As promised Jesse had convinced Seth to go on his date with Quinn. Seth took her sight seeing, gave her a tour of the city. That tour ended with central park. The two walked along the path until they found an unoccupied bench. They took it over in a matter of seconds.
"So, have you enjoyed yourself today?" Seth asked with a smile.
Quinn shook her head, "Nope, not at all." She stated, flashing her own smile to show that she was joking.
"Liar." Seth exclaimed when he saw the smile.
Quinn pretended to be shocked, "Seth! I would never lie! How dare you accuse such a thing."
"Then say that you had a good time with me."
"Fine." Quinn replied, "Seth Cohen, I had an incredible time with you today."
"Much better." Seth said with a cheeky smile.
Quinn rolled her eyes teasingly and pushed him. "I want to apologize.. again.. For what I said about Jesse. I feel bad for upsetting you." Quinn added.
Seth shook his head, "Like I've said before, it's fine. I overreacted."
"No, you didn't." Quinn continued, "You were just looking our for you friend. That's a good quality to have."
Seth smiled a little.
"Tell me how you met him."
Seth looked out at the rest of the park, "We met in Newport. He was attending UCLA but during one of their breaks he came to explore the OC."
"You lived in the OC?" Quinn questioned with great interest.
The young man nodded, "Yup."
"That must've been amazing."
He shrugged, "Not really. Living there you're surrounded by fake people who only care about gossip and plastic surgery."
"That's a rather harsh statement don'tcha think?"
"I'm entitled to have a few now and then."
A woman walking her dog passed by their bench.
"I met Jesse at this club, The Bait Shop, it's basically a place where the locals hang out and listen to live bands." Seth explained, "Some drunk idiots were giving me a hard time so Jesse stepped in to help me out." That was summing the story up. If Seth wanted to put more detail into it he could talk about himself getting beat up or about Jesse being the only person who tried to stop those evil goons from permanently scarring him. But no, that seemed like taking it too far. All she needed to know was that Jesse had been his hero so to speak. That he was a good guy.
"Oh my gosh.. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I met my best friend that night. After that event Jesse and me started to hang out. He convinced me to come to New York with him."
"How long have you been living here then?"
"Almost two years. Jesse finished his year at UCLA and then we came here."
"Enough about him, tell me more about yourself."
"I'm really quite boring though." Seth commented.
"No you're not." Quinn replied, "Please?"
Seth chuckled, "Okay, I suppose the most exciting thing about me is that I'm an artist."
"Wow, really?"
Seth nodded again, "I almost created a comic book once. It was called Atomic County.. It was basically based on my life if I had super powers."
"That is so cool!"
Seth smiled, he liked seeing that Quinn was impressed with his abilities. "Next time you come over I could show you my sketches?"
"That would be great." Quinn smiled, "I think we should head back now though."
"Alright. Good idea."
Jesse was sitting in his spot on the recliner. His attention was directed on a classic game of Donkey Kong for the Super Nintendo. Living with Seth had brought out his inner geek. The boys often played video games together, visited the comic book store and watched marvel or comic based movies/cartoons a lot. However in return Jesse turned Seth into a theatre fan. At first Seth had been against it. He was pro Death Cab but anti showtunes. To him, broadway was a joke. That opinion changed drastically after living with Jesse.
He manipulated DK and Diddy Kong making them jump onto an evil Gnawty. His mind drifted from the game and onto Seth and Quinn. He wondered how their date was going. He was curious but he had no idea why. Sure Seth was his best friend but he barely paid attention to the girls Seth dated unless they got serious ( generally they didn't). The poor boy was still hung up on his ex girlfriend, Summer.
Jesse longed to meet Summer. He wanted to know what she was like, Seth briefly talked about her, Jesse never liked to pry because his friend was so sensative on the subject. He wondered if Summer missed Seth as much as he missed her.
The door crashed open.
Jesse looked up. "Good evening, nice of you to finally return. How was your date?"
Seth picked up the other controller. Jesse switched the game to two player.
"It was great. Quinn is an amazing girl. She's beautiful, funny, kind.."
"And? Do you have anything else to add to that list of why Quinn Fabray is perfect." Jesse made DK jump on a crate causing a Rhino to appear, "She really isn't perfect. The only person who I believe has been relatively close is Julie Andrews. It's a shame what happened to her voice. It's been years and it still saddens me. If I could I would adopt her into my family, I'd love for her to be my grandmother. Just imagine it."
"She's just not for me.." Seth stated softly ignoring Jesse's rant.
Jesse continued playing the game, "Oh.." Was all he said for a moment. "Because she's not.. Sum-"
"Yeah." Seth cut him off before he could finish her name.
Jesse frowned, "I'm sorry."
"I know. I just can't seem to get over her."
"You have to some day."
Seth sighed, "That day hasn't come yet. Sometimes I wonder if it ever will."
"It will. When it's time."
Seth looked away from the tv screen and over at Jesse, "Has your heart ever been broken before?"
They had never talked about Jesse's past relationships before. Jesse paused the game. "I guess you could say that it has. People may not believe considering the way the break up took place. I'm positive that the girl would never believe it. The way things happened, I made it seem like I didn't care. I went about it all wrong. I fell in love but it never would've worked out. She was the enemy." He unpaused the game. Clearly he didn't want to discuss the topic further. Seth respected that. The two continued to play for another hour. They played in silence and then went their separate ways to bed.
The next week Jesse and Seth spent their time following their regular routines. Seth worked at the comic book store. Jesse practiced with his fellow cast members, he had been selected to play Roger in a broadway production of Rent. This role would be Jesse's second broadway show. He was full of excitement and as much as he hated to admit it he was also nervous.
Quinn was distancing herself from the boys. This bothered Seth considering he hoped that Quinn would join his group of friends. Jesse wasn't bothered by the Quinn situation. The only thing he felt slightly annoying was Seth's constent talk about it. Jesse tried to tell his friend that it wasn't worth the fuss but it was no use. Luckily Jesse had a feeling he knew what the problem was. Once he received a phone call his idea was proven to be true. Now there were only two questions; Did Jesse want to help and would Quinn even let him if he tried?
