Disclaimer: Never was; probably never will be.
A/N: My reviewers are amazing. And I know two cliffhanger-type chapters is a rather evil thing to do, but sometimes I just can't help but go on my own little power trip. But anyway – I sort of, kind of, apologize to those people that are not so good with the patient thing and here's my main last chapter! Hope you enjoy!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Summer walked off, Seth willed himself to walk back over the threshold of the apartment and shut the door behind him.
All five questioning and shocked faces met his gaze when he looked over to them.
Nick was the first one to speak. "So, that was an ex-girlfriend I'm guessing?"
"Yeah," Seth replied, still leaning against the door, baffled by his encounter with Summer.
"Did you know her from LA?" the girl, Lisa, questioned.
"We lived together in an apartment this past summer."
"Whoa, dude, that's kind of fast," Nick smirked. "You sure do have some kind of magic with the ladies don't you?"
Seth shook his head and leaned it rather roughly against the door, averting his gaze towards the ceiling. "No. We started dating when we were fifteen. I've been in love with her since I was ten."
"You've been dating her for five years?" Gabe asked, stunned.
"And you've been in love with the same girl for your entire teenage life?" One of the other girls inquired.
Seth nodded his head, getting a quick glance at his new friends on his couch. They all wore the same stunned, expressionless look. Seth decided to keep explaining things, even if things weren't making sense to him. "She was my first everything. My first crush, my first kiss, my first sexual experience… you know… everything. She even decided to come to college on the East coast along with me so we could keep the relationship working without the long-distance shit. And this past summer we moved in together in an apartment in LA. And we were supposed to live in this apartment together this fall."
Nick spoke up again. "Wow, man. And she broke up with you?"
Seth continued nodding, "After five years of dating on and off she decided I needed to date other people because she didn't think I was happy with her."
"But you were happy with her?"
"Of course," Seth replied to Lisa's question. "I've been in love with her for as long as I can remember. She was my dream girl and I was never really happy until she accepted me into her life. She's the only thing in the world that can make me happy. Even more so than comic books, video games, or… or Batman movies in high definition," Seth stuttered, throwing his arm in the direction of the TV screen.
"But she still loves you?"
"I guess," Seth shrugged. "I mean, that's why she came over here, right?"
Seth looked to the others and all of their heads nodded in response simultaneously.
"But I was right to let her run off. Right? She can't keep jerking me around like this. I can only take so much of her constant hot-cold routine. I mean, I love her but I can't keep doing this. I should move on. Find something else that makes me happy. I'm sure there's something else out there. There has to be. Summer's not the only thing that can make me feel like I'm on top of the world. I have to let her go. Cut myself off." Slowly Seth saw the heads stop nodding. "Right?"
Lisa sighed, getting up walking towards the door where Seth was leaned against and pushed him off, opening the door. "Everybody makes mistakes, Seth." Lisa turned and grabbed the keys that were on top of the counter – which was placed advantageously right next to the door. "Go fix yours." She handed Seth the keys as he looked down and stared at them.
What was he doing? He was holding a grudge against Summer and all for what purpose? What was he going to get out of shutting Summer out of his life and not forgiving her? Unhappiness? Misery? Life spent in melancholy, wondering about what could have been?
Seth didn't want to lose Summer. He didn't mean for their first meeting after two months apart to go like this. After all the time he had spent analyzing and dreaming about how it would go, he did not picture Summer running off down the street. Her crying? Yeah, sure. Begging him for his forgiveness? Definitely. But imagining that he said no to her, flat out, leaving her high and dry, watching her back away from him in astonishment and sadness? Absolutely not.
He wanted to be with Summer. Of course he did. He just hated that she had run away from their problems without talking about them to him; from even attempting to clear them up. But then again, he had just done exactly what he hadn't wanted Summer to do – he ran away from the problem, shut her out. He was being a hypocrite.
Seth Cohen loved Summer Roberts. And even though he hadn't known his Rhode Island friends at the comic book and video game store long, they already knew it too. The only person who didn't know it was Summer Roberts herself.
After a few seconds of staring between the keys, Lisa's face, and his other four friends' faces, his head shot up. "Oh fuck." Seth immediately bolted out the door, towards his Toyota Camry, barely putting the car in drive as he put his foot on the gas, aiming to drive towards the Brown campus.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summer saw a car that looked exactly like Seth's go whizzing by – at least 45 miles per hour over the speed limit – and before she could even register it, it was put in reverse as it came speeding back at almost the same speed, stopping right in front of Summer.
Summer squinted to see Seth inside, barely putting the car in park before he was jumping out, moving towards Summer.
"Seth, what are you doing? You could have gotten killed!"
Seth didn't bother responding to her and instead took off his lightweight jacket and held it over her head with both of his hands to shield her from the droplets of rain. Neither one of them said a word for a few seconds – Summer trying to make sense of what was going on and Seth trying to search Summer's eyes for her true feelings. Finally Seth leaned in and kissed Summer's wet lips, softly at first but then a little more roughly as he dropped the jacket to the ground and brought his hands to her face, pulling her lips impossibly closer. Summer couldn't do anything but react to his kiss and let go of her coherent thoughts to instead merely focus on Seth being right there, kissing her once again.
Summer couldn't believe she had even attempted to let all of this go. To let him go. She should have known it was always going to come back to him. Deep down she knew she would never be able to live her life knowing that somewhere, out in the world's expanse, Seth Cohen was living, breathing, and loving someone other than her. Summer Roberts just couldn't live without Seth Cohen in her life. Regardless of what other people may say or do, or what she herself might even think is the right or wrong choice, she couldn't let all the hopes and dreams she had stored safely away in the images of her photo album fade into lost memories. She had never wanted anything more than she wanted him to be her future and after two months of denying the undeniable, she was more than grateful to all powerful Beings that Seth forgave her. Summer refused to ever doubt what wasn't doubtful and feel insecure about what was surely secure ever again.
Seth pulled back, still holding Summer's face in his hands, gently rubbing her face free of tears and the increasing rain droplets. "I'm an ass."
Summer tried to shake her head but Seth held it firmly still. "I'm an ass and I love you."
Summer started to smile as Seth leaned down and kissed her lips once more; less passionate this time but more affectionate, showing her how much he did truly love her with his entire being.
Summer wanted to tell Seth everything. She wanted to explain herself until she was blue in the face about why she did what she did and how completely and utterly miserable she had become while they were apart. But in this perfect Rhode Island moment, Summer couldn't think of the right words to say. She just pulled out of Seth's kiss, unwillingly, and shuddered from the cold feeling the rain had caused the exterior of her body.
Suddenly, Summer didn't feel the urge to explain everything to Seth. Just from the loving gaze in his eyes, she knew she didn't have to. Summer broke eye contact for the shortest second and looked towards the sky. The rain hit her face as she squinted into the clouds, silently thanking any and all Above her for answering her prayers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Seth look up as well. She didn't know if he was just wondering what she was looking at or also thanking his own lucky stars that she had come back to him, but either way she smiled. She smiled and tilted her head back to normal level as Seth did the same.
Summer smirked, leaning in towards Seth's face, whispering, "I hate Rhode Island weather."
Seth laughed and as he was about to reply, there was a loud honking sound coming from not too far in the distance. Summer looked over Seth's shoulder and Seth turned to see the headlights of a Providence city bus approaching, behind his car. The bus stopped and the driver moved down towards the now opened doors, staring at them and then shouting. "Is that your car?"
Seth nodded his head. "Yeah, umm… yeah it's mine."
"Well, you need to move it," the bus driver shouted in reply. "That's a violation of city laws."
"Okay," Seth yelled. "Okay, I'll move it." The bus driver nodded and sat back in his seat, as other passengers got off the bus and then a few new ones got on.
Seth looked back to Summer, rubbing his hands up and down her arms to try and warm her from the cold, wet air, "Come with me?"
Summer nodded silently as Seth smiled, picked up his soaking jacket from the ground, and then led her towards the passenger side of the car, opening the door, letting her slide in the seat.
"Thanks, Cohen," Summer smiled as Seth held onto the door, about to shut it.
Seth smirked, "Anything for my beautiful girlfriend who makes me extremely happy in every possible sense of the word."
Before Summer could reply with a sarcastic 'You're so cheesy' remark, Seth shut the door and bounded over to the driver's seat. Once Seth put the car in drive, he let his right hand find Summer's left one and rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles. Summer looked over at him with his face staring happily out onto the road. Summer smiled, contemplating whether or not to break the comfortable silence they had found themselves in. Her guilty conscience that wanted to apologize to Seth until the end of time won out and Summer opened her mouth to speak. "I'm sorry, Cohen."
"You don't have to be," Seth replied, still not making eye contact with her.
Summer sighed, knowing Seth would never let her fully apologize for the agonizing two months she put them both through, and changed the subject. "Are we going back to your apartment? Cause I dropped my bags off with Callie at Brown."
The traffic light that they had been approaching had turned red and Seth had stopped his car, turning his head towards Summer for the first time since they got in the car. "Our apartment, Summer. Ours."
"Right," Summer smiled as she closed the gap between their faces, kissing his lips softly. "I've missed kissing you, Seth."
"I've missed kissing you, Summer."
Summer leaned her head on Seth's shoulder, keeping her hand still tightly wound in his, sighing happily, "You're happy, right?"
Seth kissed Summer's hair, keeping his eyes still on the road, whispering quietly in the already silent car, "You make me the happiest, Summer."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that's basically it. I'm writing an epilogue-type chapter but that will be it for this story. Also, I need an opinion from all of you – I was thinking about maybe writing a sequel taking place the following summer…? Tell me your thoughts on that or if I should just leave this storyline here. If I don't get a lot of responses on it I probably won't do it. As for all the reviewers who added their two-sense after either every chapter or any random chapter – thanks! I always loved reading the responses and although I had this story pretty much planned out from the beginning, it was nice to have other people's inputs for possible future ideas. So again, thank you!
Okay, now review please! And don't forget to tell me if a sequel would be a good idea or not!
Epilogue in a few days!
