Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the OC, but Josh Schwartz and FOX do.
Author's Note: Thanks for the awesome reviews, keep them coming. Unfortunately Georgia will be in the story for quite a while, but she is note in this chapter. I am still trying to establish a Seth/Summer friendship, since this is AU and she never knew him until now. Read and Review.
Summer collected her thoughts as she knocked on the door of the Cohen house. She reached to knock again when the door opened. Immediately she recognized the curly brown hair of Seth Cohen.
He seemed confused at her presence, "Summer…what you are doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"I live…." He hesitated and pointed at her, "You are very perceptive Ms. Roberts."
"I try to be. Seriously, what are you doing here?"
"Just visiting the folks….alright I needed some food. Haven't exactly had the time to grocery shop."
"Naturally…so are you going to invite me in?"
She started to walk in and Seth closed the door behind her, "Have we determined why you're here yet?"
Hearing Summer's voice, Kirsten walked down the stairs.
"Oh, Summer. Wonderful to see you."
"You too, Kirsten. Seth was just letting me in."
"I knew that we miss him around here for some reason."
Seth just smiled, "Nice mom, that hurt right here." He grabbed his hand to his chest.
Summer laughed at his gesture, while Seth and Kirsten stared in amazement.
"I have never met a girl who actually laughed at the chest grabbing joke."
Summer became slightly defensive, "I was just laughing at the banter amongst the two of you. I have never seen such a thing."
"If you think this is good, you should see it when Sandy and him get together."
"Yeah…dad and I can get our banter on." Seth looked down at his watch, "Look at the time, gotta be getting to work. Wow, words I never thought I would say. See ya later mom." He looked to Kirsten then Summer, "Nice to see you again, Summer."
"Nice to see you to Seth."
Kirsten noticed how both their eyes seemed to linger on each other a little too long, but she spoke nothing of it as her and Summer made their way to the pool house. As Summer stepped inside the pool house, she gasped. The walls were covered in comic posters and she noticed more comic figurines on the tables surrounding the couch.
"I know it is a little extreme, but…"
"I love this comic…Land of Oranges. I mean I only read a little bit, but what I saw…it was amazing."
"I'll be sure to tell Seth that, or you could even tell him yourself."
Summer was a bit confused, "What are you talking about?"
"Land of Oranges is written and illustrated by Seth. It's his comic. He started it last year after art school. Of course, Sandy and I thought he was crazy, but it has become quite popular."
"Wow…I had no idea this was his comic. I feel really stupid right about now."
"Don't…Seth doesn't put his name on the cover. So if you don't really look for it, you would never know it was his work."
"So, is this the room that you want to work on?"
"I love the comic stuff, but I really want to make a pool house again. Somewhere for guests to go when we have parties and things of that nature."
Summer laughed at this description, "I see…you want somewhere to disappear to when Julie Cooper is chasing after you."
"That's about right. Do you have any suggestions?"
"I am just going to scan around the place for a few minutes. I'll think about some ideas and put something together for you in a few days. Will that work for you?"
"That's great. If you don't mind, I have to get going. Sandy has off today, so he is around here somewhere. Just let yourself out."
"Okay."
Summer walked around the pool house admiring the pictures of Sandy and Kirsten over the years. She then came across various framed articles about Land of Oranges. Her eye caught the mention of where to send fan mail. She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the address, pulling out her phone at the same time. Sneaking out of the Cohen's house, Summer called her favorite restaurant and ordered take out for two.
Summer walked into Land of Oranges offices, bag of food in hand. The secretary seemed preoccupied with her nails as Summer approached the desk.
"Hi, I was wondering if Seth Cohen was in today."
The secretary looked up, "Does Mr. Cohen know that you are coming today?"
"Uhhh….no. It's kinda a surprise."
"Let me see if he's busy." She picked up the phone, "Mr. Cohen, there's a…" The secretary looked at Summer for a name and she whispered it to her, "A Summer is here to see you."
Summer waited for the secretary to either reject her or send her back. "You can go back. It's the office at the end of the hallway."
"Thank you."
She walked to the back office and pushed the door open. Seth was huddled over a sketch, she assumed, and he appeared to be deep in thought. She cleared her voice as she stepped in.
Seth lifted his head and smiled as he saw her walk in, "Summer, this is a surprise."
"That's kind of the idea." She lifted her armful of food, "I brought lunch."
"It does smell good. What exactly is it?"
"My favorite Chinese food. I have a feeling you will like it, since my tastes are pretty much generic."
"Well…..bring it over here, so we can start digging in." Summer smiled, partially out of relief that Seth did not turn her offer down.
As they were eating, Seth started up conversation once again. "So, how did you figure out where I work?"
"The pool house."
"Huh?"
"Your mom wants me to redecorate the pool house, hence this morning. I saw the comic shrine and your mom explained. I was looking over some articles and caught the address of your office. Besides it seems like you don't get a lot of visitors."
"Other than Georgia on occasion, your assumption is correct. I am attached to place nearly all day. Before I had a loft I actually moved into here. It was a tight fit."
"I can only imagine." Summer peered around and she spotted a poster of a girl character, "Seth, who is that?"
Seth saw her pointing at his heroine and didn't quite know how to answer, "She's Sean Cane's love interest. The Lois Lane to his Clark Kent."
"Oh, I didn't know there was a girl character."
"We haven't introduced her yet. She is Sean's dream girl who he will most likely never get."
"Why not?"
Seth frowned, "It's just not in the cards for Sean to be with her. We will most likely pair him up with the villainess."
"The governor's daughter…ewww."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Summer."
"It's just…" Summer looked down at her phone, "Oh my God, the meeting. I completely forgot."
"You have a meeting. Of course you do." Seth was disappointed.
"I'm sorry to cut this short. It is really important." Summer gathered up her belongings and started to walk out of the office. Before she could leave, Summer turned around.
"Seth…" He looked up, "Just remember that every dog gets his day eventually. Don't shut out the idea of Sean being with his dream girl."
Seth thought about what Summer was saying, "I'll try and remember that."
He sat contemplating what had just occurred. He couldn't believe that he was becoming friends with Summer Roberts, the girl who inhabited his dreams every night. Seth shook these thoughts out of his mind and lifted the phone to call Georgia. She was the woman in his life now, not Summer.
Author's Note: So what did you think? Reviews are greatly appreciated.
