A/N: This fic is slightly AU, set probably 6-8 months after the Oliver debacle in season 1, Ryan and Marissa didn't get back together but have become best friends. Just to clarify, neither of them wants to get back with each other, but I have no idea where I'm going with this so who knows!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except my box set, unfortunately, so please don't sue.

Chapter 1

"Ryan?" Marissa sounded out of breath and embarassed.

"Yeah" Ryan replied anxiously "Everything ok?"

"Um, not really" Marissa giggled nervously "I...can you come over?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I've kinda locked myself in the bathroom. The other part of the lock fell out and I'm kinda stuck. Mom and Caleb went out for dinner and...well I need help" She finished lamely. Ryan laughed

"And you need me to come and save you?"

"Please, and hurry, I'm cold"

"Put some clothes on then"

"I can't" she said quietly "I was going to get a towel when I realised what had happened."

Ryan laughed again "This gets better"

"Shut up, are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, give me ten minutes."

Ryan left the Poolhouse and went into the kitchen, picking up the keys to the Range Rover. "Where you going?" Seth enquired, looking up from his comic book.

"Marissa's, she needs help"

"With what? Let me guess, Oliver's escaped and is holding her hostage? No? Grandpa's gone insane and has locked her in her room like Rapunzel? Or maybe, just maybe she has finally gone over the edge and needs you to bring her back?"

"Nearly, she's locked in the bathroom...naked." Ryan grinned wryly. Seth punched the air.

"Marissa, naked, alone. Can I come?" Before Ryan could answer they heard an all too familiar voice ringing through the house.

"I heard that Cohen. No you can't, you're such a perv."

"Which is why you're so attracted to me, right?" Seth shot back.

"I'll leave you to it," Ryan winked at Seth and made his way out to the car thinking that although once the thought of Marissa naked in her ensuite would have turned him on now all he felt was concern that she didn't catch pneumonia. Weird. He made the short drive to her house and let himself in making his way through the deserted house to her bedroom. "Marissa?"

"Hurry up, I'm freezing."

"Where are the towels?" Ryan asked through the door

"Go onto the landing, second door on the left." Ryan located a large pink towel and made his way back to the bathroom door.

"Now what do I do?" He asked staring at the door

"There should be a gold bolt thing on the floor."

"Oh yeah, got it."

"Just put it in the lock and press it hard." Ryan did as instructed.

"There you go" He said triumphantly.

"Thanks," she turned the lock open the door a fraction and stuck her right arm out. "Towel?"

"Oh, right sorry," He passed her the towel and waited while she wrapped it around herself before she came out. Only then did he allow himself to laugh at the ridiculous situation.

"Stop it," She protested half heartedly. "I'm just glad I had my cell in there, I was talking to Summer in the bath, then I washed my hair, got out and realised that I was locked in."

"Lucky I was in or you would've got Seth." Ryan smiled

"Oh God! Super-perv '05, great!" Marissa made her way over to her closet and opened it, deciding what to wear to warm herself up. Ryan stood awkwardly by the door, Marissa noticed this "Why don't you go and make something hot to eat, I'm so cold, I'll be down in a minute."

"Ok." Ryan made his way down to the kitchen and started looking through the cupboards for something to eat. He found a pizza in the freezer. He went to the bottom of the stairs and yelled "Pizza ok?"

"Yeah, sure" Marissa called back. Ryan put the pizza in the oven and wandered into the family room putting on the TV. Marissa came down about fifteen minutes ater, dressed in grey sweatpants and her Dad's USC sweater. "You wanna stay and play playstation?" She walked over to the drinks cabinet and pulled out a piece of paper with their names on, a running scoresheet of all the playstation games they had ever played at her house. "Maybe you'll get ahead this time!" She teased before going into the kitchen to check on the pizza. Ryan wandered over to where she had left it and picked it up smiling. He remembered when they had first started this, when they were first dating. He hated to admit it but Marissa was very good at playstation and beat him quite alot of the time. Not tonight though.

Marissa came back bearing pizza, "Want some?"

"You bet," They both took a slice and sat in an easy silence for a few minutes. When they had both finished their pizza, Ryan stood up and turned on the PS2 "You ready?"

"No, are you ready... to have your ass kicked?" She asked.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Yep"

Three hours later Ryan finally admitted defeat but not until after he had put up an impressive fight.

"Wait till I get you back to the Poolhouse, then I'll kick your ass." Ryan remained adamant that Marissa must have a home advantage. "Tomorrow?"

Marissa shook her head and looked at the floor "Nope, can't do tomorrow, sorry."

"Why?" Ryan teased "Do you have another date with Scott?" Marissa nodded her head, still not looking him in the eye. Ryan put his hand under her chin and gently pulled her head up forcing her to look at him "Why are you doing that? Afraid I'm going to get all jealous on you?"

"No, its just…I mean he's the first person I've dated since you and well…you know" she trailed off and he gave her an impulsive hug.

"It's fine, Scott's cool. Why don't you come over on Monday after school for a rematch and you can tell me all about your big date?" Marissa raised her eyebrows.

"What? It'll be fun" Just then they heard the front door open, Lucifer and Julie Cooper were back.

"Uh-oh, I better go" Ryan kissed Marissa lightly on her forehead and left. Through the back door.

"So?" Seth demanded as Ryan entered the kitchen on his return

"So what?"

"Did you and Marissa get it on?" Seth was grinning

"No, Seth, we're friends. Do you 'get it on' with your friends"

"Well, no" Seth admitted "But then I'm not friends with the most beautiful girl in high school, ever. Except for Summer," he added hastily as if she could hear him even though she had gone home. Ryan smiled.

"No we just played playstation and ate pizza it was nice." Seth raised his eyebrows.

"And by nice you mean…" Ryan silenced him with a glare.

"I'm going to bed." He left the kitchen wondering why it was so hard for Seth to get his head round the idea of being friends with a girl. But then the whole Summer/Anna triangle had proved that Seth couldn't be friends with girls didn't it.

"So," Scott said at the end of his near perfect date with Marissa on Sunday night, "am I seeing you tomorrow?" Marissa smiled but shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I have plans tomorrow, I can't, sorry" Scott reached up and smoothed a stray piece of hair on her face away.

"That's ok, are you meeting up with Summer?"

"Um, no, actually I'm hanging out with Ryan." Scott visibly flinched

"Ryan, as in your ex-boyfriend Ryan?" He was trying to stay calm and collected but inside his mind was racing.

"Yeah, we're really good friends" Then seeing the hurt look on his face she added "that's all, honestly."

"Hey, no, babe, that's fine, it's just… do you need a ride home?" She shook her head

"It's ok, thanks, I have a car."

"Well, then I guess I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?" Marissa nodded her head bewildered. With that he was gone. Should she not have said anything about Ryan? Maybe she should have lied and said she was meeting Summer after all? Maybe Scott wasn't bothered about Ryan and just didn't like her? Maybe she was overreacting. Who knows.

So there you go, my first ever fan fic (does it show?) Please review it would be really interesting to hear your thought and ideas, ideally I would like this to be 8 or 9 chapters long I have some ideas but am always on the look out for more, so any plots you would like to see please suggest, thanks!