Disclaimer: Fox and Josh Schwartz own The O.C. not me...and yeah these first two chapters were originally part of "Acting?" but I've changed it so now they're the start of my sequel.
"Hello…Mom? Dad? I'm back," Seth called as he entered the front door.
No answer.
"Parental people? Anyone?" Seth called again.
"Seth?" Kirsten asked from what sounded like the kitchen.
"Yes. It's Seth."
"And Summer," Summer added.
"Summer!" Kirsten squealed and came running from the kitchen.
Summer smiled and Kirsten squeezed her tightly in a hug.
"Congratulations, sweetheart!"
"Thank you," Summer beamed.
Sandy came into the room too.
"Summer, congratulations," Sandy said and hugged her.
"Thanks."
"Alright, now let me see this ring," Kirsten gushed grabbing Summer's hand.
"Shall we move this to the living room?" Sandy asked ushering everyone from the front door.
"Did you talk to Marissa?" Kirsten asked.
"Yeah. She called this morning to congratulate me," Summer replied.
Kirsten smacked Seth on the back of the head, "I thought I told you to let Summer tell someone."
"I didn't call her," Seth defended, rubbing his head.
"So Marissa just randomly congratulates people?" Sandy asked with a laugh.
"No. She congratulated Summer on being one of the top picks for an Oscar nomination."
"A top? A What? Oh congratulations!" Kirsten shrieked and threw her arms around Summer again.
"Thank you," Summer beamed.
"Well a celebration is certainly in order. I might just have to get a bottle of wine and we'll call a few people and," Sandy started to plan.
"Dad! We want to keep this kind of private," Seth cut in.
"I wasn't going to have a big Newport party. I hate those things. I was just going to call Jimmy and I suppose your grandfather. That reminds me, you've gotta call the Nana. She'll be thrilled," Sandy raved on.
"Dad! I've got it covered. We're gonna call her later. And I'm pretty sure Mom's already called Grandpa."
They all looked at Kirsten.
"He's your grandfather and I was excited," Kirsten confessed. "I couldn't not call him."
"Don't worry about it. It's cool," Summer laughed.
"I'm just so happy for you," Kirsten cooed.
"Ok. That's enough, Mom," Seth said rolling his eyes.
"So we still on for some celebratory wine? Or at least let me cook something for all of us to eat. A family dinner type of thing," Sandy suggested.
"Were you both like this when Ryan told you he and Marissa got engaged?" Seth asked.
"She was all about the hugging and the kissing and the congratulations. She was just horrible," Sandy laughed nodding to Kirsten.
"Please. You wanted to cook them a Passover-sized meal. And then you wanted to take them to Disneyland."
"Disneyland?" Seth and Sandy both asked at the same time.
"Maybe not. But he was certainly ready for a non-Newport party that was really a Newport party," Kirsten explained.
"Newport-sized non-Newport party. Kinda like you wanted to do today?" Seth asked laughing.
"What can I fix you all to eat?" Sandy asked ignoring Seth.
"Why don't you get the steaks from the freezer and I'm sure we still have some corn and potatoes or something," Kirsten suggested.
"You really don't have to do this," Summer cut in.
"Nonsense. This is a congratulatory dinner-technically lunch. It's a congratulatory meal," Sandy replied.
"Thanks but you really don't have to go through all the trouble,"
"Don't be ridiculous. We're welcoming you to the family the only way the Cohens know how to," Kirsten interrupted.
"Thanks," Summer said softly with a smile.
-
"Do you know how huge this is?" Jerry asked pacing in his office.
Summer shrugged.
"This is big. I'm talking really big. This is huge," Jerry ranted.
"Yeah I got ya the first time. This is big deal. I've got it," Summer sighed.
"This isn't just big. This isn't just huge. This is colossal. This is you, Summer Roberts, my number one client, being engaged to a complete nobody. Plus in the public's eyes your are still straight out of a break-up with Mr. Hollywood, himself, Matt Evans."
"Matt and I have been broken off for several months now. Besides, what's it matter what the public thinks. I'm engaged because I want to be, not because it's good or bad for publicity," Summer retorted.
"I know that but America doesn't know that. Do you want to be the next Britney Spears? Do you want to marry your 'old high school friend'? Because you won't be marrying this wonderful love of your life, to America, you'll be pulling a publicity stunt learned from Britney Spears 101," Jerry raved on.
Summer didn't reply but gave his a lovely glare.
"All I'm saying is, perhaps you should introduce Seth Cohen to America before you try to introduce 'Future Husband Seth Cohen' to America. Do you understand?" Jerry asked exasperatedly.
"You want me to show Seth off as just my boyfriend before I tell the world he's my fiancé?" Summer scoffed.
"That is exactly what I want."
"You want me to hide my engagement and pretend that Seth and I are 'just friends' or we just recently started dating or something?"
"Not necessarily hide your engagement…just keep it quiet until the time is right," Jerry replied.
"No."
"Summer,"
"No," Summer replied firmly.
"Just listen to me. You are my number one client. You have a very successful career. You're among the top picks for an Oscar nomination this year. The War is premiering in less than two weeks. You have enough buzz going on about you and your talents. You don't want people to think that you're stooping to a low publicity stunt- even though this isn't- people won't know what to think, Summer," Jerry explained hastily.
"But,"
"This is your year. I know you and Matt are done but if I'm going to stick with the Britney analogy then I'm just gonna tell you this: people think that celebrity couples will always be together even though 90 of celebrity couples utterly and completely fail. No one liked Britney Spears dating Colin Farrell or even Mr. Federline for quite a while because nobody else was Justin Timberlake. Matt is your Justin. Now whether you like it or not that's the way the public works."
"Jerry, Seth isn't a nobody. He's Caleb Nichol's grandson. You wanna be all old-school pop-culture on me, then let me give you this analogy. Seth Cohen is the equivalent of Paris Hilton…pre-video release though, because after that whole scandal she became like huge- anyway, what I'm saying is that people know who Seth Cohen is. Maybe not all of America, but anyone who knows anything about the rich and fabulous of California or anywhere really, knows who Seth Cohen is," Summer explained rolling her eyes.
"Brandon Davis. Nobody really cared about him being all rich and stuff until he started dating celebrities. Do you really want to do that to Seth? Do you really want to just throw him out there in the spotlight? This was your career choice not his," Jerry said, trying every excuse he could come up with.
This one seemed to work.
"I don't know….I guess-I guess I never really thought about it that way," Summer muttered.
"Exactly. So maybe it would be best- for Seth," Jerry added in quickly-if you eased him into this whole publicity thing."
Summer was silent for a few minutes before finally speaking again.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ease Seth into this."
"So we'll just tell everyone he's your boyfriend and that's it. Then given enough time and depending on how comfortable you are with sharing your relationship with the world….then you can tell everyone you're engaged," Jerry said with a smile.
"I guess this is probably the best thing for us right now," Summer said softly.
"Trust me, it is. I'm not against you being all in love and engaged. In fact, I'm very happy for you. But my job is to be your manager, your agent, your whatever. My job is to handle your career. So as for your career, this is probably best. And as for Seth, this is probably best. So even though, we're all excited that you finally got your man, this really is probably the best thing right now," Jerry replied honestly.
"Yeah," Summer said quietly and nodded. "I'm just going- I should probably tell Cohen."
"Yeah…you're doing the right thing, Summer."
"Sure."
"Just give it time," Jerry said sympathetically.
Summer nodded and turned to leave.
"Oh and Summer, truthfully…congratulations. I'm really happy for you both," Jerry grinned.
Summer smiled back, "Thank you, Jerry."
-
"Cohen, we need to talk," Summer said as she walked into her apartment.
"Ah yes, the four little words every man dreads hearing," Seth joked.
"I'm serious, Cohen."
"Ok," Seth said slowly as they both sat on the couch, "So what do we need to talk about?"
"It's um-it's about us," Summer began unsurely.
"About us? Are you breaking up with me?" Seth teased.
"Don't joke about this," Summer replied shortly.
"Ok. So this is one of those serious we need to talk kind of things."
"Yeah. It's serious."
"Ok. So let's talk," Seth said uneasily.
"Jerry thinks that- well actually I agree with him- we both think that- well its not like we have this great conspiracy against you but it's just that,"
"Summer," Seth cut in.
"Yes?"
"You're rambling. And that's just not right."
"Right. Sorry. We can't be engaged," Summer blurted out quickly.
"We-what now?"
"We can't let everyone know we're engaged…no yet anyway."
"Why?" Seth asked almost laughing.
"Because there's this whole thing about Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake and it's just really complicated. But the point is it would be best if we gradually put this out there for the rest of the world to know," Summer explained.
"How do we gradually put this out there?"
"We introduce you as my boyfriend at the premiere and after some time we tell everyone we're engaged."
"Well how long do we have to be 'dating'?" Seth asked.
"I don't know. Just- we just need to do this slowly."
"How slowly is slowly?"
"I don't know, Cohen. We'll just go to the premiere in a few weeks and I'll tell everyone that you're my boyfriend. We'll tell them our story and then we'll see how they take it and if all goes well we can tell everyone we're engaged once all of this Oscar stuff is over with," Summer explained.
"Ok. I guess I can live with that….wait, what exactly is our story," Seth asked with the hint of a grin.
"You're not mad. You're ok if we don't tell anyone we're engaged?"
"Well all of the important people in my life know so why should I care if we go all public about it or not."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously….now what's this story of ours you're going to tell people? Because I'm not so sure that I want everyone to know some things."
"Yeah like how you slept with the Spanish chick," Summer teased.
"Hey! Hey now! I did not…and you didn't answer the question."
"I'll just tell them that you were my high school sweetheart and after Matt and I broke up you were there for me and I realized that I was still in love with you," Summer smiled before kissing him lightly.
"Well I approve of that story then," Seth grinned back.
"Good because that's the story I'd tell anyway."
"You have to be careful what stories you tell about people, Miss Roberts. I could sue you for slander if you don't play nice," Seth teased.
"Yeah well you better be careful, Mr. Cohen, piss me off and I'll take your lawsuit but your reputation will never be the same," Summer smirked.
"Oh, ouch."
Summer giggled at Seth before kissing him again.
"I love you," Seth smiled.
"Not that crap again," Summer joked. "Seriously, Cohen, are we going to become one of those sappy couples who loooove each other all the time?"
"Of course not."
"Good."
"Yes because that would be just horrible," Seth chuckled.
"Absolutely dreadful," Summer laughed.
(AN: Hey I don't own Britney Spears, Colin Farrell, Kevin Federline, Paris Hilton, Brandon Davis, or Justin Timberlake...however I wish I did own Justin Timberlake. So yeah this chapter was just asking for a lawsuit by dropping so many celebrities names lol. But please don't sue me. haha. Um Keep Reading and I'll keep writing. I'm trying to write as much as I can and update as much as I can but school's really starting to get crazy. But hopefully after next week my tests will be over and I'll be able to write more.)
