Disclaimer: I own nothing, except what I own.

The Stranger

Ryan was studying on his bed late at night. He had a big physics test tomorrow that he needed to get an A on to get that A minus, instead of the B plus that he currently had. He was starting to doze off. It was almost two o'clock. He had just got back from a late night out with the gang. The gang consisted of Marissa, Seth, Summer, and Lindsay. They were all just friends with each other. They went to a journey concert in L.A., Ryan's choice of course, and just got back. Lindsay was the cause of his studying. She had been on his ass about getting that A, ever since she found out about his grade. She was the perfect study buddy for Ryan. A good friend who at the moment was running an A plus, and was a shoe-in for Yale, her dream school.

Ryan had noticed for the first few months that Lindsay was here that she had started to become attracted to him. But he wanted her just as a friend. He talked to her about it and they decided to leave it at that. Besides, Ryan still had his eye on somebody else. And that somebody else, just happened to not be able to sleep that night either.

Ryan looked over to the door when he heard to soft knocks.

"Come in."

Ryan watched at the doors open, and that person walked in.

"Hey Ryan."

"Hey Marissa."

Marissa walked over towards him, but stopped. Even after three months, the awkwardness still existed between them. They had tried their best to be friends. At first it worked much better than they expected. But then Marissa started to get depressed. She found herself in the arms of DJ again, only for Ryan to find out yet again. Now this time, he didn't show that he was upset, because they weren't together, but she knew better than that. HE was devastated. Because when she walked down the stairs the way he came in ten minutes later, she read a note that her name addressed to it.

Marissa,

These are for you (flowers). I just want to you know that I still care for you, and that I miss you.

Love,

Ryan.

Marissa wept at the sight of it. When DJ came up from behind her, Marissa wiggled out of his grasp and turned to face him. With tears in her eyes, she broke it off with him. After that day, she never saw Diego again.

But today, three months later, she knew she wanted him, and she knew he wanted her. She walked over to him and he stood up next to her.

"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, thinking there had to be something wrong. That was the only reason she would be here so late in the night.

But Marissa's response wasn't what Ryan expected. She grabbed him by the shirt and then pushed him onto his bed. She pounced on top of him and started to kiss him feverishly. She started towards his shirt, and started frantically remove his buttons, when Ryan stopped what was about to happen.

When Ryan pushed her back, Marissa was upset.

"Ryan, I thought you wanted this, you have been passing me signals all week, I thought you want us." Marissa asked, remembering all to well what this seemed like. That time she tried having sex with him to forgive her last valentine's day.

"Not like this."

Marissa was about to get up out of embarrassment and walk away, when Ryan drew his hand out and grabbed onto her arm turning her around.

"If we are going to do this, we are going to do this right."

Ryan waited and was relieved when he finally saw that smile come from Marissa. She got back on top of him, and kissed him. But this time, things were different. There was not as much urgency in the kisses. They were loving and full of passion. Ryan stopped the kiss after a minute or two and told her something she didn't want to hear.

"We can't not tonight. I want our first time to be special. Not when I am almost asleep. I want to be able to "perform" for you." Ryan spoke up causing Marissa to at first mope, but chuckle at the end.

"Can I spend the night?" She asked, hoping he wasn't too tired to sleep with her.

"You think I'm letting you drive back home this late at night?" Ryan asked her sarcastically.

Marissa smiled and leaned in and kissed him again. She rested her head on his chest, after taking off her clothes, putting on a wife beater, and fell asleep in Ryan's arms.

Ryan couldn't help but smile as he turned the light off. He had been wanting her for the past three months. Or basically since he got back. He had been passing these signals, and he was ecstatic that she finally caught on. Ryan Atwood was in love, and couldn't be any happier. But Ryan knew, that all happiness doesn't last.

Ryan and Marissa had been sleeping for around two hours now. HE looked over at the clock and read the numbers. It was 3:47. It was still dark outside. Ryan got up and carefully removed his arm that was wrapped around Marissa. He walked over to the bathroom to relieve himself. Once he was done, he flushed the toilet and started heading back to bed, when something cut his eye, causing him to halt where he was and duck low.

There was a light that was shining through the window. It looked like somebody had a flashlight on and was looking inside the pool house. Ryan got scared. He started creeping back towards the door. He grabbed a vase off the counter and started moving closer to the door. He almost reached it, when he ran into a table, causing a glass statue to fall over and break.

"Shit." Ryan yelled causing Marissa to stir.

Ryan took his eye of the waking Marissa, and noticed that the light was gone. Ryan put on shoes, and ran outside to see where the intruder was now. He looked towards the ocean, and then to the house, and saw the person running rather slowly towards the driveway. Ryan ran after him. When he finally reached the front of the house, he saw that the car had already pulled out of the house and was driving away, in a 1986 Buick. He recognized that car. It looked familiar, but he just couldn't place it. Ryan stood there trying to trace his memory from where that car was from, but he drew a blank. Ryan walked back towards the pool house, and saw Marissa standing outside the doors with her arms wrapped around her chest, shivering slightly.

"Ryan what's wrong? I saw a light. What was that? Are you okay?" Marissa asked concerned about what happened that night.

"I don't know, but we need to go back to bed." Ryan responded.

Ryan kissed her on the lips, and grabbed her hand, leading her back to the bed. Marissa got back into bed and snuggled a little closer to Ryan then before. She was scared. Something had happened that was pretty serious, but she didn't know what. But what scared her most was the fact that though he didn't show it, Marissa knew that under his tough guy exterior, Ryan was scared too. She finally fell asleep in his arms for the second time that night.

Ryan kept trying to jog his memory. The man fleeing from the pool house was a slightly overweight man. He looked to be about five ten and one hundred sixty pounds. And that car he was driving. That white Buick. He knew that he had scene it before, but just couldn't place it. Before Ryan knew it, it was already morning. His alarm blasted, waking him up. It was another day at school at Harbor High. Except this time, he had Marissa again

But those are thoughts still haunted him throughout the day. He needed to know who was at the house and why they were there. Ryan knew he couldn't be fine again until he found out who it was. He definitely knew the person, but he couldn't figure it out. But all these thoughts would have to wait. It was time for school. Time to face the world again, except with Marissa by his side.