It had been a year since everyone had gone their own separate ways. Ryan was at Berkeley, Seth and Summer where in Rhode Island and Marissa was in Greece. But when Ryan, Seth and Summer met again at the dinner that summer, it felt like they'd never left.
Ryan walked into the diner with Seth to find Summer sitting in their usual booth.
"Hey Atwood." Summer said smiling.
"Hey Summer, how've you been?" Ryan asked, as he hugged summer.
"Good, how have you been?" Summer asked, as she pulled away.
"Good too. Where's Marissa?" Ryan asked
"She's still in Greece. She's not coming back, not this summer anyway." Summer said.
"Oh." Ryan said. All of them got engrossed in talking about the past year, how things had been, how much they'd missed home. But even while he was talking to Seth and Summer, he was thinking about Marissa. The truth was, he hadn't stopped thinking about Marissa since he'd dropped her off at the airport.
As Seth and Summer tried to decide what to eat, Ryan flashbacked to him and Marissa at the airport that night.
"So I guess this is it." Marissa said.
"Yeah I guess so." Ryan said.
"I'm sorry for all the craziness." Marissa said.
"It wouldn't be Newport without it." Ryan said smiling.
"Hahah yeah." Marissa said.
"Thank you." Ryan said.
"For what?" Marissa asked.
"For accepting me for who I am, since the day I came here. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you." Ryan said.
"Ditto." Marissa said, giving Ryan a hug. Neither of them wanted to pull away.
"Bye Ryan." Marissa said, as she walked away.
"Bye Marissa." Ryan said.
He hadn't stopped thinking about that night for the past year. Ryan and Marissa had always been those two people who were together even when they weren't. He was really looking forward to seeing her this summer, but after hearing that she wasn't going to be here, Ryan didn't think he'd be able to spend the summer without seeing her.
Once they were home, Seth and Ryan met Sandy and Kirsten. Kirsten was cooking a welcome back lunch for Ryan. She was so happy to see Ryan that she had tears in her eyes but Seth consoled her before she could start crying. Once the four of them were done catching up, Seth and Ryan went to the pool house.
"I've missed this place." Ryan said, putting his bags down. Seth had come before Ryan had and had come to pick Ryan up from the airport and they'd directly gone to the diner from there.
"Yeah, me too. So what's on your mind? Lay it on me." Seth said taking a seat on the edge of Ryan's bed.
"How'd you know there was something on my mind?" Ryan asked.
"Come on Ryan, this is me we're talking about." Seth said.
Ryan hated to admit it, but he'd missed Seth this past year. Sure they'd seen each other at Christmukkah but it wasn't the same as seeing him everyday.
"I've just been thinking about Marissa a lot." Ryan said.
"Oh. What have you been thinking? Seth asked.
"When I dropped her at the airport last year, it just felt like we had unfinished business." Ryan said.
"Unfinished business?" Seth asked.
"I don't know, maybe we're finally ready to give our relationship a real chance. We've both changed" Ryan said.
"Have you spoken to her?" Seth asked.
"No, I thought I'd see her this summer but she's not here." Ryan said.
"Then why don't you go to her?" Seth asked.
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.
"Go to Greece." Seth said.
Ryan thought about it, it made sense. He wasn't going to stop thinking about Marissa anyway; he might as well go see her. Him wondering about whether or not their relationship had a chance was driving him crazy.