"Will you marry me, Laura?"

Summer's jaw dropped open. Barely registering the high-pitched squeal and cries of "Yes! Of course I will!", she turned to Kirsten and Sandy, dumbstruck. They stared back at her, her expression mirrored on their faces.

It was all wrong. It was so wrong. Just looking at Ryan with a girl that wasn't Marissa made her stomach turn. The old Atwood sparkle, the old half smile and gorgeous dimples were gone when he was without her. Sure, Ryan and Marissa had had their fair share of agony, and she'd spent almost half a year at Harbor trying to convince Seth not to put them back together, but as much as she tried to deny it, they were always the couple meant to be a couple.

And now, as he hugged and kissed a person that couldn't be further from the image of her best friend, Summer decided she couldn't be in that restaurant any more. Giving Seth a look that said "Don't mess with me, Cohen", she got up out of her seat and shook her head at Sandy and Kirsten.

The night air didn't hit her as she'd first hoped; it was warm for November and had no impact upon her bare arms. Adjusting the short sleeves on her polka dot wrap dress, she sighed a long, heavy sigh and looked out to sea.

The slamming of a car door aroused her from her thoughts, and brushing away the slight hint of a crosstear from her eyes, she scanned the car park to see where it was coming from.

Seeing Marissa stumbling towards her didn't come as too much of a shock, but the look on her face did. She was hopeful, as plain as that, and as much as Summer hated the state of things at that time and wished Marissa's hopes could come true, she knew they couldn't.

Feeling arms around her waist, Summer snapped out of her thoughts.

"You alright?"

She smiled and leaned back into him, letting the Coheny fragrance be absorbed into her hair and old pajama top, where it would linger so she could still smell it later. "I'm…ok" she said truthfully. Not great, just 'ok'.

"Just thinking about last night."

Summer sighed quietly. "Me too. Something Marissa said, it's…bothering me."

"Mmm?" Seth raised his eyebrows and turned her round, seeing the confusion in her face and, being who he was, had to know exactly what she was thinking. "Tell me?"

Summer nestled into his chest gratefully. "You just want me to hurry up and make you breakfast" she smiled, and felt him nod on top of her head.

Opening her mouth to speak, since the waffles she had been making weren't done yet, Summer took a moment to think. Marissa was her best friend, and she believed all or most of what she told her. But this? Something was bothering Summer about what she had said.

"How could he be happy, when she's cheating on him?"

She'd seen it for herself; Marissa had been sadder than ever that night, and it wasn't the first time she'd admitted to loving and still having feelings for Ryan after their dramatic break-up, either. It made most sense for her to lie about Laura cheating.

Or did it?

What was the point in making something like this up? Marissa had done a lot of stupid things in her life, but never something like this, never something that would hurt so many people. Lies were always easy to be proved as lies, as Summer knew only too well from living with Cohen, and as much as she wanted toslap Laura sometimes, she suspected Marissa would never go as far as to hurt her without good reason either.

A 'ting' from behind her made Summer wake up for the second time that morning, and she made a mental note to get some coffee.

"You're the best", Seth called, as soon as she had done scooping the waffles out of the pan and adorning them with his favourite toppings. She smiled to herself as he wolfed them down noisily in the next room, but the thought of Marissa, alone on a morning like this, made her reach for the phone.

Marissa's head was pounding. And not in a good way. She huffed childishly and stuck her bottom lip out under the blankets, pressing the pillow further into her head. Things were not going well. She'd gone to sleep oblivious, but now she was awake every detail of the past night ran through her brain like a steamer.

She felt miserable, simple as that. There was no point to life anymore. There was no point to the ceiling fan above her head whirring incessantly, there was no point in taking a shower, in making herself look nice, in getting dressed. There was no point to her phone ringing either, so she stuck out an arm and knocked the handset off her bedside table.

"Marissa? You there?"

She stiffened, not daring to breathe. Hearing his voice was even worse than thinking about him.

Cursing herself for knocking the 'call' button and not pulling out the plug like any normal person would do, Marissa sat up in bed and stared at the phone, breathing heavily. Why? Why was Ryan calling her now when he was the reason she was feeling like this? To remind her of what she was missing?

"Marissa?"

Running one hand through her lank hair, Marissa suddenly had another situation to laugh at in a few years time. She couldn't answer him. But she couldn't cut him off either. Silently groaning, she edged herself off the bed wretchedly and headed toward her bathroom.

"Am I on answerphone?"

Marissa's heart sank as she felt the unmistakeable tingle of a sneeze inside her nose. "Go away", she whispered desperately. "Put down the phone…"

"Is that you?"

And then Marissa sneezed.

"No, just same old, same old. Been doing a lot of shopping…" Her hands clenched and she mentally kicked herself. Newport princess, much?

He chuckled. "Right. Well, if you're ever free, you know you can always come and…say hi at the Newport Group."

Marissa couldn't think of anything more thrilling. Seeing Ryan, in all his $100,000 a year splendour, in his plush offices with Laura throwing herself all over him… Yes! That would be fabulous!

"Hmmm" Marissa stalled, looking at the calendar on her kitchen wall. On it was written "Get hair done". That was all.

"Yeah…I'll see if I can move some stuff around."

Ryan chuckled again, making Marissa frown. What was with that? And then she understood he probably had more to laugh about these days.

"Well, I'm sure we'll bump into each other."

Marissa couldn't wait.

"Sure! Ok, but look Ryan – something really important's just come up, and…"

"No, of course. I'll let you go."

Marissa stopped with a thud and banged her toe on the kitchen counter. He'd 'let her go'. Well…that was really nice of him.

"Call me!"

"Bye", Marissa whispered, as the line went dead. Now groaning as loud as she could, she leaned forward against the counter and folded her arms around her head, throwing the phone onto the floor and hearing the plastic break.

If it was possible, she hated herself even more.