A/N This is my first attempt at a fic, so hopefully it will improve over time. It's set sometime in season 1 though it starts out slightly AU because Seth is dating Anna (we're passed the period of Summer ignoring Seth) while Marissa is dating Luke. Eventually it will be S/S and R/M. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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"Just because we live near the beach, doesn't mean we have to spend all our time at the beach," Seth whined. Seth was lounging on the beach with Anna and Ryan, far from his favorite activity as it had the tendency to cause him third degree burns.

"You're only saying that because you're allergic to the sun," Anna teased.

Seth felt the need to defend himself, "I am not allergic, I just don't respond well. Besides it's not like it's my fault, it's the heritage. Jews and the sun just don't get along."

At this, Ryan felt the need to chime in, "Ahem. Isn't Israel a desert?"

"Israelis don't count. On the scale of Jew pigment, Israelis are like Erik Bana in Munich, I'm more Larry David," replied Seth.

"Spend a lot of time checking out Erik Bana?" asked Ryan while shooting him a sideways glance.

Seth quickly backpedaled, "What? No. Why would you…I would never…. I have a girlfriend. I'm very masculine."

"Sure you are sweety," Anna said in the most patronizing tone she could muster as she leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Turning to Ryan she asked, "So, how goes it with the proverbial girl next door?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about."

Seth decided to team up with his girlfriend, "Oh come on Ryan. A certain statuesque brunette, sort of has a thing for the quiet, wounded type. She knows that if she can just break down that tough exterior, she'll find a sweet, sensitive guy within. A sweet, sensitive guy with piercing blue eyes. And very cool wristbands."

Ryan shot him a look that clearly indicated he was creeped out before responding, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Seth has a clueless look on his face, "like what?"

"Like her boyfriend?"

Anna speaks up, "minor obstacle"

"Minor obstacle?" Ryan asked, giving her a skeptical look.

"Oh come on Ryan, I've seen the way she looks at you" Anna replied as she imitated Marissa batting her eyelashes.

"Speak of the devil," Seth pointed down the beach where none other than Marissa Cooper and Summer Roberts were setting up a volleyball game, with Luke Ward and a water polo buddy in tow. "Marissa Cooper has to dominate that game, she's like eight and a half feet tall." Seth's joke earned him an elbow from Anna. "What? She's gonna be acing the ball like Serena Williams."

"Seth, that's tennis," said Ryan with a sigh.

"Huh, I've been trying out this new thing where I incorporate sports references into my repertoire. It's been a little slow in development, but I feel like it shows real promise."

"Well, I think we should be leaving." Ryan replied as he eyed Luke Ward across the beach.

"Yeah, Seth weren't you trying to get us to leave earlier?" added Anna as she narrowed her eyes at Summer, who was laying down a towel a little ways down the beach.

"Finally, you said the magic word; playstation," but as he looked up he realized that both Ryan and Anna had already taken off, leaving him the task of collecting their things. "Oh, hey that's cool. I enjoy the carrying of heavy things. So this is for the best. And I'm talking to myself."

"Nice Cohen, very healthy," Summer and Marissa has made the short walk over to say hello.

"Oh, you heard that. That's…swell."

"God, you are such a geek Cohen."

"Did Ryan already leave?" asked Marissa, a little more urgently than she would have liked.

"Yeah I think he's off somewhere…looking dreamy." Marissa blushed at his joke and Summer grinned in spite of herself, but still didn't let the opportunity for a jab slip by. "Your relationship, beyond creepy."

"Yes, well. I'm going to go, and cultivate my creepy relationship."

"You need a plan." Seth told Ryan, without looking away from the epic playstation battle amongst pirates and ninjas.

"A plan?" Ryan asked with a skeptical look.

"To save Marissa from the clutches of the evil water polo demon."

"Isn't that kind of her decision?"

"Oh Ryan, poor sweet, innocent Ryan. So sweet, so innocent. Everyone needs a little nudge in the right direction every now and then. Look at you, if you hadn't gotten that nudge, you could be in prison, or worse, Chino."

"This is not like that at all. And you're meddling."

"Fine, maybe I am meddling as you call it," replied Seth as he imitated quotes in the air, "but let me throw a hypothetical at you." Seth paused for dramatic effect. "How comfortable are you with the thought of Marissa Coop and Luke Ward having sex?"

"Point taken."

"Alright, here's the plan. I say some stupid joke about his chest hair,-or lack thereof- or speedos, or Neanderthals, or…"

"Seth," Ryan admonished him in an exasperated tone.

"Right, so like I was saying, I make a stupid joke, he beats me about the face, she discovers what an assclown he is. And voila, you two make out as the sun sets."

"That's an awful, awful plan."

"What are you talking about?"

"How many times has Luke kicked your ass?" Seth begins to count in his head, but Ryan continues before he can respond, "And how many times has Marissa dumped Luke?"

"Touché. Oh, I know, I can get Anna to make out with Luke somewhere where Marissa will see them."

"Prostituting your girlfriend?"

"Is that frowned upon?" Ryan nods. "Damn, well this is clearly going to require some brainstorming. You know what that means. Seth-Ryan time. Lots and lots of Seth-Ryan time."

"That's what I was afraid of."

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"Dad, remind me again why we have to go to this stupid charity function." Seth and Sandy were standing around the kitchen, Sandy ready to go in his tuxedo, while Seth still donned a novelty shirt and chuck taylors. Sandy currently held the unenviable position of attempting to persuade Seth to get ready for the latest Newpsie function.

"Because it's important to your mother." Sandy replied, earning himself a skeptical look from Seth. "And your mother is in charge, and if you upset her, I suffer for it, if you know what I mean-"

"Dad, please this physically hurts me," Seth whined while grimacing dramatically, attempting to get the image of his parents together out of his head.

"Go get dressed."

Seth turned and headed for his room in a huff, muttering to himself something about "the things I do for this family."

As Seth left for his room, Ryan entered the kitchen from the pool house, already wearing an elegant black tuxedo to match Sandy's. Ryan simply shot Sandy a look of acknowledgement in lieu of a greeting.

"So how goes it with you?" Ryan simply responded with a look. "You excited for tonight?" Sandy continued. Ryan only shrugged. "Nothing, huh?" Sandy decided to take another approach, "Marissa Cooper will be there." At this Ryan turned a bright shade of red. "Ha, knew that would do the trick. So, you and Marissa…"

"And Luke, don't forget about Luke."

"She's still going out with him?" Ryan nodded, "and you like her?" Sandy continued. Once again Ryan nodded, though he added a sheepish grin this time. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan? You and Seth are eerily similar," replied Ryan, visibly weirded out.

Just as Sandy was about to respond Kirsten came bursting into the room. "Everyone ready to go?" she asked as she finished putting on her earrings. Both boys nodded in the affirmative. "Where's Seth?" she asked, slightly exasperated.

"I believe he's still upstairs putting his face on," replied Sandy with a grin, which quickly faded as he saw the unamused look on his wife's face. "SETH EZEKIAL! Downstairs, now!"

Seth's footsteps could be heard as he made his way down. "Seth Ezekial? Really dad? You sure you want to waste that on a Newpsie event? You don't think it will get a little watered dow-" Seth stopped in his tracks as he saw the angry look on his mother's face. "What I mean is, mother you are absolutely glowing this evening, and might I add that fragrance is enchanting."

Kirsten, however, was not swayed by his attempt, "Seth. Car. Now."

"Right, another exciting evening, anyone want to take bets on the hors d'oeuvres? Oh and I hope there's a photo op," Seth said with a grin before crossing his fingers and speaking in a high voice, "Riviera Magazine anyone!" Ryan and Sandy couldn't help but laugh, while Kirsten disciplined all three with a look.

"Am I the only one impressed by the ability of the newpsie to make mountain dew look classy?" Seth asked Anna and Ryan, who were standing next to him on the outskirts of the party. Anna laughed at his joke, but Ryan was clearly preoccupied. Seth followed Ryan's eyes to find a very bored Marissa Cooper standing with Luke and his crew of water polo jocks.

"So this is you pining? It's a good look for you Ryan," Anna teased.

"No, no this isn't pining, this is smoldering. Or is it pining? I get confused sometimes given the subtleties of your looks." Ryan finally broke his gaze at Marissa to glare at him. "Ah, but this one I'm positive, means he's threatening to kick my ass."

"Seth, leave him alone," Anna chided. "Look, why don't you go talk to her, Luke and his friends took off, she's alone now."

"She's not alone, she's with Summer," Ryan pointed out.

"Don't worry about Summer, I'll take care of her," offered Seth.

"Oh you will, will you?" Anna replied coldly.

"I don't mean it like that," Seth reassured her.

"Whatever, I'm going to the ladies room," Anna took off quickly in the opposite direction.

"Don't worry about her, I'll deal with that later," Seth told Ryan.

"Right, so do you have your game face on?" Ryan asked.

"Do people paint their faces before engaging in sports?" Seth asked, honestly confused.

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Just come on."

The two made their way over to where Marissa and Summer were standing. "Ladies," Seth greeted them before turning to Summer, "you want to grab a drink?"

"Not really," she responded simply.

Seth laughed, "This is a little game we play. Summer a drink, come on." He grabbed her hand and dragged her away before she could protest, leaving Ryan and Marissa standing alone. When they were outside of ear shot of Ryan and Marissa they stopped and faced each other.

"I thought you said we were getting a drink Cohen. We're not even at the bar," Summer complained.

"The drink was just an excuse to give them some alone time," Seth motioned towards Marissa and Ryan.

"Right," she nodded in understanding, then added "are you sure this wasn't an excuse for you to get some alone time with me? Because I'm warning you Cohen, you pull one of your geeky moves …" she trailed off with her threat.

"Right, got it. Wait, geeky moves? What is it exactly that you think geeks do? Never mind don't answer that."

Summer ignored his reply, "Anyway, Isn't pixie girl going to mind?" Summer said with a hint of jealousy, while motioning to their hands, which were still linked together.

"Right, I hadn't noticed," Seth replied as he withdrew his hand, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

"Right, uh huh," she said grinning at the way he blushed at her comment.

"Besides it's not like I'm afraid of Anna," said Seth, while attempting to look as manly as possible.

"Oh you're not are you?" Anna walked up from behind him looking none too pleased.

"Anna, this isn't what it looks like," Seth pleaded. Unfortunately both girls seemed to ignore him, and instead fixed one another with matching glares.

"Pixie," Summer greeted curtly.

"Summer," Anna responded, "I'd appreciate it if you could keep your hands off my boyfriend."

"Actually, he was the one…" Summer began, but was cut off by Seth.

"Ok, I'm sensing a lot of tension here, and do you know what I think it is?" Both girls started to respond, but Seth quickly continued, "don't answer that. I think," he paused slightly, smiling eagerly at the two girls, "I think it's just that we all haven't gotten the chance to hang out together. I'm sure if you two took the chance to get to know each other, you'd get along great." Seth attempted a large smile to diffuse the situation, but it only seemed to make the girls angrier. Both turned to stare daggers at Seth. "How about this," he was getting desperate here, dealing not only with an angry Anna, but also the far more frightening proposition of an angry Summer, "how about we all go sailing tomorrow? You know, put in some quality Seth-Summer-Anna time?"

Summer, seeing an opportunity to piss off Anna, quickly agreed. Anna, sick with the image of Summer and Seth alone on a boat together, felt that she had no choice.

"Great," Seth exclaimed while taking both of them into an awkward group hug, "there's almost no way this isn't going to be amazing."

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(Meanwhile)

"That was a pretty subtle move by Seth," joked Marissa.

"Yeah, subtlety not exactly one of his strengths," replied Ryan with a slight grin.

"So how've you been?" asked Ryan after a brief, yet still awkward silence.

"Good. And you?"

"Good."

More silence ensued.

Marissa decided to break the awkwardness after what felt like an eternity, "look this shouldn't have to be so…"

"awkward?" Ryan offered, finishing her sentence for her.

"Yeah," she responded with a small smile. "Things between me and Luke have just been so complicated. And then things between me and you…" Marissa was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a very angry, and very drunk, Luke.

"Why the hell are you always hanging around my girl?" Luke slurred.

Ryan attempted to diffuse the situation, "look man, it's not what it looks like." Unfortunately, Luke's mind had already been made up, his fist was already in the air, and quickly connected with Ryan's temple. Ryan was knocked to the ground, and by the time he got to his feet, he saw Luke being restrained and led away by a few men.

"Are you ok?" Marissa's voice had a calming effect and brought Ryan back to reality.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a scratch," he attempted a smile, but the pain caused him to grimace instead.

"You're not fine, here let's get you cleaned up," Marissa took his hand and quickly led him to a bathroom. Once there she sat him on the toilet and began to clean the cut on his face. Ryan whimpered as she rubbed disinfecting alcohol near the wound. "Quit being such a baby," she reprimanded him, but upon seeing the pain in his face she softened. "I'm really sorry- I can't believe that he did that. He can be such an ass sometimes."

"It's not so bad, look where it got me," he replied with a grin.

"Are you getting fresh?" she asked, attempting to sound stern, but her grinning nonetheless. "And when I have rubbing alcohol at my disposal no less?" She dabbed the cloth on his scratch for effect, eliciting a loud 'ouch' from Ryan, but his smile gave away his attempt at anger.

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A/N I know the Ryan/Marissa part was a little brief, but I wasn't really sure how to expand upon that section while showing the awkwardness of their relationship at the beginning(it will get better/more comfortable over the next few chapters, I promise). Also, I feel like I'm not writing Anna's character very well, so any suggestions on that would be welcomed. I know this story is pretty dialogue-driven so far, which is kind of just natural as that tends to come easily to me, but I'll try to work on being more descriptive (of course any suggestions in this area would also be really helpful). I should be updating pretty frequently (as in every few days, at least for the next several weeks). Oh, and this fic will probably end up being pretty lengthy in case you're curious.