Cheat Sheet from Chapter 5: The Truth and the Story- If you felt uncomfortable reading the previous chapter, here's a overview of what happened: Summer told Kirsten tearfully about what happened to her mother, Kirsten gave Summer a number to reach her mother, and Kirsten told Summer some of her doubts. Enjoy the new chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't have any involvement with The O.C. Also, I am my own beta, so any mistakes are my fault.
Summer woke up late the next few days. She hadn't talked to Kirsten in about a week. It was Friday now, but she didn't really notice. She had lost track of the time.
She wanted to call Kirsten, but she didn't want to be rude. Wouldn't she be working? Summer chose to wait until around 4:00. That way, she would probably be home. Summer realized she cared a little too much about this.
"Hello?" a man's deep but friendly voice answered the phone.
"Hi, is Kirsten in? This is Summer Roberts," she said nervously, cringing at her extreme-politeness.
"Oh, okay, hold on," he agreed, then called to Kirsten.
Kirsten quickly answered with a bright "Hi, Summer!"
"Hi," Summer paused, "Kirsten. I was just calling to say, um, hey," she lied uncomfortably. For some reason, she felt awkward. Maybe it was because of the last time they saw each other. Summer never really let herself go like that.
Kirsten noticed, and decided she'd be the one to break the newly-frozen ice. "I heard your father's going to the charity ball tonight. Are you coming with him?" she commented.
Summer rolled her eyes and snatched up an opportunity to rant about her father, who she had recently gotten in a disagreement over the party with. "He's making me! Like, why is he even going? What does a plastic surgeon have to do with kids with heart problems? Is he gonna like, give them chin implants?" she rambled.
Kirsten laughed a little. "I'll see you there then. Julie told me Marissa will be there with her and Caleb,"
Summer bit her lip, and got a taste of Jessica Simpson's lip gloss, Dessert. This flavor was supposed to taste like sugar, or cream, or something, but it didn't really. It was just better then her other MAC gloss, and now she had a nervous habit. "Awesome," she said through cringed teeth. She still hadn't talked to Marissa all summer.
"I'm gonna go get ready, I have to shower and all that. I'll see you later," Summer finished. She hung up the phone with a click.
Summer was slowly getting ready to explode. She had only been at the party for about ten minutes, but there were only so many appetizers she could steal off of waiters' trays. There were two types of Newport parties she went to. The first, were for sophisticated older Newpsies who threw them not for the cause, usually, but to show off that they could throw them, and sometimes they brought their children so later they could all talk about how big Bobby got and how Alexis has turned out so beautifully the next day. The second, were for Newport teens to get drunk, get high, and hook-up. The next day people would talk about what Alexis and Bobby did in the bathroom.
She watched as her stepmother took another sip of wine and her father talked with a tall, dark-haired man. Summer turned her head when she saw Kirsten walk in with Sandy by her side, obviously unhappy to be there. She smiled slightly, and Kirsten walked over to her after greeting a group of women who had flocked her the moment she entered.
"Bored?" she asked, rhetorically.
"They don't serve any good soda," Summer sighed, taking a bite of a cracker.
"I'll introduce you to someone," Kirsten said.
Summer scrunched her face up. "Um, must you?" she complained.
"You'll like her!" Kirsten exclaimed, and led her over to a woman with a little girl by her side.
The girl looked around seven or eight, her hair was a light brown color, and she looked annoyed. She was gripping a small, bright pink purse in her left hand. She had been arguing with her mother and had yelped, "Mommy! I wanna go now!"
"Hi, Maddie, this is Summer. She's my friend," Kirsten said sweetly to the little girl.
Summer held out her hand. "Hi, Maddie,"
Maddie shook Summer's hand slowly. "Do you like my purse?" she asked, holding out the little, glittery bag.
"Gorgeous! I think I want one of my own," Summer exclaimed, noticing that Kirsten had wandered off to leave her alone with the little girl.
"Yeah, yeah. Now that they're gone, do you have a boyfriend?" Maddie questioned.
"I was just like you when I was little!" Summer yelped, realizing that she really was. Kirsten had been right.
"Great. But answer my question!" Maddie ordered.
Summer sighed. "Yeah, do you?" she said with a smirk, elongating the "you".
Maddie put the hand that wasn't holding her purse on her hip. "Yes, I do, and his name is Daniel. He's very nice," she stated.
"Oooh!" Summer said tauntingly.
Summer heard the click-clack of heels and turned to see Marissa had came through the door with Caleb and Julie. She bit her bottom lip, wishing she hadn't worn Revlon. "I've gotta go, but it was very nice to meet you, Maddie. Do you know where your mom is?" she said quickly.
"At the bar probably. And she's my step-mom, okay? I'll be fine, bye," Maddie said with an eye-roll. The girl was too familiar for Summer.
Summer quickly scurried off to find her father. She spotted him sitting at a table, already eating, surrounded by adults that seemed to be a little drunk. She tapped him on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Daddy, I'm tired. I'm gonna call a cab, okay?"
He nodded and handed her twenty dollars from his shirt pocket, not bothering to introduce her to the tipsy Newpsies.
As she sat in the taxi cab, she knew that she didn't need to feel that guilty when she saw Marissa. There was a reason.
"KiKi, I need those reports," Caleb stated firmly.
Kirsten and him were in a corner of the building, shut off from the rest of the party and arguing.
"It's not my job, it's Barry's to do those reports," she tried to explain. She had enough of Caleb's constant pressure on her.
"Barry quit," he notified her.
"Well, that's too bad, Dad. But, guess what? I can't do everything right. I've got a life, a family, and a lot of things on my mind. I'm sorry that Barry quit, I really am, and I'm sorry that Julie isn't mom and that you're taking the fact that this marriage was a mistake out on me," Kirsten shouted, feeling a little embarrassed at going off on her father like that. She began to storm away, having the feeling of being a teenager again.
"KiKi! Come back! Kiki!" Caleb called after her, the room full of his voice echoing.
Kirsten didn't even bother to listen.
Summer knocked on the big, wooden, polished door of the Cooper-Nichol home. The house overwhelmed her, but she could only focus on her fear of her best friend opening the door to the home. Well, she wasn't really sure if Marissa was still her "best friend". They had grown apart over the year, both with their different problems and lives. Summer had Seth and Anna, Marissa had Ryan and her drama of the week, it wasn't like they had a lot of time to just sit around together, gossip, and do all the little girly things they used to do. The question clogged Summer's mind until her thoughts disappeared when Marissa opened the door.
Summer wanted to smile and say hello and begin painting her nails and watching movies, but she couldn't. She could tell something was wrong; she knew something was wrong. Marissa's eyes were red from crying, and she was wearing jeans and a brown t-shirt, which looked normal enough to Summer. She looked past Marissa, and could see a half-empty glass on the table with a bottle of vodka next to it. She had a flash of a memory from when Luke and Marissa had gotten in a huge fight. Summer had came over and saw a glass with vodka in it, and Marissa said it had been her mother's. Summer knew it wasn't, but she was too scared to say anything at the time.
She just pulled her heartbroken friend into a hug, and whispered, "It's okay,"
Marissa pulled away from the hug and tears began to streak down her face. Summer closed the door behind them. She walked with Marissa to the table they both looked at the glass in silence. "It's not like, like I want to do it, it just helps, or I mean, I think it does," Marissa said quietly in between sobs.
Summer nodded. "I know," she said, "But…it doesn't. It doesn't do anything. I know,"
A rush of painful memories stung Summer. Marissa took the glass and threw it on the hard floor of the kitchen, and then threw the bottle down with it, glass shattering everywhere, almost with a rush of adrenaline. Marissa sat back down, beginning to cry hysterically. Summer took her hand and gently rubbed it, unsure of how to react. Minutes passed, and she simply said, "I'll clean it up,"
Marissa had stopped crying and shook her head. "No, let them see it when they get home. I wanna go somewhere. Let's leave," she said firmly, getting up from her chair.
"Let's go to the beach," Summer suggested, a smile slowly coming onto her face.
"Like old times," Marissa said as she slowly recovered from her mess of emotions she had just experienced, "I'll go change. You can borrow a swim suit,"
Summer smiled to herself, knowing she'd never fit it Marissa's clothes, but just nodded. They were back on track.
A/N: Oh, it's good to be back. That last chapter kind of left me feeling unsatisfied with the Kirsten/Caleb and Summer/Marissa, so sorry about that. Next chapter will be refreshing, it's not as angsty and dramatic. Also, if you remember from the second chapter, it was said that Summer didn't have a nervous habit, and so in this chapter I said now she had good-tasting lip gloss to bite her lip. Sorry if you didn't catch it. Thanks for reading, please drop a review!