Title: The Next Step
Author: Charmed-Sparkle
Disclaimer: I don't own The OC or anything else related to it (But I wish I owned Adam Brody!)
Summary: Summer and Seth have been out of high school for six years, and are living together in NYC. When Seth proposes, how will their lives change? SS, lots of fluff.
Chapter 3: Plans and Surprises
Seth woke up to hear the first class section of his flight being boarded onto the plane, and a flash in his face. He made a face and opened his eyes fully. There was a girl, about six years old holding a Polaroid camera in front of him.
"I'm sorry," she said shyly, "I was just practicing with the new camera my mommy got me, here you can have it." She held out the photo of him and Summer sleeping. He smiled when he saw it; it was actually a good picture. Seth looked at the girl and said "Well thanks, this is a great picture, it looks professional!" The girl beamed at him, and he gave her two dollars out of his pocket. She squealed a thank you and then ran off to tell her mother of her fortune. Then they called for first class again, and Seth realized he needed to wake Summer, which was never really easy when she was especially tired.
"Sum, come on, time to get up," he said into her ear. But she just mumbled something into his shirt and tried to press herself closer to him. Then he spoke again,
"Summer, baby, come on we have to go," he shook her a little harder this time, and she woke up.
"Cohen, they're still calling first class, we have time," she said, sounding annoyed.
"That sounds great, but we can't afford that."
"Don't worry about it, I've been saving, to surprise you." Summer smiled at this.
Seth wasn't really lying, he had been saving, ever since they had been living together, Seth had been putting a little bit of money in a fund. It was for anything, little extras, a vacation, in case of anything, but recently it was more like The Engagement Fund. The past few months he had added more, since he had gotten a raise, and he was more serious about the proposal. After using it to pay for the ring, the first class upgrades, and the surprise suite at the hotel, plus a couple of extra things for the following night, he still had more money than he expected left. He decided that he would keep putting money in it, after he told Summer about it, which would be after the proposal if it went well.
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Over six hours later, Seth was in the Newport airport, trying to balance all of their bags on the cart he had gotten.
"Cohen! Hurry up, I wanna get to the hotel," Summer demanded, tapping her high heeled shoes against the floor.
"I'm trying Sum, just give me a minute," he was jet-lagged and grumpy too, but remembered that he was intending to make her VERY happy before tomorrow night, and kept his mouth shut.
Once he had all of their bags, and they were driving away from the airport in the Mercedes Convertible he had rented, Seth was glad to find Summer in a good mood. He was hoping that the next day, he would have Jesus, Moses, and whatever other bearded deity that would be willing to help him, on his side. It seemed very likely, since Summer was smiling happily as she contemplated what they should do the next day.
"I want to go to the beach," she said firmly and then added, "and maybe shopping, if you want to."
"Okay."
"Okay?" She couldn't believe it, he usually-no- always complained about shopping.
"Yeah," he said, "you've been working so hard, you deserve anything you want this weekend, besides, don't you need a dress for Saturday?" Summer just nodded.
"Oh, and I got us a suite."
Summer then leaned over the center console to kiss his neck. She continued to this, moving from his neck to his ear, and whispering huskily, "Good thing we'll be at a hotel tonight, with its thick walls," he looked at her a little confused, "you know, just in case things get a little to loud…" She trailed off, and went back to working on his neck. Maybe this weekend wouldn't be too bad for him either…
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Seth woke up first the next morning and being careful not to wake Summer, he picked up his clothes from where they had been thrown on the floor the previous night, picked up Summer's and put them on the edge of the bed, and went to make coffee. As he scooped the grinds into the paper cone, he felt very nervous. He still had the whole day to go before actually proposing, but it had to go perfectly. He thought that if the day didn't have everything Summer wanted, she might not say yes. He didn't know if it was true, but in his mind, it was better safe than sorry.
As he drank his coffee, he planned the day. He thought they would have breakfast, then shower (together if he was lucky), get dressed, and go to South Coast Plaza. After buying Summer basically everything she wanted, they would go for lunch at the crab shack, for old time's sake. Then to the beach until it was time to get ready for dinner. Then, Seth had arranged for Summer's favorite restaurant in LA to bring both of her favorite dishes to the pier. They were going to have a candlelit dinner on the pier, which would end in him giving a little speech, and taking out the ring.
"Good Morning," Summer's voice pulled him out of his trance as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek from behind.
"It is now," he said, turning around for a real kiss. When they stopped she said, "cheesy Cohen." Then he sat her on his lap and told her his plan for the day, excluding his hope for the joint shower and leaving the late night plans as "a surprise for dinner." He was very happy about how excited Summer seemed, and she wanted to start right away. He just said "All in time my dear." So she let it drop, and told Seth everything she wanted for breakfast.
A little while later they were happily eating French toast, bacon and strawberries when Summer said that she was kind of cold.
"D you want one of my sweatshirts?" Seth offered.
"No, my feet are cold, but I didn't pack any socks!"
"Why wouldn't you pack socks?"
"Because, we're actually in warm weather, none of my shoes required them," she stated as if it were common knowledge.
"Can I have a pair of yours?" she asked innocently.
"Sure, they're in my duffel on the left side," he responded without thinking. It took him about two bites of bacon to realize where he sent her.
"Summer! No!" he shouted, running into the bedroom of the hotel room.
It was too late. He walked into the room, and she was kneeling on the floor, one of Seth's socks at her feet, with the ring box closed in her hand. She heard him come in and looked at him, one hand covering her mouth, with tears in her eyes. For the first time in his life Seth was completely and utterly speechless, so he said the only thing he could remember.
Kneeling down in front of her and taking her free hand, he said simply,
"Will you marry me?"
A/N: Ooh Suspense! Lol, please review!