NOTE: I do not own any of these character's… you can thank FOX. If you have any questions or comment you can e-mail me at liverbrain22@hotmail.com
(This is a continuation after the episode, "The Rivals") Ryan struggles to convince everyone about Oliver. But will they believe him? Should he just turn and walk away? Or battle Oliver?
CHAPTER ONE:
"Three whole years fall on deaf ears
Are these snowflakes or solid tears?
If you cant understand our fears,
It's not fair to me.."
Kelly – The Movielife
"Ryan…RYAN!" Seth screams, dangling from the patio doors.
Ryan ignores his friend and carries on with his sleep. He doesn't want to be bothered. He knows what is coming for him. A long lecture …not just from Seth, or Sandy and Kirsten…but from everyone. After yesterday's little fistfight with Oliver, he'd thrown himself in the pool house and ignored the outside world. Sandy and Kirsten thought he should just cool off for one night before they went in for the kill.
Seth opened the door to the pool house. "Ryan…um, whoa…" he looks to the right and then to his left. The place is a mess. This wasn't like Ryan at all. "Dude, you've gone, like, all Summer on me. And that's not good thing." He says, referring to Summers raging blackouts he had to witness a couple of times.
"Go away, Seth. I'm not up for talking right now. I just want to sleep." Ryan spat out, twisting and turning in his sheets.
"Well…that's nothing new." Seth mumbled to himself, shutting the door to the pool house and going back inside to wait for Anna to pick him up for school.
"Seth." Sandy said drinking his coffee
"Dad…" Seth responded, pulling out a comic book from his backpack then sitting down at the counter.
Sandy stares at his son
"Dad…" Seth looks up from his comic book with a twisted expression on his face. "Can I help you?" He asks
"No…" Sandy looks over to the pool house. "How's Ryan?"
The doorbell rang for Seth. "Go find out for yourself, Dad. But watch out, he might bite." Seth said trotting over to Anna who was wearing the exact outfit that he had on. "Yeah, Anna...love the selection you've got on for today. But might I suggest one thing?"
"What's that Seth?" Anna asks with a raised eyebrow.
Seth flipped her collar on her shirt down and smiles happily. "There. That's more like it."
Sandy considered staying home today, but after buying the Lighthouse the other day, he knew he should talk business with Jimmy a little and get everything sorted out. He also had to go over to his office and deal with his 'Judge Judy' cases that he was starting to ignore. He knew sooner or later that he would have to tell the company that he was leaving them to start up his own restaurant business. He felt good about it, he really did. But he somehow was going to miss it. For the first time in fifteen years, he felt young again. And this time…he wasn't surfing.
"Hey Ryan, looks like…" Sandy tried to choose the right words. "Looks like you've made yourself at home. But I think it's time that you get up. And just because you were suspended, doesn't mean you can't work on your school work." Ryan didn't respond. "I could stay home? We could talk?" Sandy asks.
"No."
"He's alive! You're alive! We're all alive!" Sandy shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.
Ryan turned over on his side and glared at Sandy.
"Look, Kirsten is at the office all day today. And I have to go talk business with Jimmy this morning. So you're going to have the place all to yourself for awhile. And you are not allowed to go anywhere. And don't you think that we're not going to talk about what happened yesterday." Sandy said, pointing his finger at Ryan and raising his voice a little too loud as if he was talking to a toddler.
As soon as Sandy left, Ryan got up and wandered the house for awhile before deciding to go out for a little bike ride. He needed to clear his head. He thought about going down to the Crab Shack and getting a few extra shifts this week, but then decided he'd rather not. Working would just make him even more depressed. Instead, he felt like going over to the pier.
"Ahhahah, that's funny. Not." Seth said, joking around to Anna. "Seriously, it's like the dead has taken over her. Don't you think we should do something?" Seth said to Anna, looking at Summer who was sitting at a table starring at the wall ahead of her.
"Seth, I'm sure if she needs a friend, she'll come to us. We did say we were friends." Anna said, pulling him away from Summer's view. "How about we do something after school? Like…go to your house? I think captain Oats wants a re-match in Jenga."
"Are you sure she's Okay? She doesn't look okay. I mean that...well I don't know exactly what I mean. She just well…doesn't look good. And I haven't seen Marissa all day today…she needs a friend." Seth looked at Anna who has giving him a disapproved looked. "Jenga? My house? Sure!"
"Who the hell does that Oliver kid think he is…he's sick. And he's after my girlfriend." Ryan mumbled to himself. He had been sitting on the bench for so long that he had lost track of time. He was trying to think of a plan to get Marissa back. But the longer he thought about his plan, the longer he wanted to go over to Oilver's 'penthouse' and beat the shit out of him. But after deciding that he'd just end up back in Juvy or even worse, back with his mom, he decided just to cool off for awhile and head back home to the Cohen's house.
"…Captain Oats is not the sore loser Seth!"
"Oh really, so you're suggesting that I'm the sore loser?" He said, pinching Anna's nose.
There was a knock at the door of Seth's room.
"Is Ryan in here?" He said walking into Seth's room. "Oh, Hi Anna."
"Hi Mr.Cohen." Anna said
"No dad, Ryan's not here. I thought he was in the pool house—"
"No he's not there."
Ryan pedaled up into the Cohen's driveway and placed his bike on the side of the house. It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. He hadn't eaten anything all day and felt really sick to his stomach. He noticed Sandy's car in the driveway. "Great" he mumbled to himself and walked into the house and into the kitchen.
"And where were you?" Sandy asked, not waiting for an answer he said, "This has got to stop!"
Ryan dared not to look at Sandy and walked into the living room to sit down. He knew how much lawyers liked to talk, so he thought he should take a seat, before Sandy was about to bite off his head.
"I was just out…thinking." Ryan replied looking to floor.
"Thinking? After I told you yesterday that you weren't allowed to go anywhere?" Sandy demanded. "Ryan this is stupid and what you're doing…that's stupid. Did you ever think of the consequences? You attacked Oliver!" Sandy yelled, taking a seat on the other couch. "Why, Ryan?"
"Oliver said…" He paused, trying to find the right words. "He's a sick kid, Sandy! Maybe you don't see it, but I do! Oliver said I wasn't right for Marissa. He's going to hurt her Sandy! You have to trust me…" Ryan looked up from the floor and starred at Sandy. "I didn't mean to hit him. I just…I was angry. I wasn't looking for trouble."
"Well you found it. You're lucky you were only suspended for a week. I've already spoken to Dr. Kim…and as soon as you get back to school next week you still have to attend detention. It will be awhile until the board committee reaches a comment on you're little break-in." Sandy stood up. "As for now Ryan, I don't want you going anywhere. And don't go near Oliver, you understand?"
Ryan nods his head.
"Kirsten and I still need to chat about those fists of yours. We'll talk after dinner." Sandy left the room.
"Can we not talk about him?" Marissa asked, grabbing some more rice from the container on the ground of Oliver's penthouse.
"Sorry. I just thought maybe you wanted to talk about it." Oliver said looking at Marissa. "Say, why don't we go do something."
"Like?"
"Let's go see a movie. It's on me." Oliver said, raising to his feet. He extended his hand to Marissa and she grabbed it and met his face standing up. For a second their eyes locked on eachother. Oliver went into kiss her but Marissa pulled away.
"Sorry…" Marissa said grabbing her coat from the couch.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. So stupid of me...I mean I have a girlfriend and well you—"
"Don't" Marissa spat out at Oliver. "Ryan isn't my boyfriend anymore. Not after what he did to you."
There was a sense of relief that rushed over Oliver's face. Finally, he thought to himself, no more Ryan. Marissa is his now. She has nobody else but him. His plan is working.
"Ryan, you haven't eaten anything." Kirsten notices. She looks worried and glances at Sandy then to Seth.
Ryan stares at his food, pushing it around in his plate, ignoring Kirsten's comment.
"So…how was your day Seth?" Sandy asked, ignoring Kirsten's comment.
"Sucked…they changed the schools lunch menu just when I was starting to like it. It's like they have nothing better to do…so they change the food." Seth comments, standing up and taking his dish to the kitchen.
"Well you can always bring a lunch to school you know." Kirsten yells from the table.
"Yeah, because that's always cool." The telephone rings, and Seth picks it up. "Hello? Yeah hold on, he's right here. Ryan…it's for you." Seth hands his the phone and goes to the living room to catch up on his ps2.
Ryan looks surprised and takes the phone from Seth and walks out into the foyer. "Hello?"
"Hey, Ryan."
"Who's this?" Ryan questions.
"It's Oliver."
There was a long silence. "What the hell do you want?" Ryan whispers into the phone, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Look Ryan, I called to apologize, for what happened the other day. Marissa is with me right now…we just got home from a movie. She's in the bathroom." Oliver says, trying to make Ryan jealous.
"Apology not excepted." Ryan spat into the receiver.
"Whoa, Ryan…you should really control your temper because I'm sure you don't want to get into something you know you can't win. Like Marissa."
"Yeah well… me and you…we're not over. It hasn't even begun." Ryan whispers into the phone. "You better not hurt her. I swear if you touch her…." Ryan raised his voice and Sandy walked into the foyer with a concerned look on his face. "Thanks for the info…I'll get started on the project. Bye" Ryan said and hangs up the phone.
"Who was that Ryan?" Sandy asked. He could see the anger in Ryan's eyes.
"Just someone from my English class. We're doing a project together"
"Oh okay." Sandy said, half believing him. "Kirsten and I want to talk with you in the kitchen."
Back in the kitchen Kirsten was standing at the sink looking out of the window. She didn't know what to think of anything right now. She didn't know how to deal with Ryan. Seth was never in trouble. She sort of wished that he would get into some trouble. The last time he was in trouble was when he was in the seventh grade and skipped school. It was nothing big, but it wasn't like him. Sure there was the IMAX theatre and the Range Rover incident that she didn't believe. But she let that go because she somehow sensed that it wasn't her son's fault at all. It must have been Ryan. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it because he was just starting to come around in their family.
Ryan took a seat at the counter. He could see Kirsten's face, she was worried. "Look guys, if you don't want me, I understand. I don't want to be a burden on you guys."
"Ryan, I thought I made it clear that we do want you. You are a part of this family, whether you like it or not. We have a responsibility." Sandy said
"I know, but all I've done here is cause you guys trouble." Ryan said, taking his head into his hands. "I don't know if this is going to work anymore…"
"Ryan…Sandy and I think its best if you talk to someone." Kirten said, putting her hand on his shoulder. Ryan flinched at her touch and starred at her.
"You think I'm crazy?" Ryan stood up and Sandy jumped in to settle him back down into his stool.
"No, Ryan you're not crazy! We just think that you need to let yourself out. You don't open up to anyone and I…well we need to know that you're okay. You can't keep everything bottled up inside of you. It's just going to blow up and by the time that happens…well who knows what will happen. We can lose you."
"I think that's already happened!" Ryan spat out. "And no, there's nothing wrong with me. Oliver…yeah. You guys just need to listen to me. I talk to you…you just don't listen to me." Ryan yells, making Kirsten uneasy.
"Well…we're listening right now." Sandy replies.
