Title: Dancing Dirt into the Snow
A/N: The title is from Missy Higgin's song 'Dancing Dirt into the Snow'. :) This takes place after The Girlfriend but before The Escape.
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. They all belong to Josh Schwartz, who doesn't always deserve them, but they're his anyways.
Prologue
"What are we even doing here?" Ryan asked in exasperation as they got out of the Range Rover.
"It's the last party of the summer!" Seth grinned, looking up at Holly's beach house where hip-hop music was blasting at full volume and bikini clad girls were grinding against the water polo players.
They made their way through the dancing couples, once inside they immediately spotted Marissa who waved to them from across the room.
"He-ey, looks like somebody is happy to see you," Seth said, leaning in close to Ryan's ear to be heard over the music.
"I don't know why."
Seth almost laughed at the bewildered expression on his friend's face. It was just this morning that Marissa was still giving Ryan the cold shoulder because of the whole Gabrielle fiasco.
"Hey guys!" Marissa giggled as she came up to them, she teetered slightly as she walked and almost spilled the contents of the plastic cup she was holding. "I didn't know you were coming."
"Last party of the summer," Ryan muttered.
Seth leaned in again. "Well no wonder man. She's wasted." He turned to Marissa and spoke loudly. "What's up, Marissa? Thanks for the drink."
Marissa frowned as Seth took her cup but quickly got over it as she focused her attention on Ryan. "Let's dance," she demanded.
"You guys do that," Seth said. "I'm going to go find Summer."
He watched in amusement as Marissa dragged Ryan into the middle of gyrating couples and began grinding against him. Seth made a mental note to keep an eye our for Luke, he was not going to be a happy camper if he saw Marissa dancing like that and the last thing Ryan needed was another fight.
Seth scanned the room, his eyes landing on the brunette standing by the kitchen counter wearing a bikini top and short shorts. Summer, his reason for coming to this party in the first place.
She'd been avoiding him like the plague ever since that kiss at his grandfather's party. Not that he really ran into her a lot in the first place, or that she even normally acknowledges on the rare occasions that they do run into one another. But that was beside the point. The point was that was the best night of his life and he now had actual hope that maybe, just maybe, Summer could be interested in him.
Seth walked over to her. "Hey Summer, Seth Cohen, remember?"
Summer raised her eyebrows and looked at him disinterestedly.
"Right," he placed Marissa's drink on the counter and looked around awkwardly. "Wild party, huh?"
Summer rolled her eyes and took a long drink from the cup she was holding, not even bothering to acknowledge him. Okay, this was definitely not going the way he had hoped.
"Can we talk?" He asked.
"To you?" Summer laughed and rolled her eyes again. "Yeah right. Eww, loser!" She downed the rest of her drink and walked away.
Seth watched some guy pull her over and start dancing against her. She pushed him away in disgust and kept on walking.
Seth sighed. He really didn't understand Summer, he didn't even understand himself when it came to her. No matter how shitty she treated him, he couldn't make himself not like her.
Suddenly this party didn't seem so great anymore; he just wanted to go home. He looked around but couldn't find Ryan anywhere.
Well, if he couldn't leave yet then he could at least get some fresh air. He stepped out onto the porch and could just make out the figures of a bunch of water polo players gathered around a fire down on the beach. His mind flashed back to the time that he and Ryan got their asses kicked by the water polo players at that very spot. Seth had no desire whatsoever to repeat that experience.
The sound of glass breaking in the far corner of the porch caught his attention. "Shit!" A voice said.
Seth went over and found Summer staring at the shattered pieces of the glass she was apparently drinking from. She shrugged and started chugging the alcohol straight from the bottle. She had abandoned the keg beer in favor of Jack Daniels.
"Don't you think you've had enough to drink, Summer?" Seth asked.
"Leave me alone, Cohen."
"So you do know who I am. That's a start."
Summer rolled her eyes again. Seth moved closer to her. "Something's bothering you. What is it?"
She turned to face him, her eyes betraying no emotion. "I said leave me alone."
"You can talk to me, Summer," he said softly.
She faltered, and for a split second Seth actually thought that she was going to open up, but then she turned away and took a long drink from her bottle.
"You think you know me, Cohen. But you don't. You don't know anything about me or my life," Summer said.
"Then why don't you tell me?"
"Okay…" Seth said after a long silence that clearly indicated that she wasn't going to tell him a damn thing. "Then I'll tell you what I do know. I know that your mom left you when you were ten. I know that you hate your step-mom. I know that your dad is hardly ever home. I know that you're afraid of heights even though you pretend not to be. I know that mermaid poem isn't your only poem, you secretly like writing them. And I know that sometimes you hate Newport just as much as I do."
Summer looked horrified. "God you freak! What did you do, read my diary?"
"You don't keep one," he said. "Not anymore, I saw you throw it into the ocean."
She glared at him.
Seth held his hands up. "I was on my Grandpa's yacht, you were on the dock."
"You're like a stalker!"
"I actually prefer the term silent observer," he smiled slightly. "Stalker seems a little extreme."
She pushed him. "Get away from me!"
"Not until you give me that," Seth pointed to the bottle she was holding.
"Yeah right," and as if to prove her point, Summer took another long sip.
Seth tried to pull the bottle out of her hands but she pulled back. "No! You're not taking it!"
"You've had enough for the night."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Summer half-yelled, half-sobbed. "Just leave me alone and get the hell out of my life! I don't need you! I don't need anybody!"
There was a sadness in her eyes that Seth could see clearly now. Gone was her stoic demeanor, he had gotten to her. He felt no victory in this, just sadness for the pain she was obviously feeling and trying desperately to hide.
He let go of the bottle just as Summer gave another tug. She lost her balance and went stumbling back. Her head hit the railing as she fell down and Seth was immediately at her side.
"Summer! Summer!" Seth cradled her unconscious body in his arms and checked the back of her head, feeling the bruise that was forming there. "Please Summer, wake up."
Seth picked her up, cradling her small body in his arms, making sure to support her head. He went into the house in search of Ryan. Fortunately, he spotted him right away in the kitchen trying to stop Marissa from drinking any more.
"Ryan!" Seth yelled.
Ryan turned, saw the unconscious Summer and came rushing over. "What happened?"
"Drunk…argue.." Seth mumbled incoherently. "Fought over bottle…fell down…hit her head…." He looked down helplessly at Summer and prayed that she would wake up.
Ryan didn't look like he understood a word he said but he leaned over and put two fingers on her neck. "Her pulse is strong. Come on, let's get her to a hospital."
They hurried past all the people dancing and drinking and Marissa trailed behind them, the sight of her best friend unconscious in Seth Cohen's arms having sobered her up a little bit. "What's wrong with Summer?" She asked.
"We don't know," Ryan said. "We're taking her to a hospital. Can you call her parents?"
Marissa shook her head. "They're in New York…or Florida…or was it Europe? It's hard to keep track."
"What?" Seth asked incredulously. "Who's staying with her at home?"
Marissa shrugged. "There's a housekeeper in the day, sometimes she sleeps over with me."
They reached the Range Rover and Ryan unlocked the back door.
"I'll stay in back with Summer," Seth told Marissa. "You ride up front."
Ryan helped Seth to situate Summer comfortably in the backseat, her head resting on Seth's lap.
"Drive fast," Seth said.
Ryan nodded and jogged over to the driver's side.
