"And this is the pool house," Seth stated as he opened the door and entered to find Ryan, shirtless, before his television. There was a spoon hanging out of his mouth and the jabbing staccato of his thumbs on the controller buttons mixed with the electronic background music of whatever video game he was conquering. "Where Ryan apparently decided to get naked and play games," Seth added.

Ryan rolled his eyes and paused the game, dropping the spoon from his mouth back to the ice cream bowl behind him on the bed. "Hey, Krista," he greeted the girl he had met on a few occasions. Living two hours away from Seth didn't afford them the luxury of frequent visits, but it was still close enough to hang when they could. And hanging with Seth at Berkley meant hanging with Krista, too.

She was tall, about Seth's height, with blonde curls that fell half-way down her back. Her green eyes were piercing, and usually full of laughter. "Good to see you, man," she smiled, extending a hand to Seth's closest friend. She made no attempt to hide her gaze as it swept over his physique. "You been working out?"

"Alright, this is all fascinating," Seth stopped her from drooling all over his friend. "But we were gonna go see what was up at The Bait Shop. You wanna join?"

Ryan nodded and grabbed his tee shirt from the bed. "Let me call Marissa. She'll be pissed if I go without her," he cringed and looked back at the pair who were now watching him with raised eyebrows. He started to defend his statement, but then just rolled his eyes and dialed the phone. "Fine, I'm whipped. Whatever."

Seth put his hands on his hips and turned to Krista. "They're like Siamese twins or something. Joined at the lips most of the time. There's really nothing more fun than watching Ryan and Marissa make out, ya know?"

Krista rolled her eyes and slung an arm around his shoulder. "Poor Cohen," she pouted her bottom lip and then smacked his back. "Dude, it's Chrismakkuh. I thought you'd be all festive and whatnot," she said.

"She's not answering," Ryan said, hanging up the phone. He was about to say something to his guests when something caught his eye. "Because she's in the back yard," he smiled as Marissa opened the door and shot him that grin that melted his insides. "I was trying to call you."

"Well, here I am," Marissa greeted him with a hungry kiss.

"See?" Seth nodded at Krista and then made a gagging noise. "You guys, can we just go? Please?" he asked.

"What's wrong, Cohen? Does a little PDA make you uncomfortable?" Summer's voice sounded from behind Marissa as she and a guy Seth didn't recognize entered the pool house.

He wasn't sure if it was just him, but the pool house seemed ten times smaller than it had once been. The time he had been trapped inside with Ryan on New Year's rushed back into his mind. "Summer. Hi," he greeted with a pathetic wave, his gaze flitting between her and her new visitor. "And you brought company."

"Uh, yeah," Summer rolled her eyes. "Ryan, you remember Kendrick, right?"

Vaguely, he remembered the kid that Summer had introduced them to at some concert. He just remembered that he was a drummer for some really loud band that sounded nothing like Journey. "Hey, man," he offered the hand that wasn't around Marissa's waist.

Kendrick shook it and gave him a nod. But before he could speak, Summer was continuing with introductions. "This is Cohen," she said, almost under her breath.

"Hey man," Kendrick smiled, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Hey," Seth mumbled, rolling his head toward Krista. "This is Krista," he pointed to his left and the girl who was watching the exchange with great amusement.

"You're the drummer for that LA band, Freaks and Geeks, right?" Kendrick nodded. Turning to Seth, Krista smacked his stomach. "Remember we saw them in October, Cohen?"

Did that bitch just call him "Cohen"? Summer wanted to rip her eyeballs out. No one called him "Cohen." Nobody but her. And Seth was nodding, like it was no big deal. He was letting this skank call him "Cohen"?

But Seth wasn't really listening to Krista. He was too busy sizing up this rock star with his arm around Summer. Who did he think he was anyway? Hadn't anyone told him that Mohawks were for the generic punk wannabes that backed up pseudo-angry pop stars like Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne?

Krista stepped forward and extended her hand to Kendrick and then to Summer, who shook it with a super-fake smile plastered on her lips. "I've heard a lot about you Summer," she smirked.

"That's funny. Seth's never really mentioned you," Summer replied.

Seth wanted to sink through the floor. Dammit. "Okay, so I'm sure this is enjoyable for almost," he looked around the room, "no one. Let's just go, okay?"

"Sure," Summer was the first to turn toward the door. "The Bait Shop is the club I was telling you that you guys should look into playing," she explained as she and Kendrick started out the door.

Marissa and Ryan followed, but Krista took Seth's arm and held him back in the doorway. "I thought you said you guys made a pact," she accused.

"We did," Seth defended. His shoulders sagged under her penetrating gaze. "We're trying to be friends now," he explained.

"Oh, that's gonna go well," Krista sneered, grabbing the front of his tee shirt and leading him out of the pool house.

Summer watched from the front seat of the van as Krista led Seth around the side of the house. He was laughing at something she was saying, and she bit her tongue. "That's the ex, huh?" Kendrick asked.

"Huh?" Summer asked, as Seth and Krista climbed into the back of the van with Ryan and Marissa. She shot Kendrick a smile and wished that she could shave that stupid Mohawk off of his head. "We're just friends," she assured.

He nodded as he put the van in park and pulled out of the driveway. "Right."