Chapter Five: Clock strikes, upon the hour

"Summer? Where's your ring gone?" Seth asked, letting go of her hand and getting a bit angry. Summer looked up, she had gotten the butterflies knowing that Seth found out.

"Erm…." She was trying really hard to come up with a quick excuse.

"I just left it at home, cos…. I didn't want the ring to get lost or stolen. You know how street thugs can want to take everything from you." Summer was disappointed in her lame excuse, she knew she could come up with something better. Seth on the inside didn't buy it, but for Summer's sake he pretended he did.

"Okay, I think I just heard Ryan come in with the take-out." Seth muttered. He was doing that really cheesy smile and had such a good feeling inside of his stomach. Summer however was a little bit unsure on whether the big 'family dinner' was a good idea or not.

"Seth… Are you sure about this? I mean don't you remember that girl Sadie? When Ryan told the rents' that they were planning on moving to Berkeley together they almost flipped, and that was the big 'family dinner'. Summer looked up at Seth in worry.

"Are you saying you don't want to get married?" Seth became upset and slightly heartbroken.

"No, it's just…. I'm not so sure if now is the right time. You know maybe… My dads right; maybe it was to fast." Seth looked down at the ground and bit his lip.

"I think you've made it very clear were you want this relationship to go, I'll see ya 'round." Seth said. He tried exiting his bedroom but Summer grabbed his muscled arm and stopped him.

"Cohen…" She thought about how much this whole 'family dinner' must mean to him. 'For once do something for him.' She thought to herself.

"What!" Seth yelled, becoming angry and impatient.

"I think if we don't go down in the next minute we will be late for dinner." Summer smiled finally getting all the nerves out of her system. Seth became happier and soon their aura was green again. They walked down the stair holding hands and smiling. Ryan walked past the stairs with bags filled with Chinese. He looked up at the two teenage lovebirds and laughed.

"Wow! You guys look just like a married couple." Ryan said, he laughed to his statement.

"Atwood, it's not like we're married yet; and if you wanted to say something subject related you could've said congratulations." Summer said as she hugged Ryan hello and grabbed Seth's hand again.

"Say Congratulations for what?" Ryan asked, completely confused.

"Our engagement silly!" Summer yelled, smiling and acting all chipper and excited.

"You guy's are engaged?" Ryan smiled as to what he thought he just heard.

"You mean… you didn't know?" Summer looked at Seth who was looking to the left and acting like he had not done anything wrong.

"I thought you told him?" Summer got out of her hyper mode and started to feel betrayed by Seth. He turned around and faced Summer, giving her the 'I'm so sorry' look.

"I couldn't… I panicked woman."

-"No don't call me woman Seth. I can not believe you." You get tell Summer was getting angry. She folded her arms and pressed her tongue against her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry,"

-"Wait; I'm still a bit confused. Are you guys getting married or what?" Ryan asked, getting very excited over the event that was about to happen.

"We're engaged." Seth snapped. Hoping to try and convince Summer that he was still in a 'marriage' mood. Summer couldn't help but laugh as she knew exactly what Seth was trying to do. She held his hand again and gave him a loving smile.

"Who else knows?" Ryan asked, becoming really curious of the situation.

"No one. I was planning on telling my parents at dinner which should be any minute right?" Seth looked down at all of the Chinese food containers that were placed inside white plastic bags.

"Yeah, I'll just set it up." Ryan said as he skipped (can you imagine that!) skipped down the isle.

"Summer I know you're probably mad…"

-"It's okay Cohen, I mean I was kind of freaking out upstairs so I guess we're kind of even." Summer smiled and leaned her head on Seth's shoulders.

"Let's do this." Seth said.

Everyone took their seats on the table outside in the patio. Seth and Summer sat next to each other, still clenching hands. Sweat was travelling down Seth's back as he started to get nervous.

"So why doesn't everyone just dig in?" Kirsten suggested. Everyone grabbed their food and placed it on their plate.

"Actually… before everyone starts eating I would like to say something." Seth stood up from his seat and let go off Summer's hand. He took a big gulp and a sip of his water.

"Well, Mum; Dad. As you both know, Summer and I have been together for 3 years now, roughly anyway, and I think you can both say that I've never been happier, then when I'm with her." Kirsten and Sandy looked at each other and smiled. The words they were hearing coming out of their son's mouth was so sweet they couldn't help but think in their head 'awww'.

"So that is why, yesterday; I made a life-changing decision. Which the both of you can choose whether or not you would like to back me up on it, but no matter what you decide, it's gonna happen." Ryan nodded along to Seth's unprepared speech and thought to himself that Seth was actually doing a good job of it.

"Summer and I…. are engaged. I proposed to her yesterday and the only reason I did that was because she means the world to me, and I love her. Both of you know how important she is to me, and I want to spend the rest of my life with no other girl; so I thought to myself. Why not make it sure? And you always taught me that 'the earlier the better', and that's what I think right now." Seth looked into his parent's eyes so intensely. He looked down towards the ground and then towards Summer. She was just smiling up at him and was close to tears over his touching speech. He held his hand out for her and Summer took it without hesitation. Seth put his arm around her and kissed her tenderly.

"I love you Summer."

-"I love you too Cohen."

ATTN: HELLO PEOPLE! Lol, I know I am such a tease but all of you are going to have to wait until chapter 6 to find out what Kirsten and Sandy's thought's about the engagement are. But believe me chapter 6 is one to read. I know I said I might not update until Friday but my brother was finally not hogging the computer for his A-level course work so I thought I would take my chances. Please review, it would mean a lot to me xx