Wherever
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews; I'm glad you all seem to have liked the first part. 's trying to keep each chapter quite long, as I know how annoying it can be when you wait for an update on a fic and the author posts a crap 500 word chapter! Where are all the words people?!?
Hope you enjoy this. Seth continues on his quest to find Summer.
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Part 2 – "Cohen"
Seth takes the stairs two at a time, trying to think about what he is going to say to his girlfriend. Is she still his girlfriend? He doesn't know, and at this particular moment he doesn't care. All he cares about is seeing Summer, giving her a big hug and telling her that everything is going to be alright.
As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, Seth grabs his father's car keys from the table in the hall and heads towards the door. As he is about to turn the handle, Seth feels a hand on his shoulder.
"Seth, what are you doing? You're mother's about to order in some lunch from Ranchos. You should…"
"That's great dad, just leave it on the counter and I'll heat it up when I get home." Seth says, interrupting his father.
Seth opens the door and heads outside.
"Seth, WAIT." Sandy shouts, following him.
"Dad, I have to go and find Summer, what do you want?" Seth says, angrily.
"Well for starters, you won't.."
"Dad, you don't understand, I.."
"Of course I understand Seth, Hailey obviously told you what happened and you're worried about Summer. But if you had let me finish I would have told you that you won't need these." Sandy says, taking his car keys from Seth's hand.
"What? Summer's mom lives on Harbor View, that's miles away."
"Not anymore she doesn't, she moved." Sandy states.
"Where?"
"Right there." Sandy replies, pointing to the house next door.
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Knowing on the front door of the house which used to belong to the Cooper family, Seth tries to think of what he is going to say to Summer. What do you say to someone who has just lost their father?
Before Seth gets a chance to answer his own question, the door opens and he is faced with a young, five year old boy.
"Hi." Seth says, smiling. He figures that this is Summer's half-brother, Jake.
The boy hides behind the door and doesn't talk, so Seth continues.
"You must be Jake. Summer told me all about you. I'm Seth, I live next door. "
Jake peeps out from behind the door and Seth realises he has Summer's eyes. Summer had always talked about him, he was the only good thing to come out of his parent's splitting up. Summer loved being a big sister to Jake, not that she got to see him that often. Although she was a big Jake fan, she wasn't much of a fan of her step-dad, so for that reason, didn't visit her mom that much.
"There's no need to be shy Jake, I'm Seth Cohen, hasn't Summer mentioned me?"
"Cohen?" Jake asks, smiling.
"Yes, Cohen." Seth replies. "Is Summer at home Jake?"
"No, she went out. I don't know where though; hold on, I'll get my mom." The little boy replies before running off, shouting on his mother.
Seth peers into the house and notices it has completely changed since the last time he was in it. All of Julie Cooper's weird statues of naked young men have gone. Julie always had a thing for naked young men. Seth figures she has finally seen the error of her ways; she's gone for a really old man instead. Seth decides not to even go near the nakedness of that old man. It is his grandfather after all.
Seth is interrupted from his thoughts by a tall, dark-haired women walking towards him, the slightly older version of Summer.
"Can I help you?" the woman asks.
"I'm Seth Cohen, Summer's boy.." Seth coughs. "I'm a friend of Summer's and I was wondering if you could tell me where I can find her."
"So, you're 'the' Cohen?"
Seth nods.
"You're 'the' Cohen who broke my daughter's heart."
Seth looks down at the ground, ashamed of the hurt that he has caused Summer.
"Look, I'm going to be honest here. You practically dumped my daughter in a letter, disappeared for a whole summer and never called her once to let her know you were safe, leaving her to worry about you every single day, pining away and driving us all crazy. "
"I didn't mean to.." Seth interrupts.
"Let me finish please. Despite all of that, the fact is, you seem like a good kid, and she really needs you right now. So… try the cemetery, she goes there every day around this time of day."
Seth feels a lump coming to his throat, regretting the day he ever decided to leave Newport.
"Thank you, Mrs.."
"Diane, call me Diane."
"Thank you, Diane. For the record, If I had known any of this was going to happen, there's no way under the sun I would have left. That why, I have to find her, because if it's not to late, I want to be there for her."
Seth turns and runs down the drive, heading for his dad's car.
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Hailey steps through the front door of Jimmy's house, placing some bags on the floor.
"Hello?"
Getting no answer, Hailey walks over to the table next to the door, noticing a piece of paper on it.
Gone to collect Caitlin, will be back soon.
Hailey remembers that today is one of the few days that Caitlin spends with her mom.
Make yourself at home, it is your home after all! xxx Jimmy.
Hailey smiles, she finally has a home again.
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"So, I was in the mall the other day and I was walking past Groucho's and I looked at the menu, and guess what? They've taken the chicken fajitas off the menu! Can you believe it? Remember how Wednesday night was always 'Chick Faj' night? It's like the end of an era!"
Summer laughs but then stops herself.
"Why am I laughing? I shouldn't be laughing. It's not funny, nothing's funny anymore." Summer says, sitting down on the ground next to her father's gravestone.
"Dad, I need you. I need you to be here. I'm going crazy, look at me. I've talking to thin air, I don't even know if you can hear me. "
Summer is silent for a while, tears beginning to fall. This is the same routine she has performed many times. She feels sad at home, so comes to the cemetery, thinking talking to her 'father' will make her feel better but it doesn't and she ends up going home feeling sadder than she did when she arrived.
"I'm just so lonely dad. I have no one to talk to. You're not here, Marissa's not here, Cohen's not here and I can't talk to mom, and certainly not to Nick. I'm just alone dad, alone."
Summer puts her head in her hands and lets the tears fall. She stays like this for a long time, just crying and staring at the words on her father's gravestone. Finally, she hears footsteps behind her and look's up.
Her jaw drops open and she utters one word.
"Cohen"
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to be continued….