Chapter 13

A Lifetime Ever After

"I'd like to solve the puzzle…Strawberry Lip Girls?"

"No! You idiot! It's Strawberry Lip Gloss! God who would get that wrong?" Seth raved at a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Fortune was on so it had to be around 7:30 at night. Seth had crawled up into bed and cuddled me for most of the day. I kept wishing that everything my dumb doctor had said had all been a nightmare. I still held on to a tiny thread of hope that the baby was Seth's and we were just jumping too quickly to the wrong conclusions. I wasn't even entirely sure if it was possible that my dad could have ever raped me. It didn't seem ethical or even realistic. The baby had to be Seth's and that's what I was going to continue to believe.

I watched as one of Ryan's eyes peeked open at Seth's sudden outburst. He was sitting at a chair in the corner, his arms crossed making him look intimidating, dozing on and off. Marissa was at the foot of the bed, resting her head up on her propped up arm.

"What about the last guy? He wanted to buy a vowel and asked if he could have an F," Marissa said. I had my tired head rested up on Seth's chest. I had just woken up from an uneasy sleep.

"Hey pretty girl. Your awake," Seth brought my hair out of my face.

"Hey Sweetie," Marissa got to a sitting position. I groaned. My head hurt and I felt cold. I huddled closer into Seth's side and gave out a small whimper.

"Mom and dad went home for the night. But they said we could stay," Seth eased his arm out from under my neck and moved it down lower so he was cradling me again.

"What about school?" I murmured gently.

"Summers in 2 weeks Sum. Mom and Dad think we're on the okay for starting vacation a tad early," Seth trailed his fingers lazily along my arm and I smiled at him. There had been so much chaos going on I had hardly realized that we were so close to summer. I was relieved that Seth could stay with me.

"The only bad coming out of that is re-runs of daytime television and hey that's hardly a bad side at all," Marissa crawled up on the other side of me and cuddled me close, resting her head on mine. I felt content in between my boy friend and my best friend. Ryan had closed his eyes again and was breathing evenly, signaling he was asleep again.

"When was Ryan's last cigarette?" I whispered closing my eyes.

"About an hour ago," Marissa sighed gently. "Ry and I have to leave after visiting hours are over, but Seth can stay."

"Thank god," I thought out loud. Seth only smiled and rested his head on my head too. I started to cry.

"What's the matter babe?" Marissa asked.

"What's going to happen after I have this baby?" I choked on my tears. "Were in high school." It seemed like I had been seeing movies on lifetime like this for years. Never did it occur to me that I would ever be cast as the starring role alongside Coop, Cohen, and Chino. We had all been thrust into the middle of a real life lifetime drama.

"You and Seth are going to have a wonderful healthy baby and were all going to live happily ever after?" Marissa half answered half questioned. Seth pushed my head down to rest on his chest again as he blew softly into my ear, sending pleasant chills up my spine. It sent me into another flashback of a night last summer.

"Ryan! Would you please stop rubbing that stuff on it? It only makes it hurt more!" I cried near tears as Ryan attempted to clean a fresh wound behind my ear. Mouthing off after my dad came home already drunk was never a good thing, yet I still pushed my limits and this was the outcome. I was acting completely overdramatically and I knew Ryan knew it.

"Would you please just calm down a minute? If you don't clean it, it could get infected and we'll have to take you to the hospital," Ryan said finally taking the alcohol wipe away from my burning skin.

"When's Cohen coming home?" I asked, irritated at the fact that I had came into the pool house that Friday night hoping to fall into the arms of Seth Cohen and never come out of them, only to find Ryan by himself. He told me that Seth had gone with Sandy to the grocery store to get a few things for the house for over the weekend.

"Why'd he hit you this time?" Ryan asked rinsing his hands in his small bathroom sink, disregarding my original question.

"I told him to stop making me feel like shit," I said simply sitting at the edge of Ryan's bed. "Then he picked up the beer bottle…and you could pretty much draw yourself the rest." A gentle knock was heard on the pool house door and I knew it was Marissa before she could even poke in her head of wet, blonde hair.

"Hey Coop," I greeted as she sat herself down next to me.

"Hey Sum. Ouch…what happened?" she asked gently moving my ear in order to get a better look at my cut.

"Beer bottle," Ryan answered simply tossing Marissa a tube of Neosporin. "Maybe she won't put up a struggle with you." I gave Ryan a sarcastic smile.

"Ha ha smart guy."

"He's been getting pretty violent lately. I mean…more violent then he usually is," Marissa said. Her voice was full of worry. I knew that a day didn't ever go by in her life that she didn't worry about me. My skin felt like it was on fire as Marissa gently rubbed the goopy Neosporin into my cut.

"It was my fault this time," I said, wincing slightly. "I should really learn when to pick a fight and when not to."

"Summer," Seth came into the pool house and noticed me sitting on Ryan's bed with Marissa.

"Cohen," I whispered and drug him in for a long kiss.

"Get a room," Ryan threw a pillow our way.

"Well, two can play at this game you know," I said nudging Coop into Ryan.

"What are we going to do this weekend," Seth asked pretending he hadn't seen the new gash behind my ear. I saw him avert his eyes quickly after realizing it was there and it hadn't been last time.

"Relax," I said. I really needed that this week. My dad had been at home waiting for me every day this week. Only two nights ended with physical injury but the other three had been made up in the emotional pain I still ached from.

"Sounds good to me," Marissa leaned back into Ryan.

"You look like a wet rat Marissa. What happened?" Seth questioned Marissa's head of wet hair.

"I shower Seth. Unlike some people," she tossed anther pillow at him.

"Let's go inside and watch an unrealistically dramatic lifetime movie," I said.

"Aww! Tonight was the HBO premiere of 13 going on 30," Seth moaned playfully.

"You keep your eyes off of Jennifer Garner Cohen or I will just have to leave your ass," I felt better as we started heading into the Cohen house. The four of us plopped ourselves down on the couch and sighed happily as we snuggled into each other.

"So we were going to watch what now?" Ryan asked taking the remote from Seth who immediately went for the ESPN Classics that he didn't ever pay attention to anyway. Marissa took the remote from Ryan and switched it to lifetime. It was right in the middle of some movie I knew Marissa and I would be in tears by the end of and Ryan and Seth would be asleep for in about 10 minutes.

"Sorry we couldn't watch your movie Cohen," I apologized sarcastically.

"It's okay," Seth yawned. "You're the only girl for me Summer." He blew softly into my ear and I giggled.

"Go to sleep so I won't have to hear you complain that you don't know what's going on," I gently ran my hand over Seth's face. His eyelids slowly closed and he began to snore softly.

Marissa and Ryan left about an hour ago. The TV reflected soft colors onto the dark walls and my bed spread. Seth was cuddled next to me, breathing softly. I couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. I thought back to what Marissa had said. About us living happily ever after.

"Do you think that after all this we can still live happily ever after my teddy bear?" I asked, running my fingers through Seth's hair, gently scratching his scalp.

"Yes," he surprised me by murmuring gently.

"Because as long as I'm with you Summer, I am living happily ever after."

Sorry for the short update guys! But hopefully I made up for the not-so-great last chapter.So hopefully you could depictsome happiness out of this one.The story must go on :) Thank uall so much for your reviews and comments. It all means a lot to me:0)

Dru