Chapter 2
Seth lay sprawled on his bed, hair disheveled from continuously running his hands through it, eyes bloodshot from rubbing them a little too harshly as he was attempting to erase his memory and events of what had happened that day.
The attempt was pointless, and Seth knew this, as every time he closed his eyes, Summer appeared.
Perfect, flawless Summer would not disappear.
She just floated there in his memory, playing, teasing and tempting him.
He began to excessively rub his eyes again to erase her, but she was just as stubborn as ever.
Seth was pouting but he really didn't give a shit what he looked like and how pathetic he was. No one was going to see him anyway. He lay there half naked, with just his grey pants on, that unfortunate looking pair of pants he had received as a gift from 'the nana' a few years ago. Surprisingly they still fit. Although they began to hang more loosely than before. Seth was slowly losing weight.
Seth didn't realize it, but he was clinging to Captain Oats. His right hand hung onto the plastic horse tightly as if his life depended on it. He was not letting go. Captain Oats was not going anywhere.
Death Cab for Cutie's "A lack of colour" was playing on repeat. Somehow Death Cab always understood. It was like comfort music for him. There's comfort food and there's also comfort music and Death Cab was perfect for Seth. It was mood music.
As the lyrics for "A lack of colour" sunk into Seth's mind he came to the awed realization that this was a perfect moment. It was a moment that he would never forget. It was as if he had written the lyrics. Seth had listened to this song millions of time on repeat but today they really meant something. He knew at that moment that this one song he would never, ever forget. Oh God how he missed Summer. God, he wished he could ring her up and give her a reason to come back to him. Come back home. But Seth wasn't feeling exactly gutsy at the moment. He was more in the "feeling sorry for myself" stage.
Strangely the song reminded him a little of Anna.
He hadn't heard from her in a while. Actually come to think of it, Seth was pretty sure that Anna hadn't even written to him since she left for Pittsburgh.
He remembered how Summer had let him go and stop Anna from leaving at the airport. She was so understanding, well not at first but once Seth explained that he needed to do this, that he loved her as a friend and that he didn't want her to leave she understood. She trusted him.
Well I've blown that trust now. Seth thought to himself.
As Seth drifted into thinking of Summer again, he heard a knock at the door.
Not bothered at his parents walking in seeing him in such a state, he mumbled a barely audible, "Yeah."
There was a short pause before,
"Uh, is Captain Oats decent?"
Seth heart stopped.
It was not his mum's voice, unfortunately not Summer's and out of all the chicks he knew in Newport that only left Marissa. But it was not Marissa's voice.
Though, it was clearly a female's voice.
"Er, Ryan are you back man? Because wow, Chino really changed you a lot. Even your voice has changed."
There was a muffled giggle, as if someone had put their hand over their mouth to stop a fit of laughter. And it was definitely a girlish giggle. So that ruled Ryan out.
"Seth, I'm coming in."
Seth jumped up from the bed so fast it was like he had been given an electric shock. He went and grabbed the nearest, cleanest shirt he could find.
"Shit" he muttered, keeping one eye on the door that was slowly opening.
Somehow the thought hadn't occurred to him to just call out "Just a minute."
He was still processing what was going on. Had he been that caught up in Summer that he was starting to lose all rational thought?
Then, just as he got his shirt over his head, she breezed through the door.
"Anna."
She smiled in greeting and laughed as she watched Seth's jaw drop.
"Surprise." She announced shyly, lifting her hands up.
"Uh, wow hey! What are you doing here? I mean…god that was rude… umm I mean wow it's good to see you!"
Nope Seth hadn't lost his essence, he was still rambling.
He moved towards Anna, sort of shuffling his feet forward then hesitated. Shuffling his feet again he awkwardly went in to give Anna a hug and she hugged back sort of nervously.
They pulled away and Anna smiled again, her hand on her mouth as she used her other hand to point at Seth's chest.
"Your shirt. It's sort of back to front."
"What?" Seth asked puzzled, then looked down and realized she was indeed right.
"Oh, shit."
He must of put it on the wrong way when he was trying to get dressed quickly.
Turning his back to Anna he took off his shirt and put it back on the right way around.
As he turned back to face her she nodded in approval.
"Death Cab, good choice."
Seth smiled.
"Yeah, I have like a million of these shirts. So how are you? How was Pittsburgh? Are you back for good now?"
Seth cringed as he made himself make a mental note to slow down.
But Anna just smiled, obviously happy to hear Seth's rambling again. She had missed that so much.
"It was good to go back to Pittsburgh. I needed to. It was good for me. But now, I guess its just time to come back to Newport. It feels right."
Seth nodded, he tried to make himself smile and look happy but Summer still played on his mind. Having Anna back was great but he couldn't shake Summer.
Anna seemed to sense Seth's unhappiness and she frowned as "A lack of colour" began to play all over again. She knew Seth well, well enough to know that repeats of "A lack of colour" meant a breakup.
"You and Summer hey?" she asked, knowing the answer.
Seth sunk onto the bed, not knowing what to say. He sort of flinched when he heard Anna say her name. He knew this was pathetic, but he couldn't stand losing her.
Anna went down to sit beside him.
"You can tell me, I'll listen."
Seth hesitated, but before he knew it he was telling Anna everything. Every vivid detail of what had happened after she left. Anna sat there listening the whole time, nodding at the appropriate times, urging Seth to keep telling his tale.
By the end Anna said, "Seth, you have declared you eternal love for Summer on a coffee cart, I'm sure she will forgive you. You've just got to fight for her."
Seth slumped backwards on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Anna soon joined him.
"She has some new guy now. She hates me."
"You know what I'm going to say don't you?" Anna began.
Seth craned his head up towards Anna, and shook his head, confused.
"Confidence Cohen."
He smiled, not realizing how much he missed those two words. God he missed it.
Seth opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by another knock at the door.
Kirsten Cohen walked in before waiting for an answer.
She smiled at Anna, she obviously knew she was there and that confused Seth.
"Seth, you have to come downstairs."
Seth groaned. "I'll just stay here, thanks." He said sinking into his covers, loving the comfort.
Kirsten shook her head impatiently.
"Seth, Ryan's back."