Title: If You Can't Beat 'Em...(1/?: Crocodile Tears)

Author: Angelus

E-mail: angelus1317@hotmail.com (Please put "If You Can't Beat 'Em..." on the subject line.)

Subject: The O.C.

Category: Romance

Rating: PG for some language.

Summary: When did I become a typical Newport guy, cheating on his girlfriend the second something better comes along?

Spoilers: "The Third Wheel".

Archive: Anywhere, just ask me first.

Disclaimer: Seth, Summer, Anna, Ryan, Marissa, etc. are all property of Fox television, College Hill Pictures, Josh Schwartz, etc. Sadly, the only thing benefitting from this is my brain in creating more Adam Brody fantasies.

Author's notes: None, really. Just that I love this story and I'm very proud of it. Oh, and anyone who's been reading my Spuffy stories...I may never go back.

Dedication: To Eliana, who invented the counting of awkward silences that starts in the next chapter.

~*~

"You guys could, like *totally* be related!" Summer exclaimed. Clicking off the T.V, she flounced back to her room, claiming tiredness. Seth didn't miss that Anna's hand all of the sudden left his, and she shrank away from him.

"You know what?" she announced. "I'm going to go to bed, too." Without waiting for a response, she sunk down beside him, pulling the covers over her head and effectively ending all conversation. Speechless, Seth glanced helplessly from the door to the lump beside him.

Why me? he thought. He'd been a good kid - he hadn't had sex, he'd only had a drink one or two times at family functions, he didn't lie or cheat or steal or swear...and yet, the dream team of God and Moses, who had always been on his side up until now, had decided that it would be endlessly amusing to, after sixteen years of no women at all, suddenly give him two at the same time. Two beautiful, smart, strong-willed women who were also, coincidentally, stubborn as hell. So he had tried to do the right thing - he had chosen. He had chosen Anna. Sweet, uncomplicated Anna. He had chosen her because she was safe, and a definite. With Summer, there would have been uncertainties and drama and the threat of bodily harm. With Anna, though, there was security. There were things that had already been established. Anna was a comfort zone.

Seth had always had a problem stepping out of his comfort zone. He wasn't a risk-taker. That was probably why he had never had the courage to talk to Summer before now. Summer was wild and unpredictable, and Seth had never been that kind of person. He found the predictability quite attractive, really. So why shouldn't he have chosen Anna? It really came down to an eenie-meenie-miney-moe situation, and by that process (well, not exactly - but something along those lines), Anna had come out on top. Also, there were just a million reasons why she was a much better choice for him than Summer.

Well, except for one - the reason that right now had him waiting until Anna was asleep, climbing out of the bed, and slinking down the hallway to Summer's room. He didn't actually know why he was going - he just knew that there was something, deep inside of him, that was screaming for her touch; screaming for *her*.

He didn't knock; he just walked in. He knew she wasn't sleeping at 9:00. He was expecting to find her reading, or unpacking, or painting her nails.

He was *not* expecting to find her crying.

That, however, was exactly what he found. She was lying face-down on the bed, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. Seth froze. Obviously, she hadn't heard him come in. So, then, did he leave and pretend that this had never happened, or did he say something? And *what* would he say that could possibly comfort her, preferable without incurring one of her infamous rage blackouts? But he *couldn't* just leave. He would never forgive himself.

"Summer?" he asked tentatively. Summer leapt up.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked hotly, her fingers hastily wiping away her tears, smearing her mascara in the process. Seth bit back laughter. If Summer had been completely herself right now, she would have had a spasm had she known what she looked like. But she wasn't. And that, he sensed, was why he was here.

"I...don't know. Why I'm here. But I am, and...What's going on?" Summer strode over to him, and Seth flinched on reflex, having a slight panic moment where he thought she might hit him. But instead, she went right past him and grabbed the door, holding it open. At his blank look, she gestured out into the hallway; she wanted him to leave.

"Summer..."

"Out, Cohen. *Now*. I mean it." She didn't wait for him to leave; she simply collapsed back onto the bed in the same position she'd been in when he entered.

Seth was a mess of conflicting emotions. Because, although he was technically supposed to be exclusively loyal to Anna - a part of the girlfriend/boyfriend agreement he had never quite understood - he desperately wanted to stay right her with Summer. He had this funny feeling he knew why she was crying, and if he was right - if it was over him and Anna - he felt like complete shit. This was feisty, stubborn Summer Roberts; Summer Roberts who was never weak or vulnerable, and the thought that he could be the cause of it made him sick to his stomach. He had to do *something*.

So he shut the door softly behind him and crawled into the bed next to her. He had half-expected her to lash out at his touch, but she didn't; she just let him wrap his arms around her and hold her. God, she needed this. When was the last time she had actually allowed someone to comfort her? Inhaling deeply, Summer buried her face in Seth's shoulder. Where the hell was this going to leave them? How was she supposed to tell him that she was crying because the first boy to ever not be interested in her was the only one she had ever really wanted? And that that guy was *him*, Seth Cohen, school nerd, whom she had been giving crap to since practically infancy?

So, she didn't. That had always been Summer's unofficial life motto - ignore your problems, and hopefully they'll go away. It hadn't worked all that well in the past, but every once and awhile it surprised her. Like right now, when words would just ruin it. She snuggled against Seth, and the tears began to subside, and she didn't worry about tomorrow. She just concentrated on how safe she felt right here, right now.