Until the tides changes
A series of snapshots based on "Not one for secrecy". Ryan tries to adjust to life in the O.C. as a Nichol–Cohen.
Chapter 0001: Do or do not
To say that his life had a taken a sharp turn the moment he stepped into the Cohen household was a severe understatement. Seth would surely have a much more florid way of putting it, but Ryan thought it was good enough.
Seth, his nephew (although Kirsten gently told him he might be willing to see the hyperactive boy as something of a brother, since they were the same age, and that was weird even by Chino standards), Sandy, his public defender and teasing brother–in–law, and finally Kirsten, his soft spoken, food pusher big sister, whose hugs he quickly started to crave even though he tried to shy away from them every time (sometimes she succeeded in her quest to squeeze the broodiness out of him, sometimes he managed to escape her 'mom claws', as Seth flippantly put it while Sandy giggled at her pouts).
He had yet to speak, much less see the infamous Caleb Nichol, though he heard plenty about him anyway. He was a bully, Sandy stage whispered, his face would crack if he tried to smile, Seth mocked, and Kirsten said nothing about him; Ryan appreciated it, because he didn't think he had much to say about the man who apparently could still remember his mother but had no desire to get to know his only son.
"Eh, you've got us now, man" – Seth tried to cheer him up – "You're a Cohen, it's way better than being a Nichol, just ask mom, we're the fun family"
"Yeah, we Cohens? We even barbecue!" – Sandy exclaimed, preparing some food for the grill.
"Nichols order in, I'm afraid" – Kirsten piped up, smiling over her glass of wine.
"Too true. Do you cook?"
"I... Just a little, nothing fancy" – Ryan shrugged, still uncertain about himself even after almost a week with them.
"Well, that's better than these two" – Sandy pointed a knife at his son and wife, who rolled their eyes in unison – "They would starve without me, or get severely fat from all the takeout they would get"
"Don't forget the ice cream" – Seth had named it the family food after Ryan's first night at the Cohen residence, and Ryan quietly thought the same thing, though he would never say it out loud.
"Oh no, please, I can't have anymore" – Kirsten moaned – "How you boys manage to eat so much ice cream and not get sick, I'll never understand"
"It's not for you to understand, mom, it's for you to provide your young" – she threw him a look but even Ryan could see the affection in her eyes – "Hey, dude, wanna go sailing tomorrow?"
"Sure"
"Ah, the Summer Breeze" – Sandy commented knowingly, and Seth glared at him as Kirsten laughed discreetly.
"Is that... The name of your boat?" – Ryan questioned slowly.
"Oh yes" – Sandy butted in as Seth sputtered – "After his longtime crush, Summer Roberts. Pretty, pretty girl that one"
"Really?" – Ryan tried to say it as flatly as possible, but Seth gasped and pointed a finger at him.
"J'accuse! Traitor! Don't take his side!"
"It's true enough" – Kirsten mumbled, leaning close to Ryan, who this time couldn't hide his amusement. Seth snorted and stomped his feet, but he didn't leave, which Ryan felt was wise, because he did not think Sandy or Kirsten would be kind enough to call him to eat if he left in a huff.
"So, Summer, huh?"
"Dude! No, no! Not in front of THEM!"
"THEM who know all about Summer" – Sandy pointed out obnoxiously, but it was so gentle, so friendly, that Ryan was amazed.
"We do, sweetie" – Kirsten said, none too kindly – "You'll enjoy yourself tomorrow, I'm sure" – she told Ryan, clearly trying to cut her kid some slack – "Name aside, Seth's boat is very nice, and we have been having nice weather these days"
"Perfect for sailing out sea" – Seth quickly agreed, seemingly glad for the subject change. Sandy shook his head as he motioned for everyone to help him carry the food to the grill.
Sandy was a good cook, Ryan had to admit, and he only felt a little guilty at eating such expensive food, though everyone else was enjoying themselves without a thought to how pricy everything was. Then again, he kind of knew they would revolt if he even tried to comment on it. Sandy was ever so flippant about the price of things, from his car to the house to the fancy ice cream and vegetables, and Seth and Kirsten had been born with a silver spoon, as Sandy dryly (but sweetly) said sometimes, so they also didn't understand that all Ryan could think about was how much food he could've bought with what they were spent on a single meal, how many days worth of bread and milk he could've gotten with the price of the meat alone.
He forced himself not to think about what his brother was being made to consume in jail, or what his mother could possibly be eating, wherever she was. Sandy had been gentle about it, saying he was searching for Dawn, however Ryan could tell he had little to no desire to actually find her and deliver Ryan back to her. If not for the legalities of his continued stay at the Cohens, the teenager wondered if anyone would bother trying to track her down.
Probably not. Kirsten never said a bad word against Dawn in Ryan's presence, though it wasn't hard to guess what she really thought about her, the woman his father had cheated his mother with, the mother of her half–brother, Seth always seemed willing and all too happy to pretend like Ryan had appeared at the Cohens, having left nothing and no one behind, and Sandy just smile reassuringly when the subject of the Atwood family came about.
"So, kid, we, ah, we wanted to talk to you about something" – Sandy started once they'd eaten most of the food. Kirsten looked on at Ryan with concerned eyes, and Seth seemed to sense something in his parents' tense frames – "So, Caleb wanted to come over tomorrow. To... Talk"
"Oh" – Ryan thought about looking away, but he met Kirsten and Sandy head on – "Okay. Should I–?"
"If you don't want to talk to him, you don't have to" – Kirsten was quick to say – "Trust me, I'm still pretty angry at him myself" – and she looked pretty pissed at him, though it appeared to have morphed into something hard and cold instead of explosive and violent as when Ryan first came into the picture.
"Why does he want to come over anyway?" – Seth demanded.
"He wants to–" – Sandy cut himself off and looked at Ryan then Kirsten – "He wants to discuss the situation"
"The situation? What situation? That he has a kid he never even mentioned?" – Seth asked almost bitterly – "That he left in fu–" – at Kirsten's sharp look, he stopped and shut up.
"Yes, all of that" – Sandy said softly, carefully, and Ryan could feel the way he was trying to discern his feelings, but the teen had long learned how to mask his true feelings when necessary. One didn't need to grow up in the O.C. to acquire such a skill, though Kirsten was pretty good at it too.
It suddenly hit Ryan that he looked an awful lot like her when they were both quietly fuming and holding back their anger in. From the way Seth frowned confusedly between the two blonds, Ryan could only guess the family resemblance was more noticeable than normal, given their similar coloring.
"It's okay" – Ryan finally said when everyone stopped talking for what felt like a good while – "What time is he coming?"
"Er... For dinner, I think"
"Okay. Should I wear something in particular?"
"No, no, whatever you have is fine..." – Sandy looked at Kirsten, who nodded.
"Well, sweetie, I fear you already have plans for today" – she announced.
"I do?"
"We are going shopping" – Seth gasped and instantly stifled a sudden chuckle. Sandy also looked amused as Ryan grimaced.
"Do we have to?" – he asked dejectedly, already knowing the answer.
Kirsten just smiled. He had never had a big sister, but he had seen a similar expression on Trey's face growing up to know what that meant.
"I guess we're going shopping" – he said to no one in particular.
Sandy smacked Seth in the head when he couldn't stop giggling.
By popular demand.
I was pretty darn shocked that people were so interested in Not one for secrecy, a little story I thought about and wrote almost right away lol. That said, this story will not be updated on a particular basis 'cause I have other projects I need to pay more attention to. That said, however, I am now liking this little world I'm creating within the canon of the show. The chapters will be one-shots, some directly related to the previous one, some random, so I don't think I need to tell you guys to send in ideas, and maybe I'll get around to writing them. =)
Also, for reals, if you guys have questions or want to discuss anything, you need to log in, 'cause one weekend I was away from home and Internet and ended up not being able to moderate an anonymous review (thus I only have it in my email). Regardless, I read all the reviews for my the other story, and I appreciate all the encouragement and lovely comments, this one story likely would not exist without it all, so here it is, hope it's to you guys' taste.
PS: I actually like the dumpster fire that is Ryan/Marissa however at the moment I don't know if this will have romance at all. Please let me know, as I haven't decided either way, I am open to suggestions. ;)