A/N: Again, lovely reviews and thank you so much for leaving them! I had planned on having this chapter up yesterday, which obviously didn't happen. Anyways, thanks for reading and please drop me a review!

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.

My minds all screwed and upside down, but my heart's on overdrive.
--Katy Rose (Overdrive)
A pang of disappointment coursed throughout Summer's body. "It's negative," she said, showing the test to Seth. "But I was sick…and skipping periods..." She didn't understand why she was having the symptoms, but quickly dismissed that part. She had better things to figure out, which was why she was upset. A negative pregnancy test should have had her floating on clouds.

But it didn't. Not really, anyways. She could see the disappointment in Seth's eyes and she swung her hip to bump his. He half-smiled at her and tried to act as if he was happy with the results, when she could tell he was anything but. "Well…I can finally…uh, breathe now," he said, and Summer sighed. "Yeah."

Seth could tell they were both feeling the same way, and he took the test from Summer's hands and tossed it in the trash can. "This is probably for the best, considering your wedding in, count them, three weeks," Seth said, and Summer nodded.

"Yeah, this is totally for the best. Speaking of which, can you watch Caden tonight while Marissa and I go dress hunting?"

Seth looked at the ground. He couldn't help but want that pregnancy test to be positive, and he didn't want to change the subject so casually. "Did you want it to be positive?" Seth blurted out, and Summer's eyes grew.

"What?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Seth rolled his eyes. "I didn't stutter. Did you want the test to be positive?"

Summer sighed and leaned against the wall of the bathroom, staring off into the distance of the tiny room. "A part of me wanted it to be, yeah. But like you said, it being negative is for the best. I'm about to get married, you're dating someone. A baby would really scramble everything, y'know?"

Seth nodded, still not agreeing with Summer but finally willing to let it go. "I can't watch Caden tonight," he jumped topics quickly, and Summer stared at him confusingly. "Why?"

Seth opened the bathroom door. "Like you said, I'm dating someone, and I have a date with that someone tonight," he explained, exiting the bathroom and retreating down the hall.

Summer followed him, confused. "You can't take him with you?"

Seth eyed her. "Are you crazy? I'm not taking my three year old son to a concert. He'll drive me nuts. Besides, taking the kid along definitely means I won't be getting any tonight," he said, even though he knew he wouldn't be "getting any" regardless.

Summer raised her hand to hit his arm, but Seth grabbed it quickly, which further fueled her anger. "Seth, I have to pick out a dress, and I only have three weeks. Can't you and Olivia go out some other time?"

Seth pulled two shirts out of the closet and held them in front of Summer. "Stripes or dots?"

Summer sighed; irritated that he hadn't answered her question. "Cohen, pulease!" she begged, sticking out her bottom lip. Seth laughed. "That's not going to work on me."

Summer bit her lip. "It used to," she observed, and Seth, annoyed, shook the shirts that were in front of Summer's face. "Stripes or dots?" he asked again.

Summer glared at him. "Fine!" she hollered. "I'll take him with me," she said, stomping toward his door, slamming it once she was in the hall.

Seth, bothered, yelled "STRIPES OR DOTS?"

Caden tugged lightly on the white gown Summer had on, and she quickly removed his hand. "No touch," she reminded him, and he pulled his hand out of hers.

"So, what do you think?" Summer asked, spinning around for Marissa, who tilted her head, unsure. "I don't like the neckline on you. It makes you look fat," Marissa said, and Summer huffed. "Well thanks a lot," she said, stepping back into the dressing room.

Caden padded his way over to Marissa, climbing up into her lap. "Aunt Rissa, I'm hungry," he complained adorably, and Marissa pulled some crackers out of her purse. "We'll get you some real food when we leave," she explained to him as he tore open the package of crackers.

Minutes later, Summer came out of the dressing room, layered in fabrics. The bottom layer was aqua, but was faded out by the three layers of white lace and satin that lay above it. Tiny aqua sequins lined the strapless top and sparkled brightly back at Marissa.

Marissa, in awe, gasped. "That's the dress," she said, and Summer smiled, pleased she'd finally found one. "You think?" she questioned, and Marissa nodded. "You look so beautiful, Sum."

Summer swirled around. "I love the back of it," she said, and Marissa agreed. "It reminds me of my cotillion dress," Marissa said. The back had strands of sparkly fabric coming down and spilling over Summer's legs. The train was about two feet, and the veil went down to Summer's lower back.

Summer smiled giddily at her best friend. Her wedding was vastly approaching, and Summer was having mixed emotions. She was happy that her life was finally starting to take off, that she had found the dress, and, to her surprise, planning the wedding was a lot of fun. But she was scared, too, because she didn't want to actually get married. Not to the man she was marrying, anyways.

Summer brushed away the thoughts and looked at herself once more in the mirror before stepping back into the dressing room.

"That was officially," Olivia said, licking her ice cream cone, "…the worst concert ever!"

Seth laughed and took a drink of his shake. "It definitely wasn't exciting," he recalled. Olivia clamped the sand with her toes and then released the grains, letting them fall back into the thousands they were recently with.

"I'm sorry I drug you there," she said, and Seth shook his head. "I didn't go for the concert anyways," he said, and Olivia smiled. "I had to go get one of their awesome shirts. I added to my collection of vintage shirts," he finished.

Olivia elbowed him, laughing. "So how's school going?" she asked him as the mood shifted. "Boring," he replied vaguely as the two finally reached the parking lot.

He opened the door for Olivia, who smiled warmly, and then he jogged to the driver's side, opening the door and sliding in. He was about to start the car when Olivia's hand covered his.

Her usually innocent eyes were now sultry and Seth swallowed, hard. She leaned in slowly, closing her eyes, and Seth did the same, their lips finally meeting. It was slow and gentle but soon turned more heated as their tongues intertwined with one another.

Seth pulled back, gasping, and said "Wait. I don't think we should…do this," he said, and Olivia bit her lip. "Seth, we don't have to have sex. There are…other…things," she said, her cheeks turning a slight red.

She climbed into the backseat and looked expectantly at Seth.

At that moment, Seth realized that he had been waiting, just hoping that maybe he and Summer would somehow salvage their relationship, and the realization that that was never going to happen made him climb into the backseat with Olivia. He wasn't cheating on Summer. She was getting married, and he was moving on.

Even though she hated her step-mom more than just about anything, Summer knew she was hurting still from the loss of her husband, so checking up on her had become a part of Summer's weekly routine.

So there she stood at 9 o'clock, dress in hand and Marissa in tow as she walked into the dark, lifeless mansion. She saw the familiar outline of her step-mom passed out on the couch, and like she always did, Summer went to the bathroom to get a wet washcloth.

Walking over to her, she placed the cloth over her forehead and started grabbing the bottles of medications and alcohol. There was no telling how long she'd been laying there. It could have quite possibly been since the last time Summer had been there.

But she was alive, her chest rising up and down steadily as she slept. Shaking her lightly, the aging woman woke up, glancing around the darkened living room. "Summer?" she asked groggily.

Summer smiled at her step-mom. "I got my dress today. Do you want to see it?"

Summer glanced over at Marissa, who was bringing the dress over. Taking it from her, Summer held the dress in front of her body. Her step-mom smiled, sitting up a little on the couch.

"Your dad would be so proud, Summer," she said, looking at the dress intently. Summer nodded. "I know. And right now, he would be worried sick about you. Are you sure you're okay here by yourself?"

She waved her fragile hand in the air. "I'm just fine," she said. "Don't even ask me if I want someone here all the time, because again, my answer will be no."

Summer sighed. "Okay," she said, handing the dress back to Marissa. "I guess we're going to go then. It's getting past Caden's bed time," she said, and her step-mom nodded understandingly.

Summer picked Caden up from the floor, waving to her step-mother before walking to the door. She looked back at her once more, her body already laying back on the couch.

She was wasting away, literally, and Summer knew that one day, she would come in and not see her chest rising in breaths. Closing the door, Summer skipped down the front steps and to her car.

Summer hung the dress on her closet door, occasionally running her fingers over the fabric. It was a beautiful dress. Sitting on her bed, she looked at the alarm clock.

12:00 a.m.

Seth still wasn't home. She was worried about him. She was worried about her step-mother. She was worried about her wedding. She was worried about her future…her married one.

Summer lied down, her head softly hitting the pillows. Life was a mess.