Disclaimer: Fox and Josh Schwartz own The O.C. not me.

'Why did I come here?' I asked myself for about the millionth time since I stepped foot in the 'Oh So Cal' beach house belonging to the one and only Holly Fischer, Queen of Harbor parties.

Then she walked into the room and I found my answer. Summer Roberts. She was a goddess in a binki top and skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail, letting her stunning smile shine even brighter than usual. Her makeup was to perfection as always except her eyeliner was smudged a little, but it only made her eyes look sexy not imperfect because Summer Roberts was perfect. Absolute perfection. Even the glassy look of her heavily intoxicated round eyes was perfect. She was a goddess…a drunken goddess.

Suddenly my view was blocked by a body, several bodies actually. I looked up to see the main reason I never attended parties like these…the water polo team. Five members of the water polo team were towering over my chair and they looked pissed but happy to finally find a target to beat on. I was in for it. This is all my neighbor Julie Cooper's fault for insisting that her daughter Marissa take me with her to the party. Now I was going to get my ass kicked and Marissa was nowhere to be found.

Why were the Coopers my neighbors? If we lived somewhere else, Julie wouldn't try to impress my mother by making Marissa attempt to mold me into another popular jerk. But no, I couldn't help where I lived and thus I was stuck living in Newport right beside the Coopers.

And I was going to get my ass kicked for bad geography…shit.

"What the hell are you doing here, geek?" one big, tall, manly water polo player asked.

"I-uh-I was just leaving," I muttered standing up and trying to duck past them.

"What's the rush?" another guy asked pulling me back into the middle of the group.

"It's after my curfew. I'm going to be in so much shit with my parents. I should really go," I lied.

It was only ten and my curfew wasn't for another, actually I didn't have a curfew because I never went out so that just wasn't something we'd ever discussed.

"You're not going anywhere," the third angry water polo player spat.

"Except outside…with us," another added in menacingly.

I recognized him. It was Luke Ward, Marissa's long time boyfriend and a major asshole if you asked me.

Suddenly I was being pushed outside. We ended up on the beach. I was surrounded. Two more members of team joined my five harassers. I was definitely outnumbered so I would do what I always did; let them kick the shit out of me without putting up a fight and hope that they eventually get bored with me. 'Let the beating begin,' I thought bitterly as the first fist connected with my stomach making me double over. It was basically a blur of fists, kicks, and insults after that until…

"Hey!" a very familiar voice rang out.

Three of the seven stopped what they were doing and backed up away from me while the other four continued without a care who yelled at them.

"Hey! Stop!" the girl yelled coming over to us.

The remaining guys backed off and I looked up to see my savior. Holy Shit! It was Summer Roberts!

"What's up, Roberts?" one asked with a smile.

"What's going on here, Brad?" Summer asked eyeing him up carefully despite her drunkenness.

"Nothing. We were just having a little fun," another smirked.

"Fun? You're kicking the shit out of some…guy. And that's fun for you, Tom," Summer snorted.

She called me some guy, not some geek or some dork or some other insult. She called me some guy! Awesome!

"What's wrong, Roberts? You defending this geek?" Luke asked.

"Hell no!" Summer replied quickly then paused, "I just thought that maybe one or two of you guys could help me with something," she smirked.

"Would we enjoy this something?" Brad asked with a grin.

"Definitely."

"How can we help?" Tom asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"See, Daddy gave me a little extra cash so somebody went out and got a fake id," Summer grinned. "There's a huge keg in the backseat of my car. We're almost out of this one and I need that keg out of there before it like leaks or something and ruins my seats."

"You want us to carry a keg?" Brad asked disappointed.

"What else would I want?" Summer asked innocently.

"Where's your car?" Luke asked.

"Out front in the driveway in front of Coop's. Ten bucks if somebody can get Holly to do a keg stand. I think she'd totally put out too if she drank another drop," Summer laughed as all seven darted back to the house to get the keg and Holly.

Summer stood there watching the guys run through the house with a smirk on her face then she turned and glanced down at me, making my heart literally skip a beat.

"Are you okay?"

"Me?" I asked in shock.

She'd never spoken to me before unless it was as an insult or to tell me to get out of her way…which was usually followed by an insult.

"Do you see anyone else out here?" she asked, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

I looked around. We were completely alone on the beach. This could work out in my favor.

"I'm ok," I smiled at her.

"Well you should be safe for the moment but I'd duck out of here pretty soon. They've probably forgotten all about you for the time being but I'd leave before they see you and remember that they wanted to kick your ass."

"So the whole keg-," I started.

"Would probably ruin my backseat…but probably could've waited until after they finished kicking the shit out of you," she finished with eye roll.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it…seriously, don't mention this to anyone or I will rip both of your arms off and beat you with them."

"Right…well thanks again," I said trying to stand up.

She sighed and walked over to me and stuck out her hand.

I stared at her in shock.

"Do you want my help or not?" She asked rolling her eyes again.

"Thank you," I managed to reply despite my shock.

I took her hand and she helped pull me to my feet. My head spun as soon as I was standing straight up. I was going to pass out or something. I was heading back down to the sand…except I didn't hit the sand.

"Whoa. How much have you had to drink?" Summer asked with a grunt.

Her small arms were wrapped around my frame, supporting me. This was pretty surprising not just because her arms were actually around me but because someone as drunk and tiny as her was actually capable of supporting me.

"I haven't had anything."

"Oh shit, they really fucked with you, didn't they," she said, sounding generally concerned.

We both stumbled around a little trying to make it to a beach chair. I flopped down into the chair breathing heavily. I guess she was right. They really did hurt me. I looked up at her. She was taking a cautionary glance back to the house, making sure nobody saw us. Then she must have felt my eyes on her.

"What?" She asked with a small smile.

"Nothing…you're just…forget it."

I definitely should not hit on my savior right now. She'd probably just get pissed off and go get the water polo team for round two. That'd go well considering I could barely stand after round one.

"What?" she asked again, bending down to my level.

"You just look really beautiful right now with the moonlight and ocean and stuff," I muttered sheepishly.

Her eyes widened before she genuinely smiled and replied, "Thanks."

My eyes doubled in size when I noticed that she was actually blushing. I made Summer Roberts blush!

"Why are you doing this?" I asked suddenly, surprising both of us.

"Doing what?"

"Why are you helping me?" I asked feeling somewhat brave for some unknown reason.

"Because- because…well I don't know…it just seemed like the right thing to do," she replied standing up to check the house again.

"Have they noticed the lack of your presence yet?"

"What? No. I guess not."

I nodded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

I debated whether or not I should launch into an explanation of how she could do so much better. How she was above all of them. How Marissa was probably the only person in there who cared about her. How I would notice if she was there or not…but then I decided to forget about that. There was no use in pissing off the only person who's ever come to my rescue.

"I was just wondering if I had to try to run for my life yet," I shrugged then winced because just moving my shoulders hurt.

"Here. Let me take a look at you," she said as her eyes turned soft.

She bent back down to my level. She looked me over first then gently touched my ribs as I took a deep breath.

"I don't think they're broken but I'm no doctor," she said, I could really smell the alcohol on her breath as she spoke.

This was probably the closest I'd ever been to the girl of my dreams…or any girl for that matter. She ran her hand on the bruises forming on my left arm.

"I don't think anything's broken. But you definitely got the shit kicked out of you."

I was afraid to reply at all. I was afraid that if I spoke she'd realize that she'd been touching me and then she'd stop and run back to the house….or at least stumble back to the house.

She pulled back from me and looked me over again before nodding to herself. Then she kneeled between my legs now putting us almost at eye level. She was slightly shorter then I was in my chair. She had her left hand on my knee. She hesitantly brought her right hand up to my face. She brushed back a few curls from my forehead then gently brushed her fingertips over the lump forming above my right eye. I winced a little.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath as her fingertips continued to explore.

She brushed down the side of my face to my chin. Then my heart skipped a beat as her fingers gently wiped the blood on my lip. They lingered on my lips. My heart completely stopped when we locked eyes. I swear that time stopped. She gave me a small half smile before taking her hand back and standing up. I was completely amazed, not only at the moment we just had but with her general compassion tonight. I always knew she had it in her but I hadn't seen her being this nice to anyone other than Marissa since probably the third grade. I was also amazed that I was the person she chose to be nice to.

"Do you think you can stand now?" she asked, offering her hand.

I took it gratefully just to take her hand again. I really didn't need it this time. I was getting used to the spinning in my head by now and I was starting to think that maybe it wasn't from the beating anymore but just from being this close to her.

I stood up shakily but I stood up none the less.

"Are you okay now?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Do you think you can make it home?"

"I-um-yeah…I think so," I stuttered out, noticing that she hadn't let go of my hand yet.

She must have saw my eyes because she looked down at our hands and quickly dropped mind.

"Well then you should probably get going. I don't think you could take another round with the team tonight," she said checking the house again to see if anyone was watching us.

I followed her gaze and saw that the party was till going strong and as I predicted no one had noticed her absence and no one was paying any attention to our own party that was going on outside on the beach.

"Still haven't noticed," I muttered without thinking.

Her eyes turned cold as she narrowed them at me, stumbling a little from the drunkenness as she tried to back away from me.

"You should go…and I should go before someone sees us and actually thinks that I was talking to you," she snapped.

Ouch. That stung.

"Thank you for everything," I said nodding slightly.

"You can't tell anyone."

I just nodded in reply.

She glared at me for a moment then stalked off towards the house, stumbling all around.

"Summer," I called. I couldn't believe I was about to say this. I don't know how I got so bold maybe it was because I knew she was really drunk and would only get even more so. The chances of her remembering anything were pretty slim. "You really do look beautiful tonight and thanks. No one's ever done that for me before…especially anyone like you."

Her eyes softened once again.

"You're welcome," she said softly before heading back to the party.

"Too bad you won't remember this tomorrow," I muttered as I began walking home along the beach for a few blocks just in case any water polo players were out front of Holly's house. They wouldn't spot me if I came back to the road a few blocks further down.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I smiled thinking back to that night as my fingers grazed over a picture of the two of us. I put the picture back on my night stand as someone knocked on the door.

"Cohen," Summer said as a greeting before flopping down to lay on my bed beside me.

"Hey," I smiled.

"What's up?"

"Nothing."

"No kidding," she snorted. "What were you doing in here? Even your crappy music isn't playing. You're just sitting in silence. In deep thought or something?" she teased.

"Something like that," I smiled.

"What's on your mind?"

"Just you…and me…us."

"Care to elaborate?" she asked with a grin as she snuggled up to me.

"You probably don't even remember," I smiled sadly.

"Try me," she challenged, lacing her fingers with mine.

"Holly's beach house…before Ryan came."

"Ok…and?"

"I was actually there for once…Marissa's mom made her take me with her to try to get me in the in-crowd or something. I think she was trying to impress my mom," I explained.

"Ok?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Luke and some of the guys beat me up, you just got your fake id, you came and-," I began.

"I saved you from getting the complete crap kicked out of you," she smirked.

"You remember that?"

"Yeah," she shrugged it off casually.

"You remember everything?" I asked incredulously.

"You weren't doing so well. I had to help you to a chair. You looked pretty bad but nothing was broken…and it was the first time I ever had the impulse to kiss you," she confessed.

"You what? When?"

"When I inspecting your battle wounds," she laughed.

"You wanted to kiss me?"

"Yeah…but I totally didn't do it! I couldn't do that…until you brought out the big guns with the mermaid poem and everything. That time it was just too much."

"I can't believe you remembered…but you didn't even seem like it in school."

"Oh right because I was going to jump your bones at your locker on Monday just because I saved you from getting killed," she snorted.

"But you remember," I said, letting it sink in.

"Yeah…you told me I was…what was it? Really beautiful with the moonlight and ocean and stuff. The first time anyone ever told me I was beautiful, usually I just got sexy or hot or something like that. You made me blush."

"That's my job," I smiled.

"Sure, Cohen," she sighed, resting her head on my shoulder.

"I love you," I whispered, kissing her head.

"I know."

"Hey!"

"I love you, too," she grinned.

"I know," I laughed as we snuggled up closer on my bed. It was kind of nice to know she hadn't forgotten.

The End

(AN: Another short, sappy story I wrote in July...clearly I was just in that mood or something...but yes, I'm up and posting again so keep on the lookout for future short stories and my next "novel" haha about Atomic County. I've got maybe a few chapters finished for it but I keep rewriting. I wish this writer's block would go away and I would quit hating what I've already done. At least school starts next week so maybe I'll write more once I'm back on a schedule of some sort instead of just chilling in my backyard and working on my tan lol. Thanks for reading...and hopefully reviewing. As always, keep on reading and I'll keep on writing! Thanks!)