Seth's eyes were on nothing but the great beauty walking towards him, all raven hair and tight dress and faultless curves. She was walking straight towards him, and everything else in the room was a blur; a radiant glow surrounded Summer and made her his one and only focus.
In mere seconds she was there, standing in front of him. She sat down in the chair facing the tense boy and looked him over. She seemed to notice something on Seth's navy dress pants and reached out to brush it away.
Her hand lingered at his knee and before Seth knew it, it was snaking its way upwards and towards his thigh.
Seth swallowed hard, desperately trying to remove the lump from his throat. He only succeeded in making it thicker and making himself more nervous. "S-Summer?"
Almost immediately, she brought the forefinger of her other hand to his lips, silencing him.
Eyes wide, Seth looked around. Nobody else was in the room. Most everyone was partying in the main room or the kitchen, and he had found this nice little den to hide in. And it gets him Summer, and she's all over him.
His whole body was stiff with anxiety, unsure what Summer was doing to him. He held back the urge to whisper her name again; he was still one hundred percent confused on what, exactly, she was doing. Then again, he didn't necessarily want her to stop, either.
Her slow-moving hand finally reached his thigh, giving Seth an internal shiver. But she didn't stop there. Her hand kept moving, and soon there was no more leg to glide across.
Seth closed his eyes and tried to swallow again. Once more, to no avail.
Without warning, Summer hoisted herself into Seth's lap from her chair, pushing her former seat away with a soft kick of her leg.
Seth was becoming aroused, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He gritted his teeth as Summer gave his upper leg a squeeze. She had to know the effect she was having on him.
With much effort, and potential regret, Seth lifted his hand and pulled hers away. "Okay, okay, Summer," he managed, trying as hard as he could to keep his voice informing rather than cracking, "you really need to tell me what's going on here."
She pulled back and looked at him, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "I knew you were dense, Cohen, but really."
"No, no, I know what's going on, but… what's going on?"
"Forget it, I'm leaving," she said, attempting to stand.
"Wait," he told her. "Are you sure you really want to do this?"
"Do what, Cohen?" she demanded. Seth knew what she was doing. She was going to see how he'd answer so she could tease him, and say something like, Oh God, Cohen, you really must be dreaming. Even if that really was what she was planning. So, in a very unSethlike manner, he bit his tongue and didn't say anything.
He waited for her to say something, anything.
"You don't think we're going to have sex, right?" See?
"N-No, of course not. You and me, have s-sex?"
Summer rolled her eyes at his stuttering. "Really. You need to lighten up."
"And how do you propose I do that? If you haven't noticed, Summer, I'm not exactly the guy that gets felt up at parties."
Summer stifled a laugh. "Has anyone ever told you how funny you are?" She gave him a pointed look. "Anyway, this whole thing was just a… I don't know, a test, I guess."
"A test?"
"Mmhmm," Summer mumbled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You totally need to work on the whole self-confidence thing. You're too uptight." Seth thought that Summer's little comment was awfully similar to Anna's, but if he valued the very manhood that he was attempting to keep calm, there was no way he'd tell Summer that.
"Yeah, well, that's me for ya."
"Have you ever scored with a girl?" Summer asked bluntly.
He gave her a shocked look, which she couldn't discern as either real or faux, but she shook it off. "If you mean if I've ever partaken in a sexual relation to a certain caliber, then… no."
"Okay, we're on the same page here then."
"Wait, wait, wait. You," Seth said, gently poking her chest, making sure not to touch anywhere near her breasts, "are not a virgin."
She grabbed his hand and pushed it away. "I know that you have that freaky obsession thing with me, but you don't know as much about me as I do."
"You had sex with—"
"Rumor. People at Harbor School believe whatever they hear, Seth. You should know that, given the fact that ever since Luke started calling you a queer, you've been socially branded as so."
"You act way to confident to be a virgin."
"How'd you put it…? Oh, right, I've never partaken in a sexual relation to that certain caliber, but I'm not all über-innocent, either. Plus it helps when you know that someone thinks you're the most beautiful person in the world."
"See, I don't have that."
"Usually, unless I'm mistaken, guys aren't described as beautiful," she told him.
"I've never been called handsome except for by my mother and grandma. So any form of attractiveness? Yeah, never been called any of 'em."
"You're sexy," Summer whispered.
Seth grinned at her. "Riiight. Thanks Summer, really instilled the confidence there."
"Well, you could be," she pointed out. "Just work on your wardrobe a little—"
"Don't bash my novelty tees."
"—but not everything has to go," she insisted. She ran her hand through his hair. "Hmm. Nice, but could be better. I should get you an appointment with Julia. She's my hairstylist. Anyway, so clothes, hair. Now the confidence is the kicker."
"You totally sound like some kind of old dude football coach."
"Hush, Cohen. Seriously, if you acted more suavely with chicks, you could totally get somewhere. Don't let them know that you're afraid, or nervous, or whatever."
"You expect me to gain all of this confidence just like that?"
"No, that's what I'm here for. I'm going to work with you until you fix this whole thing."
"Summer…"
"Shh," she whispered, and kissed him. He didn't expect it, and his eyes opened wide. He then realized that his eyes were still open, and he quickly shut them. He didn't really want to argue with Summer… especially in this situation.
After a few seconds, she pulled away. "Wha…?" he asked wearily.
"You need to take charge. I can't be the only one giving out. I want to feel something, too. And it'll show me that you're confident and you can kiss a girl without freezing up or just sitting there like a dork."
"Because, you know, I've had so much experience."
"Don't tell me that was your first kiss!"
"Um, no. If you recall, there was the incident by my pool."
"So I was your first kiss anyway?"
"Not quite."
"Oh, do tell."
"That's a story for another time, sista," Seth said, somehow getting more settled into the environment.
"Confidence…." she reminded.
"Actually, this has nothing to do with my lack or have of confidence. It would actually probably disgust you or haunt you or something of the likes."
"Fine, your choice. I'll be seeing you." She got up to leave, but she knew that Seth would fall.
So did he. And he did. "Marissa."
"Did you hit you head, boy? Summer."
"No," Seth said, holding his head in his hands, gingerly rubbing circles into his temples. "Marissa was my… I was Marissa's… she and I… um…."
"Marissa was your first kiss?" Summer squealed. "When?"
"Second grade?" Seth offered without much effort, though the information was correct.
"No way. She said that Luke was her first kiss, and she didn't kiss him until they started dating."
"In fifth grade, yeah, yeah. We don't really talk about the topic much."
"I can't believe that Coop didn't tell me."
"Anyways, the task at hand…."
"She lied to me, the little wench," Summer said playfully, though ignoring Seth.
"Summer?"
"She's gonna get an earful when I see her."
"Summer?"
"You'd think that she'd—"
Seth surprised her by forcing his lips down on hers. Her own words fluttered back into her mind. And it'll show me that you're confident and you can kiss a girl without freezing up or just sitting there like a dork.
Talk about proof of worth. Seth Cohen, if you can take it upon yourself to kiss Summer Roberts on your own, you've achieved an extreme level of confidence.
But right now, Summer didn't care about whether he was confident or insecure, sexy or just cute, or who his first kiss was. Because right now, he was kissing her. And though she never would have thought it possible, he knew how to kiss. She'd never felt that way while kissing someone before. Seth might just have a chance with her after all.
end