It's Always Been You

By: Celiza

Rating: PG-13, just in case ;-)

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not OWN Fox's The O.C. All characters were created by Josh Schwartz

Author's Note: Takes place during the summer, and well into the second season. Major S/S!

Summary: Seth and Ryan come back for the new school year after spending the summer away from Newport Beach. Nothing will ever be the same after all that's happened but they all wish they could go back to the way things were.


PROLOGUE

Seth Cohen pushed through the crowd around the coffee stand, coming face to face with Summer. Things had been off the past few days; Summer had been ignoring Cohen and he didn't know why until Anna talked to Summer. Summer told her that she didn't want to have a public relationship, because all guys eventually get sick of her and break up with her and she didn't want a breakup with Seth Cohen to ruin her reputation. Seth wasn't going to break up with her; he loved her since he was ten years old and named his sailboat 'Summer Breeze' after her. He had to let her know that. He tried jumping on top of the coffee stand where Summer and Brad were trying to raise money at the kissing booth, but soon gave up and went from a chair to standing on the kissing booth. After a few seconds of arguing for Seth to get down, he held out his hand. "Acknowledge me now, or lose me forever," he said. Summer looked back at all the faces, the snotty preps and asshole jocks whom she had gone to school with since she was little, and then looked up at Seth Cohen, the 'big dork that listens to emo'. He was different and for some reason, she was drawn to him. Summer smiled and pulled herself up onto the stand next to Cohen. And the rest was history.

Summer Roberts layed in bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She remembered a few months ago, when Seth Cohen declared his love for her. He said he wasn't going to leave. Wasn't going to go anywhere. Until everything happened and he ran away on his sail boat, leaving just a note for his girlfriend. Summer slowly pulled herself out of her bed, eyeing the "2:43" in red on the clock on her nightstand. She looked outside the nearest window, noticing the dark sky. Another night of no sleep.

She dragged herself into the bathroom down the hall and splashed water onto her face. In the mirror, she saw herself. Her eyes red and puffy from crying, her hair a mess. And all over Seth Cohen. In the beginning of the year if anyone told her she would be crying over Seth Cohen, she would simply of laughed and said "Ew, who?" But she later fell in love with his personality, his quirks and Seth Cohen. She couldn't admit that to anyone, not even him. She almost let her father break up her and Seth because Mr. Roberts couldn't picture his daughter with someone like Cohen. They made up after that though, when Summer realized that she liked Seth even if her dad didn't completely approve.

That summer was going to be time for all four friends, Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa to hang out. Until the news about Theresa's pregnancy came about. Theresa was Ryan's ex, whom he had slept with during the couple weeks that Ryan and Marissa had broken up. At first, Ryan wasn't going to leave Newport, and let Theresa and her mother take care of the baby alone in Chino. But Theresa couldn't have the baby alone. Ryan broke the news to the others, and Seth took it the hardest. Ryan was his only real friend. Before Ryan came to Newport it was hell for Seth. Seth had mixed feelings about everything, and so he packed up his bags and sailed away on his boat.

Summer was brought back to the present when the running water drowned out her thoughts. She turned off the water and headed back to her room. She sat on the floor next to her bed with a sigh. She grabbed Princess Sparkle off of her nightstand and then looked under her bed. It was too dark to see anything so she moved her hand around until it hit a box. She pulled the box out with two hands and opened it. Inside were several pictures of her and Cohen, some of his CDs, and other things he had left behind. Underneath everything was a letter. The letter that the Cohen's had found after Seth had sailed away on his boat. He had left one for his family and then one for Summer.

She opened the letter, and although it was too dark to see the words she mumbled it to herself. She had read it so many times that it was memorized.

"Dear Summer,
I need to think a few things over. I'm not sure if I'm ever coming back to Newport. Without Ryan here, it will go back to the way things were before he came. And I can't handle it. I will call you though, so we can talk. I hope you can forgive me. Just know that I love you."

That last line got her everytime. She started to quietly cry as she said it over in her head "Just know that I love you". She never once said "I love you" to Cohen, but she did. She really did love him. But he was gone and she had to move on. They had just gotten in a fight this afternoon over the phone. He had called her a lot this summer but she couldn't handle talking to him. And today she finally ended it. It was time to move on or at least try.


Hope you liked. It's just getting started, though. A lot of this was just explaining things. Please review!

Celiza-