Disclaimer: For the thousandth time, I don't own jack shit to do with The O.C( wish I did though : (

From Ballin' to Brawlin'

"So…that was…uneventful." Ryan peered into the rearview mirror to catch the reaction of the passengers in the back. They had just left the arena parking lot, and everyone was encased in silence. Which wasn't good for Ryan, if they all wanted to get home in one piece he needed something to distract him and keep him awake. Now Marissa wasn't much of a talker, so he needed some commotion. God he couldn't believe it, but he was actually hoping for Seth to open his mouth.

"Yo guys you catch me making out with that blonde on the big screen…I poked my head in for a minute and got the tail end of the kiss cam…it was nicccee." Justin bragged and leaned back in his chair and wrapped his arm around Summer. Summer raised her eyebrows at him and scoffed. Did he seriously just talk about making out with some chick, and now expect to get some from her? He had to be delirious.

"I totally got stood up by Seth…He chickened out and slouched in his seat." Anna whined and crossed her arms. Seth rolled his eyes and continued looking out the window.

"Pussy…" Justin snarled and he too looked out the opposite window. This led to another slew of looks from everyone. Who did this guy think he was? Not only making fun of Seth, but around his friends too? That's not right.

"What can I say guys, sorry. I got distracted." Seth's eyes roamed from the window and he peered over at Summer. She smiled dully down at her hands but kept her gaze fixed on her fidgeting fingers.

Seth continued looking on at her, but began to worry. What could possibly be going through her head right now? How he wished to know what she was thinking about. The looks she was projecting weren't exactly your typical happy-go-lucky sort of looks. Was she having second thoughts about everything that was going on between them? Seth panicked and ripped his eyes away from constantly staring into her eyes, and instead focused back out the window.

"I'm gonna pull over, I gotta get some food or something to stay awake." Ryan steered the car off the highway and onto the onramp. He pulled into a small roadside bar and parked in the empty lot. He barrowed out of the car, not without a closely following Marissa and headed in the bar restaurant.

"Come on Anna…" Seth sighed loudly and unbuckled his seat belt. "Let so grab something…" He shot the door open and stepped out. He allowed Anna to pass by him. He took one last look in the car to see if he could finally get Summer to look at him, which she didn't. Apparently she was finding more interest in the back of the front seat than him. He sighed and trudged off towards the restaurant.

As soon as he fled toward the restaurant, Summer's eyes shot over to where he was last standing. Her eyes closely followed him as he treaded into the bar, and it was than she finally observed him since the game. Seth and Anna were now inside the bar, and Summer began frantically pecking away at her nails. Why was she nervous? Was it because her and Cohen were finally both on the same page, and now they were already slipping back into the awkwardness just like the night he spent the night? No, not again Summer. She wasn't going to lose him that easily.

"What he said!" She whispered exasperated and jetted out the open door and toward the bar. Justin groaned and sighed angrily. Who would've thought Seth Cohen could possibly get under his skin more than he was today. It wasn't supposed to be like this. At school, Justin was the main attraction and Cohen was merely a shadow. That's the way it should be. He angrily got out and slammed the door enraged. He stormed off toward the bar in search of Summer.

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"Eww you guys…" Summer looked down at the menu on the bar counter top and stuck her tongue out disgustingly. "This food, is so….eww!"

"I'm sure they have the princess' menus in the back somewhere…" Seth trailed off and Summer shook her head and rolled her eyes. The bar was exactly as they expected, a few shady characters lounged around along with the beaten down pool table and broken tv. It had only one channel, and like almost 100 of all other bar's in North America…sports was on.

"Aww come on…I've had enough of sports and overall physical contact for one day.." Seth complained and threw his hands up as he pointed at the tv.

"You should quit actin' like a pussy and watch, maybe learn how to be a man.." Justin snarled and sat down on the bar stool. Ryan and Marissa were seated by themselves over by a window close to the door, secluded from the others. Ryan of course was worried about the car getting jacked while they ate, and Marissa just felt safer being near Ryan and the incoming light from the outside lantern. (Yes it was that old, they had lanterns)

"What the hell does watching sports have to do with being a man?" Seth looked confusedly at him and began smirking. "Oh right, so I can learn how to properly shave my chest. Oh wait I got it! So I learn proper technique on wearing a speedo." Justin clenched his fists together beneath the table and gritted his teeth. Seth's growing laughter didn't help matters.

"Oh my god, turn it up…" Anna squealed and took the empty seat beside Seth. He stared quizzically at her until she pointed at the tv. "Maybe we made the highlights!" The game highlights began, and Seth rolled his eyes and focused on the menu in front of him.

-Yeah John, Kobe had an excellent game as usual, racking in 28 points with 5 helpers. The knicks struggled to maintain the Lakers' pressing attack all game long…-

Seth zoned out and focused solely on the menu. Nothing really fascinated him on it, but he just would rather look at the menu than be tortured with listening to sports talk he had no damn clue about. He raised his hand and ordered a pop, deciding to skip Anna altogether.

"Hah! Your such a geek Cohen. Why don't you grab a beer dumbass."

"Uhhh…I don't know because we're underage genius."

"Fake I.D queer."

"Well that was rebellious of you Mr.Waterpolo…"Seth snickered and looked away from him with a grin. His drink was set down and began slurping away at it. He sipped on his straw and for the first time since entering the bar, looked around for Summer. She was 3 stools down from him, on the other side of Justin. She'd been relatively quiet, only the noise of the ice at the bottom of her empty cup bashing around.

Well Bill, this game was not only jam packed with excitement and entertainment on the court, but also in the stands as you see here.

Seth shifted his gaze to the tv and to his horror, an unsuspected sight. His kisscam kiss with Summer was being broadcast nationwide as we speak on the network, ESPN. His palms were sweaty and he his eyes were beginning to be blurred with either sweat or presumably faint tears of joy. No matter how flustered the kiss made him, it would always bring a smile to his face.

Whoa! No way! That girl got absolutely discoed!

The broadcaster cooed and continued dissecting the kiss, instead of investing his time on the one thing he gets paid for, sports. Seth buried his head in his hands, but as soon as he felt secluded to everyone, began blushing and smiling like an idiot. Summer was likewise, except she shot glances over to Marissa's booth and was covering her eyes teasingly with her hand, with an immovable smile plastered on her.

Shut down!

The camera zoomed in briefly on Anna hovered over Seth's vacant seat, still with her lips puckered and her eyes shut. Anna gasped and covered her mouth. She finally saw what happened during kisscam. Seth blew her off…for Summer!

I'm sure that boy caused one hell of a scene with that stunt…now back to the action…the 2nd half began with…

Silence filled the bar, and in a hurry. Marissa rushed over to Summer's side and kneeled down beside her to begin her interrogating questions. Ryan strode across the room, smirking the entire time and joined Seth, who was leaning his elbows on the counter and his head still buried deep in his hands. No matter how revealing that whole experience was, he just could not wipe the smile off. It was merely impossible.

"Wow!" Justin deadpanned and began to slowly clap. "In-fricken-credible." He continued his ever growing clapping. "Who do you think you are Cohen?" He brought the clapping to halt and gave an angered look at Seth. "You must think you're some big shot huh? Coming in and stealing my girl…" Everyone looked confusedly amongst each other. Since when were Justin and Summer together? Did he know something they didn't?

"Well I wouldn't want to go on record or anything…but anyways since when were you and Summer dating? Was it when you were busy checking out the racks of every girl in the arena? Oh it must've been when you shared that "niccce" kiss with that blonde…"Seth exaggerated the 'nice' and made air quotes. "I was merely keeping her company, something you failed to do. Not that it would matter or anything, because you shouldn't care about that." Silence encased everyone, and their eyes bounced back and forth between Seth and Justin. Summer watched intently as the scene unfolded, and opted to remain out of it, so she kept her mouth shut.

"And who do you think you are Summer? You just couldn't keep your hands off my man could you?" Anna grunted loudly, thus leading to everyone to look weirdly at her. Was it just Seth, or did Anna and Justin seem to know something everyone else did? "No, being queen of the school wasn't enough, you had to go out and snag the school geek and add him to your collection of boytoys." Marissa gasped and stood up from her kneeling position beside Summer. Summer stared at Anna with an incredulous look labeled all over her, and held her hands on her hips and rose from the stool.

"Bitch when were you ever dating Cohen? So I suggest you shut up or I'll make you." Summer roared and attempted to lunge at Anna, but was held back by a light hand placed in front of her from Marissa.

"Everyone please. Feel free to voice your opinions." Ryan exclaimed and fought back the urge to burst into laughter about the scene before him. He circled around and held his hands out questioningly and looked at everyone in the bar.

"Shut up trailer trash, go back to Chino. Take your alcoholic slut along with you" Justin barked and shoved Ryan out of the way so he could get a clear view of Seth. Ryan clenched his fists and glared angrily at Justin from behind. Not only did he hate people insulting where he grew up, but he just had to throw Marissa into this didn't he?

"I am positive that these two should be sent back to the insane asylum." Seth pointed at Justin and Anna, finally sending his first dig at Anna that night.

"I am positive that you two should go get a room." Anna smirked confidently to herself, and received confused looks. Seth flat out laughed in her face, and Summer grinned over at Seth.

"Good call, how long did it take to figure that one out?" Seth scoffed.

"I am positive Tinker Bell here will be flying back to Pittsburgh with a black eye!" Summer snarled.

"I am positive geek boy here won't be leaving here at all." With that said, Justin lunged forward and tackled Seth to the ground, sending the surround stools crashing to the ground. Plates and cups smashed to the ground as a result. Ryan rushed back into the picture and pulled Justin off of him. He spun around and slugged Ryan in the face, sending him staggering back. By now Seth rose back to his feet and attempted to get as far away as possible from the raging water polo player. He rushed toward a nearby table and grabbed basket of condiments on the table. He picked up a ketchup bottle and grinned devilishly to himself. His first thought was, if it didn't work in P.E, why would it work now? But he shook off the thoughts and launched the bottle at Justin, who was towering over Ryan, and pegged him in the head.

"What? Dude it wasn't me…" Seth raised his arms defensively and backed away. Justin slowly walked toward him and rolled up his sleeves. It then came to Seth's attention what was going on in the background. The entire bar had erupted in a brawl. It appeared even longtime friends who gathered there every night were tussling with each other. Summer had a fist full of Anna's blonde locks, while Marissa struggled to refrain Summer from seriously hurting the girl, though she felt like pounding her herself.

"I've been wanting to do this all night geek…" Seth shot his eyes back to the scene before him, Justin was readying his fist and was slinging it back to pack more power. Seth closed his eyes and hoped the inevitable would somehow not happen.

He heard a smash and whipped his eyes open. Justin was thrown through a table with Ryan pounding away at him.

"This is for insulting my damn childhood…" He slugged him in the face.

"And this…" He punched him once more. "Is for disrespecting Marissa…." He rose to his feet and wiped off the lingering blood off his lip. Seth rushed hurriedly over to him and looked down at him. Ryan nodded his head, knowing Seth was about to break into a hour long sympathy speech about how he saved him. He brushed by Seth and reached his hands into a mob of people and yanked Marissa and Summer out, both clawing away hastily at others. He didn't stop once, he just continued trotting along toward the door, dragging the girls with him.

Seth stood alone at the foot of the broken table currently occupied by a sprawled out Justin. Wow that really got out of hand fast. Some of the regulars were still pounding away, while others had already returned to their drinks. Seth snapped out of his deep concentration and looked out the window to see Ryan forcing the girls into the car and loading everything up. He made a break for the door, but stopped momentarily. He peered down at Justin's limp body.

He ran toward him and booted him rather harshly in the side, than began smiling proudly.

"And that's for ever hurting Summer…"

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"Wait Ryan don't you think we should at least give them a ride home?" Seth questioned from the back as Ryan sped away from the bar. They left Justin and Anna stranded in the bar, it was only about 30 minutes away from home anyways.

Ryan glanced in the rearview mirror and perked his eyebrows and glared at him.

"Bah, who am I kidding they can find their way home…After all Anna is somewhat smart and witty, and they got Mr.Water polo himself, Justin with them…"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Marissa perked up in her seat and looked to the backseat.

"Well they play water polo…" Ryan and Marissa both nodded dully, trying to get him to actually state a point. "so…that means they're tough…" Ryan raised his eyebrows and glared at him through the mirror, referring to the scene they just left, where Justin was left in total wreckage.

"Right that little incident back there doesn't really shout out 'bad ass' now does it?" Summer laughed silently and stared off into space, while Marissa and Ryan chuckled amongst themselves and continued looking out at the road.

Summer and Seth finally locked eyes for the first time since the game, and the sexual tension seemed to be mounting at every passing minute. They both were grinning excitedly at each other. Seth made the first move and leaned his face towards her. He stopped an inch in front of her and gazed into her chocolate eyes. Summer got the point and squinted her eyes shut in preparation for what was coming next. Seth's grin boomed and it got impossibly bigger, he shut his eyes and leaned forward. Summer smirked and pulled away from Seth and left him hanging.

"So Cohen…" Seth whipped his eyes open. " Land any good shots on Justin?" Seth backed away and smiled faintly. He knew what she was doing. Summer was always up for playing games, after all isn't that what she had been doing with him for the past month? She wouldn't win this one though, if it was the last thing he ever did.

"Well, yeah you know…I didn't really want to hurt the guy so I went easy on him." He sprawled his arms around the seats and leaned back deep into the seat.

"Oh really Seth, because if I'm not mistaken I could've sworn you threw a ketchup bottle at him." Marissa chimed in and turned around in her seat and grinned back at them.

"No you're right…Justin was about to hit me than a ketchup bottle hit him out of nowhere!" Ryan laughed as he continued staring out at the open road.

"Aww! How chivalrous of you Cohen!" Summer reached across the seat and pinched his cheeks together.

"Hey, I'm a child set in Orange County. Now that doesn't necessarily scream out 'scraper' now does it? And anyways if I ever did get into an onslaught of fights, I would find a way out of him. See the type of people like me would much rather hire someone to fight for us." Seth defended himself and searched everyone's eyes for some sort of agreement. They all scoffed at him and nodded teasingly "I wasn't born into drug dealing and knife fights."

"Dude, are you ever going to give up that stereotype of Chino?" Ryan smirked back in the mirror at Seth frantically trying to defend himself.

"No…"

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"Well, here we are." Ryan pulled into Marissa's house and brought the vehicle to a halt.

"Coop can I stay with you?" Marissa nodded and began to unbuckle her seatbelt. "The step-monsters like, unconscious and my dad's gone and left me the whole house to myself. He only left me a load of money to get through the week, no note, nothing." Summer slouched back in her seat as Marissa exited the vehice.

"Ahh, you live the hard life Summer." Seth chimed in and tried to lighten the mood. It appeared to work, as Summer smiled briefly before beginning to get out of the car. "Summer wait!" she turned back to face him. "Uhhh do you guys maybe wanna stay over at our house? I mean we can just hang out, we don't really have to do anything, we can just chill and you guys can watch me teach Ryan a lesson in PS2"

"Chill, Cohen?" Summer laughed. " Sure, I don't see why not…Coop?" She looked over to Marissa who's eyes were practically undressing Ryan already. "I take that as a yes."

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"Dad! Summer and Marissa are staying over okay? Great!" Seth opened the door and yelled before motioning Summer and Marissa off to the poolhouse as quickly as possible, before….Damn, too late.

"Summer! Marissa!" Sandy gallivanted into the foyer to greet them.

"Get to the pool house, now!" Seth exclaimed and shooed them away. He rushed them through the kitchen and out the side door.

"What's the matter son? All I was going to do was say hi…" Sandy questioned as he walked over to greet Ryan who was just entering the house.

"That would lead to embarrassing stories about me and my childhood, or worse you breaking out into some show tunes."

"Nothing wrong with a few show tunes every now and then…."

"Well not today, its Summer's first actual visit over here, and I don't want you scarring her for life from this place, now bye!" Seth turned to walk off.

"You were right son, she is hot stuff." Sandy chimed from behind and Ryan quietly chuckled as he handed the keys to Sandy.

"Now its ruined…" Seth moaned and lowered his head frustratingly. "I'm leaving now!" He stalked of toward the kitchen, with Ryan trailing behind.

"Go get her son!"

lol I felt like putting another fight in this, and the Justin/anna feuding isn't over yet.

Nxt chapt…sleepover…