{Love Song For No One}
{A Sequel To Merry Christmas!}
{Disclaimer} I own the OC and Seth Cohen. Oh, and I'm a pathological liar.
{A/N} Ok. I think this chapter is pretty good!! The song belongs to John Mayer. And I know there's a lot of mushyness, but I wanted to squeeze that before Seth/Summer start fighting. And they will. Next chapter. Anyway, I like this chapter a lot. I really like the whole Charlotte/Ryan thing. I'm hoping to have her confide in him a lot more. Marissa and Ryan will fight ANNA TOGETHER! yes. maybe? I make no sense.. so read! and review!
{Chapter 10: Love Song For No One}
"Seth, sing to me!" Summer screamed as she was dropped on the bed and Seth helped her slip under the covers.
Seth sighed, wondering how Ryan could have dealt with this so many times, a few years back.
"Cohen," Summer muttered as she placed her head down on the pillow, rubbing her forehead, which was beginning to ache. "Sing."
"I'm not singing, Summer. I need to go talk to Ryan before Marissa does." He let go of her hand, tucking her in, but she kicked back.
"I said sing!" She screamed so hard, he could feel the sting of her words on his face, and he fell down on top of her in the bed, sighing all over the place.
Summer erupted into laughs, heaving him off of her and crossing her arms.
"What should I sing, princess?" Seth asked, his words slightly muffled by a mouthful of Summer's hair.
He leaned up and looked at her, patiently, with growing impatience.
"Our song." Summer clapped her hands and placed her hand on the cd player on Seth's nightstand, pressing play and landing on track 8 of her favorite cd, which Marissa was listening to her beforehand. "Now sing to the music." She closed her eyes as the guitar started and Seth glanced towards the door of the bedroom, blushing slightly.
He cleared his throat, hoping Marissa and Ryan were both out of earshot.
They had done this plenty of times before.
In fact, whenever Summer was upset, moody, mad at him, this very action would do the trick and they'd be cuddling till dawn.
He secretly loved the song and loved to sing to her.
But in true Summer fashion, he pretended to hate it.
It was the opposite, after all.
Summer closed her eyes, feeling her senses come back to her as the last taste of alcohol drained from her memory and lips. She started to drift to sleep, but was quickly awakened by Seth's voice, whispering in her ear, and his hand, gently stroking the back of her neck.
"You want me to sing?" Seth whispered and she nodded, triumphantly.
Seth sighed as the words came to him, and the singer started to croon.
He gripped her tighter, feeling every breath as he whispered song lyrics, half singing, half speaking, "Staying home alone on a Friday,"
"Can't hear you!" Summer shouted, laughing afterwards.
Seth let his voice crack and sang loudly, "Flat on the floor, looking back on old love, or lack thereof!"
Summer nuzzled a grin into his shoulder as he hushed into a sexy whisper again, playing with her hair, "After all the crushes are faded, and all my wishful thinking was wrong, I'm jaded, I hate it."
Summer broke in, singing loudly, staring into his eyes, "I'm tired of being alone, so hurry up and get here. . ."
"So tired of being alone, so hurry up and get here." Seth whispered back to her screams and kissed her neck as she continued.
"Searching all my days just to find you, I'm not sure who I'm looking for, I'll know it; when I see you." Summer paused, bringing her eyes to his once again and rolled her eyes back, dreamingly as he finished the verse for her.
"Until then, I'll hide in my bedroom, staying up all night just to write, a love song for no one," He let his voice break out of the whisper and started to scream and stood up, still holding her hands.
She let out an enormous laugh, the kind of laugh and smile that made Seth fall madly in love with her, over and over again.
He fell back down onto the bed, kissing her deeply as John Mayer took over the singing.
[ I could have met you in a sandbox]
[I could have passed you on the sidewalk]
[Could I have missed my chance and watched you walk away?]
[Oh, no way]
Summer let Seth's tongue glide against hers, the taste of sweat and alcohol mixing into one. They were so into it, that they completely dismissed Ryan screaming for Seth to come downstairs. They forgot about kids; Kirsten; Marissa; Anna; everything.
The chorus repeated again as they parted lips and Seth sighed, hearing Ryan scream again.
Summer kissed Seth's forehead, signaling for him to go.
She felt better now and was ready for a nap.
[You'll be so good]
Seth heard John Mayer's words spill out from the stereo and whispered the next line into Summer's ear before getting up.
"You'll be so good for me."
****************
"Seth!" Ryan screamed for a third time, afraid to take the trip upstairs, in case him and Summer actually WERE playing doctor.
"Here!" Seth screamed as he bolted down the stairs, a goofy grin spread across his face.
"How was your visit to the doctor?" Ryan said, dripping with sarcasm as he took a deep breath.
"Huh?" Seth rolled his eyes as he picked up on the joke. "We were just singing."
"Is that what you call it these days?" Ryan laughed, noticing Seth's innocent look, "Ok," He stopped laughing and stared at Seth, "Singing?"
"Don't ask." Seth said, glowing red as he saw Marissa kicking the couch apart.
"Don't worry, we already found each other." Ryan said, throwing a look towards Marissa. "Why did you lie to me?"
"Lie? I didn't lie." Seth said quickly as he motioned Ryan to follow him to the kitchen.
All of this was making him hungry and it was so much easier to deal with things when you had food in your mouth.
Ryan trailed behind, staring holes into Seth as they sat down, Seth unpeeling a banana from the fruit bowl.
"You told me Marissa was gone." Ryan said, a bit of anger rising.
"Oh," Seth said blankly. "That."
Ryan rolled his eyes, realizing Seth's plan and straightened himself up. "Just be thankful she's drunk. Hopefully, she won't remember I was even here."
"You're going to leave?" Seth asked with dismay as he choked on banana pieces.
"I can't stay if she's here." Ryan said, letting his head fall down to the counter with despair.
"Listen, Ryan, I'm sorry I didn't tell you she was here. But, dude, maybe if you talk things out," Seth urged, but Ryan threw his head up, tensing immediately. "Or not."
"There's no use talking to a wall." Ryan mumbled, dusting off his pants as he stood up. "I have major jet lag, can I crash somewhere?"
"There's a whole other couch in the living room." Seth said, chewing. "You know, the one without the drunken ex on it."
"Is there somewhere *else* I can crash?"
"You can sleep in Charlotte's room, if you'd like." Seth said, leading him upstairs. "I'm going to take a nap as well. There has been way too much excitement around this house today. It's that Marissa. Trouble always seems to follow that one," Seth paused his rambling at Ryan's dirty glare, "And by trouble, I mean happiness."
Ryan nodded a 'yea, sure' and slipped into Charlotte's bedroom as Seth slipped into his own.
**********
"Aunt Mawissa!" Dylan's voice screamed into her ear, followed by two grabby hands and a wobbly body lying on top of her. She wrapped her arms around baby Dylan, who had grown up so much since the last time she saw him and opened her eyes. She regret that instantly, as the bright lights that Kirsten flicked on burned her eyes. Hangover. Major hangover. She wondered if Summer was doing as badly as she was. Then again, she drank much more then Summer did.
"Feeling better, Marissa?" Kirsten asked with a laugh.
"I was," Marissa sighed, sitting up with Dylan in her lap. "Until I opened my eyes."
"Here." Kirsten passed a bottle of Tylenol and Poland Spring Marissa's way.
Marissa smiled graciously as Dylan crawled towards Charlotte, who was sitting on the other couch, on top of Seth, watching cartoons.
Charlotte looked slightly distraught, a look Marissa could instantly place on her own face.
"Morning sleepyhead." Seth called to Marissa, his eyes glued to the TV as he stroked Charlotte's brown hair.
Charlotte pulled away gently, but Seth didn't really notice.
Marissa groaned as she stretched her arms upward, "Is it morning already?"
"Eight in the AM, to be exact." Summer's voice boomed from the kitchen, in which her body followed, smiling as she curled up next to Marissa, both of them laughing. "Let's not drink that much, ever again."
"Agreed." Marissa said, clutching her forehead. Her hangover was nothing compared to prior ones, but she didn't say anything about that to Summer. "Why are you all up so early?"
"This is when Dylan wakes up." Summer grinned, grabbing Dylan from the floor, giggling with him as she tickled his stomach.
Marissa noticed Charlotte glare at them from the corner of her ear.
"And the Dylan wakes up everyone else." Kirsten said.
Marissa nodded in understanding, smiling at the little boy in Summer's lap.
"So, um, Marissa, do you remember anything from last night?" Seth asked gently, the corners of his mouth curving into a grin. He looped his arm around Charlotte, but she resisted, pushing herself off of Seth and heading upstairs to her bedroom.
Summer and Seth glanced at each other at Charlotte's mood, ever so slightly until Marissa spoke up.
"Not really." Marissa laughed whole heartedly.
"Same here." Summer said, laughing.
"Well," Seth laughed dryly. "That's good."
"Really good." Kirsten said, a smile escaping her. Summer and Marissa glanced at the two with confused expression and Seth burst out into a nervous laugh. "Dylan, baby, why don't we get you dressed and we'll go to the park?"
Dylan jumped off of Summer, happy at this offer, grabbing Kirsten's hand and they went upstairs.
"What's so funny, Cohen?" Summer said, shutting off the TV.
"I was watching that!" Seth screamed, still laughing.
"It was a cartoon!" Summer squealed, remembering countless arguments over how anime was made for adults, and that was a cartoon. "Made for kids!"
"Well, I'm just a kid at heart I guess." He grabbed Summer and pulled her in for a sloppy kiss, making Marissa cringe.
"Could you guys be any more mushy?" Marissa said, gagging.
"Wow, Marissa, you're perky in the morning." Seth said, rolling his eyes as Summer slapped him.
"She's right. We're like, way too happy." Summer bit her lip.
Seth shrugged and kissed her again, causing all of Summer's doubt to wash away temporarily.
"I think I'm going to the park as well." Marissa said with a groan, rolling off the couch and trudging upstairs.
************
"Grandma!" Dylan screamed.
Kirsten helped Dylan pull on his baby sized jeans as he groaned.
He was a handful, like his father.
"Yes, sweetie?"
Dylan threw one of his teddy bears to the end of the bed. "Where do babies come from?"
Kirsten whipped around. "Why don't you ask your mommy?"
"I did." Dylan nodded. "She said to ask you. Where do they come from?" He demanded.
"Um," Kirsten laughed nervously, not ready to explain anatomy to a two year old, no matter how smart he was. "Babies are little angels, that God sends us from heaven."
"So I'm from heaven?" Dylan asked in a cutesy voice, just as Charlotte passed his room.
She had gone to the bathroom upstairs, before heading towards her bedroom to get away from everyone.
"Of course you are." Kirsten said, smiling as she kissed Dylan's forhead. "You're my angel."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, glaring back in the direction of her own bedroom.
She was so mad.
She never felt this mad before.
It was almost. . . rage.
She couldn't stop thinking about what that Anna girl had said before.
It couldn't be true. Her parents loved her. But did they love Dylan more?
Charlotte thought about last night. She had found Uncle Ryan sleeping in her room, so climbed into bed with her mommy and daddy. Her daddy hugged her as she did so, tucking her in and her mommy placed her arm on her hair, stroking it gently as mommy and daddy's gentle CD, the one with that song they love so much, played in the background.
It was just like life before Dylan.
And it had made her feel so much better.
Until she woke up and her parents were gone.
She followed their voices downstairs.
Aunt Marissa was just where she was last night, sleeping soundly.
Grandma was sitting with her father in the kitchen, eating and catching up.
And her mother was half asleep on the other couch, holding Dylan, the angel, in her arms.
And Anna's words all came flying back to her at once.
Charlotte was so caught up in these memories that she had forgotten Ryan was still asleep and barged into her own bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Thankfully, Ryan was already awake, playing with his cell phone as he sat in Charlotte's rocking chair.
"What's wrong, Charlie?" Ryan asked her.
For some reason, his blue eyes felt so inviting and Charlotte felt herself breaking inside.
"Charlie?" Ryan asked again, wondering if he should get her parents. He opened his arms for her, throwing his cell onto his duffel bag, which was placed right next to Marissa's.
She ran into his arms, crying as he lifted her up.
He stroked her hair gently, which everyone seemed to do instantly.
She had her mother's hair, long, sleek and brown. To everyone who didn't have this hair, it was so tempting. They just wanted to run their hands through it, as Ryan did at that moment.
"Charlotte, what happened?" Ryan looked down at her, but she shook her head, not being able to speak.
He sat there, stroking her hair until she stopped crying and finally she spoke.
Between gasps for breath, Ryan only could understand a few of the girl's words. "Yesterday. Blonde. Mean. Love. Mistake."
It was pointless, he hushed her up, calming her down.
"It's ok, baby, you're safe." The words felt so natural for him to say and he was comfortable holding the girl in his arms. She had begun to drift to sleep as the door opened gently, a wide eyed Marissa at the other end.
Shit.
He was hoping to sneak out before she would see him.
Now, with sleeping Charlotte in his arms, he didn't dare move.
Marissa stared blankly at Ryan, gearing her eyes towards Charlotte in his arms, and back at his eyes.
Then she closed the door, sliding down to the floor in a heap.
She wasn't so drunk after all.
She really DID see him last night.
And he looked so appealing, so amazing sitting there, with Charlotte in his arms.
Marissa was so confused about everything as the door crept open, Ryan sliding quickly from it.
"Ryan." Marissa managed to slip out as he slid to the floor next to her.
"Not now." Ryan said, letting his hands fall down to the floor.
Seeing Charlotte so disturbed made him feel hopeless and his first plan of action was to let Seth know something was wrong with her. Marissa was the last thing on his mind right now.
He got back up, Marissa glaring at the floor, and went for the stairs, wishing he could convince himself of that thought.
The thought that Marissa was really gone from his mind.
When clearly, she so wasn't.
{A Sequel To Merry Christmas!}
{Disclaimer} I own the OC and Seth Cohen. Oh, and I'm a pathological liar.
{A/N} Ok. I think this chapter is pretty good!! The song belongs to John Mayer. And I know there's a lot of mushyness, but I wanted to squeeze that before Seth/Summer start fighting. And they will. Next chapter. Anyway, I like this chapter a lot. I really like the whole Charlotte/Ryan thing. I'm hoping to have her confide in him a lot more. Marissa and Ryan will fight ANNA TOGETHER! yes. maybe? I make no sense.. so read! and review!
{Chapter 10: Love Song For No One}
"Seth, sing to me!" Summer screamed as she was dropped on the bed and Seth helped her slip under the covers.
Seth sighed, wondering how Ryan could have dealt with this so many times, a few years back.
"Cohen," Summer muttered as she placed her head down on the pillow, rubbing her forehead, which was beginning to ache. "Sing."
"I'm not singing, Summer. I need to go talk to Ryan before Marissa does." He let go of her hand, tucking her in, but she kicked back.
"I said sing!" She screamed so hard, he could feel the sting of her words on his face, and he fell down on top of her in the bed, sighing all over the place.
Summer erupted into laughs, heaving him off of her and crossing her arms.
"What should I sing, princess?" Seth asked, his words slightly muffled by a mouthful of Summer's hair.
He leaned up and looked at her, patiently, with growing impatience.
"Our song." Summer clapped her hands and placed her hand on the cd player on Seth's nightstand, pressing play and landing on track 8 of her favorite cd, which Marissa was listening to her beforehand. "Now sing to the music." She closed her eyes as the guitar started and Seth glanced towards the door of the bedroom, blushing slightly.
He cleared his throat, hoping Marissa and Ryan were both out of earshot.
They had done this plenty of times before.
In fact, whenever Summer was upset, moody, mad at him, this very action would do the trick and they'd be cuddling till dawn.
He secretly loved the song and loved to sing to her.
But in true Summer fashion, he pretended to hate it.
It was the opposite, after all.
Summer closed her eyes, feeling her senses come back to her as the last taste of alcohol drained from her memory and lips. She started to drift to sleep, but was quickly awakened by Seth's voice, whispering in her ear, and his hand, gently stroking the back of her neck.
"You want me to sing?" Seth whispered and she nodded, triumphantly.
Seth sighed as the words came to him, and the singer started to croon.
He gripped her tighter, feeling every breath as he whispered song lyrics, half singing, half speaking, "Staying home alone on a Friday,"
"Can't hear you!" Summer shouted, laughing afterwards.
Seth let his voice crack and sang loudly, "Flat on the floor, looking back on old love, or lack thereof!"
Summer nuzzled a grin into his shoulder as he hushed into a sexy whisper again, playing with her hair, "After all the crushes are faded, and all my wishful thinking was wrong, I'm jaded, I hate it."
Summer broke in, singing loudly, staring into his eyes, "I'm tired of being alone, so hurry up and get here. . ."
"So tired of being alone, so hurry up and get here." Seth whispered back to her screams and kissed her neck as she continued.
"Searching all my days just to find you, I'm not sure who I'm looking for, I'll know it; when I see you." Summer paused, bringing her eyes to his once again and rolled her eyes back, dreamingly as he finished the verse for her.
"Until then, I'll hide in my bedroom, staying up all night just to write, a love song for no one," He let his voice break out of the whisper and started to scream and stood up, still holding her hands.
She let out an enormous laugh, the kind of laugh and smile that made Seth fall madly in love with her, over and over again.
He fell back down onto the bed, kissing her deeply as John Mayer took over the singing.
[ I could have met you in a sandbox]
[I could have passed you on the sidewalk]
[Could I have missed my chance and watched you walk away?]
[Oh, no way]
Summer let Seth's tongue glide against hers, the taste of sweat and alcohol mixing into one. They were so into it, that they completely dismissed Ryan screaming for Seth to come downstairs. They forgot about kids; Kirsten; Marissa; Anna; everything.
The chorus repeated again as they parted lips and Seth sighed, hearing Ryan scream again.
Summer kissed Seth's forehead, signaling for him to go.
She felt better now and was ready for a nap.
[You'll be so good]
Seth heard John Mayer's words spill out from the stereo and whispered the next line into Summer's ear before getting up.
"You'll be so good for me."
****************
"Seth!" Ryan screamed for a third time, afraid to take the trip upstairs, in case him and Summer actually WERE playing doctor.
"Here!" Seth screamed as he bolted down the stairs, a goofy grin spread across his face.
"How was your visit to the doctor?" Ryan said, dripping with sarcasm as he took a deep breath.
"Huh?" Seth rolled his eyes as he picked up on the joke. "We were just singing."
"Is that what you call it these days?" Ryan laughed, noticing Seth's innocent look, "Ok," He stopped laughing and stared at Seth, "Singing?"
"Don't ask." Seth said, glowing red as he saw Marissa kicking the couch apart.
"Don't worry, we already found each other." Ryan said, throwing a look towards Marissa. "Why did you lie to me?"
"Lie? I didn't lie." Seth said quickly as he motioned Ryan to follow him to the kitchen.
All of this was making him hungry and it was so much easier to deal with things when you had food in your mouth.
Ryan trailed behind, staring holes into Seth as they sat down, Seth unpeeling a banana from the fruit bowl.
"You told me Marissa was gone." Ryan said, a bit of anger rising.
"Oh," Seth said blankly. "That."
Ryan rolled his eyes, realizing Seth's plan and straightened himself up. "Just be thankful she's drunk. Hopefully, she won't remember I was even here."
"You're going to leave?" Seth asked with dismay as he choked on banana pieces.
"I can't stay if she's here." Ryan said, letting his head fall down to the counter with despair.
"Listen, Ryan, I'm sorry I didn't tell you she was here. But, dude, maybe if you talk things out," Seth urged, but Ryan threw his head up, tensing immediately. "Or not."
"There's no use talking to a wall." Ryan mumbled, dusting off his pants as he stood up. "I have major jet lag, can I crash somewhere?"
"There's a whole other couch in the living room." Seth said, chewing. "You know, the one without the drunken ex on it."
"Is there somewhere *else* I can crash?"
"You can sleep in Charlotte's room, if you'd like." Seth said, leading him upstairs. "I'm going to take a nap as well. There has been way too much excitement around this house today. It's that Marissa. Trouble always seems to follow that one," Seth paused his rambling at Ryan's dirty glare, "And by trouble, I mean happiness."
Ryan nodded a 'yea, sure' and slipped into Charlotte's bedroom as Seth slipped into his own.
**********
"Aunt Mawissa!" Dylan's voice screamed into her ear, followed by two grabby hands and a wobbly body lying on top of her. She wrapped her arms around baby Dylan, who had grown up so much since the last time she saw him and opened her eyes. She regret that instantly, as the bright lights that Kirsten flicked on burned her eyes. Hangover. Major hangover. She wondered if Summer was doing as badly as she was. Then again, she drank much more then Summer did.
"Feeling better, Marissa?" Kirsten asked with a laugh.
"I was," Marissa sighed, sitting up with Dylan in her lap. "Until I opened my eyes."
"Here." Kirsten passed a bottle of Tylenol and Poland Spring Marissa's way.
Marissa smiled graciously as Dylan crawled towards Charlotte, who was sitting on the other couch, on top of Seth, watching cartoons.
Charlotte looked slightly distraught, a look Marissa could instantly place on her own face.
"Morning sleepyhead." Seth called to Marissa, his eyes glued to the TV as he stroked Charlotte's brown hair.
Charlotte pulled away gently, but Seth didn't really notice.
Marissa groaned as she stretched her arms upward, "Is it morning already?"
"Eight in the AM, to be exact." Summer's voice boomed from the kitchen, in which her body followed, smiling as she curled up next to Marissa, both of them laughing. "Let's not drink that much, ever again."
"Agreed." Marissa said, clutching her forehead. Her hangover was nothing compared to prior ones, but she didn't say anything about that to Summer. "Why are you all up so early?"
"This is when Dylan wakes up." Summer grinned, grabbing Dylan from the floor, giggling with him as she tickled his stomach.
Marissa noticed Charlotte glare at them from the corner of her ear.
"And the Dylan wakes up everyone else." Kirsten said.
Marissa nodded in understanding, smiling at the little boy in Summer's lap.
"So, um, Marissa, do you remember anything from last night?" Seth asked gently, the corners of his mouth curving into a grin. He looped his arm around Charlotte, but she resisted, pushing herself off of Seth and heading upstairs to her bedroom.
Summer and Seth glanced at each other at Charlotte's mood, ever so slightly until Marissa spoke up.
"Not really." Marissa laughed whole heartedly.
"Same here." Summer said, laughing.
"Well," Seth laughed dryly. "That's good."
"Really good." Kirsten said, a smile escaping her. Summer and Marissa glanced at the two with confused expression and Seth burst out into a nervous laugh. "Dylan, baby, why don't we get you dressed and we'll go to the park?"
Dylan jumped off of Summer, happy at this offer, grabbing Kirsten's hand and they went upstairs.
"What's so funny, Cohen?" Summer said, shutting off the TV.
"I was watching that!" Seth screamed, still laughing.
"It was a cartoon!" Summer squealed, remembering countless arguments over how anime was made for adults, and that was a cartoon. "Made for kids!"
"Well, I'm just a kid at heart I guess." He grabbed Summer and pulled her in for a sloppy kiss, making Marissa cringe.
"Could you guys be any more mushy?" Marissa said, gagging.
"Wow, Marissa, you're perky in the morning." Seth said, rolling his eyes as Summer slapped him.
"She's right. We're like, way too happy." Summer bit her lip.
Seth shrugged and kissed her again, causing all of Summer's doubt to wash away temporarily.
"I think I'm going to the park as well." Marissa said with a groan, rolling off the couch and trudging upstairs.
************
"Grandma!" Dylan screamed.
Kirsten helped Dylan pull on his baby sized jeans as he groaned.
He was a handful, like his father.
"Yes, sweetie?"
Dylan threw one of his teddy bears to the end of the bed. "Where do babies come from?"
Kirsten whipped around. "Why don't you ask your mommy?"
"I did." Dylan nodded. "She said to ask you. Where do they come from?" He demanded.
"Um," Kirsten laughed nervously, not ready to explain anatomy to a two year old, no matter how smart he was. "Babies are little angels, that God sends us from heaven."
"So I'm from heaven?" Dylan asked in a cutesy voice, just as Charlotte passed his room.
She had gone to the bathroom upstairs, before heading towards her bedroom to get away from everyone.
"Of course you are." Kirsten said, smiling as she kissed Dylan's forhead. "You're my angel."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, glaring back in the direction of her own bedroom.
She was so mad.
She never felt this mad before.
It was almost. . . rage.
She couldn't stop thinking about what that Anna girl had said before.
It couldn't be true. Her parents loved her. But did they love Dylan more?
Charlotte thought about last night. She had found Uncle Ryan sleeping in her room, so climbed into bed with her mommy and daddy. Her daddy hugged her as she did so, tucking her in and her mommy placed her arm on her hair, stroking it gently as mommy and daddy's gentle CD, the one with that song they love so much, played in the background.
It was just like life before Dylan.
And it had made her feel so much better.
Until she woke up and her parents were gone.
She followed their voices downstairs.
Aunt Marissa was just where she was last night, sleeping soundly.
Grandma was sitting with her father in the kitchen, eating and catching up.
And her mother was half asleep on the other couch, holding Dylan, the angel, in her arms.
And Anna's words all came flying back to her at once.
Charlotte was so caught up in these memories that she had forgotten Ryan was still asleep and barged into her own bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Thankfully, Ryan was already awake, playing with his cell phone as he sat in Charlotte's rocking chair.
"What's wrong, Charlie?" Ryan asked her.
For some reason, his blue eyes felt so inviting and Charlotte felt herself breaking inside.
"Charlie?" Ryan asked again, wondering if he should get her parents. He opened his arms for her, throwing his cell onto his duffel bag, which was placed right next to Marissa's.
She ran into his arms, crying as he lifted her up.
He stroked her hair gently, which everyone seemed to do instantly.
She had her mother's hair, long, sleek and brown. To everyone who didn't have this hair, it was so tempting. They just wanted to run their hands through it, as Ryan did at that moment.
"Charlotte, what happened?" Ryan looked down at her, but she shook her head, not being able to speak.
He sat there, stroking her hair until she stopped crying and finally she spoke.
Between gasps for breath, Ryan only could understand a few of the girl's words. "Yesterday. Blonde. Mean. Love. Mistake."
It was pointless, he hushed her up, calming her down.
"It's ok, baby, you're safe." The words felt so natural for him to say and he was comfortable holding the girl in his arms. She had begun to drift to sleep as the door opened gently, a wide eyed Marissa at the other end.
Shit.
He was hoping to sneak out before she would see him.
Now, with sleeping Charlotte in his arms, he didn't dare move.
Marissa stared blankly at Ryan, gearing her eyes towards Charlotte in his arms, and back at his eyes.
Then she closed the door, sliding down to the floor in a heap.
She wasn't so drunk after all.
She really DID see him last night.
And he looked so appealing, so amazing sitting there, with Charlotte in his arms.
Marissa was so confused about everything as the door crept open, Ryan sliding quickly from it.
"Ryan." Marissa managed to slip out as he slid to the floor next to her.
"Not now." Ryan said, letting his hands fall down to the floor.
Seeing Charlotte so disturbed made him feel hopeless and his first plan of action was to let Seth know something was wrong with her. Marissa was the last thing on his mind right now.
He got back up, Marissa glaring at the floor, and went for the stairs, wishing he could convince himself of that thought.
The thought that Marissa was really gone from his mind.
When clearly, she so wasn't.