Disclaimer: Please don't sue me! I don't own 'the OC' or any of it's characters, but I sure wish I did. This is a plot re-tooling of a story I never finished. This story is set after Oliver almost kills himself, but before Ryan and Marissa make out on the pier.
c h a p t e r ONE: r e a l i z a t i o n
Saturday 7:00 PM
Ryan went to Marissa's house to pick her up for their date.
'Might as well get this over with,' Ryan thought.
Ryan realized that after the whole 'Oliver thing' that being with Marissa wouldn't work. He didn't want someone to babysit, he wanted a girlfriend…And he was falling for someone he least expected…Summer Roberts. He silently cursed himself for liking his own brother's girlfriend, but he couldn't help it.
Marissa opened the door.
"Hey," Marissa said and kissed Ryan on the cheek.
"Hi…" Ryan said, thinking about what he would say next.
"Ready to go?"
"Actually no…Marissa, we need to talk."
"Ok," Marissa said, looking down at her feet. She had a feeling that the 'Oliver drama' would come back to haunt her.
"I don't think this will work…"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean us, Marissa. This whole relationship is supposed to be…"
"Be what exactly?" Marissa asked in a sarcastic tone.
"It's supposed to be fun! But all of this time I've had to babysit you!" Ryan argued.
"What are you talking about?" Marissa asked, clearly confused.
"The drinking, Marissa. Every time you feel depressed, you start drinking. I dealt with the crying and the drinking back in Chino. I don't want to go back to that again…" Ryan said in a quieter tone.
"Well fine! We're finished!" With that, Marissa slammed the door in Ryan's face.
"I can't believe that Seth's on a date with Anna and to make matters worse Coop's on a date with Chino. Maybe I could just pop in. I really need to talk to someone about the whole Seth 'thing'," Summer thought. 'I'm sure Ryan won't mind…' That got Summer thinking. Ryan Atwood. Sure, she had a thing for him when he moved to Newport. But lately she'd been jealous of Marissa, because she had him. Summer had seen the way that Ryan treated Marissa. He treated her like she was a queen. All of Summer's past boyfriends treated her like she was an object.
Summer also had feelings for Seth. But she didn't know what those feelings were. Yeah, she was jealous that Seth chose Anna, but she didn't know why. She didn't have feelings for Seth. Then she realized that she was more upset about being second to Anna, then actually being with Seth. With her new perspective on things, Summer got into her car and headed to the pool house…
Summer knocked on the pool house door.
"It's open!" Ryan said.
Summer followed where Ryan's voice came from and saw him playing video games.
"Coop's not here… Well, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Yeah sure. Wait a second." Ryan turned the PS2 off because he knew that in 'Summer time' a second meant about an hour of Earth time.
"So how was your day?"
"Summer, is this what you really came here to talk about?"
"Okay. I'll get to the point. Did Seth like me?"
"Yeah. He was crazy about you. You were all he ever talked about when I first came to Newport."
"Then why did he pick Anna?"
"I don't know."
"Is there something wrong with me? Am I too fat or something?"
"Summer, what are you talking about?"
"Well it's just that I've never had a boyfriend who treated me like you did Marissa…"
"And how exactly did I treat Marissa?"
"Well, you treated her like she was an a queen…All of my boyfriends used me as a piece of arm candy and dumped me once another girl looked at him twice."
"Oh."
"I don't think you hear this enough, Ryan, but you're a really great guy. I mean look at me, I'm dumping all of my problems on you and you're actually listening to me…"
"It's okay. I like helping people out…"
After what seemed like an hour of awkward silence, Ryan spoke up.
"Do you want to watch TV?"
"Yeah, sure."
Ryan and Summer walked over to the living room and sat on the couch. Ryan handed Summer the control and she started flipping though channels. They sat in silence watching the credits of 'One Tree Hill' roll onto the screen but Summer couldn't handle the silence.
"Wait a second. Aren't you supposed to be on a date with Coop?"
"We broke up."
"What?"
"I went to her house to break up with her, but she broke up with me first."
"Are you serious? I thought you two would be the next super couple of Newport Beach."
"Exactly who is the current 'super couple' of Newport Beach?"
"Hmm…The only functioning couple I know in Newport would probably have to be Kirsten and Sandy."
"Yeah, I guess so…" Ryan said, laughing at the fact that the only couple that is staying together in all of Newport are two middle aged people.
They both laughed for a while, then another wave of awkward silence hit.
"What was life in Chino like?" Summer asked.
"Well let's say it was the total opposite of your childhood."
"I don't think so…"
"What are you talking about?"
"My childhood isn't all it's cracked up to be. My parents fought all the time, my mom was drunk, my dad was always on 'business trips' and the only real friend I had was Marissa. Then my parents divorced when I was 9, and my dad got remarried to a psycho bitch that wanted to send me to a boarding school in Vermont. Now that I've filled you in, it's your turn to spill."
"Okay. My dad was in jail ever since I was 7. My mom was always on drugs and OD'd a couple of times. Some days I came home from school and found her passed out on the floor…Without my dad there, my brother declared himself 'man of the house' and beat the crap out of me every time he had the chance. Plus, I didn't know if I could walk down my block without getting caught in a drive by."
"Wow, that's a lot of stuff for a kid to worry about."
"Yeah. There wasn't anyone to be a parent to me, so I was like my own parent."
"I have another question, Ryan. Am I the only one that feels left out? I mean Seth has Anna and Marissa…well Marissa has her vodka, but who do I have?"
"I guess you have me…"
"Thanks."
Summer leaned on Ryan's shoulder and they continued watching 'One Tree Hill' and fell asleep on the couch.