"The Most Eligible Bachelor"
Summary: Summer and Seth are leading separate lives now, but what happens when Summer's story for a leading magazine forces them together?
Disclaimer: I'd like to stake a claim on Adam Brody's dimples, but really, I don't own any of the O.C. characters or story lines.
Chapter Twenty-Three: The Announcement
The gloomy sky that Summer and Seth awoke to the next day matched their moods perfectly. When the alarm first went off at 10, they decided to lie in bed longer, pretending to sleep to avoid the inevitability that the day would bring.
Summer's flight to New York left the next day, so going back to L.A. would be their final goodbye. Well, at least for now. They both knew what they wanted, but they still had to figure out a way to have it.
Summer lay thinking about the new task that she was about to take on. She was sadder than ever to leave Seth, but excited to return to Cosmo, move into her new office, and take on her new role as assistant editor.
Seth, on the other hand, was stressed about returning to the office Tuesday and training Owen, his new vice president. It wasn't that he didn't like Owen, or wasn't looking forward to getting to know him, it was just that Summer was leaving, and he couldn't deal with the thought of it.
"Cohen, are you awake?" a sleepy Summer muttered around 10:30.
"Mmm, hmm," he said back, looking down on his chest to meet her gaze.
"Let's just stay for a while," she said, pleading with her eyes.
"Yeah," he whispered. "The weather's not too great for sailing anyway," he finished, both accepting the double meaning and holding on to each other tighter.
At around 3:00, after they had laid in bed all day, except for getting up intermittently to use the bathroom, they both agreed that they had to head back to LA. Wearing sullen expressions, they packed everything up and after checking out, headed out the door, towards the boat.
They both gave long looks back at their hotel room in the doorway, trying to take mental pictures to never forget the romantic time they had that weekend.
The trip back was a quiet one. Summer sat on the bow, huddled into a blanket, looking out into the distance, and Seth manned the wheel, letting the wind carry his thoughts away.
They arrived back at the harbor and docked the Summer Dream. Seth took Summer's hand on the walk to the car, and she moved to nuzzle herself into his side, trying to enjoy every last touch for what it was worth.
On the way to Ryan and Marissa's to pick up Blanche (Rooney is fine at the house by himself; he just gets fed daily), Summer prepared herself for goodbyes with Marissa and Ryan. In the scheme of things, she wasn't that sad to say goodbye to them, but it did make her a little emotional at the idea of not being around for Marissa's wedding planning.
In front of the Atwood-Cooper apartment, Seth parked the car. He leaned over to Summer her, catching her off guard, and took her into a tight embrace. "I love you SO much, my little Summer," Seth whispered into her hair, causing her to get an amused smile on her face for the first time that day.
"Shut up, Cohen," she said into his chest, slapping him playfully on the arm. After a moment, she got a serious look on her face, and looked into his eyes. "I love you, too, though."
They got out of the car after a few minutes of holding each other and walked towards the Ryriss apartment. When the door opened, Marissa threw her arms around Summer's neck, causing Summer to smile.
"How was your weekend?" the overexcited blonde asked, while bending down to scoop up Summer's dog.
"It was the best weekend ever," Summer said, giving Seth a knowing smile, before moving to hug Ryan.
Seth gave Marissa an awkward hug and reached out to give his brother a 'man hug.' "So did the little one give you problems all weekend?" he asked, taking Blanche from Summer and letting her lick his face. Ryan just gave Seth a funny look and his typical 'Seth, you are too womanly' head shake.
"We loved having her," Marissa said, giddily. "I was even thinking about asking Ryan if I could get my own little puppy." Ryan's eyes widened at this comment, and Seth just pointed and fake-laughed at him.
"So, guys, thanks a lot for watching her. I just want you to know how good it was to hang out again," Summer said, trying to switch the subject to her leaving so that she could get back and spend the night alone with Seth.
"Oh, Summer," her best friend said, tearing up and moving to hug her again. "I don't want you to go back to New York."
"I know, Coop," she said softly, pushing the lump out of her throat. "But I think that it's going to be a really great opportunity," she finished, trying to convince herself more than her friends.
Summer gave Ryan a farewell hug, whispering "Treat her right, Chino," in his ear. Ryan hugged Summer tightly and gave her a nod when they pulled way.
"Summer, what is that!" Marissa exclaimed, tone turning from emotional to accusing in less than 2 seconds.
"What do you mean?" the brunette asked innocently, casually placing her left hand behind her leg.
Marissa just glared good-naturedly at Summer. "I don't know, maybe the massive chunk of metal and diamond on your ring finger," she said, crossing to pull Summer's hand from behind her back and examining it's new décor.
Ryan shot Seth a curious glance, to which Seth raised his hands in a not-guilty pose, shaking his head.
Realizing all eyes had turned to her for an answer, Summer searched her head in panic, trying to come up with an excuse. Finally, letting out a deep sigh, she looked down at the floor and spoke. "I guess that Cohen and I are…well, we're…I can't really-"
"We're engaged," Seth proclaimed, reaching his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him. "In the sense that, one day, we know we want to be together, forever, but right now, our lives are kind of pulling us in different directions."
It was now Seth's turn to be under the scrutiny of the lens, as his three open-mouthed best friends stared at him in shock. A couple of seconds later, Summer closed her mouth and gave Seth a squeeze of appreciation before turning back to the other pair. "Exactly," she said, coolly. "We're engaged."
Excited at the idea of her confirming his announcement to their friends, Seth picked Summer up and pulled her close until their foreheads touched. "We're engaged," he whispered, grinning ear to ear.
"I know," Summer shrieked back, grabbing his face in her hands and kissing it with intensity. It felt like the first time all day the two had felt genuinely happy about something.
"Oh my God, guys, Congratulations," Marissa yelled, squeezing Ryan's hand to get him to share the same emotion.
"Yeah, man, that's great," he said, genuinely, but with remnants of shock still in his voice.
After the two girls shared the details of the night before and Ryan and Seth had one of their precious brotherly moments, Seth and Summer went to the car, some how happier from having shared their news with the world.
Later that night Seth sat on the couch watching Spiderman, Blanche on one side, Rooney on the other, while Summer packed and made sure she had everything she needed to bring back with her to New York the next day. When she finished, Seth kicked the animals off of the couch, and the two lay face to face, just enjoying each other's company for the last time in the weeks to come.
"How are we going to do this, Seth?" Summer whispered, a bit of doubt in her voice, but sounding like she legitimately wanted and needed everything to work out.
"Well," he started softly, rubbing her face softly with his finger tips, "we'll talk everyday obviously, I mean, via phone, email, sidekick, whatever. And, and I love the brisk east coast weather, so I wouldn't mind coming up at least every couple of weekends."
"And I can come back here more often, too," Summer added. "Maybe I can even see my dad at some point," she muttered dryly.
"I doubt that," Seth said, smiling teasingly, "but it will work."
They sat reassuring each other for a few more minutes. Seth told Summer that he would read every issue of Cosmo, and Summer vowed that she would try to keep up with Atomic County better when she got back home. They decided that they should both take better advantage of their vacations. Summer wanted to go to the Mediterranean in August, and Seth said that he would like to go to this Comic Book convention in Japan in November.
"We can even spend Chrismukkah together now," Seth said, sounding like a little kid. "It might actually be drama-free!"
The pretty brunette raised her eyebrow and smirked. "Cohen, just because it will work, doesn't mean that their won't be drama. We ARE from Newport.
Summer suddenly rose from the couch, chuckling, and jogged in towards her suitcase, bounding back out with a picture frame in her hand.
When she sat down next to Seth, he took the frame from her hand and a wide grin formed on her face.
"It's from the costume party in college," Summer explained, knowing that it was an evening that Seth wouldn't forget.
They had dressed as the Ironist and Little Miss Vixen, and though no one really knew who they were, they had one of the best nights ever. They had spent the night sitting at the bar, drinking beer and watching other people in their costumes. When they went to leave, it was raining, so they took a detour to Central Park and danced in it.
"I don't remember that night as well as the next day," Seth said with a laugh.
"When we laid in bed sick all day. It was fun though," Summer said in a far off tone. "Anyway, I always keep this photo by my bedside, and I just thought that you could have it."
Seth gave her a soft kiss before moving to his bedroom to retrieve a photo from his nightstand. When he returned, he sat next to Summer and handed it to her.
"In that case, I want you to have this photo," he said, smiling and putting his arm around her to look at it. It was a picture taken by Marissa at prom that Seth had kept with him since college. "I go to bed looking at it every night and wake up to it every morning. It was another memorable evening."
Noticing that Rooney and Blanche had fallen asleep, they rose, arm-in-arm, and walked towards the bedroom.
Hours later, they both sat awake, staring at the ceiling.
"It's not goodbye forever, Cohen," Summer said into the night.
"I know, just for now." He paused. "Just for now."
A/N I'll have you know that I am not just a slow updater lately. The damn system had a bug when I tried to submit this morning. I know these chapters have been a little blah lately. I think the next story will please you guys more. Regardless, review me. Please? Peace.