author's note I realized I made a mistake last chapter. I said French instead of Latin. The class Ryan and Brooke shared was originally French, until I realized that Summer took French some episode about asking if the article of house was masculine or feminine (hello, FEMININE, that was one of the first words I learned, easiest word ever). Anyways, as most writers know, it's a pain in the neck to edit a chapter once it's up and posted. Or maybe, I'm just too lazy.

Last chapter was really really really short. I'm trying to make chapters longer. Last year, I would write chapters so very long.

I appreciate the reviews a lot too. Thank you very much.

Chapter 3 Make a Move

Brooke sat on Seth's bed, leaning against the headboard, examining the many CD cases Seth owned. "Wow, you have tons of CD's."

"Yea. I basically just spend my money on CD's and comic books and PS2 games. Not like that's what I spend all my time on. Because...it's not," Seth stammered.

"That's cute."

"Cute? Wow. I'm not going for cute. That makes me sound like a seven-year-old. But hey, if that gives me some points, I'll settle for that."

Brooke laughed. "You ramble. A lot."

Seth shrugged. "That's me. Your incessant rambler."

"Here. Think fast." Brooke tossed him a CD case.

Seth didn't exactly have fast reflexes. The CD hit case hit his arm. Ow. Pain. "The Killers' Hot Fuss. You're getting there."

"I just picked that CD because that guy is really hot."

"Brooke, you're killing me."

"Sorry," Brooke said apologetically. Peyton had tried to convert Brooke to punk music, but then stopped trying quickly after. Brooke had already listened to several CD's worth of songs. It was nice though, just to chill out and relax at Seth's house with no pressure. A really nice change.

Seth got up and stretched his arms above his head. "I'm starving, let's get some food."

In the kitchen, Seth opened the refrigerators and cupboards, looking for something to eat. "We don't really have much. My mom can't cook."

Brooke grabbed an apple from the fruit basket on the counter. "I can't cook either, none of my rich friends I knew in my old town could cook either. It's rich-kids syndrome."

Seth leaned against the kitchen counter. "I think you're right. My mom is an ultimate WASP, and I can't cook."

"What about your dad and Ryan?"

Seth pulled out two EasyMac packages from the cupboards, and waved it in the air. Brooke nodded. "My dad is from the Bronx, so he's a mean griller. And Ryan, well he can make killer pancakes, but then again, he's not from here."

"Where's he from?"

Seth was about to explain and blurt out the whole Chino story, but he refrained right before the words came out. Maybe Ryan didn't like people to know. Maybe it was cause of embarrassment. "I think that's for him to tell you."

Brooke eyed Seth with suspicion. "Oohh...mysterious and dark."

Seth set one bowl in front of Brooke and handed her a spoon. "Actually, I don't know much about his past either. It's like this forbidden door of Ryan Atwood labeled, 'Thou shalt not enter'."

"Nice metaphor."

"I try." Seth pondered with a spoon in his mouth. "Wow, I really don't actually know anything about him. I don't even know when his birthday is. I mean, I've known him for more than a year. His birthday has passed, some time."

"Maybe he's like forty, and he doesn't want you to know."

Seth looked at her. "Please don't tell me you were just being serious. That was seriously a Summer moment."

Brooke wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Don't talk to me about Summer."

Seth's curiosity was peaked. "Why not?"

Brooke sighed dramatically. "She's my sworn enemy. She's such a bitch. I mean, she didn't even know me, and she was passing all this judgment on me. Everyday, she is trying to exploit me in some way or another. Any guy who goes out with her is clearly psychotic."

Seth whistled and waved a hand. "Hello...ex-boyfriend, here."

Brooke choked on her mac and cheese. "Are you fucking serious?"

Seth was surprised at her reaction. Summer was hot. Every guy in Newport liked her. Plus, she was the first girl to mature in sixth grade. He was a guy, afterall. "Serious as a heart attack." Ew, corny. Seth shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "She's hot." Seeing Brooke's death glare, he quickly added, "Although not as hot as you. She doesn't hold like a candle to you. I mean seriously, you are smokin' hot."

Did he just admit out loud that he thought Brooke was hot? Oh no. Yes he did.

Brooke blushed. "Thanks Seth."

Seth was too mortified at himself to speak.

Brooke looked at the clock above Seth's ahead. "Oh, it's getting late, I should go home. Thanks for the food Seth." She placed the bowl in the sink. "I'll see you later."

Seth was speechless.

Brooke collected her light jean jacket and backpack.

"Do you need a ride or anything?" Seth asked, finally forcing some noise out of his throat.

Brooke smiled. "The sun's still up. I sort of wanted to walk. You know, enjoy the weather."

Seth nodded dumbly. "Yeah, so I'll see you at school." He walked Brooke to the door, and opened the door for her.

"Bye." She waved to him as she skipped down the driveway.

Seth held out a hand. "Bye." After she was out of sight, Seth closed the door and leaned against the back of it with his eyes squeezed shut. That could not have been any more embarrassing.


"I hate her," Summer Roberts declared. She blew her freshly painted hot pink fingernails dry. "Her voice is all low and raspy too. She sounds like a man," she, once again, affirmed.

Marissa sighed at her best friend's behavior. "She's my cousin," she said exasperatedly.

"I still hate her." Summer pouted. "And now Cohen is practically acting like a dog when he's around her." Jealousy twinged in her.

Marissa twirled before her vanity. "You could still try to be nice to her."

"Never, I can't stand Brooke," Summer stated.

"Nice to know what you think about me, Summer," Brooke said casually as she walked into Marissa's room.

Marissa looked at Brooke. "B, she doesn't mean it."

"Oh yes I do."

Marissa glared at Summer. "No. She doesn't."

Brooke grabbed a brush from Marissa's vanity. "It's okay M. I can't stand her either." She walked out of the room.

Summer scoffed. "See! That's what I mean, Coop."

Marissa rolled her eyes, knowing that she would never be able to assuage the situation between Summer and Brooke. Girls will be girls, and they better have their cat fight soon because this was starting to give her a headache.


Seth paced in Ryan's pool house. "What can be more embarrassing than saying she was hot? And I said it repeatedly."

"Well, how did she take it?" Ryan asked, he had been listening on and off so far. The key to listening to Seth Cohen was just to nod when Seth took a breath after a long rant and to look thoughtful the rest of the time.

"She was all cool with it. Like, she was so casual. But what if she thinks I'm really creepy or really weird"

"you are really weird."

"...or really obsessed and freaky."

Ryan tried to recall the fragments of Seth's talking that he had actually listened to. "Wait, so you called her hot." Ryan cocked his head.

"I called her 'smokin' hot'. I don't think it could go any worse."

"I doubt she really thinks you're weird."

"Well I would."

Well, I would too. But Ryan kept that in his head. "She is hot, though. And she knows it. It's not like a newsflash to her. Some guys probably have already said the same thing."

"Woah, you can't think she's hot. She's mine." If Ryan liked Brooke, he could most definitely get her with those big bulging muscles. He needed a way to make sure that Ryan didn't hit on her in any way. Seth knew he was being selfish, but he didn't care. He really really like her. "She's Marissa's cousin."

Ryan's face contorted. "Yeah, she's off limits."

Seth did a little happy dance. In his mind, of course.

"But she is related to you."

"Not by blood," he pointed out.

"True."

"It'd still be weird, wouldn't it?" Seth asked.

"Yea. It would."


Brooke came over again to finish the Latin project with Ryan.

Ryan and Brooke stepped back to examine their poster laying on the floor of the poorhouse.

"It looks good," Brooke announced.

"Yeah. It's okay." Ryan bent down and picked up the poster. He rolled it neatly and set it in a corner of the room. "Alright, I guess we're done here." He gently pushed Brooke towards the door.

Brooke was slightly hurt. "Um. Is there a reason you're shoving me out of the pool house?" She turned defiantly towards him. "Do you not like me, or something? I'm getting this really weird bad vibe from you."

"Are you afraid that I'm because I'm this Chino criminal that I'll steal from you or something?" Ryan asked, slightly pissed off. Why wouldn't this girl leave already?

Confusion took over Brooke. "What?"

Ryan realized that she didn't know anything about his Chino past. Wouldn't Marissa or Summer have caught her up with everyone and their individual stories? They were cousins. Or maybe, they just weren't very close. Hm. "Nothing," he muttered.

Brooke realized this as what Seth had described as the "door that should remain closed" (or something like that). "Oh. Okay." Brooke grabbed her purse and walked out the door, when she bumped into someone. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

"Brooke?"

"Marissa?" Brooke asked as she recognized her cousin." What are you doing here?"

Marissa tucked a piece of hair back and looked at Brooke accusingly. "I guess I could ask the same thing." She flooked suspiciously between Brooke and Ryan.

"She's working with me on a Latin project," Ryan spoke up. He scanned Marissa's appearance. "What are you doing here?"

Marissa shifted her gold clutch from one hand to another. "Just wondering whether you wanted to get a Balboa Bar...or something. But if you're busy working with Brooke..."

Ryan still felt slightly awkward around her. Sure, things had less tension, and the night that Lindsay left, they shared a comforting moment at the beach. But...still. "We just finished on the project."

Brooke looked at the pair uncomprehendingly. There was obviously something going around, and the tension was really thick. Really think. And really suffocating. She'd ask Seth once she figured out an escape plan. "So um..." Brooke started.

Ryan kept on looking at Marissa trying to decipher her real intentions, while Marissa was trying to figure out where they stood.

Brooke groaned inwardly. The staring contest had got to stop. "Right. So. I'm just going to go now." She breezed past Marissa. "I'll see you later, M," she called over her shoulder. She hopped over to the main house, in hopes of finding Seth.

Marissa just stared as her giddy cousin bounced off, leaving her in this weird, weird, weird situation. Evil Brooke. "She was the captain of the cheerleading squad at her old school," she explained as Ryan watched with a look of perplexity.

That explains a lot. Ryan brooded for a second, but what else was new. "'ll take you up on your offer. As long as you're paying," he said with a bit of a smile.

Marissa smiled back. "Alright, my car is in the driveway."

As Ryan sat in the passenger seat of her car, and they started to argue about the radio station to play, Marissa relaxed. This is so natural. The car accelerated as it exited the Cohen's driveway.


Brooke rapped on the door with a lively rhythm as she passed the doorway of Seth's bedroom. As she expected, he was sitting on his bed, reading a comic book.

Seth set down the glossy comic book and looked at Brooke. "What's the point of knocking if you don't even wait for a response?"

Brooke plopped down on his blue and white striped bed spread. "Well if you were doing something embarrassing, you would have time to turn around and zip up your pants," she said as looked at Seth suggestively.

"I would lock my door if I was doing that."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"So why are you up here acting giddy? .. Oh wait, you're a perky cheerleader. You always act like this."

Brooke frowned. "That was bad."

Seth grimaced. "That was pretty lame."

"So what's going on with Blondie and M?" Brooke asked.

"Blondie and M? You sound just like Sum" he was cut off by the pointed look from Brooke's direction."Sorry."

"What's the gossip behind them?"

"The gossip?"

"Their history."

"Their history?"

'Yeah. Like what has happened between them?" Brooke asked exasperately.

Seth whistled and looked up at the ceiling.

Why was Seth being so damn evasive? Brooke grabbed his comic book and smacked the back of his head with it.

"Hey! That's one of the best ones I have." Seth reached for the comic book, but Brooke held it out of his reach. He tried to reach for it again, but Brooke jumped up this time. She waved it tauntingly over her head. "Give it back. Now."

Brooke just laughed and started to run out of the room.

"Oh no you don't," Seth muttered as he chased after her. He could hear her laughter echoing in the halls of the empty house.

Brooke ran downstairs, nearly tripping. (Stairs were out to get her.) She ran around the living room. She stood on one side of the room, while Seth stood on the other, still gleefully waving his prized possesion around.

Seth started to dart from side to side to confuse her. Left. Right. Left. Right. Seth chose to run left. Brooke ran the same way. They circled the living room twice before Seth cut in the middle, catching Brooke in surprise. He tackled her to the couch.

Brooke yelped as she felt Seth's body pressed against hers on the couch. Her back lying completely on the couch, she looked in Seth's eyes. She noticed how close their faces were. Her breathing stopped. She never before noticed how long his eyelashes were, or how deep and expressive his eyes were.Seth's body tensed on top of hers.

He started to whisper, "Brooke-", but she cut him off with a kiss.

author's note: I don't really know how long this is, but I hope it's long. I really do. Reviews would be nice...but if you don't like the story...no reason for you to review, is there?