AN: Hey! This is my first O.C. fanfic, so I'd appreciate all the feedback (positive or not) that I can get, as well as pointers and suggestions. I'm going to eventually end up with Sethummer and RyRissa, but it'll take awhile to get there. Since there are going to be constantly shifting POV's, the regular font is just for dialogue and narration, the bold is for Summer, the Italics are for Marissa, the bold underlined is for Seth, and the italic underlined is for Ryan.

Summary: Ryan and Marissa are having problems… big problems. Marissa's been withdrawn, irritable, and drunk 95 of the time, and Ryan has no idea how to handle it… or the fact that she gave him a very sarcastic, cold "let's just be friends" speech a week ago. Seth is on the outs with Summer, and he can't figure out why… or why Summer and Zach seem to be spending so much time hanging out. What's the real reason behind all of this?

Chapter One: Rain, Rain, Go Away….

It's raining. Gosh, I hate rain. The only reason it exists is because a bunch of miserable water particles in the clouds decided to make things easy on us instead of pushing scientists to figure out how to purify the trillions of gallons of water in the beaches of Newport alone. Where is she? I've been waiting for ten minutes! There she is….

"Where've you been, Coop? I've been freezing my butt off, and don't ask me how, because yes, I know this is Newport and it never gets co…"

"I broke up with Ryan," Marissa blurted out, tears streaking her face.

"I'm gonna kill him! What'd he do?" Summer yelled, hugging Marissa and frowning at the same time.

"He didn't do anything. I just… can you promise not to tell Seth or Ryan something?"

"Uh, I think that's a given."

"I ran into Theresa last week. I was in a drugstore down near the numbered streets… I mean, it was late and I'd been driving around, and I really just wanted some aspirin before I started heading back home, and…. Well, there she was."

"Well, what does Miss I'll-Sleep-With-Ryan-Even-Though-He-Only-Broke-Up-With-His-Girlfriend-A-Millisecond-Ago have to do with anything? I mean, we all felt sorry for her… you knew that… but let's face it, she lost the baby, which by the way, we don't even know was Ryan's, and if she threatened you at all or is trying to get back with Ryan, then I will break her neck!"

"No, it wasn't like that… look, she had a baby with her. She said she was getting formula."

I don't even know if I can say the next part. Please, Sum, just get it. Please just know what it is I'm talking about…

"You mean she already had gotten knocked up again that soon after Ryan left? That's kind of… slutty."

Okay, so we can rule out that option, huh?

"No, Summer… look, it was Ryan's baby. She didn't come right out and say it, but you could tell… and she said she got back together with Eddy. He agreed to raise the baby like his own. I just can't…. I can't do that to Ryan, or her for that matter. I won't. I just needed to tell someone before I get up the nerve to tell him."

"Back up! You mean, all this time… she lied to Ryan like that? I can't believe her! She doesn't have the money to raise that kid all by herself! What does she think she's doing?"

"I'm gonna go see her. Talk to her… figure out if there's anything that I can do to help her out. Maybe I can convince Trey to share the apartment with her until further notice… Then, eventually, Ryan could always move in there with her and Trey could move into the Cohen's pool house."

"You're crazy. You can't do this… at least not alone. Let me come with you, get in a couple good verbal jabs if not a bunch of physical ones. I don't wanna beat the crap outta her in front of her baby."

Marissa sighed, leaning back against the bench and further under the umbrella's shelter. "If you promise to be good, I guess…. I just don't want her to feel cornered or attacked. I was a real jerk to Ryan, and he deserves someone better than me; someone like… like the mother of his child." She drew in a shaky breath before straightening her hair out and walking towards her car, parked in front of the bait shop, Summer's arm hooked through hers.

Some people just don't know when to give it a rest. I mean, what was her problem that she had to do that? She had Ryan, and a baby, and a future. It wasn't fair of her to let him go back to Marissa and then snatch him away again. What if it had happened to Marissa? She wouldn't have been that selfish; she would've made sure her poor kid knew their dad. Every kid deserves a good set of parents… I would know.

A cell phone started ringing, and Summer picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Summer, I needed to apologize for the whole graphic novel thing…"

"—Yeah, you do, Cohen. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?"

"Look, I promise you it won't happen again, okay? Look, I was thinking about it, and if it's really that important, than I'll tell Zach and Reed that I need to bow out of the graphic novel. You are more important to me than anything…. Well, maybe not Chrismukkah, but you're a close second."

"Cohen, no! This is what you want, and you're just going to act like a grumpy, moping baby if you don't get it! I don't even care! Just, do whatever you want…"

I don't care if it was like that between Ryan and me. I would have it that way in an instant instead of acting the way I did…

Flashback

"Hey, how are you?" Ryan leaned in to kiss her, but Marissa turned her head.

"I'm fine. Can we just get to class?" she demanded, the edge in her voice sharper than any blade ever could be.

"What's going on with you? You've been so anxious and cranky lately that you're starting to outdo Seth and Summer put together," he complained, a miniscule smile touching his lips at his joke.

"Yeah, well at least I have something worth complaining about."

"What is it? Man, I've been trying to get you to tell me what's going on with you forever!"

"Yeah, well won't I just be 'dragging you down with me' again? Yeah, that's right, I haven't forgotten your little soapbox session," she snapped, whirling around to face him.

"You know that's not fair! I was really stressed out, and I was confused, and I just…"

"No! No more excuses from either of us. You know what, Ryan? This really isn't working out. Why don't you just run back to Lindsay or Theresa or maybe even some other new girl? After all, that's what you do every time things get tough with us. I'm done with this. We're through, so let's just be friends."

She stalked off, leaving a confused and heartbroken Ryan behind.

End of Flashback

"Marissa? Did you hear me?"

"What? I'm sorry, Sum."

"I was just saying what a complete jackass Seth is. I mean, he's literally acting like a donkey. He's being so stubborn and brain-dead… Oh, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't be talking about Seth after Ryan… I mean, I just…"

"It's okay. Oh look, we're here…" As soon as Marissa pulled up, the two of them whipped open their doors and slammed them shut, making their way up to the front door. It opened suddenly, and Theresa stepped out. "I've been expecting you…" a frown creased her brow, and the two of them walked in as she closed the door behind.

I can't believe it. Where is she?

"Hello, there, my very sad-looking Amigos. What's up now? Did she threaten to kill you as well as rip out your heart?"

"Very funny. I tried to call her, straighten things out, and she's not there. I can't reach her cell phone either."

"Oh, she's with the very capricious Summer, who I just finished talking to. Man, it's really impossible to make the ladies happy, huh?"

"Yeah, that's how it's looking. Wait, where's Summer?"

"They're driving somewhere. Who knows? Anyway, I've seriously gotta revamp, man. I've already done everything possible to make Summer fall in love with me again. Maybe I should buy another boat and name it SUMMER II, huh? What do you think?"

"I think that maybe all of our answers lie wherever they're going."

"Dude, that was like the perfect quote for the graphic novel Summer's making me do even though she hates the idea of it. Can I use it?"

"Sure, whatever. Just, do me a favor and promise that right now we'll start looking for them?"

"Sure. Do you think that Zach is trying to get back together with Summer? 'Cause if so, maybe I should get into another fistfight with him. But I would probably lose, and that wouldn't look very good…" Seth rambled on as they jumped into the Cohen's car, not really sure where they were going, just going…

"Dude, we've looked everywhere. I'm beginning to think it's hopeless." Ryan pressed the bridge of his nose, thinking. "What are we forgetting about? Where else could they be?" "Maybe they went to TJ. They probably hopped on a bus and went to see Oliver at the institution." Ryan shot Seth a pithy glance, which he promptly replied to. "Okay, not funny, yeah…" Seth put his head down on the steering wheel. "We didn't even remember to ask for the car. We better get it back before mom and dad get home…."

So I know it's short, but the secret to more is read, review, and request! Catch ya later.