While Sandy and Kirsten were having their talk in the kitchen before
dinner, Seth went out to have his own talk with Ryan.
Seth left the kitchen a little concerned about the way Sandy acted. He seemed upset about something, and Seth wanted to know what happened with Ryan this time. Sandy told him it wasn't any of his business. Seth figured he could get Ryan to tell him.
"Hey, man, what's up?" Seth said, as he walked into the pool house, without knocking of course.
"Hum, homework," Ryan answered, without looking up from his textbook.
"No, I mean with Dad." Seth explained, "I mean he really pissed or what?"
"Or what" was all Ryan would say, still not looking up from his homework.
Seth was getting annoyed. Something happened and no one is talking. It was driving him nuts.
"Come on, Clay," he said, "Give it up. What happened?"
"Clay?" Ryan asked, but was thinking, now what the hell is Seth talking about?
"Yeah, well, I'm older. I get to be Kavalier." Seth explained. But when he saw Ryan give him a look of total confusion, he continued,
"Ya know, Kavalier & Clay. To guys, completely different, who become brothers. Sound familiar? I'm older. I get to be Kavalier."
Ryan just shook his head in disbelief. Sometimes Seth really did live in his own little world.
"Yeah, sure, Seth, what ever you say." Ryan said, "Is there a point to all of this?"
"Yes. There is a point!" Seth said, "My point is I want to know what happened between you and Dad."
Ryan shrugged,
"Nothing happened."
Seth didn't believe that. Something had to have happened,
"Nothing? Come on, Ryan. He practically bit my head off when I came home, and when Mom got home with dinner, he sent me out here. Told me dinner would be ready in half an hour. Obviously, they wanted private time. What did you say?"
Ryan finally put down the textbook. He figured the quicker he explained it to Seth, the quicker he could get back to his homework,
"Nothing. He didn't seem mad when I talked to him. I mean, he was mad, but I'm not grounded or anything. He lectured, and said not to let it happen again. That was it. Why, what did he say to you?"
"He told me what happened between the two of you wasn't any of my business." Seth told him.
Ryan agreed, "Well, it's not."
"Maybe not," Seth said, "but then why did he want to talk to Mom alone?"
Ryan picked up his book again. He really needed to get to his homework.
"I don't know," he answered, "maybe its not about me. Maybe this time it's about you. Did ya think of that? What have you been doing lately? Maybe you're the one in trouble."
Seth told him, "It's not about me. I haven't done anything."
Ryan turned back to his homework, leaving Seth with the chance to think about it some more.
"What about therapy? What did you say?" he asked Ryan. He knew he was risking making Ryan mad, but someone had to tell him what was going on.
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer. He didn't even look up from his homework.
"See, it is about you!" Seth told him, "What, did you refuse to go? Is that why he's mad? Ryan, you know, it's not such a horrible idea......"
Ryan snapped, "I know!"
"Look, Seth," he continued, "I didn't refuse to go. I said I would go, I'll go. Ok?"
Seth was a little shocked.
"Oh. Ok. Why did you change your mind? I mean, not that it's a bad thing. I'm glad, but what made you change your mind?"
Ryan seemed a little matter of fact when he told Seth,
"Luke said it wasn't that bad. That I should try it, and if it's going to make them happy and get them off my back, then I'll try it."
And again, Seth was shocked.
"Luke said. Since when did you start taking advise from Luke? And how would Luke know what going to therapy was like?"
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders again, and again attempted to go back to working on his homework. It wasn't up to him to tell Seth about Luke's business. He knew what Seth thought of Luke, and he didn't want to hear about it anymore.
Seth sat down, and tried to continue the conversation,
"You do know that the purpose of therapy is to talk....."
"Yeah, and?" Ryan said, still trying to work on his homework.
"And......." Seth continued, "You know you're not exactly the most talkative person I've ever met. It should be interesting. You in therapy. I mean, I'm not saying you shouldn't go. You should. You just need to remember that you need to talk!"
Now Ryan was getting annoyed. He wasn't exactly sure what Seth wanted, except maybe to annoy him. If that were the case, then at least he was succeeding.
"Seth," he told him, "I really do have some homework I need to finish. With everything that's gone on, my grades aren't going to be all that great this term, and I really need to work on them. So, if you have a point to all of this, get to it."
"No real point," Seth said, "Just killing time, waiting for Mom and Dad to finish talking about what ever you did this time, so we can eat."
"I didn't do anything!" Ryan shot back. "Look, you want to stay, then stay quietly."
It took all of maybe a minute and a half before Seth couldn't take the quiet anymore, and start talking again.
"You know, it could still be about yesterday. Mom really wasn't happy with you yesterday. Actually, she was pretty pissed. I'm sure they're still talking about it. Maybe Dad didn't ground you, but Mom hasn't had her say yet."
"Seth," Ryan said, "If what ever they're talking about is about me, then I'm sure one of them will tell me. And if it's about you, I'm sure they will tell you, too. Either way, shut up and let me do my homework."
"You know," Seth continued, as if Ryan hadn't even said anything, "it could be about you hanging out with Luke, Chip and Brad. Mom didn't like that either."
"Why would she have a problem with them? She doesn't even know them!" Ryan told him.
"She doesn't need to KNOW them. She knows all ABOUT them." Seth answered.
"Come on, man," Seth continued, "they made your first month or so here kind of rough, wouldn't you say? That's enough for her. It should be for you, too. Now suddenly you're hanging out with them, eating lunch with them, becoming one of them. What gives?"
"Well," Ryan said, trying to pick his words carefully, "It's pretty easy to see now where Luke was coming from this summer. Marissa was his girlfriend, and she kept leaving him over and over to be with me. She was supposed to be with him, and she wasn't. She was with me, claiming that we were only friends, and expecting him to understand. I now know how Luke felt. Why he wanted to kick my ass so much. It's pretty much how I felt."
Seth thought about it for a minute before asking,
"Maybe so, but what about Chip and Brad? They shouldn't have had any problems with you."
"Why not?" Ryan said, "They're Luke's friends. It was their jobs to have his back."
"Unlike me." Seth said, with a great deal of hurt in his voice.
"Seth, I didn't say that." Ryan told him.
But Seth knew,
"You didn't have to," he replied.
"Look,' Ryan started, trying to use as soothing a voice as he could, "we've already been through this. I'm not going through it again. We're past it. I really need to get through this history homework. So can we please just drop it?"
Seth just hung his head and slightly nodded his head,
"Fine, you want to drop it. I can drop it." But then after only a slight pause said,
"But you know, it doesn't explain why they made my life a living hell for pretty much forever."
"Yeah, I know. They peed in your shoes, you've told me. I don't know what to tell you, Seth. They didn't like you. You didn't like them. It doesn't really have a whole lot to do with me, right now. Who else am I supposed to hang out with?" Ryan said as he turned back to his homework, hoping to talk and work at the same time, since Seth was obviously not going to shut up.
"What about me?" Seth asked him, "You know Seth – Ryan time. Remember that?"
Ryan nodded his head and countered,
"Yeah, but what about Seth – Summer time. You've had a lot of that lately."
Seth just smiled. Ryan was right about that. He had a whole lot of Seth – Summer time recently, and loved it. And now that he had Summer, he wished Ryan would have someone again. Like Marissa.
"Well, you know," he told Ryan, "if you and Marissa made up, it could be Seth-Summer-Ryan-Marissa time. That would be awesome!"
Sometimes, Ryan thought, sometimes Seth really was without a clue. To Seth, life would just be so great if Ryan just forgot everything and made up with Marissa. Act as if nothing happened at all, and that way they could all double date. Unfortunately for Seth, though, Ryan didn't see it that way.
"I don't think Marissa and I are going to make up." Ryan informed him, "At least not now, anyway. Maybe not ever. Who knows. I can't, I don't trust her."
Even though Seth doubted Ryan would believe him, he actually did understand how Ryan felt. He knew Marissa was the first girl Ryan ever loved. Ryan told him that. Marissa was also the first person Ryan truly believed in and trusted. Seth never really understood that though, but at least he was willing to trust someone. Unfortunately, Marissa destroyed that trust, and they were all lucky it didn't completely destroy Ryan as well. He had hoped, though, that Ryan would be able to forgive Marissa, like he forgave Seth. Or at least, he said he forgave Seth. Seth really wasn't completely sure about that, either.
"Fine," he told Ryan, "I'm not going to push it. You can just hang out with me and Summer then."
Ryan just shot Seth a look over his textbook. That didn't exactly sound like a whole lot of fun to Ryan.
"Yeah," Seth continued, "I mean this Friday, I'm taking Summer to the IMAX. Her first time. You should come. It'll be a lot of fun."
"Thanks, but I've got plans already." Ryan told him, still trying real hard to get through his history assignment and listen to Seth at the same time.
"Oh yeah, that's right." Seth said, with a mixture of sarcasm and anger, "You have Ratball."
Ryan just laughed, "Yeah," was all he said.
Seth just shook his head and mumbled,
"I don't get it. I don't get you, with them. I just don't get it at all."
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and said,
"Sorry."
He didn't really mean it, though. He just wanted Seth to be quiet. He couldn't explain to Seth why he liked hanging out with Luke, Chip or Brad. He just did. They reminded him a little of some of the friends he used to have, back in Chino. Luke was the only one who believed Ryan about Oliver. Seth didn't. And as for Chip and Brad. They backed Luke up when he was fighting with Ryan. Seth never backed Ryan up in his fight with Oliver.
But Ryan accepted Seth's apology. Seth just didn't know how it worked. He had never been faced with anything like that before. Hell, before Ryan, Seth never even had a real friend. But Ryan knew. He knew that if there was ever another time, Seth would be there. Ryan honestly believed that Seth would know to have his back. Ryan was willing to give Seth another chance because he truly believed that.
That didn't mean Ryan didn't also want to hang out with some guys who already understood how it worked. That's why he intended to continue to hang out with Luke, Brad and Chip, no matter how Seth felt.
Unfortunately, how Seth felt was hurt. Ryan could tell that when Seth said,
"Come on, it's been over a half an hour. Let's go eat."
"I'm never going to get through this," Ryan joked as he threw his books to the side and got off the bed.
"You think they're mad now," he told Seth as they walked out of the pool house, "Wait till grades come out."
Ryan was only half joking, until he looked into the kitchen and saw Sandy and Kirsten. What ever they were talking about must have been pretty serious. They both looked pretty upset. And Ryan just had a sinking feeling that it was about him, again. Maybe Seth was right, Ryan thought, maybe it's Kirsten's turn to lecture him about the day before. At least Ryan hoped that was it.
So much for having my back, Ryan thought as he returned to the pool house after dinner. He couldn't believe Seth would intentionally get him into trouble with Kirsten just because he wouldn't go to the friggin' IMAX with him and Summer on Friday. They all complained about how Ryan was acting out because he was jealous of Oliver. And now here was Seth, acting like a big spoiled baby. All upset because Ryan wanted to go out with other friends, and wouldn't be there, waiting for Seth to come play with him whenever he felt like it. Like Ryan was nothing more than a new toy for Seth to take out of the box and play with whenever he felt like it.
Of course, he still couldn't figure out Kirsten or Sandy either. Sure, he screwed up the day before, but he and Sandy talked. And Sandy told him he would only be punished if he did it again. Now Kirsten was telling him he couldn't hang out with anyone other then Seth. How fair was that? Obviously, despite what they told him, they still didn't trust him. He needed Seth as a babysitter.
And yet, I'm the one who needs therapy, he thought, lying on his bed, forgetting that he still had massive amounts of history homework to get through.
He thought about it a little while longer and decided that obviously he did need it, because if this is how a family works, he didn't get it. Not at all.
Sometimes, it really was easier in Chino.
Seth left the kitchen a little concerned about the way Sandy acted. He seemed upset about something, and Seth wanted to know what happened with Ryan this time. Sandy told him it wasn't any of his business. Seth figured he could get Ryan to tell him.
"Hey, man, what's up?" Seth said, as he walked into the pool house, without knocking of course.
"Hum, homework," Ryan answered, without looking up from his textbook.
"No, I mean with Dad." Seth explained, "I mean he really pissed or what?"
"Or what" was all Ryan would say, still not looking up from his homework.
Seth was getting annoyed. Something happened and no one is talking. It was driving him nuts.
"Come on, Clay," he said, "Give it up. What happened?"
"Clay?" Ryan asked, but was thinking, now what the hell is Seth talking about?
"Yeah, well, I'm older. I get to be Kavalier." Seth explained. But when he saw Ryan give him a look of total confusion, he continued,
"Ya know, Kavalier & Clay. To guys, completely different, who become brothers. Sound familiar? I'm older. I get to be Kavalier."
Ryan just shook his head in disbelief. Sometimes Seth really did live in his own little world.
"Yeah, sure, Seth, what ever you say." Ryan said, "Is there a point to all of this?"
"Yes. There is a point!" Seth said, "My point is I want to know what happened between you and Dad."
Ryan shrugged,
"Nothing happened."
Seth didn't believe that. Something had to have happened,
"Nothing? Come on, Ryan. He practically bit my head off when I came home, and when Mom got home with dinner, he sent me out here. Told me dinner would be ready in half an hour. Obviously, they wanted private time. What did you say?"
Ryan finally put down the textbook. He figured the quicker he explained it to Seth, the quicker he could get back to his homework,
"Nothing. He didn't seem mad when I talked to him. I mean, he was mad, but I'm not grounded or anything. He lectured, and said not to let it happen again. That was it. Why, what did he say to you?"
"He told me what happened between the two of you wasn't any of my business." Seth told him.
Ryan agreed, "Well, it's not."
"Maybe not," Seth said, "but then why did he want to talk to Mom alone?"
Ryan picked up his book again. He really needed to get to his homework.
"I don't know," he answered, "maybe its not about me. Maybe this time it's about you. Did ya think of that? What have you been doing lately? Maybe you're the one in trouble."
Seth told him, "It's not about me. I haven't done anything."
Ryan turned back to his homework, leaving Seth with the chance to think about it some more.
"What about therapy? What did you say?" he asked Ryan. He knew he was risking making Ryan mad, but someone had to tell him what was going on.
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer. He didn't even look up from his homework.
"See, it is about you!" Seth told him, "What, did you refuse to go? Is that why he's mad? Ryan, you know, it's not such a horrible idea......"
Ryan snapped, "I know!"
"Look, Seth," he continued, "I didn't refuse to go. I said I would go, I'll go. Ok?"
Seth was a little shocked.
"Oh. Ok. Why did you change your mind? I mean, not that it's a bad thing. I'm glad, but what made you change your mind?"
Ryan seemed a little matter of fact when he told Seth,
"Luke said it wasn't that bad. That I should try it, and if it's going to make them happy and get them off my back, then I'll try it."
And again, Seth was shocked.
"Luke said. Since when did you start taking advise from Luke? And how would Luke know what going to therapy was like?"
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders again, and again attempted to go back to working on his homework. It wasn't up to him to tell Seth about Luke's business. He knew what Seth thought of Luke, and he didn't want to hear about it anymore.
Seth sat down, and tried to continue the conversation,
"You do know that the purpose of therapy is to talk....."
"Yeah, and?" Ryan said, still trying to work on his homework.
"And......." Seth continued, "You know you're not exactly the most talkative person I've ever met. It should be interesting. You in therapy. I mean, I'm not saying you shouldn't go. You should. You just need to remember that you need to talk!"
Now Ryan was getting annoyed. He wasn't exactly sure what Seth wanted, except maybe to annoy him. If that were the case, then at least he was succeeding.
"Seth," he told him, "I really do have some homework I need to finish. With everything that's gone on, my grades aren't going to be all that great this term, and I really need to work on them. So, if you have a point to all of this, get to it."
"No real point," Seth said, "Just killing time, waiting for Mom and Dad to finish talking about what ever you did this time, so we can eat."
"I didn't do anything!" Ryan shot back. "Look, you want to stay, then stay quietly."
It took all of maybe a minute and a half before Seth couldn't take the quiet anymore, and start talking again.
"You know, it could still be about yesterday. Mom really wasn't happy with you yesterday. Actually, she was pretty pissed. I'm sure they're still talking about it. Maybe Dad didn't ground you, but Mom hasn't had her say yet."
"Seth," Ryan said, "If what ever they're talking about is about me, then I'm sure one of them will tell me. And if it's about you, I'm sure they will tell you, too. Either way, shut up and let me do my homework."
"You know," Seth continued, as if Ryan hadn't even said anything, "it could be about you hanging out with Luke, Chip and Brad. Mom didn't like that either."
"Why would she have a problem with them? She doesn't even know them!" Ryan told him.
"She doesn't need to KNOW them. She knows all ABOUT them." Seth answered.
"Come on, man," Seth continued, "they made your first month or so here kind of rough, wouldn't you say? That's enough for her. It should be for you, too. Now suddenly you're hanging out with them, eating lunch with them, becoming one of them. What gives?"
"Well," Ryan said, trying to pick his words carefully, "It's pretty easy to see now where Luke was coming from this summer. Marissa was his girlfriend, and she kept leaving him over and over to be with me. She was supposed to be with him, and she wasn't. She was with me, claiming that we were only friends, and expecting him to understand. I now know how Luke felt. Why he wanted to kick my ass so much. It's pretty much how I felt."
Seth thought about it for a minute before asking,
"Maybe so, but what about Chip and Brad? They shouldn't have had any problems with you."
"Why not?" Ryan said, "They're Luke's friends. It was their jobs to have his back."
"Unlike me." Seth said, with a great deal of hurt in his voice.
"Seth, I didn't say that." Ryan told him.
But Seth knew,
"You didn't have to," he replied.
"Look,' Ryan started, trying to use as soothing a voice as he could, "we've already been through this. I'm not going through it again. We're past it. I really need to get through this history homework. So can we please just drop it?"
Seth just hung his head and slightly nodded his head,
"Fine, you want to drop it. I can drop it." But then after only a slight pause said,
"But you know, it doesn't explain why they made my life a living hell for pretty much forever."
"Yeah, I know. They peed in your shoes, you've told me. I don't know what to tell you, Seth. They didn't like you. You didn't like them. It doesn't really have a whole lot to do with me, right now. Who else am I supposed to hang out with?" Ryan said as he turned back to his homework, hoping to talk and work at the same time, since Seth was obviously not going to shut up.
"What about me?" Seth asked him, "You know Seth – Ryan time. Remember that?"
Ryan nodded his head and countered,
"Yeah, but what about Seth – Summer time. You've had a lot of that lately."
Seth just smiled. Ryan was right about that. He had a whole lot of Seth – Summer time recently, and loved it. And now that he had Summer, he wished Ryan would have someone again. Like Marissa.
"Well, you know," he told Ryan, "if you and Marissa made up, it could be Seth-Summer-Ryan-Marissa time. That would be awesome!"
Sometimes, Ryan thought, sometimes Seth really was without a clue. To Seth, life would just be so great if Ryan just forgot everything and made up with Marissa. Act as if nothing happened at all, and that way they could all double date. Unfortunately for Seth, though, Ryan didn't see it that way.
"I don't think Marissa and I are going to make up." Ryan informed him, "At least not now, anyway. Maybe not ever. Who knows. I can't, I don't trust her."
Even though Seth doubted Ryan would believe him, he actually did understand how Ryan felt. He knew Marissa was the first girl Ryan ever loved. Ryan told him that. Marissa was also the first person Ryan truly believed in and trusted. Seth never really understood that though, but at least he was willing to trust someone. Unfortunately, Marissa destroyed that trust, and they were all lucky it didn't completely destroy Ryan as well. He had hoped, though, that Ryan would be able to forgive Marissa, like he forgave Seth. Or at least, he said he forgave Seth. Seth really wasn't completely sure about that, either.
"Fine," he told Ryan, "I'm not going to push it. You can just hang out with me and Summer then."
Ryan just shot Seth a look over his textbook. That didn't exactly sound like a whole lot of fun to Ryan.
"Yeah," Seth continued, "I mean this Friday, I'm taking Summer to the IMAX. Her first time. You should come. It'll be a lot of fun."
"Thanks, but I've got plans already." Ryan told him, still trying real hard to get through his history assignment and listen to Seth at the same time.
"Oh yeah, that's right." Seth said, with a mixture of sarcasm and anger, "You have Ratball."
Ryan just laughed, "Yeah," was all he said.
Seth just shook his head and mumbled,
"I don't get it. I don't get you, with them. I just don't get it at all."
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and said,
"Sorry."
He didn't really mean it, though. He just wanted Seth to be quiet. He couldn't explain to Seth why he liked hanging out with Luke, Chip or Brad. He just did. They reminded him a little of some of the friends he used to have, back in Chino. Luke was the only one who believed Ryan about Oliver. Seth didn't. And as for Chip and Brad. They backed Luke up when he was fighting with Ryan. Seth never backed Ryan up in his fight with Oliver.
But Ryan accepted Seth's apology. Seth just didn't know how it worked. He had never been faced with anything like that before. Hell, before Ryan, Seth never even had a real friend. But Ryan knew. He knew that if there was ever another time, Seth would be there. Ryan honestly believed that Seth would know to have his back. Ryan was willing to give Seth another chance because he truly believed that.
That didn't mean Ryan didn't also want to hang out with some guys who already understood how it worked. That's why he intended to continue to hang out with Luke, Brad and Chip, no matter how Seth felt.
Unfortunately, how Seth felt was hurt. Ryan could tell that when Seth said,
"Come on, it's been over a half an hour. Let's go eat."
"I'm never going to get through this," Ryan joked as he threw his books to the side and got off the bed.
"You think they're mad now," he told Seth as they walked out of the pool house, "Wait till grades come out."
Ryan was only half joking, until he looked into the kitchen and saw Sandy and Kirsten. What ever they were talking about must have been pretty serious. They both looked pretty upset. And Ryan just had a sinking feeling that it was about him, again. Maybe Seth was right, Ryan thought, maybe it's Kirsten's turn to lecture him about the day before. At least Ryan hoped that was it.
So much for having my back, Ryan thought as he returned to the pool house after dinner. He couldn't believe Seth would intentionally get him into trouble with Kirsten just because he wouldn't go to the friggin' IMAX with him and Summer on Friday. They all complained about how Ryan was acting out because he was jealous of Oliver. And now here was Seth, acting like a big spoiled baby. All upset because Ryan wanted to go out with other friends, and wouldn't be there, waiting for Seth to come play with him whenever he felt like it. Like Ryan was nothing more than a new toy for Seth to take out of the box and play with whenever he felt like it.
Of course, he still couldn't figure out Kirsten or Sandy either. Sure, he screwed up the day before, but he and Sandy talked. And Sandy told him he would only be punished if he did it again. Now Kirsten was telling him he couldn't hang out with anyone other then Seth. How fair was that? Obviously, despite what they told him, they still didn't trust him. He needed Seth as a babysitter.
And yet, I'm the one who needs therapy, he thought, lying on his bed, forgetting that he still had massive amounts of history homework to get through.
He thought about it a little while longer and decided that obviously he did need it, because if this is how a family works, he didn't get it. Not at all.
Sometimes, it really was easier in Chino.