Summer Roberts was exhausted. Somehow, she'd managed to put on her Valley Girl face and return to Tom's party, but the memory of kissing Seth by the pool was on a loop in her mind, rewinding itself to play again and again like a scene from a movie. An hour had passed, but she could still feel him beside her. Thankfully, she hadn't seen him inside, so she suspected that he'd left the party. Who could blame him, she thought bitterly, when it's just the same old Newport scene.

Summer grabbed a bottle of Grey Goose vodka and lined up thirteen shot glasses.

"Holly." She turned to her former friend with a wicked smile on her face. Holly hated vodka. "Wanna race?"

The boys whooped as Holly nodded and slid in next to Summer. The game was familiar - each girl would work her way down the end of the line, trying to reach "lucky 7" and beat the other girl's six shots. Summer's eyes flashed angrily as she narrowed her gaze on Holly.

"Ready. go!"

Summer felt as though she were hanging above the room, watching herself. Using two hands, she downed one shot while picking up another. She threw the vodka back into her throat without tasting it. She didn't realize that the shots were empty until she picked up an empty glass.

"Eight shots baby!" Tom picked her up and swung her around. "That's a new record!"

Summer enjoyed the moment for a minute. All of her old friends were around her, cheering as though she'd actually accomplished something that had a purpose instead of just winning a drinking contest.

Tom fell back onto the couch and pulled Summer on top of him. Her body instinctively stiffened, but she forced herself to stay still. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Holly's jealous expression, and Summer knew that dating Tom Seekin was a sure way back to her old, familiar life.

Tom rolled over and pulled Summer alongside him. He's not a bad guy, she told herself. He turned out to the rest of the guests, throwing an arm around Summer's waist.

"Hey, guys, remember the barbeque after middle school graduation?" Tom recalled.

"Ohmigod!" Eve Kensington, a tall redhead, giggled. "We thought we were so cool. We were at that pool party at that kid's grandpa's house, what was his name?"

"Caleb Nichol!" Ally Suthers, a pert blonde, slid down to the floor, her drink splashing across her Juicy Couture t-shirt. "He's like, so totally rich. Too bad that gold-digging opportunity is totally out."

"What are you talking about?" Summer wrinkled her nose.

"Ohmigod." Eve's voice hushed and Summer leaned forward. "Don't tell me you forgot about his freaky grandson, Sean."

"Seth." The name slipped out before Summer could restrain herself.

"Right, Seth!" Eve cawed. "He was like, totally obsessed with you, how pathetic. Do you remember when he came to your seventh birthday with that stupid toy horse?"

"What?" Tom grinned and turned to her. "He bought you presents?"

"He sure did." Ally gossiped. "But Summer was so harsh. She told him that a plastic horse was a reject gift and she didn't want him at the party - in front of everyone! It was totally awesome."

Summer winced. She'd forgotten about the incident. She could forget it again, she decided, and picked up a half-empty bottle of rum. She raised it to her lips and chugged it down, drowning out the cheering of the teenagers around her, delighting in the painful burn as the liquid tore through her throat.

********************

Summer knew it was late. She stumbled outside to her car, meaning to get her cell phone and call for a cab.

Her foot caught on one of the steps and she fell forward. She couldn't get her arms up in time, but miraculously, she didn't hit the ground. She felt someone's arms catch her waist and swing her back onto her feet.

The world spun around her. It was difficult to make out shapes. But even in this state, she knew who had caught her.

"Seth!" She tumbled backwards and sat down hard on one of the porch steps. "Seth is still here!" She slurred her words loudly.

Seth looked up nervously. Tom, Holly, Ally, Eve and a group of water polo players were watching from the front door as he stood over Summer.

"Speak of the loser." Holly giggled.

"What are you doing here?" Ally said pointedly. "I thought you were so above the rest of Newport."

"Guys." Tom's voice hushed them and he stepped outside to kneel over Summer, positioning himself next to Seth. Summer groaned and tried to stand.

"I'm tired!" Summer announced drunkenly.

"Ok, Sum, we're going to get you home." Seth watched as Tom spoke to Summer gently. A smile curved across her face as she leaned into him. She felt the vibrations of Tom's chest as he spoke to Seth.

"Look, man, can you make sure that she gets home ok? I'm not really in a position to drive."

"Sure." Seth nodded to Tom. "No problem."

"Thanks." Tom slapped him on the back and headed inside with the rest of the party. Seth cradled Summer's head in his arms and lifted her up. As though on cue, she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against him, her eyes fluttering closed. He looked down at her and then quickly looked away, his eyes clouding over as he remembered. "This can't happen." He heard her voice whispering, and he held his head up and carried her to his car before he broke down.

********************

Summer's house was monstrous in the dark. The heavy drapes cast long shadows across the furniture, and the interior was only lit by the moonlight. Seth struggled with Summer, hoping that he was right about her room being on the second floor. Her keys dangled from his hand and she was limp against him, but she was breathing evenly.

The first door at the top of the stairs was locked, so he moved sown to the next one. A note was taped to the door. "Summer - just in for a minute before your dad and I head off to Paris. Be back next month! Au revoir! ~ Sasha." Seth shook his head and pushed the door open, standing at the doorframe as he looked around the room.

The room was surprisingly neat. A large bed with a fluffy white duvet dominated the room, and Seth carried Summer over to it, propping her head up on a mound of pillows. Her dark hair spilled across the fabric, contrasting with the pale linens. Her red chiffon skirt spread out across the bed, and her tanned arms slid down his as he arranged her on the mattress. Her eyes flickered open and she groggily pushed herself up. She blinked and looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What time is it?" Her voice still had a sing-song, drunken tremor.

Seth shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stole a glance at her nightstand clock. "It's 4:12."

"Wow!" Summer threw herself backwards onto the pillows and kicked off her shoes. "That is so late! Are you going to get in trouble?"

"I called my parents on the way here. They understand." Seth squirmed, hesitating at the door. He didn't know if he should leave her. As if reading his mind, Summer pushed herself forward and crawled towards the front of the bed on all fours, looking up at him. A strap of her tank top tumbled down a bare shoulder and her chest was barely covered by the remaining fabric.

"Hi." She pulled herself up a little more so that she was standing on her knees, making them almost even in height. She leaned towards him and he involuntarily stepped forward to catch her. Her arms snaked around him and her fingers lid back into his hair. Summer fell backward, pulling Seth down on top of her.

"Whoa there." Seth propped himself up on one elbow. "I don't think that this is a good-" But before he could finish his thought, Summer's lips were on his. She was warm and tasted of an unidentifiable spice. Before he could react, Summer pulled away and reached her arm out towards her bedside table. She pushed a book at him.

"Read to me," she demanded.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be?" Seth tried not to smile. Damnit. He couldn't say no.

Summer settled back into the pillows as Seth opened the book to the page marked with a red ribbon.

"Chapter 14." He read aloud.

Summer clapped her hands and snuggled into the pillows, curling her body around his. He held the book up so that the moonlight hit the pages.

"But at that very moment the princess came in. There was a look of horror on her face when she saw them alone, and their disturbed faces. Levin bowed to her, and said nothing. Kitty did not speak nor lift her eyes. "Thank God, she has refused him," thought the mother, and her face lighted up with the habitual smile with which she greeted her guests on Thursdays. She sat down and began questioning Levin about his life in the country. He sat down again, waiting for other visitors to arrive, in order to retreat unnoticed. Five minutes later there came in a friend of Kitty's, married the preceding winter, Countess Nordston. She was a thin, sallow, sickly, and nervous woman, with brilliant black eyes. She was fond of Kitty, and her affection for her showed itself, as the affection of married women for girls always does, in the desire to make a match for Kitty after her own ideal of married happiness; she wanted her to marry Vronsky. Levin she had often met at the Shtcherbatskys' early in the winter, and she had always disliked him. Her invariable and favorite pursuit, when they met, consisted in making fun of him. "I do like it when he looks down at me from the height of his grandeur, or breaks off his learned conversation with me because I'm a fool, or is condescending to me. I like that so; to see him condescending! I am so glad he can't bear me," she used to say of him. She was right, for Levin actually could not bear her, and despised her for what she was proud of and regarded as a fine characteristic-her nervousness, her delicate contempt and indifference for everything coarse and earthly."

Summer's eyes were closed, but Seth heard what she said. "He's just like you - he doesn't care about what anyone else thinks."

Seth nodded and stroked her hair. She caught his hand in hers and looked at him with wide eyes. "I don't care either. I'm just too scared." She nodded her chin solemnly. "You already hurt me when you picked Anna the first time. If you hurt me again, everyone will know." Her eyes flickered close and her hand curled back into her body.

Unsure of what to do, Seth turned back to the book.

"The Countess Nordston began talking to Kitty. Awkward as it was for Levin to withdraw now, it would still have been easier for him to perpetrate this awkwardness than to remain all the evening and see Kitty, who glanced at him now and then and avoided his eyes. He was on the point of getting up, when the princess, noticing that he was silent, addressed him. "Shall you be long in Moscow? You're busy with the district council, though, aren't you, and can't be away for long?" "No, princess, I'm no longer a member of the council," he said. "I have come up for a few days." "There's something the matter with him," thought Countess Nordston, glancing at his stern, serious face. "He isn't in his old argumentative mood. But I'll draw him out. I do love making a fool of him before Kitty, and I'll do it.""

Seth felt uncomfortable. Now that Summer had pointed out the similarities between himself and Levin, he could barely stand to read the words. He glanced down at Summer, and she looked up at him as though she felt him watching her.

"Konstantin Dmitrievitch," she said to him, "do explain to me, please, what's the meaning of it. You know all about such things. At home in our village of Kaluga all the peasants and all the women have drunk up all they possessed, and now they can't pay us any rent. What's the meaning of that? You always praise the peasants so." At that instant another lady came into the room, and Levin got up. "Excuse me, countess, but I really know nothing about it, and can't tell you anything," he said, and looked round at the officer who came in behind the lady. "That must be Vronsky," thought Levin, and, to be sure of it, glanced at Kitty. She had already had time to look at Vronsky, and looked round at Levin. And simply from the look in her eyes, that grew unconsciously brighter, Levin knew that she loved that man, knew it as surely as if she had told him so in words. But what sort of a man was he? Now, whether for good or for ill, Levin could not choose but remain; he must find out what the man was like whom she loved."

"There are people who, on meeting a successful rival, no matter in what, are at once disposed to turn their backs on everything good in him, and to see only what is bad. There are people, on the other hand, who desire above all to find in that lucky rival the qualities by which he has outstripped them, and seek with a throbbing ache at heart only what is good. Levin belonged to the second class. But he had no difficulty in finding what was good and attractive in Vronsky. It was apparent at the first glance. Vronsky was a squarely built, dark man, not very tall, with a good-humored, handsome, and exceedingly calm and resolute face. Everything about his face and figure, from his short-cropped black hair and freshly shaven chin down to his loosely fitting, brand-new uniform, was simple and at the same time elegant. Making way for the lady who had come in, Vronsky went up to the princess and then to Kitty. As he approached her, his beautiful eyes shone with a specially tender light, and with a faint, happy, and modestly triumphant smile (so it seemed to Levin), bowing carefully and respectfully over her, he held out his small broad hand to her. Greeting and saying a few words to everyone, he sat down without once glancing at Levin, who had never taken his eyes off him."

"That's Tom." Summer announced. "He's Mr. Ken Doll Vronsky. He's nice and he likes me, but he's pretty boring." She sat up next to Seth and leaned against him. "But I know that I won't ever love him, so he can't ever hurt me." Seth looked at her curiously. Her chin was trembling and her eyes were shining in the pale light. "I'm always crying since I met you, Seth Cohen. And I know, I met you year ago, and I haven't been crying the whole time, but I mean since I got to know you. And I thought that you thought I was special. But you just got rid of me when Anna came along. And you're not allowed to hurt me anymore. Nope!" She slipped back onto the pillows and climbed under the covers. "So you have to read to me, because if you read the book you'll know why I had to hurt you too."

"Summer." Seth reached for her, but she crossed her arms and shook her head like a stubborn child.

"Nope." She pointed to the book. "Read."

Seth signed and continued.

"Let me introduce you," said the princess, indicating Levin. "Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin, Count Alexey Kirillovitch Vronsky." Vronsky got up and, looking cordially at Levin, shook hands with him. "I believe I was to have dined with you this winter," he said, smiling his simple and open smile; "but you had unexpectedly left for the country." "Konstantin Dmitrievitch despises and hates town and us townspeople," said Countess Nordston. "My words must make a deep impression on you, since you remember them so well," said Levin, and suddenly conscious that he had said just the same thing before, he reddened.

"Kitty got up to fetch a table, and as she passed, her eyes met Levin's. She felt for him with her whole heart, the more because she was pitying him for suffering of which she was herself the cause. "If you can forgive me, forgive me," said her eyes, "I am so happy." "I hate them all, and you, and myself," his eyes responded, and he took up his hat. But he was not destined to escape."

"See." Summer breathed out the whispered word. Her body relaxed as she slipped into sleep.

Seth looked down at the past paragraph.

"Vronsky looked wonderingly at the prince with his resolute eyes, and, with a faint smile, began immediately talking to Countess Nordston of the great ball that was to come off next week. "I hope you will be there?" he said to Kitty. As soon as the old prince turned away from him, Levin went out unnoticed, and the last impression he carried away with him of that evening was the smiling, happy face of Kitty answering Vronsky's inquiry about the ball."

Levin went out unnoticed, Seth reread. He smiled to himself, sadly, closing the door quietly behind him as he left Summer alone.