Marissa ran out of money, so the bartender stopped serving her. He wouldn't even take her stupid charge card. She pulled her keys out of her purse and headed out for the truck. She fumbled trying to get the key into the lock, but finally unlocked the door. Feeling stupid that she didn't just use the clicker, she opened the door and was thankful for being able to sit down in the driver's seat. She dropped the keys on the floorboard as she tried to get the truck started, and managed to get the key in the ignition on the third try and heard the engine roar to life. As she pulled away from the curb, all she could think of was Ryan.
*
After driving in silence for over five minutes, Seth couldn't take it anymore.
"Ryan, dude, what happened? Why'd you take off? Why are you in Chino? How could you lose a fight?"
Ryan was looking worse, like he was hanging on the edge of consciousness. He rolled his head over to face Seth.
His voice came out barely above a whisper. "I figured that no matter what I did, I was destined to wind up back to Chino. I guess I don't belong there anymore either. I don't know where I belong now."
Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Ryan, man, you belong in Newport. You belong with us. What would make you think otherwise?"
Ryan had a pained look on his face and his words came out haltingly, "Your mom didn't believe me. That it wasn't my fault at South Coast Plaza. I got kicked out of Harbor. I can't figure out what the hell's going on with Marissa. I'm a disgrace."
Seth was shocked. "Look, Ryan, Marissa's going through some shit right now. She's not your mom, you aren't responsible for fixing her. I know that my mom got a little weird on you, but she's sorry Ryan. She trusts you. We all trust you. Screw Julie Cooper. We'll get through this; it's just all a big mistake."
His words seemed to have an impact on Ryan, so he continued, "Ryan, I think that we should call my folks and have them meet us at the hospital, okay?"
Not getting a response, he chose his next words carefully. "Ryan, there's another problem. Marissa apparently overheard part of a weird conversation between her parents, and now she's missing. Do you have any idea where she might go?"
Seth felt so stupid for not trying to call her earlier. After her stupid stunt down in TJ, he should've been more worried about her, instead of blaming her for Ryan's disappearance.
Ryan pulled himself up straight as he reached for Seth's cell phone, which was sitting on the console. He punched in Marissa's cell number and heard it start to ring.
*
In the back of her mind, she knew that she was too drunk to be driving. She also knew that she was too drunk to care. She didn't even care if she drove her truck off of a cliff right now. In fact, the idea seemed more and more appealing. Ryan was missing because of her, her family was a big fat lie, she was an alcoholic and a pill popper. And she was only 16.
She heard her cell phone ring from somewhere on the floorboard. It must've fallen out of her purse. She leaned down to try to grab it, and didn't even see that she'd crossed over into oncoming traffic.