I'm unoriginal and unwealthy. Josh Schwartz isn't. Leave a review; peace and love...
"Seth Christopher Roberts, please tell me you're not playing those lame video games with your uncle and that you are in fact in bed like I asked you."
Summer peeked through the hand over her eyes and opened the glass door to see Chris and Ryan sitting on the floor moaning and groaning over two game controllers. She pulled her hand down and placed both of them on her hips. Neither Ryan nor Chris seemed to notice her. Chris's tongue was peeking through his lips and Ryan had his teeth piercing his bottom lip.
"Come on, you son of a...yes! Yes!"
Ryan threw up his arms and fell backward onto the carpet on his back. Chris threw the controller down.
"Dammit!"
"Seth Christopher!"
"Oh, hi Mom." He waved a lazy hand before falling backward next to Ryan. Summer walked in front of both of them and kicked Ryan's shin.
"Ow! Dude, what was that for?"
"You're teaching him to curse?"
"No, you are."
She kicked him again. Ryan winced and pulled his legs up in front of him. Chris sighed.
"Mom, quit it. It wasn't his fault. And it wasn't your fault. I heard it from Grandpa."
"Oh joy. But you, sir, are supposed to be in bed. Go."
"But Mom, it's only 9:30."
"And you are seven and tomorrow is Wednesday and unless you're praying for snow, I'd get your little butt into that bed."
He stood up and rolled his eyes in front of her and fell back on the floor. Ryan laughed while trying to hide it, but Summer kicked him anyway.
"Okay, I didn't do anything that time."
"Well, I can't kick him, can I?"
"Doesn't mean you have to kick me."
"I have stored anger."
"Again, that is not my fault. I'm the nice one."
Summer rolled her eyes and grabbed her son's arm to pull him up.
"Mo-om! I'm going to call Child Services."
"Good. Maybe they'll be able to get you into bed."
"You're mean."
"She's right, little man. Let it go." Ryan sat up and patted the kid's back a few times.
Chris rolled his eyes again and muttered to himself as he trudged his way across the room. Summer sighed triumphantly and put her hands back on her hips.
"Jenn's already in bed. Just tell her to turn off the light. She's reading some book."
Ryan nodded and pushed himself up. Summer walked over to the still muttering Chris and placed a kiss on his forehead as she fell to her knees. She leaned her head down on his arm and he immediately pulled it under his head.
"Hey. Why are you mad at me? You have to go to bed every day. What makes this one special?"
"You weren't here when I got home. And you didn't have work."
"I had something to take care of."
"That was more important than your own son?"
"No, but I lost track of time. I'm sorry."
"Mm-hmm."
"Cut the sarcasm, please? I'm too tired."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you tired?"
"Because I am. Why aren't you asleep?"
"Because I'm not."
"Work on that. But kiss me."
He kept staring at the ceiling and Summer laughed.
"Come on, baby. I need three kisses or I won't be able to sleep tonight. Here, here, and here." She pointed to each cheek and once to her mouth and Chris sighed.
"It won't happen again?"
"I'll try."
"It won't happen again?"
"I'll try."
"It won't happen again?"
"I don't know."
"No kisses then."
"You can't withhold kisses from your mother."
"Watch me. You didn't kiss me when I got home. Because you weren't there."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah."
"Will you kiss me now?"
"No."
"Fine. I'll just sit here. And my hand might just happen to start itching and it just might need to tickle something."
"No!"
"Kisses?"
He sighed even louder and kissed her cheeks and lips.
"Better?"
"Much. I love you, baby."
"Yeah."
"What about me?"
"You're not so bad."
She laughed again and kissed his forehead before walking to the doorway and placing her hand on the light switch.
"Mommy?"
"Yeah?"
"I guess I love you too."
"Yeah."
She grinned, pushed the light off, and walked out of the pool house.
Ryan kissed his daughter's hair and smoothed it over.
"How've you been doing? We haven't talked in forever."
"I'm okay."
"Yeah?"
She nodded and kissed his cheek.
"How've you been doing?"
"Not so good. I think I'm better now though."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"I'm glad."
He nodded. "Me too. How's school?"
"Okay. How's school?"
"Okay."
"You getting smarter?"
"I hope so."
She nodded again and he kissed her hair one more time before making his way to the door.
"Daddy?"
He turned around and watched the nine year old climb out of bed and hug him around the waist.
"I love you, Daddy."
"I love you too, Jennifer."
He kissed her hair again and picked her up in his arms. He kissed her lips once and carried her back over to the bed. She smiled up at him and Theresa came through her eyes again. He shivered in the dark, but smiled back at her. She patted down his hair and closed her eyes.
"Night, Daddy." She yawned and Theresa disappeared again. He kissed her forehead and stood up.
"Night, honey."
He walked out of the room and fell against the door. She was looking more like her. Especially her eyes. Her huge, dark, haunting eyes that could always see through his thick eyelids and through to his mind. Her soft, slightly pouting lips that could make his knees crumble. They were in his nine year old.
"Ryan, honey? Something wrong?"
Kirsten patted his hair just the way that Jenn had. He smiled distantly.
"No. Fine."
"Honey..."
Kirsten sat down next to Ryan and leaned her head on his shoulder. He sighed.
"What if she came back?"
Kirsten had no idea who he was talking about, but listened anyway.
"Would I be happy? Relieved? I mean, if my mom came back would I be happy? Relieved? What about Jenn? What if she doesn't even remember her? What if she becomes her? What if she doesn't care to remember? I know Summer's good for her, but what if she actually came back? Would it be better? What would I do? You know that we were playing the husband and wife thing before she left? I was going to propose to her because, I don't know, it was the right thing to do. I bought a ring and she left her daughter."
Kirsten shifted her head.
"Did you love her?"
"I don't know."
"You should."
"I know."
"Did she love you?"
"I don't know."
She nodded and looked at the eyes that still wouldn't let her break through. After ten years, they still wouldn't let her break through. Gently, she placed a kiss on his cheek and smiled.
"You'll know."
He ducked his head and nodded faintly.
"Okay."
She patted his arm another time and walked down the stairs. He rolled his head to the other side and stood up himself. He walked over to the stairs and right into Summer.
"Oh! Dear god, you scared me."
"Sorry. So how is he?"
"Hmm?"
"That's where you were, right? How is he?"
She pulled a piece of paper and shoved it into Ryan's fist.
"You ask."
She turned around and walked back down the stairs and into the living room. He looked at the piece of paper in his hand and shoved it into his back pocket before following her into the living room.
Marissa was nearly sleeping with her head on her husband's lap and Summer sat on the floor next to her. Mr. and Mrs. Cohen were in the two opposite chairs half asleep themselves. Marissa was still slowly mumbling in her state of drowsiness a fast song that Ryan knew nearly as well as she did.
"I'd like to tell you, like to tell you. Tell you everything. Cause nothing changes, ever changes. Nothing seems the same these days. Dave's been a mess since Cheryl left. Just sits at home and beats back death. And Beth still wears his stupid dress."
Ryan fell down on the floor, his hands on his chest and murmured the same words until Marissa faded out to let him sing. She oh'ed.
"There goes Joe Caparo again, with Darren's girlfriend. They're asking where ya been, like I know. Where ya been? Hey Summer, where ya been?"
Marissa turned her head slightly and smiled at him.
"I tried to tell you, tried to tell you. Just took a little bit too long. And now your phone is disconnected. And your shit's out on the lawn. The hardback cafe closed down. Now we've got Office Town. You shoulda stuck around."
"There go Ross and Frank again. They're holding hands. They're asking where ya been. Like I know where ya been. Hey Summer, where ya been?"
She nodded to him and they half sung, half spoke the last verse.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh. I could take a train or fly away. Maybe write a book or change my name. I could settle down."
Marissa smiled and rolled over all the way.
"How do you know that song?"
"Seth."
She nodded and rolled back over halfway so she was staring at the ceiling.
"Everything's upside down. I like that one."
Ryan nodded. Kirsten opened her eyes.
"Ben Folds."
Marissa nodded. "That's right."
"He loved him. Especially when he was fourteen." Kirsten nodded.
Summer pushed her head back so she could look at Marissa. "That's the guy who sang The Luckiest?"
Marissa nodded as she ran her fingers through Summer's hair. Summer put her hands under her head and pulled her legs up. They all were nearly asleep now, the only person actually seeing anything clearly was Ryan. The phone. And he felt that thin slice of paper in his pocket.
"Hey you guys, I'm going to bed."
They all held up a hand at the same time in some sort of a wave and he left to sit on the stairs. He grabbed his cell phone from the counter and dialed the number on the piece of paper. It rang a few times, but soon enough, Seth's exhausted voice came on.
"Yeah?"
"Seth. Man, hey."
"Ryan? Oh hey, um, hi."
"Hi."
Ryan tapped his index finger a few times against the phone and sighed. He heard Seth do the same on the other side.
"Hey, Ryan? You know, uh, things with you and me don't have to be reduced to awkward silences and dramatic outbursts. We could still be, I dunno, maybe friends?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"So, um, Jenn's been talking about you."
"Really?"
"Apparently she likes you."
"Well, that's good."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"So, what I wanted to say was, I mean, man, I didn't mean to chase you out of your own house. So I, you know, feel really bad about that and all. And I know if you came home, that would do a whole lot of good, I mean, especially for Sandy because your mom's still not talking to him. And you know, for Jenn too because she keeps asking me when you'll get home. And for Summer, because I think everyone can see she really misses you when you're not around. And, I dunno, for me too I guess."
"You know she's your mom too."
"What?"
"You don't have to call her my mom. She's your mom too."
"Right. I dunno."
"It would make her happier. A lot happier."
"Okay. I'll, uh, think about it. And will you?"
"What?"
"You know, think about it. Coming home."
"Yeah, sure. I mean, if it's for Mom."
"Okay, cool, man. So...maybe I'll see you later?"
"Yeah, maybe."
"Cool. So, uh, night, man."
"Yeah. And Ryan?"
"Yeah?"
"Just thought you might like to know that I'm, uh, well, today I kind of took your advice. There was no one for me to bother, so I went down to the docks and I, I got a job."
"Really? Man, that's-that's really, really good."
"Yeah. And it's something I can do from home, so I was thinking about finishing you know, those last years of high school. And I-I called the dean, and she said that she'd have me and I could do it at night and probably-probably finish it in maybe one year instead of two. As long as I worked my ass off and, you know, got all my credits. Because apparently she thought I was smart, or something. So I'm going to do that too."
"Maybe I should kick your ass out more often, huh?"
"Right. So, um, bye man."
"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. But I'll see you, right?"
"Yeah. I'll be around."
"And you'll do that thing, you know, for Sandy."
"I'll think about it."
"You know, uh, Jenn says that saying that means you'll never do it. It's just something to say."
"I'll think differently than you think. Bye, Ryan."
"Bye."
Ryan hung up the phone and looked at it in his hand. He nodded and tucked it back into his pocket. He'd said sorry, right?
"Where's Summer B.?" written by Ben Folds and Darren Jesse
Sorry this chapter ended up just being mostly filler, but I was trying to show life without Seth. Next chapter brings our favorite water polo player into the story, Marissa and Brendan's relationship, and of course a tad bit of Seth/Summer because I'm a wuss. Peace and love...