~*~ Chapter 27: Choices ~*~
As Seth sat there, listening to Brandi and Colin catching up on New York issues, he couldn’t help but think that Colin timing couldn’t have been worse. Just as he knew Brandi and him were going to work out, bam, there was Colin, the out-of-the-blue guy that Seth couldn’t help but be jealous about. They had so much stuff in common, so much stuff to talk about…
After an hour, that seemed more like 6 to Seth, Brandi asked:
“Are you guys ready to leave?”
Both of them nodded their heads, left the money on the table, and the three of them stood up, leaving the place.
“So…” Brandi started as they were walking the streets on the way to her car “Do you…” she really didn’t know what to do on a situation like that one “Seth, do you want me to take you home or do you wanna come home with us and hang?”
“Yeah, dude, you should totally hang with us.” Colin stated.
“Oh…” Seth was taken by surprise by Colin’s nice state, but he wasn’t really looking forward to another few hours of listening about people from New York that he had no clue who they were “I think I’d better go home. My mom is probably gonna be worried if she knows I haven’t got back from school yet.”
“I see…” Brandi looked down and bit her lips. She had ruined everything. Well, actually, Colin’s presence was unfortunate at that moment. She was so glad to see her best friend, but she too couldn’t believe his timing. It was like Colin knew what she was planning on doing that day.
“And… do you mind giving me a ride?” Seth asked her.
“Of course not. You came with…” suddenly, Brandi got cut off by a familiar voice.
“Cohen!” Summer exclaimed from behind the three of them.
“Oh, hey, Summer.” Seth raised his hand to say hello to Summer and smiled weakly.
“So, what are you doing here?” Summer got closer to Seth and totally ignored Brandi and Colin.
“I was having something to eat with Brandi and her friend from New York.”
“Hi!” Colin smiled big and Summer just let out a small grin.
“Hi, Summer.” Brandi said and Summer again replied with a grin.
“So, what are you doing now?” Summer returned her full attention to Seth.
“Actually, Brandi was taking me home.”
“No way! It’s still early! I’m going for a walk on the beach. Come with me.”
“I don’t know…” Seth started, but when he saw the ridiculously obvious jealous look on Brandi’s face, he thought again “Actually, I was thinking about a walk on the beach.” Brandi stared directly at him.
“Great! Then let’s go, like, now!” Summer took Seth’s hand and almost dragged him.
“Wait just a sec.” Seth informed her and stopped “So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
“I guess…” Brandi looked down. She didn’t want Seth to see right through her jealousy.
“Ok.” Seth nodded “And you…” he looked at Colin “I’m sensing we’re gonna see each other again.” he didn’t sound so excited about that.
“Yes, I’ll see you around, dude.”
“Well… bye then.” Seth looked at Brandi, but she wouldn’t reply his stare.
“Come on, Cohen!” Summer took his hand again, and this time was able to make him follow her and leave Brandi and Colin behind.
“And that’s the ex?” Colin asked Brandi as the two of them disappeared.
“Yeah…” Brandi looked down and resumed walking to the car.
“And obviously, she wants him back.”
“Obviously.” Brandi nodded.
“And he obviously don’t want her back.”
“Yeah. Wait. No!” Brandi looked up at Colin “I know he would totally go back to her if she just asked him to. I just think he hasn’t been asked yet.”
“No way.” Colin shook his head.
“What do you mean?” Brandi frowned.
“He doesn’t want her anymore. He wants someone else. He wants you.” Colin looked down. It wasn’t easy to say to the girl you liked that the boy she liked, liked her back.
“I…” Brandi kept the frown on “I mean, ok, so he wants to be with me, but I guess he wants it because he has no one else to be with. If he had the choice to be with Summer or me, he’d totally pick Summer. Actually, he just picked! He went with her to the beach.”
“He did it to make you jealous.”
“No way! Why would he do that?”
“To get back at you.” Colin stated as they got to the car. They both got in.
“What do you mean to get back at me? To get back at me for doing what?” she started the car and drove off.
“For making him jealous the entire day.”
“I didn’t make him jealous the entire day.”
“Of course you did. You can’t honestly say that you didn’t see his bored and jealous face since I got here.”
“That’s not…” Brandi didn’t want to acknowledge that for some reason, but she knew, really deep down inside her, that Seth had been a little jealous about Colin being there “That’s not really it. I mean… you’re my friend. My best friend. And that’s it.” at that moment, Colin’s heart hurt a bit. That conversation was hard. Really hard.
“Listen… Let’s talk about this at your house, ok? There are some things that I want to say, but I really don’t think your car is the best place for that.”
“Oh…” Brandi frowned. That was weird. Colin had a weird look on his face “Ok…” she bit her upper lip and kept driving.
“Cohen, come on!” Summer called out for him when they hit the beach. She was shoeless and running on the sand while Seth was still standing on the sideways.
“Ok!” he raised his voice a little so Summer would listen to him. He took his tennis shoes off and went to her direction.
“Let’s sit.” Summer said as Seth got closer to her.
She took a towel off her big purse and laid it down so they could both sit down and stare to the ocean and the horizon.
They sat there in silence, watching as people were starting to gather their things and leave the beach to go home.
After turning her head to Seth for the twentieth time in 2 minutes, Summer decided to speak.
“You’re weird.”
“Thanks. Nobody has ever said that about me before.” Seth was being sarcastic.
“No, I don’t mean you’re always weird… Well, actually, you are always weird.”
“Hey, thanks again in case you didn’t get my first thanks.” Seth nodded his head.
“Let me finish!” Summer exclaimed “You’re weird now, like… You’re mute and just sitting there, looking to the ocean. You’re never mute and still.”
“Oh, that. Well, I’m actually not in the mood today.”
“Wow…” Summer turned her head from him to the ocean.
“What?” Seth asked looking at her.
“She really got to you, huh?”
“What are you talking about?” Seth knew exactly what Summer was talking about, he just didn’t want to show it.
“The New Yorker. She got to you. For real.”
“What? Brandi? No. I just like her. I like her… as a friend, you know? I like her. She’s cool and…”
“Seth, you don’t have to explain yourself to me.” Summer said and looked down “I get it. I guess I was just stupid for breaking up with you and expected you wouldn’t get over me so fast.”
“Summer, this has really nothing to do with getting over you.” Seth was being sincere “I really don’t know how I feel about you right now. I think I’ve set you aside for this time being. Brandi showed up last week and…” Seth shook his head “I’m really messed up.” Seth didn’t know if he should say he really liked Brandi.
“You don’t know if you like her or not?” Summer wanted to get it out of Seth.
“I can’t answer that question.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know.” Seth lied.
“I see…” Summer bit her lips “So… You guys have nothing to do with each other? You’re not dating or anything?”
“We’re definitely not dating.” Seth had a sad look on his face, which Summer missed.
“So… I guess it wouldn’t be wrong if I did this.” Summer placed a kiss on Seth’s lips.
* Thanx Thea for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 26 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 28 ~*~
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