New update! I'm going on vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks so I'll leave you with a double chapter post to keep you going. Thanks again for the lovely reviews again, you guys are fab. Remember to leave a comment! Thanks xox

Now I'm Hiding Myself Behind this Shattered Veil

Spencer wasted no time at all in arranging a very expensive party to celebrate Summer and his engagement along with their arrival in town. Only a week after Summer had arrived, Spencer used the little time he had, now that he was filming, to try and set up a meeting with the company Seth had referred him to. One Tuesday, as he didn't have many scenes that day, he went home and was glad to find Summer was still supervising the Heure D'ete office designing. He grabbed the phone and sat at the kitchen island, hoping someone would pick up.

"Hello?" a female voice answered happily after only two rings.

"Hi, is this NewMatch Dating Agency and Party Planning?"

"Yes it is, hi I'm Kirsten Cohen, how can I help you?"

"I'm Spencer Greene and I'm looking to throw an engagement party, I was referred to you by Seth Cohen."

"Oh great," Kirsten smiled to herself, "well how big are you wanting this party to be?"

"Um quite large, 250 people?"

"Okay and whereabouts are you wanting it thrown?"

"Well we've just moved down to LA, so somewhere around the area would be good."

"Right well I'll have a look for a venue but usually my partner and I like to meet clients beforehand, especially when they're throwing large parties. Maybe for lunch one day this week?"

"That sounds great, how about Friday?" Spencer tried to think of a day when he could get away from work.

"Sure, do you know the Newport Bay Yacht Club?"

"I'm sure I can find it."

"Okay Mr Greene, I'll see you Friday at 1pm, bye."

"Bye."

Spencer hung up and wrote down 'Newport Bay Yacht Club' on the piece of paper he'd torn off of the small notebook in the drawer next to him. He folded it up neatly and placed it in his jeans pocket before walking into the living room and switching on the TV, thinking about the party he was going to throw for Summer and how happy she'd be.

Summer handed her credit card to the cashier, pushing her dark hair off of her face. Even though it was quite a cold day in LA, Summer was really hot and sticky. She hadn't yet adapted to the California weather but was enjoying wearing just a t-shirt rather than a scarf and her long coat. Grace stood at her side and happily pulled her sunglasses back down over her eyes as Summer took back her credit card and the bag with the large pile of clothes the two had just purchased. They exited the store arm in arm and into the bright, sunlit street. Summer happily strode over to a tiny black Porsche and threw in the bags before climbing in herself, Grace doing the same.

"I still can't believe he bought you a car…" Grace mused, stroking the creamy leather seat lovingly, "I know I've asked this before, but does Spencer happen to have say a brother or a clone to lavish gifts on me?" Summer laughed and pulled onto the street.

"Oh Grace, you will find a guy soon, I can feel it. And Spencer didn't have to buy me this, I told him so. I have enough money to buy myself Porsches and cute designer dresses," Summer nodded.

"Still though, he's quite a catch Sum, I don't think you know how lucky you are."

"I know Spencer's a catch, I have this little baby to remind me!" Summer waggled her finger with the huge ring on it and giggled.

The car cruised down the street which was lined with shops. Summer jumped as Grace gasped when they stopped at a red light.

"Summer, look!" she cried. Summer followed her finger and saw a large bridal boutique.

"Oh no, no, no!" Summer shook her head and turned away.

"Aw Sum come on! Please, just a little look?"

"You know I've banned myself from this kinda stuff, I'm not even thinking of getting married yet, I can't."

"How can you not think about it, like you said, you have that little reminder on your finger. Now pull over, pleeeaaaasseee!" Summer looked over at her friend who was now one step away from begging and she sighed.

"Fine. But this is a bad idea."

"YES! Aw, I love you Summer!" Summer shook her head, smiling and pulled over into the parking lot of the store and Grace leapt out, heading for the door.

"Calm down, I'm not trying anything on either, we are just browsing, okay?" Summer said seriously,

"Okay, now come on!" Grace dragged Summer to the door and thy entered and began looking at the dresses.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot, another car pulled up alongside Summer's Porsche. Inside sat two beautiful girls, both quite tall, one blonde, one brunette. They climbed out and headed towards the store, both laughing. The brunette removed her shades and they entered through the door. The store was quite empty apart from two other girls and the assistants stood behind the counter. One looked up and smiled as she saw the two girls enter.

"Shelley! Oh what are you doing here?" the assistant smiled, rushing over to the brunette. Shelley smiled and hugged her.

"Hi Suzy! I'm checking out the competition," she smiled with a joking wink.

"Oh yeah, how's business going?"

"Great, I'm thinking of setting up a store and I love the layout of this one, you don't mind me taking a look around?"

"No not at all," Suzy's gaze went over to the girl stood beside Shelley.

"Oh sorry, this is my friend Marissa, she's in fashion too." Marissa shook hands with Suzy and they excused themselves to look around the store.

"Oh Summer, this veil is so cute!" Grace picked up a gorgeous, pure white veil and Summer stroked it, butterflies raging in her stomach. She turned to look at the tiara's placed carefully in a display cabinet and Grace walked over to look at more dresses. Summer scanned across the intricate detail on each of the tiara's. It hadn't really dawned on her yet, the enormity of what was coming up. The dresses, the venue, the hair, the make-up. It all had to be perfect and it made Summer incredibly nervous just thinking about it. She picked up a little fake white rose that was laid beside a particular dress and she ran her fingers over the creamy silk. Then, suddenly, the sound of one voice made her blood turn to ice and her heart stop beating.

"Can we go to Kitson after this? Ryan's taking me out to dinner tonight and I need something new to wear…"

"Sure, I wanna go there too, I saw a gorgeous pair of tailored shorts there the other day. Hey Riss, what do think of the archway thing they've got going on here?"

Summer slowly backed away from the dress and, hiding behind the mannequin, peered around to confirm her suspicions. There she stood. Marissa Cooper. Coop. She hadn't changed a lot, her hair was a little shorter and blonder but apart from that, she was the same old Coop Summer had grown up with and left behind.

Summer's heart pounded and she tiptoed over to Grace. She couldn't deal with going over to Marissa right now. She'd have to fill her in on the last five years including her engagement to Spencer. Summer just couldn't face doing that right now in the middle of Pearly Perfection Bridal Boutique. Summer prodded Grace in the back and shoved her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't say anything.

"We gotta go, now." Grace nodded, looking slightly scared and the two carefully darted out of the store, dodging Marissa and her friend. Once outside, Summer ran to her car, Grace following and they drove off as fast as Summer could.

"Okay, you wanna tell me what that was all about?" Grace asked. Summer sighed.

"You that know I'm from Cali originally? And I told you how when I left, I kinda upset a lot of people?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the tall blonde girl in the store? That was my best friend, Marissa."

"So why didn't you go and say hey?"

"I…its too hard. There was a huge part of me that didn't want to come back to Cali, there's… too many memories…" Summer sighed and sadly looked out at the road. Grace watched her best friend, knowing this was something she felt strongly about.

"So why did you still come?"

"Spencer. I mean even if he hadn't have proposed, I probably would've still moved. He means too much to me and this is his dream, I couldn't ask him to give it up for me… I may be shallow but I'm not selfish." Grace smiled at Summer and rubbed her arm soothingly.

"If you ever wanna talk… you know I'm here." Grace added, smiling. Summer looked at her friend and nodded.

"I know, thanks."

"Seth? Seth are you here?" Shelley entered the quiet, dark house and sighed as she didn't get a reply. She had hardly seen Seth these past few weeks, he was always working and whenever he wasn't, he was always tired and just slept. Shelley was getting sick of it. She put down her shopping bags, looking in one bag. Inside it laid a very expensive set of lingerie which she had bought on the off chance Seth would come home tonight. She sighed heavily, fishing the receipt out of her purse. She'd return it tomorrow, he'd blown it.

She was placing the receipt inside the bag when she heard the faint sound of music drifting in from the living room. Shelley frowned and, carrying her bags, walked through and what she saw made her smile. Rose petals were sprinkled all over the floor and on the coffee table lid a large bunch of red roses. Two large glasses of wine sat beside the flowers and a dozen candles illuminated the dim room. She felt someone behind her and an arm produced a rose in front of her face. She turned around where she saw Seth smiling.

"Aw Seth! You did this?"

"No, I was just going to call the police, someone must have broken in or something…" Shelley giggled and Seth smiled back.

"Yeah I did this. We haven't seen a lot of each other lately so I thought you'd feel better with a grand romantic gesture which are just my specialty."

"Your specialty? How often do you use them?" Seth decided to choose his words very carefully.

"Um, I guess its just beginners luck…" Shelley nodded and walked over to pick up the wine glasses, handing one to Seth.

"So? You had a busy day?" Seth asked. Shelley held her finger to her lips to tell Seth to be quiet.

"We don't need to talk about work…" She walked over and placed a lingering kiss on her lips.

"Okay… I'm shutting up…"

"You'll have something to talk about in a minute, there may be a gift for you in one of those bags… try the little one." Shelley took a sip from her wine glass, and watched as Seth picked up the littlest bag. He pulled out the bra and grinned, holding it up to his chest.

"Aw thank you! It might be the wrong size though and its not really my colour…" he joked. Shelley laughed and took it out of his hands, reading the label.

"Mmm, well it looks like my size and my colour. What are the odds?" she smiled, "I should go see if it fits…" She smiled and left the room leaving Seth to blow out the candles and follow her.

Spencer got out of his car and looked up at the large building. 'Newport Bay Yacht Club', the sign read. He checked it alongside the piece of paper in his pocket and nodded. He locked his car and headed into the building.

"Hi, I'm meeting Kirsten Cohen… the reservation might be under NewMatch?" Spencer said to the Maitre'D.

"I'll show you to the table, they arrived a couple of minutes ago." Spencer was led into the lage dining room to a table where two women sat. One with medium length blonde hair who was sipping a glass of water and one with long red hair and bright green eyes who was playing with the olive in her martini. They both rose as Spencer approached.

"Hi, I'm Kirsten Cohen," the blonde woman smiled, shaking Spencer's hand.

"And I'm Julie Cooper Nichol," the red head said, also shaking his hand.

"I'm Spencer Greene, its nice to meet you both, shall we?" The three sat down and Spencer ordered a glass of water.

"So… Seth referred you?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, he's directing the movie I'm filming right now," Spencer smiled proudly.

"Ooh, you're working on 'A Lack Of Colour'? Oh… you're Spencer!" Julie exclaimed.

"Yeah, Seth's a great guy. Do you know him then?"

"He's my son," Kirsten replied, smiling.

"Oh right! Oh yeah, you're name's Cohen… This is why I'm an actor and not a scientist." The three all laughed and looked at their menu's. They ordered their food and got straight onto the subject.

"So, its an engagement party you're wanting?"

"Yeah, my fiancée and I are new to town, well actually she used to live here but moved away a few years ago."

"Where are you from?"

"New York, lived there most of my life but my Mom's French so I spent a lot of my childhood there too," Spencer nodded.

"Well based on the thing you said to me on Tuesday, I came up with a few locations…" Kirsten got out a small folder and produced some glossy photos along with a sheet full of information.

"Okay, so we have the Four Seasons, the Wilshire Grand and the Mondrian Hotel. All are in LA so it'll be easy for you to find, is this all okay so far? Feel free to jump in with anything," Kirsten smiled reassuringly.

"You ladies sound like you know what you're talking about…" Spencer shrugged. Kirsten and Juile smiled and Julie took the first photo.

"There's the Wetherly Gardens at the Four Seasons. Its all outdoor beside the fountain and its really beautiful You'll need a reception style layout and this one seats around 200 people."

"There's the Wilshire Grand with a range of rooms but probably the best is the Garden West with a 250 capacity."

"And finally the Mondrian Hotel, lovely and secluded and so beautiful. A wide range of venues but we'd recommend the Asia de Cuba restaurant space which can hold up to 225 people." Julie and Kirsten looked up expectantly at Spencer who took a deep breath.

"I'm totally outta my league here…" he sighed.

"Listen, you ladies really look like you really know what you're doing and I really don't so maybe we could come to some kind of arrangement…"

"What kind of arrangement?" Julie asked, frowning.

"I really like this place," Spencer pointed to the Mondrian Hotel picture, "I'll draw up a list of people I'd like to invite and I'll leave all the other choices concerning table-cloths and flowers up to you two?"

"Spencer, we've dealt with a lot of male clients and trust me, you are not nearly as hopeless as some of the others," Julie smiled, patting his hand.

"You said your fiancée's from around here, what's her name? We may even know her." Kirsten reached for her glass and began to drink.

"Oh yeah sorry, her names Summer, Summer Roberts…" Suddenly Kirsten began to choke on her water. She spluttered and began to rapidly turn bright red. Julie tried to maintain her cool and patted Kirsten on the back.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked worriedly. Kirsten took a deep breath as Julie glared at her.

"Must have gone down the wrong hole…" she muttered, smiling.

"Summer? That's a lovely name…" Julie replied with a warm smile.

Kirsten and Julie watched Spencer drive away as they parted company at the end of their lunch.

"Summer? Summer!" Julie cried, turning to face Kirsten.

"I know, it was the reason I nearly choked to death! What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean? We're taking this job Ki-Ki, this guy is practically writing us a blank cheque. He said himself he doesn't care how much it costs. We can't not take this," Julie protested.

"I just can't believe Summer's back…"

"Seth's got Shelley now, they're totally loved up as well, he'll be fine!"

"I know that's probably true but I my mothers intuition is ringing alarm bells. This isn't good Julie, when she left, it tore Seth apart…"

"I don't know how he doesn't know yet. Spencer's working for him!"

"Whichever way he's told this, it isn't going to work out well… I can feel it."

"So are you going to tell him?"

"I really don't know…"

Summer's near run in with Marissa today had really thrown her. Even though ever since she'd touched down in LA, she'd told herself that she would try her best to out the past where it belonged, behind her. But how she felt now verified that she was no where near ready to put the past behind her. And she hadn't even seen Seth yet. Boy was she in trouble. Just like the people, Summer Roberts wouldn't be able to hide from her past forever.

And little did she know, it was nearer to catching up with her now than ever…