A/N: Hey folks! Update! We've almost reached the climax with this one - although I have some twists left for you. I really hope you like it... I thought a long time about what's happening in that chapter and I hoped it turned out okay. Also thanks to everyone who reviewed - I really appreciate that, and I'm glad you're enjoying this story so much! Please review again!

Dare You To Move

Welcome to the fallout

Welcome to resistance

The tension is here

The tension is here

Between who you are and who you could be

Between how it is and how it should be

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

(Switchfoot, Dare You To Move)

Seth knew that she would be waiting for him at home. She didn't have any other place to go to, and everytime she was furious, she would place herself in front of the tv, declare the living room her territory and practically kick him out everytime he just thought about entering the room.

And it was just like that when he came home that evening. In one of the million reruns they always showed on tv, Rosie O'Donnell was trying to calm one of her crying talk guests in an unbelievably high voice. Amy didn't hear him coming in, or at least she didn't act like it.

So Seth took off his shoes and placed them next to the door, watching the back of Amy's head. He could practically see her angry gaze from the place he was standing, but he didn't care right now. What had happened today had been too much. And Amy needed to know that.

He inhaled and was just about to start the little speech he had practised so many times since he had started his way home when Amy took over for him.

"Don't even start to talk." She said and turned the sound of the tv off. She stood up and turned around, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Who do you think I am? And who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

"Yeah, we…"

"I'm not finished yet." Amy said, her eyes sparkling full of… Seth wasn't able to define what they were sparkling off, and he wasn't able to, because faster than he could move Amy's lips were pressed against his, giving him a hard kiss. As he closed his eyes, all Seth could see was Summer's sweet face, laughing and smiling at him happily. And even though his brains knew that it was Amy who was pressing her lips against his right at that moment, Seth couldn't help but recall the kiss he and Summer had shared at his birthday party a few weeks ago.

It had been so intense and so full of desire Seth still wasn't able to get over it, and now he knew that he didn't want to. Ever.

As Amy backed away from Seth's lips he opened his eyes again, the image of the angry looking blonde sending him back to reality. His dreams about Summer – the future with her he had been picturing on his way home – weren't far away now. There was just this one thing to do that kept him from Summer. Seth knew that Craig wouldn't be the problem, because once Summer knew about the deep love he felt for her she would leave Craig right away and run back into his arms.

At least that was what Seth was convinced of.

A seductive smile from Amy made him focus on his girlfriend again and he grabbed her shoulders, shoving her gently over to the couch and placing her on it. He sat down next to her and took another glance at the tv program which still showed Rosie O'Donnell, this time trying to calm an arguing couple. Seeing it as a sign of what was laying ahead of him, Seth pointed to the remote control.

"Turn the tv off." He ordered and after a short moment of just looking at him Amy did as she was told.

As she placed the remote next to her on the couch, Amy started to smile. She looked up and her eyes sparkled again. "I'm glad you wanna talk about what happened earlier." She said.

Seth sighed and closed his eyes, slightly shaking his head. "I've been thinking." He started and opened his eyes again. "About earlier today, and about the past few months. Don't you feel like something is going really wrong between us?" he asked, his eyes begging her to understand what he was trying to say.

Amy blinked and shook her head. "Come on, we had a stupid fight, we were both angry and said things we didn't mean-"

"I meant them." Seth said and saw how Amy gasped for air.

"Well… um… then I guess I better apologize, huh?" she asked and laughed insecurily. When she saw that Seth's gaze didn't change she became serious again. "I can apologize to Summer too." She said, and added in an almost unhearable sound, "Even though I don't think she'll appreciate it."

"I'm not deaf, Amy." Seth said and rolled his eyes.

"Sorry. I screwed up today. And I'll do my best to fix it, I promise." Amy said and smiled shyly.

Seth shook his head. He couldn't believe that Amy really thought that she was going to get away with just a smile and a half hearted apology. "Amy, I'm not just talking about today." Seth said and intensified his stare at her. "Over the past few months… I…" he sighed and rubbed his nose. "I had a lot of time to think. About me, us, and the future. And I tried to picture the two of us in the future, as a couple. But honestly, no matter how hard I tried I always failed." He paused to see Amy's reaction, but she just kept staring blankly at him without any reaction.

"And then I wondered why I couldn't picture the two of us together. And the truth is…" Seth bit his lip as he saw some tears rising in Amy's eyes, and he almost gave in to them. Almost. "I don't love you, Amy."

Amy gasped and turned her head away as she tried to hide the tears that were falling down her face. Her gaze wandered over to Seth's desk where some photos from Seth and his friends stood. It had never really bothered her that one of the pictures was only from Summer, but now after Seth's confession everything she didn't want to admit to herself made perfect sense. More tears came falling down, this time tears of anger and frustration.

"I never have." Seth's voice interrupted Amy's thoughts and she faced him again, her angry looks almost scaring him.

"It's about her, right?" she asked, trying to suppress the anger that was coming up inside of her. The weirdest of all things was that she wasn't even angry at Seth – she was angry at herself, for being too blind to see the truth over all those years. When Seth didn't respond but only looked down on his lap Amy let out a bitter laugh and stood up.

"I knew it. Deep inside, I knew it. I just didn't want it to be true. I wanted you to love me in the exact same way that you love her." She wiped away some tears and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "God, I would have given everything for one of those "famous" looks you give her. You should see yourself when she's around. You're a completely different person. Do you know how much this hurts when I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, and not her?"

Seth swallowed hard. During his high of finally realizing how much he loved Summer, and only Summer, he had completely forgotten that Amy really loved him – and that his confession would probably hurt her like hell.

"Have you ever wondered why I wasn't around when you needed me?" Amy whispered as she walked over to the window to look down on the busy Chicago streets.

"Not really." Seth replied guiltily and sighed.

"She's always around. If not in person, she's around in your head. There was never room for me and you know that." Amy said and sniffed.

Deep inside, Seth knew that Amy was right. When Summer wasn't around Seth would talk about her and the funny things she said or did, and when she was around he always busied herself on her and not on his girlfriend.

But he also knew deep inside that those were very clear signs that he just couldn't let go of her. She had been his first love, and she would always be a special person to him, for the rest of his life, he knew that. And he had never felt those sparks with Amy, and it wasn't fair to her to go on pretending that he did. After all, she deserved a man who really loved her.

"Yeah." Seth replied and looked down on his feet, to avoid Amy's stare.

The same laughed again and shook her head. "Really brave of you to wait four years to tell me that. On the other hand I guess it's better than nothing."

"Amy, I'm sorry." Seth said and looked into her eyes that softened at his glare.

She sighed and shook her head. "I saw it coming." She admitted and wiped her tears away. "I guess I need to make room for Summer now."

Seth didn't know what to respond, and so he decided just to stay quiet. It had always been the safer way when it came to women. And just like he had expected it, Amy went on talking.

"I'll go and pack up my stuff. I wanna move out as fast as I can."

From the look in Amy's eyes Seth saw that she had given up. Given up arguing with him and given up trying to compete with Summer, and he was glad about it. No matter how much he loved Summer, but the last thing Seth wanted to do was to part ways with Amy while they were fighting.

"You don't have to rush it, Amy." Seth said and saw how Amy shook her head, smiling. "I do." With weak knees and her arms embracing her upper body she walked over to the sleeping room to pack up her stuff – and delete herself out of Seth Cohen's life. Even a person like her knew when it was over – and today, it was.

At least for her.

The next day was report day, and Seth had tried to act as normal as he could in Summer's presence, but Summer had known him for far too long to not notice that something was going on with him.

He had been quiet all morning, but Summer was still proud of him. The report had been going extremely well, and thanks to Seth and his extra-research the two of them had just gotten an A plus. In fact, Summer had never seen Professor Miller THAT cheerful about a report, and that really meant something.

After class, Summer had decided that they needed to celebrate their success and they went out for lunch. So now they were sitting in their favorite café, sipping on their coffees and having some cheese cake, but Seth still wasn't talking that much. Frowning, Summer tilted her head as if she wanted to find out what was wrong with him, but instead of looking at her, Seth decided to avoid her gaze.

He had broken up with Amy, but something inside of him made him go all nervous when he thought about telling Summer the truth about his feelings. He wanted to wait for the perfect moment, and that was definitely not during lunch and over cheesecake.

"Cohen, why won't you look at me today? Do I look that horrible?" Summer asked and put her fork down.

Slowly, Seth raised his head and smiled insecurily. "Sorry. I'm thinking."

"Yeah, I can see that. What about? You've been thinking all morning, it seems."

Seth sighed and took a sip of his coffee, staring out of the window. He didn't have to tell her his feelings yet, he still had time. So he decided to go for the plain facts.

"Yesterday I broke up with Amy." He said and looked down on his cake again.

Summer's eyes widened and her chin dropped. "You did what?" she asked and raised her eyebrows.

"Broke up with Amy." Seth repeated and shrugged. Because I'm in love with you.

It couldn't be that hard to say that, right?

"Wow." Summer inhaled and sighed loudly. She couldn't help but notice how her heart beated a little faster and how her stomach seemed to tighten a bit at that news. Concentrating on the facts, she asked, "And may I ask you why?"

Seth shrugged. "You know, when things don't work… you should end them." We work great. Of course he was too shy to admit the last part.

Summer frowned a little. "Aha. Well… thanks for all the information, Cohen."

Seth laughed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, woman. I broke up with her because we worked just as great as Marissa and Oliver. Content?"

Summer shook her head and grinned. "Alright. You don't wanna talk about it." She softly put her hand on Seth's arm and tilted her head. "Are you sure you're okay?"

The mere touch of Summer's tiny hand made Seth shiver, and he stared at her, his mouth slightly open, not able to take his eyes off her. This touch felt so right. It made him feel more than okay. But still, it was not the right time to tell her that yet. Forcing a nod, he cleared his throat. "Sure."

Summer gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, if you ever wanna talk… you know where to find me." She said and Seth nodded again. If you wanna go to the movies with me tonight, I'll tell you what I feel. Just say it, Cohen, don't be such a coward!

Just when Seth was about to acutally ask Summer for a "date", her cell phone interrupted their little "moment" and she took her hand away, leaving a slowly cooling spot on his arm.

"I'm sorry." Summer said and fumbled for her phone. "It's Craig." She said and pointed towards the door. "I'm gonna take it outside."

Seth sighed and nodded. "Yeah." As he watched her leaving the café he shook his head. "What a silly coward you are! Can't even ask her to go to the movies with you. Damn." It shouldn't be this hard to tell the girl he had been together for so many years before that he still loved her. But no, instead of talking, he just stared at her like an obsessed idiot.

While Seth was in his self-hate-spiral, Summer returned and smiled apologetically at him. "I hate to go now, but… Craig kinda invited me to a special evening… and I need to get ready."

Great, Seth. Just because you were too stupid to ask her evening schedule's full.

Seth forced a bright smile and nodded joyfully. "Not a problem. I need to leave too. To do… stuff."

"Sounds exciting." Summer said and giggled. Her face became serious again and she placed a soft kiss on Seth's cheek. "I'm sorry about Amy. I'll call you tomorrow, okay? Then we can talk, regardless if you want to."

"Okay." Seth replied and focused his attention back on his plate. Cheesecake was better than staring at her like an idiot. "See you tomorrow. And have a great night."

"Thank you." Summer whispered and turned around. Something about Seth was weird today. Well, but then, he had just broken up with his girlfriend, so Summer blamed it on that. Her mind was too busy to think about that any further now.

Again, Seth watched her leave, this time for real. Sighing, he threw some dollar notes on the table and waited a little before he left too. Tomorrow would be the day then. One day more or less wouldn't make a big difference now. What was really important was that he loved Summer. And he couldn't wait to tell her that.

"Oh my God, you look beautiful." Craig said, his eyes wide open. Just like he had wished, Summer had put on her black velvet dress that underlined the perfect shape of her body. Her hair hung lose over her shoulders, and her make up sparkled decently. If Craig hadn't loved her until that moment he might have reconsidered falling in love with her all over again.

Summer blushed at Craig's comment and stroked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thanks." She replied. "I have tospend some time to look like this. When you called me today I really needed to improvise on my beauty program." She added and smirked.

Craig stood up and walked over to Summer, taking both of her hands in his. "This is gonna be the perfect night." He announced and kissed her passionately.

After the kiss was over, Summer ran a hand through Craig's thick blonde hair and smiled. "Are we gonna go now? Or is this your whole plan for the evening?" she asked. "Telling me over and over again how good I look."

Craig grinned. "I bet you wouldn't mind if I really did."

Summer laughed and shook her head. "Not at all." She replied and brought her lips closer to Craig's, kissing him again, this time with more emotion than before.

"But still..." she said after they had broken apart, "...I'd like to see the rest of your plan."

Craig put an arm around Summer's waist and guided her to the door, opening it for her. "Follow me."

Summer narrowed her eyes and smiled. She didn't want to admit it, but she actually liked this little surprise game Craig was playing with her tonight. And she liked it even more that Craig had chosen just some random night for being romantic. He usually kept those big romantic gestures for special dates like their anniversary or Chrismukkah or something like that. But tonight he had surprised her – like really surprised her – and Summer loved it.

"Whatever you say, Craig." She said and stepped out in the staircase.

Craig smiled. This was gonna be a perfect night.

"You kinda should have told me that we were going up here cause I'd have brought a warmer jacket. I'm freezing my ass off up here." Summer said and pulled her just mentioned jacket closer around her body.

Tonight, Craig had really surprised her. They went out to have pizza at his favorite Italian restaurant, and afterwards they had taken a ride to the outdoor deck on Sears Tower where they were now.

As much as Summer was ashamed that in four years of living in Chicago, she had never been to Sears Tower once, as much she loved it up there. It was cold and windy – but she was kind of used to that in Chicago – and the tower gave an amazing view of the city, with all its sparkling lights and skyscrapers. Summer had the feeling she could just stare at the city for hours and get not bored, even if she was almost freezing to death.

"Take that." Craig said and took off his own jacket to place it over Summer's shoulders, and she gladly accepted it. Hugging her from behind, Craig put his chin on Summer's head and stared out into the Chicago night. Never before in his life he had been so nervous, but never so sure about something. He fumbled in his pants pocket for the tiny velvet box and smiled contently when he found that it was still there – safe with him. Only a few minutes from now the huge golden ring that was waiting inside the box would be on Summer's hand, and he couldn't wait for that.

"So, I really liked tonight." Summer said all of a sudden, shivering a little from a new breeze of cold wind that was coming up.

"I could see that. I haven't seen you that happy in a long time. And after what happened yesterday, you know…"

"Let's not talk about dumbo girl right now. She's insane, and I don't know what Seth saw in her."

There was the name again. Seth. If Craig had learnt how to hate a name in the past few years it was the name Seth Cohen. Even when he was not around he was kind of there – because Summer couldn't seem to have at least one hour without thinking or talking about him. Faster than he initially had wanted to Craig turned Summer around and made her look at him.

Her big brown eyes were full of surprise at his sudden movement and Craig had to smile. He took the small box that kept her engagement ring out of his pocket and sighed. He had to do this now… and ban Seth Cohen out of his life forever. He took one of Summer's cold hands in his and nodded to himself, just like a silent encouragement.

"Summer… I love you. I really do. And you've made me happier than I ever thought I could be." Craig started his long-practised speech and felt the butterflies in his stomach rise from excitement.

Summer felt the butterflies too. But her butterflies were trying to tell her that something wrong was going on. No one ever gave such speeches unless they were…

Craig lifted the small box in front of Summer's eyes so that she could have a better look at the ring that was waiting for her inside of it. Slowly, he opened the box, inch by inch revealing the ring that would help to make Summer his wife. "And I never want to miss that happiness again. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

By now, the box was fully opened, and Summer swallowed. This couldn't be happening…

"Summer Roberts… will you marry me?"

Although Summer wasn't stupid and although she had realized what Craig was trying to do when she had first seen the box her heart jumped a bit when she heard him say the actual words. Suddenly, her head started spinning and she could feel how her breathing quickened to twice its normal speed.

This wasn't really happening, was it?

Craig wasn't really asking her to become his wife, was he?

Summer looked down on her hands and imagined what marrying Craig would mean to her. It meant having to change her last name, first of all. Second of all, she would be tied to Craig for the rest of her life – even if divorces were existing, divorced couples always stayed kind of married – see Julie and Jimmy Cooper. They had been divorced, and just a few months after that they had hooked up again. And separated. And hooked up again. After three times of hooking up and breaking up, Summer had stopped counting.

Summer frowned as she realized that she was thinking about divorces even before she had answered Craig's question. She looked up, a quite confused look on her face, and bit her lower lip. Fighting for air, Summer tried to clear her head. Craig was looking so expectingly at her it almost broke her heart.

She was only 22. Why would someone want to get married so young nowadays? She had her whole life laying in front of her, with possibilities she didn't know yet… maybe there were other men waiting for her, and maybe the RIGHT man was among them.

All of a sudden, a picture from Seth flashed through Summer's mind, and she closed her eyes to regain her concentration. Not only Craig had asked her to make a huge decision right now, no, Cohen had to be in her mind now too. Summer bit her lip and wondered what Seth would say if she really got engaged to Craig, and she knew it wouldn't be good. He would probably tell her that she was crazy, getting married so young, and that she should rethink her decision. Opening her eyes again, Summer swallowed and slightly shook her head. She couldn't answer Craig's question now – she knew she needed to talk to her friends first, especially to Seth. She just needed to know how he would feel if she really got engaged to Craig.

"Summer, I'm kind of waiting…" Craig said and smiled insecurily, bringing Summer and her thoughts fully into reality again.

She swallowed and shook her head again. "Craig I… I'd like to think about that." She whispered and tilted her head as if she wanted to molden Craig's reaction.

Surprisingly, Craig smiled and nodded, closing the box and putting it back into his pant pocket. "Of course, baby." He said and cupped Summer's face in her hands. He placed a kiss on her forehead and sighed. "This was kind of surprising for you, I guess."

Confused, Summer's eyes darted back and forth from Craig's left eye to his right. She sure as hell hadn't expected his reaction to be so calm, but she was glad for it. There was just too much stuff going on in her mind right now, all of it only caused by one tiny question – and she needed to sort that stuff out first.

"I'm gonna walk home." She silently announced and took a few steps away from Craig. "I need the fresh air."

Craig smiled and nodded. "I'll see you at home honey."

With a shy smile, Summer turned around and walked away from Craig, as fast as she could. She needed to talk to Jenny about this – pronto.

After Summer was out of sight, Craig turned around and focused his attention back to the Chicago city lights, recalling Summer's reaction.

On the outside, he had managed to be the friendly and understanding boyfriend who of course didn't mind his beautiful girlfriend who was obviously not in love with him to rethink his proposal.

On the inside, Craig was fuming. Summer just needed to accept his proposal… it couldn't be this hard to forget a geek like Seth Cohen.

Could it?

Please don't hate me for what just happened! I have some twists left for this story, so stay tuned.

Next chapter: If I'm Not In Love - Seth gets an information wrong... and Summer makes her decision.