Just like that
She couldn't remember the last time she had a good day. Everything went wrong. First of all, her car broke down two days ago, which meant that she had to walk to work, which is 2 miles away. And that's a long walk if you have to wear new 3" high heels. Secondly, she hadn't talked to any of her friends for three whole years. It didn't do any wonders for her attitude, she was lonely and bitchy. The boutique she works at has a great reputation, the newest fashion and friendly employees who know everything there is to know about clothes. Except that she wasn't so friendly anymore, since everything went wrong. Now she had to face the fact that there was a good chance her boss would fire her. And to top it all of, she hadn't had a boyfriend in forever.
And all that? It drove Summer Roberts crazy.
She had thought things were finally going in the right direction. Instead of getting fired, she got promoted, because of her abilities. She still remembered the worst day, which in the end turned out to be the best in her life.
She had been walking on the Sunset Strip, a place she has loved her whole life. With all the nice restaurants and cafés, clubs, hotels and not to forget, the shops and boutiques. Her mood was starting to improve and she actually started to have fun. She still had a half mile to go, before she reached the boutique she worked at. It came creeping up on her suddenly, like a predator on a prey, and the need to pee was huge. She knew the restrooms were only two minutes away, so she sped up. When she was done and opened the door, she squealed in shock when something fell on the floor right in front of her. A screwdriver. She jumped and the strap of her purse got stuck on the doorknob, she made a sharp turn and felt herself fall into a hard body.
"I am so sor…," she started, but as she opened her eyes and saw the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen she promptly fell quiet. She couldn't really see who it was, his face was a blur, because he was too close to her eyes for her to see properly. Her hands were trapped between their bodies, for he had steadied her when she was about to fall. A chill ran down her spine as he spoke, not because she was scared, but because she recognized the voice.
The voice belonged to a person who she hadn't seen or spoken to in over seven years. He had disappeared after the car crash, and no one had seen him since. He had left messages and sent letters insisting he was fine. Which apparently he was. Better than fine, as far as she could tell. The Cohens had thought he would go to the other side of the country, or even Mexico. Just to escape them. But here he was, in the flesh, not even 50 miles from Newport, in Los Angeles for gods sake.
"Summer." He said, and took a step back.
"Ryan." She whispered. "Oh my god." Summer couldn't control herself anymore and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him as tightly as possible. Ryan hesitantly hugged her back and after a moment disentangled himself from her.
Neither knew what to say. Until Summer broke the silence. "I have a lot of questions for you, but let's start with the most important one. How are you?"
"I'm good. Really good, actually. I have my own company, a nice house and I'm currently trying to find a nice space here in LA to expand my business. What about you?" He wasn't willing yet to talk about the obvious subject.
Summer couldn't seem to stop staring at him, he certainly looked good. And for some weird reason, she was very happy to hear that he didn't have a wife or girlfriend. She blamed it on her long time of singleness. "What do you say about getting a cup of coffee and catch up?"
Summer found herself even more drawn to him after she had spoken to him for awhile. The thought of calling the Cohens had entered her mind, but she had decided against it. First she wanted to talk to him. They talked about his work, her work and some other things they had done in those seven years they hadn't seen or spoken to each other. But by now she really, really wanted to know what and why and how and everything else that has to do with the Cohens. Before she has the chance to ask him, he speaks up.
"So, how come you haven't called the Cohens the moment you ran into me?" Ryan challenged her with a quirk of his eyebrow.
"First of all, I haven't had the chance yet to go to the restroom." She said with a teasing smile. "Besides, I wanted to talk to you before I made any rash decisions. What would you have done if I had called them the moment I knew it was you?" She added a little more serious.
Ryan sat for a moment, contemplating. Finally he answered. "I don't know. I don't think I would've ran. I mean, you don't know where I live or what I do. Well, you didn't before, anyway… To be honest, I have thought about calling them. Now that I've my own business and have a stable life."
"Then why don't you?" Summer asked. "And why did you run in the first place?"
"Again, I don't know. They moved on, after a while at least, and I don't want to turn their lives upside down again, when I was the one who destroyed it in the first place." Ryan said. "Also, I couldn't deal with their hovering. I know they mean well, but I need my space. It was how I dealt with things in Chino and that just doesn't change overtime. It's my copings mechanism. Even now, I need my space. People just don't get that."
"That makes sense." She nodded. "But don't you think that they want to know what happened to you? See for themselves that you are fine? I mean, look at me. We were never really that close, and I practically jumped out of my skin and hugged you to death when I saw you… But that could also have something to with…" Summer's eyes got bigger as she realized what she was about to say. Ryan looked at her curiously so she decided to get back at the topic at hand. "So, I think you should give them a call."
"Hmm. Right. Now what was that other thing you were about to say?" Ryan asked suspiciously. "It could have something to do with…"
"Nothing, nothing. I was just trailing off. You want to borrow my cell phone?"
Silence.
"Tell me." Ryan demanded.
Summer sighed, embarrassed. "Fine. It could have something to do with the fact that you're freakin' hot."
Ryan looked surprised and a little shocked, but there was this little glimmer in his eyes that Summer thought was interest. At least that's what she hoped for. He was the first person in over a year that seriously caught her attention. What he said next was something she would've never thought.
"Wanna get out of here?"
He had a mischievous look on his face and she was so happy that she could only smile.
And here she was, one year later.
She had a great boyfriend. Not in a million years had she thought that she would end up with Ryan Atwood. But he was sweet, caring, ridiculously hot and she wouldn't lose him for the world. Not only that, but they were now engaged. He had proposed on a warm summer night, during a candlelight dinner in one of LA's best restaurants. He knelt down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She was the luckiest girl in the whole world. She had asked him later why he had proposed in such a public way, since he hated that kind of stuff. He had told her that he wanted to do it the traditional way, so that there wasn't a chance that he could disappoint her. She had kissed him then and promised herself that she would never let him go.
Ryan was the owner of a big architecture company in LA, and he still had plans to expand, even though he already had businesses in San Francisco and San Diego. His final goal is another one, but in New York. If he accomplishes that, he'll be happy. Because of his success, he had the chance to buy a boutique for her, on the Sunset Strip, her favorite shopping place. Now she owns two, the second one bought with her own profits. It isn't a clothing store, though. She made it a WWF office so she, and a lot of other people, could help animals in need a lot easier. Now that it's within reach, people give money a lot faster. Summer makes profit with her boutique and spends a part of it on her WWF. She finally feels content with her work.
And to make the picture complete, they bought a nice two story house, detached, with a large kitchen, three bathrooms, four bedrooms, a patio and a double garage. And it has a nice garden at the back of the house. They had talked about getting something like a McMansion, but it didn't really appeal to either one of them. They preferred something a little smaller, but not too small, in case they wanted to work from home or had kids someday.
Ryan and Summer had decided to keep a low profile until they had everything sorted out, before contacting the Cohens. Summer had called them and suggested that she came over for dinner. They had agreed and she told them she had a huge surprise for them. Sandy had jokingly said that she was already married and pregnant and would bring along her husband. She had laughed and answered that it wasn't far from the truth. Dinner and the truth would come soon enough so they could find out.
When the day of dinner arrived, Ryan was totally stressing out. Summer tried to keep his mind off of it with random ramblings, but it didn't work. So she did the one thing she could think of to stop his insecurities. She pushed him up against the kitchen counter and kissed him, hard and deep. It had the desired effect, he kissed her back with equal passion and it didn't take long before the kisses were heated. As his hands roamed her back, he pulled away.
"We still have three hours before we have to leave… What do you say?" Ryan said huskily, while pulling her hips closer so they were standing flush against each other.
"I say shut up and make love to me." Summer responded and unbuckled his belt.
When they finally arrived at the Cohen house, Ryan was more relaxed and stood by the car, with his back to the door. They thought it would be best to let Summer smooth things over before the Cohens saw him.
It was Sandy who opened the door and pulled Summer in a hug before she could even say anything. Kirsten followed right after and had tears in her eyes, but didn't say anything.
"It's so good to see you, Summer! You should really come over more often." Sandy commented, his gaze reaching the man who stood behind her. Summer saw it and decided to explain.
"I know, and I'm sorry. But I had some things I had to work out first, things that are actually complicated, because they have something to do with you." Sandy looked puzzled and she continued. "I know you're wondering who I brought with me tonight. And I also know that you might be really shocked to see who it is, especially when you find out that we're engaged…"
Kirsten got a look of understanding and shock on her face, but Sandy still didn't get it. Ryan chose that moment to slowly turn around and walk towards the door. Summer heard Sandy muttering 'oh my god' under his breath, but it was Kirsten who flew past her and almost knocked Ryan over with her hug. He hugged her back and it seemed to go on forever. Sandy had a little smile playing on his lips as he looked on. Kirsten pulled back and took Ryan's face in her hands. She whispered something to him, which made him smile slightly, then she hugged him again and led him to the house.
And somehow Summer had the feeling that everything was going to be fine.