Chapter 13 – Open Up Your Eyes

The beach thronged with an assorted mass of teenagers skiving off school, surfers with no fixed abode, peddlers with wares to sell, and a rather large collection of workers who had come down with a rather unfortunate case of the heat wave sniffles. Despite this varied array of beach-goers one group was dominant above all others, the skiving teenagers. The young women stalked the beach in packs wearing skimpy bikinis and occasionally letting the waves caress their toes as they scanned the talent on offer. The young men played up to these hunting parties strutting their stuff in aggressive beach football games sweat dripping off their muscled torsos to the delight of their on looking female admirers. Every so offer a football would be carelessly thrown astray into a pack of these admirers requiring several of the young men to go to receive it. Invariably a flirtatious conversation would be struck up between the two parties involving an offer to join in the football fun and a pretend reluctance to take up said offer. The evitable outcome would be some socially accepted and highly playful physical contact between the two sexes. This ritual was performed up and down the beach to varying degrees of success. For those young men and women not engaged in this ritual there was always the time tested lay back and wait approach. This tactic, typically employed by the female of the species, involves a lot of sun cream, a towel, and patience. Many of the Newport young were pursuing this strategy when Marissa and Summer arrived. They parked within sight of the sea thanks to some maniac driving by Summer diving in front of sixty year-old grandmother for a recently departed parking space. Marissa looked over at her friend after the car had been put in park and the grandmother had beeped her horn in anger. Summer looked back with raised eyebrows. "What?"

Marissa shook her head. "Nothing."

The two girls got out of the car, got their stuff from the truck, and made their way to the beach. The temperature was slightly cooler by the sea with a breeze providing a degree of comfort but due to the humility it was still unbearably hot. This fact was demonstrated by the amount of serious thought that the two girls gave to actually taking a swim. The beautifully clear blue water appeared as a mirage in the intolerable heat. Sanity soon broke out and the two decided it would be much more pleasurable to lie out under the sun and work on their golden brown tans.

Seth checked his Jew-fro in the mirror of the flip-down window in the passenger seat. He moved his hand within it making slight and barely noticeable adjustments to its unkempt motif. Ryan occasionally took his eyes off the road to look at what Seth was so carefully constructing but he failed to see what all the activity was intended to achieve. It appeared to have done nothing but keep Seth occupied for the journey to the beach. Maybe that's what its actual intended purpose was, thought Ryan. Ryan turned his attention back to the road and his mind began to wander to the events of the past few weeks and, in particular to his interactions with Marissa. He couldn't work it out. There was definitely an attraction there; even the self-involved Seth had noticed that. Surely Marissa had noticed it as well. How could she not? Yet only last night she had told Luke she loved him right in front of his face. Who did she really want? Ryan or Luke? And, more importantly, how long would he wait for the answer? Ryan wiped droplets of sweat from his brow. He glanced at Seth. Should he tell him that he's only making his hair worse?

Seth picked at a stray strand of hair and carefully put it back in place. Finally, he thought, his hair was working for him. Something about the heat brought out the best in it. Now if only he could get Summer out of his head everything would be all right. She had been tormenting him since he saw her in the corridor. There was something about the look in her eye that caught Seth's attention. He couldn't explain it. There was definitely something indefinable about the look she gave him. He had for a long time had thoughts of Summer in his mind but this was different. He thought he had given up on her, on them, after he had finally got her to notice him and she had so brutally rejected him. It's quite a shock to the system when a fantasy turns into a nightmare. He almost longed for the days when Summer was a distant dream and he could fool himself into thinking it might one day be reality. However, despite all the hurt, the pain, the suffering, he wouldn't change it for anything in the world. She knew his name and that was more than enough for him. He knew that he was condemned to spend the rest of the year silently tormented by his jealously of the likes of Nick Banford and their hold on her affections. He knew that he would never actually be able to claim Summer for himself. He knew that she was a lost cause, a holy grail, a never-will-be, and a never-could-be. He knew that he should just forget about her, move on, and find someone else, someone attainable. He knew he should let her go. He knew that's was what he should do. He knew it. But he couldn't. He knew he just couldn't do it. No matter how much he rejected it, how much he refused it, how much he fooled himself. His love for Summer was undeniable.

The boys parked quite a distance from the beach so by the time they felt the sand beneath their shoes the girls had been sunbathing for twenty minutes and were beginning to feel the effect of the sun. Ryan and Seth were confronted with score upon score of bronze bikini-clad young women their skin glistening with sweat. They stopped and surveyed the scene before them. "Sometimes I really love Orange County." Seth said.

Ryan nodded. "Uh-huh."

After several minutes the boys began to look for the girls. It didn't take them long to find them. Marissa and Summer were about thirty or so yards from the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean on a slight mound in the beach. They had rented a rather large and rather colorful umbrella which provided some much needed shade and, more importantly, a place to store their drinks. The girls were lying on two large beach towels, Marissa on her back and Summer on her front. They had their eyes closed and did not hear the boys approach. The boys stopped by Summer's side and projected a shadow which covered the two girls. "Hey Jackass!" Summer said as she turned her face to look at the idiots blocking her sun. "Oh." She said embarrassed when she discovered who was standing before her. "It's you."

"It's us." Seth replied as Summer turned back giving Marissa a stern look as she did. "How are you two ladies enjoying this lovely unbelievably hot day?"

Summer flicked her head back to face Seth. "Fine until you showed up."

"Ah. The famous Summer wit." Seth said.

Summer gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Do you two want to join us?" Marissa asked.

"No." Summer said sharply.

"Sure." Seth replied.

"Ryan?" Marissa pointedly asked.

"Err…sure." Ryan said looking for a spot to sit.

He decided it was best just to sit on the sand where he was standing. As he moved to sit down Marissa saw what he was doing. "I'm sure we can make room." She said making space on her towel.

Ryan hesitated in a half-sitting, half-standing pose before slowly making his way over to Marissa and tentatively sitting down next to her. He smiled nervously at Marissa and she returned the smile.

After Ryan had sat down Seth coughed loudly. Summer ignored him. Seth coughed again. Without turning round Summer said, "Not a chance, Cohen."

"Yeah, okay, guess I'll have to sit in the sand." Seth said.

"Guess so." Summer replied still not turning round.

"Sand is good. My people like sand, well, desert, which is almost the same. It's all just tiny rocks. So, it'll be, like, home, well, not home, sitting in a mansion would be like home; this is more a spiritual home. Back to my roots, that's sort of thing." Seth rambled.

The fierce frown on Summer's face softened into a tender smile as he talked. "Cohen?" She asked gently.

"Yeah?"

Summer turned around and started to move her legs on the towel to create a space. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted before she could.

"Seth?" Charity stood in all her bikini-clad glory behind Seth. The sun reflected all the sweat on her highly toned body. Her hair shifted slightly in the breeze.

Seth spun round to see who had spoken his name and his mouth dropped open while he saw who had. "Yeah?" He stammered.

"Need somewhere to sit?" Charity asked provocatively.

A speechless Seth managed to nod.

"No, he's sitting here." Summer said fiercely her eyes fixed on Charity.

"He is?" She said.

"I am?" Seth asked.

"You are." Summer said to Seth.

"I am." Seth said to Charity.

"Oh." Charity said disappointedly. "If you change your mind, Seth, I'm sitting right over there." She said pointing to a posse of teenagers. "Oh, and by the way," Charity said looking at Marissa. "Luke is looking for you."

"Thanks." Marissa replied as Charity walked away.

Seth watched her go and then turned round to look at Summer. He stood nervously waiting by her side. "Are you going to sit down or not?" She asked harshly.

"Err…yeah." Seth stammered. He hesitated for a moment before timidly sitting down on a small section of the towel. Summer moved her legs to give him room but she moved them into where Seth was planning to sit causing a few uneasy moments as the two awkwardly maneuvered their bodies until they were both on the towel.

The four sat in silence. Marissa smiled nervously at Ryan who smiled nervously back. Ryan then looked across at Seth who looked back before turning to smile nervously at Summer. Summer gave Seth a withering look causing him to stop smiling. Summer then rolled her eyes at Marissa who gave her an encouraging look. The sun hung high in the sky. Its heat was stifling. Marissa wiped drops of sweat from her face. Ryan removed his shift leaving him only his white t-shirt. He picked up a nearby bottle of sun cream and rubbed some into his arms. Marissa couldn't help but glance over while he did this. Summer's hair grew frizzier and frizzier by the minute. She desperately tried to stroke some semblance of order into it. As she inevitably failed in this attempt she looked over at Seth who was touching his Jew-fro.

Half an hour passed. The umbrella had been placed in-between the two towels and covered them in shade. Ryan and Marissa lay side-by-side on one towel and Summer lay on the other with Seth sitting awkwardly at the end.

Another half an hour passed. Marissa's head rested on Ryan's chest, her hand laid beside her head, her eyes closed, asleep. His eyes were wide open looking up at the umbrella listening to her breath. On the other towel Summer laid asleep with Seth curled up in a ball at the end of the towel also dead to the world with her feet in his face. Seth woke with a start. "Pineapple!" He shouted. He quickly recovered his senses and looked around him. He saw Summer slowly stirring at the top of the towel. She had luckily not heard his outburst. He turned his attention to the other towel. He could see over Marissa's head that Ryan was mouthing 'pineapple?' Seth mouthed back, 'what?'

Summer made a sudden movement with her feet whacking Seth in the face. "Oh my God!" She said with concern. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Seth touched his face for blood but there was none. He looked at Summer. "Ow!"

"Sorry. I forgot you were there." She said trying to touch his face to see if it's okay.

Seth batted her hands away.

"Just let me see if it's okay." Summer said at which Seth relented.

She slowly caressed his face with her hands. She moved from his nose to his cheek to his mouth. As she moved her hands her eyes drifted towards his. "Does this hurt?" She asked.

Seth just stared at her, until she moved her hand over a developing bruise causing him to wince in pain. She broke off contact bringing her hands back down by her side. "Yeah, so, you'll probably have a big bruise on your face."

"Great." Seth said. "How am I going to explain this to my mom?" Seth asked himself.

Summer raised her eyebrows.

"I meant." Seth corrected himself. "How is she going to notice what with all the other bruises I get? From fighting. Other men."

"Uh-huh." Summer said.

Seth quickly turned away from her to Ryan. "So, Ryan, you want to get something to eat?"

Ryan nodded downwards to the sleeping Marissa.

"What?" Seth asked confused. "Marissa has food?"

Ryan shook his head violently.

"Marissa knows a nice Italian restaurant round the corner?" Seth suggested.

Ryan rolled his eyes in despair.

"Dude, this would be so much easier if you just told me." Seth pointed out.

Summer slapped him on the arm. "Listen, ass-hat, he can't talk because he doesn't want to wake Marissa up. He wants us to go eat at the lobster place. He's going to wait until she wakes up and then they'll join us."

Ryan pointed to Summer and nodded fiercely.

"You got that from a nod?" Seth asked Summer.

The lobster restaurant looked like the inside of pirate ship built in the 50s just after memorabilia rationing had ended.

Seth and Summer ate their meal in a coordinated display of crunching shells, dripping butter, and strategic movements of the napkin container. Seth spent the meal speculating about Ryan and Marissa to Summer's constant reminders that Marissa had a boyfriend to which Seth invariably made a crack about Luke shaving his chest. Summer would then say that at least Luke didn't get beaten up by a sleeping girl. To which Seth would respond that Luke was, in fact, a girl, a girl who shaved her chest. To which Summer couldn't help but laugh.

Finally the meal was over and the bill came. Seth got a pencil out and started to write on the back of it.

"What are you doing?" Summer asked.

"Working out the tip." Seth replied.

"Just put five bucks down." Summer said.

Seth looked surprised. "Five bucks? That's, like, twenty-five percent."

"Yeah, so?"

"I refuse to pay more than twelve percent. My old Jewish man won't let me." Seth replied.

"Which old Jewish man?" Summer asked.

"Inside every Jewish man is an old Jewish man trying to save money." Seth explained.

Summer smiled and was about to respond when Charity walked in with a group of teenagers. "Come on, Cohen. We're leaving." She said dropping a couple of notes on the table.

"Err…okay." Seth said a little confused at the rush.

He started to head towards the exit when Summer stopped him. "No, round the back." She said. Seth looked even more confused. "I need to pee." Summer explained.

"Err…I'll wait here." Seth said.

"No!" Summer almost shouted. Charity and her friends were looking round for a table to sit at and would any minute spot Summer and Seth. "I don't like peeing with other people. I get nervous, can't go. You guard the door and stop them from coming in." She fixed her eyes on Seth. "Please."

Seth reluctantly agreed and the two made their way down a corridor to the back. As they walked Summer couldn't help but glance back to see if Charity and seen them. She had. She stood there watching them walking off together. At that moment Seth looked down and saw Summer looking behind him and before she could stop him he turned around. He saw Charity and her friends and suddenly it all became clear. She didn't want her friends to know that he knew him. She was ashamed of him. He stopped in his tracks.

"Okay, Summer. I've had enough. One minute we're having a great time, the next you're ashamed to be with me. Which is it? What do you want from me?" An exasperated Seth asked.

It was now or never, thought Summer. She bit her lip, looked Seth straight in the eyes, before slowly taking a step towards him, moving her mouth up to his, and gently kissing him.