Chapter 2 – To The J

The sun hung lazily in the sky. The air was thick with moisture but a slow sea breeze provided a degree of comfort. A few people walked leisurely down the street their heads turned sideways glazing enviously at the items in the shop windows. The jewellery store at the bottom of the street glistened in the sunshine. In the distance the misty deep blue outline of the Pacific Ocean was visible. The sea was calm and its vast expanse punctuated occasionally by a brightly coloured windsurfer or an elegant small sailboat bopping methodically to the rhythm of the waves. Seth and Ryan sat outside at a table under an umbrella sipping a pair of mountain dews weighed heavy with ice. They looked out languidly on the scene before them. A pile of shopping bags was lying under the table in the gap between the two. A waitress with a white apron covering the upper half of her legs, a dark red shirt covering the upper half of her body, and her hair untidily tied up above her head, walked back and forward, in and out of the restaurant. Seth titled his head towards Ryan. "So, we'll hit J-Records and then go back."

"I don't need any records." Ryan said in a way that suggested he had been saying the same thing all day.

Seth smiled. "Sure, you do. Everyone needs a little Death Cab in their life."

"Death Cab?" Ryan asked confused.

"Bright Eyes?" Seth asked his voice slightly higher than normal.

Ryan shook his head.

"Rooney?" Seth almost pleaded.

Ryan shook his head again.

Seth's eyes grew wide with shock. "Oh, we're definitely going to the J."

"Oh, we're definitely going to J." Marissa said reading a poster stuck idly on the wall.

The poster alerted whoever read it to the outrageous cut-price sale happening at the hugely popular record store known simply as the J. The poster had been placed on the wall of an intentionally cluttered sea-themed diner. The poster stood behind a giant plastic swordfish hung at an obscure angle and sign warning in bold bright red letters of rocks ahead.

Summer raised her eyebrows at Marissa. "You wanna voluntary go to a place full of sad lonely teenage boys with greasy hair, patchy wannabe moustaches, and who wear all black regardless of the season."

"Uh-huh." Marissa nodded. "There's a sale on."

"A sale?" Summer asked her eyes lighting up. "Why didn't you say so?"

The J-Record store was everything Summer described it as and more. It was three levels of row after row of music. The store had everything. There were CDs, tapes, vinyl, and even a little section for downloading music onto an iPod. There was every genre represented from the latest flowery pop tune, to the newest Euro-disco dance disaster of a song, to the hottest R 'n B track full of all those nice little words bleeped out of the radio version. If you liked music then you loved the J.

"I love the J." Seth said as he surveyed the orgy of music as he was confronted with as he entered the store.

Ryan looked up seeing row after row of music. He couldn't help but be impressed.

"Okay, come on." Seth said leading the way into the jungle of music.

After the two boys disappeared into the crowd of sad lonely teenage boys in all black Marissa and Summer entered the store. One of the crowd brushed past Summer as he walked towards the exit. "Eww! He almost touched me." Summer said with disgust.

Marissa laughed. "Come on." She said leading Summer into one of the many rows.

They negotiated their way through the crowd of people and the narrow rows through to the section they Marissa was looking for, the punk section. She smiled as she saw the familiar names with red 'sale' tickets slapped on them. Summer looked around the section as if she had stumbled into a long-lost tomb full of rats and cobwebs. "Hurry up Coop before I catch something."

"I'll be just a minute." Marissa said disappearing around a corner.

Summer folded her arms and looked around. There was no one else in the aisle. She looked left, she looked right, there was definitely no one around. She gingerly unfolded her arms and reached down for one of the CDs. It had a crow on the front cover. Summer flipped it over and become reading the song titles. Just then he felt the presence of someone behind her left shoulder. She threw the CD back into the rack and spun round. Standing before her was a young man with short curly black hair and a geeky dress sense but at least he wasn't in black thought Summer.

"Hi, Summer." He said.

Oh my God he knows my name. He's a stalker!

"Err…hi." Summer said nervously.

She doesn't know my name. She probably thinks I'm a stalker or something.

"It's Seth. Seth Cohen."

Seth Cohen? Who the hell is Seth Cohen?

"Oh, right. Seth Cohen." Summer said.

She has no idea who I am.

"I live next door to Marissa." Seth said.

Then a bolt of realisation struck Summer. This was the Seth who Marissa had referred too. This was her geeky neighbour who thought he was better than everyone else. This was Seth Cohen.

"I know who you are." Summer said sarcastically.

She knows who I am? She knows who I am! I can't believe she knows who I am.

Marissa walked round the corner and straight into Ryan. He dropped the pile of CDs Seth had told him to hold while he went off to look for more. The CDs cascaded across the floor and Ryan dropped to his knees to pick them up. Marissa followed suit pulled a stray piece of hair before her ear as she did.

"I'm so sorry." Marissa said grabbing a CD.

"It's okay." Ryan said building a new pile of CDs in his hand.

Soon they had picked up all the errant CDs except for one. Marissa reached out for it just as Ryan did. Their hands met. They both looked up at the other. They stared into each other's eyes. Marissa felt the warmth of Ryan's hands on hers. Ryan felt the smoothest of Marissa's skin. Marissa smiled nervously. Ryan looked away. "Err…thanks." He said picked up the last CD and putting it on the pile in his right hand.

Ryan was about to ask Marissa something when Seth came round the corner; his face lit up with a giant smile. "Dude, I have amazing news." Then he noticed who was standing beside his new friend. His smile vanished. He uncomfortably looked at the ground. "Oh, hi Marissa."

"Hi, Seth." Marissa said, as Ryan looked on confused. Marissa turned her attention back to Ryan. "So, sorry about the whole bumping into you thing." Marissa gave him a smile before walking back around the corner.

"So, you and Marissa Cooper?" Seth asked with a grin on his face.

Ryan looked after Marissa then turned to look at Seth. "What? No."

"You know she lives next to me. To us." Seth said.

"She does?" Ryan asked.