AUTHOR'S NOTES: The characters Jewel Goldman and Adam Roam are from the tv show "Skin." "Skin" and its characters belong to Jerry Bruckheimer and Fox Television. The lyrics to "You Are" were written by Wynonna Judd, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick.
***
"You mean to tell me you're giving up, just like that," Ryan said as he stood before the mirror and adjusted his tie. It was Saturday night, the night of the big dance, and he had to pick up Marissa in forty minutes.
"Dude, Anna's not talking to me. Besides, I heard she's going to the dance with Adam Roam," Seth said as he leaned against a table outside the bathroom's doorway.
"Roam? The DA's son. I thought he was dating some pornographer's daughter."
"I guess they broke up. Anyway, he's taking Anna to the dance. So, I guess it's just you and me partner," Seth said as he picked Captain Oats off the table and galloped him across the air.
"C'mon, you put more effort into brushing your teeth this morning. Isn't Anna worth it?"
"Yeah, but I'll probably end up making a fool out of myself," Seth said as he placed Captain Oats back on the table then walked to stand next to Ryan in the mirror, checking his face for hair.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you've made a fool out of yourself over less."
"Thanks for the pep talk buddy," Seth said hitting Ryan on the arm.
"Seriously, you should come to the dance. If I have to put on a monkey suit and endure this hell, you should too."
***
An hour and ten minutes later, Seth, Ryan, and Marissa pulled in front of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The two boys were dressed in simple black tuxedos while Marissa was clothed in a powder blue sequined Carolina Herrera dress.
"Well here goes nothing," Seth said as they climbed out of the car. After handing his mother's car keys to the valet, he, Ryan and Marissa headed toward the hotel's ornate stone-carved entrance. There were fashionably dressed couples both young and old crowding the hotel's lobby with its gold and crystal chandelier and mermaid fountain in the center of the room.
"Seth," Marissa began then stopped.
"What?"
"I don't know how to say this."
"Yeah," Seth said moving his hand in a winding motion, signaling Marissa to go on.
"Summer's going to be here."
"I figured as much."
Marissa looked from Ryan to Seth then at her shoes. "She won't be alone."
"Oh," Seth said. He did feel something at the news, but it was hard for him to say exactly what. He supposed some of it was a feeling of loss, he had spent six years of his life "loving" Summer, but he had made peace with them being just friends. Anna was the one he wanted now. When he was with her, he felt as if he was home and home was a good place to be. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the sympathetic looks on Marissa and Ryan's faces. "I'm okay," he tried to reassure them. "Really," Seth added after Ryan shot him one of his patented looks.
As they entered the hotel's main ballroom, white confetti fell onto their heads causing Ryan to sputter and almost choke.
"Sorry," Marissa said brushing the confetti from his clothes and hair. "The dance committee thought this would be cool."
Seth immediately began scanning the room looking for Anna. At first, all he saw were couples dressed in formal wear. Like him and Ryan, most of the guys were outfitted in the basic black tuxedo, the girls, on the other hand, wore dresses in an array of colors and styles designed by Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Giorgio Armani, and Valentino to name a few. Finally, he spotted her near a buffet table laughing at something Adam Roam was saying. Adam was tall with brown closely cropped hair and because he ran track, his body was well toned. A lot of girls found him attractive, but he'd been totally straight-laced before Jewel Goldman, the pornographer's daughter, had come along. In fact, Seth had once overheard Adam say that 'his father was Irish, his mother was Mexican, and he was all Catholic.' Plus, not only was his father the LA County District Attorney, but his mother was a federal judge.
Seth had to admit he was jealous. It pained him to see some other guy talking intimately with Anna and making her laugh. But, he took a deep breath and slowly made his way over to the buffet table anyway. He couldn't help noticing that the dance committee had gone all out with the refreshments; there was shrimp, crab cakes, prosciutto, and caviar.
"I draw too," he heard Anna say. "I haven't taken classes like you have though."
"That's okay. Natural talent is the key. The classes just helped me work on technique," Adam replied.
"Hello Anna," Seth said softly.
"Adam, why don't we go dance," she said ignoring Seth and grabbing Adam's hand and leading him onto the dance floor.
Eva Cassidy's "Songbird" came over the sound system. Seth watched painfully as Anna put her hand on Adam's shoulder and he placed his hand on the small of her back.
"So I'm not the only one who thinks this scene is all wrong," a female voice said from behind him. Seth turned around to see a blonde-haired girl standing next to him. She was pretty with blue eyes and bee-stung lips, and was dressed in a silver, clingy, silk, sheath dress.
"Jewel Goldman," she said extending her hand.
"The pornographer's …," he stopped in mid-sentence realizing how awful that sounded. "Sorry. I'm Seth Cohen," he said shaking her hand.
"Nothing I haven't heard before," she said. But he could see her lower lip quiver as if she were about to cry.
"So what school do you go to?"
"Pacific. I came here hoping to talk to Adam, but he seems to be occupied. Who's the girl?"
"Anna Stern."
"Anna and Adam, how cute."
"Yeah, cute like gremlins eating after midnight," Seth said under his breath.
"Huh."
"Nothing."
"It's obvious you'd rather be with Anna and no offense, but I would definitely rather be with Adam."
"Yep," Seth said rocking back and forth on his heels, his hands in his front pockets.
"So what are we going to do?" Jewel asked.
There's nothing more I can do, Seth thought hopelessly. "Well, I screwed up royally with Anna. As a girl, if I wanted to win you back, what could I do?" he asked anyway.
"Hmm," Jewel said as she picked up a crab cake. "I guess something really romantic."
Romantic? I don't know the first thing about romance, he thought when an idea suddenly popped into his head. Was this Providence or Captain Oats working a miracle? "Something embarrassingly, humiliatingly romantic?" he asked her.
"A little embarrassment and humiliation couldn't hurt."
"If you'd excuse me," Seth said then walked over to the DJ booth.
As soon as "Songbird" ended, the DJ switched on his headset microphone and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a karaoke request."
A mixture of moans, groans, cheers, and jeers swept the crowd, but Seth squared his shoulders and walked onto the stage and up to the microphone.
"If everyone could just bear with me," Seth began. "Apparently, Wynonna Judd isn't popular with the kids, so I'm going to have to sing this a cappella."
"Sit down Cohen," a male voice from the back of the room called out.
"Yeah geek," another voice added.
"There will be no more name calling gentlemen," Ms. Kim said.
"Anna, this is for you." Seth took a deep breath then began the opening lines of Wynonna's "You are."
How do you do it anyway?
Like there ain't nothing to it
To make me stay
No tricks with smoke and mirrors
Not anything up your sleeve
A second look and it can't be clearer
It's no mystery
It's in the way you love
It's in the little things you say
It's in the way you live
And give your heart away
It's in the chance you took
It's in the way you look at me
That sets you a world apart
And makes you who you are
You are … beautiful
You are
Pressed on my soul
Your fingerprint
Gone where no one's ever been
Well I don't know how but I know you're in it
My life, my world, my dreams
I try but I just can't pin it down to one thing
After Seth had finished, the audience remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, then all at once, the room erupted in applause. Slowly he looked out at the crowd, Marissa and Ryan stood off to the side, Marissa clapping enthusiastically and Ryan, fingers in his mouth, making wolf whistles. Next, his eyes landed on Summer. She'd been crying and he could see her mouth the word 'bravo' as she gave him the thumbs up sign. Finally, he turned to face Anna. A part of him didn't want to see her just in case she still didn't feel the same as he did. But there she was, alternately clapping and wiping tears from her eyes. Adam was still by her side, but in the interim, Jewel Goldman had slipped next to him and was holding his hand. Slowly Seth climbed down from the stage and made his way through the crowd of cheers and back slapping to where Anna stood.
"Well," Seth said as he reached out and drew her close.
"I don't quite know what to say," Anna said rising on her tiptoes and brushing Seth's hair with her hand.
"What! Anna Stern. Speechless," Seth said in mock horror.
She smiled at him and leaned in close, so close that he could feel her breath on his cheek. Then she kissed him softly on the mouth. Seth could feel his body grow warm as a slow smile spread across his face. Once she released him, he stood breathless, euphoric and so dazed that all he could do was stare at her open-mouthed.
"What," Anna said smiling up at him. "Seth Cohen. Speechless."
The End