LA Here We Come…Again
"Rise and shine man, it's the weekend."
"Well, look at you this morning. Its like you're singing from the treetops." Seth wiped groggily at his face to remove any signs of sleep still lingering. "You and Marissa must be happy with your PUBLIC relationship."
"Seth, come on. I thought you were over all of that."
"Dude how can I ever be over it? The girl of my dreams, yes the one I spent all those days rambling about when you first got here, just picked her popularity over me. How can I ever be over it?" Seth scoffed and rolled out of bed, passing Ryan and making a beeline for the hallway.
"Yes I remember, and I also remember you clearly saying you would be satisfied just being in the same room with her for more than a minute without her cursing you out. Well you got that, plus you're her boyfriend."
"How long you think that'll last?" Seth stopped dead in his tracks in the hallway, but didn't face him. "Its only a matter of time before she gets tired of me and breaks it off. After all, who wants a hidden relationship? Not me, and definitely not Summer." He sighed heavily before continuing on and entering the bathroom, slamming it shut.
Ryan sighed as he remained in the hallway, pondering over ideas, trying to figure out how he could possibly get Seth to stop thinking so low of himself. He wasn't even giving it shot.
Then he figured it out. What Seth really needed was to spend some more time with Summer, out of school. And he had an idea of just how he could do that.
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"Coop, what's up?" Summer entered her room and Marissa waved back a tad bit overdramatically in the mirror, and gave a toothy grin. "Someone's in a good mood today."
"Yes I am Summer." Marissa smiled again, and continued applying her makeup as she was doing before Summer came. Summer gave her the look, ushering her to spill, and she couldn't help but blush at how much of a ditz she was being. "I have a date…with Ryan."
"Coop, you always have dates with Ryan. He is your boyfriend after all."
"Well, this one just seems special."
"Why, where's he taking you?"
"We're heading back up to LA. He's taking me to a play then after that, dinner at The Palm."
"Awww, that's so sweet. Who knew Chino had it in him?"
"I know. I mean Luke never even took me on these kinds of dates. So, what are your plans with YOUR boyfriend?" Marissa asked, waiting anxiously for her answer. She figured it was something big, because Seth was a good guy, and probably real romantic; just considering the way he always looks at her like she was the only girl in the room.
"Well, my plan is to head over to Holly's, get smashed, so I can forget about how messed up my life is." She plastered a fake smile briefly, than narrow her brow and rolled her eyes. Marissa, was more than enthused to say the least.
"Sum…you can't avoid him forever."
"Oh yes I can…" Marissa narrowed her eyes at her, and frowned. "Well what am I supposed to say to him? Everything I've been doing, has only been disappointing him and hurting him." Summer sighed, then plopped down on her bed and pretended to read one of Marissa's Cosmo magazines.
Just then, Marissa's phone rang, causing a stir in Summer's pretend reading and Marissa's precision mascara applying.
"Hello…" She heard who was on the other line, and they asked if she was alone. She looked over at Summer, who was still sprawled out on the bed gazing at the magazine vaguely. "Sum, I'll be just a minute." Summer grunted, and she assumed that was an 'okay'. She walked out the room, deciding to take the call outside, and descended down the stairs.
"Okay, I'm alone." She called into the phone.
"Alright good." Ryan sighed heavily, and she could tell he was probably running a hand through his hair right about now. It just seemed like something was on his mind.
"Why, what's up lover boy? Just call to check up on me?" Marissa grinned, trying to lighten up the mood for the conversation.
"Actually, no." Marissa's smile faded faintly, but she still held the phone firmly to her ear. "Wait, yes. I mean, I kind of…oh crap I don't know anymore." She giggled as she listened to Ryan struggling to find the right words. "It's kind of complicated, it's about Seth and Summer."
"Hmmm…complicated. That seems about Seth/Summer appropriate."
"I know, I know, but for some reason, it's really affecting me. I mean Seth won't even talk, much less look at me this morning. I experienced the quietest breakfast on record this morning. I'm just worried about him." Marissa smiled, she loved that about Ryan. He cared so much, sometimes a little too much but that was okay, about his friends and family. He would always be there for them, and would do his best to try and cheer them up. It was just who he was.
"I hear you, Summer's the same way. She's in my room right now distracting herself by pretending to read a book so she can avoid any talk of Seth."
" Well Seth is just not being...well Seth, and I can imagine how Summer's acting. I mean, he's barely…Hang on just a minute, someones at the door." And he had a pretty good suspicion who it was. He set the phone down, and she could hear a lot of ruffling on the other line. She could tell he was walking towards something, because his footsteps were fading away.
"Hey man, I was just wondering if you had the new copy of Kavalier and Clay I bought the other day."
"Seth, what did I tell you about knocking?" Ryan grunted and retreated back further into the pool house, leaving Seth seated in the chair.
"Well, I figure it's a waste of physical strength. You could be doing other things with it, like say ahhh…holding your girlfriend, or say kissing said girlfriend." Ryan chucked the comic at Seth, and began scooting him out of the room.
"Bye Seth." Ryan uttered and closed the door before Seth could say anything more.
"I'm still fine by the way…Just FINE…Fantastic." Seth's voice faded away as he walked down the patio and entered the house.
"Marissa?"
"Yeah" She giggled, which she had been doing all along during Ryan's chat with Seth. She heard everything.
"I don't suppose you heard any of that?"
"All of it."
"Well, how about this. Since you heard Seth, he's clearly not okay. I'm going to invite him with us to LA."
"Oh…okay." Marissa replied with fake enthusiasm, trying to hide the hurt in her voice that she didn't get to have that romantic date with Ryan anymore.
"I know you're upset, and I'm sorry. But don't worry, he won't interfere with anything I have planned for today. I'll just drop him off at the comic book store or something. I just want to get him out of the house, okay?"
"Its okay, honestly Ryan." She smiled warmly at how dedicated Ryan was being towards their date.
"How about you invite Summer? So they can spend some time togeth-…sorry Riss, gotta run. Seth's trying to barge into my room again. Love you."
"Love you too." She hung up and ran back up to her room, excited about the news.
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"Dude, I don't wanna be your 3rd wheel on your romantic rendezvous with Marissa." Seth was being dragged out the door by the arm, and Ryan was showing him no mercy. He got him in the car, and took off, before Seth could object and they were on their way to Marissa's.
They pulled up, with Seth still rambling away about something to do with catching second-hand sex, an illness he created that he would catch if he were forced to spend the evening with Ryan and Marissa.
"Coop, no. I'm not coming."
"We're going to see one of your favorite plays, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea."
"Come on Coop, LA's not coming to us." Summer ran ahead of Marissa and was first out the door. She smiled as she chased after her, but it faded slightly at the realization her friend was in for a surprise. Hopefully a welcomed one, seeing as it would be her boyfriend.
"-You know what I'm saying Ryan?"
"Hardly ever…"His eyes drifted away from Marissa's garage to the side of it, where the girls were just now walking down the driveway.
"I mean, she could've been just a tad bit more appreciative of my feelings, right. Its just…….Summer?" Seth's rant stopped as his eyes were fixed solely on the open back seat door, where none other than the aforementioned girlfriend, Summer Roberts stood in all of her glory.
"Cohen." She plastered a smile and jumped fully into the vehicle, shutting the door. Seth was at a loss for words, here he was just ranting about how badly she was treating him, and then all of a sudden one look at her changes his entire outlook on their situation.
After Ryan and Marissa's riveting, in the purest sense of the word for the passengers, greeting kiss, they were off; on the road to LA. Seth couldn't stop himself, he kept sending glances from the corner of his eye over to Summer, which didn't go unnoticed. He finally mustered up the courage, and reached his hand down and entwined it with hers. He looked at her to check for her reaction, but all he was met with was another million dollar smile and her squeezing his hand lovingly.
"Umm, driver. I think you're going to have to put up the privacy window please." Seth stated from the backseat, causing Marissa and Ryan to turn and look briefly at him with curious looks. "Its gonna' get steamy back here." He smirked, and with his new found confidence, broke his hand free from Summer's and wrapped it around her body; squeezing her closer to him.
"Yeah, steam coming from my fists after they're done beating you senseless."
"Aww darling, way to set the mood." Summer rolled her eyes, and folded her arms over top of each other; Seth grinned yet again, and wrapped his arms tightly around Summer's waist and pulled her impossibly closer to him. The past few days, he hadn't even curved his lips in smile, much less show anyone one of his toothy grins. But somehow, Summer broke down all of those walls and had him smiling again.
Ryan and Marissa nodded to each other, signaling their mission was a success, and locked hands for the remainder of the drive, squeezing the other warmly and passionately.
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"I didn't see what the big deal was about that."
"Aww Cohen…It's the classic tale of two bruised hearts finding love within each other." Summer pinched his cheeks together and smiled. The dinner was just as Ryan and Marissa had pictured it. They got their alone time, also Summer and Seth seated away from them so they could have their own cycle of flirting. They were just outside of the theater, where they saw the play remake of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. Summer was more than happy with the evening, Seth on the other hand was struggling to find the concept.
"I don't know, I just don't think it appealed to me much. That's all."
"You know nothing Cohen, I think that play was awesome; that's all that matters."
"What are you going to do? Run around town hitting anyone who disagrees with you?" Summer blindly flung her hand horizontally, not once taking her eyes off where she was walking, and smacked Seth across the face. "Ow! Jesus woman."
"I think I made my point." Summer smiled as Seth continued to rub his arm, and scampered away to join Marissa and Ryan who were just getting to the car. She piled into the car, with Seth chasing her from across the street.
"See Sum, didn't I tell you today was going to be fun?" Marissa asked, as Ryan was pulling out of the parking lot.
"It was okay I guess." Seth shot her look and narrowed his eyes at her. "Okay, okay it was fun. There happy." She plastered a fake smile to make Seth happy, but broke into laughter at the goofy grin Seth gave.
"And Seth weren't you the one who didn't want to come and be the 3rd wheel to me and Marissa?" Ryan smirked as he turned onto the onramp, heading back to Newport. Summer furrowed her brows and shot him a nasty look. Seth reacted per usual, started reeling and spinning the truth.
"W-What Ryan? I never said that."
"You didn't want to come Cohen?" Summer crossed her arms and snarled at him.
"Hey, I have a free pass here, because I never knew the sensuous, beautiful Summer Roberts was going to be here…"He smiled nervously and hoped that was enough to escape bodily harm.
"Good answer."
Seth extended his arm sideways and wrapped it around Summer nonchalantly, and yawned. Summer started chuckling at Seth's lame attempt to get closer, especially when all day he had been pulling her against him whenever he pleased.
"Honestly guys, this was fun." Summer said sincerely and thanked Ryan and Marissa for the trip.
"Same here guys. I got to spend some time with Sum, since nobody was around…"Seth added and quickly focused his gaze out the window. Silence consumed the vehicle, the only noises being the sound of the roaring tires. Summer was upset and close to tears, knowing how bad Seth was hurting due to their arrangements at school. Ryan and Marissa braced up, fearing the worst was about to explode in the back.
Summer fixed her gaze on Seth, studying him to the best of her ability. She could tell from his posture that the conditions of they're dating was affecting him more than he was letting on. He was slouching more in his chair since his comment, and his arm was slowly beginning to fall down to the small of her back, and eventually would be completely off.
She had absolutely nothing to say to him about her actions, words couldn't describe how much it upset her that she always hurt him. It only convinced her more and more that she truly didn't deserve him.
She reached her hand across and lifted Seth's chin up and tilted it towards her, and gazed into his eyes. Those chocolate orbs of his told so much, mainly that he was hurting. She covered the space that was left between them and pressed her lips against his.
Seth didn't react at first, but it didn't take long for him to deepen the kiss. He readjusted his grasp on Summer's waist and pulled her over so she was sitting on his lap. He leaned her back, but managed not to break the kiss.
They finally pulled apart for air, and Seth gave that adorable smile that made her knees go weak. Summer felt unwanted tears begin to flow down her cheeks, and it only prompted Seth to smile at her again, this time more lovingly at her; he reached across and wiped the remaining tears away.
Summer immediately jumped right back at Seth, attacking him with her lips. The one thing she knew that she could do that would please him and not hurt him, making love to him by kissing.
"Awww…don't they look so cute!" Marissa smiled warmly at the sight in the backseat, then returned her gaze to Ryan. She was happy that her best friend was finally being true to herself, at least for the day, and being with the one who makes her happy.
Ryan tilted his head to catch a quick look at what she was talking about, then whipped his head back towards the road, disgusted by the now intense making out going on in the backseat.
He was actually more pissed off that it was always him and Marissa that were in charge of the events, thus leading to them driving, which lead Seth and Summer getting a free ride, and Ryan getting no action from his girlfriend.
"Oh god, get a room." He tapped his foot on the break, but just hard enough to make the wheels sputter, and slow the car down for a second.
Summer came tumbling off of Seth's lap, and fell to the floor. Seth drilled his head off the passenger side seat, and came up from the temporary wreckage in the back moaning and holding his head.
"Jesus Christ Atwood, what the hell." Summer hissed, hollering curses and insults left and right.
"I said get a room."
"Well if we had that privacy window there wouldn't be a problem now would there?" Seth rubbed his bruising forehead, and began to attend to a fuming Summer.
Next few chapters: A party. School danceReview please.