The girls walked arm in arm down the street in town and stopped outside a little café they always went to on the way to school. The smell of bacon hit her when she walked through the door and she was suddenly hungry and heard her stomach rumble. She was still too tired though. They found an empty booth next to the window and sat down when the waiter came over.

“May I take your order?” he asked in a pleasant voice, but Summer could tell it was too early for her too.

“Erm… Pancakes and maple syrup please” Marissa answered, “and an orange juice.” She looked across the table at Summer.

“Coffee!” she said, and slammed her head on the table. Marissa rolled her eyes.

“Come on, treat yourself.”

Summer picked up the menu grudgingly but then gave in. “And a Blueberry muffin.”

Marissa smiled. “That’s better. We’re going to have a serious girly day today, I’m determined we’re going to have fun, despite our useless men. Or what were our men…” Marissa stopped herself quickly; she didn’t want to get depressed again.

“Day? You didn’t say anything about a day, I signed up for breakfast, that’s all.”

Marissa gave her a look. “What else do you have planned?”

Summer thought. “Erm, TV?”

“Thought so, come on we haven’t done anything together, just us, in ages. And if you really want to afterwards, then we can watch TV.”

Summer gave in. She knew Marissa needed cheering up as much as she did; she was just putting a brave face on. Ryan had messed her about too, but she couldn’t help feeling that they were both to blame. It didn’t matter though, Marissa was her best friend. It was her job to be on her side when it came to guys. And to cheer her up when things went wrong.

“You’re right, we’re going to have a great day.”

Marissa looked up as the waiter delivered their breakfast. “You’ve changed your mind pretty quickly.”

“Complaining?”

“No, I just wondered, that’s all.”

“Screw guys!” She said, and then stopped. She smiled and shook her head. “That came out wrong. I meant who cares what Ryan and Seth are up to, we don’t need them.”

* * *

Marissa smiled but inside she was hurting. She needed Ryan, and she didn’t pretend to herself for one moment that she didn’t. No one else could know though, not even Summer. No on else could see how much Ryan’s absence was affecting her, not even her best friend.

She knew what she was like when she let her feelings get on top of her. She only had to look at Mexico to remember. She was still in therapy, she wasn’t over it yet, but she wasn’t going to give up this time. She was determined she was going to deal with things.

She missed Ryan, she was pretty sure that was obvious to everyone. It had only been a just over a week. The first night she was a mess, but things were over between them a while before he left, although was always hoping they would work things out. That wouldn’t happen now though. He was back in Chino with Theresa, and she was pregnant with his baby. She just had to accept that and move on.

“Marissa… Marissa… Coop!” Marissa snapped out her daze to find Summer staring at her.

“Did you say something?”

“Yeah, I asked what you had planned for the day. God, you were miles away. What were you thinking about?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Ryan huh?”

“That obvious?”

“Only to me.” Summer smiled. “I’m your best friend, I know you. I know how much you’re hurting right now.”

“Sum, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ok. But if you want to, come to me.”

Marissa nodded and took a bite of her pancakes. “Right, so I thought we’d start out at the Mall…”

* * *

Seth awoke to the sound of a knock at the door. He opened his eyes and blinked, taking a moment to register where he was. Groaning, he grudgingly sat up. He’s got a better night’s sleep than the previous night, not surprising, he was inside, but he still could have slept better. He wasn’t home. Ever sinse he as a kid he’d never slept well unless he was in familiar surroundings. At summer camp once when he was 9 his dad had to go and pick him up because he missed home so much. Perhaps that’s part of the reason he’d had the ‘geek’ label for so long. Being called a baby in front of the entire camp didn’t really do much for his self-esteem.

There was another knock at the door. Who could it be? He’d been in this city for about 15 hours, who would be knocking on his door? “Who is it?” he called.

“It’s Natalie. You missed breakfast, I thought I’d bring you something.”

Seth looked at his watch. 10:15am. He was planning to get up ages ago. “Just a second.” He called and got out of bed. He caught sight of himself in the mirror. Hr looked terrible. He was still wearing yesterdays outfit, was in bad need of a shower, and had 3 days worth of stubble to shave off. If Summer was here, he would imagine she’d call him a tramp and refuse to go near him until he cleaned himself up.

Dammit, he was thinking about her again. She wasn’t there though was she? Seth had made damn sure of that the moment he left. He shrugged and walked towards the door, not caring what he looked like. Who cared what this girl thought of him, it wasn’t like he was ever going to see her again. There was only one girl he’d ever make an effort for.

She took the chain off the door and opened it to find Natalie standing there carrying a breakfast tray. She smiled at him, and he smiled back without even thinking about it. She didn’t seem to notice how bad he looked. She had the sort of smile that could lift anyone’s mood and Seth had to admit the attraction to her. She had her hair tied up in a messy ponytail and was wearing what he imagined to be a waitress uniform.

“Good morning, I brought you some toast and coffee.”

Seth laughed nervously, suddenly wishing he had taken the time to tidy himself up. “Thank you” he said, blushing slightly. “Come in.”

Natalie walked past him and set the tray down on the dressing table by the wall. “Hw are you finding the room?”

“It’s lovely” Seth told her, ever the gentleman. “I haven’t really reaped it’s benefits yet though, I pretty much passed out as soon and I lay down.”

“I can see you didn’t have time to undress.” She winked at him. Seth might have been annoyed at that comment in a hotel usually, but there was flirtations cheekiness about her and a look in her eyes that told him she was only joking.

“Yeah, right.”

She smiled again; she never seemed to stop smiling. “Well, enjoy you’re breakfast, I’ll be back later to collect your tray.”

And with that she left him to it. He wasn’t really hungry but felt it rude not to eat the food she’d gone out of her way to bring him. He took a bite f the buttered toast and poured himself a coffee from the metal jug. He walked over to the window and looked out at the scene below him. his place was a mixture of a small seaside town and a typical Californian city, it was strange. Across the street he could see small cares and sailing shops and vendors selling ice creams, but when he looked out further there were large glass office blocks and chain clothing stores. He felt this little pocket in the city seemed somewhat out of place.

Seth sat on the edge of the bed and stripped of his shirt and pants. He made himself a mental not to find a launderette before he set sail again. And to call home and let his parents know he was Ok.

He knew they’d be pleased his Tahiti plan had gone out the window. But he also knew that he was close enough that his mom wouldn’t think twice about driving up the coast to go and find him. And he really didn’t want that.

His head was clearer now than it was when he left. He realised why Ryan had to leave, no matter how much he hated it. And he now fully realised how much he needed Summer, not that that was ever going to happen again. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone and all that…

Seth stepped into the shower and relished the warm water drizzle over him. It had been a while sinse he’d felt this relaxed. Even sailing across the ocean with nothing around him but rippling water wasn’t as relaxing as he’d hoped. The most relaxed he had ever been in his life was when he held Summer in his arms for the first time, knowing that all those years of pining after her had ended and he’d finally got her and she felt the same.

‘Snap out of it Cohen’ he muttered to himself. Like he hadn’t spent enough time this past week thinking about her. It was over, he had to accept that.