A/NAha chapter 3 im so good lol, i really am gonna try and update this REALLY often, promise-but i cant untill monday coz im off 2 Paris tomorrow morning-lifes tough lol but i may put 1 more up tonight.

and by the way it makes me so happy that you remembered this fic from like yonks ago!sorry i didnt carry on with it-lots of technical hitches that i dnt understand- i'll try to do a better job on the updating this time!

Disclaimer: I donot apprecitatesueing so please do not bother-it will not be worth your while. Trust me.

now on with chapter 3: We can work it out

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When they broke apart Marissa looked up at Seth and saw his eyes were slightly swollen and bloodshot; when Seth realised what she was looking at he stammered a lame excuse.

"Look i'm allergic and the amount of pollen around us right now, from, from the plants. Its ridiculous."

This made her laugh

"Sure, whatever." she paused. "I know it's been tough on you too"

"Well…yeah I suppose it kinda has."

At this point a cool breeze blew off the river, which made Marissa shiver.

"I'd offer you a jacket or something but…"Seth trailed off ant pointed to himself, indicating his long-sleeved top and t shirt on top.

"It's OK, erm, my place isn't too far from the coffee house. But I don't know how far we are from there."

"Well we're not that far; my place is around that area as well"

"But you'll still come in, right?"

"Sure"

"Great, you can help me with the unpacking!" she replied and couldn't help but laugh at his look. "OK if it's that painful-"

"Jokes, sure I'll help you." Marissa laughed again, her tears had helped her let some emotion go. She believed that talking about it might actually release her from this pain at last.

They'd been walking for about 20 minutes when they finally reached the coffee house.

"That was hardly near" she stated" but never mind, i'm only about a couple of minutes away from here, I think."

Finally they reached Marissa's front door- it had taken them longer than planed, as they'd got a bit lost taking the wrong road- at this point Seth was mumbling something about driving and Sat. Nav.

As they pulled the door open the many towers of boxes greeted them.

"How much stuff do you need?" Seth asked exasperated, wondering what he hell could be in all these boxes.

"Well I packed with Sum-sorry." Like he needed to hear that name, idiot, she thought to herself.

"It's ok, really." He said, quietly. Marissa, however didn't buy it, she could see the pain in his eyes. Summer had never exactly said what had happened between them. She'd just turned up at Marissa's house one day, her eyes were a bit puffy, but there were no tears then. All she said on the matter was quite simply

"I've finished with him." And that was the end of the matter.

At that point Marissa had been so glad that she could completely close that door in her mind and cut off the past from the present. She'd felt bad for Summer of course; but never felt curios to what had happened between the two. Now, though, she did wonder.

"Seth, I know this isn't really my place to ask, and you don't have to answer, but what happened with you and Summer?"

Seth's face fell, he'd hoped they could have avoided that topic and it wouldn't have come up. The boys had had a hard time after the break ups as well. Seth couldn't say much about Ryan's troubles because, basically he didn't know. He' become even more withdrawn since then. They'd both tried dating other girls but it hadn't been the same. A few times the two had gone out; but seeing as Ryan had never exactly enjoyed the 'harbour party scene' and Seth Cohen was, well Seth Cohen, those nights had been minimal and pretty uneventful.

Seth missed Summer, but was glad when he could finally get away from her. He'd been offered a place everywhere he'd applied for: Yale, Berkley, USC, NYU and Boston. Seth still wasn't sure why he choose Boston, he'd had the pick of some of the best colleges in the states; but it'd appealed to him. No one was going there, so he'd thought. This had triggered his mind to look up at the girl sitting by him. She'd been one of his closest friends at one point. We're such an unlikely pair, he thought to himself. Quite similar but completely different at the same time. How did we end up friends? The answer hit him. Ryan. The guy that had broke this girl's heart. his best friend. His brother. That's how he'd met Summer. Summer, he'd tell her now, his emotions were everywhere and he needed to get them out. It was the only way forward.

"Ok, I'll tell about me and Summer; but you'll have to tell me about you and Ryan. What really happened on the beach?"