This I Promise You Chapter 3: I Wanna Be With You, an o.c. fanfic

I Wanna Be With You

Three months later

It was 4 o'clock in the morning and Seth's phone was ringing piercingly, and Seth himself was groping blindly around his nightstand trying to find the phone in the pitch black. His hand finally connected with the object and he took it of its base, pressing the talk button and holding the phone to his ear.

"Hello." He said, his voice hoarse from just waking up.

"Seth, it's Mom." Kirsten's voice was shaking on the other end, and Seth immediately sat up, worried about the way his mother was sounding.

"Mom, what's wrong?" He asked quickly, the sound of a lot of people talking was coming through the phone. "Where are you?"

"We're at the airport."

"The airport?" Seth asked, confused at what was going on. "Why are you there?"

"We're going to Miami." Kirsten explained, not really knowing how to break the news to her son, "Your Nana died, Seth. I'm so sorry honey."

Seth stopped breathing for a second. He thought he had heard his mother incorrectly; The Nana wasn't dead. She was going to outlive everybody, as his father had said over and over. But she was sick, and she had been for a while.

"Seth?" Kirsten asked, there had been silence since her words, and she wanted to make sure her son was still there.

"Yeah, I'm here." Seth said, he thought about it for a minute, and then spoke again to Kirsten, "Okay, I'm flying out to Miami too. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"But Seth you have school, you can't come down all the way to Miami." Kirsten argued.

"It's fine. I'll catch up on the work I miss." Seth said, going over to his closet and grabbing a pair of jeans and a novelty t-shirt.

"Well I guess; I'll see you later then." Kirsten said, "I love you."

"Love you too, bye."

Seth quickly got dressed, grabbed some clothes out of his dresser, not really caring what he put in the duffle bag he had taken from under his bed, threw on his coat, and shoved his wallet and cell phone into his pockets. He locked the door to his apartment quickly and then ran over to the elevator, pressing the main floor button. When he got out of the elevator he ran out the door of the building and onto the sidewalk, raising his arm to hail a taxi.

After about ten minutes, apparently very few cabs were out at this hour, one finally stopped and Seth got in, telling the driver to go to the airport. It was about a ten minute drive to the airport, so Seth decided to call Arielle at Brown and let her know where he was going and that he'd be away for a few days. Surprisingly, she didn't answer her phone so he left a message. Next he called Summer, and like Arielle, she didn't pick up.

"Summer, it's Seth. I'm really sorry to bother you, but The Nana died. I'm on my way to Miami now. I just thought you should know-"

Seth's message was cut of by Summer's voice. Apparently she had woken up and picked up her phone.

"Seth, did you just say that The Nana died?" Summer rushed.

"Yeah, my mom just called. I'm on my way to the airport now."

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Summer asked.

For a few moments they put their tension aside and just focused on the news of the death. Summer wasn't really surprised he had called her; they were still kind of friends after all, and he really needed someone he knew and trusted right now.

"I'm fine." He assured her, "Sorry to bother you, go back to sleep."

"Are you kidding? I'm going to Miami with you."

Seth couldn't believe what she was saying. Of course, he wouldn't oblige having Summer come with him. He could really use the company and it was probably best to have someone else with him so he didn't do something stupid, but it was going to be really weird for them to be together.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll be at the airport as soon as I can. Bye."

Summer hung up the phone and threw the covers off of herself. She went over to her closet and threw on some jeans, a grey Brown hoodie, and a pair of black and white Converses. She threw her hair into a careless ponytail, but didn't put on any makeup. She took a large Louis Vuitton bag and put some clothes and makeup into it. She also remembered her wallet in her bedside table drawer and put it in her sweater pocket along with her cell phone, and was out the door, running down the hallways and stairs until she finally got to the student parking zone. She unlocked her silver BMW and got in, driving of into Providence to get to the airport.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Seth's taxi pulled in front of the airport and Seth handed the man some money, and ran through the doors to the first airline ticket counter he saw.

"When's the next flight to Miami, Florida?" He asked the middle-aged woman.

The woman typed something on her keyboard then looked at the computer screen in front of her.

"There's a direct flight to Miami leaving at 6:05 AM." She told Seth.

"I'll take two tickets." Seth said. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a silver credit card and handed it to the woman who ran it through the machine and typed something. In a few seconds two tickets came out of a slot in the counter and she handed them to Seth, along with the boarding passes.

"Have a nice flight."

"Thanks." He said, taking the tickets from the woman and going over to sit on a chair. There were only 2 other people sitting in the waiting area of the small airport. One was fast asleep, lying on a few chairs with her head on her luggage. The other one was listening to his Ipod and reading a book.

After 20 minutes of waiting, Summer finally came running through the airport doors.

"Summer!" Seth called, and Summer walked quickly towards him. She sat down on a chair and then turned all her attention towards Seth.

"I got here as fast as I could." She said, out of breath from running.

"The plane doesn't leave for another two hours." He told her, "I got your ticket." He handed her the ticket which Summer gratefully took.

"Thank you." She smiled at him and he smiled back at her, making her heart melt and her insides turn. "How are you?"

"Not that good." Seth answered honestly.

Summer gently put her arm around his shoulder to comfort him, and spoke softly.

"It'll be okay. I'm here for you." She said sincerely.

Seth smiled slightly at Summer and leaned his head against her shoulder. It should have felt strange for him to be lying on his ex-girlfriend who he hadn't spoken to in weeks, but for Seth, it felt natural and comforting. Sure, it should be Arielle he was leaning on, who was comforting him, but he and Summer went way back and had a huge history together, so considering the circumstances he figured it was alright for them to be together. And it was great to have someone you cared for deeply and who you knew cared for you as well help you through a death in the family.

"Seth?" Summer asked quietly, almost afraid to speak to him. She was nervous talking to him because they hadn't spoken in a while, and she was afraid of what he might say back to her.

"Yeah?" Seth responded, still leaning against her side.

"Do you love her?"

Seth didn't need to ask Summer who "her" was. He was always scared that Summer would ask him this, because he wasn't really sure what to tell her.

Part of him wanted to scream out no and that he loved Summer, but the rational part of him wanted to lie to her. Because if he lied, then it would be easier for them to pretend they were over each other and move on with life.

"No, I don't love her." Seth told Summer truthfully, "Yet." He added.

The last word that he said shattered Summer's heart all over again. So he didn't love Arielle yet, but he hoped and figured he would.

Summer knew she never would love another man again. Seth was the only one she ever did and ever would. And she thought that he felt the same way. How can you love someone since you were ten years old, who you stood on a coffee declaring your eternal love for, and then just somehow simply fall out of love with them and then fall in love with the next girl who came your way? Who does that?

So Summer being the hard-headed girl with a lot of pride, didn't want Seth to see the pain he had caused her by saying those words, put her sadness and heartache away like she had done the last couple of years and spoke strongly to the man beside her.

"Well I hope things work out for you two, Arielle's a great girl and you guys are so perfect." Summer lied through her teeth. She meant nothing she just said.

Seth knew Summer was lying but he pretended he believed her words. It killed him to tell Summer that about him and Arielle. And it was a total lie. He couldn't see himself falling in love with his girlfriend and honestly, he didn't want to. Ever since Summer walked into his life he had no desire to love another girl. It wasn't possible for him. Summer was the only one. But sometimes in life you can't have the one you want and are meant for. Sometimes you have to let the one you love go, because they deserve so much better than what you can give them. And all Seth would give Summer would be memories of the past and pain of losing Marissa.

Now things were awkward between them again. Summer wished she had never asked him if he loved Arielle, because now they were sitting with four plastic blue chairs between them, the tension existent again.

Finally, a woman's voice was calling for people to board the flight to Miami. Seth and Summer stood and Seth offered to take Summer's bag for her and she agreed. They walked up to the counter, Summer about 5 feet in front of Seth. They silently boarded the plane without even looking at each other.

Apparently this was a connecting flight from some other place, because the plane was almost full. Summer and Seth made their way to their seats, and were slightly angry that they were beside each other. And there was another man at the end of the short row so one of them couldn't move to the other seat. And to make matters even worse, they were in coach so the seats were extremely small and close together, so when they were sitting down, their arms and legs were slightly touching.

After the plane had taken off, Summer and Seth were just sitting there, staring and the dark blue fabric of the seats in front of them. Seth turned to look at Summer, but at the same moment she was doing the same and their eyes locked.

The tension over their breakup and being around each other again that was there before was now replaced by the sexual tension that was caused by their gazes and the close proximity of their bodies. Their breaths were caught in their throats and their bodies had suddenly become extremely hot. Summer was getting dizzy and everything around was blurred, except for the man in front of her. Seth was starting to lose control of his thoughts; thoughts of his Nana and his girlfriend. The only thing that was going through his mind was images and flashbacks of him and Summer together.

Without either of them noticing it, their faces had moved closer together, their lips just inches apart. The desire and need that was taking over their whole bodies was about to take over their minds and rational thoughts, and they were about to close the distance between their lips for the first time in over two years, until the man sitting beside Seth tapped Seth on the shoulder firmly. Seth pulled away from Summer and turned to the man.

"What?" He asked, extremely annoyed at the man's totally inappropriate time to interrupt them.

"Could you turn off your light? I'm trying to sleep." The man said rudely.

Seth reached up and hit his and Summer's light switches off with his fist. The two of them leaned back fully against their seats and closed their eyes, trying to recover over the intensity of what had just happened. They should have been happy that they were stopped. They were broken up, there was too much hurt between them. And Seth had a girlfriend. But they were sorry that their moment together was stopped. They hadn't had sexual tension with anyone, especially each other, in over two years and it was the most intense they had ever had. Even more then when Summer was dating Zach and Seth had come over to draw her in her Little Miss Vixen costume.

And with neither of them noticing each other, they both shed a single, silent tear.

I try but I cant seem to get myself
To think of anything
But you
Your breath on my face
Your warm gentle kiss I taste the truth
I taste the truth

We know what I came here for
So I won't ask for more

I wanna be with you
If only for a night
To be the one whose in your arms
Who holds you tight
I wanna be with you
There's nothing more to say
There's nothing else I want more than to feel this way
I wanna be with you

So I'll hold you tonight
Like I would if you were mine to hold, forever more
And I'll savor each touch that I wanted
So much to feel before
How beautiful it is
Just to be like this

Oh baby
I can't fight this feeling anymore
It drives me crazy when I try to
So call my name
Take my hand
Make my wish
Baby, your command

Yeah
I wanna be with you
There's nothing more to say
There's nothing else I want more than to feel this way
I wanna be, I wanna be with you
I wanna be with you
Wanna be with you, yeah
I wanna be with you, I wanna be
I wanna be with you
I wanna be

I wanna be
I wanna be with you, yeah
I wanna be with you
I wanna be, I wanna be baby
I wanna be
I wanna be with you
I wanna be with you yeah
I wanna be with you
I wanna be with you

Thanks for reading, and as always, if you have comments or suggestions, please review!

Song: I Wanna Be With You by Mandy Moore

jjluvxoxo