Chapter 3: ...To you heart
It took several seconds of blinking before Summer Roberts could wrap her mind around the situation at hand. The bright shining rays of the sun were peering through her pink curtains, washing the deep purples of her bedding with a warm and gentle glow. However, it wasn't the status of sunlight that caught her attention; it was the uncanny temperature beneath the covers.
She rolled, a somewhat awkward movement given the tight confines and her caution to avoid awakening her bed partner. Seth Cohen was fast asleep, breathing deeply, his arm still firmly wrapped around her petite body. After a moment of reflection, Summer decided that she had never seen something more perfect. Waking next to Seth was something she wanted to do every day for the rest of her life...
...But what if he left her again? Could she really justify taking that chance? Sure, she loved Seth dearly, with all her heart, but was that enough? Was blind love strong enough to forgive abandonment? Another look at Seth reminded her that it hadn't been abandonment, not in the sense that Summer was familiar with the word. Seth hadn't split like her mother had; he hadn't left in the middle of the night, leaving a little girl alone in a large mansion.
No, he'd been overwhelmed and afraid. Everything he had known was ripped from beneath him. Maybe it had been an overreaction, but Summer knew enough about abandonment and Seth that those two could never walk hand-in-hand. It was then that she decided to forgive him, but she had no intentions of telling him that right away. He had some atonement to make first.
"Wake up, sleepy," she whispered, brushing several dark curls from his forehead. They were stubborn though, returning to their previous location in the puzzle that was Seth's Jew-fro.
His eyelids fluttered, only to retreat and expose his soft hazel eyes. "Mmm," he murmured. "It's a beautiful Summer morning."
"How can you tell? The window is behind you."
"That isn't what I meant, dear. I meant you look beautiful this morning."
There was Seth's way with words again, cutting to her core and making her blush – inside and out. "Why thank you," Summer said proudly, having forgotten that she'd just awakened and hadn't had the time to put on makeup. "So, what're your plans for today?"
"Well," he said, stretching and rising to take a position behind her. His arms snaked around her waist, snaring her in his warm embrace. "I thought I'd make you breakfast, then maybe we could head back to my house and check-in with the parentals and hope they don't kill or ground me, then I could begin the first day of the rest of my life in atonement."
"Breakfast would be a good start," she replied cheerily, pecking a kiss on his nose.
A few short hours later, Seth and Summer journeyed over to the Cohen residence, where Seth had grown quite nervous. Summer realized she had the perfect opportunity for a snide remark about his 'vacation', but she bit her tongue and remembered that she wanted to be with this guy... that she loved him.
Seth bit his lip hard, trying to find the courage to ring the doorbell. A line of blood trailed down his chin, but he pressed the bell and waited. A brief second later, Sandy Cohen appeared.
His bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Seth, you're home earlier than you said. Get in here, boy, your mother and I have missed you!"
"Yeah, sorry for leaving and everything..."
"Oh, don't worry about it. We're just happy to see you," Sandy said, as Kirsten Cohen walked in, her jaw dropping, and running across the living room to embrace her son.
She looked at from arm's-length, appraising her son. "Seth, honey, what happened?"
All eyes turned to him.
"What happened, Seth, did Summer hit you?"
Seth turned to look at Summer in horror. She looked back at Seth with the same expression, before realizing Sandy had been joking. "Oh, this," Seth muttered, dabbing at his lip. "I just bit my lip."
"You should have hit him," Kirsten said to Summer in a conspiratorial tone. "We'd have forgiven you; he deserves it."
Summer and Kirsten laughed while Seth looked to his father for support. "Sorry, kid, but the ladies are right. You do kind of deserve it."
"Yeah, well, I'm sorry, alright?"
The renewed family shared a healthy laugh.
Much later, when Seth and Summer had retreated to Seth's bedroom, Seth found himself struggling to explain things to Summer. Sure, he'd gone through enough soul-searching and heart-wrenching explanation the day before, but now he wanted to tell her just how much he loved her, in a hope that she could possibly forgive him. Maybe they could have another shot at being together.
"Y'know, Summer," Seth started, half-pacing around his room as Summer sat on his bed. "I've been trying to figure out what I can to get back into your good graces, but I can't seem to find the appropriate gesture. I mean, neither of usare eighteen yet, so asking you to marry me is kind of out..."
Summer's mouth gaped open. He had just mentioned asking her to marry him? No, it must have just been her imagination. No, he seriously did mention it, but shot it down because they weren't adults. "Did you just ask me to marry you?"
Seth blinked. "No I didn't. Wait, did I? I mean, I remember mentioning marriage in some context, but I didn't... I mean, I didn't, like, ask you to marry me, did I?"
"No, you said getting married was out because we're not adults yet."
"Oh yes, that's better. I didn't think I'd said that."
Summer could barely hide the mischievous grin that came to her full lips. "Why, are you too good to marry me or something? You mean to say you don't want to marry me?"
Seth's eyes doubled in size. "No, I didn't... that is to say, I didn't say that, per se, like... oh dammit."
"Well, Cohen? What did you mean by it?"
"Look, Summer," he muttered at last, taking a seat beside her on his bed. "I'm scared, okay? I know I made all the mistakes, leaving and everything, but I'm deathly afraid that I've made too many mistakes and things can never be right between us again."
Summer touched his face with the back of her hand, caressing his cheek. She was surprised to feel wetness, and noticed several tears had broken free and were running down his cheeks. "Seth..."
"No, let me finish," he said, fighting a sniffle. "You're my whole world and I can't imagine my life without you, so I need to do something so monumental that you know it. So, yes, I've thought about asking you to marry me. No, I'm not too good to marry you; you're too good for me. Of course I want to marry you. I can't imagine my future without you in it..." he trailed off for a moment, trying to dry his eyes. "I can see our wedding. It would be under this big arch – kind of like my grandpa's and Julie's, except more modest, and Ryan, and dad, and Luke, would be dressed as my groomsmen, all of us in tuxedos. You'd have Marissa, probably my mom, and Anna as your bridesmaids."
He took a deep breath and continued, having completely forgotten that Summer was still there, watching him describe their wedding in detail. "And then the organ would start. Your dad would give you away, and you'd be the most beautiful woman ever, dressed in a beautiful white silk dress with lilies in your hair. Down, not up. Well, maybe a little up, but your hair would frame your face like it always does when your hair is down... and as you walked down the aisle, I'd feel tears well up in my eyes because I was so surprised that you were actually marrying me. You'd see my tears and tear up yourself, and we'd be a crying mess by the time you got to the altar."
Summer's eyes were so wide by the time Seth finished that she didn't dare close them. Her cheeks were stained with running mascara from the silent tears that had fallen. Seth's admission had stolen her heart in a way that no one ever could. It was impossible for words to describe; he was just the most amazing man ever.
"Seth," she said softly, but he was breathing too deeply to notice. "Seth," she said louder, causing him to start.
"Oh damn, did I say all of that out loud?" he asked, shaking from fright.
Summer nodded meekly, rising to her fight on shaky legs and rubber knees. "Did you mean all of that?"
He looked at her and nodded dumbly. "I've had that fantasy for a long time."
"Seth," she choked out again, forgetting that she was calling him by his first name. "God, I love you," they met, as tight an embrace as any person could give. Kisses just wouldn't cut it, they needed to be closer. "And I forgive you, just never leave me again!"
Her reprimand had come off as a plea, so Seth held her as tightly as he could. "Can we be together now?" he asked quietly, rubbing his fingers through her silky hair.
"We were together when you woke up next to me," she cried softly. "Just like you had better tomorrow."
Seth nodded slowly, backing Summer up so the bed buckled her knees. He knelt in front of her and pressed a kiss against her forehead, then to her nose, and finally brushing her lips. There was no force in the world that could prevent him from waking up next to that girl. He decided, then and there, that he would spend his life waking up with her – even if they couldn't do it in person, he'd call, so they could always be together at the beginning of the new day. It'd be his way back to her heart.
Thanks again, I can't wait for the next ones. I'll probably do some jumping around, but expect Mr. Roberts to feature a cameo shortly.
