Caught In Suspension: Chapter 8
Disclaimer: The OC characters doesn't belong to me but to the wonderful creator Josh Schwartz.
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Quick Authors Note: Just to let you know before you read, there's a part where the text is all in italics. To avoid confusion, I'm letting you folks know that it's a flashback.
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"Let me get this straight. During the whole trip, you guys didn't leave the house?" Marissa asked.
Marissa and Summer grabbed their deli sandwich from the counter and found a table to sit nearby.
"What can I say? Ever since I told Seth, we've been like bunnies."
Marissa choked on the beverage that she was slurping on. "Total over share Sum."
Summer innocently shrugged. "What? You wanted to know so I told you."
"Yeah, but you could've made something up. I didn't need to know that the real reason why you guys didn't get out of the house was because you were having sex."
Summer paused and realized that she had a point. "GPt."
Marissa confusedly looked at her. "What?"
"Good point."
Marissa raised her brow. "Why isn't it GP?"
"Because that's game plan. Even Ryan knows that."
Marissa rolled her eyes. "You definitely been spending way too much time with Seth."
Usually when someone would tell her that, she would be offended. She just shrugged it off and took a bite out of her sandwich.
Marissa's cell phone started to ring and she picked it up. Summer tuned out of Marissa's conversation and her mind started to drift.
Summer was sitting in her office with various papers scattered across her desk. She decided to take a break when someone knocked on her door. She asked who it was but nobody replied. She wondered what was going on and stood up to open the door. When she opened the door, she didn't expect him to be standing in front of her. Summer smiled widely and pulled her visitor in for a hug.
"Hey Daddy, I thought that you were coming back from Europe on Friday?"
Neil pulled out of the hug and smiled at his daughter. "No particular reason. Just wanted to cut it short. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Summer shook her head. "I'm due for a break anyway. Have a seat."
Summer sat behind her desk while Neil sat in the chair across from her.
"How are things?" Neil asked.
Summer sighed. "Better now."
Neil sat back in his chair and crossed his legs, resting his elbows on the arm rest as he brought his hand together. Something about her tone made it seem like there was something that he missed. "For old times sake, tell your dear old Father what's going on."
Summer stared at her father. At that moment, she felt like the clock rewound ten years back when she was still in high school.
"Not too long ago, Seth asked if we could have a baby."
Neil slightly smiled. He was glad that his daughter would still open up to him after so many years has passed. "You have to tell him, you know."
Summer knew what he was talking about. "I know Dad and I already told him."
Neil readjusted himself on the chair and leaned forward. "Don't let what happened between your mother and I be a reason why you wouldn't want to experience the joys of having a child."
Summer looked at her father in his eyes. "Dad, I..."
Neil interrupted her. "Listen, you are the best thing that happened in my life and I don't want you to miss out on that feeling because of what you're mother did to you. You are not your mother. You are definitely better than her. You will not walk out on your family because you care for your husband too much to do so. Your mother and I weren't even half as much in love as you are with your husband. Jobs will come and go but your family is for life. What happened to that little girl who dreamt that when she was an adult, she would have the ideal family of two and a half kids with a dog and living in a house with a white picket fence?"
Summer chuckled and wiped a few tears that managed to escape her eyes. "How do you get half a kid, Dad?"
Neil chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know because it never made any sense to me. Which is the reason why one beautiful daughter was enough to for me."
Summer smiled and stood up. She walked around her desk as Neil got up from his chair and hugged.
"I love you Daddy."
Neil smiled. He could never get tired of hearing that from his daughter. "You too, Princess."
Marissa's cellular phone snapped shut, bringing Summer back to reality. After that talk with her father, she knew that what he said was right.
"Jaime got the flu bug that's been going around and she can't watch the kids tonight." Marissa informed as she dropped her cell into her purse.
Summer remembered that Jaime was the babysitter. "Seth and I can do it." She offered.
Clearly relieved, Marissa sighed and graciously smiled. "Thanks Sum."
With the her parents and in-laws gone for separate vacation, she wouldn't know who could've watched her kids. She was relieved to know that she didn't need to scramble to look for a sitter.
"What time do you want us to come over?" Summer asked.
"Can you come by 6:45?"
Summer nodded. "No problem."
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"Tell me again, how we got stuck with babysitting duties?" Seth asked as he parked the car on the Atwood's driveway.
Summer took off her seat belt. "Because I offered and there's no one else. I know that you wanted to do the physical act of love tonight, but a night off wouldn't kill you. Now come on, they're waiting for us."
"That's not all what I wanted to do." Seth mumbled to himself as he got out of the car.
Summer rang the doorbell as Seth caught up. Ryan opened the door, wearing a blue collard long sleeve with black tie and black pants. He let Seth and Summer in and went upstairs to check on Marissa.
Feeling thirsty, Seth walked to the kitchen while Summer went to the bathroom. Digging through the refrigerator, Seth settled for whatever was in the pitcher and poured himself a glass. Drinking all of it, he dropped the glass in the sink and started to head back to the living room. Entering the room, Ryan and Marissa was by the front door and saying goodbye to Elle. Seth waved and Ryan and Marissa was quickly out of the house.
As the door closed in front of her, Elle sprinted towards Seth and he scooped her up.
"So what do you want to do tonight?" Seth asked the little girl.
Elle put her hand under her chin and had that thinking look on her face. Her face suddenly brightened up and she looked at her uncle. "Can you teach me another song on the piano?"
Seth nodded. "Okay, which one?"
"Do you know any Mallory Puff songs?"
Seth was baffled. He never thought that his niece would listen to her CD because she was like Hilary Duff back in the early 2000's. He definitely had to get her exposed to other music instead of listening to the teeny-boppers. Seth was certain that she had Kidz Bop 25 and that also had to go. A bunch of kids desecrating some great songs were not right. Seth mostly never listened to any of the songs featured on the album but he would be displeased to learn if any songs from his favorite bands were on it.
"I don't think so, but I can teach you Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Seth offered.
Elle smiled. "Okay and then can you teach me how to skateboard?"
Seth smiled at her idea. "I'd love to Elle but you would have to ask your parents about that one."
"If they say that I can then would you teach me how to do the tricks you did when I saw you at the skate park?" She excitedly asked.
"When did you go to the skate park?" Summer asked as she walked from the hallway.
"Auntie Sum, I'm hungry." Elle said as she tugged on Summer's shirt, saving Seth from a possible verbal attack from his wife.
Summer smiled and held her hand. "Come on then."
While Summer and Elle went to the kitchen, Seth could hear the sounds of a baby crying. Since Summer was busy with Elle, he ran upstairs to get Tyler.
"Hey buddy, had a good nap."
Seth picked him up and carried him downstairs. Just as he walked into the kitchen, Summer put the cordless phone on the counter and Elle ate carrot sticks, dipping it in a small bowl of ranch dressing.
"The food will be here twenty minutes." Summer informed Seth.
Seth nodded and opened the cabinet, grabbing a small jar baby food. Summer reached out for Tyler and Seth passed him to her.
"Hey Elle, how long do I have to heat this up?" Seth asked.
Elle shrugged. "Thirty seconds?"
"Good guess."
Seth opened the cap and placed the jar in the microwave, setting it to heat up for thirty seconds.
"Yum, yum." Tyler said.
Summer smiled. "That's right Ty, you're dinner's coming." She tickled his stomach and he started to laugh.
The microwave beeped and Seth took out the jar out as Summer sat Tyler on the high chair and wrapped a bib around his neck. Seth grabbed a baby spoon and scooped a little portion to feed to Tyler.
"Alright buddy, open wide."
Seth brought the spoon to his face and Tyler swatted it, food flying towards Seth. The girls laughed and Seth wiped the content off his shirt with a paper towel. Tyler also found this hilarious as he was laughing and clapping his hands together.
"Thanks Tyler but the food supposed to go to two areas, most importantly your mouth. If not that, then that's what your bib is for. "
"Uncle Seth, you're using the wrong spoon." Elle said as she hopped off the stool she was sitting on. She reached into the drawers and pulled out another spoon. Elle motioned for Seth to pick her up and he does. "Alright Tyler, here comes the train. What sound does the train make?"
"Choo, choo!" Tyler proudly said and Elle successfully fed him without the food backfiring on her.
Seth sat Elle back on the stool and took the spoon. "You couldn't just tell me that earlier?"
"Sorry Uncle, but you didn't ask." Elle grinned as she took a bite out of a carrot stick.
Seth started to tickle her in retaliation. The door bell ringed and Summer walked to the front door to pick up the dinner. Back in the kitchen, Seth successfully managed to give Tyler a scoop without the consequences of last time.
Summer placed the food on the dinning table as the rest of the clan joined her. Elle sat on a seat next to her aunt and waited patiently as Summer scooped some fried rice onto her plate. When Elle had the food in front of her, she dived into it. That girl wasn't kidding when she said that she was hungry. Summer started to eat after she made a plate for herself and Seth, but Seth had to wait because he was still feeding Tyler.
Summer momentarily stopped eating and observed her surroundings. She smiled as she glanced at Elle and smiled even wider when she looked at Seth. She started to imagine what the future years to come would be like when her and Seth would have their own children. On one of her side, her daughter would happily be munching away and on the other side, her husband would be feeding their baby. That was what she pictured their life would be like and that thought made her happy.
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Alrighty then. I have decided to post the last chapter of this story by the 18th of this month because I fly out the next morning. For those who doesn't really want it to end with 12 chapters, I've written two extra ones that I will include.
Thank you to those who continue to review. Seriously can't thank you guys enough. Those who haven't yet, don't be shy and please do so.
To answer your question cdgeiger, if you're going to the school that I think you are going, then I am going to attend the school which your football team has their season opener against.