"Hey Seth your Mum says I can borrow one of your ties!" Ryan yells barging into Seth's room.
"Looking good!" Ryan looks up from munching on an apple and notices that Seth is using his crutches for the first time in two weeks.
"Thanks" Seth smiles tightly "I won't be running any marathons any time soon," He sighs as he sits down on his bed and bends over to take off his braces.
Ryan doesn't need to be told that Seth is in pain and the reason for that is fairly obvious but he doesn't understand why his friend seems so frustrated. He decides to wait it out quietly. His patience is quickly rewarded.
"I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to spend all night looking up at Summer," He sighs "At least it isn't the power chair."
"Yeah well at least your date is speaking to you" Ryan says sitting down next to Seth.
Seth just nods sympathetically. He knows Marissa has been maintaining radio silence all week.
"Hey hey hey! These are not the faces of men about to participate in the most over-rated faux rite of passage ever! Where are the smiles?" Sandy teases as he enters Seth's room.
"Doesn't anyone knock anymore?" Seth sighs.
"Seriously, what is going on guys?" Sandy's voice is warm and full of concern in a way that Ryan is still in awe of. Still Ryan doesn't want to talk about it and he knows the only way to escape is to deflect.
"Seth is going to be vertically challenged tonight" Ryan says.
"Ryan is having girl trouble" Seth quickly retorts.
"What's going on with you and Marissa?" Sandy asks.
Seth smirks triumphantly and transfers quickly into his wheelchair.
"Er, she isn't really talking to me right now?" Ryan mumbles.
"Apologize"
"But I don't even know what it is that I did"
"Trust me, son. That is when you need to be especially sorry" Sandy claps him on the shoulder and gets up to leave.
"He may not know a lot about eyebrow grooming but he did manage to bag my Mum who is like Marissa circa 1980" Seth comments as he heads to his wardrobe and hands Ryan a bowtie.
"Gross. I can't think of your Mum that way Dude!"
"Agreed" Seth nods "So what are you going to do?"
"Let's go to Cotillion" Ryan says resignedly.
"Coop, is everything okay?" Summer approaches Marissa's car cautiously. It must be a major Cotillion emergency if Marissa is sitting in her car with her head in her hands.
Marissa raises her head and quickly plasters on a smile. Raised to believe that appearances were everything; Marissa masks her true self automatically. Summer raises her eyebrow at the response. She has watched Marissa do this a million times in a million different situations. But never to her.
It must be serious.
"Maybe we should just get out of here? We could go to my house and watch a movie?" Summer suggests.
"Why would we do that? It's cotillion, I'm lead deb" Marissa answers with a stiffness that only her best friend can detect.
Marissa pushes open her car door and heads toward the hall. Summer can smell the alcohol wafting behind her friend. She doesn't comment. She never does.
Summer is still anxiously watching Marissa when Seth rolls up beside her. He upsets her balance and she lands in his lap. He pulls her in for a kiss.
"Hey" She says smiling into his neck.
"Hey. What were you doing just standing there? Were you thinking about me? Were you pining?" Seth jokes.
"No. But it's nice to see that the hot girlfriend thing isn't going to your head. I'm worried about Marissa" She finishes.
"Ryan's going to apologize"
"What did he do?"
"No idea"
"Cohen.."
"Seriously. I don't! I find the Marissa stuff the most boring element of Seth/Ryan time"
"Seth/Ryan time?"
"It has a nice ring to it, right?"
Summer shifts on Seth's lap in time to see Ryan approaching Marissa.
"Let's hope Chino is good at apologies"
"Hey Marissa! Wait up!" Ryan calls out, breaking into a little jog to catch up with her.
"Ryan I am really busy" She says as she turns to him "You should get changed"
"I just wanted to speak to you. In private. For a minute." He says.
She gestures that they should step into a secluded hallway. She turns to him expectantly and Ryan realizes how little choice he had in falling for Marissa. She is beautiful but she is a mess. It would be messy.
I have had more than enough messy for a lifetime Ryan thinks. He considers turning this into a break-up conversation.
"Did you have a topic in mind or did you just want to stand here?" Marissa asks tersely.
God, she is so beautiful. Screw it. Trying to fight this is like fighting gravity.
"I am so sorry Marissa"
"For what?" She asks clearly hostile.
"If you felt rejected. I just wanted our first time to be special"
"Our first time? Not your first time?"
"I don't want to be derailed from my apology so I'm not going to answer that" He quips.
Marissa laughs.
"Honestly, I'm not even mad at you. Stuff at home has been insane. This cotillion thing is ridiculous" She sighs.
"But I'm here" Ryan smiles "and Summer and even Seth. So let us know what you need help with and we will help. And then we'll get dressed up and have a good night."
And his blue eyes are so sincere and his voice so low and certain that she believes him.
"Okay" Marissa smiles.
The night is perfect. Ryan meets Marissa at the bottom of the stairs and whisks her away on to the dance floor and it is exactly like the dreams that she would never ever admit that she had since she was a little girl. He is the prince and she is the beautiful princess and it is more than she dared hope she could have. Ryan spins her and she glances round- Luke is watching them enviously and her Mum is smiling approvingly. She breathes in Ryan's scent and even though the she is a bit woozy from the drinking she knows he will not let her fall.
And then Holly's dad starts screaming.
"You son of a bitch! That is my money!" And he punches him. She shuts her eyes- knowing that everyone is staring at her, at her mother, that people in Newport just eat this kind of drama up.
Maybe if I just keep my eyes shut forever, she thinks. For a second she shuts everything out but when she opens her eyes she sees Ryan on the floor with a busted lip next to Holly's dad and her Dad. Her Mum is crying. Holly's Dad is still yelling. The only thing she feels is the slight pinch at the bottom of the heel of her foot from her Jimmy Choos. Her Mum bought her these shoes on a shopping trip to Beverly Hills. They had seen Gwyneth Paltrow at lunch. Her Dad is bleeding. Her Dad is bleeding.
"Marissa!" Summer sounds distant. Her Dad is sitting up pinching the bridge of his nose. Is it broken?
"Marissa! Are you okay?" Summer's voice is clearer now. She forces herself to focus on her friend. The concern in her voice and in her brown eyes makes her want to throw up.
She tries to answer. She can't. She turns and runs.
Ryan isn't sure what made him jump in like that. He just can't stand watching people getting hit. Especially not Sandy. He turns to look at Sandy. Sandy is in better shape than everyone else involved. The police have been called. Sandy comes over to him.
"I'm sorry Sandy. I know you said no fighting. I just couldn't let him.."
"I understand Kid and I'm grateful but you should get out of here before cops start asking questions. We just got you- we don't want to lose you"
"Got it" Ryan nods. Sandy's tone makes it clear that he is not willing to negotiate. Ryan looks around for Marissa. He spots Summer and approaches her.
"Where's Marissa? And Seth?" He asks without preamble.
"I don't know. Funny how many fist fights there suddenly are in Newport" Summer comments. She doesn't say it unkindly, she seems kind of dazed. It is a pretty shocking way for a Cotillion to end; even Ryan can admit that. Once again he wonders if he is the reason this stuff keeps happening.
After a while they give up looking for their dates and head to the car. Ryan hands Summer his jacket when he sees her shiver. They sit wordlessly on the bench. Ryan examines the handkerchief he was holding up to his bloody nose. It seems to have stopped. He puts the soiled tissue in his pocket and stares at the golf course.
"Marissa isn't okay" Summer says her words sound harsh after so much silence.
"What?" Ryan realizes that he sounds stupid but he is genuinely surprised.
"Marissa isn't okay, Chino. She never has been I mean; the stuff with the secret drinking and the throwing up but after all this stuff with Luke and whatever is happening with her Dad….She's always been right on the edge right to the very edge and now... I don't know" She trails off wondering if she is making any sense at all. She is scared. She wants him to know that she is scared that this is the moment that will send her friend dancing off the edge
Ryan cannot tell if she is warning him or blaming him.
"I care about her. I couldn't stay away if I wanted to" He says. It's the truth and he hopes that she can tell.
"I know" Summer says sounding resigned and terrified all at once. She has watched her Dad try to love his wife's demons out of her. She knows it doesn't work. She knows Ryan can't save her. She knows she cannot save her friend.
She is scared that they will all go down trying.
Seth rounds the corner. When Summer suggested that they split up to look for Marissa he wasn't really prepared for the possibility that he might be the one to find her. He sighs as he prepares himself to see the sobbing girl he can already hear. It is pretty obvious that her Dad has been embezzling funds and while part of him knows that Holly's Dad was totally justified in his anger against a man who would steal his money and then watch his daughter prance around in a dress worth thousands of dollars he also wishes Marissa wasn't the one suffering for it. She has been through enough.
"Seth!" Marissa sounds shocked to see him.
Seth almost asks if she knows anyone else in a wheelchair considering it wasn't exactly the sound of footsteps that warned her someone was approaching. He reminds himself that it is time to put his sensitive hat on. Marissa is slumped on the floor. She looks like something out of a Wes Anderson movie; the tragic, tearful beautiful debutante. Mascara streaks and Vera Wang.
"Hey. Are you okay?" He says gently as he parks himself opposite her. He considers joining her on the floor but decides it would take too much effort.
"Wow. Even Seth Cohen feels bad for me. Things are that bad" She says bitterly, mostly to herself.
It stings a little but Seth has heard worse.
"People in Newport love a good story but they'll be a better one to replace it in a week" He says matter of factly.
"Is that so?" Marissa's words are slurred. She sounds like Ryan's Mum- the thought appeared suddenly and Seth shakes his head in an attempt to shoo it away.
"Yeah. I mean, the story of how your Dad got knocked out at Cotillion has already replaced the story of how Summer Roberts is dating a spaz which in turn, replaced the story of how Luke cheated on Marissa in Tijuana which in turn replaced that really odd rumour about Holly and the janitor. I never really believed that one; Johnny loves his wife" He continues.
Marissa laughs.
"And next week it will be something else. Everyone will get over this, trust me" He says gently.
"Yeah. You would know" Her tone has no malice just weary resignation.
"Yup. I would know" there is warmth and something approaching humour in Seth's voice.
For the first time since Seth Cohen was introduced to their 2nd grade class Marissa looks into Seth Cohen's eyes. She is surprised by the warmth she sees there.
"How do you do it?" She asks.
Seth knows what she means and for the first time he feels kind of bad for Marissa. Ryan is his first real friend and when he hangs out with Anna and Ryan he feels the beginnings of a sense of belonging. He is starting to understand what Marissa is so afraid of losing.
"You just do. I'll teach you how to play Magic the gathering. You, me, Summer and Ryan. It'll be great" He smiles at her.
She looks into his face and smiles. He offers her his hand and she takes it pulling herself up.
"I just have to make it through one week" She says.
"Or until the next big story comes along" adds Seth "Could be less than a week. Clarissa was looking a little top heavy in her dress, maybe she got some work done". Marissa stumbles then and Seth realizes how drunk she must be. "Here hang on to my handles. It'll keep you steady and people will be impressed by your commitment to charity in the face of adversity"
Marissa laughs and nods her thanks.
The pair looks pretty awkward. Marissa is pushing Seth but he has to intervene to steer them. Her sense of direction is not at its best.
"Why are you being so nice to me, Seth?"
"I'm trying to get into your best friends pants".
This comment earns a real belly laugh from Marissa and she punches Seth playfully. Her whole life she has been terrified to touch him, afraid she would hurt him. But there it is; it just feels like an arm.
Ryan and Summer do not say anything as they watch the pair make their way to the car. No one argues with her when she says she doesn't want to go home. Summer calls her Mum and tells her she will be sleeping over at her house. They all exchange wordless hugs goodbye. Seth refrains from commenting on the fact that it is the first hug Marissa has ever given him. Ryan reminds the girls to text him that they have gotten home safely. Ryan has the keys to the Range Rover. Both guys get in wordlessly.
"It's a shame that things got so punch-y in there, my hair was really working for me tonight" Seth says to break the tension.
Ryan grunts.
"Do you think Marissa's Dad did it?" Seth asks.
"Does it matter?" Ryan asks.
"I don't know. Doesn't it?" Seth asks.
"My Dad is serving time for armed robbery, Seth" Ryan says wearily.
They don't have many moments like this. Moments where Ryan admits something about his old life and Seth is at a total loss for what to say. He fights the urge to fill the silence and reminds himself that it has been a long day.
"I find that after an emotionally charged Cotillion throw down nothing beats relaxing in a hot tub with your best bud" Seth sighs and settles into the water.
"Best bud?" Ryan echoes skeptically.
"Scoff all you want, my amigo but after yesterday's dramatic turn of events we are long overdue for some Seth/ Ryan time"
"Agreed"
"Have you spoken to Marissa?"
"She is spending time with her family today. Asked me to give her space"
"Cool. Summer is watching the Valley marathon and threatened to rip out my jugular if I distracted her"
"You guys have a sweet relationship"
"Leave the jokes to me"
The boys are silent for a bit. Ryan is thinking about Marissa. Seth is working up the nerve to apologize.
"Speaking of yesterday I am sorry. You were right. What Marissa's Dad did doesn't matter. She isn't her Dad" He pauses before adding "Neither are you"
"I'm not Marissa's Dad?" Ryan jokes hoping to deflect the conversation.
"You know what I mean" Seth says softly.
"You don't know my Dad, Seth" Ryan says.
"Yeah but I know you" Seth wants to tell Ryan that he knows that Ryan has always got his back and that he admires the way Ryan stepped in for his Dad the night before but something in Ryan's face tells him that he has said enough.
"If you think being nice to me is going to make me ease up on you during our dynasty warriors re-match you are sadly mistaken"
"That was one time and I wasn't taking my meds!" Seth protests.
"That's a convenient excuse" Ryan deadpans.
"Okay. We chill out here for another hour and then it is on" Seth says.
"Cool" Ryan leans back and smiles. For the first time that day he isn't preoccupied worrying about Marissa.
"I wonder what it'll do to your street cred to have your ass handed to you by a kid in a wheelchair?" Seth muses.
Seth loves it when he can get a genuine laugh out of Ryan.
