Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own anything of the O.C.
Author's Note: This is a one shot S/S story. It took an idea from "Friends" and applied it to the O.C. It takes place after "The Shower".
"What do you want to do tonight, Coop?" Summer asked as she flipped through a magazine. She was lying on her belly on Marissa's bed as Marissa sat in the corner going through a couple boxes her mom had dropped off at the apartment.
"Actually," Marissa said taking out a couple books from one box and tossing them aside. "Ryan was coming over tonight and we were planning on watching TV or something." Summer assumed the 'or something' meant making out and gave a little groan in disapproval. The last thing she wanted to think of was kissing.
"Great," Summer replied sarcastically. "Then what I am supposed to do why you two love birds suck face?"
"Well," Marissa said hesitantly. "You could give Seth a call and see if he wants to do something." Summer suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
"Coop, seriously," Summer said glaring at her friend. "Twist the knife why don't you."
"What?" Marissa asked batting her eyelashes innocently, which was a gesture that just made Summer mad.
"You know perfectly well that I broke up with him. I no I don't want to discuss it right now. I already spent the last two days crying over him and I don't feel like starting up again," Summer said tossing the magazine on the ground.
"I just don't understand why you did though," Marissa said honestly. "Who cares if you dad hated him? My mom hates Ryan, but that still doesn't affect how I feel about him. It shouldn't affect you either."
"You just don't understand," Summer said shaking her head. "My dad and I are so close and he knows me so well. And if he doesn't like Seth he probably sees something that I overlooked."
"Nobody is perfect, Summer," Marissa said opening a new box. "You can't expect Seth to be. And you can't just base your relationship on how your dad feels about him. You need to figure out for yourself how you feel about Seth and let that be the reason you decide whether or not you want to be with him."
Summer let a sigh. "Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about Seth. I never really have. I think he's an amazing guy, but this whole thing with my dad has left me even more confused. I mean, how am I able to know how I feel about someone if I have another person telling me something else?"
"I think you just know," Marissa said with a shrug. "But that's just it," Summer exclaimed. "I don't know. So instead I listen to someone who is sure about how they feel about Seth. And that person is my dad." The room was silent for a few moments as Marissa started looking through the boxes again.
"Hey, look what I found," she said pulling out a video tape. "What is it?" Summer asked coming over and joining her on the floor.
"Homecoming 2001," Marissa read the label. "This was are freshman year homecoming."
"Well, let's watch it," Summer said excitedly, but just a moment later the doorbell rang.
"That's probably Ryan," Marissa said getting up and heading downstairs with Summer right behind her.
"Oh great," Summer said with a rolling of her eyes. Marissa went over towards the apartment door and opened it up. Both her and Summer were surprised to find not only Ryan standing in the doorway, but also Seth.
"Hey," Ryan said to Marissa giving her a quick kiss on the lips and then seeing Summer standing behind her added. "Hi Summer."
"Hey Ryan," Summer replied and then said softly. "Cohen."
"Hi Summer," Seth said as he tried to look away. The whole situation felt very awkward.
"So, Seth," Marissa said with a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, my mom kicked all of us guys out of the house tonight," Seth replied. "Apparently, she is throwing some kind bridal party for your mom."
"Oh, just what she needs," Marissa said dryly rolling her eyes.
"I hope you don't mind that I came over," Seth said.
"Of course I don't mind," Marissa replied but then realized that he wasn't looking at her, his eyes were staring directly at Summer.
Summer just shrugged her shoulders and asked, "Why would I mind?" A few silent and extremely awkward moments ticked by before Ryan broke the silence.
"So what do you guys want to do?" he asked.
"Well," Marissa said holding up the videotape that was in her hand. "I found my homecoming videotape from freshman year, if you guys want to watch it."
"Aw," Ryan said with a grin. "Little Marissa is so cute. Of course I want to watch." And with that the gang retreated towards the TV where Marissa popped in the tape and then sat down on the couch in between Ryan and Summer. Seth stood in the back by himself.
"Don't you want to sit down?" Marissa asked Seth. Seth shook his head in reply. "No, I'm fine," he said with his eyes fixed on the TV.
"Okay, then," Marissa said pressing play on the remote control. "Here it goes."
[Suddenly the blank TV screen turned to the Cooper's house. The video camera scanned the entry hall and faced the stairs with Jimmy's voice as commentary. A group of people stood in the room, included was Julie, Kaitlin, Sandy, Kirsten, and Jimmy whose voice could only be heard because he was filming. "Okay, it is homecoming at the Cooper house and we are just waiting for the lovely ladies to emerge from upstairs," Jimmy said. Suddenly, three girls walk down the stairs. One of them was obviously Marissa who wearing a bright blue dress and looked almost the same as she did now except for being shorter. Her hair though was really blonde which caused Ryan who was watching to burst out laughing.]
"Shut up," Marissa said punching him playfully on the shoulder. "I went through a stage of being a blonde." "Thank god that stage is over," Ryan said with a grin.
[The girl to Marissa's left had real blonde hair and wore a low cut red dress. "Uh, Holly," Marissa said making a face.]
"She always wore skanky outfits. I should have realized back then what a hooch she is."
"You have to admit she pulls of that dress quite nicely," Ryan added. "That's because she had the boobs to pull it off," Marissa snapped.
[The girl to Marissa's right however did not have boobs what so ever. She did however have dark brown hair and very tan skin. Her dress was lavender and her hair was pulled up behind her head.]
"Wow, Summer," Ryan commented. "You were completely boobless."
"Shut up," Summer said turning a beet red. "Puberty didn't hit until the next summer."
[ "Okay ladies," Jimmy said. "Pose for the camera." An instant later Marissa, Summer, and Holly huddled together a gave their biggest smiles. "Now turn it off," Marissa said. "The guys should be here any moment." "It is off," Jimmy replied. "No, it's not. The red light is on," Marissa said sternly. "That's the off light," Jimmy replied. Marissa responded with an annoyed expression and an eye roll. Then the camera started to move around the room. Julie and Kaitlin who were dressed to match both waved into the camera. Then suddenly the camera came upon a lanky curly haired boy with braces and a face full of pimples who was standing alone in the corner.]
"Oh my God, that's you," Ryan said to Seth. "Why are you there?"
"My mom was friends with Jimmy so I had to go over too," Seth replied.
"I forgot you were there," Marissa said.
["So," Jimmy said approaching Seth. "Why aren't you going to homecoming?" Seth turned a little red and looked away. But then finally said with a chuckle. "Um, you know, too many ladies to choose from." "I bet," Jimmy joked but then added. "You should go over and talk to the girls before they leave. I'm sure they would appreciate it." "I don't know," Seth said looking over at where they were standing. "They might not want to talk to me." "You'll never know till you try," Jimmy replied. And with that Seth hesitantly made his way over to where Summer was standing. "Hey," he said softly. Summer turned a little to acknowledge his presence and then said with little emotion. "Hi." "You look really nice," Seth said looking down at his feet. "Um, thanks," Summer replied before turning away.]
"Ouch," Ryan commented. "You were shut down."
"Yeah, it happened a lot," Seth said which caused Summer to feel like she had been kicked in the stomach. She couldn't even look up at Seth, she felt so bad.
[The doorbell rang and all the girls squealed in delight. "That's them!" Holly exclaimed excitedly. A few moments later two blonde boys who looked like they played water polo emerged into the scene. Then it cut to Marissa and Summer talking a few minutes later. "I can't believe he didn't show up," Summer said. She sounded like she was on the brink of tears. Marissa just patted her comfortingly on the shoulder.
"Here Julie," Jimmy said turning to his wife. "Take the camera for a moment."
"But I just did my nails," Julie complained.
"Julie, take it," Jimmy ordered.
With a sigh Julie agreed. Then the scene cut to Jimmy talking to Seth.
"You should take Summer," Jimmy suggested to Seth.
"She wouldn't want to go with me," Seth answered sadly.
"Sure she would. Just run over to your house and change, and I know she will want to go with you," Jimmy said encouragingly. And with that Seth ran off with a determined look on his face, tripping over his feet as he did so.]
"Hey, let's stop watching," Seth said walking over to the VCR. He was answered with a pillow being chucked at his head.
"Move," Ryan ordered. "I want to see what happens."
"Fine," Seth said retreating back. "But I'm not sticking around to watch it." And he headed towards the apartment door as if he was leaving. He didn't want to see what happens, because his remembered quite vividly.
[The scene cut and Seth appeared dressed up and walking towards the Cooper house. He stopped though to pull out some flowers from the window basket before coming to the front door.
"Summer, we have a surprise for you," Jimmy called heading back in the house. But just as Seth was about to open the door, it opened for him and smacked him in the face.
A moment later three water polo guys and the girls rushed past.
"Watch it, queer," a tall blonde boy said to Seth. "Bye dad," Marissa said quickly. "Don't wait up."
And with that Seth stood watching Summer and some blonde guy take off with the other couples with a hurt look on his face. Jimmy looked sadly over at Seth and then said to Julie. "Turn the camera off."
"What button is that?" she asked.
"The one your finger is on," Jimmy replied sounding irritated.
"I can't find it," Julie exclaimed.
"Oh, let me do it," Jimmy snapped. And then a moment later the TV screen went black.]
The room fell silent for a while. Summer couldn't believe what she had just seen. She couldn't believe how wonderful Seth was and how big a bitch she had been. Now, she couldn't even remember that blonde boy's name she had gone with. All she remembered from that night was how he tried to get inside her pants and she wouldn't let him. She wished she had gone with Seth, but she knew she was too ignorant back than to realize how nice he was.
"I can't believe you did that," Marissa said turning to Seth who was still standing by the apartment door.
Suddenly, Summer got up from her seat and walked slowly over to Seth. Tears of guilt and sadness filled her eyes as she approached him. His eyes darted around, wondering what she might do. But it didn't take him long to figure it out when he felt her lips press gently against his own. She draped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer towards her and he instantly wrapped his own arms around her waist. When they broke the kiss they held each other in a close hug.
"I'm sorry," Summer whispered in his ear.
"It's okay," he said soothingly, rubbing his hand on her back. And with that their lips connected and were locked into another passionate kiss.
"They're each other's lobster," Marissa said gleefully to Ryan, they were both still sitting on the couch.
"What?" Ryan asked confused.
"You know how lobsters mate for life," Marissa started but then stopped when she saw that Ryan was looking at her like she was nuts. "Oh, never mind." And with that they went back to watching Seth and Summer.
The End