As usual, thanks so much for the amazing feedback! I'm becoming mighty obsessed with the "new email" chimer on my MSN account! Hehe! Reading from people who like my ideas is a real heartwarmer! Oh and pandog91, you crack me up! Hehe! I was laughing away at your review! It was "stupendous"! lol!

So now enter Summer and Seth… and the plot begins to thicken! I said this in a previous chapter, but just to recap, assume Seth wasn't an idiot in Miami and everything is still peachy. Oh, I may just warn you… my pen experience with these two is not very well exercised. I love them to bits, with their sarcastic comments to each other, so I just hope I do them justice. Please tell me how I do! Thanks again! Love Hannah

Disclaimer: I do not own the oc, or the characters, not even one of ryan's wife-beaters which every girl on the planet knows she wants to own. Nope… not even one of those. Sigh.

5: A LACK OF COLOR

"This is fact not fiction for the first time in years… and all the girls in every girly magazine can't make me feel any less alone… I'm reaching for the phone… to call up seven-o-three… and on your machine I…"

"…Coh-hen! Has anyone ever told you how crap you are at singing? You sound as if a blow fish got rammed down your throat and it stayed there," Summer bunched her face up in an adorable grimace that only encouraged Seth to continue.

"…slur a plea for you to come home… but I know it's too late… that I should have given you a reason to stay…"

"…Yeah? Well right now you're giving me a reason to leave!"

"…given you a reason to stay-yay-yay… given you a reason to STAY!"

"That's it! I'm taking Death Cab out of the CD player and throwing it in the trash." Summer marched over to her system, snapped the "Stop" button and ejected the disc.

"No! Give that back, it's mine!" Seth leapt off the bed and raced to salvage his precious CD from the evil witch. In sheer delight Summer waved it away from his lunging hand, a look of wicked satisfaction on her face.

"And what are you gonna do about it?" she asked innocently, a beckoning smile spreading.

Seth tried again for the disc but Summer's reflexes were too good, "I could have you sued."

"Oh?"

Summer drew the disc into her chest and fired a seductive look at Seth, one that made his heart give a definite thump.

"You want it?" she said in a low, sexy voice, "Come and get it."

Seth looked around the room and shrugged obligingly. Guess there was no other option. "Well… if I must."

And with that he leant in and met her at the lips. Summer giggled and returned the favour. In perfect rhythm they moved with each other and felt one another's kiss as they backed up towards the bed. When Summer felt the soft mattress at her legs they sunk slowly in the sheets, neither breaking away.

Summer embraced Seth's weight. It made her feel so good when she kissed him. The two of them seemed to fit in with each other so flawlessly. Every kiss with Seth felt like their first. When they were together it was as if the rest of the world just faded away into the horizon. The feeling of his touch was indescribable.

Seth brushed his lips over Summer's. He was the luckiest person in the universe. Below him was the girl of his dreams, the one he had wanted to be with his entire life. Years ago he would never have thought they'd be the way they were. He was the emo geek, the Comicon nerd, the outsider without a hope. And she was the social butterfly, the shining supernova, the girl with everything. Their differences might never have intertwined. But now their differences made them identical. It was blissful perfection.

They pulled away after the moment and Summer smiled. "Okay," she nodded breathlessly, "you can have it back."

Seth grinned and took the CD from Summer's fingers. "I'll drop the charges then." She giggled.

He leant down and gave her one more kiss before standing back on the floor. He then pulled her up by the hand.

"So Summer my dearest, what do you have planned for today?"

Summer checked herself over in the mirror and set back a loose strand of her silky black hair behind her ear. "Let's see… my schedule's pretty full. I'm going shopping - the Winter Clearout Sale is on at the mall!" she stated excitedly, to which Seth groaned and shook his head lovingly. "I'm going to head over to Coop's and ask if she wants to come with – which she will. That girl needs all sweaters she can get no matter what time of the year it is!"

The mention of Marissa's name reminded Seth of something. "Oh yeah, I think Ryan and Marissa had a fight last night."

Summer laughed and shook her head, "Already? They've been back with each other for what? A day? That's a new record, even by their standards."

Seth nodded in agreement, "I don't even think we're that bad."

Summer turned from the mirror and gave Seth a teasing look, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way to get us up to date."

Seth pretended he'd been shot in the chest and gasped in mock horror, "You hit me deep there Summer. Real deep."

She smiled innocently, then continued, "So what about? Did Ryan say anything?"

Seth shook his head, "Ryan came home last night and locked himself in the poolhouse. He was still asleep as I was coming over here. But I'm planning on asking him just that this afternoon when he's Chino-ed down."

"Well, I'll ask Coop this morning when I see her. I'm sure it's something totally stupid. Bet she spilt pizza sauce on his wife beater or something."

X

Summer breathed in the fresh spring air as she walked down the pier. She loved this time of the year. No school, not too hot, not too cool. Admittedly, it was a warmer day for spring, but the extra degrees hardly subtracted from her mood. She felt wonderful. Everything in life seemed in the right place now. She couldn't imagine that there was anything that might be wrong…

She walked briskly towards Marissa's house humming that freaken Death Cab song. Dammit Cohen! It's catchy! But she was distracted from her thoughts when she caught sight of Ryan's brother across the road at his apartment. Summer watched Trey as he carried a large cardboard box jam-packed full of house ornaments down the stairs. In the parking lot was a rusty looking car whose paint was wearing off and wheels appeared to be falling off. Already the car was stacked with other cardboard boxes. In the driver's seat was some guy she'd never seen before.

But Summer simply shrugged and continued down the wooden path. She checked her watch. It was nearly eleven. The Clearout finished at three, which meant they'd only have about three hours. She decided to pick up the pace. Shopping was a very serious business that required a lot of time and thought!

A matter of minutes later, Summer walked up the sloping drive to Marissa's house. The front door was closed so she pressed the doorbell and listened for the inevitable rumble of feet bounding down the stairs.

A moment passed… then a very long moment… but no rumble.

Summer checked the driveway, only her Mom's car was out and Summer knew for a fact Marissa wouldn't go many places with her these days.

She pressed the doorbell again. Come on Coop, up and at 'em.

Just as Summer was about to start counting sheep, the door opened… very, very slowly.

As soon as Summer laid her eyes on the person who stood in front of her, and eerie feeling crept into her system. Marissa looked… awful!

Her face was deadly white and dry while her eyes were excruciatingly red, like they hadn't been closed for days. Her hair was greasy and hung limply and she wore an enormous dressing gown that covered her from collar bone to toe.

Marissa noticed Summer's eyes widen and she sensitively wrapped the gown tighter around her body. When she'd seen Summer walking towards her house she'd been thrown into a panic fit. After another sleepless and paranoid night of tears and blood she was in no physical or emotional state to even see Summer. Last night had been an absolute disaster. She was now so consumed with sadness and guilt it choked her. But she didn't want to have Summer suffer as well. It would be too much to bear.

But she had to at least try and convince her of something. "Hey, Sum," she said croakily.

"Yikes Coop! What happened to you?" Summer laughed, but the worry in her tone was clear. "Did you stay up all night watching horror flicks again?"

Marissa tried to laugh back but was restrained by the horrible feeling in her throat, "Yeah, sorry," she attempted to give a believable cough, "I think I've got the flu. I was puking all night." Well at least the second bit is true, she thought.

"Oh poor baby!" Summer said sadly and she leant in to give Marissa a hug. She was caught a little off-guard when her friend's entire body seemed to ripple, but quickly put it at the back of her mind. "So I guess you don't feel like coming to the mall with me then?"

Marissa breathed a sigh of relief when Summer pulled away from the hug and nodded, "Yeah, no, sorry. I think I'll just hang here and try and get the rest of it out of my system."

Summer was visibly disappointed. Shopping was fun. Shopping alone wasn't fun. But nevertheless she gave Marissa a sorrowful smile, "Okay Coop. I'll buy you a get-well present."

"Okay. Bye."

Marissa watched as Summer gave her a final wave then made her way alone back down the drive. The pain she felt was unbelievable. Now she was lying to her best friend as well. When she closed the door the new chain of tears were already leaking down her cheeks and her wrists, for the millionth time that morning, began to burn with irritation. She rolled up the sleeve of her gown and looked down at the fresh wounds that appeared on her skin. She wasn't counting them anymore. It seemed the more she counted was a further reminder of her failure.

She looked around the massive empty house at complete loss of what to do with herself. She couldn't sleep or she'd be plagued with fierce nightmares recounting her fateful night. She couldn't eat or the nausea would climax into the toilet can. And she certainly couldn't talk to anyone. Especially –

The phone rang for the third time that morning. It was him again. Marissa looked, horrified, at the phone, waiting and praying for the answering machine to take charge. Every ring amplified the agony to new heights and it was virtually unbearable.

But what she felt as the phone rang was nothing compared to what she felt when she heard his voice feed through the machine. The tears flooded down at the sound of his confused, pleading and angry tone.

"Marissa, it's me again. Look, I don't know what I did, or whether I did do anything. But I know something's wrong. Please call me and speak to me…"

There was a spine-snapping silence. He knew she was listening.

"Please don't shut me out of your life again."

And he was gone.

It was all she could take. In a flurry of emotion, she bounded back up the stairs and ran into the bathroom for not the first time that day.

X

Ryan pulled the phone from his ear once again and breathed heavily. He hadn't slept until about three in the morning. His mind had been burning like wildfire since last night. He couldn't even begin to imagine what the hell was going on but the longer Marissa planned on leaving him in the dark the worse he felt.

He dropped the phone carelessly to the ground and lay back on the bed to rest his painful eyes.

"…and on your machine I slur a plea for you to home…"

Ryan groaned. Now he had Seth to answer to as well. Seth opened the door and stepped into the room, deep in song.

"…but I know it's too late…that I should have given you a reason to stay. Given you are reason to stay-yay-yay…"

"Has anyone ever told you you're a crap singer?" Ryan growled.

"Nice to see you too amigo. That was me changing the subject by the way." Seth answered.

Ryan sighed deeply and rubbed his weary temples. "Sorry, Seth. I'm just… tired."

Seth nodded and sat down on the bed, "So what happened between you and Marissa last night?"

Ryan couldn't help but smirk, "News really does travel fast around here."

"That, and you stormed in here last night and didn't come out until… oh wait… you haven't come out yet." Seth cocked an eyebrow.

He waited for a response from Ryan, but when nothing came he continued, "So… what happened?"

"Honestly," Ryan began, "I have no idea."

"Well that's a great start."

"She sounded weird on the phone, but I thought she was just, you know, busy. But then last night, it became clear." Ryan dropped his head in confusion as his mind began to race again, "I just can't figure it out."

"Well, I mean, what did she say?" Seth asked.

"Not much, I'll tell you that. She was quiet all night. And then she just ran off crying." Ryan paused, thinking, "And now… she's not answering my calls."

Seth processed the information, "Well, Summer and her were going to the mall today, so maybe she'll find out." He watched as Ryan looked all the more miserable. "Hey, man, don't worry too much. Maybe she wasn't feeling very well," he suggested.

But Ryan shook his head sadly, "I don't think so, Seth. It's something else. I don't know what it is… but I do know that something is very, very wrong."

That was definitely the most challenging chapter so far! Hehe! But I hope you liked it all the same! Please tell me what you think! Love Hannah.