Chapter Nine: Co-Habitating the Palace
Summary: He told himself it was the polite thing to do. That's all it was, right? Seth/Marissa
Disclaimer: They used to be mine. Long ago I took them with me on my annual sabbatical to my private island off the coast of Greece, but it was on the flight home that the airline company lost my luggage! When the bag finally reappeared I was minus one Seth, a Marissa, and two thirds of Kaitlin Cooper. As they were no longer a complete set I decided to sell the lot and make a little cash. Imagine my surprise when this show debuted! Everyone has been restored perfectly and are now in mint condition! Although I suspect replacement parts for Kaitlin were hard to come by.
Or that could just be the bizarre dream I had the other night.
Author's Note-
Hellacious does not even begin to describe the last few weeks. Thankfully, I took some time off today and drove up to Vermont to see the grandparents I hadn't met with in six years. 'Twas a delightful experience. My Grandma brought homemade nut roll, which I haven't had since I was tearing around her kitchen dressed in footie pajamas with rosebuds on them. A fact we will never discuss again. The trip was so therapeutic that upon arriving home I felt compelled to sit my behind down and put this expensive machine to good use. Or so I hope. See you on the dark side, loyal followers!
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Having spent the remainder of the school day floating through each class in a goofy, romantic haze Seth was confident that the rest of the day was going to be just as easy- if not better. This was, of course, before he swung into the kitchen to find his father waiting for him.
Bagels. Cream cheese. Coffee brewing on the counter behind him. Seth eyed the baked goods with trepidation, finally coming to the conclusion that it wasn't looking too bad so far.
Wait, is that the New York style lox spread? Aw, crap.
"Would you like something to eat?" Sandy asked the seemingly innocent question.
"Uh . . . no thanks. Ate lunch pretty recently."
"You sure? I've got plain and salt and sesame and everything and . . . ."
Typically, the worst thing you could do when about to receive 'A Reprimanding Speech From Sandy Cohen' was to interrupt him. At this moment, however, Seth was in no mood to hear the entire breakfast menu of every café on the California coast recited to him. Deciding to take his chances, he drew a breath and cut his father off at "pumpernickel with caraway seeds".
"Look, Dad, why don't you just get down to the real issue here, okay?"
"I hear you're dating Marissa Cooper now."
Whoa. He actually did it.
Shaking off the minor shock he straightened his shoulders and affirmed the statement.
"While we can't control who you decide you wanna date you should realize that there are some serious consequences to your relationship with her, Seth. We, your mother and myself, just want to keep the peace around here. If you're going to start something with girl you had better be damn sure that it's the real thing."
"It is." No hesitation or insincerity in his voice.
His father responded by raising his bushy eyebrows in a disbelieving gesture.
"Dad, c'mon. I know the two of us haven't been all that close until now, but things changed! They can still do that, you know! The world is not this weird Greek philosophy where everything stays the same- I lost Summer, she lost Ryan, and somehow we ended up together. And I like this . . . I like her, and what I want is to be with her!"
Sandy's eyebrows came back down to earth as he considered what he had just heard.
"You, know, Ryan's very hurt by all of this."
"He's hurt? He chased her, got her, got paranoid over her, dumped her- then proceeded to repeat steps one through four a bunch of times in the course of last year before finding somebody else. Yeah, he sure sounds like the wounded party here."
A shrewd look was sent his way.
"Don't get smart with me."
Taking a moment to regain control of his words Seth shifted awkwardly and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"We don't want to hurt anyone, Dad, but he let her go and I found her. And he doesn't have to be okay with that in order for me to date her."
It was the right thing to say this time. His father sat back in defeat and started picking at the bagels in front of him.
"Can't argue with that, I guess." He peered up at his son. "Just be good to her Seth- and to Ryan. Nothing's been easy for anybody lately."
A silent and solemn nod and Seth started to make his way out of the kitchen.
"Seth!" He was called back suddenly. "Do your old man a favor?"
"What's that?"
"I bought about twenty seven bagels special for this little talk. If your mother comes back and finds twenty seven stale rings of bread sitting in on her counter I will never hear the end of it."
With a faux grimace Seth conveyed his sympathies.
"I wish I could help, but you know I don't have the stomach for carbs so soon after school. Maybe you could have the landscapers working out back bury them in the garden."
Brightening at the suggestion Sandy grabbed the food bag and headed outside.
"At least try to be discreet!" He called back over his shoulder. "We don't need the whole town talking about the two of you."
"Right, discreet. Like stealth. I can do that."
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The crash of glass from somewhere behind them was finally enough to compel Marissa to drag herself away from Seth's lips.
"What was that?"
Unfazed, he continued to nip at her neck and kiss the length of her jaw.
"Test tubes. Beaker. Priceless antique vase. Don't know. Don't care."
"Such a . . . wise guy. They should really . . . do something about . . . people like- oh, God -you." Trying to draw in enough air to breathe and talk with proved to be most difficult when he had her in this position.
His soft laughter hummed against her skin.
"Well, if you didn't insist on squirming around so much every time I kiss you, broken lab equipment wouldn't be a problem, would it now?"
"It isn't just the kisses, you know." He sent her a look of feigned hurt. "Well, there are other . . . factors at play here."
Like being sprawled horizontally across a lab table with your new found boyfriend providing shade with his body.
Another laugh sounded as he backed off slightly and lay on his side adjacent to her.
"Besides," she continued, trying to strengthen her argument. "Your dad said we were supposed to be being discreet."
"We are. This is the only room in the whole school where people can't look in the windows and see us. I chose this spot exactly for that reason."
She rolled her eyes, not wanting to admit how practical she actually found the idea.
"Yep, you've sure got subtlety down to an art."
"I took advanced classes in it last year." At her giggle he went on with the joke. "Along with Professional Brooding, an introductory course in leather-wearing, not to mention how I finished at the top of my loooovemaking class." He stretched the word out over a few extra syllables.
At the very notion of this Marissa froze and suddenly felt incredibly shy and timid.
Run away, run away!
Choosing instead to hold her ground she looked straight at him before asking:
"Is that what you want from me?"
Doing a double take like that could not have been comfortable when resting one's head against a table, but Seth did it anyways.
"No! Well, yes, I mean, eventually, when you're ready and I'm ready and everything's ready and only if you want that to happen which you may not want at all in which case I'm totally cool with that because, you know, I want more than that in this relationship- well, I mean, I want that too, but it isn't the only thing I want and I'm a better person that that, you know that, or if you don't let me prove it to you . . . "
Clearly this could go on a while.
Stopping the babble with a finger on his lips she took over the conversation.
"I do want to. Eventually. When the time is right."
"And you'll let me know when that is?" He spoke around the finger.
"I should think so. It isn't the kind of thing I would just jump on you without any warning."
"Ohh, Marissa, better to not say the word 'jump' right now."
"Gutter mind. Come on, we should get going." She started to ease her way off the edge of the table.
Slipping effortlessly to the ground beside her Seth stretched his legs and took a look around.
"A most successful afternoon, I would say."
"Mm-hm." She agreed.
They headed for the exit, his arm firmly around her waist, hers over his shoulder playing with his hair.
"You know, I heard the music room just got new carpeting. We should check it out." Seth gave her a hopeful glance.
"Oh yes, definitely. It always pays to have a little- ah, lower- school pride."