I used to do this all the time with my Roswell fic, but i haven't thought about it when posting my OC stuff:
Disclaimer: I own no part of The O.C., although I wouldn't mind owning Summer. FOX executives: you can sue me, but I have no money so you would be wasting yours. I, however, reserve the right to sue you if this story idea were to come up in a future episode. Thank you, and good day.
I'm calling it love soon
Close your mind and waste some time if you have to
I'm calling it love soon
It's not about you now
It's what we are
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--Love Soon by John Mayer
Seth babbled throughout the entire meal. The only time he wasn't talking was when he was wolfing down his food. He was stuffing his face as if he had never eaten. If he ate that way all the time then Summer couldn't imagine how he stayed so skinny.
She was loving it all though. Even though she couldn't get a word in edgewise, Summer was still having fun. Seth was all over the place: talking about comics one minute before moving on to expounding the virtues of one of those horrible bands he listened to. He switched from topic to topic without much of a pause at all. At times he would stop and ask her opinion about something, but she hardly could keep up with the conversation, much less form any kind of opinion about anything. She tried to fake it a couple of times, but Seth quickly realized that she was completely lost.
That was when he stopped talking to ask about her. This was, of course, her favorite subject, so she had no problem babbling on and on much like he had. Finally, about an hour later, the food was gone as was most of the bottle of Dom. Seth leaned back in his chair, rubbing his stomach contentedly. "Now, that was good."
"It was." Summer leaned forward and grabbed his hand. "What are we going to do now?"
Seth grinned. "What? This wasn't thoughtful enough for you?"
Summer narrowed her eyes. "A date is usually dinner and a movie or some similar activity. I'll compromise on the movie, but we better be doing something else."
"Okay. Okay." Seth threw his hands up in defeat. "You got me. I did have a few more activities planned for tonight."
Summer's face softened. "Well, that's good." She wadded her napkin up and dropped it on her plate. "Wait a minute. Did you say activities?"
Seth took a long swig of Dom before answering. "Well, I was going to have the limo take us over to the park, so we could go on a carriage ride. I hoped that there might be some squirrels running around, so we could stop and feed them. You probably think that is stupid though."
"At night? Will there even be any squirrels awake?"
Seth considered this. "Good point. Okay. Ixnay on the squirrels. But, did you think it was a stupid idea?"
Summer shook her head. "No. I really like it. It has just the right amount of cheesiness. We'll have to do it some time."
Seth smiled. "Well....cool. Alright then. After the carriage ride, I thought we could go for a sail."
"But it's nighttime."
"That it is. It would be a romantic, moonlit sail."
"But where would we get a boat?"
"I own a boat."
Summer stopped for a moment. "You own a boat?"
"Yes. Yes I do. It is a very special boat as you will see. Besides, what is more romantic than a nice sail during a full moon."
"It does sound kind of nice." Summer looked down at her clothes. "But, I'm wearing a dress. That's not exactly sailing attire."
Seth shook his head. "I'm not asking you to man the decks. You'd be a passenger. All you have to do is sit there and look pretty."
Summer grinned. "That I can do. I'm an expert at that."
Seth stood and kissed her hand with a flourish. "That you are." He nodded to the door. "What do you say? You wanna go?"
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Summer had always thought that carriage rides sounded cheesy and stupid. She was right about the cheesy part, but she didn't find anything that stupid about it. The sky was clear as a bell, and the moon was shining brightly. For the first time that she could remember she felt completely safe and content. Funny that the moment came when she was bundled up next to Seth Cohen in the back of a horse drawn carriage.
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Seth began to bite his nails nervously as they neared the boat. He had always thought that Summer would be flattered to learn about the Summer Breeze, but now he was afraid she would think he was some kind of loser, stalker weirdo. The closer the limo got to the docks, the worse the feeling got. By the time the driver stopped the car, Seth was having a hard time breathing.
Seth burst out the door, desperate to get into the fresh air. Summer stepped out behind him, staring quizzically at his frantic movements. "Is something wrong, Cohen?"
"Do you really wanna go sailing tonight? I mean, it's dark outside..."
"I thought you said that there was nothing more romantic than a moonlit sail."
"What do I know?" Seth scoffed. "I'm just an emo geek who reads comic books."
Summer smiled and stepped forward. Her hands cupped Seth's face as she lightly kissed him on the lips. "Yes, but you are an emo geek that got the girl."
Seth grinned and then put his hands over Summer's. "That's true. You make a very convincing point."
"Yes I do. Now take me out on that water now Cohen."
"Okay. Okay." Seth took one more look at the limo. "You sure, though? I could have the driver take us to the IMAX theater. Shark movie. Very violent."
"Cohen. Rage blackout!"
"Right." He walked over to the limo and leaned in the drivers side window. "That's all we'll need tonight. Thanks."
Summer grabbed Seth's arm and spun him around. "What do you mean 'that's all'? How long are we going to be sailing?"
Seth put his hands on Summer's shoulders. "It's not that far to my house from here. We can just sail around the point, and I can take you home in the Land Rover."
Summer grinned, warming to the idea slightly. "Okay then. As long as I get home tonight."
"Don't worry, darling. I'll have you home in no time." He grabbed her hand and led her down the dock. "Now, it's time to meet our transportation."
"Meet? It's a boat. It's not alive."
"Figure of speech." He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to a stop. "Summer Roberts, meet the Summer Breeze."
Summer stood silent for a moment, regarding Seth's catamaran. She pondered the name emblazoned on the side for a moment before an idea started to form in the back of her head. "Summer Breeze, huh? Odd how your boat is named Summer too."
"That is odd, isn't it?" Seth jumped nimbly onto the boat and turned around. "Would you like to come aboard?"
"Yes, I think that I would." She offered her hand to Seth, who took it and steadied her as she stepped across the space between the dock and the boat. "So, where do I sit?"
Seth motioned across the entire boat. "Wherever you want." He squatted down and began to loosen the tie line in front of him. "Just let me cast off and we'll be on our way." -