Summer Paradise in December
Ch. 3 – The Dinner Date
Seth woke to the sound of his alarm. He had it set for 7:00 am though he did not know why because it was Saturday and he did not need to be up at a specific time. Despite this fact he reluctantly got himself out of bed, put on a robe and preceded down the stairs to get some breakfast. As he entered the kitchen he saw Ryan eating his usual breakfast of Lucky Charms Cereal--without milk. "Ryan, to what do I owe this pleasure," Seth sarcastically greeted Ryan. Ryan didn't answer. He just gave Seth one of his trademark sideways glances and kept on reading the paper while eating his cereal. "Okay then," Seth said. "Ignore me, I'm okay with that". Seth reached into the fridge and grabbed the orange juice, then opened the cupboard and grasped a cup with a decorative design on the outside. He poured the orange juice then returned the carton to its spot in the refrigerator. Ryan finally spoke. "So, do you and Summer have anything planned for tonight", Ryan questioned.
"Well we were going to watch movies at her place, but since we did that last night... actually, that was a good night, maybe we'll do that again. But Summer might not want to. I mean, I don't want her to think I'm boring—
"Seth!", Ryan interrupted. "You really need to work on this whole rambling thing. Now this time, answer the question I ask you, and only the question I ask you. Are you and Summer doing anything tonight?"
Seth obliged to Ryan's request. "No we do not have anything planned thus far".
"Now, do you see how easy that was? To just answer the question without rambling", Ryan asked. Seth just rolled his eyes and headed back upstairs.
When Seth got to his bedroom he decided he'd better take a shower because the fact of the matter was that he would probably end up going over to Summer's house even though he had told Ryan that they had nothing planned. Seth hopped into the shower and was out again in no less than five minutes. To him it was a boring place. Mainly because there was nothing to look at and no one to talk to, so he spent as little time as possible there, enough time to be clean though. As soon as he stepped out of the shower the phone rang. He looked on the caller ID and read that it was Summer who was calling. "Hey Summer", Seth said.
"Cohen, I was wondering. Do we have anything planned for tonight", Summer asked.
"I was just wondering the same thing", Seth answered.
"Well if you didn't already have something planned I was thinking we could go out", Summer offered.
"Summer, I really don't want to go to a party where there are a bunch of popular jocks harassing me and loud Britney Spears music being blasted through the speakers", Seth said.
"I wasn't thinking a party", Summer informed Seth. "I was thinking we could like have dinner. Like a real date".
Seth thought for a moment then decided that he had nothing better to do. Plus, he had to eat sometime. Why not eat with Summer. "Sure, what time do you want me to be ready", Seth answered.
"Umm… come over around 7:30. But don't come over early", she warned Seth.
"Okay, it's a date", Seth said. With that, Summer hung up the phone and Seth did the same. He finished getting dressed and went downstairs to tell Ryan of his plans. When he got downstairs Ryan was no longer in the kitchen. "Probably in the pool house", Seth thought. Seth opened the back door and headed out to the pool house. He knocked on Ryan's door. No answer. "He's probably in the shower", Seth thought. So Seth opened the door and found Ryan and Marissa making out on Ryan's bed. He closed the door. "Figures", Seth thought to himself as he walked back to the main house. "But that's weird; I didn't hear the doorbell ring. Whatever, probably just let herself in. He'd have to find some other time to tell Ryan that he had plans.
* * *
It was 7:18 and Seth was about to leave for Summer's house when he heard the doorbell ring. He opened the large oak door, and, no surprise to him, it was Marissa.
"Hey Marissa", Seth said. "Back so soon".
"Haha", she fake laughed.
"Make yourself at home", Seth said as he walked out the front door. "I think Ryan's in the pool house".
"Thanks" Marissa half shouted.
"No problem", Seth yelled as he ran down the porch steps to his forest green Range Rover. He clicked the unlock button on his automatic car key and hopped in the car. Seth arrived at Summer's house at 7:32. He put the car in park then bounded up to the front door and rung the doorbell. Summer opened the door and Seth was surprised that she was not dressed in some nice Versace dress and some Manolo Blahnik heels. She was wearing a simple pair of jean hip huggers, a cute black halter top and some cute tennis shoes. Seth didn't even think that Summer owned any tennis shoes.
"Umm… aren't you a little underdressed", Seth questioned.
"O yeah, I have a surprise for you", Summer announced to Seth. She took his hand and led him towards the Roberts' family dining room. He figured that not much family dining went on in there though because Summer's dad was never home and her step-mom was probably on some new drug that kept her so high she probably didn't even know she had a family. They rounded the corner to the dining room and Seth's jaw dropped. The table was beautifully set with fine china. The table had a pair of beautiful candles on it and the lights were dimmed to the exact setting that qualified it as romantic, but it wasn't so dark that you wouldn't be able to see your food. Seth looked at Summer who had a hopeful look in her eyes.
"So, what do you think" Summer finally said.
"It's beautiful", Seth answered. "You did all this for me? I thought we were going to go out."
"I know", Summer answered. "But like I said, I wanted to surprise you."
"Did you really cook all of this, like, from a cookbook", Seth asked Summer.
"Duh, do you see anyone else here Cohen", Summer said. Seth laughed.
"No Summer, I do not see anyone else here. But you may have Chef Emeril stashed in some pantry." Seth answered.
Summer smiled.
"Well then, shall we eat" Summer said.
"Sure", Seth said. He went around the large mahogany table and pulled Summer's chair out for her.
"Nice Cohen", Summer said as she sat down. "What, are you some kind of gentleman now".
"I guess so", Seth answered playfully. "So, what's on the menu tonight"?
"For the first course we have a choice of Caesar salad or a fruit cocktail", Summer informed him.
"What are you having", Seth asked.
"The fruit", Summer answered.
"Then I'll have the same Seth decided. Summer disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with two small bowls of fruit cocktail, which consisted of cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, green and red grapes, strawberries and tangerines.
"It looks delicious", Seth informed Summer as he began to eat. They finished the fruit quickly and Summer went back into the kitchen to fetch the Filet Minogn, served with steamed vegetables. Seth gobbled down the steak seeing as it was so juicy and perfectly cooked to medium rare. After the main course Seth asked Summer, "Since when have you been able to cook".
"Since forever. I just had no real desire to cook for anyone special before. Before you", Summer answered.
Seth blushed. Summer then got up and went to get the desserts and arrived back with two plates of dolce de leche, a perfect caramel cheesecake that tasted unbelievably good.
"That was amazing", Seth informed Summer after he finished his dessert.
"Thanks", Summer said almost timidly. "I'm glad you—"But before Summer could finish Seth had took hold of her head and was kissing her. A kiss she returned without question. She loved the way she felt when she was kissing Seth. It was like a rush of sheer happiness. She felt safe with Seth, like nothing bad could ever happen to her. She liked that feeling. She liked it a lot.
A/N-I hope you liked the third chapter. You're probably wondering when Summer is going to reveal that secret to Seth. It'll probable be in chapter 5 or 6. So keep reading and please review. Thanks!