Disclaimer: I own nothing related to OC. This is purely fiction and not intended to hurt anyone.

Sick day

Chapter 1

Seth's morning

"99.9. That's definitely a raised temperature but nothing to be too concerned about," Kirsten mumbled as she shook down the "mercury" thermometer. She looked down at her son who lay in bed and continued, "You know what this means, don't you?"

"That I have to take it easy?" The words were "a bit too anxious and Kirsten couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"No Seth. That means that you have to stay in bed." She could swear that his dull eyes lit up for a moment.

"No school then?"

"No honey. No school, not today."

"Oh shucks! And I've got a history test!" The words were said out loud and Kirsten couldn't help but smile at Seth, who suddenly had more signs of life from a few moments before when he'd called her into his bedroom, telling her that he wasn't feeling all that well. "I've done nothing but study for this test and now I can't prove my skills."

"Well I'm sure that if I call your history teacher he could find another day for you to take that test." Noticing how her son's face twisted disapprovingly she added with a chuckle, "I could even ask if there is anything more for you to read. You know so you didn't study for nothing."

"No moooom. You don't have to do that."

Feeling that she had tortured Seth long enough she patted his leg. "But for now don't you worry about that and instead concentrate on getting better." Puffing his pillow she asked, "You want to come up and eat breakfast?"

"'kay." She could see Seth make a move to jump off the bed but he seemed to suddenly change his mind. and Instead he said in a pitiful voice, "Mom do you think it's okay if I eat in here?"

Kirsten frowned. To her it had seemed like just a small cold, no doubt due to the rainy weather that had held Newport in its tight grip for the past couple of days. She also suspected that part of his sudden disease came from not studying all that much for his upcoming test. "You're feeling that bad?"

"No. It's just that I thought I would spare my strength, besides if I stay in here the chance of Ryan catching this bug would be pretty slim too."

"I can see your point." Her answer was a bit delayed. "Ok, I'll see what I can do." With that she walked towards the door.

"Thanks mom. Tell Ryan to come in and see me before he leaves for school."

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The moment his mother had left the room Seth let out his breath. that He hadn't even realized he'd been holding it. It had been a close call. His mom had nearly found out his scam and he felt a bit bad for doing this to her, especially since he could see the concern in her eyes, but he really needed some time alone today. Yesterday had been a day that he would never forget and there were so many thoughts that needed sorting out.

Summer had come back to him. She had left Zach to be just with him and now he didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.

Seth hadn't slept much the night before; just lying there twisting and turning, trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't talk to Ryan. He knew he would just confuse his brother, who had other things on his mind, like Lindsay. The weird part about it all was that he wasn't even certain that he even wanted to talk to Ryan about this whole matter either.

'Maybe,' Seth thought, 'Maybe this is part of growing up. Keeping your feelings to yourself.'

Whatever it was it made him nervous and when he got nervous he had a hard time concentrating, which was something he needed to do if he didn't want to flunk this test. He couldn't afford to fail, so he had made up a poor excuse about being sick or else his parents would find out that he hadn't studied. As a matter of fact, he hadn't studied much at all this last semester.

That was when he'd come up with the brilliant idea of warming up the thermometer and playing sick. If he was lucky Summer would pay him a visit too after he was done thinking about whether or not their relations was such a good idea. Not that he thought he needed much thinking anyway, but it was a perfectly good excuse for skipping class and if he was careful no one would find out. Not his mother, his dad and hopefully not Ryan.

Ryan would be the toughest nut to crack. His brother had a knack of figuring out his small scams and pranks way before anyone else did. He never forgot about the time when he was dating both Anna and Summer, and had played at being sick and Ryan had called him upon it. That was why he didn't want to meet Ryan at the breakfast table this morning. He couldn't afford not to have this day off and the consequences if he went to school would be much worse than if he stayed at home.

Rolling to his side he picked up his phone and was about to speed dial Summer when he stopped. He'd sworn that this time everything would be different. He wouldn't eat from her out of her hand like he used to and would prove to be more mature. This meant calling her the first thing in the morning was out of the question. He debated if it would be a bad thing to. She would find out that he was sick and he'd always been curious to see what kind of bed side manner Summer would have and the best part was that she could comfort him while they had the whole house to themselves. But that meant that he had to act on his instincts and right now he didn't know if he had any.

Before he knew what he was doing he heard Summers voice on the other line.

"Hello?" She sounded sleepy.

The feeling of nervousness made him lick his lips. Hearing her talk made his body feel all jumpy and he had to stop himself from shouting out to her that she was the best thing that had happened to her and that he wanted to rip her clothes off. Instead he settled for a, "Hi Summer it's me."

"Cohen?"

He couldn't decide if she sounded happy or not.

"Yeah, yours truly."

"What do you want?" Gone was the chemistry from yesterday and he started to wonder if he'd been dreaming it all. That he hadn't hung upside down from a roof, dressed as Spider-Man. Before he could say what he wanted she went on, "Cohen it's early and I'll see you soon at school."

" Eh..uh..No you won't." He hoped that he didn't sound stupid. Like a fish out of water.

"Huh?" She wasn't following his words.

"I'm sick," he croaked out and waited for her to show him pity instead she called out, "Ewwww….then stay at home. I don't want your germs."

Feeling a bit put out he felt that he had to explain the situation. "Eh..uh..Actually Summer I'm not sick and.."

She cut him short. "What do you mean? You're not sick? "

"Actually I am or no..I'm not..or I..Uh.."

She cut him short again. "Cohen! Make up your mind. Either you're sick or you're not."

"I'm not!" He was quick with his answer. "But I'm staying at home today. You wanna come and comfort me? Make up for loss times?"

There were a brief silence before she said, "You're ditching class today?"

"Uh huh… I guess you can say that. I have a test and thought there were better things to do." He smiled like a cat that had caught a bird. Every doubt he had about staying with Summer was swept away like a storm and all he could think was to feel her body next to him. Preferably in his bed.

"Ok and now you want me to come and stay with you?"

Gawd sometimes she knew him better than himself.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"And your mom won't be at home then?"

"Nope she's working." He could feel his grin which was wider than his own face. "Dad too."

"Ryan?"

"Nope, he'll be at school." Seth felt like a kid on Christmas day. "So what do you say? Wanna play tonsil hockey with me?"

"Ewww Cohen. You can be so disgusting." She giggled but he could tell that she was tempted. "Okay," she said after a while. "Okay I'll come over to your house. When should we say? Before lunch?"

Seth looked at his watch. "Actually the family will be out of my hair in a couple of hours or so, come then. The sooner the better. Then we'll have more time to ourselves."

"Sure. See ya then." With that she hung up.

Seth however remained sitting, with the cell to his ear, a big smile on his lips, and this was the position his dad found him in five minutes later.

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"Seth, I've got your breakfast tray. Your mom wanted to know if you wanted eggs or…" Sandy stopped himself by the door as he took in the stupid grin on his sons face. "You ok son?"

Seth jumped. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Sandy frowned as he set down the tray on the bed stand.

"Mhmmm." Seth put quickly down the phone and then pulled closer down into bed.

"Mom said that you were sick," Sandy went on. "Nothing serious I hope?"

"Nah." Seth coughed an overly harsh sounding cough, and if Kirsten hadn't been so convincing that their son was actually sick and had not shown it to him on a thermometer, he would have sworn that he thought that Seth was faking it. "Just a cold you know. I must have caught it when I was out in the rain yesterday."

"Yes," Sandy agreed. "It sure was raining yesterday and it isn't much better today either."

Seth nodded. "So you are going to work soon then?"

"As a matter of fact…No." Sandy watched as his son was nearly jumped ten feet.

"Why not?"

"You're mom wanted me to stay at home with you. Thought that you needed the company, " Sandy tested the waters as he sat down on the bed beside his son. He had a suspicion that Seth wasn't as sick as he claimed and the way he'd been grinning at the phone told him that there might be a more of a "lovesick" disease if there were one.

Seth paled visibly. "Dad you don't have to do that. I'm a big boy you know and I don't need anyone staying at home with me."

"I know." Sandy chuckled. " I was just joking." Now he was sure that Seth was faking it and if it wasn't for the fact that he had so much on his mind regarding Rebecca and his own marriage he would have called his son on it. Instead he let it be. There were much more important matters on his mind.

"Okay." Seth breathed a sigh of relief. "So mom wanted to know if I wanted eggs or not?"

"Yes," Sandy nodded briefly. "Do you?"

"Nah..that's fine." Seth dug into the breakfast tray with much appetite.

Sandy smiled back at him. "I tell her that then." He rose on his feet when Seth stopped him with his hand. "Dad, did you tell Ryan that I wanted to see him?"

"No, not yet."

"Huh?"

"I haven't seen him." Sandy explained. "Ryan hasn't been in for breakfast yet"

"Oh okay." Seth looked surprised and come to think of it Sandy felt just as surprised. If there was one thing Ryan never was it was late for school. Not that he thought that the kid liked school that much, no it was more a matter of keeping an agreement and he knew that he could always trust Ryan. His kid was another matter. Seth could be charming but he was a Nichol too and those was someone that he would have a hard time trusting. They always had an ace up their sleeve.

"Well when you see Ryan, tell him that I want to talk to him. You know ask him if he can get me some more history books…to study for my test."

"I'll do that son." Sandy said, but his mind was somewhere else. He had to go and see what was up with his other son; Ryan.

Authors note: I wanna thank fampus99 for editing for me. Without you I would be so lost and you are my lifeline. Thanks for helping me out :) Also to you who sent reviews of my other stories, don't worry. I will update them soon but I kind of lost my writers inspiration and needed to work on something else..like this one. Takecare and see ya all soon :)

swenglish.