Seth POV

"It's good to see that you're getting a lot of work done," I heard the sarcastic voice behind me say. I didn't have to turn around to know that it was my grandfather. Not that he was wrong to be a little irritated with me, after all, I was at work and instead of staring at some table with figures and words, I had a green screen with playing cards stacked on top of one another. But hey, I didn't ask for the stupid job.

My sole purpose for returning to Newport was to leave all the hypocrisy and betrayal that had been surrounding me. It was hard enough seeing Ryan everyday, knowing what he had done to me, but hearing him speak to Anna on the phone was just plain sickening. His voice would get all soft and he'd say all these things to her - things that I said and meant, things she obviously didn't appreciate, which coincidentally were the same things he used to say to his hundreds of faceless, nameless bedmates, and suddenly I am supposed to believe it's love? Give me a break. I was disgusted by him and I just couldn't be around it anymore. I think I would have appreciated it if he'd come to me as a man and just 'fessed up like he ought but the whole bullshit "we couldn't help it" crap was just too ridiculous.

So I'd planned that I'd just move back in with my parents -no rent, no bills, no hassles - and go surfing, hang out and later on decide on my next move. But my father wasn't having it. A week back home, he pretty much forced me to work at The Newport Group. I told him I wasn't interested in the position but he stayed on my case till I had no choice but to get up one morning and go to the darned place.

At first, my granddad was happy about it. He was proud that three generations of Nichols were working together and despite my protests, gave me a key role in the Finance department. The sneaky bastard had gone behind my back and spoken to my old boss who'd given him a glowing review that included terms like 'original,' 'instinctive,' 'eye for the market,' and other buzzwords we are trained to add to our resumes. He was excited about the amazing things I was supposed to do in the department till a week into it, he learned I hadn't lifted a finger. No one could claim that I didn't warn him. After another week of scolding, he finally saw the light and reshuffled, or should I say, demoted me. So for three weeks, I'd been working at a job I didn't understand. Actually, I bet I would have understood it if I'd paid any attention because one of my colleagues had spent an entire day explaining it all to me. However, since my first day, I hadn't opened the program I was supposed to use but I assumed the job entailed proofreading of some sort. Not that it mattered.

So for almost a month, I'd been getting to work about an hour late, logging on to my computer, then spending the entire day surfing the internet and playing games. The guys in the other cubicles sent scornful glances down my way, and I couldn't blame them, after all, I was getting a pretty sizeable check for doing nothing. But couldn't they see that all I was trying to do was get fired? Once I umemployed, I could finally get to the beach and spend my days surfing - just like I wanted.

"Yes, there's nothing quite as rewarding as accomplishing something," I said to Caleb with a grin. Fire me now, fire me now, I chanted in my head.

"You're twenty-five years old, Seth. This is not a time to mess up," he said in an even toned voice. One thing I'd noticed about him was that he always seemed so cool at work. He'd never really been that excitable but at the office, even when everything was going awry, he was always calm and acted like nothing could harm a hair on his chest.

"So what age would be the right time?"

He shook his head and looked at his watch. "You do know that as a salaried employee you don't get overtime," he commented.

"And so?" I said turning back to my game. I clicked on the 8 of spades and placed it on the 9 of diamonds. I'd become an expert at 'Hearts' and was about to win my 215th game in a row.

"Seth, stop that! I am talking to you," he said with his voice slightly raised. By the time I turned to him he was back to his usual air of indifference.

"Mr Nichol, you were saying something about overtime," I reminded him.

"Seth, it's after 6pm, you don't have to be here, especially when you're not doing anything useful."

"What does it matter?"

"Go home."

Why? So that I could walk into the house, glance at the pool house and remember what my life wasn't? Or I could look at my mother's pitying looks and just imagine what was going through her mind? No thanks.

I went back to my screen and hoped that Caleb would take the hint and just leave me alone. But he refused.

"Seth, I am serious," he growled from above me. "Go home now, I am sure there's somewhere you need to be."

Then I remembered; he was right. I did have dinner plans with Summer.

-----

"So how does it feel to be back in California, no snow, actual trees, not some many crazy people?" the blonde girl sitting across from me asked. A few years earlier, I would have been all over her. She was the typical beach beauty - about 5'7, big blue expressive eyes, long healthy hair most men would love to grab a hold of, full heart shaped lips and dimples you wanted to dip your finger into. And as for her body, she had legs for days and a tiny waist that just accentuated her full chest. And this walking Sports Illustrated model was talking to me and all I could think was that I was sure her pretty lips told a whole lot of lies.

According to the plans Summer had made the previous week, she and I were supposed to go out for drinks on that Friday evening. So color me shocked when she walked in with Tallboy and Covergirl. He was darkhaired and skinny - not someone I'd imagined was her type but since I hadn't planned on meeting him on an ambush double date, I was pretty much pissed.

"Oh, you're just jealous; New York is fabulous," he said, tapping her hand playfully. I hadn't bothered to learn their names as I just wished for the evening to end.

"I'm an East Coast girl myself," she reminded him, "but there's something about California. Anyway, what do you do?" she asked, turning her attention back on me.

I shrugged. She looked confused. "You don't know what you do?"

I shook my head. "I don't. I just deposit a paycheck every month."

I could feel Summer glowering at me from the other side of the table. "Don't listen to him, Jen. He's a financial analyst."

"I was a financial analyst," I corrected, gesturing with my forefinger. " Now, I just collect a paycheck. My grandfather owns the company," I explained.

"I see," she said nodding and looking like she didn't see anything at all. Summer and her boyfriend returned to their boring conversation about fashion -apparently, he worked for Calvin Klein - and poor Jen decided to try again.

"Seth, Summer says that you've met a lot of musicians."

"Yes, I guess so."

She smiled and her eyes grew in excitement. "Like who?"

I sighed, hoping I was displaying as much boredom as humanly possible. "Too many to count."

She pursed her lips. "Okay, just name a few."

I stuck my fork in my plate, heaped it with pasta, chewed it for what felt like an eternity before I replied, "I can't think of any."

She sipped her drink and looked slightly irritated. "Anything interesting happen when you met one?" At this point, she was just going through the motions. I wasn't interested in romance and was glad she was getting the hint.

"No. They are actually quite normal."

"So would you mind telling me a boring story about a time you met one?" She glanced at Summer.

"Not really because I am bored enough as it is." And with that, I felt someone stomp hard on my foot. I yelped in response.

Since only one person was frowning at me, it didn't take much to figure out who the culprit was. "Summer, why the hell did you do that?"

"Because you're an ass, Cohen," she replied, looking at me like a fly she wanted to swat, before resuming her conversation.

----

She finally accosted me in the parking lot later that night. "Cohen, what the hell are you playing it? Why were you a jerk to Jen?"

"I didn't ask you to set me up on a blind date," I reminded her as I fiddled with my car keys.

Her forehead wrinkled and she shook her head slowly. "What do you mean?"

"You bring your boyfriend plus some random girl, what else could that mean? I'm not stupid you know?"

Her mouth fell open for a few seconds before she burst into laughter. "Cohen, I guess you are a little stupid. Gabriel is not my boyfriend!" She laughed again. "Seth, he's got a better chance of dating you than me! Does your gaydar even work?" She kept laughing. Then she stopped abruptly. "And you know what? Gabriel usually scrapes the barrel when it comes to guys and he even thought you were an ass tonight."

I felt a little foolish. I guess I was right - he wasn't her type. "I'm sorry, but I thought I was only meeting you then boom, I see two other people."

She rolled her eyes. "I just figured that since most of your friends are out of town, you'd like to hang out with some of mine. I used to date Jen's brother and Gabriel and I are in the industry. It wasn't supposed to be anything meaningful - just some people hanging out on a Friday night. But you went and embarrassed me in front of them. Can I take you anywhere?" she asked, her face softening slightly.

"I'm sorry, I just thought--"

"Yes, you just had to think the worst." She looked at the ground and kicked some stones. "I want to tell you to just snap out of it because I feel I should be sensitive but it's been over a month and you really need to…"

"Just snap out of it?" I completed.

"Pretty much," she replied before she gave me a peck on my left cheek and walked back to her car.