Cleaning out the past

Chapter 6

Disclaimer- I don't own anything but my ideas.

A/N- Thank you sooooo much for all the awesome reviews!

"Anna, wake up!" Seth whispered, it was 8:00am and Seth was tying his tie while he tried to gulp back the coffee he'd made in the coffee maker supplied in the room.

"Hmmm? Why do I have to wake up?" Anna yawned blocking the light shining in her eyes with her hands.

"Funeral?" Seth reminded her as he pulled on his jacket. Anna frowned.

"Were still going?"

"Of course, Summer's still my friend and I'm going to support her through a tough time, that's what friends do…" Seth replied, a little taken aback that Anna could be so cold hearted.

"I don't want to go." She said rolling over.

Seth sighed and sat down on the bed. "Don't do this, the funeral is in an hour and a half." Seth said pulling the covers down.

Anna sat up. "I don't even like her, I'm only here 'cause you dragged me along." She spat.

"As I remember you begged to come, I told you I'd be gone for a weekend and you wanted to come, so here you are, and all you've done is whine this whole trip." Seth exclaimed, trying not to yell.

"Well… it's a good thing I did come, because obviously you can't be trusted alone with- her." Seth stood up; Anna had just pushed past his limit.

"All you've done is complain and pick fights the whole time, and I've had enough, last night I was planning on dumping you, and couldn't do it 'cause I felt bad for you. But now." Seth laughed "Now, I don't give a tiny rats ass what happens. So god just piss off!" Seth turned on his heal and walked out the door leaving Anna sitting stunned on the empty bed.

****

"Summer, open the door!" Seth called banging on the hotel room next to him. You could pretty much see the steam coming out of his ears.

No one answered so Seth took off down to the parking lot. He drove through the early morning rush hour towards the apartment.

He got there in half the time it usually took even though he was stuck in a rather nasty traffic jam for a bit. Seth pulled up in front of the apartment and rushed inside. The elevator opened and he stepped in, pressing the floor button then the close door button.

Sighing he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and resting. The elevator came to an abrupt stop and he stepped out onto the level ground.

Down the hall he began to bang on the door, similar tot he way he had on the hotel door.

Summer came to the door in her clothes from the day before. Mascara streaked down her face, her eyes were still puffy and red, as if she had just stopped crying.

"Oh it's you." She sniffled. She opened the door wider and Seth stepped in.

"I came to pick you up for the funeral." Seth spoke as Summer walked back down the hall.

She didn't reply so Seth followed her into the unicorn room. The floor was covered with ripped envelopes and stuffed animals.

"What the hell happened?" Seth inquired. All of their work from the previous day spread out on the floor.

"I read some letters." Summer replied with a shrug.

"Alright… Are you ready to go?" Seth asked.

Summer seemed to have ignored him and plopped down on the unmade bed.

"Did you know my dad sent all my letters and birthday presents back to my mom, and never told me? Guess what, I know." Summer laughed.

Seth knelt down next to the bed. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Why? Your not the one who sent them back." Summer replied bluntly.

Seth sat open mouthed, not knowing what to say.

"I bet you didn't know I'm exactly like her, eh?" Summer continued on, rambling mostly to herself.

"Summer, we'll have time for this later, but right now we have to go to the funeral." Seth sighed, as he tried to pull Summer away from the bed.

"No, I already decided I'm not going. Why should I go? I don't know her." Summer pulled back.

Seth sat on the bed next to where Summer sat. She was tracing the unicorn wallpaper, with her pointer finger.

"Why don't you go?" Summer shrugged. Seth let out a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Summer, go get dressed, we don't have time for this. We can have a little heart to heart after. It's the respectful thing to do, now get up and lets go!" Seth said all in one breath.

"God, someone's a little grumpy, did you and Anna have a fight? Oh yeah I forgot, you guys never fight." Summer giggled to herself.

"Summer, we are not having this conversation, now get dressed and lets go!" Seth said getting extremely irritated.

"Why? Oh! She dumped you didn't she?" Summer stood up laughing. She began to bounce on the bed.

"Well technically I dumped her, but… no, Summer you have a commitment, and we are going to go whether you like it or not!" Seth stood up and picked up Summer.

"Wee!" She sang out.

"Are you drunk Summer?" Seth asked as they got out to the car.

"No… Wait, umm, yes!" She burst out laughing as Seth buckled her seat belt and got into the driver's side.

"Seth?" Summer whispered.

"What?" he replied through clenched teeth.

"I missed you!" She yawned.

Seth softened a bit and smiled to himself.

At the hotel Seth helped Summer in and walked over to the elevator. Inside Seth sat her down and pressed their floor button.

"Now go get dressed and then we have to leave, the funeral starts in like half an hour." Seth said, self consciously running his hand through his mop of curls.

Summer nodded obviously the booze were beginning to wear off.

Seth followed Summer in to her room, not wanting to go next door, just in case Anna was in a 'throw things at Seth' mood.

He sat down on the bed while Summer rummaged through her bag, trying to find her black dress she'd brought.

"Seth, I can't find it!" she whined, tears glistening in her eyes.

Seth nodded and walked over to where she sat on the floor, and began to go through the bag and soon found a plain black dress.

"Here you go, now go get dressed." He whispered as Summer took the dress from his hands and walked to the bathroom.

Several minutes past and Seth sat on the bed. His eyes wondered around the room and landed on Summer's half opened purse on the floor.

Seth knelt down and pulled out a glossy picture. It was the picture he'd thrown out from Disneyland, the afternoon before. The bathroom door clicked open and Seth stuffed the picture back in and looked up to see Summer in her black knee length dress trying to shove a bobby-pin into the bun she'd made at the back of her head.

She had washed her face and had re-applied her makeup.

Seth approached her and she smiled weakly. "I'm ready to go now." Seth nodded and opened the door.

Downstairs they headed out to the parking lot and hopped into the Range Rover.

****

Anna had headed down to the pool, shortly after Seth had left and sat sulking on one of the lounge chairs near the pool. The pool was deserted, because most people don't go for a swim at 9:25am.

Diving into the pool she floated on her back the morning sun already heating up.

After a while she decided she'd head back to the hotel, pack and maybe catch a bus home.

But when she got out of the pool, sitting next to her chair was someone she wasn't expecting to see.

"Oliver?" The boy smiled holding out his arms.

"That would be, oh yeah, me." He greeted in return.

Anna climbed out of the pool and wrapped a towel around her waist.

"What are you doing here?" Anna asked.

"Oh, you know." He laughed.

"Umm, no I don't." The blond replied a little embarrassed.

"Oh, okay, well, I'm here for a little vacation." He smiled, his pale skin untouched by the sun.

"Right, so I bet you haven't heard about me and Seth then, hey?" Anna sniffled.

"Oh, yeah I talked to Seth last night, he said he was gonna dump you, how'd that go anyway?" Oliver asked in a fake sympathetic voice.

"Oh he dumped me for that ho-bag Summer, it's always been about Summer though." Anna cleared her throat. "Like the only reason were out here is 'cause Seth is so whipped and can't say no to her." Anna raved on and on.

"I see." Oliver raised his eyebrows.

"And then he has the nerve to dump me, asshole." Anna muttered.

"Wow, if you're as annoying as you are right now, I see why Seth broke up with you, take some advice from me, you deserved it." Oliver said leaning in and whispering. Before Anna could reply he stood up and walked out of the pool area.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She called after him.

"Figure it out!" Oliver replied, over his shoulder.

****

"Okay, were only ten minutes late, lets go!" Seth sighed as they hopped out of the car, in the parking lot of the church, where the funeral was to take place.

The two ran up to the doors, and opened them; they tiptoed into the back pew and sat down, listening to the minister.

After a couple speeches, a few hymns, and a prayer, they called on a woman in the front row to perform the eulogy.

Seth sat with his head bowed, listening to the words the co-worker of Summer's mother spoke.

Summer leaned into Seth's shoulder, silent tears sliding down her cheeks.

He turned his head to see her sobbing into his shoulder, and lightly kissed her head.

The speaker drowned on of how she had met Mrs. Roberts. How they'd been working together for the past five years. Seth's ears perked up when he heard a mention of how she had lived in Newport, previous to moving to Anaheim.

"…She had always wanted to return to her old home to see her young daughter, who she had been planning on visiting this spring." The co-worker ran a tissue under her eye and continued on. "Unfortunately, she never would get to do that." She sniffled again.

Seth leaned down again. He wrapped his arm around Summer's shoulder.

Summer continued to cry into Seth, not really paying attention to anything around her.

When the eulogy was finished the minister announced they would open the casket one last time for friends and family to say their last goodbye.

Seth nudged Summer. "Sum, do you want to go up?" He whispered into her ear. She nodded. "Will you come with me?" She asked through uneven cries.

Seth agreed and they stood up and followed the line of people up to the coffin. The line moved slowly, and it seemed to be an eternity by the time they finally got up.

When the person in front of them moved down the stairs on the opposite side Summer approached, holding tightly onto Seth's hand.

She looked down to see her mother just the way she remembered her, with just a few gray hairs, and several wrinkles.

After a second of looking Summer covered her mouth and rushed down the stairs and out of the church.

By the time Seth caught up with her, she was leaning over the banister puking into the grass. Seth stood back, rubbing her back, mumbling words, she couldn't quite understand.

When Summer recovered she leaned into Seth, and burst into tears again.

"It's okay, lets go back to the car, and you can get cleaned up." Seth whispered, helping her down the stairs and into the vehicle.

He set her seat back and opened the glove compartment to find some napkins to wipe her mouth off with.

He handed her a bottle of water from the back seat and searched for a container of Advil.

"Seth? I forgot my purse in there." Summer mumbled. He nodded and went back inside to get it.

Just inside the door people were standing around talking, telling each other where the dinner would be, and the directions to the cemetery.

Seth headed down to the back pew on the left and found the forgotten purse. On his way back out though he was stopped by two older women.

"Hello there, son, and how do you know the recently deceased?" The brunette asked. Seth had to bit his tongue not to laugh, seriously who says 'recently deceased?' other than the newspaper?

"Oh, I'm Summer's friend…" Seth said holding up the purse.

"Summer, like her daughter?" The other one said.

"Yeah." Seth replied trying to edge towards the door.

"I didn't realize she came." They said between the two of them.

While they discussed this Seth slipped out and headed to the SUV.

Inside Summer sat waiting, her seatbelt already buckled. "I want to go back to the hotel now." She whimpered. Seth nodded and climbed in his own door.

Back at the hotel Seth helped Summer into her room and set her down on the bed. She undid her shoes and kicked them off, climbing under the covers. "Seth will you stay with me?" She asked. Seth couldn't refuse so he lay down over top of all the blankets and held Summer's warm body to himself.