Chapter Nine
"Have I ever mentioned how much more interesting these things were when I was drinking?" Marissa sighed and looked around bored.
"I'm right there with you," Kirsten Cohen laughed with Marissa.
"Yeah well I do drink and they're still not interesting." Sandy held up his glass and quickly finished it off.
"Amen, Mr. Cohen," Ryan tipped his own glass towards him.
"So where is Summer, I figured she'd be riding with you guys," Kirsten casually asked.
"I have no idea, she said she had something to take care of and that she would meet us her, I seriously doubt she'd miss here own fashion show." Marissa gave a shrug with her answer.
"I think I just spotted her," Sandy pointed over to the walkway of the country club. "And her date," his voice dropped a little bit, as he pointed to the man walking next to Summer.
With the word 'date' Marissa, Ryan and Kirsten's head all snapped over in the direction Sandy had pointed. "Is that…" Marissa stopped mid sentence and looked to Ryan.
"Trey." He answered a mix of shock, fear, and utter disbelief resonated in his voice.
"Trey? You guys know him?" Kirsten didn't try to hide the concern in her voice.
"That's my brother."
"Your brother, but I thought he was…"
Ryan quickly cut Sandy off, "He was, he got out."
"And is now at a Newport party with…. Summer…." Marissa looked to Ryan, both of them looking to each other for answers.
"Oh this is not going to be good," Sandy grabbed a drink off the passing cart and quickly downed it.
"Okay," Marissa grabbed Ryan by the sleeve and started pulling him in the direction of Summer and Trey. "You keep Trey away from… Well anyone who might ask questions, while I pull Summer into the bathroom and find out what's going on."
"Yeah that's probably a good idea," he nodded and tried to put on his best face as they approached Summer and Trey.
"Hey guys," Summer broadly smiled as she greeted Marissa and Ryan. "Have you guys met my date," she motioned for them to look Trey up and down, "He's cleans up nice doesn't he." She gave Trey a playful elbow to the stomach.
"Yeah he does. You look good Trey. Would you mind if I stole her away from you for a moment, I need to go to the bathroom." Marissa grabbed at Summer's arm.
"Be my guest," but by the time the words left Trey's mouth Marissa had already tugged Summer away. "So," Trey uncomfortable shifted his tie, and shrugged to his brother. "They have a lot of these type of things here?"
"At least once a month… What are you doing man?" He dropped his voice and tried not to sound too harsh with his older brother.
"She showed up at my place, she needed a date… I told her no but… She begged man. I know what it looks like, the other day when we came in soaked, and now me showing up with her here… Nothing's going on man I promise, we're just friends." Trey licked his dry lips and prayed his brother believed him.
Ryan raised his eyebrows, he could tell by the look in Trey's eyes that while he was telling the truth there was still something below the surface, something Trey was trying to push back. "Just watch what you get yourself into man… Summer…. She can be a handful."
"I already learned that." Trey slapped his brother on the back and laughed.
"Shit, Julie Cooper alert ten o'clock." Ryan rolled his eyes and gave a harsh sigh.
"Who?"
"It's Marissa's mom, just…" He sighed again, "Just brace yourself."
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"Okay so you're here with Trey, you wanna explain?" Marissa leaned against the bathroom sink and watched as Summer fixed her hair. "I thought you said nothing was going on."
"Nothing is going, Cohen's an ass and he left me dateless at the last minute, so I asked Trey to come. It is that simple."
"Summer look at me," Marissa demanded, as she grabbed Summer by the face squishing her lips together.
"Ew, Coop you're gonna mess up my make up."
"Tell me again there's nothing going on with you and Trey." Marissa watched as she spoke, as soon as she finished her question Summer's eyes shifted away from her. "Your eyes just shifted, there is something going on with you two."
"No, there's not… exactly. I mean nothing's happened, but… I don't know the way he makes me feel. Sometimes when he looks at me it's like I'm the only woman in the world he sees. Cohen's never made me feel that way, I mean Cohen's so goofy and I know he loves me and he makes me laugh and he makes me feel good all over. And I meet Trey and he's the total opposite he's intense and when I think about him looking at me I get quivers all over… I don't know, I think this whole thing with Trey is just because he's so different from anyone I've ever dated. But we're just friends, and we're just here as friends."
"Please be careful Sum, you're a big girl and you can make your own choices, but just be careful."
"Come on Coop, we'd better get back out there, you know Ryan doesn't handle these things well and I don't want Trey to think I deserted him."
As soon as they walked out of the bathroom and back outside to the courtyard, Marissa clasp her hand over her mouth, "Shit," she pointed to where Ryan and Trey stood.
Summer looked over to see the flaming hair of Julie Cooper standing with her back to them, and Ryan and Trey looking towards them obviously grimacing. "Come on Coop, hurry up," she grabbed Marissa's hand and walked faster.
"Hi, mom," Marissa coldly greeted her mother and stepped in beside Ryan taking his hand.
"Hi honey, Ryan and I were just catching up while you were in the bathroom… Summer, hi." Julie gave her a smug smile.
"Hi, Mrs. Cooper," Summer brushed past her and stood close by Trey. She took a deep breath as she saw the look in Julie Cooper's eyes, how could one woman be so judgmental and practically evil.
"So it seems you've taken a hint from my lovely daughter here. Now Summer honey, I never thought Seth Cohen was your type, but I thought you at least had some standards. Not that Marissa's are all that much better, I mean she is with Ryan who punches people for a living which is quite barbaric. But he's not a convicted felon, who just got out of prison. I mean honey, what would your father think?"
Summer took Trey's hand and gave it a slight squeeze, Julie Cooper's words did nothing but irratate her. "I think my daddy stopped meddling in my business years ago, so maybe you should take the hint. Come on Trey…" She gave his hand a slight tug, then turned to Marissa and Ryan, "We're going for a walk."
"That was real sweet mom. You might not agree with who I date and what I'm doing with my life, but I'm your daughter and I can take it. And Ryan's used to it by now. But Summer is not your child and you have no right to berate her like that."
Ryan tried to hide his smile as he watched Marissa's eyes on fire as she and her mother went at it. A part of him always laughed when they did this, he'd never say it to Marissa but sometimes he could see so much of Julie in her it was scary. Not that he wanted to see a lot of Julie in her, but what can you do sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and you have to take a bite out of it before you realize that.
"Alright enough you two," he stepped between Julie and Marissa. "You guys can finish this later, Marissa let's go find your dad… He likes me." Ryan gave Julie and smug grin. Julie shot him a matching look back. Your not suppose to like your mother in law anyway, Ryan told himself. Granted Julie Cooper wasn't his mother in law, but she would be someday.
"Hey," Ryan felt a frantic hand grab his shoulder.
He turned around quickly to see Seth standing behind him, "Where's Summer, you made sure she came right?"
Ryan looked to Marissa, who had a confused and apologetic smile on her face, "Yeah man, she came."
"Okay well where is she, I've got my nerve right now, and I don't know how much longer that's going to be there."
"Actually…" Marissa bit her lip; "She brought a date Seth."
Seth felt his entire face drop, and his stomach sink to his knees, "A date… like who?"
"Trey," Ryan gave the single word answer and then quickly averted his eyes.
"Oh, your brother," his face lit back up and he felt his stomach and heart go back into place. "No big deal, I mean it's your brother… Where are they?"
Ryan and Marissa looked to each other again; nothing was going on with Summer and Trey right. That's what they had both said, so things shouldn't be so bad, and Summer was going to be totally shocked and floored with Seth anyway. Marissa shrugged to Ryan who shrugged back.
"Well they had a run in with my mother, she kinda insulted Trey, and then went on to insult Summer, and you know how my mom can be…. But I don't think Trey handled it too well, so they went for a walk."
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As soon as they hit the beach Trey loosened his tie, since he'd put it on he'd felt like it was choking him. Quietly he and Summer walked along the beach in their formal wear. He imagined that this was what it would have felt like to come to the beach after prom. Trey didn't know for sure though, he never went to his prom; hell he'd barely gone to high school.
"Sorry about that back there, I didn't think about anyone treating you that way when I asked you to come. I guess I'm so used to coming to these thing with Cohen that I forget people can be real shitty around here… Then again people are real shitty to Cohen sometimes so I probably should have thought about it. I never should have subjected you to this, I should have driven to San Diego and kicked Cohen's ass and made him take me. I mean that's what a boyfriend is for, God you'd think after so long together he wouldn't be so self involved, I mean he tried to hard to impress me for so long and…" Summer realized she was rambling as they walked. "Sorry now I sound like Cohen… I really am sorry about how Julie treated you."
"Not your fault. I mean I don't exactly fit in with that kind of crowd, and there's always going to be someone who's going to point that out. I guess I should learn my lesson that I'm not Newport material."
"Not everyone in Newport is like that, I mean," she stopped and stepped in front of him so he could look at her. "I'm not like that."
"No you're not, neither is Marissa. I just gotta learn how to deal with people like that, I mean there's going to be a lot of Julie Cooper's to come in my life. A lot of people who are going to pass judgement on me because of my past. I'll just have to push through them and make my own way."
Summer smiled, "That's the attitude to take, don't let the Julie Cooper's of the world get you down. I mean you can do anything now, I mean you've got a chance and no one can take that away from you… Have you ever thought about what you want to do now that you can do anything?"
Trey cocked his head to the side and twisted his lips down in a goofy way, "Not really. I mean I haven't had much time, everything has been so whirlwind, my head is constantly spinning."
"Well what do you like? I mean you should try to do something you like, you know Ryan likes punching people so he boxes, I like fashion so I design, Seth likes comics so he…" She stopped herself before she went on a Seth Cohen rant. "SO what do you like?"
"I never really thought about what I like, I mean I don't think I even know anymore, I've been out of the world for so long…" He paused to think about it for a second. "I always liked cars," he laughed.
"Yeah I bet you did."
"No really, I took some auto repair courses in jail. But who's gonna let a guy convicted of stealing cars work on'em."
Summer took his hand and pulled him in front of her, "Someone will… Some one will give you a chance Trey; you just have to believe in yourself. The way other people do."
"Like who?"
"Ryan, he believes in you…" She paused, she hadn't felt herself getting closer to him, but she could feel the energy between them. "And me, I believe in you."
"Really?" He whispered back.
His breath fell on her face, she hadn't realized they were standing that close until she felt it. Hot and sticky like the air. Why was beyond her, everything was so intense that for the moment she forgot who she was, or who he was. All that matter was the moment, "Yeah, really." Summer's voice was barely audible but she followed her words in and softly put her lips to his feeling the bit of stubble as it brushed against her.
Trey felt his heart jump at the feeling of her lips on his, and for the slightest instant he lost himself. He wanted to lose himself longer in her, but his body was willing, but his mind and his heart were at war with the right and wrong. Stopping himself he gently pulling away from her. "Summer stop," he told her.
At that moment their lost focus came back in reality. Summer brought her hand to her lips shocked at what she had just done, but even more shocked at the way it made her feel. "Why," she whispered unsure of where the words were even coming from.
"Look…" Trey sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I like you, I really do, and I've loved getting to know you and that you've given me a chance. But… You've got a boyfriend, who just happens to be my little brother's best friend, and the only reason you're kissing me is because you miss him. I would give anything in the world to have a girl like you, but I don't want it to be because she misses another guy… And honestly," he sighed and prepared himself for his first lie to her, "I don't want it to be you, I love that you believe in me and that you get me, and I love our friendship and I don't want to do anything in the world to change that. So let's go back to the party," he leaned his head forward and gave her a wide smile, "As friends like we are, and pretend that never happened." He wiggled his head to the side trying to make light of the whole situation and pray that she didn't notice how deeply he was lying to her.
"Yeah," Summer nodded her head to him, her hand still on her lips. "You're right… friends." She pulled her hand away and gave him a pressed smile; "We should get back." This time she didn't take his hand as they walked, but there was an understanding between them that what happened didn't actually happen. The only problem was that the damage was already done.