Chapter Four:

"We were doomed from the start, as lovers are.

Why am I doing this?

Digging my own grave.

Though it's shallow, I would lie in it."

Flying At Tree Level – Brand New

"Hey mom, can Luke crash here tonight?" Seth asked his mom, interrupting his parents discussion.

"It's a school night, Seth. No." Kirsten said.

"I know…He just doesn't want to go home. He's dealing with a lot right now. Please?" Seth begged his mom. Ryan had forced Seth in the den to go and ask his parents if Luke could sleep over. Ryan knew that he would get a 'no'.

"Fine." Kirsten wasn't up for fighting with her son.

Seth walked back into the den. "Yeah, you're allowed." Seth told Luke, who was beating Ryan's ass at playstation. "Come on Ryan…this is a disgrace…. Oh…oh…there ya go…"

"Seth, shut up."

"Shutting up." Seth said, pulling his fingers to his mouth and closing an invisible zipper.

Sandy walked into the den and sat down in an empty seat.

"Seth, why don't you go show Luke your room." Seth demanded from his son.

"Um…he's already seen my room." Seth gave him a confused look. "Besides we're like seventeen not seven."

Sandy gave his son the look. Without complaining anymore, Seth and Luke went off to his bedroom. Ryan wasn't sure why Sandy wanted to talk to him alone. He wasn't in any trouble at school today, besides English class. But Mr. Schmidt said he wouldn't bother telling Dr. Kim.

"Ryan—"

"If this is about English class…" Sandy gave him a startled look. "What? What did I do?" Ryan put down the playstation controller.

"What happened in English?" Sandy ordered.

"Nothing." Ryan said, trying to force a smile on his face.

"Where were you after school today?"

"I was with Luke, why?"

"What happened with detention?"

"Shit." Ryan mumbled to himself. He had totally forgotten about detention. He had been caught up with trying to get back at Oliver. Ryan could see the disappointed look on Sandy's face. "I forgot."

"How can you forget about that? You do realize that Dr. Kim won't take that as an excuse? You've been trying so hard to keep yourself in that school. This is unacceptable, Ryan! First you break into the school, then you get suspended for fighting Oliver, and again you get suspended for the same thing…and now you 'forget' to go to detention. You've been going for the longest time. This is not something you 'forget'. You skipped it, didn't you?"

"No…I didn't. I'm sorry. I'll suffer the consequences."

"Oh, don't worry, there will be consequences to suffer for. Not just from Dr. Kim, but from Kirsten and I as well."

Ryan lowered his head. "I'm sorry", he said, his voice strained.

"Where did you and Luke go after school today?" Sandy questioned.

"Nowhere…we just went over to his place." Ryan said. He still wasn't looking at Sandy.

"So you went over to his place after I told you before that you were supposed to come directly home after detention?"

Ryan was at a loss for words. He was caught up in all his emotions. He didn't remember Sandy ever telling him that. He had the urge to pull out a cigarette. He couldn't handle being yelled at right now. It reminded him of his mother and her loser boyfriends she used to bring around the house. They would always yell at him for being inconsiderate of his mother's feeling. He usually ended up beaten and he'd sneak off to go stay with Theresa on those nights.

Sandy was still telling him how disappointed he was. "OKAY!" Ryan yelled, stopping Sandy from talking. "I know…you don't have to fucking throw it in my face, like everyone else does! I get it…" Ryan shouted, then left the room in a hurry.

Ryan slammed the door to the pool house and kicked himself for yelling at Sandy for something he didn't do. It was his fault for being messed up right now, not Sandy's.

Ryan lay down on his bed and lit up a cigarette.

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"Drive me home?" Marissa asked, stretching off the couch.

Oliver looks at his watch; it was eleven o'clock at night. "Just crash here tonight…tell your dad you're sleeping at your mom's house, okay? I'm so tired right now."

"Oh, Yeah sure…" Marissa picked up the phone and called her dad. "Hi dad…Yeah I'm at Oliver's…No, I'm going over to mom's tonight…Yeah I will, love you too…Okay bye."

Oliver went to his room and pulled the sheets down on his bed. "I claim the left side of the bed…here you can wear these." He handed Marissa a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. "It's not the most comfortable thing to wear, but it will do."

"Thanks…" Marissa went and changed in the bathroom. When she came out of the bathroom Oliver was already snuggled into the bed with the lights off. Marissa slid in the bed next to him.

Oliver starred up at the ceiling for a long time before turning over on his side and facing Marissa. She was fast asleep. He uncovered his hand from the blanket and pushed her hair aside so that he could see her face. He starred at her for the longest time, before going to bed.

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Ryan was restless throughout the night. He finally went to bed at midnight, just before he finished writing his 5,000-word essay for Mr. Schmidt. He couldn't fall asleep, though. So, he decided to grab something to drink from the kitchen. When he walked into the kitchen, he found Seth raiding the fridge.

"Hey…" Seth said, pulling his head out of the fridge. "God, I can't sleep…Luke is snoring like a freaking monkey upstairs!"

"Monkey's snore?" Ryan asked, pulling out juice from the fridge.

"Um…sure they do. So, why are you up? It's, like, three o'clock in the morning." Seth questioned.

"Just can't sleep…" Ryan said, gulping down orange juice.

Sandy walked into the kitchen with his eyes closed and both boys froze, starring at him cautiously. Sandy walked over to the fridge and immediately opened his eyes and gasped.

"Oh God, you guys scared me!" Sandy said, holding his chest. "What are you two doing? It's three o'clock in the morning."

"Same thing you are." Seth said.

"Can't sleep, huh?

Both boys nodded.

"Well I'm off…Luke is probably missing the company of the Seth Cohen wilderness…oh God, did I just say that?" Seth said, wandering off towards the stairs.

Ryan took a seat on a stool at the kitchen counter and Sandy pulled out a package of cut salami from the fridge. "Always does the trick." He ate two slices and put the rest back into the fridge, then sat down next to Ryan and the counter.

"You boys are starting to really scare me, you know." Sandy said.

"We are?"

"Oh yeah…I mean, two months ago you and Luke battled over Marissa everyday and Seth…well Seth just doesn't like anyone who plays water polo and wears a fake smile. Who can blame him?" Sandy said.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"For what happened earlier. I was just caught up in the heat of the moment and I didn't think." Ryan looked away from Sandy. "Shit…I never think." He mumbled to himself. "This is different…everything is different here and I'm not used to…people caring, like you and Kirsten. Hell, I would have had my ass kicked for what I said to you earlier."

"But you didn't. You're here and you're safe."

"I know…I just don't want you and Kirsten to be so…worried. I'm fine and I can handle myself. I've handled my mom's boyfriends, my mom ditching me, Luke…and now I'm going to handle Marissa…and Oliver. On my own…I don't need you guys to worry about me, because I'm fine." Ryan stood up and walked over to the sink to put his glass away.

"You can't handle everything, Ryan. We're here for you if you ever need us. And please speak up when you do. Well, I'm going to head off to bed. Make sure you get some rest." And with that, Sandy patted Ryan on the shoulder and went off to bed.

Ryan walked off to the pool house and excepted the warmth of his bed and fell asleep instantly.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Seth and Luke were in the kitchen eating breakfast when Ryan walked into the kitchen. Considering the fact that Ryan hadn't fallen asleep until three o'clock in the morning, he felt good this morning. Seth, on the other hand, looked terrible. It looked like he hadn't slept at all.

"'Morning." Ryan said, sitting down at the kitchen table next to Luke. "You look like crap, Seth."

"Awe, gee thanks." Seth shot a look at Luke who was breathing in his food. "I'm glad someone around here got some sleep…" Luke looked up from his plate of eggs.

"You talking about me, Cohen?"

"No Luke, the monkey behind you." Luke looked at Ryan and shrugged. "It's okay Luke…just keep your eyes on your food. So…Ryan, I need some…advice." Ryan turned his full attention to Seth. "You, of course, know Summer and Anna…well the other day when you guys walked in on us…Summer and I…we were…kind of like lip singing, together…If you know what I mean."

"So you two kissed." Ryan asked.

"Yeah, Ryan. We kissed, but I have a problem."

"Anna?"

"Yeah…Anna. I mean we're like really good together but not so good. You know what I mean. Like she is…" Seth rolled his eyes into the back of his head and he made a noise of pleasure. "I like her a lot, right. But Summer and I, we're really good together as well."

"So, you want me to tell you who to date?"

"If that's what you think you should do, yeah…so how about it? Summer or Anna?" Seth asked

"If you don't know by now who you like more, you have a bigger problem, Seth."

Seth sighed; "Okay, it's Summer…" Both Ryan and Luke looked at Seth in shock. "I've always liked her since I was a kid. But when Anna came, oh God—it was like meeting one of my species. She's everything I wanted in a girl…and I think that's the problem. Like I told you before, we never fight."

"But that's a good thing Seth."

"Yeah I know…but it's like what Summer told me in Palm Springs, Anna and I…we're like brother and sister."

Instantly Luke spat his eggs out onto his plate. "That's sick, Seth."

"See Ryan…what did I tell you." Ryan shrugged. "What should I tell her?" Seth asked

"Who? Summer or Anna?" Ryan replied, laughing at Luke who was eating his partially eaten eggs that he had just spit out.

"Anna"

"Tell Anna that you like Summer. And don't put it off, or else it will kick you right in the ass."

"Okay, thanks. Love the mental picture there, by the way."

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"Seth! Oh Seth! Over here!" Anna yelled out from the table she had saved in the food court. Seth groaned and made his way over to the table. All morning he had been ignoring Anna. He didn't know how to tell her that it's over.

"You never called me last night. How was your night?" She asked.

"Oh, fantastic. Who knew curling hair and painting nails would be so much fun!" Seth looked down at Anna's lunch. "Oh hey, barf." He gagged at Anna then sat down at the table.

"It's chili…I think. I'm taking your advice and trying something new. What do you have?" Anna asked.

Seth looked at the chili. "I'm rather stuffed from today's breakfast. Luke slept over and cooked up a storm this morning."

"Oh…so what are you doing tonight? It's Friday, I though maybe we could go see a movie or something."

Seth hesitated for a moment then noticed Ryan, Luke and Summer coming over to the table. "Oh hey, people we know."

Anna gave him a glare.

"Oh, I'm so hungry!" Luke shouted. "Mmm…that chili doesn't look so bad."

Anna smirked at Seth. "Glad someone seems to like."

Ryan sat down at the table with his tray of food. Today, he was having a plain turkey sandwich with a salad on the side. He began to eat his food, then saw Marissa and Oliver walk into the food court hand-in-hand, and choked.

"Whoa, cowboy…" Summer said, patting him on the back. "What? You all of a sudden forgot how to eat?" Ryan, still choking on his food, glared at the two hand-in-hand. Summer then noticed why he had choked on his food. "Oh hey…Seth, why don't you go take a walk with Ryan. You know, get him something to drink…anything."

Seth, sensing Ryan's attention, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to the other side of the food court to the vending machines.

"Mountain Dew?" Seth asked, putting his money in the machine.

Ryan took the offer and Seth handed him a Mountain Dew.

"Hey you think Anna knows something is going on?" Seth asked. Ryan was still looking at Marissa and Oliver.

"How could she do that? We just broke up…and now…" Ryan stumbled on his words and took a few sips of his drink. "She's like all over him…look at them!"

"Yeah, I know Ryan. Look…we'll do what you said yesterday. We'll show her how messed up Oliver is, then you will have her back." Seth said, trying to cheer up his friend.

All of a sudden Luke walked over to Marissa and Oliver. Ryan and Seth couldn't make out what was happening, Luke was talking and both Marissa and Oliver were just standing there. Then all of a sudden, Oliver went into Luke and grabbed him by his shirt. Luke reacted and shoved Oliver to the ground. Marissa was yelling at Luke and then a teacher came and split then up.

"What the hell was that all about?" Seth asked, but when he turned to look at Ryan, he was already gone. He was chasing after Luke.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ryan walked in detention and spotted Luke in the far corner of the room. The teacher was not in the room yet, so he decided to go chat with his friend.

"Hey, where did you go? I was calling your name when you ran off from the food court." Ryan asked.

"No where…just had to chill out. Stupid ass Dr. Kim gave me detention for what I did and Oliver got squat. Can you believe that bitch?"

"Yeah I know. What the hell happened at lunch today?" Ryan questioned

"Look, I saw how you looked when you saw them holding hands. I still care for Marissa…and I can't stand seeing her with Oliver as much as you."

Ryan didn't know what to say. Was Luke still in love with her?

"She's yours though, Ryan. I lost my chance with her and I know how much you care about her. All I'm doing is trying to help you out, that's all." Luke said.

Ryan felt relieved. "Thanks, I mean it."

The teacher walked into the room and Ryan took his seat at another desk and started on his algebra homework.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ryan walked into the Cohen's house and flopped himself on the couch next to Seth. "Oh God—I hate detention."

"I've never had one." Seth said, starring at the television screen.

"Well then, you're lucky." Ryan said. "So…Luke, he told me he still cares about Marissa…that's why he went after Oliver today at lunch." Seth didn't say anything. "What's wrong you lost you voice?" Ryan asked.

Seth turned his attention to Ryan. "No, I'm just in a little shock right now."

"Why, what happened?"

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Thanks for the review guys! Hopefully I will have the next chapter up by tomorrow.