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 Twenty
"Everybody here is living life in fear of falling out of line.
Tearing lives apart and breaking lots of hearts just to pass the time.
And the eyes get red in the back of your head; this place will make you blind.
Put it all behind me and I'll be just fine"
Back Home – Yellowcard
"Hey, Dad." Seth said, coming into the kitchen and opening the fridge. He pulled out three soft drinks.
"Hey…" Sandy replied, looking up from the papers that were laid out in front of him. "How goes it with the girls?"
Seth groaned and sat down next to his dad. "Insanely boring. If it's not about clothes and nail polish, it's about Ryan."
"Oh?" Sandy replied.
"Yeah, Ryan's been ignoring Marissa all week." Seth answered. "Now it's somehow my fault…Marissa thinks I'm hiding something from her."
"Well, are you? Has Ryan told you anything?"
Seth shook his head. "No, Dad…Well, even if he did…Why would I go off and tell Marissa?" Sandy nodded his head in agreement. "Well, I better get going with these drinks, otherwise Summer will have one of her rage blackouts and personally, I'm not prepared for one right now." Seth said, standing up.
Sandy laughed at his son and watched him walk off. He somehow had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was up with Ryan but he wasn't sure what yet. He knew he needed to find out. Sandy knew that he should have grounded Ryan last night, but he decided not to. He decided to let it slip and now look where he was; he's with Luke. Luke, Sandy thought to himself. He should just call Luke's house right now and tell Ryan to come home.
Sandy got up from the kitchen table and called Luke's house number. On the third ring, Mrs. Ward picked up. "Hello, is Ryan there? It's Sandy Cohen."
"Oh, hi Sandy. No Ryan isn't here."
Sandy raised his eyebrow. "He isn't with Luke?" Sandy questioned.
"Luke's not here either, he told me he was going to a friends place after school. Is Ryan supposed to be here?"
"Oh, uh, no…I'm not sure. Do you know which friend Luke was going to see?"
"No."
"Okay, then…Well thanks anyway, bye." Sandy replied, hanging up the phone. He stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed. Clearly, angry with Ryan. It was only seven o'clock and Seth had told him that Ryan would be home at nine. He had two hours to figure out what was up with Ryan and how to deal with it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So, this is Chino…" Luke said to Ryan, stepping out of the truck. "Whose house is this?" He asked.
"This is my Mom's place." Ryan replied, and then he saw the look of confusion on Luke's face. "She's not home…But Jess is." Ryan added, knocking on the front door.
"And who's Jess?" Luke asked, as the front door flew open.
"I'm Jess." Jess replied, smiling at the two of them. "Come in." She said, letting the two inside the house. Both Dawn and John were out for the night. Jess walked them into the living room. "Sit. Want anything to drink?"
"Whatever you have…" Ryan replied.
"Uh, same as him, I guess." Luke answered. As soon as Jess left the living room Luke asked, "Who the hell is that? I didn't know you had a sister!"
"I don't have a sister. That's my mom's boyfriend's kid." Ryan said, flipping on the TV. Set. He realized that the television set was the same set he had in his bedroom when he lived in Chino. He thought for sure that his mom would have pond off all of his belongings. Jess came back with three soft drinks in her hand and threw them at Ryan and Luke. "So Jess, did my Mom tell you if she got that job she was interviewed for yesterday?"
Jess shook her head and sat between the two boys. "No, she didn't get it. She's a little down…So my dad took her out tonight." Ryan nodded his head and flipped threw the channels. "So, how much shit did you get in last night?" She asked.
Luke looked at the two of them bewildered and asked, "What happened last night?"
"Nothing." Ryan spat out.
"Come on, Chino. What happened?" Luke insisted.
Ryan hated it when Luke called him Chino. He felt like trash…He felt like leftovers. "I spend the day here and ended up at the police station." Ryan said dryly, and then added, "No biggie."
Jess started to laugh at him. "Right…No biggie, except for the fact that my dad grounded my ass for a month. You're telling me those people you live with didn't ground you? Damn your lucky, Ryan."
Luke threw his hands up in the air and yelled out, "What the hell happened last night?!"
"Ryan and I were driving to Newport with a couple of friends in a stolen vehicle." Jess explained. "We got pulled over. We had no clue that it was stolen, but that didn't help much because we were smoking pot."
"Oh." Was all Luke could say.
"Yeah…Sandy didn't really do anything. Just made me promise not to do it ever again."
"So that's why you didn't want to go home?" Luke asked. Ryan shrugged. "Whatever, man…" Luke reached over Jess and pulled the remote out of Ryan's grip. "There's a game on tonight." Luke flipped through the channels and found the game. The three of them sat there watching television and drinking their soft drinks.
The telephone rang and Jess got up to answer it. "Hello?" Jess asked. "Okay, stop calling….Seriously; I don't know what you're talking about." Jess replied, smashing phone down on its cradle and walking back into the living room. She sat back down between Luke and Ryan.
"Who was that?" Ryan asked Jess. When he had called earlier she had told him to stop calling. Someone must be calling her, and Ryan knew something was up.
Jess shook her head and smiled at him, "No one." She put up an up imaginary wall between them and focused on the game. She didn't want Ryan knowing that his mom's supplier was harassing her. She didn't want to lose anything she had between her and Ryan. If there was anything between them, that is, Jess thought to herself. If Ryan found out about his mom then he wouldn't come back and see her. She knew she would lose the connection between them and she didn't want to.
They continued watching the game until; Jess grabbed the remote from Luke and shut off the T.V. "What are you doing? I was watching that!" Luke retorted, trying to get the remote back from her. Jess ran off the couch and hid the remote under a stack of newspapers.
"Come on, this is boring…Let's go do something. What time do you boys have to be home at, anyway?" Jess questioned.
"Nine." Ryan replied, moving his right arm. He was trying to get some more coloring in it. He didn't want to go back to Chelsea on Wednesday with a white arm. There was no way Sandy and Kirsten were going to find out about it, Ryan thought to himself.
"Aw, it's almost eight. You sure you boys have to leave so soon?"
"We have school tomorrow…" Ryan answered.
"We should jet." Luke commented. It took at least an hour to get back to Newport. Ryan nodded his head in agreement. "It was nice meeting you Jess." Luke said, with his hand out. Jess accepted his hand and shook it.
Just then Dawn and John came stumbling into the house.
"Ry…" Dawn said, stumbling into the T.V. stand. "Whaa..are you doing here?" She slurred.
"Mom…"
Luke stood there frozen, looking at Ryan, then back at Dawn and John. Jess stood there next to him. She didn't know what to do. Her dad and his girlfriend were too wasted.
"I thought…" Ryan continued. He didn't know what to say. He thought his Mom had stopped using and drinking. She promised him that things would be better.
"Hey, let's go Ryan." Luke said, taking a hold of Ryan's arm. Ryan shrugged off Luke's arm and started walking out, but his mom stopped him.
"Whhere do you think you're going!" She screamed out.
"Home." Ryan mumbled.
"I'm you're mother, Ryan Atwood!" She yelled out.
John stood behind her, his eyes blood shot. Ryan turned around and looked at Jess. He didn't want to leave her here with the two of them. "Jess, uh, let's go." Ryan called out to her. Luke slid between Dawn, John and Ryan and went outside and started up his truck up. "Come on." Ryan yelled out to her. Jess nodded her head and started to leave.
John jumped in and grabbed her. "You're not leaving with this little shit!" He stated. "Go to your room." He slapped her across the face and Jess started to cry.
"HEY!" Ryan screamed out at him. John twirled around and glared at Ryan. Ryan ignored him and called out to Jess, "Come on, we're leaving." John went in on Ryan and threw a punch at him catching his jaw. Ryan stumbled but stood his ground. Jess ran out the door way and hoped into the truck.
"Ry…" Dawn began but John cut her off.
"Look what your stupid little fucked up kid did!" John yelled at her, and then hit her. Dawn crashed down to the ground and started crying to herself. Ryan stood there; he didn't know what to do. Run away from this mess or save his mom. It didn't take long for him to make his decision as he ran out of the house and took off in Luke's truck.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"It's getting late, Marissa. Maybe we should start heading out and let poor Seth go back to his comics and video games." Summer said, glaring at Seth. He was sitting at his computer desk, twirling in his chair with pure boredom.
"No, I want to talk to Ryan when he gets home." She insisted.
"It's nine, Marissa. And he's not home yet." Summer commented, looking at the clock on Seth's night table. "Come on, Coop. I'll drive you home."
Marissa shrugged. "Just a little while longer?"
"My bedtime is ten." Seth stated and both girls started to laugh at him.
"Ten, Cohen?" Summer asked.
"Yeah, unlike some people, I sleep. And I sleep a lot. In fact, why don't we all go to bed right now?" Seth suggested, and then stood up and made his way over to his bed where Summer and Marissa were sitting.
"In your dreams, Cohen." Summer said.
Seth ignored her and tugged at his sheets. "It's a double, we'll all fit."
Marissa stood up and sat down at Seth's computer desk. "You two can go ahead and sleep…I'll just…wait for Ryan."
With no arguments, Seth and Summer jumped into bed and cuddled up next to each other.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Luke pulled his truck to the side of the road next to the Cohen's drive way. "Are you two going to be okay?" Luke questioned. The whole ride home was silent and he didn't know what to say or do to the help the both of them. He wanted to help Ryan, but he didn't know how he could help him.
"Yeah, we're fine…Just don't say anything to anyone, okay?" Ryan asked, jumping out of the truck. Jess followed after him.
"I won't say a word, I promise." Luke replied, and he meant it. "So, I'll see you later." Luke said, pulled out into the road and driving off home.
"You okay?" Ryan asked Jess. Jess nodded her head. "Quite the place, huh?"
"Yeah…Big." She said, walking up the laneway beside Ryan.
Ryan stopped. "Uh, why don't you go around the house and hide out…I don't think you should come in with me. Just hide out by those bushes over there." Ryan pointed out. "And I'll come and get you once I'm done explaining myself to the Cohen's, okay?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah." Jess said, making her way over to the bushes. She crouched down and watched Ryan walk into the house.
Ryan walked into the quiet house and sighed in relief as he realized Sandy and Kirsten weren't around. He made his way over to the kitchen to go out to the poolhouse, but stopped as he heard Sandy's voice. He turned around and faced Sandy and Kirsten.
"Where were you tonight?" Sandy asked.
"I was over at Luke's house…Studying for a history test." Ryan lied. He could tell the Cohen's didn't believe him. Kirsten looked at him, clearly disappointed at him.
"We called Luke's house and his mother told us you weren't there, neither was Luke. So, I'm asking you again, where were you tonight?" Sandy asked, raising his voice.
Ryan didn't say anything. Clearly the Cohen's had made their minds up. They didn't want him…who would?
"Ryan, honey…" Kirsten began but Ryan cut her off.
"I went to Chino…with Luke."
"Why?" Sandy asked.
"I—I don't know…I guess…I just wanted to leave, you know?" Ryan replied.
"No, I don't know, Ryan. Why didn't you just come to me and tell me you wanted to go to Chino. If you wanted to see your mom, I would have gone with you. She could have came here." Sandy explained.
"I don't want to see my mom." Ryan spat out, coldly. "I'm tired, can I just go now?"
"No. You've used all your 'get out of jail cards', Ryan." Sandy retorted. "Sit." He said, motioning to the empty stool under the kitchen island. Ryan went and took a seat. "Yesterday you ran off to Chino and left us a note, fine. But getting a phone call from the police department stating that my son was in jail is not okay. Smoking, Ryan? It's stupid, and I know you know that. You're smart." Sandy commented. "Lying to every one of your whereabouts is not smart. If you need to talk, we're here, Ryan."
Ryan didn't look up at Sandy and Kirsten. He was a little thrown back when Sandy had called him his 'son'. Was he really a son to Sandy, he thought to himself. He didn't feel like it.
"Ryan, we want to know what's bothering you….So we can help you." Kirsten said.
Ryan looked up at the both of them. "Sorry…I just needed to get away from everyone. Is that a crime?" He asked, regretting his choice of words.
"No, it's not a crime, Ryan." Kirsten replied. "But you just need to talk to us. Tell us what is going on with you. We want to know…"
"We're talking now."
"Ryan…"
"Look, Sandy….Kirsten, I know you guys are worried about me. And I won't burden you with my teenage soap opera's."
"Humor us." Sandy said.
Ryan shook his head. "Can I humor you another night? Cheat a little and use another get out of jail card?" He asked, forming a fake smile for the two of them.
"Fine, Ryan. After school tomorrow, I expect the first episode of your 'soap opera'. But as for now, you're grounded, okay?"
Ryan nodded his head and stood up. "Goodnight." He said, leaving the Cohen's kitchen and heading outside. He walked into the poolhouse and waiting for Sandy and Kirsten to disappear. As soon as the kitchen lights were off, Ryan snuck out to the side of the house and got Jess from the bushes.
"You can crash here tonight…I didn't tell them anything, so they don't know you're here." Ryan said, handing her a pair of his old sweat pants and a wife beater. "Here. You can wear these to bed."
"Thanks." Jess said, taking them and going to the bathroom to change.
As Jess closed the door to the bathroom, the door to the poolhouse opened.
"Marissa…What are you doing here?"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hope you readers liked this chapter…I've lost my editor to the world of 'American Idol'…So sorry for any spelling mistakes. I've written Chapter twenty-one already and I will post it up shortly. I just need to correct it.
