"Seasons Change"

By Sister Rose

Rated R

When Famous99 read this chapter and the next three, she made me rewrite them all, like, a bunch of times. A bunch. So anything you like in here is thanks to her.

The characters of "The O.C." belong to Fox, and no infringement of those rights is intended in this fictional work.

Chapter 15

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Summer sat on a stainless steel seat, scowling.

Really, there was no way to be happy in a prison. But that screaming baby wasn't helping matters.

Nor was the smell: perky Lysol overlaying a thick green coating of vomit and diarrhea scrubbed off linoleum and stainless. Summer remembered the smell from her last trip to prison and from her candy striper days. She hadn't liked it then, either.

She twitched on her chair. At least this time she knew better than to wear a miniskirt that would stick to the stainless. The chair was still about a size too small, though. Summer looked around her at the oversize men and women waiting for their turn to visit families and wondered how they managed to fit on those chairs. She took another look at the woman closest to her. Well, apparently, they squooshed over the sides and didn't fit. Just like that cheap knit top might have fit the woman 20 pounds ago. Now, it was squooshing out some cleavage. And extras.

Summer looked again and looked sharply. Ack! The stretch was revealing something she didn't want to see – something a darker color than the rest of the breast. Something a little closer to the nipple area than she wanted to look.

Summer leaned in Seth's direction.

"Are you even aware how much you owe me?" she whispered.

"I'm beginning to realize," he said grimly. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"You had to come," Summer said. "It wasn't as if you could say no."

"You could have," Seth said.

"I did," Summer said. "You see how well that worked out."

"Yeah, how did that happen anyway?"

"A) You're my friend, and B) Atwood asked me to."

"And that's all it takes?"

"Pretty much," Summer said, sighing. "I'm helpless against him."

An elbow slammed into Summer's ribs. That was the first sign that all was not well in waiting-room-land. The two women screaming at each other in Spanish was the second clue. Summer grabbed Seth's arm and leaned almost into his lap as a prison guard came over to break up the fight.

"Did you catch any of that?" Seth said.

"Something about somebody's boyfriend and somebody's baby," Summer said.

"I thought you took a lot of Spanish in college," Seth said. "Here's your chance for practical application."

"I'm not so hot on the translation part," Summer said. "Just the ordering food part. Quiero dos tacos."

Seth eyed her thoughtfully as the two women who started the brawl were escorted firmly from the room, one of them still screaming imprecations at the other.

"If I tell you something, will you not punch me for it?" he finally said.

Summer looked at him and narrowed her eyes. He was squirming, as if his pants were full of marbles. Knowing Seth, that meant he had a secret. Which meant she could get it out of him.

"Give," she demanded.

"It's about Atwood. Ryan."

Seth suddenly had Summer's undivided attention.

"Are you really helpless against him?" Seth said. "Cause – and this is breaking a confidence, so if you tell him I told you, he'll never trust me again, not that he should, since I'm proving myself untrustworthy by telling you even though you are my best friend and we really shouldn't keep secrets, but he did ask, and I did say yes, which sort of makes me … "

Summer put a well-manicured but uncolored finger in front of his mouth.

"Stop," she said. "Breathe. Then tell me or die."

Seth looked at her over her finger. He pointed to her finger with one of his own. She removed her finger.

"OK," she said. "Now talk."

"Ryan is waiting every day for you to dump him," Seth said.

"What!"

Oops. That unfortunate exclamation had drawn the attention of a big-breasted guard wearing a blue suit, sensible shoes and a glare, who marched toward them with purpose, intent on avoiding a scene like the one she had just broken up.

"Keep it down," she said menacingly.

"Sorry, Officer," Seth said. "She just found out about the twins."

The guard didn't ask more questions. She frowned as if sure she were being mocked and then stomped back to her station.

"The twins?" Summer said.

"It just came into my head," Seth said.

"No doubt put there by the latest comic book," Summer said, "and don't think I don't know you indulge on the sly. Luke might not know, but I do."

"Luke gave it to me," Seth said. "He picks them out for me. It's like a little I-love-you note from Luke and the kind folks at Marvel each month."

"Oh, how sweet," Summer said. She dropped the subject and returned to her first interest. "Why does Atwood think I'm going to dump him?"

"Because all your actions say you're going to dump him?" Seth guessed.

"Which actions are those, exactly?"

Seth counted them off on his fingers.

"One. You told him you'd 'see how it goes for two months.' Well, two months have come and gone, and you haven't said anything to him. Two. You don't ever ask about his job or his work or his interests outside of work. Three. You've never seen his apartment. Four. When you take him out, you don't introduce him to anybody. Like Zach at the restaurant last week.

"Five. Well, five is that Ryan has a name. A name that you don't use. You still talk to him like the hired help. He's not, Summer. He's a great guy, and he's in misery. If you're going to dump him, do it and get it over with. If you're not, you've got to tell him."

Summer turned away from Seth. Those were hard truths to hear. It was worse because they were true.

"I'm waiting for him to get tired of me," she finally confessed miserably. "I didn't mention the two months were up because I hoped he wouldn't notice."

"Like tricking him into dating you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean it like that. And I don't ask about his work because that sounds like I'm asking about money. That's always been a tricky topic between us. You know, that I have it and he doesn't. I have to trust him when he says he can handle his rent and his truck payment. He's never invited me to his apartment.

"And I didn't introduce him to Zach because Zach doesn't deserve the introduction.

"Listen, I know Atwood's a great guy. You don't have to tell me that. He's smart and clever and kind and thoughtful, and he deserves someone better than me. I keep waiting for him to find her.

"I don't want to be dumped, either," she went on sadly. "I've been noticing things lately. Things that make me think he's not interested. Is it so wrong that I don't want to be dumped?"

"You two make me crazy," Seth said. "What sort of things could possibly make you think he doesn't want you anymore?"

"He doesn't stick around anymore," Summer said. "You know, after sex. He used to stay and talk until I had to leave for work. Now he gets up and puts his pants on and goes back to his apartment, where there's probably some trashy Chino ho waiting."

"If you think he has another girl," Seth said in disbelief, "why haven't you dumped him."

Summer hid her face in her hands. She wasn't sure she wanted to go this far in the confession, but she squeezed it out through her fingers.

"I love him," she said, then whispered. "I'll take whatever I can get, for however long I can have it. I know that makes me a pathetic loser, but I don't care."

Seth looked at her with soft brown eyes. He took her hand in his and stroked it with his thumb.

"My sweet Summer," he said gently. "You are such a dope. Ryan loves you, too. He's leaving so he can get to his third job. Because he's trying to save enough money for a project he has in mind so that he can have enough money in the bank to ask you to marry him."