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AN: I'm doing the rerun deal with this show. I ended up going out and buying the first season anyway, so I have yet to see the second season. The finale hit me pretty hard and this is the result.
He'd actually left. Ryan had left Newport Beach to go back to Chino to be with Theresa. Seth couldn't believe he'd actually fooled himself into believing that the friendship he'd created with Ryan would really withstand the test of time.
That childish nonsense was better left for a fantasy world. So with that thought in mind, Seth sailed away on Summer Breeze intent on forgetting the life he had led this past year. Ryan had been a real friend to him, and he'd be damned if he'd go back to living a life as if his best friend had never existed. He'd rather forget it all. Lord knows it was a hell of a lot easier.
But that was before three months had passed and Ryan called him up, expecting things to go back to the way they had been. Forget Chino, Portland, and Tahiti or wherever the hell they were headed without each other, side-by-side.
Seth knew though, knew that it wouldn't be that easy. He'd been hurt. Cut so deep he couldn't even fathom the wounds healing. And the absolutely hysterical thing, hysterical tragic really, about this whole debacle was Ryan's supposed truelove. Marissa Cooper. She was so caught up in her own stupid drama of the moment that her heartbreak over losing Ryan was lackluster to say the least.
But none of that had stopped Ryan from calling, for holding out hope that Seth would return home. To Newport. To Kirsten and Sandy. To Ryan, his best friend. And if Seth was honest with himself Ryan was still his best friend. If three months apart hadn't changed that fact, nothing would. That however didn't change the fact that Seth was still hurting.
Seth stood outside by the pool house, the sun warming his neck and back as he stood in front of Ryan, who hadn't yet said anything to him since he'd called Seth.
"Hey, man. I realize this isn't going to be nearly enough, but I really did miss you."
Seth nodded. "You're right. It's not enough."
"Come on, Seth," Ryan pleaded, reaching out to Seth, grabbing a hold of his arm.
"How the hell are we supposed to go back to the way things were!?" Seth demanded, pulling away from Ryan's grasp.
"One day at a time?" Ryan suggested feebly.
"That's right. Make jokes," Seth snorted, rolling his eyes in disgust.
"Dammit, Cohen, what do you want from me!?"
"I want…I want my best friend back," Seth muttered, sinking into a lawn chair. Ryan carefully sat down next to him, staring intently at his hands.
"Yeah. Me too."
"Where do we go from here? How do we fix this?"
Ryan shrugged. "I don't know. How about a game of Grand Theft Auto?" he suggested, a small smile tugging at his mouth. Seth chuckled softly.
"Atwood, you haven't changed much, huh? Always about the cars…"
"I can't help it if I know a good piece of machinery when I see one. I at least don't talk to my boat like someone I know…" Ryan said with a smirk.
"You aren't mocking me, are you?" Seth asked, feigning shock.
"No, of course not," Ryan grinned, bumping Seth's shoulder with his own as the two of them headed inside. It would take awhile, but with time things would eventually get back to the way they used to be between them. And this summer, which had been filled with so much pain and loss, would become a distant memory. Yeah, time. That's what Seth figured he and Ryan needed. Just more time.
THE END