The Joy in Forgetting/ The Joy in Accepting
Friday morning came a lot sooner than either teen wanted. Seth knew that many questions were going to be answered today. He had no clue where he and Summer stood anymore, and definitely didn't know what was going on with Jess. He should be pissed at her for cheating on him, but there was a tiny, tiny bit of him that knew she deserved a chance to explain. It was the least he could do.
Summer knew that the ball was in her court now. Her actions at school would be the deciding factor on whether or not she and Seth are a couple. So it was either her popularity or Seth. A few years ago, such a question would be ridiculous. But now, so many things had changed.
Seth shot his eyes open and peered around his surroundings. Summer's body was pressed tightly against his, her hands were positioned on various parts of his chest, and her legs were entwined with his. He definitely needed a minute or two to process all of this information.
Then almost on cue, Summer's tiny body began to stir and she gradually started to wake up. Seth remained quiet, and just watched everything unfold. Summer stretched her arms out blindly and yawned, but her eyes remained closed.
Summer's stretching and yawning came to a complete and sudden stop. She froze instantly and shot her eyes open. She glanced up slightly at Seth, he could only give an uneasy grin.
"Good Morning Sum…" Seth nervously smiled. Her head was still rested on his chest and her legs were still locked with his.
Summer didn't say a word, but at the same time didn't move away. She just kept her gaze on Seth and slowly her lips formed into a small pleasant smile.
"….Morning Cohen…" Summer whispered but kept her gaze. She only had to whisper seeing as her face was inches way from his.
"We better get up, we got school…" Summer spoke softly.
"Yes we do…"
"Yeah…."Summer started to fidget around in the bed, but made no move to get up.
"So how did you sleep?" Seth broke the awkwardness.
"Good….you?"
"Good…"
"We better get ready for school.." Summer slowly slipped her body away from Seth, and peeled her legs away from his. She slowly made her way to her bathroom and closed the door. The second the door shut, Seth breathed a sigh of relief.
He searched the ground for his clothes and began rummaging through them to find his cell. He definitely needed to call home and at least notify them he was still alive.
Ring Ring Ring"Hello…"
"Ryan! Buddy, hows it going?"
"Where the hell are you?"
"Oh, you know……Summer's"
"Well Kirsten and Sandy already left and I told them that you went in early…"
"Thank you Ryan, thank you, thank you.."
"Okay, okay that's enough…"
"I swear when I get home, I'm giving you the biggest hug ever."
"You better not or I swear I'll punch you. Definitely don't try anything at school or I'll be forced to kill you."
"That's what every brother likes to hear….Hey wait, your going to school?"
"Yeah my registrations completed…"
"Sweet! Today could not be any better…Waking up next to Summer, then finding out your going to school!"
"Yay…" Ryan deadpanned.
"See you at school man!" Seth closed the phone, then fell back softly onto the bed. He could not wipe the smile off his face.
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The entire car ride to school was scorched in silence. Summer never once took her eyes off the road, which was probably good thing seeing as they didn't want a repeat of the night before, and Seth could not wipe the smile off his face.
Things were finally looking up for him. As of right now, he had Ryan now attending Harbor and it appeared that he had the girl, Summer Roberts, as his girlfriend…?
He wasn't quite sure what they were anymore, but it was almost certain friends was out of the question. There was no way he'd be able to handle spending a whole night with her, in the same bed no less, and come out of it only being her friend. No. For the first time ever, Seth Cohen clearly knew what he wanted, Summer.
Sure he always wanted Summer, but this time he felt she was actually attainable. The only thing that appeared to be standing in his way was Summer's insecurities and her love for popularity.
"Hey Sum, I just wanted to talk to you about last ni-"
"Oh look! We're here! Bye Cohen!" Summer slammed on the brakes and bolted from the car. Seth watched as she shielded her face with her book and quickly entered the building.
I guess that was his answer. Summer wanted nothing to do with him, at least at school. If she still expected him to be at her call 24/7, but only in private, boy was she wrong.
Seth quickly snapped out of his neurosis and got out of Summer's car before anyone spotted him in there. It was the least he could do, grant Summer's wishes of not being seen within a foot of him.
"Seth!" Ryan yelled across the schoolyard, drawing even more attention to him. As if enough people were already talking about him.
"Ryan…hey…" Seth quickly trotted across the parking lot and joined him. Ryan held out a hand to greet him.
"Pssh…Please we hug it out like brothers man…"Seth shook his hand then enveloped Ryan into a semi hug.
"….That's not embarrassing…" Ryan made a disgusted face and frustratingly wiped his clothes to remove any Seth "germs".
"Hey man, we're brothers…."
"Well brother, your not exactly making my first day go by smoothly…They already know I'm some bad boy outsider, and now what are they gonna think?"
"Jeez man…Chill…Its not like yelling across the school like a 6 yr olds bringing any positives to your already beaming stature…And they probably think your mentally unstable.."
"Well I guess it rubs off." Ryan turned and headed for the school entrance.
"That was not cool man!" Seth hurriedly rushed after him.
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"So what's up with you and Marissa man? Are you dating? Are you friends?"
"I don't know man…She's got some things to sort out…I mean there's this guy, she might be back together with him so I do-"
"-Luke.." Seth began piling his books out of his bag and into his locker. Ryan threw his books into the locker beside Seth because, well its Seth, and there is bound to be an empty locker near him.
"Yeah, Luke…So I just got to let her sort things out."
"Dude, no offense but I think that's a bad idea, you've gotta be straight forward with her…Tell her what you want to be, and force the issue…"
"Like there are no issues with you Seth?"
"Actually, there are none…"
"You and Jess?"
"Friends…Actually wait, she cheated on me, so I'd say acquaintances."
"You and Summer?" Ryan slammed his locker shut and looked at Seth for an answer. Seth froze on the spot and searched around the halls. He found Summer leaning against a vending machine talking to Justin, Nordlund, Brad and a few water polo players. There were also some Newpsie's In-Training nearby.
"Well I'll just have to find out won't I?" Seth shut his locker, turned and left Ryan to choke on his words.
"Why hello Summer…" Seth casually snuck between a few water polo guys and peaked his head into the group.
"What are you doing Queer?" Brad angrily spat out. He felt he was making progress with Summer, and geekboy had to come and ruin it.
"Oh I'm here to talk to the vending machine…No dumbass I'm here to talk to Summer…" He grabbed onto Summer's hand and pulled her out of the group.
"Cohen! What are you doing your making a scene!" Summer hissed and frantically tried to escape Seth's grasp, but he held on tight.
"I need to know where I stand. I mean are we going out or what? We can't just spend that night together and say we're friends.."
"SHHH! Shut it Cohen!" Summer covered his mouth in a heartbeat with her hand, than gave another one of her million dollar fake smiles to the passing students to show everything was fine.
"Where you stand geek, is 6 feet under.." Nordlund chimed in and shook a fist in Seth's face.
"Dude you can't stand 6 feet under, you lie moron…" Seth rolled his eyes at their stupidity than focused his attention back on Summer. "So?"
Summer gulped and looked around her. There were several eyes gazing at her expectantly for an answer. She looked at Seth and tried to search his eyes. All she could see was anticipation, hope and excitement. In any other circumstance, that would be enough for her to give in to Seth's cuteness and kiss him all over. But now, there were other things at stake. Should she risk it all, popularity, friends, her school life, just to be with Seth Cohen? And what would happen if it didn't work out? She wouldn't have her popularity, friends and school life to run to. She'd be stuck. Completely stuck.
So no, it was too much of a risk. As much as it will hurt to crush Seth, giving up her current lifestyle was too much.
"Umm 'So'?! What do you mean 'So'? You do my science work and write all my papers! That's what's up…Eww Random!" Summer waved a hand dismissively at Seth and walked down the hall. As soon as she turned the corner, she ran out the side doors and straight to her car. Not once looking back, she buried her head in her hands as she ran. If one was close enough to her, they most likely would find tears streaming from her perfectly aligned face.
"Move along geek…" Justin shoved Seth away from the group, then proceeded to continue on basking in his glory of being a water polo players with the rest of them.
Seth frustratingly stomped back toward an awaiting Ryan. He wasn't going to cry. It was far from it actually. He was just pissed off. Fed up with everything Summer was doing, he was tired of all the mixed signals she was sending.
"I take it that didn't go very well.."
"Guess that's my answer.." Seth had his head lowered and made no attempt to look at Ryan. Ryan just gave a sympathetic smile and put an arm on his shoulder and guided Seth off to class.
As far as Seth was concerned, all he wanted to do was completely forget Summer. Just totally wipe her out of his brain. Unfortunately, such a task seemed merely impossible, but it was worth a try…wasn't it?
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Summer sped down the highway, occasionally bating away unwanted tears. It was becoming too painful to continually reject Seth on a regular basis. She definitely needed to set things straight with him. It wasn't Seth's fault. She knew he had honorable intentions. He only wanted to know where they stood as far as a relationship went. She couldn't entire blame him, only for confronting her and bringing up their issues at school, and nonetheless in front of all the students!
But the point is, Seth won't wait around forever. As she said before, the ball was entirely in her court. There is no denying the feelings she has for Seth, it certainly isn't that of friendship status. She knew for a fact the feeling was mutual, seeing as Seth apparently had been pining for her his entire life.
Was it finally time to face facts? Summer Roberts, home coming queen, most desirable girl in Harbor, likes Seth Cohen?
Yes, Summer had to accept the fact that she indeed, liked Seth a lot…
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"Girls are dumb." Seth pouted as he stirred around his food and smothered its contents everywhere on his plate. It was only lunchtime, and he was still rambling on about Summer's selfishness and how stubborn she was. Unfortunately for Ryan, he was the unlucky winner of the 'Endure Seth Cohen Rambling' contest.
"Don't worry man, I think she'll come around.."
"How could you be so calm? You should be like me, pissed off at the world, considering you're basically in the same situation as me…"
"Not exactly…See Marissa and me …Uhhh….Kind of have plans tonight." Ryan immediately shoved food in his mouth, hoping he didn't come off too excited.
"Great…Just great.."
"You can come if you want…I mean its just me and Marissa, we're heading up to LA for the day. Probably going to have dinner and maybe catch a Lakers game.."
"Basketball? You mean with all the shooting, dribbling and the overall athleticism? Nah I think I'll pass"
"C'mon man!"
"Nope…" Seth stood up and picked up his tray. "I'm in mourning Ryan. I'm too depressed to do anything."
"But I thought you said you weren't going to cry?"
"…Shut up.." Seth stormed away from the cafeteria and Ryan just chuckled at the sight than carried on eating.
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"Seth!" Seth turned around to find a blonde girl busily waving for his attention. He stopped in his tracks, and headed back to join the girl.
"Hey….Amanda isn't it?" She smacked him playfully on the face.
"Allison?" Smack
"Alex?" Smack
"Amy?" Smack. He could tell the girl was growing impatient, as the smacks were beginning to grow harder. He knew it started with an 'A'…
She impatiently tapped her foot as Seth frantically searched his mind for the girls name. After a while she grew tired of waiting.
"ANNA!" She finally belted out and Seth snapped his fingers.
"I knew it started with an 'A'"
"So did you read the new Hawkeye comic?" Seth gave a quizzical look.
"Yes I did, and I'll tell you my problems with it…Wait a minute, you read comics?"
"Yeah, don't you remember? I told you at that one party."
"But your like a girl…"Smack " Jesus Woman! Calm down, you're almost as worse as-…" Seth trailed off.
"Summer?" Seth confusedly stared at her. " I heard about your little situation with her."
"Enough about her…Its only going to make me more angry, I cannot believe you read comics."
"Yeah well, if you had picked me instead of Jess you would've known…" That's where he knew her from. How could he have overlooked that? How many girls at Harbor read comic books for crying out loud? He now fully remembered her, she told him but he was too busy to listen. Considering he had been searching the beach for the Summer. It was the same night he got the living shit beaten out of him.
Anna and Seth carried on, chatting away about random things that came to mind. The bell finally rang, signaling the end of lunch, and Anna turned to leave.
"Wait…"Seth sighed and took a deep breath. There was no use moping around, waiting for Summer to come to her senses. He was tired of playing cat and mouse with her. Maybe it was finally time to move on.
"What are you doing tonight?"
Okay so that wasn't exactly my 'favorite' chapter, but nonetheless it needed to be done. It was only not my favorite because it was a lead-on towards the next chapter. I'm still satisfied with the way it turned out, so I hope you still read and REVIEW
Next…Romance heats up at ball game, Summer confronts her fears, a fight? No…not another one!