."
"Interesting?"
"I don't know! It's just boring and kinda sad."
"So, your life is 'sad' without me?" she said, using air-quotes for effect.
"Yeah, I guess. You and Ryan and sort of Marissa are pretty much the only people I talk to on a regular basis."
"Except you and me haven't talked that much lately, have we."
"Hence why my life is 'sad'," he mocked Summer by using air-quotes as she had.
Summer smiled at this last comment, suddenly very absorbed with spinning her Shrimp Fettuccine around her fork, "So, then why'd you bring up 'stuff' after I, uh, told you how I felt?" she said the last part so quickly and quietly that it was almost inaudible.
"I don't know; it was a long time coming, I guess, with everything—I think it must've started when I found out you'd kissed Jake, and then you taking so long to acknowledge how you felt…"
"How did you find out about me and Jake?"
"I walked in on Ryan yelling at him for me, and then I kind of 'shoved' him, well, I can't really hurt anyone but it was okay. Why'd you kiss him in the first place?"
"It doesn't matter."
"We have to talk about this!" Seth said in a warning tone, keeping his voice low, because they were in public.
She took a deep breath and mustered up the courage she would need to say what she was about to, "Because you—and your stupid little face and your little jokes and your little girlfriends and the jealousy and…you…wouldn't get out of my head and I needed to take my mind off of it, and there Jake was—totally making a move on me, so I just thought, whatever, and I kissed back, then he started going on about how he liked me, yada, yada, yada—and then I got soooo mad at him, because he thought it actually meant something, when it totally didn't, and I thought that was pretty obvious—,"
"Slow down there," Seth grinned slightly at Summer's ramblings, "So it didn't mean anything?"
"Nope, nothing. What about you and Amy?"
"Ew," Seth said.
"Seriously!" Summer said, a little more firmly than before, but a small smile had formed on her face.
"Seriously, it was disgusting—and she has a boyfriend, and she wrecked that night for me, because that was my—that was when I was going to tell you how I felt, I think."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Well why didn't you tell me when—after you got punched by what's his face?"
"Travis? I didn't tell you because when Amy kissed me all my doubts came flooding back, and all the time I'd spent trying to get up the nerve to tell you was wasted."
"How long did you spend doing that?"
"Uh…"
"Cohen!" Summer said, amused, "Tell me, I promise I won't laugh."
"Yeah you will."
"I probably will—but so what? It's what we do."
"Fine, I spent 4 and a half hours in front of my sketchbook and/or Playstation mulling over everything."
She let out a small giggle, "That's not that bad; I find the embarrassing part is that you know exactly how long it was without even thinking."
"Shut up," Seth teased.
"You done?" Summer referred to his food.
"Yup, are you?"
"Yeah. You wanna go?"
"Sure, let me pay first."
Seth was amazed at how fast they settled back into their 'zone,' it was as if nothing had happened. Well, they knew something had happened, and they talked about it happening but then, five seconds later, they were back to their usual teasing.
Summer was not as surprised as Seth was, but she was still a little startled at the ease at which Seth was handling the situation. She still had to apologize, she knew that, and she had so much more to apologize for than he did.
An hour later, they were back at the Cohen's house and Seth had insisted that they watch Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, in order to, like, correct their bad memories. Seth seemed to be enjoying it, but Summer was unbelievably bored; there was too much sword-fighting and battling and stuff.
"You liking it?" Seth asked awkwardly.
"Nah, too much violence," Summer shrugged.
"You couldn't at least pretend to like it?"
"Nope, I don't see what the point is anyway, that was like three or four years ago," she gazed up into his eyes, and without warning Seth pressed his lips against hers, kissing her slowly.
For several seconds, she kissed back, but then he felt her tense underneath him, "What's wrong?"
She looked up at him, eyes glazed over, and in barely more than a whisper she said, "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For…everything, I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have to be the one to say sorry, that should be me, 'cause you didn't do anything wrong, what you said was—not true—but that's what it seemed like. So, I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"No it's not! This—us—it's all my fault that we'll never go back to how we were."
"Do you really want to go back to that?"
"Yes, I mean, no, I just want us to be us again, it doesn't matter what."
"Well, I asked you out didn't I?"
"Mmhm," she nodded.
"And you said yes?"
"Yeah,"
"And if I were to ask you out on another date, and another, would you say yes?"
"Yes."
"So, where does that generally lead?"
Summer's eyes widened when she realized what he was getting at, "Are you saying…?"
"Yeah, Sum, I don't want to be your friend anymore, I want to be—,"
And before they knew what was happening Summer was kissing him again, softly at first.
Age 10: "Eat it!"
"You eat it!"
Summer's mouth dropped, "Ewwwwww!!!"
Seth poked the pâté nervously, "Uh, you sure?"
"Oh, I'm sure. Seth Cohen, you eat that duck liver right now, and you get five bucks."
He held out a hand, "Cracker," she placed the cracker in his hand, "Knife," he put the cracker down and positioned the knife that had just been handed to him above the jelly-like covering of the pâté, he made one smooth slice through it. He placed the cracker underneath the duck liver and let it fall onto the cracker.
It jiggled.
And Summer giggled, waiting expectantly for Seth to eat it.
He shoved the entire thing in his mouth.
After several minutes of chewing, he did what most ten-year-old boys would do, and opened his mouth to showcase the chewed food.
"EW!"
Seth ignore Summer's shrieks, "It's actually really good, you should try it."
"Ew, no way!"
"C'mon…if you eat it then I won't make you pay up the five dollars."
She smirked, "Like five dollars matters, after that little show you just gave me…there's no way I'm eating that nasty stuff."
Seth shrugged, "Your loss."
—————————————
"So you and Seth, eh?" Marissa said to her best friend.
"Yep, we're still taking it slow, though, very slow,"
"That's good, so you don't think of him as your 'friend' anymore?"
"That's why we're taking it slow, we need to make sure that we don't fall apart and become one of those…couples, like you and Ryan."
Marissa grabbed a pillow and whacked Summer over the head with it, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh nothing," she coughed loudly, "PDA!"
"You and Seth will become like that—just you watch, I'll be laughing at you someday."
"Never,"
Suddenly, Marissa started fiddling around her purse, "Wait, Ryan's calling."
"You do realize you're just making my point clearer, don't you."
"Shut up," Marissa smirked, before finding her cell phone and pressing 'TALK' "Hey…Yeah, sure…we'll be there in 10…bye, love yah!" she pressed 'END' "They want us to meet them at the diner."
"Wow, shortest conversation I've ever heard you had with Ryan…interesting."
"You sound so much like Seth now, it's kinda creeping me out."
"I do not sound like him! He rambles, I don't ramble at all! And he's sarcastic about, like, everything, when am I ever sarcastic?"
"Hmm…all the time?"
"Fine, I'm a little sarcastic, but what's your point?"
"You spend so much time around him now that you've picked up his 'traits'"
Summer arched an eyebrow, "I've always spent this much time around him, how is this any different?"
"Why don't we talk about this…on the way to the diner? Because we're already gonna be late."
"Fine, let's go."
—————————————
"All I have to say is…finally," Ryan said when Seth finished recounting everything that had happened with Summer.
"Yeah, totally, it's been brewing for almost two months."
"Brewing?"
"Yes, brewing, as in waiting to happen."
"I know what brewing means,"
"Then why'd you ask?"
"'Cause it just seems like a weird choice of a word,"
"When have I ever been normal?"
"Never?"
"Exactly, that's what makes me one in a million,"
Ryan sniggered a little bit, "Oh really?"
"Yeah, I've been told that by my mom, dad, and two teachers, so it much be true."
"Oh that definitely makes it true," Ryan said sarcastically.
"Exactly! So how're you and Marissa?"
"Really good, what about you and Summer?"
"We're good, taking it as slow as my Grandfather's driving,"
"I didn't know Caleb drove slowly…"
"Well, he does, apparently my dad drives too fast, so he wants to show me how to 'properly' drive."
"That makes sense, I guess…"
—————————————
"Sum, Sum, Summy!!" Seth hummed to himself as he saw Summer and Marissa approaching them.
"Ew, don't call me Summy" Summer wrinkled her nose and gave him a small side hug.
"Why not? It's cute," Marissa said.
"Yeah, Summy, it's cute," Seth grinned
"No it is not, it was cute when we were, uh, six, but not now, okay?"
"Fine," Seth grumbled, "So what do you two want?" he gestured to Ryan and Marissa
"What about me?" Summer swatted his arm.
"I already know what you want; you get the same thing every time."
"Ugh, fine, what do I want?"
"Short stack—chocolate chip and a black and white milkshake," Seth said smugly.
"Alright, you win."
Ryan and Marissa exchanged a glance, and Ryan spoke first, "I'll have the same."
Marissa nodded, "Me too,"
"Now—I know you're all wondering whether or not I'll have the same," Seth looked around to his friends' blank stares, "I know, I know, it's a tough decision, but I think I'll be original, instead of chocolate chip, I'll go with the blueberry."
—————————————
Two months, one week, and three days later, everything was still pretty much exactly the same as it had been since Seth and Summer "got together."
Seth was twirling some of Summer's hair around a finger as she told him about her day. He made sure to listen to every single word, because if he didn't, there would definitely be a rage blackout. And he didn't want that happening, did he? No, he did not.
"And then…Holly was getting on my nerves again, and Marissa said that she's been annoyed too,"
"Why don't you tell Holly to stop bothering you then?"
"Because she's my friend!"
"But I thought she was annoying you."
"She is! But you don't just abandon your friends when they're getting annoying. Ew, oh my god, I totally forgot, but Holly told me that her and Luke are going out! That's, like, a rule, you never go after your friends' exes, but Holly's never followed 'the rules'"
Seth smirked, "You have rules?"
"They're not, like, written down or anything—that would be weird, it's just common sense!"
"So your common sense is to not date friends' ex-boyfriends?"
"Yeah, would you ever date Ryan's ex?"
"No, wait—theoretically? 'Cause I don't know if I'm allowed to answer that."
She giggled, "Yeah, you geek, theoretically, and I give you permission to answer."
"Probably not, but if she was hot—,"
"Seth!"
"What? See I knew this would get me in trouble…"
"Who's hot?'
"Holly's kinda hot, in a weird superficial way…"
"Eww! Cohen I can't believe you just said that!"
"I am officially not saying anything else until we're off this subject."
Summer looked up at Seth innocently, "Don't you wanna know who I find hot?"
Seth nodded.
"Well, Ryan's smokin'," she looked up in amusement at the look of horror on Seth's face.
"We are never talking about this ever again, okay? You're hot and I must admit I'm pretty hot myself, no other people matter…" Seth said, completely serious.
"Fine, fine, but you're not hot!"
Seth grinned and moved closer to Summer, bringing his hands to her sides, starting to tickle her, "Say it!"
Between giggles, Summer managed a few "no's."
"Just say it," he moved his face closer to hers.
After a few more minutes of 'struggling,' Summer gave in and mumbled, "Fine."
Seth's lips were almost against Summer's now and he whispered, "I didn't hear you,"
"You're pretty hot."
"Good enough," Seth said before closing the miniscule gap between them.
After a while, Seth pulled back, "You know, if you're still in denial about how handsome I am, this isn't going to work."
"I'm not in denial about the fact that you're handsome, you are, but there's a difference between hot and handsome," she grinned cheekily at him.
"Oh really? And what is that?"
"Handsome is like…good looking, anyone can be handsome, for example, your dad is handsome, whereas hot is an entirely different story."
Seth's mouth dropped, "I hate you."
Summer put a hand on his chin, a smile on her face, "I love you, too, hottie."
—————————————
Seth remembered writing a note in his sketchbook, under a drawing he'd done of Summer's face only, so he would never forget what he was thinking when he drew it.
"I've always had friends, my best friend being Summer Roberts. She knew every little detail of my life-story, except for the fact that I've been hopelessly in love with her since the day we met.
But now she knows that, and someday, she'll tell me that she feels the same way. Not our little "I hate you-I love you" thing, like an actual 'romantic' moment. I don't really need to hear it anytime soon, though. She shows it easily enough—with her eyes, for example.
I know that we won't ever be 'the perfect couple', but we work 'pretty darn well', to quote my grandfather.
We will definitely break up—or at least have a huge fight—or fights, because judging from certain relationships around us, nothing is perfect. Even my parents (the moral centre of the universe—to quote Marissa's mother, Julie) have fought and made up countless times.
While I have no doubt in my mind that Summer and I work out, should anything come between us, I definitely don't want anything to happen.
But I know something will.
And, of course, we'll get through it.
Because that's what we do."
—————————————
the end.
Okay, I know that was at least a little cheesy, but I hope it wasn't too cheesy... I'm a terrible judge of these things. I might come back to this story someday, but I probably won't--I just wanted to leave it sort of open ended, but leave some closure. Again, thanks for reading and reviewing, and please leave a review on this chapter!
Sarah