Blast From The Past
A/N: This is essentially a challenge; I had to figure out a way to get Ryan drunk so it'd be funny (given his past, I decided his drink being spiked was the only way to go) it evolved from an idea to get Ryan drunk without Marissa being around so he'd have to show up on her doorstep- or Summer's doorstep, anyway- and sing Journey to her, and it's turned into something more, although that's definitely coming! To set it up, Ryan and Marissa are happily together sometime in the near future- and Theresa calls one morning to leave a message and blows everything to hell. The Theresa message is as clichéd and unlikely as you'd expect from your typical soap opera, lol. And yes, I plan on finishing Reading Between The Lines. I swear! But the muse controls me, not the other way around. Heh.
As far as Marissa Cooper was concerned, waking up in bed with Ryan Atwood may not be the BEST part of the new level to their relationship- that was definitely reserved for other things- but it was right up there on the list of perks. She always slept sounder with Ryan at her side and there was little she loved more than waking up to the comforting warmth of Ryan's arms around her.
She awoke in the pool house earlier than he did one lazy Saturday morning, smiling even before she opened her eyes at the soothing weight of his arm draped protectively across her waist. Her first sight when she came fully awake was her boyfriend's sleeping face and the smile got even bigger. Ryan looked like such a little boy if one just looked at his face when he was sleeping. It was rare to see him so peaceful and unguarded; she cherished these brief moments.
As usual; the moment didn't last long. Ryan had an uncanny awareness of whenever she was watching him, even when he was sleeping. Sure enough, his eyes fluttered open within a moment and his face broke into a lazy smile as he took in her face. "Mmmm, good morning," he yawned, stretching a little and rubbing her stomach with the hand that rested on it. "I gotta say, these new sleeping arrangements of ours definitely don't suck."
"I was just thinking the same thing when I woke up," Marissa grinned, leaning forward to press several kisses to his neck and the side of his face.
"Hey, what's with those kisses?" Ryan protested, pulling her closer and burying his face in her hair. "There are better places to kiss a person, you know."
Marissa giggled and deftly squirmed out of his grip. "Not with morning breath, there isn't. You want that, we're going to have to get up to brush our teeth." She almost burst out laughing at how quickly he hopped out of bed, climbing out after him.
"If only you were around every morning," Ryan teased as he pulled on his boxers. "Much more motivating than an alarm clock." He let his eyes travel leisurely over her body- he'd waited a long time for the privilege, after all- and almost groaned out loud when she reached for one of his wifebeaters to put on. "That's just not playing fair," he weakly protested. Marissa simply flashed him a flirtatious smile over her shoulder before heading into the bathroom. He was starting to think she enjoyed these small forms of torture.
It hadn't taken long for them to fall into an easy routine, Marissa mused silently as they comfortably moved around each other in the small bathroom. They spent most of their time at the pool house- even though Summer had set her aside for a mildly mortifying conversation about how her house was perfectly safe for her and Ryan, it still felt awkward- and she had various supplies kept out of totally plain sight all over the pool house at this point. It almost felt like they'd lived together for awhile. All the small things, like the way Ryan absently rubbed her side and pressed a kiss to the curve of her neck in between brushing his teeth and reaching for his shaving supplies, always warmed her inside. She returned the small affection by nuzzling the back of his neck before putting her toothbrush away and leaving him to his shaving.
She was digging through the kitchen to see if there was something easy to fix them both for breakfast when the phone rang. She glanced up in surprise; it was early to be calling. She could still hear Ryan shaving in the bathroom, so she shrugged and let the machine pick it up. There was too much potential for some awkward conversation with whoever was calling by picking it up at this hour. However, as the all too familiar voice came over the speakers, she froze.
"Hey Ryan. It's me…it's Theresa. Listen, I just wanted to thank you for the birthday letter you sent me, that was really thoughtful of you. I didn't want to let this one go by; I could tell it kind of bugged you that I hadn't written you back or anything when we saw each other in May. I hope you're okay…I hope everything with you and Marissa turned out alright. Listen, I have to go but I'll call you back sometime, okay? Bye."
Ryan had come out of the bathroom right as Theresa was starting to speak and his stomach dropped further and further with every word out of her mouth. It was nice of her to call him, but he could barely focus on that right now. The call would have thrown Marissa under the best circumstances; now she knew that he'd been writing Theresa and had seen her in May…and he'd never told her about any of it. It took him a minute to get up the guts to raise his eyes to her face, and he winced when he finally did and saw her stricken expression as she stood frozen in place in the kitchen. "Marissa…" he said softly, taking a few steps towards the kitchen.
Marissa felt like she was going to be sick, but she struggled to hold onto some semblance of pride. She'd never liked being one of those girlfriends who hounded the guy about every single thing they did with other girls. "You didn't want to pick it up?" she asked, plastering on a deliberately casual smile as she moved out of the kitchen, deftly sliding out of his reach as she made her way to the bed area and reached for her jeans.
Ryan closed his eyes briefly; he could spot the mood behind that friendly and yet cool tone from a mile away. She was angry, but underneath the anger she was hurt. He hated knowing something he'd done had hurt her. "It's no big deal; I can call her back later," he said warily, immediately wondering if he should have mentioned calling her back at all. Marissa gave him an absent smile over her shoulder as she sat down to put on her shoes; he could feel the quickly growing chasm between them. "I should have told you I wrote her," he said quietly, hoping his being blunt might cut through a couple of her defenses. "I'm sorry you heard it like that."
Marissa waved her hand carelessly. "Please. You're a big boy; you don't have to account all your actions to me. It would be ridiculous for me to think you need my permission to write an old friend a letter." Even as she said it, she felt like she was dying inside. Theresa brought up just about every insecurity she'd ever had about not being good enough for Ryan, along with months of harshly painful, lonely memories. Little made her feel more vulnerable than Theresa.
Ryan had never been sure if she was trying to make him feel better by being supposedly casual about things that obviously upset her, trying to protect her own pride, or if she was aware how it cut him up inside every time he felt that cold distance beneath the friendly exterior. There was little he hated more than when his spontaneous, impulsive, vibrant girlfriend turned into that coolly polite and perfectly composed socialite stranger. "I don't agree," he said out loud, swallowing the pain and annoyance. "Given my history with Theresa and my relationship with you, you had a right to know. I'm sorry."
Marissa bit her lip hard to keep her emotions from showing; the last thing she wanted to do was flip out and either start crying or screaming in front of Ryan. She didn't want to either further upset their relationship by starting a melodramatic fight or totally trash her own dignity by crying about something she logically knew she shouldn't be crying about. "Consider it forgotten," she smiled calmly, standing up and tossing on her jacket before grabbing the rest of her clothes and throwing them into the larger purse she'd grown accustomed to having around.
"Where are you going?" Ryan asked somewhat helplessly as she quickly ran a brush through her hair. "I thought we could have breakfast and spend the day at the pier or something."
Marissa shrugged. "I thought I'd at least put in a little girl time with Summer this morning, but I'll call you later, okay?"
"Marissa-" Ryan started to protest, but before he could finish she'd opened the door to find Seth on the other side of it.
"Oh!" Seth stepped back in surprise. "Good timing; I was about to warn you the parental units are on the prowl."
"Well, I better get going," Marissa said in that same falsely cheerful tone Ryan had heard her use the first time she met Theresa. "See you guys later!" And before Ryan could get in one more word, she was off. Sighing heavily, Ryan slumped down on the bed and buried his face in his hands.
"Uh, dude?" Seth asked, clearly baffled. "What was with that cold shoulder? I almost got frost bite."
"That was the worst I've screwed up in a long time," Ryan said in resignation. "And that's saying something."
Seth winced in sympathy. "Well, as a man with a LOT of experience in that area, why don't you get dressed, we'll have some breakfast, and then get down to some good old fashioned Seth-Ryan time."
Ryan gave Seth a tired but grateful smile. As painful as he figured the advice would be, he could use someone on his side right now. "Thanks, man. I'll be in the kitchen in a minute." He waved at Seth as he left the pool house, then dragged himself up to get dressed. He had a feeling this was not going to be so easy to smooth over.
