Warning: Bad language, a lot of shouting and um a Boogie Nights refrence
A/N: I have had yet more computer trouble. For AN ENTIRE MONTH AND A HALF. I'm being calm right now but you should have seen me a couple of days ago. Anyway, to make it up to whoevers reading, there will be a bonus chapter right after this one.
"Oh hey! I must not have been looking properly because I seem have missed you all day long" said River, his voice was steeped in sarcasm and his 'smile' wasmirthless, his eyes clouded with anger.
Phoenix looked up at her brother standing in her bedroom doorway and pretended she couldn't hear him because of the her iPod but the music had stopped playing almost thirty minutes ago, she, however was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice.
"What?" she said with a sigh and took the earphones out of her ears
River walked over to Phoenix's bed where she lay at the bottom half, facing the doorway, her ankles crossed in the air behind her
"What do you think I'm here about? Where were you?" he hissed
Phoenix struggled to not look guilty, she had never lied to her brother before and she doubted she could do it at that moment. Looking away she took an unnecessarily long time to wrap her earphone cords around her iPod as she spoke.
"I was just…here. I felt sick. I was home all day" she mumbled
River grabbed her wrist roughly and jerked his sister to a sitting position. "Okay, so there's police crawling around not thirty metres from our house and your just sitting around? What the hell's going on with you? Why didn't you tell me?"
Phoenix punched him hard on the chest and scrambled off the bed, walking over to her dresser "I don't have to tell you anything. I was sick, I didn't call, so sue me!"
River stalked over to her and gripped her by the shoulder, twisting her to face him "What the hell…why are you lying to me? Joaquin was here all day…he didn't see you"
Phoenix froze and stared at her brother she sighed slowly "Ok I wasn't here. I'm sorry. My god, am I sorry, I shouldn't have lied. River, I love you so much…but what we're doing. I want it to end. I want it all over. Now" she murmured quietly but there was conviction in her tone.
River let go of Phoenix's shoulder and a look of hurt fluttered in his eyes for a few moments then he scowled "Your in too deep. You can't just…fucking quit because your in love with one of the nitwit OC preppy kids here"
Phoenix folded her arms across her chest defensively "I'm not in love with Ryan"
River smirked in disgust "How do you know I wasn't talking about Seth?"
He looked at her for a long time as she stood in silence, knowing that he'd probably worked all this out a long time ago. She stared back defiantly and wished things hadn't come to this. She never once thought moving to the OC would disrupt the tight knit relationship she had with her brother.
"Whoa, somebody die?" chuckled a low voice
The silence between the twins was broken by the entrance of Joaquin, he stood leant against the doorframe
Phoenix looked to him and then back at River, with a disgusted sound that was nearly a sob she stormed from the room, pushing past Joaquin.
River was about to follow her but the firm hand of Joaquin on his shoulder stopped him.
"She's…she wants us to stop this all…she wants to stop the entire thing. After everything we've worked for" he stammered, still in shock at his sister's out of the blue revelation.
"I saw her with that Ryan kid. I think things are serious. She could really ruin everything" he said sounding surprisingly calm
"Well what the fuck do you want me to do about it? Obviously family means shit to her now" muttered River sourly
Joaquin ruffled his brother's hair with a small smile "Then show her how much she needs us. Show her that blood is thicker than water. Have I taught you nothing?"
"Taught him what now?" said Phoebe's voice from behind both of them, she had flour scattered in various parts of her face and a towel hung from her shoulder
"None of your business" smiled Joaquin sweetly, he kissed his mother on the cheek and effortlessly lead her away from the bedroom and back down to the kitchen. As he walked he glanced over his shoulders and shot a meaningful glance at River.
River rolled his eyes but nodded to show he'd gotten the message. No matter how furious he was with Phoenix, she was still his sister and his best friend and all she needed was to be reminded of that.
Ryan sat beside Marissa and shrugged his shoulders with disinterest. "Whatever you want to watch"
Marissa gave him a look "Are you okay?"
He nodded lazily and scanned the glow of his watch, he'd rather be asleep, so exhausted was he after such a bizarre week, but Marissa had made a lot of effort to plan a romantic night in for them. He supposed she'd done it because she thought it would cheer him up but really it just made him feel all the more guiltier for the fact that Marissa was completely clueless to his loss of feelings for her and the way he felt about one of her best friends.
"Okay…then we can do something else. Dinner, will be done in abut five minutes, lemme just check on that . By the way 'dinner' is now the new slang for 'I ordered takeout'. That cool?" she said with a smile
"Wait, Marissa…I have to talk to you" he said and held her hand
Marissa leant back further into the couch and turned to him her eyes bright and earnest. He sighed, he'd loved Marissa for so long,and since hed loved her so much he knew that he couldn't go ahead and continue to lie to her with a clear conscience. He wasn't like that. He let go of her handand let out a sigh,what hewas going to do would be so difficult to do. He just hoped that in time Marissa would learn to forgive him.
"Okay…talk away, I don't want my special surprise to burn" she grinned
Just as Ryan opened his mouth to speak and rather conveniently timed, there was a rapping on the glass door of the pool house. Marissa look over her shoulder and then back at Ryan.
"Want me to get that?" she asked jerking her head in the direction of the door
"It's probably Seth, just ignore it" responded Ryan
But the person knocking on the door was persistent and seemed to be getting louder with every knock. Ryan muttered something about how Seth needed to learn that sometimes silence was a good thing and got up to answer the door.
"I'm serious. I saw them…kissing. I came to you because you're the only real…friend I have right now"
River looked at Seth, both eyebrows raised and a slightly annoyed expression on his features. If his sister planned to make her relationship with Ryan so fucking open then why didn't she just put up a classified ad and be done with it.
"Thanks for telling me…god, Marissa's going to be really hurt. I can't believe Phoenix…" he muttered in what he hoped was a sympathetic voice
Seth nodded and rolled up the sleeves of his blue checked Fred Baker shirt and fiddled with his dark green sweater vest nervously. He wondered how he'd pulled himself into such a web of lies and wished he could return to a simpler time. Although on thinking about it, life in the OC was never simple.
"Well…I, I….I don't think you should be too hard on her. Maybe…Ryan was….well he's always liked her, maybe she felt she had to date him" said Seth, lying both to himself and River
River shrugged vaguely "Maybe. I'll talk to her, and then I suppose I should talk to Marissa…or Summer first…she could probably break it to Marissa easier than I could ever do it"
Seth spoke up a little too quickly "Whoa! We-we-we don't need to be making any rash decisions! I mean…really why tell anyone at all? Why not…just…talk to Phoenix and…you know…act like a big brother…and you know I'll talk to Ryan"
River smirked slightly and looked at Seth carefully "Really? Well don't you think it's better to have it all out in the open man? My sister made a mistake and she needs to learn from it"
Seth shook his head "Aww…who doesn't make mistakes here and there. Just two months ago, as Summer didn't refrain from telling me, I wore an ugly patterned shirt and looked like someone out of Boogie Nights…never mind that the theme of the party was the 70's I still…learnt… from that mistake" he said pathetically
River raised his eyebrows "Fine, I won't tell them. I'll talk to Phoenix, you talk to Ryan, I'm sure…it's not as serious as we think"
Seth didn't look convinced but he nodded cheerfully anyway, his smile disappearing when he wondered how long he was going to keep up his façade of dating both Summer and Phoenix at the same time.
As soon as Seth left River swore loudly for a few moments and then with a determined look on his face, he headed off in search of someone to take his frustrations out on.