Disclaimer: I don't own the O.C. blah blah blah. Josh Schwartz...Fox...and all that good stuff.
"Seriously how did you live here?" Summer asked.
"Well it's usually less cluttered," Seth replied, kicking a box out of the way.
"I'm not talking about the boxes and the mess."
Seth raised any eyebrow at her quizzically.
"This place is a hellhole, Cohen. It's not even the least bit homey," Summer explained.
"That's because the hominess is packed away in all of these boxes," Seth laughed.
"I know that much, I'm not stupid. Just-look at your walls. They're like…ew. I thought you said you had a nice apartment this is like…like ghetto central."
"Ghetto central? This is New York City, Summer. This is a nice apartment."
"You call this nice?" Summer scoffed. "You're like Seth Cohen. You couldn't find a better place than this?"
"Not in this location. I know it's not exactly home…but it works…or at least it worked. But this is all in the past. The day after tomorrow we'll fly back to your homey, nicely decorated apartment and never have to think of this ghetto central place again," Seth joked.
"Good. Because this place is like…," Summer paused to think.
"Ew," Seth suggested.
"Exactly."
Seth nodded with a laugh.
"But I guess it's not that bad," Summer sighed. "I mean with a little feminine touch it could improve immensely."
"Yeah well Lauren must not have been very feminine because it's always been ghetto central."
Summer stiffened a little.
"I mean God knows she tried to do something with the place but she must have lacked your interior design expertise," Seth teased, unaware of Summer's discomfort.
Summer didn't reply.
"So maybe ghetto central didn't need a feminine touch, just a Summer Roberts touch," Seth laughed.
"Yeah," Summer said softly.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Summer," Seth said in a tone that clearly showed he wasn't buying it.
"It's nothing…it's just- you had this whole life here…I mean like an actual life. You weren't just sitting around dreaming about Newport. You had a nice job and well a somewhat nice place to live…and you had girlfriend," Summer explained quietly.
"That's what this is about? Lauren?" Seth asked. "Aw, Sum," Seth sighed stepping towards her.
"It's not just about her…it's…you had this…this whole life going for you here…without me."
The corners of Seth's lips turned up into a small smile.
"Summer, I had a life but that doesn't mean it was perfect. Or anywhere near perfect. Yeah, life in New York City is exciting and I had a good job here and a decent place and well the Nana lives here so you know, I had family here too. But sometimes I was just sitting around dreaming about Newport. This whole life I had going for me here was good. I won't lie. My life was good…but not as good as it being back home…with you," Seth explained.
Summer smiled and kissed him.
"How do you do that?" She asked suddenly.
"Do what?"
"Say exactly the right thing."
"Years of rambling on and on about meaningless stuff, it prepares you for when you have to say the actual meaningful stuff," Seth replied with a grin.
"I see…but you do realize that if Ryan ever heard half of the lines you feed me, you'd never live it down," Summer giggled.
"Are suggesting that I'm full of lines?" Seth asked mockingly grabbing his heart in pain.
"Maybe."
"I am hurt and offended."
"Ok. Ok. You're not full of lines…you're just incredibly cheesy," Summer laughed.
"Cheesy? Oh come on. Every time I do something nice for you or say the right thing, I'm cheesy. Why can't I just be sweet? Oh, or suave? Yeah why can't I just be considered suave?"
"Because you, Seth Cohen, are the furthest thing from suave. You are like the anti-suave. Sweet maybe, but suave," Summer scoffed.
"Ouch."
Summer grinned at him and suddenly he forgot to pretend to feel offended. He just wanted to kiss her again. So he leaned in slowly and captured her lips with his. This wasn't a lustful kiss or one of those really passionate kisses that they tended to share. This was just a simple kiss. But it made Summer's knees go weak. They pulled away after a second.
"Still not very suave," Summer said after she regained the ability to think.
"Man," Seth whined, before she hit him playfully.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
They both flopped down on the couch the next day after lunch and stared at the blank spot where the TV had been before Seth packed it. Summer's fingers traced little patterns on the palm of Seth's hand. He looked at the engagement ring on her finger and smiled. They didn't speak or actually even look at each other. They just sat in comfortable silence. It struck Seth how odd it was that he couldn't actually just sit there with Summer in silence and not feel weird about it. In high school, they were all over each other every time they had a second alone. Well that or they were fighting with each other, which would usually end up with them all over each other. Then in college, it was so hard to find time to be alone that when they did they certainly didn't waste it just sitting there holding hands. The only times Seth and Summer were ever just sitting in silence was while watching a movie or if they were asleep. Then when he began dating Lauren, she could never shut up and whenever she did, it always felt awkward that they weren't talking.
Seth finally glanced over at Summer. She was looking at their hands and seems quite amused with the way her fingers danced on his palm. She felt his gaze on her and looked at him. Seth smiled at her and she grinned back. Then they both turned their heads back to the empty spot where the TV had been.
Finally Seth began to voice his thoughts, "You know usually we-"
"Don't ruin it, Cohen," Summer commanded.
Seth immediately shut up but wrapped his fingers around hers so that they were holding hands now.
"I like just sitting with you," Summer whispered.
"Me too," Seth whispered back.
After a few more minutes of sitting in silence holding hands, Seth spoke up.
"You didn't wear your ring on Letterman," he said softly.
"I know," Summer replied quietly. "I couldn't."
"I know," Seth said trying not to let his disappointment show.
"Look, Cohen, I want to tell the whole world just as much as you do. In fact, maybe even more…but now's not the time."
Seth nodded.
"I'm sorry," Summer whispered tangling her hand with Seth's again.
"It's alright. I think I'll still marry you anyway," Seth grinned.
Summer smiled back and they sat in silence again, holding hands. Until suddenly Summer sprang to her feet. She kept hold of Seth's hand, practically jerking his arm out of its socket.
"I have an idea," Summer beamed.
"Ok? Did you have to yank my arm off?"
Summer rolled her eyes, "Stop whining."
Seth sighed.
"We should go shopping," Summer said excitedly.
"What?" Seth asked with a laugh. "You're joking right?"
"No! We should totally go shopping. I mean how often are we in New York?"
"I-I don't know."
"Exactly! We're like never in New York together. And this is like the shopping capital of the world!" Summer nearly squealed she was so excited.
"Yeah but shopping?"
"Cohen," Summer pouted.
"For how long?"
Summer shrugged, "Just a little while. I need to get some new shoes…and some jewelry for the premiere…and it probably wouldn't hurt if I bought a new purse…and maybe a few new sweaters…and actually,"
"This is going to be one of those all day adventures, isn't it?" Seth grimaced.
"Probably," Summer admitted with pleading eyes.
"Fine," Seth sighed.
Summer grinned happily and started gathering up her shoes and her purse to go shopping.
"Hey don't we get like special treatment and stuff because you're a big celebrity?" Seth asked curiously as he slipped on his shoes.
"Maybe! Good thinking! I should totally call in advance and stuff and set up a time at the stores I want to go to. That way we can just go in and shop and not have like five million people interrupting while I'm trying on shoes!" Summer said enthusiastically.
"Five million people? Do you really think five million people would want to talk to you?" Seth teased.
"Shut up, Cohen and grab my cell. I've gotta call Bloomingdales."
"Do you really think it's fair for you to use your powers for such evil as shopping?" Seth asked.
"Of course it's fair. A girl's got to shop and if people really want to meet me that bad then they can talk to me on the street. They just can't interrupt my shopping time."
"What happened to nice celebrity who adored her fans?"
"I'm still nice celebrity and I still adore my fans…I just adore my shoes too," Summer added meekly.
Seth laughed, "That's nice."
"Besides, this is good for the businesses."
"How is shutting down the store so you can shop at your leisure good for business?"
"Because once I call there's bound to be some employee who gets paid by paparazzi to tell them when celebrities are coming. That employee will call a few people who have cameras. They'll get take my picture and then next thing you know its in like US Weekly or something. It's promotional for the businesses," Summer explained.
"Wow. You're really not too full of yourself," Seth said sarcastically.
Summer glared at him but didn't reply.
(AN: See faster update than last time...and look two chapters! I'm getting back into the swing of things! I'm trying to become a better updater like I was...I'm just finding that it was a lot easier to find time to write when I was on X-mas break...this college stuff sucks! lol...or maybe I'm just being lazy after my classes...oh well...anyways, enjoy! Keep on reading!)
