A/N: Where'd all my reviews go? It's not very encouraging when you don't get a single review. Here's the next chapter, theres only two or three after this one. PLEASE, review and enjoy.
Rating: T/M for some sexual content.
"So how was your sleepover with Marissa?" Seth asked as he let himself into the pool house. "It was fun. We had dinner and," Ryan stopped short, suddenly aware that Seth knew more than he should have. "How did you know about that?" Ryan asked. "I heard Marissa in the background when you called asking for Dad," Seth stated triumphantly. "You don't think Dad knows, do you?" the blond twin asked nervously. "Lucky for you, he's not as smart as he looks," the raven haired twin laughed. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.
"So you weren't kidding when you said you liked her, huh?" Seth sat on the edge of the bed as he spoke. "Nope," Ryan replied. "Falling for the enemy, such a Ryan thing to do," Seth proclaimed. Ryan just shook his head and leaned backwards until he was lying on his bed. Seth took it as his cue to leave.
Luke, however, took it as his cue to enter. "Hey man, what's crackin'?" he asked as he strolled into his cousin's bedroom and plopped down next to him on the bed. "Nothing. And don't say crackin'. Ever," Ryan said. Luke shook his head in understanding. "So who were you with in Santa Maria?" Ryan gulped nervously before answering, "Uh, some friends." "Yeah, but who?" Luke probed. Just then there was a knock on the door.
The blinds were drawn and the door was closed. The knocker's identity was concealed, for now anyway. "Well it's not Seth," Luke laughed, "he doesn't know how to knock." Ryan smiled as he walked to the door. He opened it and in rushed Marissa. "Your dad almost saw me but Seth distracted him," Marissa explained. Then she noticed they were not alone. Ryan's gaze shifted from Marissa to Luke, and then back to Marissa. He gulped. "Why is Marissa Cooper in your pool house?" a very confused Luke asked.
"You must be Luke. Tybalt said you were a bit dim," Marissa said as she shook the bewildered teen's hand. "I am not dim," Luke protested, "I just have no idea why your here." "I'm here to talk to Ryan," she stated simply. "Uh huh, why?" Luke inquired. "Luke, lay off. It's fine," Ryan reassured his cousin. "There's a Cooper standing a foot in front of me, how is that fine?" Luke asked in an annoyed tone. "Because we're kind of, sort of, dating," Ryan said quietly. "Kind of, sort of?" Marissa repeated, as if offended. Before Ryan could say anything Luke raised his voice. "Dating?" he repeated rather loudly. "Yes, dating," Marissa confirmed. Luke turned for the door. "Luke," Ryan called, fearing he would tell Sandy. "Chill, I'm not going to say anything. If you like her then good. You deserve a good relationship after that whole mess with Roseline," he said and closed the door as he left.
Ryan turned toward Marissa, the baby blue color of her eyes had deepened to an intense sapphire. She was mad. "Kind of, sort of? What the hell is kind of, sort of? Either we're dating or we aren't," Marissa stated angrily. "We are dating," Ryan reassured her, "but no one had said it out loud yet so it just sounded a little weird. That's all." "Good," she said, kissing him on the cheek as she sat on the bed. She wrung her hands nervously. "Believe it or not," she began, "I actually came here for a reason." "Uh huh," Ryan urged her on. Marissa swallowed hard, "Tybalt knows."
"He knows?" Ryan asked in disbelief. Marissa nodded, "I have no idea how, but yes." "This is bad," he frowned, stating the obvious. "Actually this could be classified as really bad since my lovely cousin Tybalt owns a gun and wouldn't hesitate to you use it on you," Marissa informed her boyfriend. "That made me feel so much better," he said sarcastically. As an after thought he added, "Your dad probably wants to kill me too." "Tybalt didn't tell him," Marissa began, " he came up to me in the hall and told me that he knew about me and the little Cohen bitch, the little Cohen bitch being you of course, and that the little Cohen bitch was going down. I don't think I need to explain to you what 'going down' means. Anyway, he never told my dad."
Ryan sighed dejectedly and wrapped his arm around Marissa's waist. "I'm gonna die," he said, a bit too over dramatically. "You're not going to die," she said sounding unsure. A lull swept over the pool house. It was so quiet that the young lovers could hear each other's steady breathing. The silence was calming, so much so that Ryan snuggled close to Marissa and almost fell asleep. "Hey, no sleeping! We're having a very serious discussion," the blue-eyed beauty scolded. "Sorry," Ryan apologized.
"So what are we going to do about this?" she asked. "I don't know. But if tonight's gonna be my last night on earth, you should make it special," Ryan told her, a sly grin creeping across his lips. "Ry, I was being serious," Marissa whined. "So was I," Ryan retorted. He pulled her close and kissed her hard. She kissed back. Unlike the kiss under the willow, that had been so innocent, this kiss was heated, passionate, and it didn't seem like Ryan and Marissa were coming up for air anytime soon. Without separating his mouth from hers, Ryan slid his hands under the hem of Marissa's Chanel tee. She giggled into the kiss as his hands ran over her stomach, and gasped for air when he stopped kissing her just long enough to pull the pink fabric over her head.
Ryan's shirt soon joined Marissa's on the floor, followed by his belt and jeans. Marissa's denim shorts found their way to the floor as well. They were so completely wrapped up in each other that the turning of the doorknob went completely unnoticed. "My retinas! They burn!" Seth exclaimed as the door swung open. Ryan hastily threw the tangled comforter over himself and Marissa. "What do you want Seth?" he asked, clearly annoyed. "Dad's coming in about five minutes. You may want to think about getting dressed," Seth advised his brother. "Seth, leave," Ryan said, the situation more than awkward. "That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm leaving and completely forgetting about the fact that I just saw your girlfriend naked. You know, it's a good thing you were wearing boxers Ry. If you weren't I think I'd be, like, permanently scarred," Seth said on his way out the door.
"Your brother's a pervert," Marissa commented as she gathered various clothing items from the floor. "Nah, he just has bad timing. Really bad timing," Ryan said in Seth's defense. Marissa nodded and slipped into the bathroom. "Where are you going?" Ryan asked, wanting her to stay with him. "Your dad's going to be here any second," she reminded him. With that, he swept his jeans and shirt from the floor and quickly redressed. Just as Ryan buttoned up the last button on his shirt Sandy walked in.
"Why is your belt on the floor? Rosa just cleaned this place," Sandy chided lightly. "Whoops," Ryan replied and picked up the belt, quickly tossing it into a drawer. "Tybalt Cooper just came asking for you. Now obviously the doorman didn't let him in, but he seemed pretty mad. Now I don't want to know what you did to get him mad, I just want you to stay away from him. I've told you that your whole life, stay away from the Coopers. You didn't listen to me Ryan. I'm disappointed in you," he said with a small frown. Sandy left the pool house and Marissa emerged from the bathroom.
"So you know how I said you weren't going to die?" she asked cautiously. "Yeah," Ryan replied. "I may have been wrong about that," Marissa confessed. Ryan sighed, "I can't be here." He was right, he couldn't. Newport wasn't safe anymore. The minute he stepped outside the mansion's wrought iron gates Tybalt would kill him. All because he fell for the enemy. Seth was right, it was such a Ryan thing to do. "We should run away," Marissa said suddenly, the idea having just popped into her head. Ryan gave her a 'your crazy' look. "I'm serious," Marissa protested, "It's not as if there's another option." "I suppose your right," Ryan agreed. She leaned into him, her head resting gently on his chest, "What're we gonna do?"
Half an hour later, they had a plan. Ryan would leave for Colorado in just two days. Once he had found a suitable place to live, he was to send word to Marissa through Seth. Marissa would feign illness, be checked into the hospital, and pay Dr. Hanson (A very shady M.D.) a large sum of money (stolen from her parents) to pronounce her dead. From there she would join Ryan in Colorado and live happily ever after. Although they wouldn't be Ryan and Marissa then. They were changing their names to Colby Ashland and Nora Jameson so they wouldn't be easily found. So really, Colby and Nora would live happily ever after.
"I should get home before my mom calls the cops," Marissa joked. They both new the plan, now they just had to carry it out. Ryan knew that, but something was itching inside him and it was determined to come out. "I love you," he suddenly blurted. Marissa was already half way out the door but she stepped back in to make sure she'd heard right. "I ... I love you too," she stammered. Ryan continued, "I know this might this seem crazy, but crazy appears to be the theme lately. I mean, we're running away, faking deaths, stealing money, and changing our names, and if all that isn't crazy then maybe I need a dictionary to go look up the word. Anyway, as I was saying, I know this is crazy but I want you to marry me. If you want that is. It's crazy but I love you and you just said you loved me and we're running away together, so why not?"
Marissa smiled. "I think your brother's incessant rambling has worn off you. I guess I'll have to get used to it since I'm marrying you and all. Nora Ashland, it has a ring to it," she giggled. "Marissa Cohen sounds nicer but I'll take what I can get," Ryan said. "When are we getting married? Tomorrow? Because you're leaving the next day, you know.," She pointed out. Ryan grinned, "Tomorrow it is then."