Thanks to Felicia for editing this chapter while Danielle is away.
Disclaimer- I own nothing.
"So bye-bye, Miss American pie. Drove my chevy to the levee, But the levee was dry."
"Come on Ryan, sing!" Marissa whined, smiling at her boyfriend from the back seat of the car.
"I don't sing Marissa." Ryan said back very sternly.
"Fine," she huffed. "You don't get a single kiss all day!"
Ryan let at a laugh at his girlfriend's expense.
"Like you could really live up to that, all day, especially at the happiest place on earth."
Marissa frowned.
"Hey! I can be firm when I want to."
Ryan took a deep breath.
"And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye. Singin', 'this'll be the day that I die. This'll be the day that I die.'" Sung all six passengers of the car.
"I cannot believe that I haven't been to Disney land in over three years!" Summer shrieked as the teens walked through the large gates and into the park.
"I cannot believe I have never been here!" Eliza beamed.
Luke looked down at this girl that had sparked a deep, sudden interest in him. Although he had tried not to think about it all week, he knew now that he was going to miss her when she went home, and it saddened him even more to think that, unlike Summer, Eliza really didn't have anything to come back to the west coast for.
Except him.
But he wasn't getting his hopes up, for all he knew, what they had was a simple, meaningless, spring break brought upon, fling. It didn't matter that he thought that, maybe, they could eventually become something more. She lived too far away to ever find out.
It hit him suddenly what Seth must be feeling and then he recognized that what they were going through was a hell of a lot worse than what he was.
"Oh my god, it's Mickey Mouse!" He heard one of the girls scream, bringing him out of his thoughts.
After the six of them found a kind young women to take their picture with the mouse (because after all it was Mickey Mouse, the symbol of Disney Land as Summer had insisted) they were off to enjoy the day.
The group decided to come back to Main Street for shopping just before they left and that they would go around the park counter clock wise starting in adventure land.
The six kids fit into one row on Pirates of the Caribbean, Summer and Seth in the middle. A sudden sadness overwhelmed Summer as their tiny boat took off into darkness. This was the last time she would see these people, besides Eliza, for what would seem like an eternity. But was really three long months.
She might be able to visit over the summer, but what then? She would go back to Tennessee for another year, for her senior year. She knew eventually she could be back for good, but it all seemed like a long, hard road she would have to drive to get there. She felt so tired. She lay her head on Seth's shoulder and watched as statues of pirates took form in front of her.
She could feel Eliza's body shake with laughter as Luke began to sing along with the synthetic pirates. Taking his queue, Seth began to sing, off key, as well. A smile broke out on her face, and she too began to sing quietly.
"Hey," Seth said lightly, looking down on her.
Confusion broke out on her face. Why had he stopped singing?
"What?"
Seth's eyes suddenly became soft. "Are you okay? You look sad."
"I am. But I refuse to let that ruin my wonderful, last…" she almost choked over the word last, "…day with you. So keep singing off key, will ya?"
He did as he was told, not wanting to ask anymore questions he already knew the answers to, or have another conversation so similar to all the ones they had in the last months. They were becoming cliché right under his nose.
He tried not to think about the fact that the smile that was plastered on her face was obviously fake.
"Marissa, don't even ask me about it, you know what the answer is going to be."
"Pleeeeeeeeease Ryan! It's so my favorite ride here!"
"Come on Atwood. It's her favorite ride here," Summer chimed in, only slightly mocking her best friend.
"I don't believe I told you you couldn't go on it, I just won't."
"But Ryan, it's not even that high up till the very end! Remember last time we were high up?"
"But that wasn't this high, and then they didn't drop you, like, 1000 miles per hour."
Ryan and Marissa were walking ahead of Seth and Summer, but close enough that their conversation was clear. The second Ryan mentioned the drop, something inside Summer wrenched, and it didn't go unnoticed by Seth.
"Summer?" he asked quickly.
"Do we have to go on this ride?"
"Um, no I guess not. We could keep Ryan company."
She smiled shyly at him.
"I thought you loved this ride."
Summer had never been a fan of falling. She never went on free fall rides, like those towers that shot you up and then all the way back down. Though usally she was fine with Splash Mountain, there was something beneath her feet, and it wasn't a straight shot down. Something had changed from the last time she was here though, something big. Her safety net was gone; the person who had taken an unspoken vow to always protect her was taken from her without reserve.
Now all she had left was air, un-graced by anything to break her fall or to hold her in place. Gravity would pull her down fast and she would hit the ground hard.
So maybe it wasn't falling she was afraid of. Maybe it was not being caught.
As she looked to her left she saw two big brown pairs of eyes looking at her so lovingly and it was then she knew Seth Cohen's arms were always there to catch her, even if it wasn't until the last moment.
She could feel the small car rock on the old tracks as it swept her into a blurry darkness. Seth's arms grasped protectively at her waist as she sat in between his legs on The Madahorn.
"Get ready for the ride of your life," he whispered seductively in her ear.
"The Madahorn? This is going to be the ride of my life?" Summer replied, unimpressed.
"Oh no baby, tonight, my bedroom, that will be the ride of your life."
"Oh, I'm scared," Summer teased.
Seth pushed his legs tighter against her, making her gasp. "You should be, now hold on."
"For tonight?"
"No for noooooooooooow," he screamed as the ride took a sharp lurch, and off they went.
The dark sky was lit up with a thousand bright lights in all different colors.
Summer forced herself not to cry, her eyes brimmed with trapped tears. Her only hope was that her friends were too caught up in the firework show to pay attention to her moistened eyes.
Of course, most of them were. Luke and Eliza were paying no attention to the fireworks sparking about their heads. If she weren't afraid of Seth seeing her tear filled eyes, she would ask for the camera so she could freeze the two of them, arms around each other, lips locked together, and the sky full of metaphorical and real fireworks framing them in.
Ryan and Marissa looked to the sky, both lost in the colors before them.
As Summer turned her head slightly to the side she could see Seth staring at her sadly.
Her chest heaved with a deep breath and she turned and looked him directly in the eye, holding his gaze for a moment before breaking away and speaking.
"I don't want to cry anymore."
"Believe me Sum, I really wish you didn't feel the need to anymore."
"I keep going in a circle Cohen. I think I'm happy and then something happens to break me down."
"And right now I'm the one breaking you down."
"No, Seth," she cried, "you're the only thing holding me together."
"Then why are you crying?"
Summer's mouth opened to say something, but no noise was heard.
"Because I keep dragging you back here because I'm too selfish to let you go, right?"
"Don't you dare. Don't you dare ever let me go."
At the sight of her distressed face covered in salty tears Seth had to take Summer into his arms.
"I just don't want you to hurt anymore."
"Then don't leave me."
"Don't go back."
"What?" she said as she pulled away from his chest to look him in the eye.
"Stay here, run away, be with me. Hell, we can even run away together. I know how it's done."
"Seth, don't make me say it."
"I know," he . "I'm sorry, I guess I'll just see you…"
"Summer time, maybe a weekend before then, Christmas break, the next spring break, and then we'll be able to be together." As Summer spoke Seth's face became more and more full of distress. "I know it seems like it's never going to end, and it's just an ongoing circle…"
"But at least circles don't have sharp edges."
She smiled at him before kissing him softly.
"Thank you," she murmured, "for everything."
"Anything for you, I love you."
"I love you too Seth."
They looked up to the sky for a few moments before growing bored and looking to one another once more. They chatted meaninglessly before both their eyes fell on the snuggling couple of Luke and Eliza.
"You know I've never seen Luke look at anyone like that before. Not even Marissa," Seth said.
"Yeah, it's cute," Summer replied before sighing deeply and speaking her thought. "But did I put them in our position?"
"Do you think he likes her half as much as I like you?" Seth asked.
"I think so."
"Then it doesn't matter. It's worth it."
Yes, I am a slow updater, I realize. I would love to get this done by January 8th. If I am not able to, it will be done eventually. I refuse to give up this close to the end of the story. Let's see, which should be anywhere from three to five more chapters.
