Hope you enjoy. I have taken some creative liscence with the facts of the show, but not much.
Disclaimer: I do not own the OC or its characters, except for my season 1 DVD, so please don't sue.
Summer had always though of Zach as being perfect for her. Perfect in the sense that he would never ask too much of her or get to close to her. She didn't like being alone and Zach was someone she could go out with and laugh with, but not someone that could hurt her the way Cohen did. Summer had had lots of men, well boys really, in her life, but the only one she opened up to was Seth and he left her.
Zach was an Abercrombie version of Seth. He was just dorky and goofy enough that he reminded her of Seth, but he was also a tall, good looking water polo player. It didn't hurt that his dad was a senator. Zach's mom had even had some work done but Summer's father, discretely of course. The boyfriend and the match seemed perfect, but then nothing is perfect.
"Zach, I can't believe you just punched Seth!" Summer cried as they sped away in his Mercedes. "What the hell were you thinking" she shouted as the SUV speed through the late night traffic. "God damn it Summer," Zach yelled as he swerved to narrowly miss an oncoming car, "I am sick of hearing about Seth. If he was so great and you guys were so in love then why did he leave you with nothing but a note last summer?"
She didn't reply. She couldn't, she had asked herself the same question many times and had no answer. In fact, it was that question that lead her away from Seth towards Zach. "Maybe we should take a break, I am not going to let you use me as some kind of Seth Cohen replacement" Zach suggested angrily. "No! Zack please, just pull over so we can talk about this" Summer begged.
The truth was that even though Summer hadn't planned on letting herself fall in love with Zack, she had. It wasn't the same love as she felt for Cohen, but she liked Zach and would rather be with him than not be with him. That's love, right?
"Zach, please just slow down and we can talk about this" Summer begged in a teary voice. By now his temper had begun to subside and Zach slowed down. "Ah shit Summer, I don't know what happened. I though we were past this Cohen thing and then I saw you with him and I just lost it. I'm sorry baby."
Zach stopped the car in front of Summer house. She looked at him with his big brown eyes and floppy hair and said, "It is over with Cohen, I promise. You are the one I want to be with and I guess I need to do a better job of showing you. I'm sorry."
Zach sighed and slipped his arm around Summer, pulling her closer to him. "Look, it's been a long night and I'm tired. Just give me a kiss and I'll call you tomorrow." She did and then she slowly walked towards her front door, watching the black Mercedes slip silently into the night.
Summer walked into her empty house and wished she had some kind of pet to greet her. Maybe she should get a cat or one of those little dogs like Paris Hilton has. Ew! Nevermind, the though of pet hair sticking to all her clothes was not appealing to Summer. Maybe she could get a hairless cat, but then she remembered the episode of Friends were Rachel got one and it turned out to be really mean. Ok, so no pets. Summer would just have to continue coming home to an empty house.
Summer went up to her room and slowly undressed as she replayed the events of the night in her mind. She still couldn't believe that Zach had punched Seth. Once again Seth hadn't fought back. Ryan really needs to teach that kid how to fight. Summer sighed. She had a headache. Maybe if she took a nice hot bath it would help.
The bubbles were just reaching the top of the tub when Summer leaned over and turned off the water. She was just starting to step in when her cell phone rang. It was Marissa. "Hey Sum, where are you?" a slightly drunk Marissa asked her. "I just got home, what's up?" Summer replied as she stared longingly at the bath tub. "I heard what happened with Zach and Seth and I just wanted to make sure you were alright."
"I'm fine," Summer replied "I am not the one that got punched in the face. Maybe you should call Seth and ask him." Summer sighed again, she didn't like where this conversation was going. "I know Summer … it's just that Zach seemed really upset and I thought something might happen, you know like last time."
Summer closed her eyes and wished that she had never told Marissa what had happened over the summer. It really wasn't a big deal and Marissa thought it was. "Coop, everything is fine, really, thanks for checking. I was just getting ready to go to bed. I'll see you in school on Monday. Have fun meeting DJ's family tomorrow."
"Uhh" Marissa groaned indicating she wasn't looking forward to the next day "Oh well, there is no way anyone in his family can be worse than my mom. By Summer." "See ya" Summer replied before turning the power off on her phone.
She wanted to have a nice, uninterrupted, relaxing bath. Unfortunately, as she settled into the cucumber melon bubble bath, unwanted thoughts kept popping into her mind. Zach had been really mad tonight. It was the angriest he had been since that night before school started and Summer had to admit that for a few moments in the car she had been scared. She leaned back in the tub and tried to think about something else, but her thoughts kept going back to Zach and that night in August.
She and Zach had been at a party at Jess's house. They had both been drinking all night and had had a great time at the party. In fact, they had ended up upstairs in one of the many bedrooms in Jess's huge house. They lay on the bed kissing while their hands explored each other's bodies. Then Summer half groaned, half whispered Seth's name. She hadn't meant to. She had hardly thought about him that day, but somehow it just slipped out.
Zach was furious and he pulled Summer up and threw her against the wall. She hit her back on the corner of the window sill causing her to yelp in pain. He grabbed her upper arms and held her there. "God dammit Summer, I am not Seth Cohen." He screamed at her as he gripped her arms even more tightly. "I am the one you are with Summer. Say my name. Say it, dammit" he yelled.
"Zach, you're hurting me! Please let me go" Summer pleaded. And he did. Zach had calmed down quickly and was extremely sorry for what had happened. He had been the perfect boyfriend until tonight. But he hadn't hurt her, he had hurt Seth. Somehow it was always about Seth. Summer didn't know what to do about that. She still loved Seth, and probably always would, but she didn't want to be with him. She couldn't, not after the way he had left her. But she still wanted him in her life, she still wanted to be friends with him. Somehow she had to get Zach to understand and accept that.
Summer hadn't meant for Marissa to find out what had happened that night. She had gone home and passed out, only to be woken up by Marissa calling to remind Summer that she was supposed to come over and hang out. Summer had jumped out of bed half asleep and gotten dressed. She didn't look at her self in the mirror before she threw her shirt on over her bikini, otherwise she would have seen the bruises on her arms and back.
Summer and Marissa were going to hand around the pool and work on their tans while drinking Marissa's latest conconction. Marissa gasped when Summer took off her shirt. "Oh my God Sum what happened?" Summer realized that what Zach had done must have left bruises and she hurriedly pulled her shirt back down. "It's .. ah .. nothing" Summer said as she hurriedly tried to think of a good lie to tell Marissa. She always had trouble lying to her best friend.
Marissa studied Summer intently and finally said in a quiet voice, "Come on Sum, lets go inside." Summer had tried to convince Marissa that what had happened wasn't a big deal. "He didn't mean to hurt me. I mean I said Cohen's name when we were making out, of course he was pissed" Summer said trying to convince both Marissa and herself.
"He just kinda pushed me up against the wall and my back hit the window sill." Summer took a long drink of what Marissa called a Newport Iced Tea, which tasted like it was just a mix of a bunch of different kinds of alcohol. "Summer you have bruises, and not just on your back" Marissa countered.
"Look Marissa, it's not like I am like Teresa, or anything. I am not some poor high school dropout with a black eye dating some loser who does like manual labor or something. Zach's dad is a senator. Please don't mention this to anyone, I promise its not a big deal." It took a few more minutes for Marissa to finally drop the subject and she hadn't mentioned it again until tonight. Although she had kept a watchful eye on Summer and Zach.
Summer shifted in the tub, knocking over a bottle of shampoo and snapping her back to the present. The water in the tub had gone cold. "Shit!" Summer swore aloud as she shivered and stepped out of the tub. God, now I am never going to get to sleep. Summer walked over to her medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle of Xanax she had swiped it from her step-monster who never even noticed it was gone. Summer swallowed the little blue pill and crawled into bed. As she drifted off to sleep she mentally chanted the positive affirmations her shrink had taught her.
I have the rest of the story pretty much planned out, but I am pretty busy so if you like the story and want to read more, let me know. Thanks
