NOTE: I do not own any of these characters… you can thank FOX. If you have any questions or comment you can e-mail me at liverbrain22@hotmail.com

(Thanks for the Reviews!)

Chapter Fourteen

"Ryan, you may not believe me, but you've been showing a lot of progress these last few weeks." Chelsea exclaimed, watching him cut through a piece of meat.

"You're right, I don't believe you." Ryan said, smiling at her. He continued cutting his meat and stared back at Marissa, who was at the side of the room trying to look occupied by the magazine that was sitting on her lap. "So, I guess this means I don't have to come three times a week now?" Ryan questioned.

Chelsea laughed at him. "No, not yet, Ryan. But keep it up and, soon enough, we'll only see each other once a week."

Ryan continued cutting the meat.

"So, how often do you feel your arm, Ryan?"

"Almost everyday now."

"For how long?"

"Sometimes it's for a spilt second, but other times I can feel it for a couple of minutes."

"That's good. You should start feeling your arm a lot now. You should be expecting parts of your arm to regain feeling, yet other parts take longer." Chelsea explained. "You should also expect to begin to have movement in your fingers."

Ryan laughed, "Can't wait."

"Well, all you have to do, Ryan, is continue doing your exercises." Chelsea looked up at the clock. "Well, time's up. You did well today, Ryan."

Ryan thanked Chelsea and then headed out of the room with Marissa. When they got to the car Marissa finally spoke to him. "Were you hitting on Chelsea?"

"What? What are you talking about Marissa? I can't believe you would think that." Ryan replied.

"Sorry, I just…I don't know. I hardly ever see you smile or laugh and when you do smile or laugh, it's with her." Marissa said, starting up the engine. She backed out of her parking spot of the hospital and drove Ryan home.

Marissa pulled up into the Cohen's driveway, waiting for Ryan to ask if she wanted to come inside and hang out with him. But he didn't ask.

Ryan grabbed his school bag from the back seat. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, sure." Marissa replied and then Ryan left her and headed into the house. Marissa drove off in a hurry. She wasn't sure if she should be mad at Ryan or happy for him. He was getting a lot more comfortable with his arm and started to accept it. Heck, he was laughing more. But then again, whenever he was with Marissa, he was different around her. He barely laughed or smiled around her.

Ryan walked into the Cohen's house and walked into the den hoping to find Seth, instead he found Luke. "Uh, what are you doing here, Luke?" Ryan asked. Luke paused the game he was playing and put his controller down on the coffee table.

"Oh, I was just waiting for you to get home. I was wondering if you wanted to go out and do something—anything. I'm so bored. Anna's going to some comic book thing and there was no way I was going to one of those." Luke said.

Ryan laughed, "Seth's going too."

"So does that mean you want to go out tonight?" Luke questioned.

Before Ryan could respond, Sandy and Kirsten walked into the house with groceries.

"Oh, hey Ryan. How was physiotherapy?" Kirsten asked, putting the groceries down on the counter.

Ryan shrugged. "She said I've been progressing. So I guess it went well."

Kirsten smiled. "Well, that's good Ryan! Oh! Hi, Luke." Kirsten said, waving at him.

"Hey, Mrs. Cohen." Luke replied.

"Uh, Kirsten can I go out with Luke tonight?" Ryan questioned.

Before Kirsten could respond, Sandy came walking into the room. "No, it's a school night."

"But, Seth's going to some comic book thing. Why can't I go out?" Ryan asked. He then realized he was acting childish. "It's okay, never mind, I understand….I'll just stay home tonight. It's no problem." Ryan started to walk off towards the poolhouse with Luke.

Kirsten glanced at Sandy. "Wait, Ryan. We're not being fair. You can go out tonight with Luke and—"

Sandy cut her off. "Be home by ten and you guys behave."

Luke laughed and put him arm around Ryan. "Don't worry Mr. Cohen, he'll be home by a quarter to ten."


Summer lay on Seth's bed staring at him from the corner of her eye. "I can't believe you're dragging me to some stupid comic book convention, Cohen. Those things are for like total losers with no life. No offense." Summer added.

Seth took off his shirt and threw it to the ground. He rummaged through his dresser drawers trying to find his shirt. "Well, Summer, I may be a loser and I may even be some kind of geek. But, you did promise me you'd come with me. Remember, we made a deal. The deal was that I'd go with you to the mall this weekend, if you came to the comic book releasing with me. A deal's a deal." Seth said. He put his hands on his hips and exclaimed, "I can't find my shirt!"

Summer laughed. "You know what, Cohen. I think one of these days you should really hook up with Ryan to teach you how to work those 'abs' of yours."

Seth searched his stomach for his abs. "Oh, you don't like these?" He questioned.

Summer laughed. He was so adorable. Seth found his shirt, put in on and went over to sit down on the bed next to Summer. "So, what is it exactly that guys don't like about shopping?" Summer asked.

"Do I really have to go into it?" Seth groaned.

Summer laughed at him.

"You know, we could always stay home and like, uh, you know do something else." Seth said, kissed her lips. "Maybe do a little bit of this." Seth moved his hand down her back and kissed the inside of her mouth. "And maybe a little bit of this…." Seth began to kiss her again, but then Summer pulled away from him.

"Cohen, your parents are home. Not to mention Ryan and Luke who, might I add…" Summer said, raising her finger, "don't believe in knocking."

Seth kissed her again and looked at his watch. "The comics await me. Let's go."

Summer smiled. "You are so weird, Cohen."

"And you like that." Seth added.


Ryan leaned his head against Luke's truck window and sighed. "So what exactly do you have planned tonight? Are we just going over to your house? Or what?"

"Well, Holly's got this thing going down at her beach house." Luke replied, keeping his eyes' on the road.

"A party?" Ryan asked and Luke nodded his head. "It's a school night. Why would she have a party?"

"Her parents are out on their, like, fifth honey moon, if you could call it that." Luke said.

Ryan laughed and itched his right hand. It was starting to tingle on him. "Must be great, having all that money and wasting it on some stupid vacation. No offense." Ryan added. Luke shrugged and pulled up into Holly's beach house. "I thought you weren't friends with any of these people anymore." Ryan knew that his 'old' friends didn't accept Luke's father being gay.

Luke shrugged. "You're right; I'm not friends with these people anymore. But, it's free beer and I have nothing better to do tonight." Luke parked on the side of the road and got out of the car. Ryan followed him into the beach house.

"Want anything to drink?" Luke shouted out to Ryan. Black Eyed Peas' song, 'Let's Get Retarded', blared throughout the beach house.

Ryan nodded his head and Luke went off to find the keg. Ryan decided to just sit and wait for him to get back with the beer. He knew he shouldn't be drinking, but he promised himself he would only have one. He sat there on the couch alone, waiting. He didn't know why he had agreed to come to this stupid party. He didn't like any of the kids in Newport.


Seth was like a little kid in the candy store. He went from one comic book rack to the other. He had the urge to buy all the comics, but he knew that his parents' would be very disappointed in him if he did. So, instead of buying all of them, he only bought twenty, which would probably only last him a week. Seth gasped and picked up a comic book.

Summer watched him and laughed. Seth Cohen was adorable, she admitted to herself. She never knew Cohen liked comic books so much. It was freaky, in a way. "Cohen, can we go now? This is so boring and everyone here is really freaky."

Seth laughed at her and picked up another comic book.

"Oh, hey look….Another freaky person." Summer said. She spotted Anna, who just walked into the store.

Seth sighed. "Fine, let's go. Ruin my fun…. It's what you do best." Seth said, sarcastically and grabbed Summer's hand. The walked out of the store and passed Anna, hand in hand.

Summer unlocked the car doors to her car and they both got in. "Okay, I'm definitely not going home, Cohen. It's, like, eight o'clock."

Seth agreed and said, "Let's just go to South Coast Plaza and get this stupid shopping thing over with."

Summer smiled, "I like that idea." She started the car and made her way to South Coast Plaza. She pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car. Seth followed her into the plaza.

"Don't worry, Seth. We're not going to shop for long. I'm just going to grab a few things." Summer said, walking around the plaza. Seth stopped dead in his tracks and Summer turned around. "What?"

"You know what, that's what my mom always tells me." Seth shook his head. "A little means a lot to you people. Last time my mom said that, we were here for hours!" Seth exclaimed.

Summer laughed. "Cohen, the plaza closes soon….We're only going to be here for an hour."

Seth groaned "An hour of boredom followed by my death." He mumbled as he starting to follow Summer.

Summer stopped in front of a store and shrieked, picking up a pink skirt. She placed in around her waist and moved her hips from side to side. "Oh my God, is this cute or what?" Summer asked Seth.

Seth rolled his eyes at her and grabbed the skirt out from under her and placed it back on the rack. "The color's not you at all, Summer." Seth said, browsing through the rack. He pulled out a short black skirt and held it out to her. "This is more your style, Summer."

Summer grabbed it from him and laughed. "Yeah, if I'm going to work a street corner. Which I'm not." Summer added. She put it back on the rack and walked into the store. Seth groaned and followed her into the store. Seth couldn't help but laugh at Summer. She was like a little kid in a candy store. She was adorable.

"I'm just going to try these on. It won't take me long." Summer said, pointing to the bundle of clothes in her arm. She had over ten different outfits.

Seth walked over to the changing rooms and sat down in a chair next to her change room. She was taking forever. "Summer, are you dead in there or what?" Seth exclaimed.

Summer stood in her change room staring at the mirror trying to zip up the dress she was trying on. "Cohen, I can't zip this stupid dress up!" She shouted out to him. She opened the door to the change room with one arm across the top of the dress, holding it up so it wouldn't fall to the floor, not that Seth would mind. "Help me?" She asked.

Seth got up from his seat and walked into the change room, closing the door behind him. "Okay, uh…" Seth stumbled on his words. He cleared his throat and spoke again, "Mr. Fix-it is here, what seems to be the problem?" Seth asked in a deep and handsome voice.

Summer laughed and turned around. "Zip it, please!"

Seth smiled. "You already know I don't have the capability of shutting up. It's like a curse I was born with….I think it comes from my dad, you know, he's a lawyer and all—"Summer turned around and covered his mouth with her hand.

"I meant the dress, Cohen." She said, turning around.

"Oh, uh, I knew that." Seth said, zipping Summer's dress up.

Summer turned around and faced him, straightening her hair with her hands. "How do I look?" She asked.

Seth scratched his head. "You, uh, you look….hot, Summer." Seth said, inching his way towards her. Summer reached out for his hands and wrapped them around her waist. Seth kissed her deeply and pulled back. "You know what, Summer? I don't think I hate shopping anymore." He added, kissing her again and moving his hands down her back. He made his way to the zipper and unzipped it. Summer's dress fell to the floor as they made out.

Out of no where, Summer pushed Seth back. Seth went flying to the floor, hitting his head on the change room door. "Sorry, I, uh, I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to do this Cohen, I do. Just not here…." Summer babbled on.

"No, Summer, here is fine. I'm okay with here!" Seth replied, scratching his head. It was starting to hurt. "This is like a wild dream come true for me!" He added.

Summer laughed and stood there in her bra and underwear. "I guess this is kind of kinky in a way, isn't it?"

Seth rolled his eyes and stood up. "Do I really have to answer that?" Seth picked up Summer's dress and handed it back to her. She took it from him and threw it back to the ground. She grabbed him and started to kiss him again, exploring the insides of his mouth.


Ryan got up from the couch and placed his beer on the coffee table. He sighed and walked over to Luke, who was clearly hitting on a way younger girl. Wasn't Luke dating Anna? Ryan thought to himself. A player will always be a player.

"Hey, Luke. Can we go now? It's ten-thirty." Ryan informed him, looking at his watch.

"Who the hell are you?" The younger girl asked. "Does Mommy and Daddy know you're here?"

"Trish, he's right. I have to go now. I'll, uh—I'll catch up with you later." Luke said, turning his back away from her.

"Loose the party pooper!" She shouted out to him and walked off in search for more beer.

Ryan and Luke left the beach house but were stopped outside. A couple of Luke's 'old' friends were hanging around outside balancing beer bottles on their heads when they noticed Luke and Ryan.

"Oh look…What do we have here?" Brad asked. "A date?" Brad laughed and pointed at them.

Luke and Ryan tried to escape them but were stopped.

"Chino, how's the arm?" Brad asked.

"What's it to you?" Ryan shot back, holding his ground.

Brad went up to him and grabbed his shirt. "You better watch what you say, Chino. I'm sure you don't want your ass kicked again like last time."

Luke cut in between the two of them. "Last time he didn't have me. This time he does. So, that means you better watch your back and get the hell out of our way."

Brad started to laugh. "You hear that guys?" He turned around to the rest of the group. "Maybe the rumors are true…. You and Chino. I should have known."

Both Luke and Ryan had had enough; they went after Brad and the others. Ryan single-handedly beat the crap out of some guy, while Luke beat the crap out of Brad. Holly came running out of the beach house in her bikini screaming at the boys.

"Guys, cut the crap! I don't want to cops over here!" She yelled at them.

Someone grabbed Ryan's right arm and flew him off the guy he was beating. Luckily he couldn't feel his right arm, otherwise it would have hurt badly. Luke stopped beating Brad and helped Ryan up. The two sides separated and Luke and Ryan made their way back to Luke's car.

"Sorry about that." Luke started to say as he got into the truck. "I didn't know it would turn out this way."

Ryan shrugged, "Whatever, I think we got the message through to them." Ryan said, looking back at the beach house. They did a pretty good job for only the two of them. "Let's just hope I don't turn up with any shiners."

Luke laughed and looked at Ryan's face. Besides his lip bleeding, he looked pretty good.


Seth gave Summer a goodnight kiss and got out of her car. "So, we still up for shopping this Saturday?" Seth asked.

"If by shopping you mean buying clothes, yeah."

Seth groaned, "So, this making out in the change room is only a one-time thing?" He questioned.

Summer laughed and nodded.

"All right then, I changed my mind!" Seth yelled out to her. "Oh, I just remembered," Seth added. "Ryan wanted me to go somewhere with him Saturday. So I guess I can't go shopping after all."

"Whatever, Cohen!" Summer shouted, backing out of the driveway. Seth stood there waving her a goodbye. After she left, Seth made his way around the house to the poolhouse.