Chapter 10 – Let's Get This Party Started

The night sky shone with the twinkle of a thousand stars whose beauty was only matched the swimming pool in the Cohen's backyard which glowed with the incandescent glory of hundreds of sparkling lights that were held securely ten feet in their air around its edge. Several upright torches planted at strategic points splashed out their superb light swamping the garden in their brilliance. A number of large clothed tables dominated one side with all manner of small but expensive h'or oeuvres laid out upon them. An army of black trousered, white-shirted waiters stood with silver tray in hand ready to be deployed. Inside the kitchen a French chef maniacally raced around stirring pots, flipping saucepans, and grinding pepper onto practically everything. In the living room thirty bottles of expensive champagne chilled quietly in mountains of ice. Everywhere people moved frantically from place to place in a fit of activity and anxiety, and in the middle of all this commotion stood Sandy. He had nothing to do. He watched with amusement. A small grin crept onto his face. Orange County was certainly a strange place to live, he thought.

Kirsten rushed from the garden to the kitchen to the living room making sure everything was going according to plan and that there was no last-minute disaster. She checked the food, the wine, the lighting, everything. She then rechecked the food, the wine, the lighting, everything. Big parties got her tense and when she was tense she fussed and when she fussed she got other people anxious, and the last thing you want to do before a big party is get your French chef anxious.

Kirsten dejectedly wandered up to Sandy.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Jean-Marie kicked me out of the kitchen." She sulked.

Sandy tried to stop himself from chuckling. "Oh."

"Don't laugh." She scolded before seeing the funny side and joining him in his mirth.

"Tell me how again this party will benefit charity?" Sandy asked.

"Well," She explained. "Rich people give more money when they're drunk."

"Ah, yes, alcohol;" Sandy said with a smile. "The Orange County solution."

Just then Seth came stumbling down the stairs. He was wearing a dashing black suit, with thin black tie, and glorious white shirt. He espoused the sophisticated charm of a cosmopolitan urbanite.

"You look good, son." Sandy said.

"Thanks, pop. You look." Seth looked at his father, paused, and then turned to his mother. "You look good, mom."

"Thanks, Seth." Kirsten said while Sandy looked down at his suit and wondered what was wrong with it.

At that moment Ryan entered the hallway from the kitchen. He was wearing a dashing black suit, with thin black tie, and glorious white shirt; the exact same dashing black suit, thin black tie, and glorious white shirt as Seth. The two stared at what the other was wearing then at their own clothes. Sandy and Kirsten stared at what Ryan was wearing then at what Seth was wearing. An uncomfortable silence descended between the four people.

"Well, I guess great minds think alike." Seth said breaking the silence.

"This is the only suit I have." Ryan said plainly.

"I'm not changing." Seth said defiantly.

Kirsten clasped her hands together. "Well, I think you both look very cute."

"I'll be right back." Seth said whilst heading back up the stairs.

Kirsten looked at her husband in surprise. "Honey, don't salt his game."

After ten minutes Seth returned wearing the same dashing black suit and glorious white shirt but this time he had on a strikingly deep red tie. His mother had gone to harass the waiters into straightening their ties and tucking in their shirts, Ryan had returned to the pool house, leaving Sandy watching the hustle and bustle. Seth slowly approached his father.

"Father?" He said causing Sandy to turn round to face him. "Could I borrow the range rover?"

"Sure, son." Sandy said handing over the keys but just before the keys reached Seth's outstretched hand he stopped. "Wait a minute, what for?"

"Err…" Seth mumbled. "I have a date."

Sandy looked astonished but soon recovered himself. "A date?"

Seth nodded "Yeah."

"Oh." Sandy paused. "Who with?"

"Summer."

"Ah. Summer." Sandy said with realization.

"Well, it's not really a date. She just wanted someone to go with." Seth explained.

Sandy put a hand over Seth's shoulder and drew him in. "You know what son, that's exactly how I got your mother." Sandy pulled away and handed Seth the keys.

As Sandy walked away his son looked after him with an unfamiliar feeling of respect. Seth shook his head as if to free himself from it and headed out to the car.

Seth pulled out outside of Summer's house. It was an impressive-looking house but then most houses in Orange County were impressive-looking. Seth sat in the range rover listening to 'Sound of Settling' by Deathcab for Cutie. He collected his thoughts as the song hit the chorus. This wasn't a date. He was just taking her to the party. He was kind of like her chauffeur and V.I.P. ticket rolled into one, and nothing more. She was really going with Nick Banford. Nick Banford, he said to himself. How he hated Nick Banford. God, he was pathetic. He was taking the girl of his dreams out on a date with some water polo wannabe. He banged his head on the steering wheel.

"Ouch." He said to himself.

Suddenly there was a rapping on the car window. Seth spun round in complete surprise, well, as much as you can spin round in the driver seat of a range rover. He banged his elbow on the car door.

"Ouch!"

After the sharp stab of pain had subsided he looked at who was rapping on the window. It was Summer. She was dressed in a little slip of an exquisite red dress. Seth's mouth dropped open. He had never seen a more beautiful image than the one on the other side of the car window. Summer momentarily stopped banging on the window and it appeared to Seth as if he looked him right in the eyes, though he dismissed it because it was immediately followed by more banging. Seth wound down his window.

"Let me in, Cohen." Summer said making her way round to the passenger side.

Seth clicked the automatic lock unlocking the doors. Summer opened the door and stepped in. She adjusted her dress and turned to Seth. "Who locks their doors anyway?"

Seth was taken aback. "I don't want to get car-jacked, all right."

"In Orange County?" Summer said with raised eyebrows.

Seth did not immediately respond. Instead he sneakily took a look at her knees. He slowly brought his vision further and further up her leg until she interrupted him by asking, "Why haven't we left?"

"Don't you want to invite me in first?" Seth asked. "Meet your father…" He left the sentence hanging in the air.

"You are not meeting my father." Summer quickly responded.

"What? Are you ashamed of me?" Seth said in mock protest.

"Yes." Summer said with deadly seriousness.

Seth's face briefly became engulfed with hurt.

Summer fiddled with her hands. "Let's just go."

Seth put the car in gear and drove away.

By the time the range rover pulled up outside of the house the party was in full swing. It seemed as if all of Newport high society had turned out. The party was proving to the social event of the year so far. Everywhere Seth looked there was some old rich guy with a surgically enhanced blonde wife hanging off his arm. Seth made his way around to the passenger side to let Summer out.

As she stepped down she looked him in the eyes but he turned his head away. "Thanks." She said quietly.

They walked up to the front door and were confronted by a couple of large smartly-dressed men. "Name, please." One of them said to Seth.

"Seth Cohen." Seth replied.

The man checked a list, quickly found Seth's name, and waved the couple through. As they walked past Summer couldn't help look admirably at Seth. There was just something cool about getting in a party of the rich and powerful, and Seth had done that as if he did it every week. Seth didn't notice Summer's admiring look. He just focused ahead of him rarely looking in her direction. He walked into the living room where a throng of people were crowded around the bar. Summer put an hand on his arm and stopped him. He looked down at her with impatience.

"How about a drink?" She asked.

"The bar's right there." Seth said pointing at the bar before walking away.

Summer stopped him again. "Stay. Have a drink with me."

Seth was about to respond when his face changed. He looked past Summer in the direction of the front door. Summer turned round following his gaze. Nick Banford had just walked in. Summer quickly spun round but Seth had already left.

Meanwhile Ryan stood at the back of the garden sipping a coke. If you take away the expensive clothes, fancy food, and decorations, this party could have been in Chino, he thought. He was then offered something called Foie Gras by a smartly-dressed waiter. Maybe not, he reconsidered.

Seth quietly joined Ryan and the pair looked on at the party.

"You seen Marissa yet?" Seth asked.

"Yep." Ryan replied sharply.

"She with Luke?"

"Yep." Ryan took a sip of his coke. "You seen Summer?"

"Yep." Seth replied sharply.

"She with Nick Banford?" Ryan asked.

"Yep."

Just then Sandy approached the boys with a large grin on his face. "Hey Seth." He whispered loudly. "Saw your date. She's a fox."

"Dad. Please don't ever say that to me again. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go drown myself in the pool." Seth said before making his way back into the house.

Sandy turned to Ryan. "You kids don't use fox anymore?"

Ryan shook his head.

"I am way out of touch." Sandy said melancholy.

Ryan nodded.

As Seth got himself some Capt 'n Crunch out of a cupboard Marissa tapped him on the shoulder. "Have you see Ryan?" She asked.

"Out back." Seth replied.

"Thanks." Marissa said while looking at the cereal box with confusion.

Ryan had left Sandy to wallow in adulthood to refill his coke. As he made his way into the house he bumped into a girl coming out. It was Summer. "Have you seen Seth?" She asked.

"He came this way." Ryan replied.

Summer went to go back inside but hesitated, then turned to Ryan. "Does he hate me?"

Ryan was taken aback by the question. He didn't know what to say.

Summer saw this and decided she didn't want an answer. "Never mind." She said dismissively and went back inside the house.

Ryan was about to follow her when he was tapped on the shoulder. It was Marissa. "Hey." She said.

"Hey." He responded. "Where's Luke?"

Marissa pointed in the direction of a group of teenage boys in the corner of the garden who were sneakily adding vodka to their cokes.

"So…you having fun?"

"Yeah. I'm having a ball." Ryan said dryly.

Marissa couldn't help but smile. "Was that a joke? Did Ryan Atwood make a joke?"

Now, it was Ryan's turn to smile. "I'm spending too much time with Seth."

"You know, he's in the kitchen eating cereal."

"Yeah, he does that. Says it's his food of reflection."

Marissa grinned again. "Well, I just wanted to invite you to this thing at Holly's. Kind of like an after-party. Should be fun."

Just as Ryan was about to reply he saw Luke looking jealously over at them.

"I better not." Ryan said.

"I insist." Marissa said with determination. "And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Ryan smiled. He could see that he wasn't going to win this one. "Okay. I'll go."

"Good." Marissa said with bounce. "See you there."

Summer found Seth with his hand deep in a box of cereals. She looked at him quizzically. "Cohen, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." He said with a mouth full of cereal.

"Okay, so, there's thing at Holly's after the party. I want you to come."

"Is Nick Banford going to be there?" Seth asked tactfully.

"Probably." Summer replied breezily.

"Yeah. Doesn't really sound like my sort of thing."

"Look, Cohen." Summer said sharply. "You're going to go to this thing and enjoy yourself. Okay?"

Seth was a little stunned. "Okay."

"Good." Summer said with a smile before walking off.

Seth stood dumbfounded by what had just happened. Ryan made his way up to him but Seth continued to stare after Summer. "So, there's this thing…" Ryan began.

"At Holly's?" Seth asked.

"Yep." Ryan said with surprise.

"Yeah, I know. Summer invited me."

"She did?" Ryan asked with more surprise.

"Uh-huh." Seth nodded, still in shock. "Yeah, dude, I don't understand it either."

Just then Sandy approached them. "So, how's the party going boys?"

"It sucks, Dad." Seth said. "But the after-party is going to be great."

He walked off into the garden followed closely by Ryan leaving Sandy standing alone.

"After-party? What after-party?" Sandy asked himself quietly.