A/N: Alright, guys - this is it for Violating the Pact.For those of youwho have been anticipating a big "cat fight" between Summer and Krista, sorry. I wanted to write one,but it all came out sounding like something I had already written. If you're just dying for a Summer fight, you can read my story "There and Back." Otherwise, I hope the ending doesn't disappoint. And a final, HUGE "thank you" to everyone who read and reviewed this story. You don't know how much I love checking my e-mail and finding your messages of encouragement. It's awesome!
Summer stood near the window and studied Kendrick, sleeping soundly in her bed. He was sweet enough, and funny enough, and smart enough. But he wasn't Cohen, and that made climbing into her bed with him a hell of a lot harder than she thought it would be.
After she and Seth broke up, she had been so angry at him that she wanted to run off and sleep with any guy who showed her the slightest bit of attention. But she could never quite convince herself to climb into their beds, either. She had only slept with one guy in her life, and she wasn't altogether ready to change that.
The pounding at her door was enough to snap her out of her thoughts, but apparently not enough to wake Kendrick, who just grunted and rolled over, hugging her pillow close to his chest. She rolled her eyes and went toward the knocking. "What the hell? It is three o'clock in the morning," she exclaimed, throwing the door open.
Seth smiled shyly and looked around her, his grin fading as he saw the guest in her bed. "Um, yes, Summer. It is the middle of the night, and you're not alone, so I'm just gonna go," he pointed over his shoulder and turned.
"Cohen, wait," Summer called, stepping into the hall and closing her bedroom door. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"What? You're the only one who can show up unexpected?" Turning, Seth ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, okay?" he admitted. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing here." He stared at his shoe and then at the ceiling before meeting her eye. "I could be having sex right now. With Krista." Summer felt her stomach drop to her toes. "Can we go somewhere else?" he whispered.
She just nodded and led him down the stairs and toward the back patio. Once she had closed the sliding door firmly behind them, she put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "So you just stopped by to tell me that you were going to have sex with Krista? Or were you asking for permission, Cohen? Because either way, you're totally out of line," she informed him. "And it totally violates the pact."
Seth walked to the edge of the pool and stared over the still water. The reflection of white Christmas lights in the glassy surface seemed far easier to concentrate on than what he had come here to say. With a deep breath, he decided to stop being the cowardly Seth Cohen for once, and say what he meant.
"Alright, look – I need to know what's up with us," he said flatly, turning to face her.
Summer put on her best "I don't know what you're talking about" face and shrugged her shoulders. "We're friends, I thought."
"Is that all we are to you? Because I know we broke up and we made this ridiculous pact to never get back together again, but I also know that every time I'm around you, Summer, I get nauseous and I feel like I'm going to pass out." He stopped and looked at her wide eyes, losing all track of his words and thoughts.
They were staring at each other, lost in their own world – one where no one else belonged, or even existed. It was a place they used to visit often, and now seemed just as familiar as it always had.
Too familiar for Summer. She wasn't ready for this – to go down this road again. Or, at least, to admit that she was. "Well, then why did you break up with me?" she demanded.
His eyes doubled in size as she made the accusation. "Break up with. . . Are you crazy! Were you not there when you, Summer Roberts, said the words 'I think we should see other people.' Or was I imagining all of that?"
She shook her head, though. "Seth, dammit – you're the one who agreed to the plan. If you hadn't said "okay," we would still be together."
"That is the most screwed up logic I have ever heard," Seth felt his voice raising before he could stop himself. "You're the one who went on and on about how we were going in two different directions, how you didn't see a future for us. You're the one who wanted out. What was I supposed to do, Summer? Tie you to the bed? Make you stay? Refuse to break up with you?" He let out a heavy sigh and sank to the pavement beneath him.
"You were supposed to tell me that you loved me and that it didn't matter what we ran into in the future – you were supposed to say that our love was strong enough to get through all of that, any of it," she told him. He was never supposed to hear any of this – not until he told her that he was miserable without her.
"Why are you so concerned with what is going to happen to us in the future?" he asked, and Summer shrugged. "I mean, after the last couple of days, I think it's pretty obvious that we are not even anywhere close to ready for the future. I think I know what I want to do, as a career, but it could change. I'm only twenty, Summer."
She studied him, sitting on the ground, his arms behind him as he leaned back and watched her. Without much thought of what she was doing, she moved to his side and sat, staring up at the moon, hanging lazily above them. "I wanted to forget you – to get over you," she admitted. "But then all that stuff happened with my roommate a couple weeks ago, and the first person I ran to was you. I didn't even know I was doing it," she laughed to herself.
He nodded and took her hand in his. "I'm glad you did. I mean, I can hang out with Krista or Ryan or Marissa or whatever, but you're the one I want to call every time something really cool, or really horrible, happens. You're still the one I think about all the time, Summer." He smirked. "When I'm not thinking about me, of course."
The feeling of his fingers around hers filled Summer with a calm that she hadn't known since their break up. It was a "right" feeling that she couldn't explain any other way. It was just right. "You know what I want right now?" she asked. Seth turned his face toward hers. "You. I don't know, Cohen, if we're destined to crash and burn, or if we'll be together forever, but right now? I want you – nobody else."
He could see that it was hard for her – putting her emotions into words. It was the one thing that she had never really been good at. With a hand on her cheek, he rested his forehead against hers. "Right now, I just want you, too." Before his lips met hers, though, he pulled back and stood. "Of course, I've got a hot blonde in my bed and you've got a dork with a Mohawk in yours."
Summer laughed and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. "What about the pool house? I happen to know that Ryan is staying with Marissa tonight," she winked.
Seth put his arm around Summer's neck and pulled her close. "Summer?" She stopped in the doorway and turned her face to his. "Look." He pointed up to the mistletoe hanging over their heads.
"I think Captain Oates would call this a happy ending, Cohen," she smiled, tucking her hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
Their lips met in a sweet kiss that seemed to fill in all of the lost time they had spent running from each other. When he finally pulled away, Seth narrowed his eyes at her and tilted his head. "So, this is totally violating the pact," he said.
She just smacked his arm and then dug her fingers into his hair, pulling him into another hungry kiss.