Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry for any grammar errors, people. I've just eaten lots of Mexican food and it's not agreeing with me. Please, no mental pictures. Oh, hey a donkey…

SEASON TWO: Episode Three

After Sandy picked Seth up from Theresa's house Ryan went to work. He was always showing up a bit late everyday because the bus schedules in Chino were always messed up. So, he was either really early for work or really late for work. Today he was extremely late for work. Seth wouldn't stop talk this morning, so he missed his first bus, then his second bus.

"Atwood, get over here." His boss, Marco, barked at him.

Ryan put down the power tool he was working with and jogged over to his boss. "What's up?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"What time is it, Atwood?" Marco asked.

"I know, I'm late and I'm sorry. It's just that the buses – "

"It's nine-thirty. You're supposed to be here every day at eight until six. Not nine-thirty to six. If the buses are always running late then take the early bus."

"I have." Ryan replied. "But if I take the early bus then I get here a little before seven, which I don't get paid for. I, personally, think that's unfair. If a guy gets here – "

"Atwood." Marco held up his hand. "Are you implying that I'm running my business the wrong way?"

"No, Marco, I'm not. I just think that it's unfair…For people who have to take the bus."

"Right. Well, I'm sorry you feel that way." Marco replied. "But." He held up his index finger. "I pay you to be here at eight. No later. You're always showing up late and it's affecting the project."

Ryan lowered his head. "So, I'll show up early from now on." He whispered.

"I'm sorry, Atwood. I'm going to have to let you go."

"Look, Marco, I swear I'll show up on time." Ryan begged. "Just give me another chance."

"You're up with your chances. I'll mail you your last paycheck." Marco said and left Ryan standing there alone.

"Shit." Ryan mumbled under his breath, as he grabbed his things and left the construction site. He didn't want to go home right now. Theresa and her mother would know that he had gotten laid off. So, instead of going home Ryan decided to call Seth.

Ryan found a near by pay phone and dialed Seth's cellphone number. The cell rang three times before Seth picked up.

"Hello?" Seth answered.

"Hey."

"Dude, what's up? You miss me already? It's only been like…two hours." Seth bantered. "Just think of when I'm at school next week. What are you going to do then?"

"Very funny." Ryan replied. "No, man, I just called to see if you wanted to do something. You said this morning that you wanted to, so I thought that maybe now you wanted to do something." Ryan rambled on. "That's if you're not busy. Are you busy?"

"Whoa, uh, no." Seth laughed. "I can meet you on your lunch break or something? I've got my mom's car."

"Actually, I'm not at the construction site. I'm at a 7/11…on a pay phone."

"Okay? Uh, why?" Seth asked.

"Truth?" Ryan hesitated. "I just got laid off."

"Well, that's…definitely not good." Seth pointed out. "I've got nothing to do all day. I'll come and pick you up and we'll hang."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Ryan asked.

"Dude, I'd rather hang out with you than with Captain Oats right now. Not that I have anything against Captain Oats or anything, but I've already talked to him today."

"Okay…So, I'm at the 7/11 on Carps St. Do you know how to get there?"

"No, but that's okay, I'll manage. I've got maps and what not. I'll see you soon." Seth said and then hanged up.

Ryan waited outside the 7/11 for Seth. Finally, after waiting for what seemed like five hours but really only an hour and a half, Seth showed up with his mom's range rover.

Ryan waved to Seth and slid into the passenger seat.

"So, we're in Chino…What's there to do?" Seth asked, keeping his eyes on the road. "We could, uh…Seriously, Ryan, help me out here."

Ryan leaned over and turned down the volume on the CD player. "This music sucks, Seth. I have to agree with Summer; one guitar and a whole lot of complaining."

"You just don't know what good music is, Ryan. Let me educate you…Conor Oberst, yeah, that guy's a God."

"Conor, who?"

"Dude, don't say that." Seth shook his head and Ryan started laughing. "Fine, just stick with your 'Journey' music. They're talented if you're into the whole 'A prayer for Peace' thing. I mean, don't get me wrong or anything, it's good music…Well, sometimes. It's just very minty of you…That's all I'm saying."

Ryan glared at Seth.

"Gotcha. Don't insult Journey. I have to remember that one because that staring thing you do is really started to freak me out. Although, you must teach me it. Hey, maybe I could use it on Summer to win her back. Do you think that would work?"

"No. You're not one for the staring thing. It just makes you look like you're constipated."

"Aw, that's real sentimental, Ryan. I like that." Seth focused on the road ahead of him. "So, we still don't know where we're going. Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere. I really don't care right now." Ryan replied, staring out of the window.

"Want to go back to Newport? I know Anna would love to see you. Or we could go to the IMAX theater. We could go see that shark movie that we never ended up seeing. I doubt it's still playing though, but we could always go anyway."

"Nah. Newport's good."

"Awesome. We'll go down to the Crab Shack, just like old times."

"Sounds good."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Marissa walked into the girl's bathroom at the Harbor school. She had just finished selecting her courses for her senior year. She hated school now. All the popular kids that she was friends with last year were now no longer talking to her. After the whole Mexico overdosing fiasco, she had lost a lot of her friends. But now she had no one. Seth was mad at her, Ryan was in Chino, Luke was in Portland and Summer wouldn't talk to her.

Marissa looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head in disgust. She pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel's and took a drink.

Summer walked into the bathroom and stopped once she saw Marissa.

"Hey." Marissa said, quickly hiding the bottle and putting it back into her purse.

"Hey." Summer mumbled. She went into a stall and went to the bathroom.

Marissa pretended to fix up her make-up, as she waited for Summer to finish going to the bathroom. Finally, after the longest pee in history, Summer stood by Marissa and stared at herself in the mirror. "So, I hear Seth's back." Marissa said.

"Uh huh." Summer replied, while she applied her lip-gloss. "Disappointed?"

"What?" Marissa looked at her through the mirror.

"I said, are you disappointed?"

"Sum, okay, this is stupid." She dropped her purse on the counter and turned to her. "Why are we fighting?"

Summer hesitated but didn't say anything.

"You blame me for Cohen leaving…I get it, okay? But he's back now and we should make the best of it. We've been best friends since like forever. We can't let something like this get in the way of our friendship. God, Cohen's going to have a ride once he finds out that we're not friends over him." Marissa laughed. "And we don't want that do we?"

"No, not really." Summer replied. "Coop, I'm sorry. I just needed someone to blame…I didn't mean to…Well…"

"It's okay, I get it." Marissa stopped her. "So, how is Seth? Is he okay?"

Summer shook her head. "I screwed up. I yelled at him and told him that we were over because of his little trip that he took. I mean, come on, he didn't have the guts to tell me that he was leaving!"

"Yeah." Marissa agreed. "Well, if it makes you happy, things between Ryan and I are definitely not good. He wants to stay in Chino with Theresa."

"It's not like we need Chino or Cohen this year, anyway." Summer hugged her best friend. "We have each other now. Come on, let's go grab some lunch."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, now that you don't have a job, what are your plans?" Seth asked Ryan, as he cracked opened his crab.

Ryan shrugged, munching on his food. "I'll look for another one, I guess."

"Dude, why don't you just come back to Newport. My parents will help you out. That's what parents do…They pay for things. They work for us."

"Except that they're not my parents, Seth." Ryan glared at him.

"Your last name may not be 'Cohen', which is probably a good thing, but on paper my parents are your guardians. If you don't want to live with my parents, then they could always get you an apartment in the numbered streets."

"Theresa wants to stay in Chino with her mom."

"Well, I'm sure if you tell her how you feel, she'll understand and move with you." Seth explained.

"And exactly how do I feel?" Ryan asked.

"You feel like…Like you need to come back to Newport." Seth replied. "Why do you want to stay in Chino? There's nothing there for you."

"There's Theresa and the baby." Ryan put down his napkin. "Man, I'm full."

"You're ignoring what's really on the surface, Ryan and soon it's going to boil over." Seth exclaimed. "Dude, you have to come back to Newport and go back to Harbor. What if my parents found out that you didn't have a job? Then what? I'm sure they would want you back here to have an education."

"They're not going to find out." Ryan said.

Seth started to whistle and looked around.

"You better not say anything, Seth." Ryan warned him.

"I'm not guaranteeing anything." Seth replied. "You know how I am. Stuff slips out of my mouth like a bar of soap. Speaking of soap, I have to go wash my hands. I've got crab guts all over them." Seth said and left for the bathroom.

Ryan pulled out his wallet and started counting his money. He wasn't going to let Seth pay for him this time. He put down a twenty and waited for him to get back. Just as he saw Seth walking towards him hands covered his eyes.

"Guess who?"

"Anna?" Ryan heard her voice.

"Hey." Anna sat down next to him. "Long time no see."

Seth came and sat down. "If I were you, I wouldn't go into the men's bathroom, Ryan. I guess crab doesn't agree with some people."

"Gross." Anna laughed. "So, what are you guys doing?"

"Well, nothing." Seth replied. "We were just going to lazy around all afternoon. Probably play video games or something. You're welcomed to come if you want."

"Sure, sounds like fun."

Seth, Ryan and Anna were up and ready to go when they saw Marissa and Summer walk in.

"Hey, Marissa. Hey, Summer." Anna greeted them.

"Hey." Summer hugged her. "What are you doing here? Are you visiting?" She asked, glancing at Seth."

"I moved back."

"That's awesome." Marissa said. "Maybe we'll have some classes together."

"Yeah, maybe." Anna replied.

"Hey, Ryan." Marissa looked his way. "I didn't know you were still here."

"Uh, no." Ryan smiled. "I'm not. I'm just…"

"Visiting." Seth quickly said. "Again. Ryan and I…We're inseparable." There was an awkward silence between the five teenagers. "Hey, we're all going back to my place to play some video games. You girls want to come too?" Ryan shot him daggers and Seth laughed it off, mouthing an 'it's okay.'

"Sure." Marissa was all up for it. It was just another chance for her to talk to Ryan again. "What about you, Sum?"

"Fine." She mumbled. "Only because I want to hang out with Anna, and maybe Chino. Not you, Seth." She glared at him.

"What ever makes you feel happy, Summer." Seth replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX