I believe this is my first post in about 5 months, so I'm trying to get back into a groove with this story. Surprisingly I haven't been hit by any sort of Writer's Block since I've began writing O.C fics, its been more or less things beginning to pile up in my life and everything started snowballing ever since. But enough about that, here is the post. I hope everyone enjoys it, I had a tough time originally planning this all out but I believe it turned out okay. There will only be 5 or less chapters remaining.

Disclaimer: I do not own the O.C

The End's Not Near, Its Here

"...Errmm god what time is it?" Summer woke up to a pounding headache and an upset stomach, obvious symptoms from whatever she did last night. Which she couldn't exactly remember at the moment.

"Good morning to you too, darling." Seth's sarcastic grin made her stomach twist and turn into even more condensed knots than a hangover could ever do. How could he go about so happy and cheerful at this ungodly hour. "Wake up princess its 1:00."...Oh.

"PM?" Summer rolled over to the other side of the minute, trying to salvage one last ounce of sleep before receiving the inevitable answer from Seth.

He looked around the room and out the window, then scratched his head. "I certainly hope its 1:00pm or else I'll look like a fool." Summer just brushed the annoyance off and finally sat up on the bed.

"How did you sleep?" Summer decided to keep the conversation rolling along before the inevitable awkward silence caught up to them, which it usually did.

"Umm...not bad. You know, the couch could've been softer but I managed." Summer turned back to face him, with a confused look upon her face.

"Why didn't you just sleep in my bed? I don't bite."

"Oh well you know, you looked all cute and comfortable there, and when I decided to turn in I didn't want to wake you." Lie. Lie, lie, lie Cohen and you know it. You know the real reason, you just would never admit it to her. Seth remained idle on the couch, as did Summer, staring at the wall incessantly. It would be a lie to say that Seth and Summer were not having a rough time and that everything was perfectly fine. It was coming to a point where Seth was having a hard time finding even a positive thing about them, the negative just seemed to outweigh the good. He was clearly weighing Summer down, and as was she to him. But both were too ignorant to admit it.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower." Seth shot his head up just in time to catch Summer dash across the room to grab her robe and towel, then exit into the hallway. She never had a problem changing in front of him. Matter of fact, just the other day, she had no problem getting changed in front of him for school. Things certainly change in a day.

Seth finally lifted himself off the bed and sourly made his way out the door and down the stairs. He was filled with a feeling of dejection and hurt, an unhealthy amount albeit, and it just seemed like it would never end. He knew exactly what the next step in the relationship was, and he certainly didn't like it. Summer knew as well, but it had to be done. He wasn't going to continue to be Summer's doormat while she went out and socialized with everyone except him.

However, there was one last ditch attempt he could take to gain some confidence back in himself and the decision he was about to make before the big face-off.

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"Ah-low..."

"...I think that was a hello."

"Hahaha oh man you're done." Ryan was on the other end, polishing off the leftovers from the previous dinner.

"Oh come on, you didn't cover for me? Dude, I said I would keep quiet about the LA bar incident."

"And that won't change either. Your parents have been asking about you all morning."

"...and what did you tell them?"

"I told them you needed to sleep in."

"Oh dude thank god. I so would've been burned on the stake."

"-But Seth, there is only so long that will last. Pretty soon you'll be running out of daylight if you're gone any longer."

"...and I know that, but I just called to ask you for some help-..."

"-what else is new..."

"Hey!...okay so anyways, its about Summer-..."

"-what a surprise..."

"Ryan seriously, lets show the same professionalism as you would if this were in the poolhouse." Ryan smirked and then ungracefully sprawled out on the bed. He had a feeling he would be doing a lot of listening from here on out. "I'm thinking of confronting Summer about everything."

"I never knew there was even something to confront about."

"Come on, you can't honestly say you haven't noticed anything." Ryan paused on the other end from releasing another smart comeback, and actually took a minute to ponder Seth's words. When Seth first started telling him all about Summer and his dream of dating her, to be truthfully honest, he thought the entire concept was just a tad strange and maybe Seth needed some help. But once Seth, to his amazement, actually accomplished his dream, he began to have second thoughts about everything. Truthfully, he didn't think Summer deserved anything from him or even appreciated him...to this day even he still believed it. His original breakdown of everything was that Summer felt guilty for landing Seth in a coma and she wanted to repay him. But oh how things have changed...

"What are you going to do?" Ryan waited for a response as even he was curious about how Seth planned on going about all of this.

"Well, I think I'm just gonna lay it all out on the line...let the facts speak for themselves you know?"

"Sure..."

"Oh god, you don't think it'll work out do you?" Seth paced the main foyer in the Roberts' home with increased paranoia. "No, no, no, what am I doing? This will never work...Ryan...Ryan?"

"Gotta go, good luck..." He whispered then snapped the phone shut.

"Who was that?" Sandy entered the poolhouse with an armful of bags, obviously Ryan's share of the groceries for his fridge. Sandy set them down with a thud and took a second to catch a breather.

"Umm...wrong number."

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"So...Cohen..."

"Summer..."At last the much anticipated awkward silence caught up with them, Summer standing in the doorway in her robe and towel wrapped on her head; Seth standing on the far side of the room, well away from her. He couldn't even say she looked smokin' hot or anything of that nature at the moment due to his fear of what her response would even be. It was definitely as if they were strangers to each other. "Umm...you look pretty."

"Ha! I have a piece of cloth covering me and towel wrapped around my head, but whatever you say." Cold...icy cold. Seth could tell that she too had become painfully aware of the different atmosphere as she hesitated before grabbing her clothes. The two finally exchanged their first good look of each other, only it could've come under better circumstances. Seth stood there, trying to figure her out while Summer was standing impatiently.

Seth finally got the hint. "...Oh right, I'll let you change."

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Wow Cohen, you really are going to do it aren't you? You just don't spend practically your entire childhood dreaming of being with a girl just to end things within a few months, you just don't.

"So what do you want to do? I heard there is a few parties going on down..." Summer gathered her purse and made one last ditch attempt to stop this from happening. Once it started, it was not going to end happily.

"-how about we have a talk." Seth was seated on the front couch and had his hung low, finding the carpet more entertaining. Summer entered the room very cautiously and sat in the sofa across from him. As expected, the awkward silence once again fell overtop of their heads and the only noise being generated was that of the Robert's grandfather clock.

Tick

"What do you want to talk about?"

"...Summer please, you know this isn't easy."

Tock

"What are you talking about? What's the matter Seth? Is everything okay?" Summer asked confusedly.

"Don't act like you don't know what this is about..."

Tick

"Something obviously isn't working, and its probably me because I clearly don't have much experience with this kind of stuff," he finally raised his eyes to glance at her but she had her eyes closed, "Maybe its like this with all of your boyfriends, but I just don't like being treated this way."

"What are you talking about?" She had to maintain her dominance over him, it was the only way this thing was going to pan out in her favor,

"I'm tired of being your doormat Summer. I don't just want to be used whenever it is convenient for you." Summer kept her eyes closed and took a heavy breath.

Tock

"If you would just let me in Summer, let me completely in, none of this childish bullshit." Summer grew increasingly stiff and finally opened her eyes to see Seth very frustrated and angry. It was one of the rare times he had actually raised his voice, and did it sure ever send chills down her spine.

"If its all a bunch of bullshit, why are you still with me than? You can just fucking leave."

"Well, I still believe there's more to us than what's been going on pretty much...well...ever since we started dating," he emphasized choice words and made them count. He definitely wanted everything out on the table, and there sure was plenty more to come.

"Well, Seth, why can't you just be happy with what we've got? Maybe this is all I'm comfortable with."

Tock

"You can't be serious." She nodded her head and crossed her arms. "Oh my...Summer! You won't even let me hold your damn hand at school, I can't text or call you at school, and worst of all, I have to sit back and watch you flirt with other guys and dance around with whoever you please at parties."

"Who are you to judge me?" She fired back with even more iciness than before. "Maybe I enjoy having a social life instead of being a big dork and getting picked on by every single person in the school."

"Right, because that's the real problem here." Summer just rolled her eyes. Why did they have to be doing this now? Things were fine, well relatively, before...weren't they? Seth suddenly spoke up in a tone so low and hurt that it caught her off guard. "I mean Summer...when is the last time

we've actually hung out together?" His eyes were low and averted, as he began to fiddle with his hands.

Tick

"We hangout all the time, take last night for example."

"You were wasted, and spent about 5 minutes with me before we went in; even then you were struggling to get away from me." This time, Summer didn't have a response. "I'm not saying I didn't have fun whenever we did hangout, because I did. I had such a great time with you Summer, I got to finally see some of the real you that you allowed me to see. I'll never forget all the times we spent together, I mean especially how I'll never be able to look at a jumbotron screen again," he briefly smirked as he recalled his memorable kiss with Summer at the Lakers game.

Tock

"-Hold it Cohen, not so fast...you're acting as if one of us is dying or moving away..."

"I just think it would be best if we don't see each other after this...or hangout, you know? Its hard enough as it is. We've been through so much...the whole Justin/Anna drama..."

"No, Cohen, I don't know." Seth rose from the couch and peered down at her, hoping that Summer was prepared to fight for their relationship just as he was.

"Yes Summer?"

Tick

"Umm...actually I've got a date with Justin...well not a date, but like a lunch...date." wow Summer, that sounded completely stupid.

"Yeah I understand..." he moved for the door. "It was only a matter of time before you went whoring yourself around to Justin again," he muttered under his breath and began to open the door.

"Excuse me? Now you're calling me a whore? Get the fuck out."

"What do you think I'm doing?" she rolled her eyes and buried her face in her hands out of frustration.

Tock

"Just get out...go find your little bimbo blonde girlfriend." Seth was about to retaliate with another Seth Cohen retaliatory zinger, that is until he realized what was going on. Why was he now the bad guy?

"Maybe I will...I bet she won't treat me like shit. Hey! Maybe I can hold her hand.

"Fuck you."

"Wait a second, why are you mad at me? I should be furious at you; this is all your fault."

"You've made that abundantly clear, now just get the fuck away from me." Seth was standing in the doorway as Summer was pressing against it trying to end this nightmare. He could see she was beginning to cry, and finally everything made sense.

"No wait Summer, don't cry I didn't mean any of that..."

"Just leave Seth." The only thing that stuck out in his mind was the 'Seth', which is funny seeing as it is his name. But he was used to being her Cohen. She was the only one that called him that on a consistent basis; matter of fact, he couldn't even recall the last time she actually called him Seth other than being pissed off.

She had her head rested against the door and was sniffling, avoiding his gaze completely. It crushed him to see her like that, but things were different as of the past 20 minutes. He couldn't bury her in his chest and hug her like before; they had changed.

"Alright Summer..."

"Goodbye Seth." she finally was able to freely close the door, and she did so without hesitation as soon as Seth stepped away. He was left standing outside staring at the door; he heard footsteps running up the stairs and he knew undoubtedly that she was going to continue crying because of him; it was all his fault. He had hurt Summer Roberts. But wasn't that his intention? Putting everything on the line in a grand finale sort of way.

Summer was no longer his girlfriend...it hit him like a bullet as he remained outside her door, staring at the wooden frame. She was just on the other side of the door, yet so far out of reach.

"Goodbye Summer..."

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