What if Seth was King of Harbor and Summer was a joke?
Yeah, so this has been in my head for a while (ever since the last time it was kind of done) but I was never sure whether or not I wanted to actually post it considering the pretty unoriginal concept. It was fun, though, and it actually didn't turn out that bad. And I think it's different, because there's no twist and the events are very much like what actually happened in The O.C. It's just how I think it might have happened if the roles were reversed. Ooh yeah, and everything belongs to Josh Schwartz, even more in this story than in my other ones. Let me know what y'all think, and I'll see if the next chapter wants to come out okay too.
"You do look rad. Mad props, son."
Seth moved his eyes to the corner of his eye and shook his head. His dad...needed medical attention. Like, really, really soon. Ryan walked in, and Seth let out a long breath. Ryan would deal with the parentals, and Seth could go find Holly.
Seth tapped Ryan's shoulder on his way out. "Tag in."
Holly was actually waiting at the front door for him, one hand on the door frame, the other in front of her face, her eyes scanning her nails. She looked up when she saw him. "Ready?"
"Yeah, let's go. Quick, or else my dad's going to start rapping, and the world is not ready for a forty-two year old, Jewish 'gangsta.'"
"Okay." Holly shrugged, taking his hand and pulling him to her BMW.
"New present?"
"Mm-hmm. My dad gave it to me for getting that A in US History. Because of you. Thank you, baby." Holly pecked him lightly on the cheek. Seth nodded.
"No problem. You look cute."
Holly grinned and swirled the little denim skirt, causing her red tank top to ride up and a sliver of midriff to come to air. "You look good yourself." She tapped his chest and cocked her head toward the passenger seat. He slid into his seat and kissed her hand on the wheel before completely groaning and falling back into his seat.
"God, Holly, you couldn't get a stick for once?"
"I don't need it. I can drive this just fine, why change a good thing?"
Seth rolled his eyes, but nodded anyway. "Fine. You're going to learn sometime, though."
"Why? I have you." She kissed him lightly, pushing in farther and farther per the second with her tongue against his lips.
"Have a good day at school, honey!" Kirsten tapped the hood, signal for Holly to move her mouth away.
"Bye, Mrs. Cohen!"
"Holly." Kirsten nodded, walking back into the house. Holly groaned.
"Why doesn't she like me? Moms are supposed to like me. Dads are supposed to be impressed by me; moms are supposed to like me. Se-eth." Holly widened her eyes, but Seth just shrugged, ignoring the invitation to kiss her again.
"I dunno. I don't think she likes me that much either, if that helps."
Holly rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding? She worships you. She thinks I'm not good enough for you."
"She's just my mother. It doesn't matter to me."
"Right. You love her to death too. Duh."
"Let's just go, Holly. We can't change her feelings."
"Can you talk to her?"
"I can try."
"Try hard."
Seth shrugged, his arm slipping back to his side from behind Holly's head rest. She sighed again, loudly, so she could be sure he heard her, and pulled out of the driveway.
"Hey, Seth, man!" Brad came colliding into him, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"Chill, Brad. You cool?"
"Yeah, man. How was summer?"
"Since last Wednesday? Pretty fine." Seth cracked a grin and Brad mimicked it exactly.
"Right, dude, it's good to see you 'gain, though."
"Same here."
Brad kept grinning as he walked backwards, knocking into a girl walking behind him. He spun around, the grin disappearing from his face.
"Watch it, dyke."
"Sorry." Summer ducked her head, her cheeks nearly exploding.
"You got fat."
"What?"
"Over the summer. You gained weight. It hurts just to look at you now."
"Oh. Okay." Summer started to walk away, but Brad grabbed her arm.
"But hey! You got boobs! Congratulations."
"I...have to go to class."
"Took you a while. But look! Little Summer Roberts is finally a woman."
"Brad..."
"Maybe sometime you wanna do somethin. Just you...me...a backseat."
"I..."
"Kidding, chick. Get your panties out of a twist. You're such a freak."
Summer nodded and started to walk away.
"Hey, Cohen, look! She's got an ass too. I hope you make a comic book club member very happy, Summer."
"Hey, Brad, I'm in that." Seth Cohen spoke.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, dude. Like you'd need any ass after Holly."
"Yeah. Right." Seth nodded. "See you later."
Brad nodded and thumped him on the back. "Catch you later, Cohen."
"Yeah, Holly's doing a thing for the beginning of school. Tonight. See you."
"Aight, Seth. Doubt I'll see you, though. The beach house...Nice job, Cohen." Brad winked. Seth shook his head.
"You're such an ass."
Brad grinned with his lip in his mouth and nodded. "Amen, brother."
Seth rolled his eyes and walked off, Holly's arm suddenly around his waist.
"Hey, babe. What's your first period?"
"AP Biology."
"Damn you. I'll see you later though, okay?"
"Okay."
She bit her lip and leaned up to kiss him softly on the mouth. After a second or two, he pushed her back down, off her tip-toes, and smiled.
"Later."
She nodded and let him walk off.
Summer didn't like Brad's hands on her. He did it as a joke, but they always seemed to linger a little too long. It didn't feel right. And he didn't have to do it front of Seth. She dealt with all of it, but not in front of Seth. It was like Brad knew or something. But it wasn't like he could know about crushes Summer hadn't told anyone except for her plastic horse she'd had since she was seven.
She did like him pointing out her ass in front of Seth, though. She knew he had looked, Holly or no Holly. And it wasn't like she had just 'gotten' them, either; she just got sick of the clothes she used to wear, and her dad had money again, so...Seth Cohen looked.
She had been ten when she realized guys didn't have cooties. And there was one cute, sweet, caring, perfect guy who fed the squirrels with her when he thought no one was looking. As she had gotten older, she dreamed of doing more than feeding the squirrels with him, but then Holly Fischer had come around at the end of last year, and he had been off limits even in her dreams.
She walked into her biology class and was about to wave at Marissa when Marissa's eyes left hers and went to Chad, Luke's BFF, just walking in. So, she couldn't sit with Marissa, no matter how much Marissa said she wasn't ashamed to be seen with her.
There was a girl with blonde hair that Summer had never seen before sitting in the back, and so she walked over.
"Hey, is this seat taken?"
The girl's eyes flicked up, shrugging. "It is now."
"Thanks." Summer let her bag drop into the seat next to her, tapping her hands on the table. "I'm Summer, are you new here?"
"Uh, yeah. Anna."
Summer nodded, opening her mouth, but suddenly shutting it when the tall boy with dark brown curls came over.
"Anna! Hey, you look great. How was it?" Seth wrapped his arm around the blonde, a huge grin covering his lips.
"Amazing. I can't believe you didn't come with me."
"I wanted to, you know that. Holly just...yeah, you know."
"I know."
"It's good to see you back, though. Tahiti must agree you." His eyes glided up her legs, and she giggled.
"I guess, huh? So how's the wife?"
"She's...exactly the same."
"And how are you?"
"Good. I'm good. I'll see you around, okay?"
"Unless you sit your ass right here, and catch up with your lover." Her voice dropped on the last word, a giggle escaping her mouth again.
Seth laughed. "Um...yeah, okay. So you have to tell me everything."
And they fell into a conversation with such ease that only best friends could. And Summer was left just sitting, staring, suddenly very aware of how orange the shirt she was wearing was. Especially when Seth Cohen's eyes shifted to her neckline, maybe by accident, maybe not.
So Anna wouldn't be her friend. She just had Marissa. Except she didn't really. Just when it was convenient. On her way out of biology, however, said Marissa's hand fell on her arm.
"Roberts, you look cute. How was your summer?"
"Fine. How are you?" Summer pushed away the question she wanted to ask, and put a smile on instead.
"Good. I haven't seen you in, like, a month. What are you doing after school?"
"Nothing, why?"
"We should do something."
"Aren't you going to Holly Fischer's party?"
"Oh. Right. Damn, um, you can come with me."
"No, that's okay."
"Yeah, come on. It's your school too. They're your classmates too."
"But they probably don't want me there, so..."
"Come on, Roberts, I insist."
"Marissa..."
"Please? Seth will be there..."
"With his girlfriend."
Marissa waved her hand. "Holly's not a girlfriend to anyone."
"Marissa..."
"Doesn't matter what you say, cause you're going anyway. You have a bathing suit?"
"Yes, I have a bathing suit; we live in California, Marissa."
"Right. Wear it. I'll pick you up at seven." Marissa winked and walked away, Luke's face smiling at her from across the hall.
Summer sighed, seeing the question 'why do you talk to her' on Luke's lips from all the way across the hall. Yeah, party with these people. That would be fun.
She stood in front of her mirror for almost an hour, readjusting the strap on the orange, slightly muted bikini. She looked at her stomach, hoping that Brad wasn't right. She had been working out all summer; she wasn't fat. She could wear a bikini in front of Seth Cohen. Summer just sighed and pulled a black tee shirt over her bikini and waited outside for Marissa.
"Hey, Mom? I'm going to Holly's with Ryan." Seth shouted up the stairs, pushing up the sleeves on his white and blue dress shirt.
"Okay, honey, not too late. And don't drink."
"We'll be home by three."
"Are you sure you can't get home a little earlier?"
"Mom, please?"
"Fine. Sorry. Just don't get in trouble."
"We won't. Come on, man." Seth patted Ryan's back and followed him out to the Range Rover. Ryan wasn't fitting in like he should. The only reason he was going to this party was because Seth told him to, and anything Seth wanted to happen did. He just wasn't finding it easy, this whole Chino to Newport thing. The Cohens seemed to think it was working out fine, however.
Seth parked in front of the house, the party already in full swing. Holly was waiting for him on the driveway.
"There you are! I was beginning to think you were standing me up." She smiled and threw an arm around Seth's neck, pulling him in for a kiss. He tilted his head up, though, so she couldn't reach. She went back to the ground, her face hurt.
"Yeah, well, I told you I was going to be late."
"Yeah, right. I know. Is something wrong, Cohen?"
"Nope. Nothing. Let's go in. Come on, Ryan."
"Hi, Ryan." Ryan saw Holly's face and felt like he should feel bad. He knew the things Seth said about Holly when she wasn't around. And he thought she might be able to guess what they were.
"Hey Holly."
He walked into the party behind the 'happy' couple and parked himself beside the beer tap, noticing Summer Roberts nearby the beer too.
She hadn't been drinking a lot. Just since Marissa had ditched her. Summer had taken off her tee shirt after two beers and was smiling at people after four.
Seth danced with Holly for five minutes when he lost all interest. It was lame to see her differently after talking to his mother two days ago, but it was still the way it was. She was...just dumb. Maybe the fact that he'd never really been attracted to her mind helped too. He needed to go find Ryan.
He walked outside, seeing Ryan with a cup in his hand, watching some girl leaning against the railing.
"Hey, Ryan. Who's the chick?"
"That's Summer Roberts."
Seth looked again. The second time, he recognized the dark brown hair and white fingernails. "Dude, what did she do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Since when was she...hot?"
Ryan shrugged. "Don't know man. I still am new here."
"Right. Well, believe me. She never looked like that before."
"Watch the slobber, dude. Go say hi."
"She doesn't know me."
"Introduce yourself. Get some time away from Holly."
Seth nodded, walking over even before Ryan finished his sentence.
"Hey, you're in my biology class, right?" He offered the girl a small grin, his hair flopping in his eyes.
"Uh, yeah." When she realized he was talking to her, Summer pushed her hair out of her face and smiled back.
"Have you ever seen the ocean from here? At night? It's gorgeous." He cocked his head towards the water, and Summer blushed.
"Um, yeah, okay." She downed the beer in her hand and smiled widely at him. "Sure."
He smiled back, and took her hand on the way down the stairs. He looked back at Ryan with a grin. Ryan just shook his head.
Summer was trying to push the drunken, giddy smile off her face. She had to be cool. Yeah, he was touching her, and yeah, he looked like he did. But he was just a guy. Just. A. Guy. Even when he was smiling at her like that. Even when they reached the black water and he looked at her with huge eyes. Even when he was leaning towards her, he was just a...
Seth slipped his hands into the dark, messy hair. It wasn't messy then, but it would be messy when he was done with it. Her lips were soft underneath his, but didn't seem to understand when his tongue grazed them over and over again, but he really needed this. A tiny moan came between her lips, her right knee slightly bending backwards. His hands slipped down her back and rested on her waist, thumbing the waistband of her skirt. He touched her lips with his tongue one more time, pushing harder when her lips didn't move, and finally getting his tongue inside her mouth. She nearly fell down. In fact, she did buckle at the knees, but his hands slipped even farther down, picking her up by the ass. Her legs wouldn't wrap around his waist like Holly's always did, though, so he dropped her after a while.
"Seth...don't you...have a...girlfrien..." Summer gasped as his lips crushed against her clavicle.
"Yeah," he mumbled against her skin.
"Oh." She should've stopped him; she was about to stop him, but his mouth went back to hers, and his hands were so warm on her shoulders, and she was starting to feel cold air wafting from the water, so she could get hypothermia or something if she moved away from the warm warmth of Seth Cohen.
Even though she didn't need the support, Seth's hands were still on her ass, slowly moving upward, pushing her skirt higher up. He groaned loudly when his hand finally stopped once it reached the bottom half of her bikini. Her eyes snapped open, watching his closed eyes as he kissed her. His tongue was sweet and soft and warm, and she hoped he couldn't tell that this was only her second kiss, even though the first one kind of didn't count. Her hand fell down off his shoulder, staying on his chest, barely touching a button. He pulled one hand out from under her skirt, holding her hand right above the top button, moving her fingers so that she undid it. That hand then went to the back of her bikini top, playing with the strings. She pulled open another button, and suddenly felt him move. He was laying her down in the slightly damp sand at his girlfriend's beach party. Girlfriend. Girlfriend. Girlfriend.
It didn't work. She still wasn't resisting. She was actually unbuttoning his shirt faster. That wasn't stopping, which was what she should've been doing. Finally she got the last button, not sure exactly what he wanted her to do next. He sat up slightly and shook his arms out of the shirt, bringing them back down to her neck and over her breasts. The one hand that had been groping her ass went to her back again, tugging at the string that was now wet from the sand.
"Seth...wait." Summer finally found the difference between her head and her mouth and touched his wrist against her side.
"What?"
"We shouldn't...do this here. You know? It's your girlfriend's party, and you don't even know me, and I don't know you, and your friends might come looking for you soon, and shouldn't you..."
"Summer. No one's going to come here. I promise." He smiled at her and pulled harder at the string on her back.
"Seth..." She was about to protest further when his fingers finally finished and her bikini top came loose. He pulled the top up, bunching it around her neck and letting his lips fall to the skin between her breasts. She bit her lip, but moaned anyway. He wouldn't allow her to talk, and...well, when it came to this, she couldn't really be in charge.
"Summer..." Seth murmured against her skin, letting his hands fall down to her back again, pushing, so that her untanned breasts against his bare, dark chest. Summer gasped, and let her eyes completely close. She was finally starting to wonder if he was drunk too. Her leg was lying between his two legs, and she couldn't say she wasn't relieved to feel that he was actually really into this.
And suddenly the warmth was gone. Summer opened her eyes and pulled down her bikini top as quickly as possible.
"What the hell are you doing? With her?" Holly shoved Seth's bare chest, but he just rolled his eyes.
"Holly, calm down."
"Calm down? What the hell are you doing? What were you going to do? You're such an asshole, Seth Cohen!"
"Whatever." Seth held out his hand to Summer, helping her to her feet and glaring at Holly, before he walked towards the house.
Summer was about to follow his trail when Holly and her friends stepped in front of her.
"All right, bitch, what do you think you're doing?"
"I was...going to go home."
"I don't think so." Holly shoved her shoulder much harder than she had touched Seth.
"I just..."
"You know that he's my boyfriend? We're dating. Comprehende? I know you wouldn't understand the whole 'boyfriend' concept with your history, but when someone has a boyfriend, you have to back. Off."
"Holly, I just want to go home."
"Uh, no. You do not say my name. You do not say his name, and you definitely do not say my name, slut."
"I'm not a slut."
"Uh, what whore, I didn't hear you there."
"I'm not a whore either."
Holly gestured wildly behind her. "Remember that guy you were basically fucking? My boyfriend. Mine. You had no right to even look at him, let alone touch him. I'm sorry, but that is not how it's done in Orange County!"
"He touched me."
"Yeah. And he's my boyfriend."
"He didn't seem to remember." Summer slightly smiled, and Holly burst.
"Stupid slut!" She launched herself forward and tackled Summer to the ground. Summer lay there for a few seconds, taking the punches. She couldn't believe she was actually being hit by a girl. Then, she realized it was going to stop. This wasn't like when her step-mom came home drunk and slapped her before bursting into tears and running out of the house. Holly was still hitting her. Punching her. And it hurt. It wasn't just a numbing like how it felt when Lara struck her. This kept going. This wasn't real. But she couldn't just take it. Holly Fischer was calling her a cunt. Yeah, couldn't take that even if she tried.
So she hit her back. She pushed her off of her stomach and kicked her thigh. She kicked it again. And there was a light bruise showing up on Holly's perfect thigh. It looked good. So Summer was done. Holly'd gone down; she wasn't on top of her calling her names anymore. Summer looked back at her, thinking she should go help her up, and she was about to, when all of Holly's minions jumped on her back, screaming they would "break her, bitch."
She couldn't hit them all. They were too heavy. And Summer was going down.
"Hey, man? Let's go, okay? I'm done with this." Seth clapped Ryan on his shoulder.
"Uh, why, man?" Ryan spun around.
"Holly's just...yeah, well, she's done anyway, and I think she knows it."
"Where's Summer?"
"She's out there somewhere. I thought she was behind me, but she must've seen Marissa Cooper or something."
"Where's Holly?"
"She saw me and Summer, so...she's probably still out there."
"With Summer?"
Seth shrugged. "I think Summer left."
"What if she didn't?"
"Then...she'd be...with Holly."
"Yeah, and Holly will probably be really sweet to her."
Seth thought about it for a second, looked to the sand again, and groaned. "Let's go."
He and Ryan headed back down the beach, to see something straight out of the Girls Gone Wild series. A pile of brunettes, blondes, dark hair, light hair...everything. Hitting anything that moved. Seth sighed, moved forward, and grabbed two girls by their shoulders. Ryan grabbed another two, two girls remaining.
One of them was blonde. The other had red hair. Seth, with a firm hold on the two girls, looked around for Holly. Brunette, blonde, but definitely not Holly with him, two dark haired girls with Ryan. There she was. She was actually lying off to the side on the ground, propped up on her two elbows, watching him, a few bruises, but no breath lost.
"Holly, what the hell? What if they killed each other?"
"Seth, what the hell? I thought I was the one you were supposed to care about?"
"So you think you should just let your best friends and some innocent girl tear each other apart?"
"No, that's you." Holly nodded towards Summer and a redhead still going and it.
"Goddammit." Seth let the girl in his right hand fall to the crook in his elbow and grabbed the redhead off of Summer too. Summer sprang right to her feet, panting heavily. Her cheeks deepened at least five shades of red as she mumbled a tiny 'thanks' under her breath before running as quickly away as she possibly could.
Seth exhaled with the smallest groan under his breath before thrusting off both the girls and walking off back towards the house. Ryan let his girls go a little more gently, looked at the sob about to explode on Holly's face, and left before Holly completely embarrassed herself in front of him. He probably didn't want to hear what she had to say about Seth, either.
Ryan found another strip of beach, away from the house, away from the party, and he heard the girl sounds before he saw the actual girl. It was hiccupping, distressed, totally ruined, wrecked, sobs, which were trying to stay quiet but failing miserably.
"Summer?"
The girl's face turned around, her cheeks completely ruined, and her eyes looking like raccoon's.
He sat down next to her, not too close, but rested a hand awkwardly on her back.
"What are you doing here?" She turned her face away from him so he wouldn't see the complete failure of her waterproof mascara.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Ryan. Atwood? I'm Seth's..."
"I know who you are."
"Oh. This? This is nothing. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Fine."
"Yup. Thanks for asking. I should be going." She started to get up, but fell back down, still refusing to look at him.
"I'm sorry about...Seth. If he hurt your feelings, or, you know, if Holly...hurt you."
"I'm fine. I just hope they're okay. Rage blackouts..." She shook her shoulders in a nearly disbelieving laugh and a chill. "I'm fine." She looked towards the water, Ryan able to glimpse the streaks on her face imprinted by her arms. "No. I'm not." She looked closer his direction at some fixed point behind his head.
"It's...okay." Ryan's hand started to move, trying to be reassuring.
"I'm so stupid. I think it means something, but it always means nothing. It never means something, and it never will. Why do I keep doing this to myself? It never ends up good, and I'm so stupid."
"You're not stupid. You're just...misled."
"By people I shouldn't let myself be led at all by. It's so retarded and unnecessary, and-and retarded, and stupid, and sometimes I just..." The tears were seeming to stop, but her face was looking so utterly and completely pathetic, that Ryan decided it would've been better if she was still crying. "I don't know. Something has to be wrong with me." She shoved her face into his tee shirt, no sounds coming out, but he could feel a damp area growing on his chest.
But as soon as it came, she was gone, wiping her eyes smoothly and calmly, smoothing out her hair, and realizing she was in front of him in nothing but a bikini top and a skirt.
"I must've left my shirt back there. I should...go...get it." The thought passed over her face, and Ryan could see the crimson coming back to her face when she remembered what was back there.
"You know what? I'll get it for you."
"Oh. You don't have to."
"It's no problem. What's it look like?"
"Just...black tee shirt."
"All right. I'll be back."
"Thanks."
He nodded and smiled with one side of his face. She was sweet. She didn't deserve most of this. She needed someone to help her.
Ryan found her tee shirt, abandoned with Holly, her minions, or Seth around. He grabbed it and jogged back to Summer, standing up with her face almost fixed.
"Thank you." She smiled and took the shirt.
"No problem." Ryan's brow furrowed, but he ignored it. "And you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. I'll see you sometime." Summer flashed another smile and walked away, pulling on her shirt as she walked away.
Ryan sighed, rubbing his head slightly, before walking back towards the house to find Seth and tell him how much he really hurt that girl.
