Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I do not own the O.C., nor will I ever.

Life, Love, and Coming Home

Chapter Four

"Please, please...." Summer pleaded.

"No." Matt was quite comfortable on the bed watching Sunday morning football. And he really had no intention of leaving the room, unless absolutely necessary. And going to lunch with Summer as her "fiancé" wasn't on the top of his priorities list.

"I promise that we would be there today," she said in a thoroughly annoyed voice.

"Well, tell them I couldn't make it," he said while still keeping his eyes glued to the TV.

"It's just one lunch, and then you can do whatever you want."

"I don't wanna go."

"Stop being such a baby, you're impossible," she taps her foot impatiently on the carpet.

"No you're the impossible one, dragging me here, and using me!" he exclaimed while still keeping his attention focus on the game.

"I'm not using you. You're doing me a favor," she justified her reasons.

"Please," she pouts her lips at him.

Seeing that Matt would not give in, she would have to result to the worst, "Fine. I'll do your laundry for a month," she rolled her eyes with annoyance.

"I can do my own," he replied.

"Two months!"

"Three months, and you've got yourself a deal Roberts," he turned and looked at her intently, waiting for an answer.

Summer paused for a second, but seeing how she had no other choice, she gave in, "Fine! Now who's using who?!" she exasperated.

"I'm not using you Summer, I'm doing you a favor, and you're returning the favor by doing my laundry," he smiled sweetly at her.

Summer grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at him, "Get dressed."

 "I am," he replied casually. He was dressed. In t-shirts and flannels dressed.

"Get dressed to go to lunch," she said irritably as she slaps him hard on the arm.

"Ow! You should be more specific then," he exclaimed while rubbing his arm furiously.

She gave him a death glare before heading into the bathroom. He smiled to himself as he continued watching the game, it was fun aggravating Summer. It was one of his better qualities. Within an hour, they were in the taxi headed to the Lighthouse.

"Okay, let's go over this again, we've been engaged since...," Summer asked, waiting for an answer.  

"June 5th of last year," he replied back dully.

"Good. We've been engaged for..."

"Seven months."

"We've known each other for..."

"Three years." 

"Dated for..."

"Two."

Matt was more then anxious to get of the taxi. Summer was seriously getting on his last nerve. As annoying as she was back home, she was even more annoying here. He had learned at times how to ignore Summer completely and block the sound of her voice, but his abilities were failing him at this time, just when he needed them the most. The cab came to a stop, "Thank God," he muttered to himself as he got out of the cab. Summer got out, and smooth out the lines on her floral dress. "Okay you ready?" she asked as she loops her arms into his.

"I guess."

"Oh, and Matt...."

"Yes Summer," he turned and looked at her, waiting for her next demand.

"Find me irresistible," she looked pleadingly at him.

"I'll try," he said with a somewhat sarcastic tone as shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"And try not to embarrass me."

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises," he smiled innocently at her.

The Lighthouse has been very popular and busy through the years. And today was no exception as people headed in for the lunch rush. They were greeted by Kirsten at the door, who looked like she hasn't aged a single day. "Summer," Kirsten engulfed her in a warm hug. "You look great, honey," she said as she held Summer back and admired her. "So do you, you're absolutely glowing," Summer said as she place a hand on the bump on Kirsten's belly. "How far along are you?" Summer asked as she smiled at the protruding belly. "Just four months. Still five months to go."

"And you must be Summer's fiancé," she turned and smiled affectionately at Matt.

"Yes I am," he smiled widely.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you," Kirsten pulls him in for a hug, which he kindly returned.

"Come, come, our table is back here," she said as she led them to a long table in the back of the restaurant.

Several people were already seated, while others were standing around the room talking. Summer looked around the room and absorbed the scene in front of her.

Everyone was talking and smiling about whatnot. Everything seemed so peachy and perfect.

"Summer!" Marissa ran over and gave her best friend a hug. She had noticed Seth looking at her, but kept her eyes away from any eye contact with him. And to her luck, Marissa had sat her and Matt directly across from Seth. Summer tightened he grip on Matt's hand as they took their seat. At least Matt was comfortable, he was really talking up a storm. She stared at her plate and played with her food while others talked around her. She looked up from her plate and smiled once in awhile, but also making sure to avoid eye contact with Seth. Knowing Seth, he was gonna want to talk to her about last night. But really, there is really nothing to talk about. It was just one dance. That's all.

"So Matt, you've got to tell how you two met," Marissa asked as she leaned forward on the table.

Summer looked up from her plate with a nervously. This wasn't something they had discussed beforehand. Oh shit. 

"Um, Summer, why don't you tell them," Matt causally passed the question to Summer.

"Uh, I don't know, it's private," Summer replied unsteadily. She didn't want to answer the question. And she didn't want Matt to answer the question either. Who knows what will come out of his mouth.

"Come on, tell us, Matt tell us," Marissa urged.

Matt paused for a second and spoke. Summer proceeded to quickly bury her face in her hand. She was pretty sure her cheek was going to turn pink in embarrassment soon. I'm gonna kill him.   

"Well....we met on the subway. I was going to Columbia. She headed to NYU. I was seated, cramming in last bit information for my Psych exam, when this beautiful girl, a few seats in front of me caught my attention. Needless to say, she was very distracting. I kept thinking to myself, how amazingly gorgeous this girl was. I began moving a few seat up to get closer to her, and maybe get my self-esteem up enough to actually talk to her. I didn't think she noticed me, but I just kept staring at her. She would have thought that I was a crazy stalker if she hadn't been so absorbed in her magazine."

Summer was surprised to hear laughter. She looked up and caught Seth's eyes. He had been looking at her the whole time. Everyone else's attention was on Matt and his "story". Summer place her elbow on the table and placed her hand over her forehead as Matt continued on.

"Well, when she got off, she walked right pass me, and fate, if you believe in it, dropped a piece of paper of hers right at my feet."

"Really?" Marissa asked interestedly.

"I swear that's what happened."

"Okay, sweetie you don't have to finish," Summer said as she nudged him to stop.

"No!" Practically everyone shouted for Matt to continue on, everyone except Seth of course, who still sat stoically listening to the story.

"See they want me to continue," Matt turned and smiled innocently at her. Oh God. I'm so gonna kill him when we get back home.

"Well, being the idiot in love I am, I ran after her, and returned her paper. She took it and thanked me. And she left. And all I could get out of my mouth was, 'I think you dropped this.' That's was the one sentence that came out of my mouth. I slapped myself for letting her go. But then I remembered she had a Dean & Deluca coffee in her hand...."

"Summer doesn't drink coffee," Seth interrupted.

"Yeah I do," Summer looked up and met Seth's eyes. Summer really did hate coffee and she knew that Seth knew. But for the sake of the story, she apparently liked coffee.

"She does," Matt confirmed her lie.

"Sometimes," they both said together.

"Anyways, D&D is this nice gourmet shop located in Soho. And so, I went there everyday for a week before school hoping maybe to catch her. And then on the fifth day, fate gave me another chance. I was sitting near the door, and in walked this beautiful girl, the girl on the subway."

"Awww...." Marissa cooed and others including Kirsten and Julie couldn't help let out one too.

"I wasn't going to pass up another opportunity to talk to this girl I thought, but being a total geek, I decided to casually bump into her. Needless to say, I got a little coffee spilled on me," he turned and gave Summer and big smile.

Summer forced out a tight smile. She felt like she was stuck in a movie. She can now say that she fully sympathize with Julia Roberts's character in My Best Friend's Wedding. Hell, she was channeling the character right now. She was half-expecting Matt to break out into a song by now.

"I casually ask her if she remembered me. She didn't."

"You didn't," she heard people around her asked and laughed. Seth was still burning a hole through her with his eyes. 

"But after an awkward reminder, she remembered. She even laughed. I bought her coffee, and we sat and talk. And then finally I built up enough courage to ask her out on a date. And the rest is ancient history," he finished. Finally, she thought as she looked around the long table. 

Everyone around the table smiled affectionately at them and surprisingly applauded Matt's story. Please that wasn't even a good story.

"That was such a good story!" exclaimed Marissa. "It's so romantic. It felt like it came straight from a movie."

Summer chuckled nervously at Marissa comment, all the while thinking that it better not have come from any movie that Matt had watched.

"It was a good story," Seth commented bluntly as he looked straight in Summer's eyes.

"I wish me and Ryan met like that. We met each other on the driveway. How's that for romantic." Marissa rolled her eyes as others around her laughed.

"Hey things worked out pretty good for the both of you," Sandy happily commented.

"I guess," Marissa replied as she leaned in and gave Ryan a kiss.

Matt caught Summer by surprise as he leaned in to kiss her as well. She laughed nervously as she gently pushed Matt away. She wasn't exactly comfortable kissing Matt in front of Seth. And she wasn't exactly fond of kissing Matt either. She casually leaned towards Matt as he placed his arms over her shoulders. She caught Seth's eyes again, but this time he returned it with a blank stare.

I'm so excited about this chapter. I'm so happy I finally got it out. It is by far my favorite chapter. I hope you guys like it too. Keep the reviews coming! :)