So today I'll post the funeral chapter, with the tension between Seth and Summer rising… how couldn't it, they're going to California together! lol And I know you all hate Craig, so I'll give you a little timeout from him for this chapter ;)
I hope you like it and please review! Thanks! :)
The Last Goodbye"Well, if that isn't Summer Roberts!" Sandy's eyes grew wide as he spotted Summer walking up towards him at the airport, but he smiled. Firstly because she had her arm linked through her son's, and secondly because she seemed to be more adult every time he saw her, and seeing the teenage girl his son had fallen in love with a few years ago grow into a beautiful young woman made him sort of proud, even if Summer wasn't his daughter.
Summer unlinked her arm from Seth's and gave Sandy a friendly hug. "Hey Sandy." She said and smiled her typical Summer-smile. "How are you?"
Sandy waved a hand and put his hands on her shoulders, examining her from head to toe. "Always the same, you know. But look at you-" he smiled, "all grown up and so beautiful."
"Sandy…" Summer looked down and bit her lip, blushing a little. Despite being confident she always blushed when she got a compliment, but she couldn't help it.
"Dad, stop hitting on her, she's got a boyfriend, you know." Seth said and came hobbling up to his father and Summer, a sad look on his face that almost broke Summer's heart every time she saw it.
"Really? Too bad." Sandy said and winked at Summer who blushed again. He walked over to his son and gave him a tight hug, trying to comfort him a little.
Normally Seth thought too long hugs with your parents were kind of embarrassing, especially in public places like an airport, but he had decided the moment he had left his Chicago apartment in the morning that the death of his grandfather was bigger than any possible public embarrassment people who wanted to comfort you could give you.
"How are you?" Sandy asked into Seth's ear, and Seth pulled out of the hug, looking on the ground and shrugging. "Could be better." He answered honestly and Sandy laid an arm around his son's shoulders. He pointed to Summer with his head and winked at her again. "But I see you've got nice company."
Seth nodded. "Yeah, Amy's sick, so… I needed support, with my leg and everything." He said and squirmed to get out of Sandy's embrace.
The same looked at Summer who smiled at Seth's explanation, since she clearly remembered Seth wanting her to come with her for a whole different reason.
"I see." Sandy said and clapped his hands. "So let's get your luggage and get home. Get ready for the whole Nichol family gathered there." He added and rolled his eyes.
Seth looked at Summer with raised eyebrows, shaking his head. "That's great. I'm already feeling sorry for you."
Summer laughed and shook her head, linking her arm through Seth's again. "Come on, they can't be that bad. They're your family." She said and tilted her head.
Seth nodded. "That's my point exactly."
When Sandy had talked about the "whole Nichol family", he had definitely exaggerated, Seth noticed that the minute he entered his parents' house, earlier than he had planned. The next visit to California should have been one or two weeks before the finals for his mother's birthday, but now he was here again, this time for a whole unpleasant reason.
When they entered the living room the first people he spotted were his aunt Hailey and her fianceé Jared, Julie Cooper-Nichol, and Caleb's sister Mary who, if you knew her finances and regarded the fact that she hadn't spoken to Caleb for over ten years, had clearly just come for the reading of Caleb's will, since a fund they had shared was now all hers. Sweet relatives.
They were all sitting around the living room table, looking at old photos and newspaper cutouts. When Sandy, Summer and Seth entered the house, everyone greeted them with waves and hellos, and Seth and Summer waved back politely while Sandy brought their suitcases upstairs in their rooms.
When everyone's attention was focused on the photos again, a little head with long brown curls poked around the corner, a big smile spreading across the girl's cute little face when she saw her brother had finally arrived.
"Seeeeth!" Lilly squeaked and ran up towards her brother, hugging his waist tightly. "You're here!"
Seth smiled and kneeled down to Lilly as best as he could, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Of course I am. Did you think I'd leave you alone during all of this?"
Lilly smiled and shook her head, breaking off into another round of squeeing when she saw Summer standing behind Seth, smiling warmly at the cute brother-sister scene.
"Summy!" Lilly yelled and ran over to Summer to hug her in the same stormy way she had just hugged Seth. "I love you."
Summer hugged Lilly back and laughed. "Aww baby you're so sweet! I love you too." she examined Lilly from head to toe and gasped. "Wow, and you've grown so much since Chrimukkah, it's amazing. You're almost taller than me!"
"Well, that's not an art." Seth said from the background and smiled to himself at the joke he had just made.
He was not prepared for the slap on the back of his head Summer gave him for that comment, pretending to be offended by his joke.
"Hitting is not allowed!" Lilly yelled and put both of her hands over her mouth in shock.
"It is for me." Summer said and winked at Seth, giving him an innocent smile. "You know baby, I'm not hitting your brother. I'm just trying to awake his brain so it might start working again."
Lilly stared at Summer with her eyes wide open. "I don't get that." She simply said and took Seth and Summer by their hands, pulling them behind her in the direction of the kitchen. "Come say hi to Mommy, she's so sad."
Seth and Summer gave each other a look and Summer gently pulled her hand out of Lilly's grip, causing her to stop. "You know what sweetie," Summer said and looked back and forth from Seth to Lilly, "why don't you come with me when I say hi to your auntie and everyone… and Seth goes and sees your Mommy."
Lilly let go of Seth's hand and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You're bad at making excuses." She said. "You can tell me that Seth wants to talk to Mommy alone."
Despite the sadness he was feeling Seth had to laugh, and so did Summer. Sometimes Lilly acted like there was no way that she was only six years old. "Okay then, next time I'll try and find a better excuse." Summer said and took Lilly's hand again while her other hand squeezed Seth's arm as she made her way to the living room table.
Seth smiled sadly at Summer's try to comfort him and slowly made his way into the kitchen, almost scared of what might await him there. He had expected to see his mother weeping over a glass of wine or something, but the image he got when he entered the Cohen kitchen was different. Kirsten sat at the dining table with her back turned to him, twisting a glass of water between her fingers, her head bowed slightly. Her body didn't shake from crying, she just sat there, quiet, and stared at her hands.
Seth cleared his throat, his heart bumping hard on his chest as his mother slowly turned around.
Kirsten's face lit up when she saw her beloved son standing in the kitchen entrance, giving her a shy smile. "My baby." She whispered and stood up to give her son a tight embrace, trying to blink back some tears.
"Hey Mom." Seth whispered into Kirsten's ear, closing his eyes and actually enjoying his mother's hug. "How are you?"
Kirsten pulled back and forced a smile, trying to seem okay. "I'm dealing with it." She said and looked away. "I had time to prepare for it."
At that comment, Seth bit his lip and nodded. "You had." He replied. "Lilly and me? Not so much."
Kirsten blinked back a few tears and stroked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm so sorry about everything, sweetie."
Seth sighed and put his hands on his mother's shoulders. "It's okay mom. We covered that." He said and smiled. "I mean it's not okay, but… okay, you know?"
Kirsten stroked Seth's cheek and smiled, this time not a sad but a happy smile. After all, she was glad her little boy was here.
"So… I might be wrong, but I think I heard Summer's voice talking to Lilly out there." Kirsten said and went over to the dining table, pulling out the chair next to her for Seth to sit down.
"Yeah well, you might've heard that correctly." Seth said and hobbled over to the chair, collapsing on it gratefully.
Kirsten tilted her head and took a sip of her water. "Are the two of you…?"
"No no no no no! She's just supporting me… as a friend, nothing more. Amy's got the flu, and I-"
"You didn't wanna go here alone." Kirsten finished her son's sentence and smiled a little when Seth stared at her with his eyes wide open. "Sweetie, I know you better than you think I do." She said.
"Mommy, look who's here!"
As so often in the Cohen household, Lilly's little voice interrupted a conversation, and both Seth and Kirsten looked over to the kitchen door to see Summer on Lilly's hand, shrugging apologetically.
"She wouldn't wanna wait outside." She said and smiled as Kirsten stood up and walked over to hug her.
"Don't worry about it sweetie, that's the way she is." Kirsten said and, just as Sandy had done it an hour ago, examined Summer from head to toe. "You are beautiful." She said sincerely, and Summer smiled happily.
"Thanks. How are you?"
Kirsten waved a hand and shrugged. "Trying to cope. We'll get through it."
"Oh I bet you will." Summer said while she looked around the kitchen. Nothing had changed since her High School graduation, everything looked the same than four years before. Well, she had been at the Cohen house for Chrismukkah, but it amazed her everytime how much of a High School flashback a visit to Seth's parents was. "Coming here is always like being on a time machine and going back to High School." She stated and sighed as she remembered how good her life had been back then. Not that it wasn't good now, but back then, life had been so… easy.
"Well… everyone needs a flashback now and then." Kirsten said and winked, looking over to Seth who depserately tried to stop Lilly from climbing onto his lap and cause further damage to his just recovering knee.
"Lilly, get off of your brother! You know he's hurt!" she yelled and grabbed her little daughter by the arm, gently pulling her away. "I'm living in the loony bin."
Summer and Seth laughed and Kirsten shook her head while Lilly tried to make her mother let go of her arm, protesting loudly.
"Take out's here!" Ryan's head poked into the kitchen and Seth's gaze lit up as he saw his brother. He stood up and hobbled over to him and shook his hand, grinning broadly. "Thai takeout, huh?" he asked, pointing to the food boxes Ryan was carrying under his arm. "What a revolutionary idea."
Ryan shook his head and smiled, waving to Summer. "Hi Summer. How are ya?"
"I'm fine Atwood, how are you?" she asked and went over to give Ryan a little kiss on the cheek. "I heard you wanna have a baby."
Ryan grinned broadly and nodded. "Well, we're trying."
"That's so cute. I wanna see pictures when it's born!" Summer chimed and clapped her hands.
In the background, Kirsten was talking to Lilly who had started to become a little whiny, still at the fact that she wasn't allowed to use her brother as a monkey bars.
"Kim's not even pregnant yet." Seth said and stared at Summer in disbelievement. Again, with this comment, he had caught himself another slap on the back of his head by Summer. "Ouch! You know Roberts, this happens too much lately." He said and Summer gave him a look as if she was ready to kill.
"Come, help set up the table. At least you won't be talking so much crap then." Summer ordered as she proceeded to the shelf that contained plates and glasses.
Ryan shot one of his famous Atwood looks, one eyebrow raised at the tone Summer was using. "You're not a couple and she's till bossing you around like this?" he asked and shook his head.
Seth sighed and shrugged, pointing again to the food boxes. "You know dude… some things never change."
After dinner, Summer wanted to give the Cohens some time alone to talk and everything, and so she decided to go to her room and try to get some rest, watch tv or something like that.
On her way to the guest room Summer passed a very familiar door, and she couldn't help but to peek into Seth's old room. As she caught a glimpse of the wall, her gaze fell onto the old comic character drawings Seth had made of her, and even if she knew she shouldn't just walk into Seth's room without asking she couldn't help the almost magnetical force that pulled her into the room.
As she entered she felt like being a teenager again, with all the posters and photos and drawings that were hung all over Seth's walls, and she smiled to herself as she remembered those happy times back then.
To get a better look at all the drawings and pictures, Summer took a few steps back and sat onto Seth's bed, examining every piece of paper that was on the wall thoroughly. The memories were almost overwhelming, but in a good way. They filled Summer's heart with a warmth she had been missing for a long time, and she wondered if she'd ever be as happy as she had been in High School.
Life was okay now too, but there were times when she missed the fun the fantastic four had had back then, and there were times when she missed one person in particular. But she was more than grateful that he was her best friend now.
"Hi."
A tiny voice brought Summer out of the world of her thoughts into reality again, and she smiled when she saw little Lilly standing across from her, leaning onto Seth's surfboard that was leant against the wall.
She smiled and tilted her head. "Hi, baby. Are you okay?"
Lilly shrugged and looked down on the floor, watching herself as she wiggled with her toes.
Summer patted on the spot next to her on Seth's bed. "Why don't you join me here? Your brother's bed has room for two." She said and smiled sympathetically.
Lilly smiled a little and went over to Summer, jumping on the bed in the place right next to her. "I hate this dress." she announced and started to fumble with the hem of her skirt, putting on a perfect "ew"-look.
"Why? Is something wrong with it?" Summer asked and propped an arm behind Lilly's back.
"Black makes people sad. I don't like sad people." Lilly said and sighed. "And I don't like Mommy crying."
Summer smiled sadly and started to stroke Lilly's hair. "Black also makes people seem thinner." She said in an attempt to take Lilly's mind off of the things that were going on in the Cohen household.
Lilly stared at Summer with her huge brown eyes. "Really? Is that why the fat Rosie in my class always wears black dresses?"
Summer frowned but couldn't help but smile. That little girl was just too cute to be Seth's sister. "Don't call her fat Rosie. I bet she doesn't really like to be called like that."
Lilly sighed. "EVERYONE calls her fat Rosie. She's always alone at lunch because she's..." she made a disgusted face. "Weird. And she smells."
A little laugh escaped Summer's mouth, and she shook her head. "Okay, so she smells weird. But I'm sure it hurts her that everyone makes fun of her."
"How do you know?" Lilly asked and laid down on her back, resting her head in Summer's lap for Summer to stroke her hair.
"There once was this very skinny little boy." Summer said and smiled at the memory of sixth grade Seth Cohen. "And he was strange, at least that was how he seemed to be for the other children. And no one ever played with him. Everyone just made fun of him or did mean things to bother him, and those children thought they were very funny."
Lilly had her eyes closed, and because Summer assumed that she was sleeping she paused with her story. A few seconds later Lilly's eyes popped open and she looked at Summer expectingly. "What did the children do to the boy?"
Smiling, Summer continued, and Lilly closed her eyes again. "Well, some of them locked him in a wardrobe in the biology classroom, even if they knew that the little boy was afraid in small rooms."
"Claustrophobic." Lilly explained and yawned, and Summer shook her head, laughing. That girl really was Seth's sister. "That's mean."
Summer nodded. "That's very mean. And the little boy always wondered why the other children were so mean to him, and why he didn't have any friends, but he couldn't find an answer to that. So he went home to his mom and he cried and asked her what was wrong with him. And his mom said that nothing was wrong with him, that he was a wonderful little boy with a big heart, and that the other children just needed some time to see that too."
Looking up, Summer saw Seth leaning in the doorway, a hurt look on his face as he listened to her recalling the terrible events his childhood had to offer. She smiled sadly and their eyes locked, and even if Summer had wanted to look away she wouldn't have been able to. The look he gave her was so intense and so full of... affection that it was impossible to look away. She felt shivers wandering up and down her spine as she dove deep into his chocolate brown eyes.
"Did the other children see that he was a wonderful boy?" Lilly's tiny voice cut the wonderful silence between them and Summer cleared her throat, blinking, yet not able to look away, and neither did Seth.
"Eventually, they did. And they also saw that he was the greatest and best friend in the whole world, and that whoever was friends with him could consider himself the luckiest person on the planet." Summer replied in a low voice, blushing when she saw how Seth's lips turned into a tiny smile about the beautiful end she had given his story. "Because he is special."
In Summer's lap, Lilly giggled and opened her eyes, her giggles finally enabling Summer to take her eyes off of Seth and focus on the little girl again.
"That's a pretty story." Lilly said and sat up, rubbing her forehead. "I will talk to fat Rosie on Monday and ask if she wanna eat with us."
Summer nodded, smiling contently. "That's a good girl." She replied and stroked a strand of hair behind Lilly's ear.
Lilly shrugged and stood up from the bed, walking towards the door. Mid-way there, she paused. "Maybe fat Rosie is special too."
"Maybe." Summer replied and looked at Lilly, smiling friendly. Her gaze wandered in the direction of the doorframe, but when her eyes found the spot where Seth had been standing only a few minutes before, the only thing she saw now instead of his chocolate brown eyes was an open door.
During the funeral the next morning, Summer felt like a heavy stone was laying on her chest that made it hard for her to breathe, and she didn't want to know how Seth or even Kirsten must have felt right at the moment, if the death of a man that had been an asshole most of his life affected her so much. Maybe it just affected her in such a huge dimension because Summer had never had a real family, and she didn't really know how it felt to lose somebody except for her mother – and her mother hadn't died, she had left her and her dad, so that was kind of different.
And Summer had never seen Seth so confused and lost. Throughout the whole day Seth had been searching her company, and whenever she went to somewhere it didn't take long until Seth found and joined her, searching her closeness and warmth of her body to comfort him.
When the coffin was lowered into the grave, Summer was not surprised that Seth's fingers searched hers all of a sudden, and she took his hand, stroking it with her thumb to comfort him as best as she could. As he felt that Summer accepted to hold his hand, Seth slightly leant onto her, squeezing her hand only tighter.
For the rest of the day, Seth and Summer were almost inseparable, exchanging tiny touches and comforting smiles whenever they needed to. And it was normal, they were best friends. None of them misinterpreted the situation, and that was what Summer probably liked the most about it.
After the funeral, when everyone had returned to the Cohen household, Summer managed to sneak out in the garden for some alone time, thinking about her days back here in Newport. She loved being with the Cohen family, even if it was for such sad occasions, but it was great to be part of a family that loved each other so much and was always there for one another.
Back in her High School days, when she had been a happy couple with Seth, she had always thought that one fine day, she would be a part of this family too. Of course Sandy and Kirsten always told her that she already was, and Summer was sure that whatever problem she had, the Cohens would always help her through it.
But now she wasn't even Seth's girlfriend anymore, and sometimes it felt kind of strange to her, being in the Cohen house just like that.
A very familiar voice interrupted Summer's thoughts.
"Not bad, huh?" Summer spun around, a hand over her chest to stop her heart from falling out.
"Oh. My. God, Cohen, you scared me to death!" she yelled and gave him a mad look which made Seth smile as he slowly walked over to her. "I'm sorry." He whispered and put both his hands in his pocket, staring out on the ocean just like she did.
"Do you realize that we do that staring out on the water thing way too often?" Seth asked and smirked.
Summer smiled and looked down. "Yeah well… children of southern California, you know. We need the water like others need the air to breathe."
"Might be true." Seth said and sighed as he recalled the events of the day. His grandfather's funeral, the dinner, tears, sadness… the negative list was endless. He gazed over to Summer who rubbed her bare arms, and he smiled. Besides his little sister the only thing that had achieved to make him smile over the past few days had been Summer.
He took off his sweater and hung it around her shoulders as Summer stared at him with her eyes wide open. "Cohen, you don't need to-"
"Come on Roberts, I can see you're totally freezing. So just take this thing."
Summer smiled and sighed, taking a step closer to Seth. "Thanks." She whispered and looked into his deep brown eyes. "How are you?" she asked, gently rubbing his arm as he bit his lip and stared at the sun that was setting on the horizon.
Seth sighed. "I don't know. Confused?" he asked and Summer smiled.
"It's not a quiz Cohen. Are you sad?"
Seth shrugged. "A little." He whispered and sighed again. "My head's just… empty."
Summer nodded and laid her arm that was rubbing his arm before around his back, pulling him closer to her. "I could be mean and make a joke about that now." She said and smiled to herself.
Seth shook his head but grinned. "You wouldn't dare. Listen…"
Summer looked up into his eyes and all of a sudden, a million sparks were in the air, and Summer shivered, wondering if Seth felt the sparks too.
"I…" Seth blinked twice and paused. Was he just dreaming or was his stomach really turning somersaults as he gazed into her big brown eyes? "I just wanted to… thank you for coming with me… here." He swallowed, desperately trying to calm down his abnormal fast heartbeat.
For a long moment, neither of them was able to speak, and they just gazed into each other's eyes, letting the warm California wind stroke their skins.
As the red sunlight illuminated Seth's face, Summer couldn't help but bring her face closer to his, completely forgetting the world around them for a short moment.
Seth didn't resist, and his face came closer to hers, and as their lips were only inches apart, Seth closed his eyes, waiting for her soft lips to meet his own to caress them with a kiss.
All of a sudden, Seth felt two tiny hands on his torso that gently pushed him away, and he opened his eyes again to see a confused look on Summer's face.
"Cohen, I…" she said, totally out of breath. "We can't… do this."
Seth shook his head firmly, as if he wanted to convince himself that indeed they couldn't do this. "No, listen, I'm sorry…"
"It's… it's okay. I should…" Summer pointed to the house, trying to somehow get rid of that strange feeling in her stomach. "Call Craig, you know. Tell him what's been going on and stuff."
Seth nodded, well aware of the strange mood that had settled between them all of a sudden. "Sure." He said and slowly sat down, stretching his bandaged leg out in front of him. "Tell him I said hi."
Summer blinked twice and took the sweater off her shoulders, holding it out to Seth so he would take it back.
The same just shook his head. "Keep it." He said and stared out on the ocean. "I know where you live."
"Thanks." Giving him a quick smile, Summer ran into the house, cursing herself for letting Seth coming that close to her.
What the hell had she been thinking?
Next chapter: A Kiss Is Just A Kiss – it'sSeth's birthday… and the tension between Seth and Summer reaches the climax…