Disclaimer; I don't own anything to do with The OC
Author's Note: Thanks especiallyto Kursk and ocobsessedrachel2 for being loyal and lovely reviewers! And thanks to everybody who's reading and reviewing!
An hour later, Seth was standing outside Summer's bedroom door convinced that he was about to be united with the love of his life. He had toyed with the idea of staying and home and waiting until she contacted him but had given up on this after Ryan threatened to beat him up if he didn't sit still for more than five minutes.
As he stood outside her room, it suddenly hit Seth that he was about to get Summer back. He shook his head in disbelief, he had not quite gotten over the fact that Summer had ever wanted him in the first place, and the fact that she now wanted him back, was just a bit overwhelming for him. His face broke into a spontaneous grin as he thought about it and he mentally swore to himself that he would never let her go again. He took a deep breath and knocked. Seth's pulse quickened as footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door padding ever closer before it swung open.
"God she's beautiful" Seth thought this to himself nearly every time he saw her, and now was no exception. Even dressed in an oversized hoodie and fluffy slippers with her hair carelessly tied back she could still take his breath away.
"Cohen? What are you doing here?" Summer was unable to hide the surprise in her voice, although her and Seth had been spending more time together lately he still hadn't been in her bedroom since they were a couple.
"I…uh…I came to see you" he replied , trying desperately to seem calm; as though his heart wasn't pounding at a hundred beats a second and his palms becoming progressively more clammy.
"Well that's handy as I live here!" Summer quipped back. She was studying Seth quizzically, still puzzled by his surprise visit.
"Uh yeah" Seth was fiddling distractedly with his hands and decided finally that he had to say what he'd come to "So I heard about you and Zach…" He began a little tentatively
"You did?" Summer looked taken aback. She had no idea it had become public knowledge, or more crucially, that it had become Seth's knowledge.
"Yeah I did. And I'm sorry you know…that it didn't work out" Seth visibly struggled to say this sincerely and this did not escape Summer's notice.
"You are? Well that's…very thoughtful of you." Seeing Seth's discomfort Summer was having to stifle her laughter. Yet she really had no idea where any of this was going.
"Well you know me; it's just the kind of guy I am"
Seth had now clearly run out of polite conversation and they stood in the doorway in silence for several moments. Both were sneaking furtive glances at each other searching for some kind of a reaction as neither had a clue what to say next.
With every second of Summer's silence that passed, Seth's confidence was slowly ebbing away. He had expected her to rapturously welcome him back into her arms as he arrived and as that hadn't happened it began to occur to him for the first time that maybe, just maybe, he'd misread the situation..
His eyes darted around the room and settled on the shards of ripped up photo he could see sticking out of her bin. He recognised it as a picture of the two of them taken in Las Vegas the year before. Seth's heart sank as he quickly put 2 and 2 together and his worst fears were confirmed. Ripping up photos of their time together were not the actions of somebody planning a reunion; Summer had no intention of getting back together with him.
Unbeknownst to Seth, Summer had followed his eye line across the room and registered too, the look of pain that had settled in his eyes having stared at what was left of the photos. Summer blinked back her tears, reminders like that of their relationship still hit her hard but it tugged at her heart even more to see the pain that it caused Seth.
Forcing herself to look again in to his eyes, which were now fixed firmly on the carpet, she noticed too the unmistakable disappointment that was present. It was at this point that the penny dropped; the unannounced visit, the platitudes about her break up with Zach, his look of expectation. She finally understood the conclusion that he had wrongly leapt to when hearing about her and Zach.
Seth lifted his gaze from the floor and once again they stood motionless looking intently into each others' eyes. This time however, they seemed to know exactly what one another were thinking.
"I'm Sorry" Summer whispered "I just can't…not now"
Seth smiled back ruefully but nodded; he had seen it written all over her face but it still pained him to hear it said aloud. He rubbed his hands gently up and down Summer's arms and bit his lip, willing his tears not to fall. "I'm so sorry…for everything"
Summer exhaled heavily, as though a great weight had just been lifted off her shoulders, but her eyes shone with tears as she reached up and grabbed his hand, clasping it in hers. Seth squeezed her hand momentarily before softly kissing the back of it.
As he did so, Summer's body shuddered with suppressed emotion and she blinked, forcing the first tear drop to fall silently from her eyes and slide down her cheek. Reaching up to her face, Seth wiped it away with his fingertip before giving her a last reassuring smile and turning to retreat from the door.
A/N; Thanks for reading, please review! (And sorry for not getting them back together...yet)