One month. It's been exactly one month since I've seen him. I've done well.
She ought to be proud of herself. After all, when Ryan first left, Marissa had gotten drunk and passed out in the driveway five houses down.
Lately she'd been waking up with a small hangover. In her own bed, at least.
Marissa was a fighter; she wasn't about to go crazy over the loss of the best person she'd ever met. The guy who understood everything she was going through. Who didn't just think 'God, she's so lucky. Rich, beautiful, smart. I wish I were like Marissa Cooper.' He was the first person to tell her that the way her mother treated her was wrong. He was the first one to help her stand up for herself. The first one to let her know that she wasn't going to get past her problems by drinking a bottle of Vodka every night. The first one to hold her close and whisper, "I love you" in here ear without expecting her to start making out with him.
Nope, no way. Marissa Cooper wasn't going to cry that he was gone.
Who cared? She was better off anyway.
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Seth Cohen had been taking it well, too. Even though he'd tried to sail to Tahiti and ended up coming back a few hours later with a bad case of hypothermia from falling off the boat, he'd adjusted to having an empty poolhouse once again. He'd even stopped knocking on the door every time he wanted to go in there (that habit had lasted the first few weeks).
Things weren't as bad as he'd imagined. He'd only been beat up once. One big black eye was nothing, right? Summer was talking to him. Well, writing notes to him. Kind of. If you consider a small, scribbled, barely legible, 'Hey, what's up?' writing notes. And his parents had stopped trying to talk to him. Oh, and as if things didn't seen great enough, he'd dropped Captain Oats out in the Pacific during his 2 hour long 'trip' to Tahiti.
Life sure was great.
Plus, if Ryan were there, it's not like it'd be any different. He'd just be kissing Summer, talking with some of the popular guys, having conversations with Captain Oats before bed, speaking to his parents every morning.
He definitely didn't want that. No, sir. No way.
The sarcastic comments were running low.
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Things had been well for Summer Roberts, too. She was back with the 'popular crowd'. So she couldn't talk to Seth Cohen, no way. Thankfully. She hated to hear him ramble on and on about comic books and Rooney. She hated the way he would laugh at all her stupid comments. Hated the way he would give her a goofy grin every time he saw her. Hated the way he would kiss one the lips and make her smile.
Not only was she rid of Cohen, but her best friend was finally out of her life, too. Marissa was too busy getting drunk and being a depressed druggie to talk to her. She didn't need Marissa anyway. She didn't need a friend she could talk to about her family problems. About her confused relationship with Seth. All she needed was a few guys to make out with.
Ryan leaving was the best thing that ever happened to her. Life was finally back to normal.
Thank God he'd gotten the skank pregnant. If it weren't for that, she's still be confused with every little segment of her life.
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That's how they pretend Ryan's leaving had affected them. Deep down inside they knew things had gotten so much worse.