Fire Bad, Tree Pretty (5/15: Black. Like My Mood.)
Angelus angelus1317@hotmail.com
See first chapter for disclaimer, etc.
~*~
She was in someone else's bed, and she knew just from the feeling of it that it wasn't the extra twin at Marissa's. Summer groaned. It had been a very long time since she had had a drunken one-night stand, and she wasn't too keen on starting that back up. Groaning again, she rolled over to face the guy lying next to her.
Shit. Summer's eyes widened. She was sleeping next to Seth Cohen - there was no mistaking that white-boy 'fro. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Slowly, the events of last night began to come back to her. Twister. Pillow fights. Lots and *lots* of beer. Chino and Coop. Jell-O shots. Kissing Cohen.
Shit. She was positive they had kissed, but what else had happened? Summer looked down. Seth was fully clothed, but she only had a robe on over her underwear. *His* robe.
Shit. It couldn't have gone beyond that, right? He was Seth. He wouldn't have...She wouldn't have...He was waking up.
Shit. As a yawn rumbled through his throat, Seth rolled over.
"Hi," he mumbled, burying his face in her neck. Summer tensed up.
"Umm, Cohen..." At the sound of her voice, Seth pulled back. He must not have realized it was her. He blinked, registering the fact that she was in his bed on a Saturday morning.
"Umm...hi?" He pulled away slightly, and Summer could see the lightbulb go off over his head as he began piecing together what had happened. "Parents gone," he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face. "Beer. Ryan and Marissa. And you..." He moved his hand so that he could look at her. "You..." he repeated. "We..."
"We got drunk," Summer finished for him. No way was she going to have this conversation with him; she wasn't even ready to have it with herself yet.
"Right," he murmured. "We got drunk." Seth ran his tongue along the edge of his teeth, and Summer could tell that he wanted to say something else. But apparently he thought better of it, because he shook his head to himself and sat up.
*Bad* idea. He had been fine laying down, but the second he had sat up, his head had begun to pound uncontrollably. Seth silently cursed himself. *This* was why he didn't drink himself into a stupor very often. And he hadn't even done that last night - it was just that his body wasn't used to any alcohol at all, let alone four beers, six shots of rum, and a Jell-O shot. "Damn," he muttered. He glanced over at Summer.
"Hangover?" she asked sympathetically, pushing herself up to sit next to him. He glared at her.
"Why didn't you get one?" he asked hatefully. Summer chuckled.
"Oh, I've got one," she assured him. "I had just as much if not more to drink than you did, and I'm smaller. But I'm also used to it by now." Seth groaned. "Think you can manage to haul your ass out of bed?" Summer asked. "There's Advil and coffee downstairs."
"No," Seth declared, pouting like a two-year-old.
"Cohen..." Summer warned.
"You first." Rolling her eyes, Summer crawled over him, which she suspected was the point all along, and stood. Her feet his the floor with a thud and she winced, massaging her temples.
"Getting worse," she murmured. "That make you feel any better?"
"No."
"That must've been your first word."
"No." Seth gave Summer puppy-dog eyes, which would have been much more convincing if his eyes weren't quite so red and bloodshot. But still, Summer took his hand and dragged him to his feet. Together, they stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Ryan and Marissa were already sitting at the table, cradling steaming cups of black coffee in their hands. Ryan managed a wave, but Marissa had her head down on her arms.
"I hate you all," Seth mumbled.
"Shhh!" Marissa complained. Ryan patted her on the back sympathetically while Seth poured a cup of coffee for himself and for Summer. They leaned side-by-side on the island and sipped. When he was halfway finished, he moved over to the window above the kitchen sink, peering through the blinds. As he did so, the sun slipped through the cracks and directly into both his eyes and Summer's.
"Too bright!" she complained, and he closed them again. As he slurped down the rest of his coffee, Ryan, the only reasonably sober one of them, snagged a water bottle from the refrigerator and a bottle of Asprin from the counter, passing them around. Summer took two, Seth took four, and Ryan practically had to force-feed Marissa two of her own.
"Remind me never to drink again," Seth complained.
"You know what they say the best cure for a hangover is?" Ryan piped up.
"You're about to tell me, and I guarantee from the tone of your voice that it's nothing I want to hear right now."
"More alcohol." Seth looked at him in disbelief, then over to Summer, who was smirking at him.
"Ahh!" he shouted. "No! You are all evil!" With that, he disappeared out the sliding glass doors onto the patio.
"Shut *up*!" Marissa complained.
~*~
An hour and a half later, Seth was the only one still nursing a monster headache. Ryan, with the highest alcohol tolerance out of any of them, had barely had a hangover at all to begin with, and Summer's minor one had worn off quickly. Marissa always got *horrible* hangovers, no matter how much or how little she had to drink. On the plus side, however, she had learned how to combat them long ago. After Ryan had made her take the Advil, she had downed the rest of the bottled water, plus two more bottles, then had ventured out to the poolhouse, where she had slept for about an hour, and had woken up rested and refreshed. She and Summer were lounging in the Cohen's living room painting their toenails, while Ryan and Seth were upstairs playing video games, which Seth was convinced would help take his mind off of the pain. Summer just thought he was being a little boy. Marissa didn't particularly care - she was much more interested in the dish from last night.
"What do you remember?" she asked eagerly. Summer groaned.
"Would you let it *go* already?" she complained, a little sick of Marissa's bubbliness. Her best friend laughed.
"Not a chance," she countered. "So, it took you...what? A month before you admitted that you liked him in the first place? Now how long is it gonna take you to get over yourself and under him?"
"Coop!" Summer exclaimed. Marissa collapsed in a fit of giggles as Summer bopped her on the head with a nearby pillow. "Just because you've gotten laid more times in the past week than I have in the past two months doesn't mean you get to get all preachy with me."
"Just because you've spent your time moping over Seth Cohen instead of getting laid doesn't give *you* the right to get all self-deprecating with me," Marissa countered. Summer stuck her tongue out.
"Nothing happened," she informed. Marissa raised a single eyebrow; or tried. Summer was the only person she knew who could do it convincingly. But it got across the effect she intended.
"If I seem to recall correctly," she began, "you woke up this morning, practically naked, in Seth's bed, wearing his clothes." Summer glanced down at her now-covered legs, her cheeks burning. Damn her. "Come on," Marissa begged. "What happened?" Summer glared.
"We kissed," she admitted. "I think." Marissa squealed happily, and Summer rolled her eyes. "God, you are such a cheerleader," she muttered. She was all for dishing about her love life, but Marissa never knew when to leave it alone - like now. Seth Cohen was...well, Seth Cohen. She no longer felt the same about him as she used to, she would give him that. But it was the fact that she didn't know what she felt that bothered her. Summer had always prided herself in being completely in control of her emotions. What did it say about her that Cohen was the one to make her lose her shit?
"Dammit," she muttered. Beside her, Marissa smirked. "Oh, don't give me that," Summer snarked. She stood, heading towards the stairs. "Let's go bother the boys," she said.
~*~
"Dude, this is *sad*," Ryan informed Seth. Seth groaned, for about the twenty millionth time that hour, as he flopped backwards onto the bed. The movement must have been too sudden for him, though, because he groaned again. Ryan tuned his attention back to the television screen. It displayed his score versus Seth's - 54 to 288. And this was usually Seth's best game. "I'm telling you, man," he said. "The best way to get rid of that hangover is just to drink some more."
"No."
"Why are you being so stubborn?"
"Because." Seth was pouting like an insolent two-year-old when Summer and Marissa entered the room. Marissa dropped down beside Ryan, while Summer hopped up next to Seth on the bed, dangling a bottle of tequila in front of his face.
"Come on, lightweight," she teased. Seth only pouted again, so Summer smacked him across the chest.
"Owww!" he howled. She rolled her eyes.
"Grow up," she instructed, popping the cork and shoving the bottle in his face. Sitting up reluctantly, he grabbed the bottle from her and took a swig. He made a face as the bitter liquid burned down his throat.
"Guuh," he shuddered after swallowing. "Why the hell would anyone drink this stuff?"
"Not for the taste," Marissa assured him, stealing the bottle and taking a sip herself before passing it back to Summer.
"So, what are we doing tonight?" Ryan asked when the booze bottle reached him. "More Twister?" He shot Seth a look.
"Oh, yeah." Seth nodded emphatically. "I'm up for Twister." Marissa and Summer eyed them suspiciously.
"You didn't even play," Summer reminded them. Seth grinned.
"Hey, we didn't need to - you two were having enough fun for all of us." He wiggled his eyebrows at Summer until she caught his drift. Rolling her eyes, she socked him in the arm.
"You guys are pigs!" she declared. Marissa frowned at her questioningly. Summer groaned inwardly. Honestly, the girl could be so naive sometimes. "They just wanted to watch us crawl all over each other," she said accusingly. Ryan and Seth shared a look consistent with guilty ten-year-olds, shrugging as they continued to grin unrepentantly. Marissa looked slightly shocked, turning to Ryan with a glare.
"You've gotta be kidding me," she said. But the look in his eyes clearly said he wasn't.
"That's sad," Summer chimed in. "That's the best way you know how to have fun is to watch two girls play Twister."
"I didn't hear you complaining," Seth countered. Summer just smiled as the Tequila bottle found itself in her possession once again.
"No," she murmured softly. "But soon, *you* will be." Seth hadn't heard her, and she hadn't meant for him to. Marissa, however, had, and the girls shared a secret look, matching sly smiles creeping across their lips. This meant war.
Angelus angelus1317@hotmail.com
See first chapter for disclaimer, etc.
~*~
She was in someone else's bed, and she knew just from the feeling of it that it wasn't the extra twin at Marissa's. Summer groaned. It had been a very long time since she had had a drunken one-night stand, and she wasn't too keen on starting that back up. Groaning again, she rolled over to face the guy lying next to her.
Shit. Summer's eyes widened. She was sleeping next to Seth Cohen - there was no mistaking that white-boy 'fro. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Slowly, the events of last night began to come back to her. Twister. Pillow fights. Lots and *lots* of beer. Chino and Coop. Jell-O shots. Kissing Cohen.
Shit. She was positive they had kissed, but what else had happened? Summer looked down. Seth was fully clothed, but she only had a robe on over her underwear. *His* robe.
Shit. It couldn't have gone beyond that, right? He was Seth. He wouldn't have...She wouldn't have...He was waking up.
Shit. As a yawn rumbled through his throat, Seth rolled over.
"Hi," he mumbled, burying his face in her neck. Summer tensed up.
"Umm, Cohen..." At the sound of her voice, Seth pulled back. He must not have realized it was her. He blinked, registering the fact that she was in his bed on a Saturday morning.
"Umm...hi?" He pulled away slightly, and Summer could see the lightbulb go off over his head as he began piecing together what had happened. "Parents gone," he mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face. "Beer. Ryan and Marissa. And you..." He moved his hand so that he could look at her. "You..." he repeated. "We..."
"We got drunk," Summer finished for him. No way was she going to have this conversation with him; she wasn't even ready to have it with herself yet.
"Right," he murmured. "We got drunk." Seth ran his tongue along the edge of his teeth, and Summer could tell that he wanted to say something else. But apparently he thought better of it, because he shook his head to himself and sat up.
*Bad* idea. He had been fine laying down, but the second he had sat up, his head had begun to pound uncontrollably. Seth silently cursed himself. *This* was why he didn't drink himself into a stupor very often. And he hadn't even done that last night - it was just that his body wasn't used to any alcohol at all, let alone four beers, six shots of rum, and a Jell-O shot. "Damn," he muttered. He glanced over at Summer.
"Hangover?" she asked sympathetically, pushing herself up to sit next to him. He glared at her.
"Why didn't you get one?" he asked hatefully. Summer chuckled.
"Oh, I've got one," she assured him. "I had just as much if not more to drink than you did, and I'm smaller. But I'm also used to it by now." Seth groaned. "Think you can manage to haul your ass out of bed?" Summer asked. "There's Advil and coffee downstairs."
"No," Seth declared, pouting like a two-year-old.
"Cohen..." Summer warned.
"You first." Rolling her eyes, Summer crawled over him, which she suspected was the point all along, and stood. Her feet his the floor with a thud and she winced, massaging her temples.
"Getting worse," she murmured. "That make you feel any better?"
"No."
"That must've been your first word."
"No." Seth gave Summer puppy-dog eyes, which would have been much more convincing if his eyes weren't quite so red and bloodshot. But still, Summer took his hand and dragged him to his feet. Together, they stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Ryan and Marissa were already sitting at the table, cradling steaming cups of black coffee in their hands. Ryan managed a wave, but Marissa had her head down on her arms.
"I hate you all," Seth mumbled.
"Shhh!" Marissa complained. Ryan patted her on the back sympathetically while Seth poured a cup of coffee for himself and for Summer. They leaned side-by-side on the island and sipped. When he was halfway finished, he moved over to the window above the kitchen sink, peering through the blinds. As he did so, the sun slipped through the cracks and directly into both his eyes and Summer's.
"Too bright!" she complained, and he closed them again. As he slurped down the rest of his coffee, Ryan, the only reasonably sober one of them, snagged a water bottle from the refrigerator and a bottle of Asprin from the counter, passing them around. Summer took two, Seth took four, and Ryan practically had to force-feed Marissa two of her own.
"Remind me never to drink again," Seth complained.
"You know what they say the best cure for a hangover is?" Ryan piped up.
"You're about to tell me, and I guarantee from the tone of your voice that it's nothing I want to hear right now."
"More alcohol." Seth looked at him in disbelief, then over to Summer, who was smirking at him.
"Ahh!" he shouted. "No! You are all evil!" With that, he disappeared out the sliding glass doors onto the patio.
"Shut *up*!" Marissa complained.
~*~
An hour and a half later, Seth was the only one still nursing a monster headache. Ryan, with the highest alcohol tolerance out of any of them, had barely had a hangover at all to begin with, and Summer's minor one had worn off quickly. Marissa always got *horrible* hangovers, no matter how much or how little she had to drink. On the plus side, however, she had learned how to combat them long ago. After Ryan had made her take the Advil, she had downed the rest of the bottled water, plus two more bottles, then had ventured out to the poolhouse, where she had slept for about an hour, and had woken up rested and refreshed. She and Summer were lounging in the Cohen's living room painting their toenails, while Ryan and Seth were upstairs playing video games, which Seth was convinced would help take his mind off of the pain. Summer just thought he was being a little boy. Marissa didn't particularly care - she was much more interested in the dish from last night.
"What do you remember?" she asked eagerly. Summer groaned.
"Would you let it *go* already?" she complained, a little sick of Marissa's bubbliness. Her best friend laughed.
"Not a chance," she countered. "So, it took you...what? A month before you admitted that you liked him in the first place? Now how long is it gonna take you to get over yourself and under him?"
"Coop!" Summer exclaimed. Marissa collapsed in a fit of giggles as Summer bopped her on the head with a nearby pillow. "Just because you've gotten laid more times in the past week than I have in the past two months doesn't mean you get to get all preachy with me."
"Just because you've spent your time moping over Seth Cohen instead of getting laid doesn't give *you* the right to get all self-deprecating with me," Marissa countered. Summer stuck her tongue out.
"Nothing happened," she informed. Marissa raised a single eyebrow; or tried. Summer was the only person she knew who could do it convincingly. But it got across the effect she intended.
"If I seem to recall correctly," she began, "you woke up this morning, practically naked, in Seth's bed, wearing his clothes." Summer glanced down at her now-covered legs, her cheeks burning. Damn her. "Come on," Marissa begged. "What happened?" Summer glared.
"We kissed," she admitted. "I think." Marissa squealed happily, and Summer rolled her eyes. "God, you are such a cheerleader," she muttered. She was all for dishing about her love life, but Marissa never knew when to leave it alone - like now. Seth Cohen was...well, Seth Cohen. She no longer felt the same about him as she used to, she would give him that. But it was the fact that she didn't know what she felt that bothered her. Summer had always prided herself in being completely in control of her emotions. What did it say about her that Cohen was the one to make her lose her shit?
"Dammit," she muttered. Beside her, Marissa smirked. "Oh, don't give me that," Summer snarked. She stood, heading towards the stairs. "Let's go bother the boys," she said.
~*~
"Dude, this is *sad*," Ryan informed Seth. Seth groaned, for about the twenty millionth time that hour, as he flopped backwards onto the bed. The movement must have been too sudden for him, though, because he groaned again. Ryan tuned his attention back to the television screen. It displayed his score versus Seth's - 54 to 288. And this was usually Seth's best game. "I'm telling you, man," he said. "The best way to get rid of that hangover is just to drink some more."
"No."
"Why are you being so stubborn?"
"Because." Seth was pouting like an insolent two-year-old when Summer and Marissa entered the room. Marissa dropped down beside Ryan, while Summer hopped up next to Seth on the bed, dangling a bottle of tequila in front of his face.
"Come on, lightweight," she teased. Seth only pouted again, so Summer smacked him across the chest.
"Owww!" he howled. She rolled her eyes.
"Grow up," she instructed, popping the cork and shoving the bottle in his face. Sitting up reluctantly, he grabbed the bottle from her and took a swig. He made a face as the bitter liquid burned down his throat.
"Guuh," he shuddered after swallowing. "Why the hell would anyone drink this stuff?"
"Not for the taste," Marissa assured him, stealing the bottle and taking a sip herself before passing it back to Summer.
"So, what are we doing tonight?" Ryan asked when the booze bottle reached him. "More Twister?" He shot Seth a look.
"Oh, yeah." Seth nodded emphatically. "I'm up for Twister." Marissa and Summer eyed them suspiciously.
"You didn't even play," Summer reminded them. Seth grinned.
"Hey, we didn't need to - you two were having enough fun for all of us." He wiggled his eyebrows at Summer until she caught his drift. Rolling her eyes, she socked him in the arm.
"You guys are pigs!" she declared. Marissa frowned at her questioningly. Summer groaned inwardly. Honestly, the girl could be so naive sometimes. "They just wanted to watch us crawl all over each other," she said accusingly. Ryan and Seth shared a look consistent with guilty ten-year-olds, shrugging as they continued to grin unrepentantly. Marissa looked slightly shocked, turning to Ryan with a glare.
"You've gotta be kidding me," she said. But the look in his eyes clearly said he wasn't.
"That's sad," Summer chimed in. "That's the best way you know how to have fun is to watch two girls play Twister."
"I didn't hear you complaining," Seth countered. Summer just smiled as the Tequila bottle found itself in her possession once again.
"No," she murmured softly. "But soon, *you* will be." Seth hadn't heard her, and she hadn't meant for him to. Marissa, however, had, and the girls shared a secret look, matching sly smiles creeping across their lips. This meant war.