Summer sat cross legged on her couch, staring at the t.v. Some Real World member was bitching about some boyfriend. If you cheated on the guy, why are you crying? What about him? Selfish bitch. Somewhere that seemed far away, the doorbell rang.
"It's open. Oh, unless you're a mass murderer. Then, my daddy's upstairs."
The door opened and Marissa walked in.
"Hey, did you get dressed at all today?"
Summer looked down at her p.j.s and shook her head. Marissa put on her sad face and sat down on the couch next to her.
"Coop, don't do that."
"What?"
"The whole 'I understand' thing. I'm okay."
"When's your dad getting back?"
"Tomorrow."
"Okay. So, you want me to stay here tonight?"
"Do you want to stay here tonight?"
Marissa shrugged. Summer looked back at the t.v. The damn girl was crying again.
"Then, no. It's okay, Coop. You don't have to be there for everything. I'll be all right."
"But Sum..."
"Coop. Just stop."
"Okay, okay. So, how's Cohen?"
"How would I know?"
"Well, you guys looked pretty close at the wedding and..."
"It was just a dance, Coop, not a proposal."
"Okay, relax. I dunno, you guys looked cute together."
"Aw. But isn't this the guy that you said was so rude and that you yelled at me for defending?"
Marissa's face fell and she sunk back into the couch.
"Yeah."
"All right."
Summer pulled her legs out from under her and propped them up on the coffee table.
"Summer, are you mad at me or something?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Dammit, Coop, yes. I'm sure."
"Because your dad's marriage can't have been easy..."
"Coop. Just shut up. You don't know what you're saying."
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry about what?"
"About everything. You're a good person, Sum, and you don't deserve any of it."
"Yeah, well what happens happens."
"Mm-hmm."
Marissa turned her head and looked at her. She looked younger curled up on the couch, pretending she didn't care. Summer looked back at her.
"What?"
Marissa smiled. Summer smiled back.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She turned her head back and Summer did the same. But she crawled over on the couch and pulled her arms around her friend. Summer tried not to smile, but lost in the end and hugged her back.
"Sum, I really am sorry."
"I know."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
"So you want me to stay tonight?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
"Okay."
Marissa pulled back away from her and was slightly surprised to see tears in her eyes.
"Baby?"
"Yeah."
"It's going to be okay."
"Mm-hmm."
They watched the Real World-ers until they fell asleep, each girl curled up on one side. Summer seemed to dream too much these days. About her dad, about Lara, about Marissa, and about Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman in medieval dress. But this was her favorite. Dreamless sleep. Just relaxing into a world that she knew she would forget in the morning. But she didn't care.
Marissa shook her awake the next morning, telling her they had to go school. She was already dressed. Summer was still unconscious.
"Coop, not now."
"Sum, come on. We're going to be late."
"Mmm..."
"Sum..."
Marissa rubbed her back and slapped it once.
"Come on."
"Mmm..."
"Sum."
"Fine. God, I'm...up."
Summer swung her legs around the bed and stood up with an exaggerated yawn. Marissa rolled her eyes, but turned to leave the room.
"I'm going to make toast."
"You? Are going to cook?"
"I can cook."
Summer snorted and Marissa shook her head.
"You're supposed to have my back."
"Sorry, babe. You go cook that toast."
"Ha-ha. The sarcasm is not needed."
"Okay. I'm sorry, hon."
"All right. Get dressed."
"Yes, ma'am."
Summer came down ten minutes later dressed in a navy blue tube top with a white palm tree on the side and white jeans. Marissa put two plates down on the table with two pieces of very well done toast tossed lazily onto them. Summer raised her eyebrows but sat next to Marissa at the table. She nibbled on the edge of one piece and put it down and looked back at Marissa.
"What?"
"Look, babe, I'm all for you expanding your horizons, but do I have to pretend to like this?"
"Yes."
"Okay. So I can't make some edible toast?"
"No."
"Okay."
Summer bit back into the toast and shook her head. She walked up to the fridge and grabbed a jar of jam. She dumped half of it onto the one piece of toast and bit it again.
"Mmm...it is good."
"Ha, you're funny."
Marissa was nibbling warily at the toast herself, but just put it down and drank her glass of water instead. Forget jam. Summer had finished almost all of it anyway.
Jimmy came over half an hour later with an offer to drive them to school. Summer had pulled her hair up into a sloppy ponytail and put on a silver link necklace and big hoops. Since her dad and Lara were coming home, she had to look like she didn't care, but was doing fine. Happy. Right.
Summer trudged over to her locker and cupped her bag over her shoulder. She pulled out a few books and got the locker to open on the first try. She dumped a couple books into it and grabbed a few and threw them on the floor. She grabbed her purse and tossed that onto the floor. She was one of the only girls in Harbor that didn't mind throwing her plum Dolce & Gabbana on the floor. She grabbed a bunch of stuff, the purse and headed off to class. She got a lot of smiles on her way and a few 'hey's mostly from people she knew. But she didn't see him. He seemed to have been ignoring her. Or trying to. Occasionally, she'd see his eyes looking at her in a class, but mostly he stayed out of her way. But she was really scared that she had hurt him.
School seemed to go slower than usual, but she got out alive. As she was walking out with Marissa, a limo pulled up. A few kids shot looks at it, mostly to see who sent a limo to a school, but most didn't notice. A driver came out and stopped Summer.
"Miss Roberts, your father sent me to get you. And Miss Cooper if she would like to come."
"Uh, sure. Let me call my dad."
Marissa pulled out her phone and the two girls slid into the back seat. The driver got back in and started driving. Marissa hung up the phone and looked back at Summer.
"So."
"So."
"Would it be rude if I asked what happened with you and Cohen?"
"No."
"Would you answer me?"
Summer sighed and waved her hand in some sort of agreement.
"Well, I mean, you know he danced with me. But towards the end, I just...freaked or something, but I ran out. So, he caught me the next day when I went for one of those long walks and asked me what happened. And I was, like, I dunno, it was just weird. Then he asked me why and I got kind of upset. I said it was hard for me to just talk to him because so many of my friends didn't know him that well and you know, usually we all know each other's boyfriends or girlfriends or whatever. Then, he got upset and told me it shouldn't matter, but I said that it did. And that was just the way it was. Then, he seemed to be hurt or something and I didn't know what to say. So I said I had to go and I'd see him in school. And I've seen him, but neither of us was really brave enough to say anything about it."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
"You know, that's a lot of bullshit. If you really liked him, you know we would've understood."
Summer looked at her and shook her head.
"Well, I would."
"No you wouldn't. You don't like him. Neither do most of the people we hang out with."
"But do you?"
"I don't know. I don't think so."
"Is that...maybe a lie?"
"No. I don't like him. I can't like him. He's...I mean, he's Seth Cohen."
"So? He likes you."
"Yeah."
"So you're not being unreasonable?"
"Coop, you can't honestly say that if I said I did like him, and I thought about him all the time, and I was going to ask him to be my boyfriend...that you would be totally okay with it. You might pretend to be, but you'd be laughing on the inside. And some people aren't that good at hiding what they think."
"But Sum..."
"No buts. It just...has to be this way. There's nothing I can do about it and there's nothing you can do about it."
"But if you..."
"But what if I don't. And I don't, so there's no what if."
"Sum, didn't you say you wanted something like me and Luke had? What if Cohen could give you that?"
"He's still Cohen."
"You're not being stubborn?"
"I'm not being stubborn, Coop. I'm being real."
"Fine. I just think you're being a little dramatic. But it's your life."
"You don't like him though. You think he's cocky and annoying and all that. You can't just change your opinion because he smiles at me a lot. You don't understand."
"Okay. Don't get mad at me."
"I'm not."
"Okay."
"Okay."
Summer crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. Marissa was keeping up her perfect posture. She didn't look back at her for the rest of the ride back to Marissa's house.
Note: Okay, so I wanted to get this one out before I left, so sorry it's shorter than the other ones. I'm leaving for vacation for about ten days, so it's going to be a little while before I can get the next one out. I can try, but it's doubtful. If I get bored, though, I'll try to write. Next chapter's going to be more about Summer's new family. Leave a review. Peace and love...