There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California.
Edward Abbey
--
After Lilly has her arrested, Serena ditches Brown and goes to USC.
Trojans apply more directly to her life anyways, and she looks better in red and gold than brown looks on anyone.
There is no Prada logo on the wall of her dorm room and Chuck isn't lurking at midnight in silk loungewear with a glass of scotch but she puts up a poster of Central Park that Eric gave her and tells herself it is enough.
She closes her eyes on the first night and pretends to be happy.
--
Her roommate's name is Kelly.
She's blond and tan and gorgeous and it's the first time ever that Serena feels a little generic.
Here, there are no Blair Waldorf's to set off her height, her hair, her tan and she stumbles through her introduction.
She's interrupted by a guy who looks faintly like a gorilla, and Kelly squeals and grabs Serena's hand and introduces her to Luke Ward.
Luke Ward shakes Serena's hand firmly, makes small talk, and takes her roommate for a night out, leaving Serena by herself.
She thinks of Nate at Columbia and Blair at NYU and Chuck at Bass Industries and tries not to cry.
--
Her mom, finally removing whatever CeCe shaped stick she had up her ass, sends her a red Porsche 911 as an apology.
It comes with a note that says, "You can't get anywhere in LA without a car. Mine served me well. I'm sorry, and I love you very much. XO Mom."
Serena passes her driver's test on the first try thanks to a very low-cut shirt and a relatively perverted old man named Jones who tests her, and then proceeds to send her mom a picture of her in the driver's seat with Wayfarer sunglasses on, blowing a kiss into the camera.
--
There's a Jamba Juice next door to her dorm room and every day Serena orders a 16 oz. peach pleasure smoothie with an immunity boost for breakfast.
One day, she turns around smack into someone tall, blond, and blue-eyed. Her heart thumps out the word Nate like it always does but her brain tells her heart to shut up.
Somehow the smoothie ended up all over her brand new Marc Jacobs white sundress and she doesn't know if she should pull a Blair and throw a tantrum or blow it all off.
Instead she sighs and starts getting napkins.
"Here, let me help you."
"By rubbing napkins all over my chest?"
He stumbles over his words, obviously not realizing what helping really meant, trying to apologize, and Serena decides that he's adorable, giggling at his reaction.
The blond stranger still offers a hand and Serena's taken aback by his kindness.
She's from New York, where she couldn't even count on her own mother not to stab her in the back or a good-looking guy from stealing everyone's money.
"Serena?"
She looks up to see Luke Ward grinning at her, although she suspects it has something to do with her vaguely now see-through dress.
"I see you've met my friend Ryan."
Ryan shrugs sheepishly and runs a hand over the back of his head.
Serena grins, and thinks she might like it here after all.
--
For their first date, he takes her to an In-N-Out Burger next to the beach.
She orders a double-double animal style, a large fries, and a chocolate shake and eats all of it while Ryan stares on in wonder.
"Hungry, huh?"
In her rush to respond, she talks with her mouth open and can't help but think that Blair wouldn't approve.
"Sorry," the burger is swallowed, "but this is delicious! I've never been to one before."
Ryan laughs and holds her hand over the table and Serena uses her other hand to finish her fries.
After dinner is finished, they walk on the beach as the sunsets and Serena would laugh at the cliché of it all if she wasn't so deliriously happy.
"So, Ryan Atwood, what's your story?" She finishes it with a trademark tilted head and adorable smile.
He doesn't say anything for a little while, ad Serena thinks the sound of the waves drowned her question out.
"Broken home. Nothing you want to hear about."
Serena thinks about her missing dad, Klaus with a K, Claus with a C, a mom missing most of the time, a brother who almost jumped off a roof, and a brother who slit his wrists.
"Yeah, me too."
--
One night, Ryan takes her to his favorite bar in the area, because for whatever reason (he thinks it's her smile), he can't stop thinking about Serena.
He's surprised when she pulls out a flask at the bar.
She shrugs, and laughs, stating, "Parting gift from my brother."
She holds it out to him, and when he declines, she lifts the Cartier flask and takes a swig.
Ryan flinches a little, and Serena pretends not to notice.
--
Little by little, Serena figures out who Ryan is and Ryan learns about Serena.
The story of the Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth Cohen unfolds one morning over sesame bagels and shmear as an explanation to the bagel slicer he has in his dorm room.
She learns about Theresa when she tells Ryan about her infatuation with Nate Archibald at fifteen and he learns about Dan when he mentions his disastrous relationship with Lindsay.
They exchange stories about brothers after Serena scurries off on a call one night from Chuck, because Eric and Jonathon broke up and "Eric's about one drink away from pulling a McConaghey and dancing around naked playing the bongos." Chuck's words, not hers.
Ryan has second thoughts about her when she talks about Daddy issues, he's already carried a girl's baggage for far too long and has no interest in doing it again, but when Serena talks about it there's no screaming or crying, just matter of fact statements.
"You don't really seem too affected by all this."
They're walking across campus (she tries to walk everywhere because you can take the girl out of New York but you can't take the New York out of the girl) and she bumps his hip and laughs.
"You turned out pretty good too."
--
Seth and Summer come up to visit as a surprise, but they joke's on them because the door is answered by a tall, leggy blonde in one of Ryan's wife-beaters and a pair of boxers who practically tumbles out of the room.
"Whoa there, mi lady."
"Seth?"
Ryan finally made his way to the door and he hugs Seth and kisses Summer on the cheek before his arm settles around the girl's waist.
"Hey man, I just needed some Seth and Ryan time and Summer just wouldn't leave me alone, you know how it is, but it looks like you're already having some Ryan and blonde girl time," this is where Summer hits him in the stomach, "so I'll just…wait outside your door."
Ryan's mystery babe can take a hint easier than Ryan, and extends her hand.
"Hey, I'm Serena. Ryan's told me so much about both you."
"Hey, I'm Seth and Ryan has told me not nearly enough about you."
"Hi, I'm Summer and this is my idiot husband."
Serena and Ryan laugh while Seth tells Summer that she'd die without him, causing her to stamp on his foot as she walks into the room.
Serena's clothes are bundled up in the corner, and Summer gasps loudly as the next-season Chanel skirt, Haute Hippie top, and nude Louboutins are unearthed.
"Where did you get those?"
Even if Summer's saving the world one chicken coop at a time, she still wants to look kickass doing it.
Ryan interjects as if to brag about his girlfriend, proudly stating that Serena's from New York City.
"I know some people back home. But I've actually found some really great spots around here if you want to do that. Then the guys can catch up. I just need to change, my car's parked downstairs."
"That'd be great!"
When Serena leaves to change, Ryan does his sheepish thing again, where he doesn't really say anything and just looks at Seth and Summer.
"You always liked 'em blonde and rich."
Ryan and Summer simultaneously say, "Shut up, Cohen," and laugh until Serena gets back.
--
"Do you have a type?"
The sun streams in through the window next to his bed and illuminates the back of Serena's head, shadowing her features and she could be (Marissa) anyone if he squints a little.
"What?"
"You know, did you always like statuesque blondes like moi?"
She giggles, and it's a sign of how well he's doing that he can laugh along with her at her adorableness, even at the reference to Marissa.
"I guess you could say that."
--
School's almost over, and somehow Serena has maintained an iron grip on his heart without Ryan ever really noticing and the thought of spending three months without her makes him feel…uncomfortable.
So it's in the middle of seeing whatever romantic comedy Serena wanted to see that he leans over and says, "Want to come to Berkeley for the summer?"
She screams yes, and is immediately shushed by the audience while she drags him out of the theater so that she can make plans.
--
Sandy and Kirsten love her immediately, and Serena can see Ryan visibly let out a sigh at the sight of them all getting along so well.
Kirsten even tries to cook in order to impress, and Serena swoops in and promptly burns everything in sight before Kirsten could.
"Well know we know who else to keep away from anything Thanksgiving related," says Seth with his typical snarky charm and Summer rolls her eyes at her husband.
"Don't listen to Seth. I like you already," says Kirsten as she hugs Serena (who is furiously blushing) with one arm and keeps a squirming Sophie on her hip with the other.
"And I like Indian," chirps Sandy as he pulls out various takeout menus and offers them to everyone.
--
They fight sometimes. Usually when Serena's borderline drunk and Ryan looks at her with fierce protectiveness and an even fiercer grief in his eyes.
She says things she usually regrets, about his hero complex and telling him to loosen him. He yells, the kind that scares Serena to her core.
She even told him that once, in a quiet voice, "You're scaring me!" and he had looked at her for a second before kissing her hard.
Yeah, they fight sometimes.
--
"Ryan's cheating on me!"
Summer was half-awake when she answered the phone, because it's six thirty in the morning, but Serena's exclamation causes her to sit up straight in the bed she shares with Seth.
"What?!"
"He is! She's blonde and perfect and gorgeous and I don't know what to do!"
"Ser, calm down. How do you know? Did you see them together? Do you have any proof, because the Ryan would never do that. But I will kick him in the balls if he is. Promise."
Serena chokes a little on a combination of a laugh and a sob, and proceeds to tell Summer the whole story.
"Well I was leaving to get bagels this morning because I couldn't sleep but I couldn't find my other shoe. I get on my knees and proceed to move stuff aside when I find this picture in a frame of this girl on a beach," and this is where the back of Summer's eyes start to burn and her throat starts to constrict, "and she's gorgeous, Sum, you should see her! She's tall and blonde and, " this is where Serena starts crying again and Summer tries to get rid of the urge to throw up she has, "in the corner there's this little message that says, 'love you, Marissa' and I could just kill them both!"
This is where Summer starts sobbing and Serena slowly stops talking until the only sound in the room is Summer crying over the phone.
After five minutes the only thing that Summer can muster up is, "Somebody already beat you to it."
She can hear Serena's gasp through her BlackBerry World and tells her the tragedy that is Marissa Cooper.
Serena covers her mouth with one hand and cries out of guilt and sympathy, and feels like a horrible person. Half an hour after she first called Summer, she sneaks back into Ryan's room and crawls into bed with him, and thinks about how lucky she is when his arms automatically encircle her waist.
--
Sometime soon after that, the words, "I love you, Ryan Atwood," spill from her lips.
He stares at her with a question in his eyes, a few French fries hanging out of his mouth because they're at In-N-Out Burger again.
Serena gulps down her chocolate shake and Ryan finishes his fries before he says, "I love you too, Serena van der Woodsen."
--
This time, nobody dies, and Ryan can see happily ever after in the distance.
--
AN: So what'd you think? I'm crossover crazy right now. Anyone who wants to write me a crossover, I'll write a request of yours. Seriously, I'm obsessed. If you want more Ryan/Serena, mystripedskirt has a glorious story called California. PLEASE REVIEW and I hope you enjoyed it! ps- i own nothing.