The Game Plan

Ryan realised he was so concerned about what Annabel might be wearing that his palms were actually sweating. He wiped his hand hurriedly down the side of his jeans and opened the door. He was pleasantly surprised. Annabel stood before him dressed in a demure little black dress that fitted her curves snugly and with a draped cowl neckline that showed only a touch of cleavage. Her hair was still down but it had been pulled back to one side. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Annabel. Hi. Come on through." Ryan moved aside to let her enter.

Skip stood in the entrance to the kitchen with Marissa. "Well your right. She's definitely easy on the eyes but your wrong if you thought she was going to be dressed provocatively. You got my hopes up you know, and here she is in just a little black dress." He said as he watched Ryan greeting her.

Marissa smiled in agreement. Just pleased that perhaps she had over reacted to the whole thing. I mean she did only have Seth's comments to Summer to go on and everyone knew that Seth exaggerated everything. Marissa silently berated herself for ever giving any credence to the idea. She turned to walk back into the kitchen and she looked up at Skip wanting to apologise for having given him the wrong idea when all of a sudden his eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped. He was still looking towards the front door and Marissa didn't think she wanted to look back but knew she couldn't help herself.

Annabel had stepped in to the entry hall and lent forward to give Ryan a welcome kiss which he turned his head for; making sure that it barely glanced across his cheek. But when she moved it revealed a split in the side of the skirt that reached all the way to her waist.

"Wow. I think I'm going to enjoy this." Skip commented as he looked at the expanse of skin on her perfectly proportioned leg that went right from the floor up to….. it seemed like her arm pits he thought.

Annabel took a couple of steps towards where Marissa and Skip were standing and then turned back to say something to Ryan. Marissa gasped as she realised that Annabel's 'little black dress' basically had no back in it at all. The cowl at the front gave way to a deep v in the back that went down well below her waist. You could just see the top of her crack. She would have been showing less in a bikini.

"Oh. I'm definitely going to enjoy this." Skip added. He looked at Marissa and realised that she was seriously concerned. He lent forward and whispered in her ear. "Don't worry. Ryan's not interested in anyone but you. But I do think Miss Annabel needs to be taught a lesson. I've got an idea so just go with me. Okay?" he looked at Marissa who tried to smile but it was almost a grimace.

Ryan and Annabel joined them in the kitchen and Skip could see that Ryan was feeling very uncomfortable with the attention he was getting from Annabel who seemed unable to talk to him unless she was touching him. Skip decided he was going to enjoy putting this girl in her place.

"Skip…I'd like you to meet Annabel. Annabel…my friend Skip." Ryan said.

"Annabel..nice to meet you." Skip greeted her. He was amazed that standing quietly in front of him, her dress looked so prim and proper. It was only from behind or when she moved that you realised just how much of her you could see.

Annabel looked over Skip and liked what she saw. Sure he was no Ryan but then Ryan was one of a kind. But she sure wouldn't throw Skip back either. "Same here." Annabel smiled at him and then glanced at Ryan looking for his reaction but Ryan was looking at Marissa. Annabel glared at him. She had spent all morning shopping trying to find the perfect dress, something that was understated and yet would take his breathe away. When she had found this one she felt for sure that it was just what she needed. After all he was a legs man. She had spent a whole month's salary on it and she expected him to give her more than a passing glance. The only problem with it was that it had been impossible to find underwear that she could wear without some part of it being visible. She needed a g string for the split on the side but the dip in the back was so low that the top of the g string could be seen; so she'd had to just go without. There was a first time for everything and she was finding the feeling strangely liberating.

"I love your dress." Marissa stated. She made eye contact with Annabel and her look told Annabel the exact opposite and that Marissa knew exactly what she was doing.

"This old thing? Why thank you." Annabel gave Marissa the once over. Marissa had chosen to wear a tiered gypsy skirt with a lightly beaded peasant blouse. She looked pretty and casual. "I hope I haven't over dressed?" Annabel asked knowing that Ryan had told her it was casual.

"Hardly." Marissa replied curtly, thinking that if she was anymore under dressed she might as well have been in a bikini ….. or naked.

Ryan didn't like the way this was going. He looked at Skip who couldn't seem to take the smile off his face. It didn't look like he was going to be much help. Ryan turned to Annabel. "Can I get you something to drink?"

Annabel fluttered her eyelids a couple of times at him and answered "A white wine would be lovely."

"Sure …coming up." Ryan answered and made his way to the bar as fast as he could go.

Annabel and Marissa glared at one another neither saying a word.

Skip decided he better intervene before one of them dived across and started a cat fight. "Annabel. Have you been here before?" he asked.

"Um..yes. Just once." She replied.

"Well have you seen the view from the terrace?" he asked.

"No. I haven't" she replied not really interested.

"It's really something. Come and have a look?" Skip moved to lead her through to the open doors. He glanced at Marissa and as Annabel walked in front of him he smiled and gave her a thumb's up behind Annabel's back.

Marissa relaxed a little. Would Skip be able to work some magic she wondered?

---

Skip led Annabel out on to the terrace. It truly was an amazing picture before them. The lights of LA twinkled below.

They both stood there admiring the view for a couple of minutes. The silence lying between them. Finally Skip spoke. "So, I hope you don't think me forward. But I'm thinking that we could work well together."

Annabel looked at him surprised. "Excuse me but I hardly know you."

"Oh I know that. And unless I've read things wrongly, you don't really want to get to know me. You're only interest lays elsewhere." Skip suggested.

Annabel looked at him, surprised, but said nothing. She didn't want to give anything away and she certainly wasn't going to admit to anything. She wondered just where he was going with this.

"Okay so I take it that your silence confirms I'm right. Please stop me if that's not the case."

Still Annabel said nothing but continued to listen to him with interest. She couldn't wait to see where he was going with this. The silence between them grew until finally she said. "Maybe. Why?"

"Well…I'm thinking that since your interest lies with Ryan…."

Annabel said nothing but the hint of a smile appeared on her face which was all that Skip needed to convince him to continue. "….who has eyes only for Marissa…."

Annabel smarted as if she'd been physically injured by his words.

Skip hesitated for a moment wanting her to consider exactly what he'd said. "…. And mine lies with Marissa who has eyes only for Ryan….." Skip added.

Annabel was startled. This was a new piece of information that she hadn't been counting on. She turned it over in her mind wondering where he was going with all this. "Um…poor you." She commented.

"Thanks. But what I'm thinking is…. that… since neither of us seems to be getting anywhere at the moment ... that perhaps we could work together to try to make them jealous ... see if we have a chance of not? At least we'll know one way or the other." Skip looked across and noticed a flicker of interest in her eyes. Certainly she wasn't shutting him down. He waited a moment to let her think about it.

Finally Annabel said "How?"

"Well…I'm not exactly sure. I guess how far you want to take it depends on just how interested in Ryan you are."

"What do you mean?" Annabel asked.

"I mean, if it was just passing interest, then we could just flirt a bit and see what happens but if it's more than that…" he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm very interested." Annabel replied.

"Well in that case we might need to step it up a notch. Be a bit more physical. You know some touching along with the flirting, maybe a kiss here and there if the opportunity presents itself. They're not stupid, so we're going to have to sell the attraction otherwise they'll guess what we're doing. What do you think?"

Annabel looked at Skip. This was not at all what she had been expecting from the night. She had figured that the dress had been her trump card but Ryan barely seemed to have noticed so she certainly needed something else to try to get through to him….and Skip was cute…in a tall, lanky, kind of way…and she really liked the accent. There could be many worse things to do than spend the night in his company……Plus there was the added bonus that she would actually have an allay in this whole business. She'd been worried that if any of the other four realised what she was up to then things may have gotten awkward. So why not? What did she have to lose?

Skip was still looking at her, watching as she obviously thought it all through. He liked the fact that she wasn't a girl that would make rash decisions. Recently, the only girls he'd been out with had all been 'trolley dollies' from the airlines he worked with and they certainly had been decorative but without too much between the ears. Just glorified waitresses. This girl would be a pleasant change and, he guessed, quite a challenge. But it would be or could be … fun. And it would be helping out Ryan and Marissa as well… if he could manage to keep Annabel interested. Even if she wasn't interested, he could at least distract her until Ryan and Marissa were more 'comfortable' in their relationship. Although, thinking back to their behaviour in the kitchen, they already looked pretty 'comfortable'. He waited for Annabel to make her decision.

She looked at him and nodded. "Okay. So where do we go from here?"

Skip smiled. He figured he was going to enjoy this. "Well…I'm thinking that they are probably all watching us from inside right now wondering what we are talking about."

Annabel looked in the reflection of the glass doors and realised he was right. Boy… he was good at this. "So?" she asked.

"Well. I think you could perhaps act like you're a little chilly out here and I'd nicely offer to put my arm around you to give you some warmth." He smiled.

Annabel really wasn't sure about this. That smile of his. She wasn't quite sure if he was playing with her but then really what would be the harm in a cuddle. "Okay."

Skip put one arm around her shoulder and then moved behind her and pulled her in to him. He was so tall, he almost enveloped her…..But it felt good….really good. She looked out over the lights of LA with Skip's arms around her and for a moment she closed her eyes and took in the scent of him. It had been a long time since she'd had a man's arms around her. She had almost forgotten just how good it felt. She instinctively moved her head back until it touched him and then she glanced over her shoulder at him. He looked down at her and smiled. "See. It's not that bad is it?"

Annabel was a little embarrassed by just how much she was enjoying it. "No. It's….fine."

"Good. Then we'll just go from here. If I do anything that oversteps the mark just let me know. But let me tell you … that dress you're wearing almost dictates that I'm going to have to be making some …'improper' remarks. Just go with it and we'll see if we can't get some interest out of at least one if not the both of them."

"Okay." Annabel replied wondering what Skip would think if he knew that she wasn't wearing any underwear. Little did she know he'd already worked that out for himself.

---

Inside the other four were all talking and speculating about what was going on out on the balcony. Summer had convinced Seth to turn off the playstation and join the others.

"You don't really think so do you?" Summer asked Marissa.

"I'd bet my life on it. Well maybe not my life ….maybe Seth's." Marissa stated seething at the effrontery of Annabel in coming to their home dressed like that.

Seth looked up from talking with Ryan. "Did I hear my name being mentioned?"

"Yeah. Marissa just bet your life on the fact that Annabel has nothing on under her dress." Summer replied.

"What?" Seth looked back outside. All he could see was Skip's back.

"How would you know something like that?" Seth asked.

"Let me assure you. I know what underwear is available and what you can and can't wear under clothes and there is no way that she can have anything under that …..'thing'." Marissa stated angrily.

Ryan looked at Marissa. He wanted…no… he needed a minute alone with her. "I need you to help me a minute." He stated and pulled her towards the kitchen with him, leaving Seth and Summer still contemplating the two on the balcony.

"That skank." Summer stated. "I've got a good mind to go and tell her where…"

"Noo…I think I'd better investigate this." Seth said as he moved towards the door.

"You'll do no such thing." Summer said as she grabbed his arm. "You'll stay right here beside me. And if you put one foot out of line this evening, your life could be over no matter what Annabel's wearing."

"Aw. That's not fair. Why should Skip have all the fun?" Seth asked.

"May I remind you that from what you said, you had your 'fun' with Annabel yesterday and if you want to have 'fun' with me ever again then you'll behave tonight. Understand?" Summer threatened.

Seth hung his head. "Yeah….But does that mean if I am good tonight then I'm on a promise." He looked at Summer hopefully.

"Let's just see how good you are before I make any promises." Summer answered.

"I can be real good." Seth assured her smiling from ear to ear.

"What …have you been getting lessons from Chino?" Summer teased.

"No…. I tried…. but he wouldn't give up his secrets." Seth answered.

"What? You didn't?" Summer was dumbfounded. She had been joking when she had suggested it.

"Yeah. Of course I did. I mean if he's that good, I don't see why I shouldn't get him to give me a few pointers." Seth couldn't understand her bewilderment.

"Seth. That's totally out of line." Summer shook her head.

"What? Are you telling me that you and Marissa don't swap ideas about how to keep your men happy?"

"Well no….maybe….sometimes. But that's different. Girls talk about those sort of things. Boys don't. I can't imagine what Chino thought." Summer stated.

"He just thought it was me. It's not as if it's the first time. I've asked him for advice before." Seth commented nonchalantly.

"Argh. It gets worse." Summer looked at him. "Do I even want to know when?" she asked hesitating because she was almost scared of the answer.

"What do you think? Surely you still remember how well our first time went?" Seth suggested.

Summer blushed. She was petrified that Seth had told Ryan about her instigating Seth losing his virginity. "I can't cope with this right now, Cohen. If you want me to stay here and eat with these people then you'd better change the subject right now otherwise I'm outta here. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to look Chino in the eye again."

"I think you're over-reacting my petal but back to this dress of Annabel's…" Seth looked back outside wishing that Skip would move out of the way so that he could get a good look.

---

Ryan pulled Marissa around the corner of the kitchen and into the hall so that they were out of the view of any of their guests.

"Ry. What are you doing? I have to check on dinner." Marissa said.

Ryan pushed her up against the wall and placed a hand either side of her head while he looked her deeply in the eyes. "I love you…..I just want you to know that….no matter what happens tonight…..that will never change." After seeing what Annabel was wearing he was worried what Marissa might think. He waited for her to reply or give some indication that his words had meant something to her.

Marissa relaxed as she looked into his eyes, reading everything in them that she needed to know. "Thank you" she replied. She leant towards him and brought her lips to his, wanting to show him just what his words meant to her right at this moment. She had been anxious before Annabel had arrived and then …having seen what she was wearing ….she had been so on edge she didn't know if she wanted to go to her room and cry or grab Annabel by the hair and scream at her.

Now…. with just a few words… Ryan had given her all the reassurance she had needed. She pulled back from the kiss. "I love you too."

Ryan smiled wanting desperately to take things further but knowing that their guests would be looking for them. "So let's get this over with so we can get rid of them."

Marissa laughed. "Ryan. They're out guests and they've only just got here."

"Yeah. But I just realised that I have other plans for the evening and they only require you." He replied.

"Mmmm that sounds interesting. You'll have to remember them and tell me about them later or better still show me." Marissa replied as she pulled him back into the kitchen. "But for now, go and get everyone to sit at the table and I'll serve dinner. As you said, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get rid of them."

Ryan gave her a quick kiss on the way passed and smiled just thinking about the 'plans' he had in mind for later.