Anna had downed two shots in quick succession before she even felt like she could speak. Ryan just watched her, matching her shot for shot, but not saying a word, waiting for her to unload. Everyone did that, came to Ryan with their problems; expected him to listen, unerringly. He didn't mind it so much anymore, he was used to it. The chrome clock on the kitchen wall ticked loudly. It seemed to be whispering with every tick, Seth, Seth, Seth, Seth...

She laughed callously. "Do you know what I really thought when Marissa called me that first time, all cloak-and-dagger, and told me there was this big problem with Summer, and asked me to come back to Newport?"

Ryan shook his head, silently, but leaned forward, compelling her to continue. She noticed for the first time how utterly blue his eyes were. As true and deep as the sea.

"I thought we were going to an intervention. You know, the kind you see on after-school specials. I thought she was just an alcoholic, and I thought with Seth away in Europe, Marissa didn't want to call him, and I thought with his mother and everything, it would just be too hard on him, so she called me." She hiccuped politely. "So much for thinking."

"And when I got there, oh my God. Summer had just let herself go. All she did was cry all the time, she wouldn't leave the house, she wouldn't put on make-up or fix her hair. She was such a mess."

Ryan cocked his head slightly, took another shot.

"And stupid Marissa," Anna continued, slurring now. "She just pandered to Summer, did whatever she wanted, all the time. It was no wonder Summer wouldn't get it together with Marissa there to run all her little errands, be her little lapdog," Anna was started to feel tipsy, the liquor warming her from within. Her throat burned amber fire.

She took another shot, already regretting the hangover she was going to have the next morning. "And I helped her get it together. I forced her to move out here with me, I made her learn Braille, I bought her all those books. She's so different, now, even than she was before the accident. She's grown up so much." Anna sighed, heavily. "And now this."

"Seth can be very…persuasive," Ryan commiserated, knowing that she was beating herself up for the scheme to reunite Summer and Seth. "He rarely thinks about the consequences he acts."

"He's a leaper," Anna agreed ruefully. She put her head down on her bent arms. "See, and I'm normally a looker, normally, I approach the problem from all sides. But not this time." She lifted her head. "This time I leapt."

Ryan didn't mention that 'leapt' wasn't a word. He cleared his throat. "Why?" His simple question brought tears to his friend's eyes.

"Well, I kept telling myself that I wanted to bring them back together, that I knew Summer still loved him and wanted to be with him." She lowered her voice to a stage-whisper, "...but secretly, Ryan, I've been so selfish. This really hasn't been about her at all. And I kept telling myself it was, that I just wanted what was best for her."

She shook her head. "I'm a bad person."

"No, you're not," Ryan assured her, forcefully. He scratched at the back of his neck. Anna reached her hand out, wrapped it around Ryan's forearm. Hmmm, toned. He must work out.

"Kurt, my boyfriend, he asked me to marry him."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you. But now I feel like I can't marry him and leave Summer without anyone to help her. I mean, I guess she could hire someone, but I love her so much, I don't want to do that to her. And Marissa doesn't live that far away, I had thought at one time that she could move in with Summer; but you know how Marissa is: drama, drama, drama, all the time. Summer would get sick of it." Anna took her fourth shot, sucked viciously on a wedge of lime. "So even though it's the last thing she would want for me, I'm stuck. Because of her."

Ryan and Anna sat quietly for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, she quietly asked, "how did Seth take the break-up?"

Ryan was taken aback by the question, a little. He sucked on his own lime, peeling the globules of juice away from the hard rind. They burst across his tongue with a tart sting. "Hard. He uh, he cried a lot. He kept talking about it, saying he knew Summer would leave him sooner or later. He thought she was too good for him. The usual theatrics, as only Seth can provide."

"He didn't try to call her?"

"He was still in Italy when the accident happened. He got a letter a few weeks later from Summer saying she was in love with someone else, and not to bother coming home."

Anna closed her eyes, pained on Seth's behalf.

"When he flew back to the States, he went over there, but the house was dark."

"I had already brought her here," Anna filled in needlessly.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, that just sucks."

"Yeah, pretty much."

They fell into an easy silence once more. Ryan stood after a few minutes, and fished a ten out of the pocket of his jeans.

"Thanks for bartending," he held it out.

Anna waved it away.

"I insist," he folded up the bill, and placed it on the table, overturning the empty shot glass on top of it, soaking the fine paper with tequila. Anna watched him saunter over to the front door, before turning to meet her eyes one last time.

"Take it easy," he instructed. She nodded resolutely, and shooed him out the door. It locked behind him automatically. The clock struck ten.

Summer woke with a crick in her neck. She was laying on the floor, curled in the fetal position, her back against the door. Her scalp ached from where her hair was still fastened on her head. Her joints and muscles screamed with pain. Her party dress was rucked up around her thighs, her tights were snagged where she had tried to rip then off in panicked desperation. Her feet protested when she tried to move her legs. She sat up, wincing, and unstrapped the black Mary Janes from her feet before attempting to stand. She stretched her neck, intending to do nothing more than take a hot shower, eat, and fall into her bed.

A flood of memories from the night before nearly bowled her over; she grabbed onto her bureau for support and she hobbled towards her bathroom. Her watch beeped, letting her know it was half past ten. She couldn't believe that she'd slept all night on the floor, she hadn't done that since her wild party-girl days of early high school.

She stumbled into the bathroom, the blood rushing to her brain and making her head pound furiously. The tiled wall felt cool against her fingertips. She pressed her hand against the window, cool air was seeping in from the crack where she'd left it open. The heat wave had finally broken.

She turned on the faucet, locked the bathroom door, and waited for steam to fill the small room. She removed her hair ribbon, massaging her scalp, cringing as her hair came down in stringy clumps. Her dress was thrown in a heap on the floor; the tights discarded in the trash. She carefully removed her makeup, not caring that her eyes stung with the soapy residue. They were probably already puffy and bloodshot from her night of hysterics, a little more couldn't possibly hurt. She was heartily ashamed of herself, it had been such a long time since she had humiliated herself by behaving like a child. As she had matured into an adult, she'd learned how to manage her anger, but it was episodes like this one that reminded her that her rage blackouts of old were only one Seth-Cohen-away. She would never be completely free of it.

When she had undressed, she stepped into the shower, glad that she'd gotten the water just a little too hot. It scalded her skin, punished her.

How dare Anna? How dare any of them? How dare Seth assume that she would want to see him, after all this time? How dare Ryan presume he would be welcome in the mix? He and Summer were never very close, not even when Seth and Summer had been dating in high school and college, much less now. How dare either of them barge into her life again, when she had so carefully cut them both out?

But the conflict with Anna was what bothered her the most. How could Anna do something like that to her? How could Anna deceive her so willingly? She trusted Anna, with her life. She depended on Anna every day—not only to help her around the house, and make sure she didn't hurt herself—but also to be with her, to be her dearest friend. How could that trust ever be rebuilt, now?

She knew Anna regretted what she'd done, Summer had felt her remorse the moment Seth had spoken. Anna emoted the way other people breathed: fully, sometimes even passionately, but always distinctly. Summer felt everything Anna felt because Anna was like that, she was like air. She swirled around Summer like dust dancing on the breeze, like pollen floating.

Summer pounded the tile wall with her fist until it stung; she wanted it to bleed. She hated feeling hopeless, Anna knew she hated feeling hopeless, and yet, that's what Anna had done to her. And what sucked the most was that Summer didn't have any choice. Where was she going to go? Who would care for her, and stay with her, the way Anna had?

She sank to her knees in the corner of the shower, pressed her forehead against the damp tiles. No one. No one.

Her father treated her like a beautiful little nuisance. Sure, he would open the house in Newport up for her, but why would she want to go back there? She couldn't go to Marissa, Marissa had her own life, and she didn't know the routines that Anna and Summer were in, she didn't know their systems and habits. Besides all that, living with Marissa would drive Summer nuts in record time.

She didn't have any family, to speak of, other than her father. She was alone. Lost. She sighed, dismally. Everything was taken with resignation now. Resignation to a life of blindness. Resignation to being cared for, like she was slow, crippled, or worse. Resignation to loneliness, for who would ever want to love her now? What other choice did she have but to accept it and try to still be happy?

She turned off the water, wrapped herself in a towel and stepped out of the shower. The back of her neck still burned.

Anna was in her bedroom when she returned. Summer prickled.

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry you picked the lock, or that you fucked me over?"

"Both."

Summer sat next to Anna on the bed, tried not to fidget.

Anna drew in a deep breath, decided not to reach for Summer's hand. Outside, a car alarm started blaring. "I cleaned up the broken glass, I didn't want you to cut yourself."

"Thank you," Summer tightened the towel around her breasts; the terrycloth was rough against her skin.

"I have something for you," Anna placed the small velvet box in Summer's hand, brushing her thumb gently.

Summer frowned.

"It's your mother's engagement ring, I had it resized for your finger. I had planned to give it to you for your birthday, but you were so excited about the concert, and Kurt was here...and I just didn't think it was the right time."

A hard, sad lump rose in Summer's throat.

"Summer, I'm sorry. The reason... the reason that I brought Seth here was because he saw you in the park that day, and he knew. I mean, he saw you, sitting with me, and he figured it out. He wanted to talk to you then, but I wouldn't let him, because I knew you would be upset. I tried to talk him out of it altogether, but he insisted on it."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Summer asked, her voice rough with barely-repressed anger.

"I should have," Anna immediately replied. "I should have, and I'm so so sorry that I didn't. I didn't want to upset you, and I thought I could convince him that he shouldn't bother you, so I didn't say anything. I knew if I didn't have him over to see you, he would just come anyway, or corner us out in public somewhere."

Summer removed the ring from the box and slipped it on the fourth finger of her right hand. She ran calloused fingertips over the diamond. She considering stringing Anna along, remaining angry with her, but in the end, Summer decided it was fruitless. She was exhausted.

"Don't ever do that to me again," she said quietly.

Anna let out the breath that she was holding, it came out as a choked sob. "I'm sorry."

Summer turned her face towards Anna's very deliberately. "No more apologies. Let's just forget it."

Anna nodded, breathed again, wiped tears from the corner of her eyes. She stared at Summer for a long moment, her wet hair sticking to her scalp, plastered against her forehead. Anna reached out and traced her finger delicately across Summer's exposed collarbone.

"You're bright red," she commented.

"I was mad," Summer admitted, ducking her chin. Anna's fingers traced her jawline.

"I love you," Anna said.

"I know."

The doorbell rang. Anna sucked in a breath. "That's Kurt," she offered, sounding disappointed.

"I need to get dressed, anyway," Summer rose to her feet, a little unsteady.

"Okay," Anna murmured, standing also. Summer was still facing her, almost expectantly, but there didn't seem to be anything left to say.

Anna hadn't thought that Summer would take it that easily, she imagined that she'd have to grovel for weeks, or at the very least, days. Summer turned away. Anna left the room, closing the door behind her with a quiet click. She hadn't thought it would be that easy, not with Summer. But sometimes it just was.

Someone got out to the car, and the alarm fell silent. Outside, the clouds obscured the sun.

To be continued...