STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson have called it quits. According to Life & Style magazine, the couple, who began dating in 2004, are parting ways.  This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to followers of this column (and also the eagle-eyed scribblings of former Party Girl Lara Morgenson), because we've noted that it's been quite some time since Adam and Rachel have gone out together in public. (Once upon a time, they were attached at the hip-hugger hip.) Anyway, fellow O.C. fans, I'd like you all to take a moment with me to mourn this sad loss. Not only were they one of the cutest onscreen and offscreen couples in the history of the talking box (big words, and I stand by 'em!), but the fact that these two didn't break up years ago—when I was still single and scrawling Kristin Brody all over my Trapper Keeper, well, some might say that's pretty dang sad, too. Now the big question, of course, is what's in store for their O.C. alter egos: Summer and Seth. Sources tell me that back in the day, when Adam and Rachel first started dating, producers told them they'd keep Seth and Summer together forever—even if the actors ever broke up. So, hey, that's actually good news for Summer and Seth fans, no?