Chapter Eleven: Please Come Home
"Cohen I'm gonna go after her…go back to the house, drop off the food and meet me here later!" Summer yelled at Seth as she ran after Marissa. "Okay…good luck!" Seth yelled back, standing there in the mess of people with the pancakes. This was gonna be hard to tell Ryan…
"Coop, wait!" Summer screamed as she ran through all the people, chasing after her best friend. "Marissa! …Stop! Will you just talk to me!? Stop!" Marissa just kept on running, not even looking back to see Summer, panting and angry. As they rounded a corner, a large group of people moved between them, causing Summer to stop her running and wait for them to pass. "Come on people…yeah that's right, move it!" Summer yelled as she pushed a girl out of the way to squeeze through against a wall. She moved swiftly, continuing to push and bump into people, not really caring about anything at the moment except catching up to Marissa. She stopped, bending to put her hands on her knees and breathe. She gasped and went on her tippy-toes to try and see her through the crowd. She turned, looking in circles…Marissa was nowhere in sight.
"Damn it!" Summer yelled out of frustration. She walked back and leaned against a wall, taking out her cell phone and dialing Seth. "Hey, it's me," she said as he picked up. "I lost her…I was running and I guess I just lost her in the crowd." She explained, panting in short breaths. "I don't see her anywhere." She held the phone to her ear, her breaths steadying as she looked both ways down the pier. "Uh…okay well I'm in the car." Seth said. "Let me just drop the food off with Ryan and then I'll come and help you look some more. She couldn't have gotten far right?" Summer got on her tippy-toes again, trying to see passed tall heads for any sign of her friend. "I don't think so." she said. "I mean how far could she go?"
Seth turned the wheel of the Range Rover, guiding the car up another street. "Just keep looking." he said. "Check the Bait Shop, the beach, the diner…wherever you think she would go." Summer sighed and glanced over to her right…where she saw Marissa in the distance, looking around nervously and trying to sneak further down the pier without being noticed. "Right…Cohen, I see her. I'll call you later. Bye." Summer shut her phone and jogged over, grabbing Marissa's arm before she could get away. "Oh my God, Coop…why are you running away?" Marissa grimaced at Summer who was squeezing her arm and looking at her angrily. "Just leave me alone, Summer." she commanded, trying to loosen Summer's grip and walk away again. "No…you need to talk to me right now." she said, turning Marissa back around and standing in front of her so she couldn't get away. "We've been worried about you for days, where have you been!?"
Marissa struggled against her friend. "It doesn't matter." she mumbled. "Just let me go." Summer planted both hands on Marissa's shoulders, pushing her back and pinning her against the railing that surrounded the Bait Shop. "Marissa, stop it." she yelled. "I'm your best friend and I deserve to know what the hell you've been doing." Marissa hung her head, almost ashamed at herself for being yelled at this way. Summer saw her remorseful expression and loosened her grip. "Coop…" she said quietly, letting go completely." Just come home. Your mother is a mess, I'm lonely at the house…and Ryan misses you." Marissa looked up to meet Summer's eyes again, caught off-guard by her last statement. Ryan missed her? Why would he miss her after she was such a jerk to him? "…he does?" she asked with happy curiosity.
"Of course." Summer confirmed. "Coop, no matter what, together or not…Ryan will always care about you. I know it may seem like he doesn't, but trust me, he's worried about you." Summer reached up a hand to graze Marissa's forearm. "You look terrible…" she said, chuckling to herself."Come on, let's have some lunch, my treat, and then I want you to come home." Marissa smiled and nodded, thankful to have such a bossy best friend. Summer led Marissa to the diner, where they sat in their usual booth and ordered some burgers. Summer only merely picked at hers since she had just eaten a short stack with Seth. Summer watched Marissa scarf down her burger, laughing slightly at the sight before her. "Jeez, Coop…take a breath." Marissa looked up at Summer, still chewing. Her cheeks turned a pail shade of crimson and she ducked her head with embarrassment. "Sorry…I'm just kind of hungry." she said. "As you can see, I haven't really eaten much."
"Yeah…what've you been doing?" Summer asked with sincere interest. "Better yet, where have you been staying?" Marissa placed the remainder of her burger on the plate and began to twist a fry between her fingers. "I've uh…I've been around." she said. "You know…" Summer shook her head. "MMM, not really." Marissa looked down at her plate, hesitant in being honest. "Me and Volchok have kind of been hanging out." she said, tilting her eyes upward to see Summer's reaction. "I've been staying in his van or at his friend's place." Summer nodded, looking away in anger. "I knew it." she huffed. "I knew that guy would be back to mess things up." Marissa looked at her defensively, her eyes narrowing. "Summer, he's not that bad." she argued. "You don't even know him."
"Marissa, look at you!" Summer went on. "He's obviously not a good influence." Marissa scoffed and rolled her eyes at Summer, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. "I know I sound like your mother right now but…you need to come home." Summer said. "Take a shower, eat real food…finally talk to your mother and Ryan. You know it's for the best." Marissa paused and stared down at the table, but then looked back at Summer, shaking her head. "I can't come home, Sum." she said. "Not yet. And what am I supposed to say to Ryan anyway? You should have heard the way he talked to me when we broke up. It was like he was smiling on the phone because he was free of me." She pursed her lips and looked down again, picking up another fry to twirl. "I do nothing but bring him down." she muttered, her voice low and full of sadness. "Just let him be happy with Sadie…"
Summer slipped a hand atop the table, sliding it over to touch her friend's. "But he's not happy, Coop." she stated. "He's too busy worrying about you. And to tell you the truth, I talked to him and he didn't seem all that into Sadie." Summer raised her eyebrows, giving Marissa a sense of hope that was soon shot down. "Summer, she was part of the reason we broke up in the first place." she said with disagreement. "You can tell that he likes her." Summer bit her lip and gave in. "Fine he likes her." she said, awaiting Marissa's sorrowful sigh. Summer squeezed her hand. "But he loves you." Marissa's eyes found the table again as she thought about what Summer had said. If Ryan loved her than he wouldn't have broken her heart, right? She shook off that thought. Of course Ryan loved her. He had to. He was the only person in her life who actually showed that he did. But then why did they break up? Why did he like Sadie? Why didn't he ever say it back when she said she loved him?
Everything was so confusing, so crazy. Sandy was right when he said love was crazy. Her relationship with Ryan had changed her life in so many ways. Things had been so intense since he showed up at the end of the driveway. He had brought her to life…showed her what people were like outside of the Newport bubble and the life she'd always known. Everything was perfect with him…and now look what had happened. Look at all the pain she had caused. Look at how she messed things up with Ryan yet again. "Coop…Coop?" Summer called. "Earth to Coop…" Marissa snapped back into reality, finally hearing Summer's call for her. "You done?" Summer asked, gesturing toward Marissa's plate. "I wanna grab the check. I'm supposed to meet Seth in a minute. " Marissa nodded and shoveled a few more fries into her mouth. Summer flagged down the waitress, paid for their burgers, and then escorted Marissa out the door and onto the pier.
People were clearing out around them. The surf competition had ended. Summer took her cell phone out of her purse and dialed Seth, checking to see where he was. As it rang, she could hear Seth's ring tone go off nearby. "Hey" he called as he opened and closed his phone, walking toward Summer and Marissa. He stopped in front of them and replaced his cell phone in his pocket. "Did you guys eat?" Summer nodded and smiled as Seth put his arm around her waist. "Yeah thanks, Sum." Marissa said, turning to her. "Can we just go to your house? I kinda wanna shower and lay down for a little." Summer took Seth's hand and led him along. "Yeah…sure." she agreed. "Come on, Cohen."
The three of them walked down the pier together, down to the Range Rover. Summer and Seth shared a look, relieved that they had Marissa with them. Now they could breathe again knowing she was safe. Marissa sat awkwardly in the back seat as Seth and Summer fought over a radio station and giggled all coupley in the front. She sat there, nervously fiddling with her hands as they drove. She figured she could just call Volchok later and explain what she was doing. Not that he would care or even notice she hadn't come and found him after he was done surfing. Marissa breathed heavily, knowing that this was the moment she had come to fear the most. What was she supposed to do? Her appearance embarrassed her. What would her mother say about her? She wanted to go home, but just wasn't ready to face it all. Face her mother…school…and the dreaded "talk" she and Ryan desperately needed to have. She squeezed her palms together and took a deep breathe, sighing to herself and straightening her clothes and hair as the car pulled into Summer's driveway…