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Chapter 9 – Hey Summer, It's Seth
Josh stood outside a large house, its occupants obviously very rich. He reached for the door, froze for a second, afraid of who might open it, and knocked. Some time passed and the door slid open. A handsome older male stood in the doorway.
"Can I help you?" the man asked.
"Ya," Josh spoke nervously, "Is Summer home?"
"You must be Josh." Mr. Roberts sighed as Josh nodded, answering his question. "How're the nuts Josh?" Mr. Roberts laughed.
"Ya...they're good... Can I see Summer?"
Mr. Roberts responded quickly. "Sorry, I can't let you in."
"Please," Josh pleaded, "I just want to apologize."
"Well I was given very detailed instructions from my daughter not to let you in."
Josh hung his head in shame and turned around, starting to walk down the steps.
"But…"
Josh turned around quickly, hoping for another chance.
"I'll tell Summer you're here to apologize and maybe, maybe I'll let you in." Mr. Roberts shut the door, and Josh heard him lock it just to make sure he didn't slip in or something.
Josh looked around, once again admiring the oversized house. He walked over to the steps by the door, waiting for it to open.
"Josh what the hell are you doing here, you ass!" Summer yelled, closing the door behind her.
Josh got up from the steps and walked onto the manicured lawn. "Listen I just wanted to say…"
Summer began to yell, interrupting him, "You know what don't!"
"Listen please," Josh said, walking towards Summer and touching her arm lightly.
Summer slapped him, feeling his hands on her arm, "Don't! Ever! Touch me!"
Summer turned around, headed for the house.
"Wait…I'm sure Seth has changed."
"He has!" she yelled.
"I'm sure he has," Josh responded, "He must have if he got you."
She blushed at the slight complement, "Ya, I guess you're right."
"Forgive me." Josh looked directly into Summer's eyes and she could see he was truly sorry.
"Well I did kick you pretty hard." Summer walked back to the steps and sat down. "How are the boys?"
Josh followed Summer's lead and sat down beside her. "What? Oh... they're fine, as long as I never want to have kids," Josh said with a laugh.
"Ya, well I might be doing the world a favor… Kidding!"
"What are you doing now, maybe we could go to the pier and get a Balboa bar or something…" Josh asked, grabbing Summer's hand.
"Ummmmm…" Summer mumbled, moving her hand out of Josh's.
"As friends, of course," Josh clarified, putting his hand back on his own lap.
"Sure, as friends."
Summer got up and walked to her door and yelled.
"Dad, I'm going to the pier with Josh!" Summer yelled loudly into the house.
"You don't have to yell Summer, I'm right here," Mr. Roberts said, opening the door wider so Summer could see him. "I need to go get your step mom from her classes, so I'll be back in a while."
"Bye dad," she said sweetly, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Summer and Josh walked to the car, as friends. Josh got into the driver's seat, started the car and drove away at the same time as Mr. Roberts.
Inside the Roberts home there was silence only for a moment, and then a loud ringing came from Summer's room.
"Ring…Ring…Ring…" Summer's cell phone screeched, lying on her bed.
The phone rang six times before switching to the answering machine.
"Hey Summer, it's Seth…"
--
Seth drew enough strength to stand up, still gasping for air, from his death-defying swim in the rough ocean waters. He grabbed onto the mast of the boat, steadying himself and stumbling to a rope that was holding the sails. Releasing the tight knot, he gave the rope a quick tug and he shifted the sails back to port. The next fifteen minutes were the most enduring time of Seth's young life. In the short time, that felt like days, Seth contemplated what had just happened, had he just heard Summer's voice, was it real…no, it couldn't be.
The Summer Breeze pulled up at 6:52 onto the secondary docks, where Seth had docked his boat before, the boat's hull slightly damaged from the hellish water. From the dark sky, raindrops began to lightly fall. By the time Seth had finished packing up his boat the rain went from slight to furious!
"Let's go," Seth yelled over the rain.
"Where?" Sarah yelled back.
"I think I saw a café across the street from the docks," Seth said, moving closer to Sarah.
"Let's go there," she responded with excitement, "I need a coffee, bad."
The two walked off the docks, across the street and darted into the coffee shop. The small café was packed with sailors, who like him, where driven indoors by the storm.
--
The doorbell rang and Kirsten and Sandy walked to the door and opened it.
"Ryan, Theresa, always a pleasure," Sandy welcomed them in.
"Hi," Ryan said, giving a nod to Sandy and walking over to Kirsten, wrapping his muscular arms around her.
"Sorry about the Mom thing," he whispered into Kirsten's ear.
"It's quite alright," she said, releasing Ryan, "It's nice to see you…son."
The small group of people walked into the kitchen.
"Well I was planning on eating outside, but it looks like it's going to rain," Kirsten whimpered, slightly disappointed.
"The only day where you plan to eat outside it rains," Ryan said sarcastically.
"Well I can see that Seth has been rubbing off on you." Sandy laughed as he patted Ryan on the back.
It was too late for Sandy to catch his words, before he let the meant-to-be joke slip from his mouth. Damn, he thought to himself, seeing both Ryan and Kirsten's faces tighten at the mention of Seth's name.
"The sky's looking pretty black out there, do you think it will rain hard?" Ryan said with concern, looking at Sandy. "Do you think Seth will be alright?"
--
"So where are you staying Seth?" Sarah asked, as they headed to the back of the long line.
"I don't really have a hotel room right now, I'll get one though," Seth said, thinking of Summer.
"Well there are lots of hotels around." Sarah and Seth took a step closer to the front of the line.
"Where are you staying?" Seth asked.
"At the Mermaid Hotel..."
"Awe, the fine nationwide chain of Mermaid Hotels," Seth spoke, remembering the night he and Ryan had stumbled upon Julie and Luke.
"With my boyfriend," Sarah finished.
Seth froze; her boyfriend was here, what was he doing with her?
"My boyfriend and I come here once a year on a sailing trip," she said, mumbling almost incoherently.
"Can I help you sir?" the café worker asked. "Sir, can I help you!"
"Seth," Sarah yelled.
Seth responded, shaken, "What?"
"Order," she demanded.
"Too coffees, one regular and one Decaf, for Miss Demanding over here." Seth joked.
Sarah slapped Seth's arm, "Two regulars."
The two walked over to the only table left in the café, sat down and talked. After some time Seth stood up.
"I'm going to try to call Summer right now."
Seth walked over to a payphone, inserted a quarter and dialed. Seth let the phone ring six times before it switched to the answering machine.
"Hey Summer, it's Seth... I just wanted to talk, I'll try calling you back after I eat tonight…I miss you."
Seth hung up and walked back to the table.
"Want to get out of here and get some grub?" Seth asked.
"Sure."
Seth stared at Sarah as they walked out of the café, "So tell me about this boyfriend…"
"Well, his name's Zak…
--
Zak walked a few steps to his right, walking by Sarah and grabbing a rope on his boat, The Sunshine. He sat down, after turning the sails, and placed his arm around Sarah. She smiled as the boat sped closer to port.
"So this weekend will be fun, you'll see," Zak said and tightened his grip around Sarah, trying to reassure her.
"I know," Sarah said dimly.
She knew it wouldn't be fun. Every year the two went on the same trip, parked in the same dock, Zak would disappear with his friends for the first day and on the second she, Zak and his stupid immature friends would make fun of her, then Zak would apologize and they would go back. She had dated him for five years, every year the same, maybe this year would be different, probably not.
"So what are we going to do when we get there," she asked, praying for Zak not to ditch her again this year.
"Well…you know the drill, I'll drop you off and you can go shopping or something."
Sarah sighed, "What time are we going to meet?"
"Well," Zak continued, knowing he was on thin ice, "I got a room at the Mermaid Hotel, so you can check in and we can meet like, tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," Sarah yelled, "What about tonight."
Zak took his arm off of Sarah, "Look I don't know how late I'm going to be."
"Fine," she grunted angrily, seeing the docks appear a little over mile in fount of them.
"What, so you're mad at me!" Zak yelled back.
Sarah looked at her rich, water-polo-playing, little piece of shit boyfriend. He was hot, rich and had the personality of a dead rat. She calmed herself before speaking.
"No, I'm not mad," she lied. "I'll just go shopping or something and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Great," the dead rat smiled. "So where should I drop you off at?"
"The main dock, then you can go park your boat on the secondary docks."
"Anything for my girl," Zak said and Sarah thought to herself, shut the hell up!
The small sailboat pulled up to the main dock and Sarah put a fake smile on her face, hiding the anger beneath. She jumped off, waving good-bye as Zak sailed away.
From there he sailed to the secondary docks to find some wimpy kid and his boat, The Summer Breeze, in his docking space.
"Hey buddy!" Zak yelled at him. "You're going to have to move your boat."
"Why?" A skinny, black curly haired boy, yelled back.
Zak's boat floated up to the dock. He got off and tied his boat to a wooden pole at the end of the dock. "Because every time I come here this is where I park my boat."
The skinny boy walked closer to him, "Well you are just going to have to dock your boat somewhere else this time, I guess."
"You know kid," Zak threatened, "I'm bigger then you and if I have to I'm willing to force you. So why don't you just make this easy on yourself and unpack your boat and move it?"
"Come on," the skinny boy pleaded, "It took me forever to unpack my boat dude."
Zak just gave an uncaring, bored look.
The boy turned around and walked closer to his boat. "Okay."
"That's better, you little shit." Zak said, laughter in his voice.
The boy turned around and began to walk down the dock to The Summer Breeze. Then suddenly he stopped and turned around, facing Zak.
"You know," he said, "I don't think I'm going to be able to move my boat."
Zak walked over to him. "Well I guess I'm going to have to use a little force." He rolled up his sleeves, preparing to fight.
Then, almost in slow motion, the kid made a fist and in perfect form hit Zak, he tried to block, but the punch connected perfectly, hitting him square between the eyes, knocking Zak flat on his back against the wooden dock.
"Now I'm I going to have to hit you again," the boy said confidently.
"No, umm I think I should try a new docking location anyway." Josh stood up from the ground, his head pounding from the hit of both the punch and the hard dock. And, almost in a run, untied his boat.
"Stupid little shit," Zak muttered to himself, "If I ever see him again, I'm going to kill him!"
--
Josh's car rolled to a stop at the pier.
"Shit," Summer said, thinking out loud.
"What's wrong?" Josh asked, truly concerned.
"I forgot my cell phone at home," she sobbed, tears beginning to roll down her face.
"I have mine, if you need to make a call." Trying to stop Summer's tears, Josh reached in to his pocket and pulled out his cell, handing it to Summer.
"No, it's just… I'm waiting for a call from Seth and I don't want to miss it," she stopped crying, knowing how stupid this must look to Josh, her crying over leaving her cell phone at home.
"Oh, where is he, I can pick him up and we can hang out or something?"
"Actually," she wondered if she could trust him. He did seem truly sorry. " I really don't know where he is."
"You don't know where he is?" Josh said questioningly, almost starting more tears from Summer's eyes.
"I know where he's going."
"Where?"
"Tahiti. He said he would phone me today."
Josh smiled, "Well let's go back to your house and get that cell phone."
Summer smile and thought see might have judged him a little too early, the Seth thing was just a flash from the past and she now realized he'd really grown up.
--
Sarah walked into a few stores, not really looking, just trying to keep herself busy, blowing off some steam at the store clerks. She walked out of a fruit and vegetable shop and began walking down the narrow sidewalk when she ran smack into a warm body, knocking her to the ground.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," the boy said in utter shock.
"Its okay," Sarah sighed. "These things always happen to me."
"I'm really sorry," he repeated as he reached out a hand to help her up. She smiled and took the stranger's hand.
"Thank you," she said with a love-struck grin on her face.
"Uh, no problem," he said, pulling her to her feet. Sarah swung up off the ground and into his arms.
"Oh," he winced, as her arms slipped around his slim waist.
"Sarah," she whispered into his ear.
"What?"
"My name's Sarah."
"Oh yeah I'm…" He trailed off
"You're who?" Sarah smiled. Realizing, that in the shock he must have forgotten his own name.
"Seth," he blurted out, more loudly than he obviously meant to.
Sarah laughed, "Well now that the whole neighborhood knows."
--
Josh's car pulled up on Summer's driveway. Together they exited the car and walked into the house. Summer ran up the stairs to her bedroom, Josh following behind. She reached for her cell phone and saw the blinking message.
"Josh thanks for everything," Summer said sincerely. " I think I just want to be alone right now."
"Are you sure, Summer?"
She shot him an 'I beg you look.'
"I'm going to go now, call me sometime."
"I will, this was nice… seeing you."
Josh turned around and alone walked down the stairs to the door.
Summer pressed a button on her cell phone and braced herself for the message.
"Hey Summer, it's Seth... I just wanted to talk, I'll try calling you back after I eat tonight…I miss you."
Summer mentally kicked herself and tears rolled down her eyes. She stood up, walking to the window, touching the chilled glass, and whispered.
"I miss you Seth…"