In Ryan Atwood's opinion, lunch was the worst part of his Harbor School days. It wasn't even the food's fault, like most cafeterias. It was the insanely limited amount of seating provided for the hundreds of students released on the quad at noon every day. His architect's mind scolded whoever designed the layout every time he tried to find an empty table and ended up sitting on the ground alone, or with someone he barely knew and didn't really like.

"Hey, Connor," Ryan called out as a young man with floppy blonde curls looked up and waved him over. Connor Matthews was on his soccor team, and he was proving to be a pretty great guy. He and Ryan shared a love for the same kinds of literature, the same movies and music, and the same girls.

Ryan smiled to himself as he made his way over to the table and thought about the day Connor had so nervously asked if he thought it would be okay to ask Marissa on a date. Ryan explained that he and Marissa were long over and done and that he didn't care who she dated. It wasn't entirely true, but as long as the guy was good enough for his first love, who was Ryan Atwood to judge anyone.

"Hey, man," Ryan greeted, sliding into the chair across from Connor as the kid put his book down and looked up with a perplexed expression. "How's it goin'?" he asked.

Connor shook those floppy blonde curls that made all the girls at Harbor crazy. "I think not so good," he admitted.

Ryan unscrewed the lid from his juice bottle and settled back in the chair, squinting against the sun as he tried to focus on Connor's face. "Oh," was all he could think to say. They were friends, teammates - but Ryan wasn't so sure they were at the "sharing all our problems" stage yet.

"I think Marissa's breakin' up with me," he muttered, popping a french fry into his mouth and then turning his gaze to Ryan. His eyes were begging for some sort of explanation.

"Why?" was all Ryan gave him.

Leaning forward, his elbows resting on the table, Connor tucked a curl behind his ear. "I don't know, man. I thought things were goin' really well. We have a great time together - we talk for hours about nothing. I thought it was perfect," he sighed and rested his face in his hands for a second. When Ryan gave no response, Connor spoke again. "I don't know what I did wrong."

Ryan thought he knew what the problem was, but he wasn't sure he should say anything. Or how to tactfully say it. "I'm sure it's nothing you did. It's just that," he stopped and thought the words over again. "Well, Marissa doesn't have a really long attention span, ya know?" Did that make her sound flighty? Because he hadn't meant to. Connor looked confused. "It's just that she has this history of. . ."

"Breakin' hearts and takin' names?" Connor interrupted.

"No, man, that's not it." He was getting flustered. He always got flustered when he couldn't think of the right thing to say. His natural MO was just to say nothing, but when someone expected words, and he didn't know which ones, he felt out of place all over again. "Ya know how some girls have types? Like, they only date a certain kind of guy?"

Connor nodded and leaned back in his chair, exhaustion showing on his face. Clearly, he had been thinking about this a lot. "So what is Marissa's type? Blonde soccor players? I mean, Luke, and you, and me?"

"Marissa's type is whatever makes her mom the maddest." The words were out of his mouth before he could reign them, but Ryan wasn't sure why he felt so bad for saying them. Or he did know why, and he didn't want to admit that it. He wasn't sure it should bother him that the words would hurt Marissa, if she ever found out about them. Even after nearly a year of not dating, he still worried about her, and cared about her, and thought about her sometimes.

"Right," Connor's broad shoulders sagged. "So you think she's just with me because Julie doesn't like me?" Ryan wanted to tell him that Julie Cooper-Nichol never liked anyone, but Connor didn't give him time. "Ya know what pisses me off about that whole thing? She did like me - she liked me fine until she found out what my parents do for a living. Now I'm not good enough for her daughter."

It was true. Julie had loved Connor, with his movie star good looks and his polite mannerisms and his athletic talent. She had practically swooned over him at the first party Marissa had taken him to. And then she found out that Dewayne Matthews worked for the Newport Beach Department of Sanitation. Compounded with the fact that his mom, Priscilla, worked double shifts at a low-class diner to make ends meet, and Connor was at Harbor on a soccor scholarship - he didn't stand a chance of impressing Julie Cooper after that.

And that's when Marissa had jumped into their relationship full throttle. Anything to piss Julie off - that was her motto. Ryan knew it, but telling Connor would have been betraying Marissa, or so he had thought. Now looking at the dejected look on his friend's face, he wondered if he should have said something in the beginning. "Hey, don't worry about it, man," he tried to offer some solace. "She did the same thing to me once."

Connor raised an eyebrow in protest. "Really?" he asked, his voice full of disbelief. "Because she seems to think you're the only one Marissa has ever, or will ever, really love," he pouted.

Cringing, Ryan leaned forward. "That's just the line she pulls on all of Marissa's, um," he was going to say "boyfriends," but that wasn't accurate. She had pulled it on Alex, too, "her friends that don't measure up to Cooper-Nichol Perfection Status."

The green-eyed blonde just tossed an uneaten fry from one side of his plate to the other. "That helps a lot," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ryan smiled and relaxed into his own seat. The sun was bright today, like most days, and he was feeling better than usual. "I don't know if this'll make you feel better," he spoke, his voice distracted as he searched the quad, "but she starred in a porn once."

"Marissa?" Connor asked, his voice raising an octave.

"Julie," Ryan clarified as Connor nearly choked on his sports drink. "It was a long time ago - it's old news, but sometimes, when she really pisses me off - I think of that. And I feel a little better."

There was a long and comfortable silence between them as they watched their classmates and nibbled on their lunches. Finally, Connor spoke into the air. "So, what makes you so shiney? I mean, how did you get into Julie's good graces? How come your are the measuring stick for all of Marissa's future romantic endeavors?"

Ryan rolled his neck and noticed that Seth Cohen was now standing alone by a tree, scanning the tables. Ryan motioned to him while speaking. "I think I'm just the least of the evils at this point," he explained. "Someone with a better pedigree and less of a criminal background comes along, and I'm back with the bottom feeders," he assured his friend.

Connor nodded. "Strangely? That makes me feel better than the whole porn thing."

Ryan laughed with him as Seth sat at the table. He had a feeling things were about to get uncomfortable. Seth wasn't a big fan of Connor's, and visa versa. They were oil and water, and Ryan was expected to be the buffer. Some days he didn't mind and sometimes he wanted to kick the crap out of both of them for being so immature. Fortunately, today was one of the former. "What's up, man?"

Seth shook his head and accepted Ryan's handshake as he began to open his own juice. Ryan did a double-take as he looked over his best friend. The normally "geek chic" Seth Cohen had been replaced with a rather stylish, "jeans and polo shirt" guy who was wearing a messenger bag and some expensive, designer sunglasses. "What's with the look, man?"

Seth looked himself over and shrugged it off. "Summer took me shopping yesterday," he said flippantly.

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you that she is not 'taking' you shopping if you have to pay for everything," Ryan laughed.

Seth just doctored the hotdog on his plate. "That is not the point, Ryan," he explained.

Connor shook his head as he looked over the kid in front of him. He usually thought Cohen was weird, but at least he was always individual. Until now. "The point is that your girlfriend conned you into paying for the reworking of your entire personality," he accused.

"Um," Seth said before he settled back and took a bit of his hotdog. He chewed and swallowed before looking back at his company to find them staring at him. "This is me ignoring both of you," he informed, and then put the lunch down. "Of course, then I have no one else to talk to, so that's not really gonna work for me. So, Ryan, I heard you might be going to the library charity event with one Macy Campbell." Ryan stared at him blankly. "Might there be any truth to that rumor, buddy?"

Ryan shrugged, a smile spreading over his face at the mention of his new girlfriend's name. "There might be."

Connor laughed. He was glad that Macy and Ryan were getting along so well. It was one less thing he had to worry about in his relationship with Marissa. "That's means "yes" in the very difficult to discern language of Atwood," he explained to Seth.

Who did not appreciate the translation. Ryan was his best friend, and Seth was well aware of what he meant, usually before Ryan knew. "Yeah, I got that. Thanks, though," he snapped slightly before turning back to Ryan. "I just heard from a little bird names Summer that Marissa Cooper might be back on the market soon," he said in that voice that feigned innocence so poorly.

"Seth," Ryan warned. This was the part of relationship tight rope that he hated more than anything.

But Connor just shook his head and stood up. "It's okay. I have to get to class anyway." He held a hand out for Ryan, who shook it willingly. "See ya later, man."

When he was out of earshot, Ryan rapt Seth on the back of the head with an open palm. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Seth shrugged, his eyes wide as if he had done nothing wrong. "What?" He looked after Connor and then rolled his eyes. "Summer says they've practically broken up. That means you guys can get back together now. We can be the Fantastic Four again."

Ryan knew it was a fantasy that Seth had been holding on to since the last time he and Marissa had broken up. And, in all fairness, he had reason to hold on to the hope. They had broken up and gotten back together more times than he could count. But this time, he knew it wasn't meant to be. He just stood and gathered his tray, speaking to Seth as he prepared to head to class. "It's never going back to the way it was, Seth. Just let it go, man."