A/N: Okay! New chapter:D I loved your reviews! I'm going to explain some stuff about the last chapter. Michael Ann was feeling a little left out. I know when I used to feel like that I immediately wanted to break the other two apart:O HA. Not that I do it or anything… :) Er, oh yeah! Not much drama in there because Summer wants to be with Seth but can't until she has done her mother duties:D Super mom, baby! And… ummm…. Well, you'll find out more in this chapter:D I had loads of fun writing this one because it's the bond between father & daughter- something I'm a fan of. You'll also get a peak of the other characters! In this chapter you learn more of Michael Ann's personality. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I'm in love with a stripper
The door slammed shut, and Seth just stood there.
"So," Michael Ann began. "this ice cream isn't bad at all." she said as she and Seth came out of Jerry's ice cream shop.
"Mmmhmmm" Seth replied, his mouth full of chocolaty goodness. He was devouring the ice cream like a monster would. The two were spending the Saturday together because Summer had to work all day. The spring fashion deadline was soon.
Michael Ann watched Seth with amusement.
Seth noticed this and finally swallowed. "What?" he asked with chocolate smeared all over his face.
Michael Ann just shook her head with a smile. "Oh nothing important." she said.
Seth whipped his mouth with his sleeve.
Michael Ann made a face. "Very attractive, Seth." she commented.
Seth smiled. "Thanks, now why were you smiling?"
Michael Ann laughed. "Because the first thing you did when we walked in that shop was say 'oooh! Chocolate!' immediately like a little boy. Now we come out here and you are just…. Licking away, again, like a little boy" she finally answered.
Seth chuckled. "Eating ice cream is an art."
"Oh really?" Michael Ann asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Mmhmm. But in California we perfected our talents with balboa bars. In fact, me and my best buddy slash brother used to have contests to see who could eat the balboa bar the best. The ladies were the judges of course." Seth said, nodding his head knowingly.
Michael Ann was interested. "Cool. And who is your best buddy slash brother?"
"Ryan Atwood." Seth replied while munching on his cone.
"And the ladies were…?" she asked.
"Summer and Marissa Cooper." he replied without hesitating. He had finished off his ice cream and was now looking at Michael Ann's.
Michael Ann handed Seth her ice cream as if it were an everyday thing. Sort of like a reflex. "Okay, and um, who are Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper?" Michael Ann asked as if nothing happened.
Seth stopped dead in his tracks.
Michael Ann stopped as well. "What?" she asked.
"Summer never told you about Ryan and Marissa?" he asked her.
Michael Ann shook her head. "no.." she said slowly. "I mean, not that I know of… or remember. But the names do sound familiar." she replied.
"Oh, okay.." Seth resumed walking.
Michael Ann followed suit.
"Well, like I said, Ryan is my brother, my adoptive brother anyway and-"
"-so he's my uncle?" Michael Ann cut in.
Seth took a moment. "Uh, yeah, I guess he is…. Man, I need to tell him that." he realized.
Michael Ann nodded her head. "So… no one knows about me then?"
Seth looked at her. Her face looked kind of sad. "Well, not yet… they'll know soon.. We're just waiting for the right time to tell them. I mean, I was surprised when I found out." he said, trying to comfort her.
Michael Ann look at Seth and smiled. "yeah, that'd be cool. I want to meet them. So um, and who is Marissa Cooper?"
"She was Summer's best friend and the girlfriend of Ryan. She was one of my best friends too. Actually, she was the friend I told you about who was in design."
Michael Ann realized this. "Oh yeah…" she said slowly. "Riiiiiiight. When you were trying to get my mother's name. Smooth." she said with a twinkle in her eye.
Seth nodded his head once in pride. "Yeah, well, I can be pretty stealth." he said.
Michael Ann laughed. "I'm suuuuure. Because my mom just LOVES to tell lies."
Seth opened his mouth in a fake gasp. "Your mom has been talking about me!" he asked in 'astonishment'.
"Oh yeah, alllllll the time. You should feel special" she replied.
Seth's smile got bigger. "Well, actually, I do." he laughed.
"So, back to our earlier subject. Marissa still Ryan's girlfriend?" she asked Seth.
Seth shook his head. "No, they broke up in college.. It was ugly."
Michael Ann's eyes widened. "Awww, yeah? What happened?"
Seth looked up into the sky, wondering if he should answer it. HA, as if he couldn't. "Well, basically Ryan got accepted to a college transfer across the country and wanted Marissa to go with him. But the college he was going to transfer to didn't hold her major so she couldn't leave. They were both depressed and hated it. They both blamed each other to the point where they got into a big fight and called it quits. I think that's what happened anyway. You see, Ryan doesn't like talking about… not that he talks much anyway."
Michael Ann was silent. "Do they still love each other?" she finally said.
Seth nodded his head. "Yeah, I think so. They were just stupid at the time."
"What happened after that?" she asked.
"Uhmm…" Seth began. What happened? Oh yeah. "..he went to the college, depressed as hell and Marissa stayed in school. After she graduated though, she went away from everyone. I think she hated being reminded. I still talk to her though. She keeps in touch with me and my parents. How's life and what not. She admitted she still thinks of Ryan, actually. But Ryan doesn't know I talk to her, and she doesn't want him knowing."
Michael Ann frowned. "Aww, that's so sad. I mean… I hate it when two people break up if they're still in love, you know?" she asked him.
Seth's smile faded and looked down to the ground. "Yeah.." he responded.
Michael Ann bit her lip. "Seth, I talked to mom…"
Seth's head went up. "yeah?" he asked.
Michael Ann nodded her head. "She told me what happened. I mean, she didn't give me details," ew. "But she gave me the jist. That you wanted to hang out with me more before anything happened, right?" she asked him.
"Yeah" he replied.
The two came to a bench and they both sat down. By now Seth had already finished the ice cream. He was staring at the ground. Michael Ann was staring at Seth, trying to see herself in him.
"She say anything else?" Seth asked quietly.
"Uh, Yeah, she did. But I don't know if I should tell you. It's mom-daughter confidentiality." She replied with a wink.
Seth nodded his head in acknowledgment. "That's fair…." He sounded so sad.
"She misses you, though." Michael Ann said hopefully. She was trying to comfort him.
Seth looked up at Michael Ann and slightly smiled. "I do too." he responded quietly.
Michael Ann sighed. "I know I sounded selfish on the phone… but I didn't think it would have made an effect on your relationship." she stated.
Seth chuckled. "No, it's not your fault. Your messages just made us realize what we were doing." he looked back up to the sky. "We were rushing." he said loudly.
Michael Ann understood. "She was always one to care and worry about that stuff. This one time, I was rushing to school and I ran across a red light on the street and almost got hit by a car and mom yelled at me."
Seth looked at Michael Ann and laughed. "Mike, she suppose to yell. You did a bad thing. It's her job."
Michael Ann opened her mouth. "But I almost died! And she yelled at me!"
Seth shook his head with a smile. "Did she at least ask you if you were okay first?"
"yeeee-aaaah.." she said slowly. "what's your point…?"
Seth coughed. "Never mind."
Michael Ann giggled. "Okay."
Seth decided to change the subject. "So… what's going to happen with soccer?"
"Oh, mom went over to my coach's office and tried to explain what happened, you know, the situation.. But he wouldn't have any of it. I've officially been suspended."
"Yeah, I know that. I mean, I tried to talk to him the other day too, during my free period.."
Michael Ann smiled. "you tried to help me too?" she asked.
Seth nodded. "yeah, didn't help much. He has, however, become suspicious with why I was trying to help you. I think he's gunna pull a Mr. Vernando." he replied.
Michael Ann laughed. "A Mr. Vernando?"
"That's right. It's the new name for 'let's get rid of this teacher because he is sexually harassing a student'."
"Uh huh." Michael Ann said. "Right."
Seth smiled. "it's teacher talk."
Michael Ann rolled her eyes. "of course."
"oh, and how is your friend… ummm.." Seth furrowed his eye brows in concentration. "her name…" she muttered to himself. "OH! Natalie. How's your friend Natalie?"
Michael Ann burst out laughing. "Man.. You don't want to know Seth. It's…. I'll tell you someday. Just not today… deal?"
"Okay…" he replied slowly. "So how is it, anyway?" Seth asked her out of the blue.
"How's what?" she asked.
"Having your dad as a teacher?"
Michael Ann pondered the question. "Interesting. Doesn't feel much different. You're just cooler than the rest." she replied with a dazzling smile. Just like her mother.
"That's nice to know. I'm cool." Seth replied with a grin. He just stared at her as she started playing with her bracelets.
She noticed this. "What?" she asked him.
"You look just like your mother" he said.
"Yeah? You think?" She's heard it before. But not from the guy who was in love with her mother.
"Yeah, and trust me, that is a major compliment coming from me." he replied.
"I thought so… but her hair is a lot nicer than mine." she complained.
Seth laughed. "Well, that's because you got my hair, kid."
Michael Ann glared at him. "So you're the culprit."
"Guilty like a mouse who stole cheese."
Michael Ann just realized something. "Oh hey! Seth! YOU got me engaged into a conversation! It takes mom a while to do that, so I give you bonus points!"
Seth looked at Michael Ann through the corner of his eye. "Hmm, and is that a good thing?" he asked.
"Oh yes, definitely. Mom is always trying to win points. To tell you the truth, I got it from her. I'm always trying to earn points as well. Did mom give you any yet?" She looked at him and asked.
Seth thought for a moment. Then he remembered she did last time. "Yeah.. You were there, remember?" he looked back at her.
"No" she replied. "But if she did, that's all that matters."
Seth nodded his head in agreement. "So why do you do the whole point thing, anyway?"
Michael Ann searched for the right words. "Well…" she began. "We don't do it that much. It's quite rare when we use the whole point thing. Basically everyone uses the point thing. You know, when you meet someone you're like, 'I like this about so-and-so' or 'I hate this about so-and-so'. That whole pros and cons thing. Well, we call them points. When we see something we don't like, it's like mental point deducting. If we really like something and comment about points out loud, then we really like it. Do you get it?" She asked after her explanation.
Seth again nodded his head. "As weird as it may seem… I do."
Michael Ann laughed. "Good. Most people don't really understand us.. So, I give you more points, Seth." She replied with a smile.
"Cool." Seth replied, trying to keep cool. He wouldn't admit he was happy. 'Yes! I got more points!' Seth thought.
Michael Ann giggled. "Yeah…"
The two sat together in comfortable silence, watching the sun set slowly.
"So this is nice." Seth said after a while.
"Yeah, it is." Michael Ann agreed.
"You need to see the sun in Cali though, now THAT is something." he said.
"I'd think so. Mom used to talk about the environment and weather there all the time. She hates the cold."
Seth laughed. "Yeah, that seems like something Summer would think. She never wanted to leave Newport."
Michael Ann sighed. "Yeah… man, I can't wait to see it."
Seth looked down. "Eh, well, it's nothing that great… but I guess in your point of view, it must be something."
Michael Ann thought for a moment. "Yeah, it is. It's the place where my parents grew up, how is that NOT interesting?" she asked.
"I didn't say it wasn't… just.. Never mind" he responded.
"Okay" she agreed. "…So what are your thoughts on Jane Eyre going back to Mr. Rochester after he broke her heart the first time, not to mention the fact he also became blind and crippled?" She asked to change the subject.
Seth just stared at her, his mouth slightly opened. "..You're 12, right?"
Michael Ann nodded. "yeah.." she said slowly. "By the way, what is with all that 'the cay' crap? Shouldn't we be reading better books than THAT?" she asked him.
Seth laughed.
Michael Ann glared at him. "What?" she asked, confused.
Seth got quite. "..God, you are so smart." he finally said. "You should be in high school to read that."
Michael Ann smirked. "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I will. I do love to read, and I am better than some of the people in my class." she said with a proud grin.
Seth laughed again. "Man.. You should be doing normal 12 year old stuff… instead of reading 'big books' and talking about sex, seriously." he said.
This time Michael Ann laughed. "Yeah? Like what? What does a normal 12 year old do? Huh?"
Seth was silent.
"Yeah, I thought so. There are girls who are much worse than me…. 12 year old whores, to be exact. Just trying constantly to be older than they really are…"
Seth nodded his head in agreement.
"So, Seth, tell me what you did when you were 12." She asked him with a grin.
Seth answered without hesitation. "Oh that's easy. Video games, Comic books, and…" he trailed off. He suddenly got really red in the face.
Michael Ann was amused. "Yeah…." she replied, urging him to go on.
"…and girls." he finished.
Michael Ann laughed. "See! Sex indulged!"
Seth put his hands up in defense. "Nono, I didn't even THINK about sex… Not with her anyway." he said.
Michael Ann giggled. "And who is that girl?" she asked.
Seth's face got redder. Why should he be embarrassed to admit it was Summer Roberts? "..Summer." he finally said.
Michael Ann's eyes widened. "You've been in love with mom for THAT long?" she asked him.
Seth nodded. "Since the third grade… well, technically it was the 5th grade, I just began liking her in the 3rd grade.. But when I was 10, I knew she was the one." he stated.
Michael Ann nudged Seth in the ribs. "Awww, look at that, my dad is an old softy."
Seth pulled away. "Stop it" he whined.
"a true romantic" she continued.
Seth laughed. "I'm serious. Stop it, it's not funny."
"Oh yeah, you really are serious… especially with all the laughing." she stopped nudging him and smiled.
"So, your mother didn't tell you anything about our past?" He asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Well, she did, but she failed to mention you were in love with her for THAT long. She said a long time, but I was thinking more of a high school crush thing…. Not a elementary thing."
Phew. "Okay, good. I was worried she didn't care.. Or even remembered." He answered.
They both went silent again.
Just then, Seth's cell phone began ringing. It was Summer.
"Good afternoon, gorgeous" he said into the phone.
Michael Ann grimaced and new immediately it was her mother.
Seth saw her face and poked her.
She poked back.
"Hey Cohe…-Seth" Summer answered back. She heard Michael Ann giggled. She didn't want to admit it, but she was jealous…. Of her own daughter! 'But it was my decision' she reminded herself.
"what's up?" he asked her.
"Oh nothing much except Natalie is here waiting for Michael Ann…. I can hear her in the background.. Having fun?" she asked.
Seth nodded his, only she couldn't see him. "Yeah," he replied. "It's pretty good so far. Granted, all we've done is talk.. But it's still a nice way to hang out…"
"Yeah," Summer replied softly. "So, er, anyway… can I talk to Michael Ann for a bit?" she asked him. Talking to him wasn't that easy.
"Yeah, hold on a sec," he replied, handing the phone to Michael Ann.
She was right, it was her mother. "Hey mom!" Michael Ann said cheerfully in the phone. "What's going on?"
"Natalie's here waiting for you… remember that whole girls thing?" Summer replied.
Michael Ann's eyes widened as she remembered. "oh yeah! I totally forgot. Okay, tell her I'll be there soon…… mmmhmm…. Okay, yeah, sure, alright…. Love you too, mom." she then handed the phone back to Seth. "she wants to talk to you" she said.
"Hello?" he asked into the phone.
"Hey C-Seth, GOSH. That's hard. Sorry, er, yeah, anyway. I just wanted to say thank you for taking care of her when I had to work.." Summer replied, she sounded embarrassed.
Seth smiled. He was making her squirm. "Yeah, no, it's not problem. We were gunna hang out sooner or later, isn't that right Mike?" he asked Michael Ann, nudging her on the side.
Michael Ann rolled her eyes as she waited for the conversation to end.
"She rolled her eyes, didn't she?" Summer asked Seth.
"You bet she did." he replied.
Summer smiled. He couldn't see her, but he could tell she was smiling.
"So, I have a lot of work to do… but call me later, okay? We need to talk about Christmas break, right? So… yeah, basically I just wanted to say thanks… and uh," she thought for a moment. She sounded like an idiot. "Well, yeah, okay." she laughed. "Bye, Seth."
Seth chuckled. "Bye… Summer." and clicked the phone off.
"Awkward?" Michael Ann asked once Seth stuck the phone back into his pocket.
Seth nodded his head sadly. "Yeah, sort of. I guess she's feeling weird about the whole thing…"
"Well, that's a good thing… I think. When she becomes awkward, it usually means she's fighting anticipation."
Seth thought for a moment. "Oh yeah! That's right……. I remember this one time.." he looked at Michael Ann through the corner of his eye. "…never mind, maybe when you're older." he finished. He wasn't going to tell her about the one time when Ryan and Marissa bet him and Summerthey couldn't keep their hands off each other for at least a month. They weren't allowed to kiss or do any 'love making' as Ryan put it to annoy Seth. Of course, they failed miserably. They only got as far as a week. It was a saturday and there they were, Seth and Summer, sitting on a couch doing nothing. Summer knew it wasn't going to work. She needed to kiss him. From an outsider's point of view, it looked really awkward. Like one of them walked on the other naked or something. But from there point of veiw, they were just waiting for the other to make the first move. Which one will breakdown first? Summer knew it'd be Seth.
Michael Ann raised an eyebrow. "No, it's fine. I definitely don't want to know."
Seth laughed. "True." he said. "So then," he stood up.
Michael Ann did the same.
"Let's get you home, shall we?" he asked.
Michael Ann nodded her head. "Yeah, okay. Nat's waiting for me. Besides, I need to talk to mom about something anyway." she said and began walking ahead of Seth.
Seth stopped for a moment. "Hey, Mike?" he asked.
Michael Ann turned around. "Hmm?" she replied.
"Why do you always refer to Summer as 'mom' but you don't call me 'dad'?" he asked her, feeling a little left out and, well, heck, unloved.
Michael Ann thought for a moment. "Well, Seth," she said, "you gotta earn it."
A/N: If you don't understand my disclaimer, it's okay. Just ask and I shall explain it in the next chap. Also, this chapter may be bland or boring. But guess what? The next chapter should be interesting (I hope!) so just bear with me:D I also hope you like Michael Ann. I think she's kind of cool. I had a better chapter of this, but like most things, I couldn't remember what they originally say. So now, I've decided to write down my thoughts whenever I get some good ideas! I usually get best ideas while doing something random, like brushing my teeth. HA. ER, yeah. Okay. Well, I hope you liked it! R&R!
