A/N- This has a little bit of everyone in it! Hope you enjoy

Chapter 26

"Guys are you dressed yet?" Kirsten asked, peering into the living room to see the fab four watching E! Entertainment on TV. It was 8:30 and people would probably be coming any minute.

"Yeah, we're dressed Mom," Seth replied, his focus still totally on the TV. Kirsten walked over to the TV and hit the power button, causing a groan to escape from the teens' mouth.

"MOM! We were watching that!" Seth yelled.

"Honey, the guests will be arriving any min-" she was cut off when the doorbell rang. "Minute." She walked to the door and let in the Coopers who were the first ones to arrive.

"This party is going to be so boring. I can see it happening now," Summer whined.

"Why are like half the parties complete bores?" Marissa wanted to know.

"And why do we have to attend all of them?" Seth added.

"Pool house?" Ryan asked. They all nodded and walked to the pool house. Anna and her boyfriend would find them eventually. Seth turned on the TV and hooked up the playstation while Summer collapsed onto the bed.

"I'm starting to hate parties," she complained.

"Tell me about it," Marissa agreed. "They aren't fun anymore."

"Ryan, my man, you wanna play some little one on one?" Seth asked, holding out a controller in his direction.

"Seth that's all we ever do! We never do anything else but play PS2 anymore," Ryan said. Seth sighed.

"Well what else did you have in mind?" Seth asked. Nobody knew. They all thought of possible choices when the door opened and Caitlin came into the room.

"Hey guys," she greeted, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Hey," they said back in complete boredom.

"People are starting to arrive," Caitlin informed them. "Are all the Newport parties like this?"

"Pretty much," Marissa said.

"Get used to it. If you're gonna follow in your sister's footsteps you'll have to go to every party whether you want to or not," Seth told Caitlin.

"Joy," Caitlin muttered.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Ryan asked.

"He had to spend New Years with his parents," Caitlin said. "It sucks since he probably would have had some ideas to make this more fun."

"Too bad," Summer said.

"Can someone PLEASE play PS2 with me! PLEASE?" Seth begged.

"I'll play," Caitlin offered, walking over and sitting beside Seth, taking the controller from his hand.

"Ryan, entertain us," Marissa suggested.

"What do you want me to do?" Ryan asked.

"I dunno," Marissa replied. "You were in musicals back in Chino. Sing us a song."

"NO! Ryan as much as I love you as a friend I do NOT want to hear you sing!" Summer said, practically screaming.

"Fine I won't sing. I wasn't going to anyway," Ryan said. That's when Anna and a six-foot something dark haired guy who was probably Evan walked through the door.

"Hey guys. Sorry we're a little late," Anna apologized. "This is Evan." Everyone shook hands with him. "So did we miss anything?"

"We've officially decided that Newport parties suck," Seth said, not looking up from the game.

"And that they're total bores," Summer added.

"Well I guess we're growing out of them," Anna said. Marissa sat up from the bed and went to sit on Ryan's lap.

"So Evan, you're in your first year of college?" Marissa asked, starting up a conversation.

"Yeah. Anna and I went to the same high school in Pittsburgh. We went to Rutgers together," Evan replied.

"How did you guys end up together?" Marissa questioned.

"We had always been close friends, but sort of secretly loved each other. When Anna moved to Newport I was so upset and when she came back I was happy again. She told me she had just gotten out of a relationship and that she was upset about it. I comforted her telling there were many other fish in the sea, and eventually we got together. We decided to go to Rutgers together after I proposed last summer vacation," Evan explained.

"I happen to be the guy who was in that relationship," Seth said, speaking up.

"Oh…you're Seth Cohen?" Evan asked. Seth nodded. Anna looked uncomfortable as did Summer.

"So, Anna, do you still watch Golden Girls?" Summer asked trying to change the subject.

"Of course I do!" Anna exclaimed. "And yourself?"

"Duh!" Summer replied. "I bought the box sets as soon as they started coming out."

"Oh my god! SAME!" Anna replied happily. "I love the Golden Girls."

"Thank you for being a friend. Driving down the road and back again. You're heart is true, you're a pal and a confident," Summer started Anna joining in as they sung the theme song from Golden Girls.

"What about you Marissa? Do you watch Golden Girls?" Anna asked.

"I've never seen it before," Marissa replied.

"She's more of a Desperate Housewives girl," Ryan spoke up.

"Oh my god, I love that show too!" Anna exclaimed.

"The women are all so glamorous," Marissa breathed. "Like take Eva Longoria for instance…she's so flawless and gorgeous."

"I prefer Teri Hatcher," Summer added. "Desperate Housewives is a great show. Not as good as Golden Girls though. Or the Valley."

"Can't forget about the Valley," Marissa agreed.

"I WON! CAITLIN COOPER, YOU SUCK AT PS2!" Seth yelled out of triumphant.

"I'll get you one of these days Seth," Caitlin replied, walking over and joining the little conversation of what TV shows were hott and not leaving Seth alone.

"So, who's next? Who wants to challenge the challenger?" Seth asked.

"Uh, I guess I will," Evan said, going over.

"You must be Anna," Caitlin said. "I'm Caitlin."

"Right! You're Marissa's sister," Anna replied smiling at her. "What shows do you like to watch?"

"Uh, I don't know. I love Gilmore Girls," Caitlin responded.

"Great show," the girls murmured in unison.

"Isn't that the one with the mom who gave birth at 16 and how she and her daughter are best friends or something?" Ryan asked.

"I had no idea you watched Gilmore Girls, Ry!" Marissa cooed jokingly.

"I don't watch. I've only seen it because you watch it sometimes," Ryan protested.

"Who's your favorite character?" Anna asked Caitlin.

"Well Lorelai of course," Caitlin said. "Uh, Rory's awesome. I also love Jess…he's just so good looking."

"I totally agree," Summer said.

"I also like watching Desperate Housewives and shows like One Tree Hill, 7th Heaven…that whole scene," Caitlin continued.

"Do you watch Golden Girls?" Anna asked.

"Yeah! That's like second best compared to Gilmore Girls," Caitlin replied.

"That's awesome," Anna said. It was definitely great being around old friends.

It was 10 minutes to midnight and miraculously the fab four had found things to occupy themselves with. They had been in deep discussions about their favorite TV shows, movies, music and just about anything. Seth had taken on just about everybody on PS2 except for Marissa because he didn't want to loose again.

"Seth, can we turn on the TV to Time's Square?" Marissa asked.

"But…I want to verse someone else," Seth complained.

"Cohen, don't be such a baby! You've been playing for like 3-4 hours tops," Summer said. "Let us watch Time's Square." Seth agreed reluctantly and turned on the TV to the right channel. Everyone found a place they could watch the TV from.

"Tell me if you see any engagements," Marissa said.

"Why?" Ryan asked.

"Because its romantic to get engaged on New Year's Eve. Not that our engagement wasn't romantic…" Marissa added. Ryan smiled. He went to go get the champagne bottle and some glasses for when the new year stroked.

"Any new years resolutions before we go into 2006?" Anna asked, killing time.

"Work out more," Summer said.

"Eat more vegetables," Marissa suggested.

"Study harder at school," Caitlin threw in.

"Level off of PS2," Seth said reluctantly.

"Join an extra activity," Ryan included.

"Travel more," Evan added. The time was slowly winding down. The teens could see the guests outside form around the patio where there was a TV that had Time's Square on it that showed the ball slowly but surely dropping.

"Wait! I got poppers!" Marissa exclaimed, grabbing a bag by the bed and handing out party poppers to everyone in the room.

"Agh, I'm so excited," Summer said. "I love New Years." Finally the time showed up on the bottom of the screen.

"Should we start counting?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah! Why not?" Seth agreed. 20, 19, 18, 17…the ball kept dropping…16, 15, 14…the guests were probably getting ready to pop the champagne….13, 12, 11, 10…Marissa looked at Ryan and grasped onto his hand. She noticed that Summer and Seth as well as Anna and Evan were holding hands too…9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Ryan kissed Marissa on the lips as Seth was doing with Summer and Evan was with Anna. Caitlin was pouring the champagne.

"WHOOO!" everyone cried. It was the New Year! 2006!

"I love you!" Marissa yelled to Ryan.

"I love you!" Ryan yelled back.

"I love you Cohen!" Summer screamed to Seth. It was loud…there was yelling and screaming of joy all over the place.

"I love you Sum!" Seth replied. "This is gonna be the best year yet! I can see it!"

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