A/N: A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. And obviously a disclaimer won't really help me if FOX decides to sue me for copyright infringement. (Hi, FOX! Please don't sue.) But in any case: None of the characters are my property; they're the creation of Josh Schwartz and the rest of the fine folks working on the show. I'm merely borrowing them.
***
Marissa is incredibly stupid.
Summer feels guilty thinking that about her best friend, but it's an inescapable conclusion. There's no other possible explanation. Marissa. Is. Stupid.
And Summer's tired of subtlety.
Not that Summer's ever been particularly subtle. She buys lunch for Marissa all the time – sure, okay, so friends treat each other to lunch. But friends let themselves be treated, too, and Summer never lets Marissa pay. And Summer's pretty sure that friends don't buy presents for each other, either; at least, not quite so frequently. Not every other week. And certainly not expensive, lacy lingerie.
And Summer knows that friends don't ask to see that lingerie in action, as it were. Okay, so she hasn't asked Marissa to model for her - she does have some self-restraint, after all. When she chooses to exercise it, at least.
But somehow Marissa has not figured it out. All the clues are there in front of her: the meals, the gifts… The fact that Summer is always really happy to rub suntan lotion on Marissa's back. The fact that Summer is growing increasingly reluctant to stop her fingers from lingering in the curve of Marissa's spine or the dip of her waist.
Summer listens to Marissa talk about boys every day, practically. Hours and hours of bemoaning all Luke's little flaws, alternating with hours and hours of singing Luke's praises. The date they went on, the fight they had, on and on and ON and Summer thinks she really should get a medal for her patience. Lately Ryan's been added to the mix, and Summer's been enthusiastic because at least it adds a little variety.
Yet in all the hours of complaints and admiration, Summer has never once mentioned a boy of her own. Never confessed a crush, never analyzed a conversation word-by-word, never agonized over what to wear on a big date. In fact she hasn't even had a date at all in two years, and Marissa knows that.
Marissa can't be that clueless, can she?
For fuck's sake, Marissa should be able to figure out that Summer hasn't been stripping down to her best lingerie every day for the past week just because she wants to try on Marissa's clothes!
Marissa is, apparently, exactly that clueless. And Summer is tired of subtlety. So she's going over to Marissa's again. And she'll strip down and try on clothes again, and they'll probably go to the beach and tan even though neither really needs it, and of course Marissa will talk about boys again. She and Summer will go over last night's argument, and the way Ryan looked at her out of the corner of his eye all night. And Marissa will ask who she should choose, Ryan or Luke?
And Summer will tell her exactly who she should be with.
