I don't own the O.C.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
A/N: Sorry, but this isn't a Ryan POV. I know... I know... it's only when you guys mentioned it that I realized that Anna and Seth had been dominating the story but don't worry, you'll have Ryan's POV in chapters 8, 10 and 12.
-----
Seth POV
It was another extremely boring evening with absolutely nothing to do so after a quick stop at Blockbuster, I dropped by Summer's place. Armed with DVDs of When Harry Met Sally, Superman 5 and Road to Perdition, I rang her doorbell. I must have rung it at least six more times before it dawned on me: she was out. The first hint should have been the unlit porch; the second the unanswered call I'd made in the car; and the third that she'd informed me the night before that she'd be going out with him.
He just happened to be a producer – a legit one – she'd recently met at a friend's party and from all her oohs and aahs, they seemed to get along pretty well. Of course, till I met him, I was sure that he was the definition of 'prick' but to my greatest disappointment, he turned out to be a nice guy. Instead of getting territorial when he saw me, he respected that we were old friends and had no problems sharing his obsession with collecting old Simpsons' scripts with me.
I wouldn't have picked him out for her but she seemed to really like him. Which I guess made sense because Mark was the kind of guy many girls seemed to look for -successful, single, not annoying and not exactly ugly. Okay, so maybe he didn't annoy Summer but he sure as hell annoyed me. Why? I was yet to put my finger to it.
---
I should have gone home but my car wouldn't start. Granted, I didn't get as far as putting my key into the ignition but after sitting in my car and watching the clock change numbers every minute, I got out and decided to enjoy the night's breeze by sitting on her porch. Besides, by that point, I decided that there was a good reason I wasn't leaving – it had been over a week since I'd seen Mark and we needed to catch up.
I sat up straight and adjusted my collar when I saw his dark blue BMW pull up. Then they climbed out of the car engrossed in whatever crap story made them giggle like little girls. They become more visible as they moved under the street light and I noticed that the front of her hair was loose and framing her face while the rest of it was pulled in a ponytail. She was wearing a snug, tiny strapped red dress that stopped mid-thigh. She looked gorgeous. And cold. I wanted to run to my car to get my jacket for her but I thought better of it. The last person she needed intruding on her date was me. They were a few feet from the porch steps when Summer jumped in fright.
"Cohen, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked, gaping at me for what seemed like an eternity before she smiled apologetically at her date.
I shrugged. "I just came to hang out. When I saw you weren't home, I decided to wait."
She looked at her watch. "Seth, it's almost 12:30. How long were you going to wait?"
"Till 12:30."
I felt a little bad for the thoroughly confused Mark but she was my friend and if I wanted to wait for her, I could, dammit! After all, unlike someone we both knew, she'd known me her entire life. Okay, so that was lame but there was something about that guy that made me want to act like a preschooler. I wasn't sure but maybe it was the way he just looked at her, like he wanted to devour her or something. Okay, okay, so he wasn't really looking at her like that but I'm a guy and looking at that dress, I just knew what he was thinking.
"Summer, I guess I'll be going," he interrupted my thoughts, rattling his car keys.
She creased her eyebrows in disappointment. "You were coming in for a drink," she reminded him.
"Yes, Mark, don't let me stop you, we can all have a drink."
Barely acknowledging me, he smiled at her. "I guess I'll be taking a raincheck."
Really? What a prick! Instead of looking like he wanted to rip me apart from limb to limb for being an unabashed cock-blocker, he was still trying to play Mr. Nice Guy. I really wasn't fond of phony people.
She grinded her teeth at me then softly looked at him. "I'm really sorry about this," she apologized.
"Hey, forget it; it's not your fault."
It was only when they were both standing in uncomfortable silence did I realize what was going on – there was still that tiny issue of the goodbye kiss. "Don't let me stop you. Just pretend I'm the wall or something," I volunteered.
Giving me another poisonous stare, she moved closer to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. As he walked back to his car, she quickly turned to me and kicked me off the porch seat. As I stood up, stared at the slammed door and dusted off my pants, I finally realized what I didn't like about Mark. He was nice and all and in some universe they could have worked but it just wasn't in the cards in this one for one simple reason: he wasn't me.
---
That night got me thinking, so I called Ryan up.
"Hey, what's up, man?" I asked, the minute he picked up the line.
He hesitated for a minute before saying, "Hey, how's it going?"
I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn't know how he was going to respond to me after how I'd treated him for the past year and was glad that he hadn't hung up on me. "Where you at?"
"At the apartment, watching the news -they are talking about unemployment and ish."
"Why are you watching that crap? The way I hear it, you're a big shot around town –no one's going to be laying you off."
"Hardly. But the way I hear it, the only reason you haven't been laid off is you have some relationship with the boss."
I chuckled. "Hey, who's the snitch? Who's telling you all this stuff? Mom?"
We both laughed. Soon after, we fell into silence so I said, "Wanna know why I called you to up?"
I could picture him hesitating in his very neat room. "Sure. I'm intrigued."
"Well it's simple really, for the first time in my life, I think I really understand you."
"Funny, I always thought I was pretty easy to understand."
"You wish. I'm serious though. In the past, I knew you but I didn't always understand you. Do you feel me?"
"Nope."
"But," I continued, "for the first time ever, I thought, 'wow, this must have been how Ryan felt.'"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean by what do I mean?"
"Dude, you're confusing me. You said you know how I feel. What are you talking about?"
"Bro, I'll tell you another day." I didn't want to share it with anyone till I was sure there was something worth telling.
"You call me in the middle of the night with some psychobabble and you're not even gonna tell me what's up?" he whined.
"I'll tell you, but not today. How's that?"
"I guess I don't really have much of a choice."
We were silent again so I just repeated myself. "I just wanted to tell you that I understand you."
"Cool. Even though I have no idea what you're talking about."
I paused for a moment. There was something else I needed to say. "Ryan, I'm not going to apologize for the way I feel, I mean, felt. Or even the way I behaved." I was glad to understand where he was coming from so I wanted the reverse for him.
"That's fine, I never asked you to."
"Great."
"But you know that's what you want me to do, right?"
"How so?"
"You want me to apologize for the way I feel about Anna. I am sorry about the situation we put you in but I can never be sorry about the way we feel – I just can't be, I mean-"
"Whoa! Dude, that's fine, I get you!" I interrupted. If Ryan was going to go into some spiel about owning your feelings I was going to have to kill myself. Dude rarely spoke but when he did, he tried to sound all TV psychologist.
"So, we cool?"
"Always."
I realized that we had a lot to talk about but at that moment –and to my utter surprise – I felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
A/N: Sorry, but this isn't a Ryan POV. I know... I know... it's only when you guys mentioned it that I realized that Anna and Seth had been dominating the story but don't worry, you'll have Ryan's POV in chapters 8, 10 and 12.
-----
Seth POV
It was another extremely boring evening with absolutely nothing to do so after a quick stop at Blockbuster, I dropped by Summer's place. Armed with DVDs of When Harry Met Sally, Superman 5 and Road to Perdition, I rang her doorbell. I must have rung it at least six more times before it dawned on me: she was out. The first hint should have been the unlit porch; the second the unanswered call I'd made in the car; and the third that she'd informed me the night before that she'd be going out with him.
He just happened to be a producer – a legit one – she'd recently met at a friend's party and from all her oohs and aahs, they seemed to get along pretty well. Of course, till I met him, I was sure that he was the definition of 'prick' but to my greatest disappointment, he turned out to be a nice guy. Instead of getting territorial when he saw me, he respected that we were old friends and had no problems sharing his obsession with collecting old Simpsons' scripts with me.
I wouldn't have picked him out for her but she seemed to really like him. Which I guess made sense because Mark was the kind of guy many girls seemed to look for -successful, single, not annoying and not exactly ugly. Okay, so maybe he didn't annoy Summer but he sure as hell annoyed me. Why? I was yet to put my finger to it.
---
I should have gone home but my car wouldn't start. Granted, I didn't get as far as putting my key into the ignition but after sitting in my car and watching the clock change numbers every minute, I got out and decided to enjoy the night's breeze by sitting on her porch. Besides, by that point, I decided that there was a good reason I wasn't leaving – it had been over a week since I'd seen Mark and we needed to catch up.
I sat up straight and adjusted my collar when I saw his dark blue BMW pull up. Then they climbed out of the car engrossed in whatever crap story made them giggle like little girls. They become more visible as they moved under the street light and I noticed that the front of her hair was loose and framing her face while the rest of it was pulled in a ponytail. She was wearing a snug, tiny strapped red dress that stopped mid-thigh. She looked gorgeous. And cold. I wanted to run to my car to get my jacket for her but I thought better of it. The last person she needed intruding on her date was me. They were a few feet from the porch steps when Summer jumped in fright.
"Cohen, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked, gaping at me for what seemed like an eternity before she smiled apologetically at her date.
I shrugged. "I just came to hang out. When I saw you weren't home, I decided to wait."
She looked at her watch. "Seth, it's almost 12:30. How long were you going to wait?"
"Till 12:30."
I felt a little bad for the thoroughly confused Mark but she was my friend and if I wanted to wait for her, I could, dammit! After all, unlike someone we both knew, she'd known me her entire life. Okay, so that was lame but there was something about that guy that made me want to act like a preschooler. I wasn't sure but maybe it was the way he just looked at her, like he wanted to devour her or something. Okay, okay, so he wasn't really looking at her like that but I'm a guy and looking at that dress, I just knew what he was thinking.
"Summer, I guess I'll be going," he interrupted my thoughts, rattling his car keys.
She creased her eyebrows in disappointment. "You were coming in for a drink," she reminded him.
"Yes, Mark, don't let me stop you, we can all have a drink."
Barely acknowledging me, he smiled at her. "I guess I'll be taking a raincheck."
Really? What a prick! Instead of looking like he wanted to rip me apart from limb to limb for being an unabashed cock-blocker, he was still trying to play Mr. Nice Guy. I really wasn't fond of phony people.
She grinded her teeth at me then softly looked at him. "I'm really sorry about this," she apologized.
"Hey, forget it; it's not your fault."
It was only when they were both standing in uncomfortable silence did I realize what was going on – there was still that tiny issue of the goodbye kiss. "Don't let me stop you. Just pretend I'm the wall or something," I volunteered.
Giving me another poisonous stare, she moved closer to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. As he walked back to his car, she quickly turned to me and kicked me off the porch seat. As I stood up, stared at the slammed door and dusted off my pants, I finally realized what I didn't like about Mark. He was nice and all and in some universe they could have worked but it just wasn't in the cards in this one for one simple reason: he wasn't me.
---
That night got me thinking, so I called Ryan up.
"Hey, what's up, man?" I asked, the minute he picked up the line.
He hesitated for a minute before saying, "Hey, how's it going?"
I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn't know how he was going to respond to me after how I'd treated him for the past year and was glad that he hadn't hung up on me. "Where you at?"
"At the apartment, watching the news -they are talking about unemployment and ish."
"Why are you watching that crap? The way I hear it, you're a big shot around town –no one's going to be laying you off."
"Hardly. But the way I hear it, the only reason you haven't been laid off is you have some relationship with the boss."
I chuckled. "Hey, who's the snitch? Who's telling you all this stuff? Mom?"
We both laughed. Soon after, we fell into silence so I said, "Wanna know why I called you to up?"
I could picture him hesitating in his very neat room. "Sure. I'm intrigued."
"Well it's simple really, for the first time in my life, I think I really understand you."
"Funny, I always thought I was pretty easy to understand."
"You wish. I'm serious though. In the past, I knew you but I didn't always understand you. Do you feel me?"
"Nope."
"But," I continued, "for the first time ever, I thought, 'wow, this must have been how Ryan felt.'"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean by what do I mean?"
"Dude, you're confusing me. You said you know how I feel. What are you talking about?"
"Bro, I'll tell you another day." I didn't want to share it with anyone till I was sure there was something worth telling.
"You call me in the middle of the night with some psychobabble and you're not even gonna tell me what's up?" he whined.
"I'll tell you, but not today. How's that?"
"I guess I don't really have much of a choice."
We were silent again so I just repeated myself. "I just wanted to tell you that I understand you."
"Cool. Even though I have no idea what you're talking about."
I paused for a moment. There was something else I needed to say. "Ryan, I'm not going to apologize for the way I feel, I mean, felt. Or even the way I behaved." I was glad to understand where he was coming from so I wanted the reverse for him.
"That's fine, I never asked you to."
"Great."
"But you know that's what you want me to do, right?"
"How so?"
"You want me to apologize for the way I feel about Anna. I am sorry about the situation we put you in but I can never be sorry about the way we feel – I just can't be, I mean-"
"Whoa! Dude, that's fine, I get you!" I interrupted. If Ryan was going to go into some spiel about owning your feelings I was going to have to kill myself. Dude rarely spoke but when he did, he tried to sound all TV psychologist.
"So, we cool?"
"Always."
I realized that we had a lot to talk about but at that moment –and to my utter surprise – I felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders.
