A/N: Looking back over some of the chapters, I'm realizing that I'm starting to get more comfortable in this story and things are starting to flow better. My writing seems immature in the beginning, if you get what I mean. Also, real quick, we learned in episode 23 "The Nana" that Sandy has a brother and sister but we don't have a clue what their like or whatever so I'm making his sister up.

She's A Screamer

"Like, she was hyperventilating?" Ryan asked from where he was lounging on the pool house bed.

"Yeah. It was crazy. She had to go to the bathroom and then she said something about changing seasons and we went out to eat," Seth explained from the wicker chair across from the bed.

"Maybe you should take her to a doctor," Ryan offered.

This suggestion was met by a series of snorts and snickers coming from Lindsay who was lying next to Ryan on the bed.

"What?" both boys asked in unison.

"Please tell me you guys are not that stupid," she said.

"Um, apparently we are so enlighten us."

"It was what you told her," Lindsay explained.

"What? About New York?" Seth asked.

"Yes."

"Why would that upset her so much?" Seth questioned, still confused.

"Okay," Lindsay said, sitting up. "You guys are sleeping together, yes?"

"No! Why would you think that? Why would she think that, Ryan?" Seth said, immediately covering up. Summer was a private person and Seth had no objections to keeping their "arrangements" as quiet as possible.

Lindsay gave him a pointed "yeah, okay" look and Seth shrugged. "Seth, it's simple as this: she loves you."

"No way," Seth started. "Summer doesn't love. Not like that."

"Mmhmm, and why would she still be with you if she didn't have any feelings for you?"

"She likes the sex," Seth told her, admitting the truth in hopes of having Lindsay make sense of the situation.

"Wrong," Lindsay said. "If it was sex she liked, she'd be out screwing every guy on campus. Just face it, she has feelings for you Seth. She's just scared."

"Scared of what?" Seth asked.

"If you guys got together for real," Lindsay started, preparing to spell the whole thing out for him, "then she's giving herself over to you, fully and completely, as would you. She's opening herself up to an opportunity to get hurt. Badly. She's knows that she could get screwed over big time and by denying everything, she feels that, somehow, she's saving herself."

"You are so brilliant," Ryan said, leaning over to kiss her.

"Yeah, I'm still here," Seth said, and they broke apart. "So, what I do now?"

"Tell her how you feel," Lindsay said.

"She knows how I feel," he told her.

Lindsay thought a while, biting her lower lip. "There's got to be something more holding her back," she commented. "Has something really traumatic happened to her? Like, an event that might change her views on people or something?"

"Her mom bailed on her a few years back but that's the only thing I can think of that's, like, remotely traumatic," Seth said.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?!" Lindsay yelled. "God, that explains it. Not only is she afraid of getting hurt, but she doesn't want to hurt you either. She knows that you love her and she's afraid that she'll leave you. Just like her mother. She's trying to protect you. Both of you."

"This is so fucked up," Seth said.

"Where is she now?" Ryan asked.

"Um, her dad went away on business yesterday but he left her his credit card and told her to buy herself something nice which means she and Marissa are buying out half the mall right now."

"Oh yeah," Ryan said as if he just remembered something. "What did Sandy and Kirsten say when they came home the other night?"

"They didn't say anything at the time cause we were, like, asleep. They woke us up in the morning though and I drove Summer home and then they were all like "what's going on with you guys" and I was just like "nothing we're just friends". I told them she was drunk and we just fell asleep and they were like "okay" but I don't think they believed me," Seth said, recounting his parents' actions when they found Seth and his "friend" asleep underneath him on New Year's Day.

"That sucks."

"Yeah, well." Seth shrugged. "Let's play Playstation."

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A few hours later, Summer and Marissa approached the open door of the pool house. "Hey guys," Marissa said.

"Hey there," Seth said back. "How was the shopping spree?"

"Good," Summer said, making her way over to one of the chairs.

"Summer got into a fight with the saleslady," Marissa informed everyone as she took a seat on the ledge.

"Coop!" Summer said, scolding her best friend. "Besides, she shouldn't have been such a bitch."

Seth stood up and tossed his controller to Marissa. "Here," he said. "Play." Then he turned to Summer. "I've got to grab something from the kitchen. Come with?"

They exited the pool house and the rest of the group continued to play a few rounds of playstation. They got bored quickly though and ventured out into the main house. Approaching the kitchen doors, they heard yelling and quickly stopped, dropping back into the shadows.

"What are we even fighting about?!" Seth yelled.

"I don't remember!" Summer screamed back.

"Well that's the way it is with us, isn't it?" Seth said, his voice returning to a somewhat normal level.

"God, just shut up," Summer said, crossing the kitchen quickly. Before any of them outside could even guess what had happened, Summer's lips were on Seth's.

Once the need for oxygen set in, they pulled back. Breathing heavily, Seth said, "Want to go up to my room?" Summer nodded and Seth placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her up to his bedroom. And just like that, all their problems had been solved.

"Now for the make up sex," Marissa said, watching them go.

"Ah, yes," Ryan responded. "The ever popular make up sex."

"What are you guys talking about?" Lindsay asked them as they finally entered the kitchen.

"They fight," Marissa started.

"And then they have make up sex," Ryan finished. "Without ever actually making up."

"I don't know though, Ry," Marissa was saying. "That looked different."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked, grabbing some sodas from the refrigerator.

"They looked angry. Like, seriously mad. Not how they usually fight," she explained.

Ryan shrugged. "They couldn't even remember what is was they were fighting about. I wouldn't worry."

"You're probably right," she said, agreeing. "God, I hope your parents don't come home anytime soon."

"Yeah," Ryan said, laughing.

"Why?" Lindsay asked, because, clearly, she hadn't been around Seth and Summer long enough to know.

Ryan and Marissa shared a knowing smile. "Summer is…" Ryan started to say but stopped, not sure how to put it.

"A screamer," Marissa provided and watched Lindsay's eyes go wide as they comprehended the meaning.

"Oh," she said.

"Yeah, so maybe we'll all move back out to the pool house," Ryan suggested. "I'm not sure you can handle that yet," he said, referring to Lindsay.

"Well, I've got to go meet Alex, but Seth can take Summer home, right? When they're done doing…ew, nasty visuals."

"Yeah," Ryan told her. "Go on."

"Alright. I'll see you guys later." She waved and then disappeared from the kitchen, the front door shutting a few minutes later.

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"Hey, Cohen," Summer said as she tossed her keys on the side table in her foyer. "How's it going?" She leaned down to scratch behind the tiny kitten's ears. Picking him up in one hand, she headed into the kitchen to get some food. She didn't, however, plan on running into her stepmom.

"Oh, hey Sum," she said like they were actually friends or something.

"Dianna," Summer said curtly.

"What are you doing home?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

"I got out of school," Summer told her, completely disgusted by her lack of knowledge, or interest for that matter, of her life.

"Oh."

Summer set the cat down on one of the stools at the island counter and moved to the fridge to find a suitable snack.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you," Dianna said as moved towards the cat, "who this little guy is."

"His name's Cohen," Summer answered.

"How cute! Like that friend of yours," she commented as she pet the kitten's head.

"Yes, well, he's the one who bought him for me," Summer said, wondering why she had just offered up that information. It clearly invited conversation, which she did not want.

"That's so sweet. Are you two dating?"

"No," Summer replied, wondering why the hell she cared.

"Oh." Dianna paused. "Well, your father's out of town—"

"Gee, I hadn't noticed," Summer said, just loud enough that her stepmother heard.

She ignored it though and continued. "So I was wondering what you wanted for dinner."

"I think Marissa's coming over so me and her will do something."

"Oh, okay then," she said, scratching the cat one last time. "I guess I'll just call up Vic and she and I can go out, you know, so you girls can have the house to yourselves."

"Mmhmm," Summer said, picking up her cat and her drink and going into the other room.

A few hours later and she was lounging on the couch with Seth and Marissa.

"Sum, this movie is, like, two years old," Marissa complained.

"So what?" Summer said, as she put The Ring into the DVD player.

"Let's watch something from this year," Marissa suggested but Summer shook her head.

"The kid in the beginning is hot."

"Fine, then we can watch the beginning and then we'll turn it off," Marissa offered.

"Fine," Summer said.

"What kid?" Seth questioned from where he was almost asleep on the couch.

"I don't know, his name's like Kellen or something. He's the one sitting on the table."

Summer walked back to the couch where Seth lifted his head high enough for her to sit down before laying his head back down on her lap. She rested a hand on his chest as the movie started playing.

They switched The Ring with a different movie after they saw the hot kid. Marissa decided, for the seventh time, that the kid was totally not her type while Summer rambled about how damn hot he was, also for the seventh time. About forty minutes into their next movie, Seth's breathing had steadied as he had drifted off to sleep.

"Let's do something fun, like put his hand in a bowl of warm water," Marissa suggested.

"No way, Coop. He's on my couch."

"Fine, then what do you want to do? Freeze his bra?"

The girls smiled at what they used to think was the cleverest trick when they were in the seventh grade. "We could always draw on him."

"Too boring," Marissa said. "We could throw him in your pool."

"What if he drowns?" Summer said.

"Good point." Marissa put a hand under her chin and rested her arm on the armrest. "What if we just drag him outside and leave him on your front lawn?"

Summer laughed at this. "When he wakes up, he'll have no clue where he is!"

Marissa stood up from the chair and Summer eased Seth's head off her lap. He stirred a little and both girls froze. He rolled onto his side but his eyes stayed shut. Marissa worked her hands under his legs while Summer went for his upper body. They tried to lift him but he wouldn't budge. Both girls groaned under the weight.

"He's really heavy for such a skinny boy," Marissa commented as the girls tried again to lift him.

"I know," Summer panted. "He's actually surprisingly strong."

"Somebody must give him a pretty good workout," Marissa said with a smile.

Summer was about to comment when Seth shifted and suddenly the girls were tumbling backward. Seth fell on top of them with an "oomph". He scratched his head and looked around clearly confused.

"Morning sleepyhead," Marissa said in between giggles.

"What the hell are you guys trying to do?"

This just sent the girls laughing again. "You," Summer laughed, "were…too…too heavy."

Seth was still confused, as if somehow, his weight explained why he would be laying on top of Marissa and Summer on the floor. He got up and brushed himself off and then stuck out of hand to help Marissa up. Marissa left for the kitchen and Seth grabbed Summer's outstretched hand, yanking her a little harder than necessary and sending them both toppling onto the couch.

"So," he said as Summer propped her elbows on his chest and played with the buttons on his shirt. "Why were you two trying to pick me up? Is this some weird best friend ritual that I haven't heard about?"

"We just wanted to put you on my front lawn," Summer said, as if this was a normal thing to do. "And what best friend rituals have you heard about?"

"The whole blood sister routine where you cut yourselves open and bleed into each other and then, somehow, you're connected for life," he explained. "I never got that one. You girls are probably spreading AIDS and all kinds of diseases doing that."

"Me and Marissa did that."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," she showing him her hand, palm up. Sure enough, there was a faint scar right below her thumb. "Coop's got one too."

He kissed her forehead and she leaned up to get his lips but he pulled away. "No," he said, laughing. "You're probably diseased. I don't want your spit in my mouth."

"Fine," she said, acting indifferent. "I guess we just won't have sex. Ever."

"Well," Seth said, changing his attitude. "It's not like Marissa has any diseases, right?"

"Exactly," Summer said leaning up again.

"But wait," Seth said, stopping her. "She did do it with Luke and that guys has probably been in at least a fourth of the Harbor High population."

"Ew!," Summer said, smacking his chest. "We did it in, like, the eighth grade, before she ever did anything with him."

"Okay, then I guess it's okay," he said.

"You guess?" she said as her lips finally touched his. She kissed him slowly before pulling away.

"It's definitely okay," he said kissing her again.

Just then Marissa came back in from the kitchen carrying a glass of water. "You know, Sum's bedroom is right up the stairs and to the left," she said, taking a seat.

"Mmm," Summer said, pulling back. "I know." She smiled, not taking her eyes off of Seth's. "We were just there before you came over."

Seth smiled back at her as they heard Marissa's response. "Gross. That was definitely way too much information."

"What?" Summer said as she stood and shrugged her shoulders. "It's true."

Marissa was about to reply when the doorbell rang. "Who the hell would be here?" she asked, speaking the same words Summer was thinking.

"Not a clue," Summer said as she walked into the foyer. "Ryan?"

"Hey," he said. "Is Seth here?"

"Yeah," she said. "Seth," she called over her shoulder.

Seth had turned around to see who was at the door and was already up off the couch and headed towards the doorway. "Hey, man," he said as Summer walked back to the couch. "What're you doing here?"

"Your dad needs you home for dinner, like, now," Ryan explained. "Your aunt is here."

"Oh my god," Seth said, smacking himself in the head. "How could I have forgotten?"

"I don't know," Ryan said in a rushed tone, "but we gotta go."

"Why didn't you call my cell?" Seth asked.

"It's not on," Ryan sad flatly.

"What?" Seth reached into his pocket looking for his cell phone.

"It's on the coffee table," Summer said as she came back over.

"Why isn't it on?"

"I turned it off," she explained easily.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because, we were busy," she said.

"Summer, you could have at least told me, then I would have known to turn it back on," Seth said, getting frustrated.

Summer shrugged. "I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," she said, as she stepped closer to him, fingering the buttons on his shirt.

"Well—" he started but was cut off when she kissed him.

"I'm sorry," she said, pulling back a fraction of an inch.

"It's just—" She kissed him again, giving him no time to finish his sentence.

Ryan sighed and Marissa looked at him from across the room. He motioned for her to help him out here. Marissa jumped up off the couch and walked to the foyer. She clapped her hands loudly, which startled Seth and Summer enough to pull back. "Time to go," she said.

Ryan gave her a look, wordlessly voicing his thank you's before Seth grabbed his jacket. "So, you ladies coming?"

"Sure," Summer said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Why not?" Marissa said, mimicking Summer's shoulder shrug.

"Great, but let's go," Ryan said, ushering everyone out the door and into the Range Rover.

------------------

The arrived at the house in a pack and walked in to find Sandy's sister, her husband, and their two children all seated in the living room. His Aunt Sam lived in New York so he didn't see them as often as he would have liked but they visited every now and then.

"You're back," Kirsten said, standing up.

"Yeah," Seth said as they walked into the living room. "Sorry we're late."

"It's alright," Kirsten said as she guided the kids to the couch. "Summer, Marissa, are you girls staying?"

"Only if it's alright with you," Summer told her and Marissa nodded.

"Of course," Kirsten said warmly. "We always have room for you two."

"Seth! Oh my gosh," his aunt said as she got off the couch and hugged him. "The last time I saw you, you were just a boy."

Seth smiled bashfully and hugged her back. It really had only been a year since he had seen them but he supposed he probably looked a little older. "How are you?" he asked.

"Fabulous," she said. "And yourself?"

"Never been better."

"Seth."

"Uncle James," Seth said, shaking his uncle's hand. "How's it going?"

"Good, good," James said. "I see you've got some friends," he said, nodding in the direction of the girls.

"Oh yeah," Seth said, as the girls stepped forward. "This is Summer." Summer stepped forward and shook both adults' hands. "And Marissa." Marissa did the same.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Sam said.

"You too," the girls said in unison.

It was then that Summer noticed the children sitting on the floor in front of the couch. She nudged Marissa and both girls stared in awe at the way the two children were interacting. There was a girl who must have been about five years old. She was handing a boy, who Summer guessed to be about three, the blocks he was using. He was stacking them lopsidedly and every time he turned away, the girl would fix them for him.

"Noelle," Sam said, looking at the children. "Don't you want to say hello to your cousin?"

The girl looked up and smiled shyly at Seth. "Hey, Noelle," Seth said as he walked over and squatted beside the two kids. "What are you guys building?"

Summer had to bite her tongue to keep in the "awww" that was threatening to come out. She looked at Marissa who smiled back.

"Blocks!" the boy said, who's name was James Jr., J.J. for short.

"So, we'll eat in about fifteen minutes," Sandy said standing up. "Don't worry, Kirsten didn't cook."

"Sandy," Kirsten said, standing beside him. Everyone else laughed.

Fifteen minutes passed quickly and pretty soon everyone was moving into the kitchen. Any awkwardness had quickly dissipated as Summer was currently engaged in a conversation with his aunt about the new "spring colors". Ryan, who had they had met for the first time when they arrived that evening, was chatting away with his uncle about architecture while Marissa tagged along, J.J. in her arms.

Noelle was twirling pirouettes under Seth's hand as she told him about the ballet lessons she was taking. "And my teacher said I was the best in the class but I'm not allowed to tell anyone else because that would make the other girls jealous and I don't want them to hate me even though if they did, they might not want to dance with me anymore and I could get a solo but it's okay because my teacher said I'll probably get the solo anyway," she said, rambling a mile a minute and reminding him, strangely, of himself.

"Really?" he said.

"Yup."

"That's awesome."

"Isn't it?" She said and, at that point, she stopped reminding him of himself and started reminding him of Summer. And, if his memory served him correctly—and he liked to think it did—the conversation went something like: "Wow, Summer. You look…beautiful." "Don't I?" Yeah, that was Summer alright.

"Hey." Speak of the devil…

"Hey," he said as she approached.

"I really like your family, Cohen."

"They're not bad," he said, smiling at her. Noelle tugged on his hand and he said, "Hey, Summer, guess what."

"What?" she said, smiling down at the little girl.

"Noelle's ballet teacher said she was the best in her class."

"Did she?" Summer asked as she squatted down until she was eye-level with the child.

Noelle nodded and a little color came to her cheeks.

"I took some dance classes when I was your age," she told her.

"You did?" she asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Yeah. Granted I took hip-hop which is pretty different from ballet, but it's dance all the same."

"Can you show me something?" Noelle asked timidly.

"Sure," Summer said, standing up.

Seth watched as she backed up so she had enough room. Then she did something that looked really complicated and really awesome. It involved a lot of hand movements and those little booty-drop things that girls did.

"Geeze, Summer. You never showed me that," he said as she walked back towards them.

"You never asked," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm asking now."

"I just showed you," she said.

"Can you teach me that?" Noelle asked, letting go of Seth's hand and stepping towards Summer.

"Of course," Summer said. "But right now, we have to eat. I'll teach you after dinner."

Dinner went smoothly and now, Summer and Marissa had cleared out the living room and were currently teaching his five-year-old cousin how to "shake her thang" because apparently, Summer and Marissa had attended the same hip hop classes. Ryan sat on the couch, watching and rating their moves for them. They were all smiling, the three girls' faces were flushed, as they continued to dance. Their only complaint being that they couldn't find any decent dance music. Apparently Death Cab wasn't appropriate.

Seth stood at the kitchen counter as his parents finished loading the dishwasher. Then, Sandy and his Uncle James disappeared to Sandy's office. His mother was pacing the kitchen, holding J.J. She was talking quietly to him and every once in a while he would reply back with a random comment that made no sense but was something only a three year old could think of.

"So, Seth," his aunt said, looking at him over the counter. "Summer's a really nice girl."

"Yeah," Seth said, staring absently into the living room. "She's great."

"How long have you two been dating?"

Kirsten stopped pacing and looked at Seth. She raised her eyebrows as Sam waited expectantly for an answer. Seth scratched his head, unsure of how to get out of this one.

"Yeah, um, we're not…uh, dating," he said.

"Oh," Sam said. "Well, I just thought…you guys just seemed so…close."

"We are," Seth told her. "We dated a while back in our junior year," he said, talking slowly, "but I made…I made a big mistake." He thought it weird to be talking about this out loud.

"Oh," his aunt said, as if she understood.

"We're friends now," he explained. "Best friends," he added, almost as an aferthought.

"I see." She looked down at the counter and then back up. "Marissa and Ryan dated too, yes?"

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

"It was a lucky guess," she said, winking at him. "You can tell by their body language."

Seth wondered if she was implying that he and Summer did not depict the body language of a couple who had broken up. Was she saying they still acted like they were dating? They'd have to work on that.

"Cohen!" Summer called from the living room. "Come here! Look at the routine Marissa and I taught your cousin!"

Oh, geeze.

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Be happy, I gave you guys an extra long one for making you all wait so long. Thank me by leaving a review.