Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.
A/N: This is it, my loyal readers, my 100th story! I'm sorry, but I'm just very excited; I had never thought that I'd write so many stories. And I'm glad that my 100th story is an O.C. story, especially one about Summer and Seth. But anyway, this story is set during "The Escape." I got the idea at dinner this evening and it's supposed to be humorous. Review and let me know what you think. Another note, I don't speak Spanish at all; sorry about the misspellings.
Summer Roberts had never known that riding for twenty miles on the back of a truck carrying chickens could make you so hungry. But, then again, she never actually planned on riding on the back of a chicken truck. Yet, here she was, sandwiched between Marissa Cooper and Seth Cohen (Ew!) and a whole bunch of stinking chickens. Ryan Atwood was sitting on the opposite side of the truck, cages of chickens packed around him and several in his lap; he didn't look any happier then the rest of them but Summer would have rather been surrounded by chickens then rubbing elbows with Seth Cohen.
"Good work Cohen." She snapped to the boy beside her. "First you drive five miles an hour, then you wreck the car and now we're still going five miles an hour surrounded by chickens."
Seth looked over at her. "Excuse me, Summer, but I seem to remember clearly that it was you who wrecked the car." Summer raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Was it not you who grabbed the wheel out of my hand?"
Summer rolled her eyes. "Whatev." She grumbled, shifting her weigh and unintentionally jabbing Marissa in the stomach with her elbow. "The point is we're covered in chicken feathers and...Ew! I don't even want to think about what else." She shuddered. "And I'm starving."
Seth rolled his eyes. "You know, this reminds me of the car ride earlier. With you complaining the whole time."
"I am not complaining." Summer jabbed him purposefully and he groaned. "I'm just hungry; the only thing I've had to eat for the past three hours was one of those stupid Kudos bars that you brought."
Seth glared at her. "If it was so stupid why did you eat it?" He asked her and Summer swatted at him again.
"Guys," Marissa referred. "This ride is bad enough already without you two fighting the whole time." She looked at her best friend and neighbor and expected them to contradict her. Summer looked away from Seth and shifted her weight again, drawing her legs up to her chin and trying to take up as least amount of space as possible. She'd rather be cramped then leaning on Seth.
Ryan looked at them over the crates of chickens stacked in his lap. "You're hungry Summer? We've got Kentucky Fried Chicken right here." He wiggled his eyebrows with a smile and nudged one of the crates in her direction.
"Ew!" Summer cried and pressed herself against Seth to get away from the clucking cage. "I'm never going to eat another chicken ever."
Marissa rolled her eyes and Ryan chuckled to himself; Seth was just happy that Summer was touching him without the intent of violence.
The car bounced over a pothole and one of the crates on Ryan's lap when tumbling off the truck and crashing into the pavement. The flimsy cage broke open and the three chickens packed inside clucked and flapped their wings, fluttering out of the remains of the cage. The foursome in the back stared at the broken cage and lose chickens with wide eyes; when the trio of Mexican chicken farmers stopped and agreed to give them a ride, they had made it clear that if one of the cages fell out, it wasn't going to be pretty. Summer's Spanish wasn't exactly what she figured that they had basically said that if Ryan lost a chicken cage they were all going to lose limbs.
The car squealed to a stop suddenly and the driver's side door was flung open and an angry Mexican chicken farmer stepped out. Summer shrunk closer to Seth and Marissa closer to her; Ryan was trying to see past the remaining crates stacked on his lap.
Angry farmer approached the back of the truck and started shouting something in Spanish; once again, Summer couldn't exactly understand him, but she could tell he wasn't very happy. There was probably something about chickens in there too.
"Sorry, sir." Ryan was fumbling, apparently his Spanish wasn't very good either. "The truck bounced and the crate fell off. Sorry."
Marissa nodded. "We're really sorry." But the apologizes didn't seem to be doing any good.
"Out!" The man cried. "Vomanos!" He shouted, waving his arms angrily.
Seth gave Summer a shove and hissed, "Move." She shoved him right back. "You're closer." She snapped and Seth rolled his eyes, muttering, "Impossible" before pushing aside several crates of chickens in order to hop out of the back of the truck.
Marissa helped Ryan move the cages he was still carrying and slipped over the side before helping her out as well. Summer wrinkled her nose as she crawled around the cages, the muscles in her legs groaning in protest after having been cramped in the same position for nearly twenty minutes. She managed to stand in order to swing her leg over to the side of the truck, but she lost her balance and went tumbling over; instead of hitting pavement like she had expected, Summer found that she had been caught by two arms that couldn't exactly be described as strong. She looked up and saw Seth struggling to keep her from hitting the ground anyway.
"Thanks." Summer mumbled and got to her feet and brushed the feathers and other presents left by the chickens off her top. Seth offered her a smile.
"Vomanos!" The chicken farmer shouted again and started stalking toward them.
"No problem man." Ryan assured him and herded his friends to the opposite side of the road, where they remained until the man had gotten back into the cab of the truck and had disappeared down the road again.
Summer sighed. "Great. There goes our ride." She muttered. "And I'm still hungry."
Seth rolled his eyes. "This is going to be a long walk." He grumbled.
Summer looked horrified. "We're going to have to talk all the way to T.J.?!" She cried, her eyes going wide before looking down at her shoes. The heels she was wearing were not built to walk long distances, or any distances for that matter.
"A very long walk."
"I'm hungry." Summer announced for the third time that minute. "And I'm hot." Seth rolled his eyes and mouthed out the rest of her complaints right along with her, which included being hungry (again), thirsty and that her feet were bleeding from blisters. They had only been walking for ten minutes and Seth highly doubted that blisters could have formed that quickly; of course, he wouldn't say so to Summer.
Already Ryan and Marissa had taken to walking faster to get away from Summer and her constant complaints and Seth was seriously debating joining them. But then Summer would speed up as well, just so she had someone to listen to her; it was as though Ryan and Marissa had dubbed him the honorary listener of Summer's complaints. Seth sighed; this was not how he had pictured this trip at all.
"There is blood all in my shoes." Summer whimpered, stumbling a little as she tried to peek down into her heels. "Blisters everywhere."
Seth said as patiently as he could, "That's not blood, Summer, it's just sweat." He looked down at her feet for a minute before looking back up at her face, which was more attractive despite the frizzy hair and cheeks rosy from the heat.
Summer didn't look so convinced. "My feet hurt." She mumbled quietly, as though she had finally given up complaining. But this was Summer after all and Seth was skeptical that she even knew how to not whine.
"It's just a little further." Seth mumbled, though he was certain that they had taken a wrong turn somewhere and were now heading up through Texas and were never going to get to Tijuana.
Summer stumbled again as she tried to pull off her heels and Seth held out his hand to study her. She looked up at him and asked, with her beautiful round eyes focused in a puppy-dog look, "Will you carry me?"
Seth was actually shocked by her request. "Carry you?" He repeated, making sure that he had heard her right. Summer nodded, lower lip sticking out slightly in perhaps the cutest most sexy pout he had ever seen in his life. I've waited for this moment my entire life, he wanted to say but decided wisely against it and instead but on a show of rolling his eyes and forced himself to reluctantly agree. He kneeled down and she climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck, despite the way Seth gagged slightly when he managed to get to his feet again.
Shifting Summer into a more comfortable position on his back, Seth slipped his hands beneath her butt and laced his fingers together. "Cohen!" Summer cried, swatting him on the head. "Your hands!"
Seth sighed. "Fine, if you want to fall then..." He complied and released his hands.
Summer promptly started slipping off his back; she grabbed him around the neck tighter and shouted, "Cohen, hands!" though there was completely different meaning in her words this time. Seth returned his hands to their pervious position and grinned back at Summer. "Ready, princess?" He questioned, making sure that the words had the right amount of sarcasm.
Summer released a little of the death grip she had on his neck and held onto his shoulders instead. She rested her head against his back and sighed contentedly; she didn't know many other guys that would have done this for her, no matter how hot they thought she was. Maybe she had misjudged Seth Cohen after all.
Seth quickened his pace a little to catch up with Ryan and Marissa; Ryan looked over at him and raised an eyebrow when he saw Summer on his back. Seth smiled slightly and shifted his grip on Summer to keep her from slipping.
"Stop grabbing my ass Cohen." The girl on his back commanded, almost serenely and Seth wondered if it was possible that Summer was falling asleep. He glanced back at her out of the corner of his eye and saw that her eyes were closed and there was a slight smile fixed on her face. Only Summer could fall asleep at a time like this, he thought to himself.
Shortly after Summer had started ridding piggyback on Seth, Marissa spotted a small Mexican equivalent to a diner off to their right. The restaurant seemed so out of place, the only building among the sprawling hills and dust, but there were masses of cars parked outside so the place was obviously a local hangout.
"I bet they have a phone in there." Ryan remarked. They desperately needed to phone a tow truck company and send them out to get the wrecked SUV as well as all their suitcases that were still inside.
Seth tried to tap Summer to see if she was still awake but only managed on tapping her butt and getting a gentle swat in the head. "What did I tell you about hands, Cohen?" She snapped but even Seth could see that she had lost her usual poison when it came to snapping at him. He figured that was just because she was hot and tired.
"Sorry." Seth muttered, though he wasn't really. How often could someone say that had touched Summer Roberts' ass? Well, judging by her reputation, quite and few people could make that claim...but how often could he say he had grabbed her ass? "I just wanted to let you know that we got to some place that might have phone."
Summer brightened. "And something to eat? I'm-"
"I know: starving." Seth supplied and Summer nodded as though she hadn't made the claim a hundred times before. "Thank goodness you've got Daddy's credit card."
Summer deflated suddenly and Seth could actually feel her beginning to panic. "Oh no! I left my purse back in the car!" She cried and pressed her face against the back of his neck. "What am I going to do?"
Seth sighed and actually felt bad for her. "I'm sure we'll think of something." He muttered, shifting her weight on his back for the final time as they entered the dirt parking lot and allowed her to slip slowly to her feet.
Ryan and Marissa had already entered the diner and were waiting by the door for them to join; Summer looked at Seth offered and offered him a slight smile. "Thanks Cohen." She said before jogging to catch up with her friends inside, as though unwilling to give Seth the chance to comment on her sincere words.
"No problem." Seth said, though he could tell that she hadn't heard him. He joined the other three inside and wasn't surprised to see that they were the only white, rich kids in the entire place.
A plump Mexican waitress hurried over to the door when they entered the restaurant. "Hola." She greeted and continued in Spanish that no one but Seth could understand.
Before Seth had a chance to reply, Summer said, "Um do you have a phone? La phone-o?" She raised an eyebrow and waited for the woman to respond.
Seth put his hand on her shoulder and steered her away from the woman. "I see a phone in the back, come on you guys." They all headed to the back of the diner, very aware that everyone in the building was staring at them as they passed. "I have never felt more like a rich white kid." He muttered, hoping no one else had heard him.
At the pay phone, Marissa held open the phonebook -one copy was in English, thankfully- while Ryan searched for the number of the closet tow truck company. Summer sighed and leaned against the wall and Seth could tell that she was looking longingly at the restaurant patrons and what was one their plate.
After Ryan had made the phone call, Seth suggested that they have lunch, his treat. "My dad gave me money for ComicCon." He explained. "I think he was actually impressed I was going with a girl."
Summer raised an eyebrow as they headed to a booth. "Your dad thought I was going to a comic place?" She questioned. "Ew!"
They slipped into the booth, girls on one side and the boys facing them on the other, and the same waitress that had met them at the door now brought them menus and four glasses of water. Marissa eyed her water closely, stabbing at the ice cubes with her straw, with a almost confused look on her face.
"You okay, Marissa?" Ryan questioned, noting the way she was staring at her water like she expected it to bite at her.
Marissa looked up. "Oh yeah, I just," she lowered her voice, "I just heard it wasn't safe to drink the water here."
"Then how is it going to be safe to eat the food?" Seth questioned with a little more volume in his voice then Marissa had had. Ryan looked at him with a completely baffled look on his face, as though he couldn't figure out how he made it through the day.
Summer peered down at her menu and wrinkled her nose. "We don't have a whole lot of choices here, anyway." She pointed out. "It looks like all the serve is tacos."
Seth looked at the menu and noted the name of the diner at the top of the menu, which translated roughly into The Taco Hut. "Makes sense." He remarked.
"I am so hungry, I don't care." Summer stated. "Maybe I'll get a little of everything on the menu." Seth raised an eyebrow. "Or not, I mean this is your money Cohen." She relented.
"Yeah, too bad you left the credit card in the car otherwise we could buy the Taco Hut." Seth remarked.
Summer ignored him, peering down at the menu and trying to read the scratchy Spanish; who knew that ordering a taco would be so difficult. She had always figured that taco was a word used in all languages. Seth couldn't help but smile at how concentrated Summer looked while studying the menu, with the tip of her tongue poking out just barely between her two glossy lips, as though she was studying Russian instead of a poorly thrown together taco menu.
"You want me to order for you Summer?" Seth offered. "Wouldn't want you to give yourself an aneurysm." Summer narrowed her eyes at him but didn't reject his offer.
The waitress returned shortly and everyone gave their offer, with Summer going last and ordering a taco with extra helpings of everything, though Seth wasn't quite sure that she really knew what she was doing. Marissa was tentatively sipping at her water while they waited for their food to come; a semi-uncomfortable silence had settled over the table due to the fact that neither Ryan nor Marissa would look at one another. Only Summer seemed not to notice the silence as she cheerily reorganized the packets of sugar and sweet-n-low.
Seth watched Summer as she sorted out the packets and was once again taken by her beauty; despite the fact that her hair was frizzing out because of the humidity and her skin was still glossy with sweat, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Summer was well aware that Seth was watching her and she couldn't help but smile; he was really cute and really sweet. And he was a great kisser.
Summer abandoned her quest to sort out all the tiny pink and white packets when the waitress returned with their tacos. Marissa had been looking a little queasy for the past few minutes (though Summer thought she was a hypochondriac and was making herself sick with that water thing) and when her plate was set down in front of her, her cheeks grew several shades whiter.
"Marissa, are you all right?" Summer questioned, looking over at her friend and raising an eyebrow.
"I just feel a little..." Marissa inhaled the smell of her taco: all that meat, cheese, lettuce and beans mixed together and covered her mouth with her hand. "I think I'm going to be sick." She choked out before managing to fumble out of the booth and head toward the restroom
"Marissa?" Ryan stood up and followed after her. Seth watched them both and raised an eyebrow, turning back to look at Summer, who was largely unconcerned.
"Do you think you should see if she's okay?" He asked, but Summer waved a dismissive hand.
"She's a hypochondriac." Summer explained, trying to figure out the best way to pick up her very large taco. "She'll be fine."
Seth didn't seem too convinced but it was clear that Summer wasn't too concerned about Marissa so the subject was dropped. Summer finally managed to pick up her extremely large taco but was now having a difficult time keeping everything from falling out of the shell.
"Summer, I definitely thing that is the world's biggest taco." Seth mused and Summer didn't make any response, concentrating on keeping her taco in one piece.
However, she was concentrating too hard, pressing a little too hard with her fingers and the taco snapped in the middle, dropping most of the shell and the food inside into her lap, leaving Summer holding the ends of the taco.
"Unbelievable." Summer muttered and dropped the ends of the taco into her lap with everything else. Seth clamped his lips together so that a smile won't spread across his face; sure he felt bad that Summer had lost her lunch but the whole scene was just so comical that he couldn't help but smile.
Summer looked up at him and frowned. "What's so funny? I've got an entire taco in my lap and you're laughing about it." She snapped, though there was no venom in her words. She seemed ready to cry and Seth stopped smiling.
"It's not funny, Summer, I'm sorry." He apologized.
Summer looked down at her lap and then back up at Seth. "Well, don't just sit there, help me get this off my lap." She commanded, gesturing toward the napkin dispenser.
Seth sighed, grabbed a handful of napkins and tried to hand them over to Summer, but she was too busy glaring down at her lap to take them. "Summer."
She looked up and gingerly took one of the napkins from his stack and starting wiping her fingers. Summer raised an impatient eyebrow. "Well?"
"What?" Seth asked, confused as to way she was only cleaning off her fingers. He tried to push the rest of the stack into her hands.
Summer rolled her eyes, still impatient. "Are you going to help me or not?" She gestured at her lap while she continued to wipe at the sour cream under her newly manicured nails.
Seth felt his eyes grow wide. "You want me to..." He trailed off, unable to find the right words. Was it possible that Summer actually expected him to clean the rest of the taco out of her lap. His cheeks colored at the thought.
With a sigh, Summer said, "Well, my hands are still covered in taco...stuff. The longer this taco stays in my lap the less likely it is that the stain will come out." Seth still didn't move. "Cohen!" She squealed and the patrons in the restaurant looked in her direction.
"Okay, alright." Seth hissed, eager to get her to stop whining. He picked up the stack of napkins again and walked around to her side of the booth. Summer looked at him expectantly and Seth wiped gingerly at her skirt. Even though she had asked him to clean her lap, he half expected her to snap and swat at him but she did neither of those things.
When Seth brushed at her skirt again, a little harder this time to get at the lettuce and cheese that clung to fabric, Summer giggled and pushed Seth away. "That tickles." She said with a smile. Seth smiled as well and complied by leaning back.
Summer looked at him and noticed that the little sour cream that had been left on her fingers had been brushed onto Seth's cheek when she had pushed him away. With a devious smile brimming on her lips, Summer leaned forward and said, "You've got a little something...right there." She kissed his cheek were the sour cream had been.
Seth was stunned but didn't pull away; Summer smiled at him and kissed his lips once she was satisfied that the sour cream was gone. This action surprised Seth even more but he didn't let his shock keep him from enjoying Summer's kiss; he trailed his fingers along her cheek and then through her hair.
When the kiss was finally broken, Summer pulled away and grinned at him; Seth returned the gesture. "What was that for?"
"For carrying me." She answered. "And for being you." She narrowed her eyes. "But don't tell anyone I said that."
Seth nodded. "You know, I can carry you to Tijuana if you want." He offered, trying to make the suggestion seem nonchalant.
"Don't push your luck, Cohen."
----- As for the title, I've planned this story as the first of three (so far) that deal with the kids down in Mexico. I hope to continue, depending on how you guys like this story. So review and let me know!