If You Can't Beat 'Em...(4/?: Afternoon Epiphany)
Angelus angelus1317@hotmail.com
See first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

~*~

Summer scuffed the soles of her shoes against the pavement as she paced a short line up and down the Cooper's driveway. Her car was right there, but Summer was a firm believer that you should never drive under emotional duress - five speeding tickets and several near-accidents from her first few months with a license had proved that well. At this point, she was likely to run somebody over just for the hell of it.

Coop had blown her off to go bang Chino. *Again*. Sure, she was happy they had finally gotten together, but since when had she been at the bottom of Marissa's priority list? Even when she had been with Luke, she had always made time for girls' night out, and sleepovers, and going tanning, and what was it about Chino that was so damn special anyway? Yeah, he was hot and all, but it wasn't like you could take him anywhere - he'd just end up punching people. He didn't even have any friends except for Cohen, and she wasn't even going to go into how pathetic *that* was...

Except that there he was, when she glanced across the Cooper's backyard. In his pool, doing laps. Summer felt her heart thump in her chest and her throat constrict. She had never seen him without a shirt before. But as he pulled himself out of the pool, she was thinking she wouldn't mind seeing it some more. He was muscular in all the right places, without being ape-like. How could she have missed this before, in all the time she had known him? He grabbed a towel and began drying himself off. Summer felt her breath catch in her throat. Seriously - how had she never seen it before?

He was beautiful.

To the casual observer, he was nothing special - just another skinny emo kid in baggy jeans and novelty tees. But Summer was far from being a casual observer. Like it or not, she knew this boy inside and out. She knew his sweetness, his wit, his intelligence, his vulnerability, his honesty, his loyalty...she knew the touch of his lips and the strength of his embrace and the longing of his gazes, and that - that whole, Seth Cohen package - was beautiful.

She *so* needed to get out of here. Looking down, Summer fumbled with trembling fingers through her purse, searching desperately for her car keys. Even breaking her emotional duress driving rule was worth it, rather than staying here and having the thoughts she had just been having. When her fingers finally closed around her pink plastic dice keychain, she yanked the keys out of her purse, prepared to send Seth only the briefest of glances before hopping in her car and getting the hell outta dodge. When she looked, up, however, she didn't see his body; she saw his eyes - eyes that met hers, caught, and held. But in a teasing way - a way that said that they would let go if she would.

Yeah, that wasn't happening.

Taking a shaky breath, Summer dropped her keys back in her purse and made her way over to the Cohen's, slipping through the gate to the pool just as Seth was pulling a T-shirt over his head, covering the bare chest she had been having so much fun ogling. Well, perhaps it was for the best - this way, maybe they would actually be able to have a coherent conversation.

"Hey," she said softly. He gave her a broad grin, oblivious to the fact that she was still in the middle of an epiphany.

"Hey, yourself," he returned. "Lemme guess - you went looking for Marissa, only to find that she snuck off for a little game of hide-the-sausage with Ryan." Summer raised an eyebrow.

"Hide the sausage?" she questioned. Seth shrugged, his grin only growing wider. "So...do you know where they are?" she asked. As if on cue, a low moan emanated from inside the poolhouse. Summer turned up her nose in disgust.

"Wow," she said. "That's just...ewww." Seth, who had a similar expression on his face, nodded in agreement.

"You can't really hear it when you're in the water," he said. "Here - why don't we go inside?" He flung the towel over his shoulder and led Summer up the walkway and through the front door, his hand at the small of her back. He hesitated a moment at the foot of the stairs, then took her up to his room. Summer lingered in the doorway as he disappeared into the closet, shutting the door behind him.

"Is Anna gonna be okay with my being up here?" she asked snidely, dropping her purse on a chair as she eyed the walls of his room, plastered with posters for bands she had never heard of.

"Anna," he answered through the door, "doesn't need to know you're here."

"Wow," Summer replied. "So trustworthy."

"It's not like I'm doing anything wrong," Seth protested, emerging from the closet fully clothed. He threw his wet bathing suit into the hamper and flopped down on the bed, his gaze meeting hers.

"Right?" he asked. She bit her lip, unsure of how to take the question.

"Right," she answered, sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed, her back facing him.

Awkward silence number four...

Seth knew he shouldn't have invited her in. He shouldn't have acknowledged her presence, and he *definitely* shouldn't have brought her up to his room. It wasn't even Anna, although that was a factor as well. They had been dating for a little over a month. That was supposed to mean something, right? At the very least, it meant that he wasn't supposed to be bringing Summer up into his bedroom just because Anna wasn't around at the moment. It meant that he shouldn't be fantasizing about her in his spare time. It meant he should be getting over her like he promised himself he was going to do.

But it wasn't even that - he shouldn't have invited her up because he knew exactly what would happen if he did. Who was he kidding? What, were they going to sit up here and have a deep, philosophical conversation? Yeah, no. He doubted Summer even knew what the word 'philosophical' meant. Anna or no Anna, he didn't trust himself alone with Summer. Especially not now, with his parents gone and his adrenaline still high from his workout and her sitting on his bed in one of her skimpy little outfits, her tank top riding up to expose a tantalizing patch of smooth, tanned SummerSkin...

Shit.

As if of its own volition, Seth's hand rose from the bed to rest lightly on said exposed patch of skin, his thumb stroking back and forth. Summer flinched slightly at his touch, and she twisted around to give him a curious look. He studied her through his eyelashes, eyes darkening with desire. Summer opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. All of the sudden, however, the floodgates were opened, and she found her lips pressed against his as he surged forward, pulling her back onto the bed with him.

They had never kissed quite like this before; their previous kisses had been brief and rushed, save for Thanksgiving. This, however, was like a whole new world. It wasn't playful - this was long and hot and slow and passionate in ways that Seth had only dreamed of. Even Summer, who had had more than her fair share of romantic relationships, had never felt emotions this real or this raw before. She felt like she was drowning. But if someone were to throw her a life preserver of some kind right now, she would have shrugged it aside, because she just wanted these sensations to go on forever. She had ended up on top of Seth, and his hands had slid up underneath her shirt, but he rolled her over now, his body weight pinning her to the bed. His mouth was gentle yet insistent, and his fingers roved up and down her body as if making sure she was really there; that she wasn't going to run scared. He needn't have worried, however, because Summer had absolutely no intention of moving from his embrace. For at least the next five years.

As if on cue, the phone rang.

Seth wrenched himself away from her lips, gasping, as he picked up the receiever, knowing full well exactly who it would be before he even answered. Their eyes met and held for a solid moment as he spoke.

"Hey, Anna," he said. Summer began to squirm and push at him, so as he made small talk with his girlfriend, he rolled over to let her up. She smoothed her, straightened her clothes, and afforded him one last glance before picking up her purse and walking out of the room. Her feet brought her back to her car as fast as they could carry her in these damn high heels, and she had the keys in her hand, ready to take off, when Marissa ran out her front door.

"Hey!" she said cheerily. "I was wondering why your car was here. My mom said you were over here asking for me, like, half an hour ago. Where have you been?"

That was it. Not even an apology. Unbelievable. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was mussed, but so were Summer's, and Marissa's eyes flicked momentarily to the Cohen house before settling back on her best friend. Summer didn't know whether she suspected or not - these days, it was fairly easy to pull the wool over Marissa's eyes about anything. But the thing was, she didn't care. Marissa wasn't the same Marissa she had been when the pair had made their best friends pact in the sixth grade. Shaking her head, Summer laughed to herself.

"I'll see you Monday," she said, not even bothering to give an answer. Marissa looked hurt, but Summer only caught a glimpse of her expression as she turned, climbing into the driver's seat of her little red Corvette and peeling out of the Cooper's driveway.

As she sped down the highway, Summer rolled the windows down, letting the breeze sweep through her hair and dry away her tears.