Chapter Two: Life as a Lie

The next day started early for Summer, in preparation for her best friend and her brother-in-law (in a way) to come visit. They lived close by, their children all went to the same school, but still she desired to impress them.

She barked commands at the staff, nervously checking over everything they did, from dusted tables to the food they cooked. They began to roll their eyes at the mistress of the house, being so unusually involved in their work. Most of the time she barely took an interest. She didn't have to.

"Wow. Is it Grady Bridges coming over, or my brother and his wife?" asked Seth, looking around at the bustling household. Apparently, it was not the right day to joke with Summer Cohen.

"He's not your brother. Have you seen Coop's house? It's always so perfect," she said.

"You're sweet. Calm down. And perfect, so unlike this place?" he asked, looking around. White marble sparkled, mahogany wood shined, sofa cushions sat in perfect order. He could smell gourmet food from the kitchen. Sometimes he missed the takeout days.

"Yes, so unlike this place. Look at this!" she said, running a finger over the mantel and showing him the dirt she procured. Seth was surprised. Was this the same Summer who had once obsessed over the Valley, partying and Juicy sweat suits? It didn't seem possible.

"They'll clean it. Come on, why don't you and me get out into the hot tub, unwind a little?" he suggested.

"Back off," she said sharply when he moved to place a hand on her arm.

"Okay then. I'll just go wake our daughter," he said, backing away. She laughed. He did help with her nerves.

He walked slowly up two staircases of polished mahogany. And these were only the back staircases-the front ones curved and were made of marble.

"Kaya?" he called into his daughter's room, once he'd reached the third floor. She had almost the whole floor to herself, in something of a suite.

"Daddy?" she called sleepily. Kaya was sixteen, and eleven in the morning was very early for a teenager.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. He entered quickly, fearing she'd fall quickly back asleep.

She was lying in her bed with her eyes closed, presumably to block out the Californian sun that was streaming through the window.

"Your mother's going crazy cleaning the house and the Atwoods will be here within an hour so you should probably start making yourself beautiful," suggested Seth.

"Like I have to try," she said airily, swinging over her legs and landing them on the floor.

"Now satisfied that you are alive, I'm going away now. Be ready," he warned.

Not being terribly concerned himself with the arrival of the couple's best friends, he took to his study and began to pursue a Batman comic.

He jumped up when the doorbell rang. He still had a case of hero worship for his 'brother'. He missed Seth Ryan time. He suspected that underneath his surliness, Ryan did too.

Seth met his wife in the entrance hall and proudly put his hands on her shoulders while the maid answered the door. All ceremony was lost when the door opened and the four of them entered-Ryan, Marissa and their seventeen year old fraternal twins.

"Coop!" said Summer joyfully, rushing forward to greet her best friend. They hugged, laughing.

"Seth," said Ryan, seeing him behind his wife. Ryan struck out his hand, but Seth ignored it and hugged him. After a moment of shock, Ryan recovered and patted Seth's back.

"Hey Garrett, Zannie. What's up?" asked Seth. Garrett Sanford Atwood was the elder of the two by seven minutes. He was on the soccer team. He was ridiculously popular. He was a God. Suzanne Kirsten Atwood (Zannie) was beautiful and beloved in Harbor School society.

"Hey Uncle Seth," said Garrett.

"Hey. Is Kai around?" asked Zannie. Zannie and Kaya had been best friends all their lives.

"KAYA RYAN COHEN!" yelled Summer at the top of her lungs.

"God, I'm here," came Kaya's exasperated voice. Kaya never entered a room, she Made An Entrance.

She appeared at the top of the curving marble staircase and began to walk down it. She was gifted in walking down staircases-head high, even movements. No one could ever not notice her. Her dark curly hair was loose about her shoulders, bouncing carelessly. Her deep brown eyes were wide open, her thick long eyelashes fluttering.

Her demure, sophisticated appearance was thrown off when she saw her best friend.

"Zannie!" she said excitedly. Disregarding her tall Manola Blahnik sandals she ran the rest of the way and flung herself into her arms, as though it had been years instead of hours that the girls had last been together.

"Hey Kai. You look good," complimented Zannie.

"Obviously. Hey Garrett," she said, acknowledging the tall blondish boy.

"Hey Kai. I was wondering if I'd ever get acknowledged," he said, wrapping Kaya in a bone-crushing hug.

"Like you could ever not, seeing as it's impossible not to notice your impossibly large ego," said Kaya. Summer smiled. She was proud of her daughter, far from reprimanding.

"Guys, we're going to the living room to have appetizers. Care to join us?" asked Summer. She watched her daughter visibly blanche, Garrett and Zannie attempt to remain polite.

"God no. We're going to the pool house," she said. The other two followed her through the glass patio doors, around the large pool and into the pool house.

"She's exactly like you, Summ," commented Marissa as she joined the other three.

"Bit sarcastic too," said Ryan.

"She's just warming up," said Seth proudly. Summer jokingly slapped his arm, and Seth caught her hand and held it.

"I'd imagine. By the way, I still can't believe you named the kid after me," said Ryan.

"Well, she turned out to be our only kid. You wouldn't want to miss out, would you?" asked Seth.

"And besides, it's a gender neutral name," added Summer. The four of them laughed. Sixteen years ago, unable to decide on a name for their new daughter, they'd flipped a coin and agreed that Summer would come up with the first name, Seth with the second. In the event of a second child, they agreed to switch. Summer had come up with Kaya, and Seth had decided on Ryan.

"Yeah Ryan, it's a very feminine name," said Marissa, switching sides to join the Cohen's. Ryan rolled his eyes at all of them.

The Cohen's pool house was large, airy and bright. Like the elder Cohen's had been, it was decorated primarily in light colours. It was considerably larger than Seth's parents had been, but was not actually inhabited by anyone.

"I can't believe Dad used to live in one of these," said Zannie upon entering.

"Yeah. I mean the private bathroom, the personal kitchen, the closure…" said Garrett.

"If Mom and Dad let you live in our pool house you'd set fire to it," shot back his twin.

"Wow, I'm so sad I don't have any siblings," said Kaya sarcastically.

"Oh, you should be. Pure joy every waking minute," said Zannie, deftly flicking her brother. Kaya laughed when he winced.

"Hey, remember what's next week?" asked Kaya excitedly.

"It's cotillion! So excited. But I hope Grandma isn't in charge," said Zannie, wincing.

"Why not?" asked Kaya, in blatant surprise. She loved her grandmother.

"Oh, Julie, not Kirsten. Mom told me she's kind of a head case about cotillion. So Garrett, who are you going with?" asked Suzanne.

"Oh, I'm not going," he replied airily, helping himself to a soda from the fridge.

"Ooh, it means he doesn't have one. It's time to set you up, Garrett Sanford Atwood," said Kaya excitedly. Even she reacted in surprise. The name didn't seem to belong to Garrett, it made him sound so noble and far away from them.

"Yep. I'm going with Calvin Hill," bragged Zannie about her date, the captain of the water polo team. Kaya wrinkled her nose. She felt herself above water poloers.

"Josh Franklin. He's hot," said Kaya, not having great knowledge of him besides this.

"Yeah, totally. I hear he has like, a brain, too," said Garrett, badly imitating her voice. Kaya punted a throw pillow at him, and the two of them laughed.

"Why does he always have to come with you guys?" moaned Kaya, dropping back on to the bed.

"I should never have been born a twin," agreed Zannie. Garrett scoffed. They ganged up on him, but the three were fairly tight. They had no choice but to be, what with the relations of their parents.

"Hey, want to go swimming?" suggested Kaya eagerly a moment later. Zannie shrugged agreeably.

"You don't have…" he began, staring while Kaya stripped down to a lacy butter yellow bra and matching underwear, and his sister did the same.

"Technicalities, Atwood. Now come on, are you coming?" demanded Kaya as she and Zannie ran out the glass door and jumped in the clear blue pool.

Garrett, left alone, went down to his boxers and walked out, feeling very proud of (in his opinion) his tight stomach muscles, his bulging biceps. The only problem with Garrett's pride was that it was justified-he did have a 'hot body'. He was a good athlete. His grades were near perfect. He was the perfect Newport guy.

He dove into the pool to join his sister and Kaya. The three of them splashed around, enjoying each other's company while their parent sat inside and remembered similar days.