Alrighty...Finally the next installment is completed!
It is by far the largest/longest chapter yet, totaling 6 back to back pages, and I write small...
In regards to the content...you might think you know what will happen...you could be right and you could be wrong, the only sure thing is this was the last chapter in Hawaii. A lot of the content might just seem like meaningless filler but I think it all sold how each character was feeling and how they have changed over the summer...Summer in particular.
Thanks for the three reviews for last chapter, although its quite disappointing to see a drop in the number of reviews and reviewers considering a lot of the regular readers who used to leave comments almost every chapters seem nonexistant.
BUT, to ALL READERS, REGULAR OR NOT:
Considering the events of this chapter and everything in the entire story, please everyone answer this question:
Should this chapter be the last of the story? Does it seem like a fitting end or should I continue on and finish out the first year of college for Seth, Summer and Ryan? It seems only right that you, the readers decide...So leave your answer and if you have time, your review too...SHOULD THIS OR SHOULDN'T THIS BE THE END?
Anyways...read, review, enjoy and all that jazz.

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Til Kingdom Come

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The last day started exactly how the previous day ended.

It seemed like a fitting mood.

Although the rain had stopped and everything was drying out, the dark gloomy clouds hung overhead.

Seth and Summer had both fallen asleep on the large surprisingly comfortable couch in the living room part of Ryan's hotel room.

Seth was pushed up against the end of the couch; one leg was completely off the couch, as were both arms which were sprawled in awkward positions.

Summer however, was curled up between Seth's legs, her head resting comfortably on Seth's rising and falling chest. One arm was draped behind his back and the other resided under his shirt on his stomach.

Before falling asleep Seth was sure to wrap Summer in a blanket. Normally they would be lying like this for four or five more hours but today was different.

It was 6:00am and Summer had already removed herself from what she thought was the warmest, safe and comfy place in the whole world.

Considering that today was the last day that Summer and Seth would be together, she decided to do something different. She had gotten up at 5:00am and even though that was a feat in itself, the even more remarkable thing was that she managed to do so without waking Seth, which would have ultimately ruined her plan.

"Seth" Summer sat on the edge of the couch while she tried to gently wake him.

"Seth…" Whispering again she lightly rocked her hand on his chest.

"Seth" She would have been annoyed at the lack of responsiveness from Seth but she just smiled warmly as she silently watched him lay there. She softly ran her hand along the side of his face, following his unshaved twelve o'clock shadow. The rugged unshaved looked that he had started since they arrived in Hawaii was actually working for him.

Her finger tips traced upwards to his cheek bone which sported a small bruise from the run-in with the door from the day before.

Summer smiled again and lightly moved over the purplish spot.

"Ow" Seth quietly moaned as he finally began to stir.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" Summer quickly moved her hand away from his face.

"Here" She leaned in and placed a smooth, light kiss on his cheek bone.

"Mmm" Seth groaned again while he stretched out his limbs and slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey" Summer smiled lovingly at him and tried to withhold any sign of sadness.

"Hey" Seth returned the same smile.

Finally he took note of what Summer was wearing. He looked at her up and down. She was wearing a very light, softly colored dress that clung to her body so immaculately.

She was beyond stunning, to him she was perfect.

"Hot date?" Seth smiled again, still not completely awake to clock what was going on.

Summer grinned back at him and took his hand in hers.

"Come on." She tugged at him as she stood up.

Seth slowly got up off the couch and followed Summers instructions. He quickly showered, got dressed and followed her out of the room and down to the lobby.

"Why is it still dark out?" Seth slowed down as they approached the large glass entry doors. He had no idea what time it really was.

"Come on!" Summer chimed again and proceeded to drag him outside.

After Seth asking a dozen more questions, Summer at long last stopped the both of them.

When Seth finally clued in, a giant smile washed over his face.

There the two stood, in the sand, facing the ocean taking in all the oranges, reds, pinks and purples of the sunrise. Unfortunately is would soon be drowned out by the on coming storm clouds.

Seth kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand.

From there they started to walk along the beach hand-in-hand and with Summer resting her head on Seth's shoulder, making cute small talk all the while.

When the two had run out of beach to walk down, they used the blanket Summer had brought with them and sat in the sand.

They sat in complete silence, which just seemed to fit the mood. Both Seth and Summer were submerged in their thoughts as they took in the sunrise.

Summer sighed and nestled deeper into Seth.

"The summer's over" She traced the intricate patterns on her dress with her fingers.

"Yeah, a lot's happened" Seth softly kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer to him.

Summer looked up at him with large, sad eyes.

"I don't want to leave" Her words were soft and quiet but Seth heard her flawlessly.

"I don't want you to leave either" He forged a small smile to try and comfort her.
"I…I don't have to go yet. It's just orientation. Classes won't actually start 'till later…" Summer hurriedly tried to list reasons why she didn't have to leave. Unfortunately this only made things harder for her.

"Summer" he began, looking straight into her eyes and holding both her hands.

"You have to go…Besides, you want to start the year off right don't you?...And you get to meet new interesting people" Seth hurriedly tried to list reasons why she had to leave. Unfortunately this only made things harder for him.

"I don't want to meet new people. I want you. I want Ryan. I want Mar-…" she paused and looked back over the ocean.

"…I don't want to meet new people" She repeated.

"I wish you could come with me." Summer whispered, still not looking at him.

Seth couldn't help but feel guilty and disappointed in himself. Had he only gotten an acceptance letter as well, he would be accompanying Summer to Brown right at her side.

Again, even though Summer wasn't looking, he forced a small smile.

"Me too." He whispered almost inaudibly.

Silence followed for a brief time for them to gather their thoughts once more.

"Aren't you going to be a little lonely on that boat by yourself for two weeks?"

"No, I'll have Mr.Lefty here" Seth raised his hand and waved it in front of him.

"What?" Summer didn't quite understand what he meant.

Seth quickly answered her question before she actually clued into his sick little joke.

"Won't you be lonely up in Rhode Island all by yourself?"

"Yeah, but I'll be surrounded by like, literally hundreds of people and I…EW! Cohen!" Summer slapped him hard across the chest after the whole 'left hand' joke registered in her mind. Unfortunately she couldn't help but laugh a little, neither could Seth.

By now the clouds had almost completely devoured the sunrise and thunder already started to boom though the sky.

The couple both looked up at the different shades of grey above them.

"Come on" Seth was the first to stand and held out his hand to help her up.

After standing Summer shook the sand from her blanket, took Seth's hand again and they started to make their way back along the stretch of beach.

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When Seth and Summer got back to Ryan's room, they woke him up and ushered him to get dressed. When everyone was ready, they went downstairs for their last breakfast together for a long while. During the meal they had all decided on an activity to do together…something other than movie watching.

"Isn't it a little weird that even though we're on an island surrounded by water, all the hotels here have some form of indoor aquatics?"

Seth stood between Summer and Ryan looking out over the large indoor pool.

"It probably rains a lot" Ryan added.

"Can't go to the ocean, so they bring the ocean to us!" Summer chimed enthusiastically.

"Just a slightly more chlorine-ified version of it" Seth smiled.

"You guys, aren't we supposed to wait like half an hour or something before we go swimming?" Summer asked shortly after remembering the large amount of various flavored pancakes she downed.

"Ah, yes but we are not swimming. We're hot tubing"

Ryan looked at Summer nodding and pointing at Seth in agreement.

They boys threw their towels on the empty table beside them and quickly hopped in the large hot tub.

Summer shrugged, placed her towel neatly over a nearby chair and slowly climbed in and sat comfortably next to Seth.

Not only were the jets within the hot tub making them relaxed, but the fact that they were completely alone only made things better.

The time seemed to fly by. It was as if it was like of time again…

Summer sat perched on Seth's lap as they all told storied to reminisce over. There were no sad faces, no long awkward pauses and thus far no tears…for there would be time for that later.

As people slowly started coming in for a swim or to sit amongst the three in the hot tub, they all decided it was time to leave and begin packing.

After returning to their rooms and changing, Seth, Summer and Ryan, even though immensely exhausted from being in the hot water for too long, started packing everything they had.

Naturally, Ryan finished first, stuffing everything he had into his large green duffle bag. He was now sitting in Seth and Summer's room watching them scurry around the room searching for specific items. Ryan would have offered to help but he knew better than to disrupt Summer's packing technique and Seth…when it comes to stuff like clothes and packing, its not one of his most masculine moments.

Finally after much yelling and would-be freak outs over assumedly misplaced objects, everyone was done.

"I'm starving" Summer sighed as she flopped down into one of the chairs.

"Me too but I'm too tired to move" Seth was sprawled out on the floor.

"how much time do we have?" Summer asked, staring straight up at the ceiling.

"About half an hour" Ryan said checking his watch.

"Well I know it's too late for McMuffins but, there is a McDonalds down the street." Summer said looking from Seth to Ryan for signs of objection or agreement.

Seth immediately jumped to his feet.

"Lets go" He and Ryan both grinned at each other.

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"Ready…Set…Go!"

Seth and Ryan immediately crammed as much of their burger in their mouths as they could.

"This is so not how I imagined our last meal together." Summer looked disgusted at the two buffoons and their eating contest.

A fry flew across the table and hit her in the cheek.

"Cohen!" Summer cried quickly wiping the small spot of grease off her face.

'It was Ryan' Seth incomprehensibly mumbled with his mouth full of yet another oversized bite.

Summer looked at Seth pathetically at his attempt to get out any form of understandable speech when he didn't even have enough room in his mouth to breathe.

Seth pointed at Ryan, trying to portray what he had just 'said'.

Summer, refusing to believe Seth, shot him a dirty look and turned her attention to the food in front of her.

Whack.

Another fry hit her head but this time getting caught in her hair.

"Oh my God. EW! Cohen!" She squealed as she frantically tried to claw it from her hair.

Ryan froze, his arm still extended from the throw. Seth did the same and decided to drop the fry in his hand.

Immediately both boys burst out laughing but only for a brief moment before choking on the half of burger number two they both shoved into their mouths.

Now Summer started laughing.

"Serves you right!" She chuckled.

When the laughing and choking subsided, she slammed her elbow down on the table and held out her plastic fork, pointing from one boy to the other.

"No more." Summer narrowed her eyes at them.

She then looked back down at her food and her expression immediately changed.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be, you guys" She said, the words shakily escaping her mouth and tears waiting to fall from her eyes.

Summer held back the tears and just pouted at Seth and Ryan.

"We're sorry" Seth said softly, putting a hand on her arm.

"Yeah, we were being jerks" Ryan offered, looking from Seth to Ryan.

"Ryan was." Seth quickly corrected.

Summer's head collapsed into her hands.

"It's not that…This just isn't how I imagined us before going to college." Summer fought back the urge to cry again.

Seth retracted his hand and looked down at a spot on the table directly in front of him.

Ryan slowly glanced over at the empty chair placed between him and Summer.

The three sat in silence for a while, lost in their memories and thoughts, all of which included a certain tall blonde haired girl. They were all completely oblivious to everything and everyone around them.

After a little while longer Summer broke the silence.

"Come on, we have to get to the airport soon" She said quietly but loud enough to break the web of concentration around the table.

Summer was the first to stand and held out her hand for Seth. She needed to be close to him now.

"Come on man." Seth put a comforting hand on Ryan's shoulder as he stood to connect hands with Summer.

Ryan half smiled up at Seth and shook the dwindling thoughts from his head.

The three closely walked out of the restaurant together.

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Before they realized it, Seth, Summer and Ryan were all standing out front of their planes gate.

"I can't believe this is it." Summer said looking sadly into Seth's large brown eyes.

The boys looked from her to each other.

"I think I'm going to cry again." She said putting her hands over her mouth.

"Again?" Seth looked at her with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Summer just nodded her head.

Seth turned to face Ryan.

"Well man"

"Yeah, this is it…So you'll come up and visit?"

"Yeah, I'll come and check things out"

"Alright. I guess I'll see ya."

"Yeah, see ya"

They both hugged as brothers would and gave each other a strong pat on the back before parting.

Finally Seth turned back to Summer who he could tell was hanging by a thread. Her head was hanging low and eyes shut to prevent anymore tears from escaping her.

Seth moved closer so his face was only a couple inches from hers. He slowly lifted her chin with his fingers so she was eye leveled with him.

Seth drew both his hands up to her face and gently wiped away the tears from both sides of her face that she couldn't contain.

Eventually Summer opened her eyes very slowly to match his gaze.

"Hey" Seth whispered, only loud enough for her to hear.

Summer managed to spurt out a broken "Hey" before starting to sob.

She closed her eyes again, not being able to bear to look at him any longer. Ironically it would be something she would later long for.

"I love you" she whispered so softly that if he wasn't so focused on her, he would have missed it.

"And I love you." Seth said with a small smile and looking from eyelid to eyelid, waiting for her to reopen her eyes.

Immediately she flung her arms around his neck and held him as close as she could, taking in every scent of him.

Seth had his eyes closed tight as he tried to imagine him and Summer somewhere else…anywhere but this airport.

"You'll come up before classes start right?" Summer almost pleaded with him even though they had both decided that he would.

"Of course." Seth nodded, still partly dazed off in another world.

They were both snapped back to reality by the voice over the intercom requesting the final boarding call.

That only made Summer squeeze tighter, not wanting to let go yet.

"Summer" Seth whispered as he tried to break the strong embrace, though hating himself for doing so.

Sadly and slowly Summer released her grip on his neck and stood back, wiping the tears off her face.

"You'll call me when you land?" Seth confirms but more so to comfort her.

"Yeah" Summer whispered back and smiled softly.

"I'll be waiting" Seth smiled fondly.

With every once of passion in her body, Summer pressed her lips against his for the most heart and love filled kiss they had ever shared.

After finishing the kiss and hugging one last time, Summer, with Ryan right at her side, picked up her bag and the two walked into the terminal; out of sight.

Seth simply stood there staring with glossy eyes at the spot where he last saw them.

Eventually Seth found it in himself to turn and walk away.

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Seth gathered his luggage, checked out his room and took a bad to the harbor. By now, it was mid afternoon and the rain had stopped and the clouds slowly started to dissipate.

Seth looked around the private quarters he and Summer had shared while on their way to Hawaii. He swung his bags up and onto the bed and noticed something move in the corner of his eye. He moved to Summer's side of the bed and noticed a small folded piece of paper on the floor just off the nightstand next to the bed.

Seth bent down and retrieved the object, remembering everything about it as soon as he saw the letters that spelt out 'Summer' on the front.

Immediately Seth replayed the events that led him to create that particular note. Summer had been a wreck. She and Seth had been talking about Marissa and the funeral again.

Seth smiled at the small amount of text written on the inside of the note but the smile quickly faded. Summer must have forgotten to take the note with her because Seth had written it as a reminder for her.

He stuffed the note into his back pocket and after taking a deep breath he left to disjoint the yacht from the dock.

Seth stood at the stern of the boat as it slowly started to sail out of the harbor. He looked out into the distance with sad eyes.

Here he was again…All alone. What a way to end the summer. The four had been left to three, and now the three were divided. It appeared that it was every man for himself. Seth's mind floated through such thoughts, as if the impact of Summer and Ryan's departure had just hit him.

When Seth snapped out of his small gaze, he turned his focus to his destination. He looked around the boat and only saw two possible directions:

Starboard was the way home, to be alone for four more months.

Port side, all Seth could see was anywhere but home.

He pulled out the note from his back pocket and quietly read the words to himself. 'I'll never leave you'. Seth's eyes started to turn glossy and he slowly started to steer the boat in one direction.