Thanks one and all for the encouragement! I had to do some "blending" on my
end for this chapter. Not following my original plan but it has its
moments! There's probably one little chapter lingering after this one and
that will wrap up this one. I have others..new stuff in the works...More
humor....and more Kirsten and Ryan "stuff". I hope to get it out here soon.
Chapter 3: The Trouble with Girls
Seth watched Ryan and Jorie talking from a distance. It wasn't until they were in the video store when Seth noticed Jorie had the remnants of a black eye. Seth admired the way Ryan handled Jorie. Almost like a little sister. His mind wandered, trying to understand what it must have been like for them. Like speaking to like. They had ties he could never understand. He looked down at the rack of movies in front of him, lost in thought. Ryan and Jorie were ready to have a fun evening. They aren't dwelling on anything and Seth shouldn't either. Seth was snapped back to reality when Jorie caught him by surprise.
"Broadway Musicals Seth?" she hesitated. Perfectly imitating Ryan's eyebrows, "You Newport people are creepy!"
"You guys find something?" Ryan hoped, joining the group empty handed.
"Seth wants to watch a musical."
"I don't want to watch a musical. I just ended up here when you walked up," he grasped for an excuse but found he was surrounded by musicals, documentaries and exercise videos.
"There's not much to pick from. It's 8:00 on a Friday night,"
"Let's skip the movie and go for pizza." When in doubt, munch. That was Seth's motto. The human vacuum was alive and well.
"What about the nachos?" Ryan reminded him.
"We'll have those later. Besides, look at Jorie. She needs to be fed and watered. Maybe she'll grow a little bit."
"Seth, she's not a Chia Pet."
"Does he always get this weird when food is involved?" Jorie interrupted.
""Always. And there's only one known cure."
"Feed the monster?" Jorie offered.
"I'm liking Jorie more and more with each passing minute Ryan! Yes! Feed the monster! But do I have to be a monster? I mean I really don't feel like a monster."
Ryan and Jorie exchange a defeated look.
"Pizza it is. Let's go." Grabbing the car keys out of Seth's hand, Ryan led the trio to the car.
The pier was empty for a Friday night. After purchasing their slices, they found a table facing the water.
"I never knew you were a pepperoni sort of guy Ryan. I think I may have to go back and get one of those fajita slices that Jorie has. That looks really good."
"I'm gonna run back up there for soda. Be right back." With that Ryan disappeared leaving Seth alone with Jorie.
"Want to taste this pizza Seth? Being the food fan that you seem to be, I think you'll like it." Jorie offered leaning across the table.
"Jorie you need to eat. You could even afford about 4 more pieces if I can find a way to fit them into you."
"I said a bite Seth, not the whole piece."
With that, she leaned even further across the table and dangled the pizza in front of Seth. Unable to stand it any longer he took a bite.
"Oh man that's good pizza. Oh! OH! You weren't kidding. Oh I need a piece of that!"
"COHEN!"
Seth stopped in mid moan and mid chew. Looking over his shoulder he found Summer with her head cocked to one side, her hip thrown out and her fingers drumming on her purse strap.
"Not what it looks like," he gargled through a mouthful of pizza.
'Suppose you explain it before someone gets hurt!" she screeched.
"Uh uh...uh uh," Seth muttered, shaking his hands and head while trying to untangle his feet from the chair legs. "You don't want to go there Summer. This is Jorie. She's a friend of Ryan's from Chino.
"I don't see Ryan anywhere and if she's a friend of Ryan's, what is she doing here – alone – with you! And she's feeding you her pizza!" Summer was never good at being subtle. If she could have found a way to shoot steam out of her ears she would have done it.
"Summer," taking her arm and gently leading her away from the table and just out of ears reach of Jorie, Seth did his best to put a new spin on the situation. "Incase you weren't listening, I said she's from Chino. According to Ryan she's like Pop Rocks."
"You're not making any sense Cohen!"
"Pop Rocks – small, sweet and explosive!"
"Sweet! You think she's sweet! Enjoy your 'Pop Rocks' Cohen! That's the only sugar you'll be getting for a while!" Seth tried calling after her silhouette as she stormed down the pier but all he got was hand gestures. Defeated, he returned to the table and rejoined Jorie just as Ryan reappeared.
"What happened?" Confused, Ryan took his seat and passed a soda to Jorie.
Seth caught that "big brother" gesture and, for whatever reason, he panicked about what Ryan might think or do if he knew Seth had sampled Jorie's pizza. Seth looked down at his plate, then at Jorie, then at Ryan and then back at his pizza. "Nothing Ryan. It was nothing."
Ryan read right through the little act, stopped chewing and turned only his eyes to Jorie.
Jorie looked at Ryan and shrugged off his glance rather matter-of-factly and continued eating. "He thinks he's in trouble."
At that comment Ryan turned to his gaze to Seth and narrowed his eyes, "What did you do?"
Now in full-blown heart attack mode, Seth started singing like a songbird. "Ryan it was innocent. It was nothing. It was a nip. That's it. Just a nip. Nothing more. I shouldn't have done it. I was wrong and I'm sorry. Please don't punch me."
Jorie let out a little snicker at that last comment while Ryan's face got contorted, "You kissed Jorie?!"
In Seth's twisted mind things just went from bad to worse. If Ryan thought that he kissed Jorie surely he was dead. He couldn't sit still and even though he had an explanation in his head that would clarify what happened, his mouth was moving 100 mph, but nothing was coming out.
Finally Ryan gave in and turned to Jorie to make sense of what was going on, "What is he babbling about?"
She finished chewing the mouthful she had and sipped her soda before answering Ryan. The delay was sheer torture for Seth. Wiping her face with a napkin, she put him out of his misery. "You got up to go get the soda. I let him have a bite of my pizza because I thought maybe he'd want a piece of that for himself. In the mean time a girl saw us. I'm assuming it was his girlfriend because she had a total conniption over the situation at hand. Now, he's afraid that you're going to kick his ass because he had a "nip" of my pizza which you misunderstood as a kiss."
"That's it?" Ryan stated, amazed and yet somehow not surprised at Seth's melodramatic take on the given situation.
"I told you it was nothing," Seth blurted out. "I think I'll just go for a short walk. I'll be right back."
"Where are you going? Gonna get another slice?" Jorie intruded.
"Um, no. I'm gonna go pee now that I know I won't wet my pants."
Looking at Ryan, "Nice to know you haven't lost your touch!" Jorie admired.
They had spent more time on the pier than they thought and it was getting late. It was time to head back home and think of a way to sneak Jorie into Ryan's room for the night.
Jorie sat in the back seat of the Rover enjoying the ride until her favorite song came on the radio. "Oh! Turn it up I love this song!" Singing and dancing from the back seat she decided it was time for a change of scenery and climbed into the front seat on Ryan's lap. Reaching for the radio she blasted the song and tried to encourage the boys to live it up a little. While Jorie was gyrating, singing and shimmying in the front seat, Seth brought the car to a stop at red light. Ryan and Seth were laughing at Jorie's little front seat performance, until their fun was interrupted.
"RYAN!"
Looking sharply to his right, just outside his window in the car next to him, sat Marissa.
"Oh man she's pissed," Seth noted without any regard.
"It's not how it looks! I'll explain it tomorrow!" Ryan yelled as Seth pulled away from the intersection the instant the light changed.
"See Ryan! See how fast that happens? You don't even know what hit you right now do you? See I had just a nip and my girlfriend lost her mind. I got caught in a completely innocent moment. And the same thing just happened to you. You have a dancing friend on your lap. That's it. It's nothing. And WHAMO! Now you're in trouble too!" Ryan knew that Seth truly believed that little explanation made sense but he knew it was going to take more than that to convince Summer and Marissa that Jorie was no threat.
Engulfed in her own little world, Jorie was still dancing and singing on Ryan's lap. She was completely clueless that anyone else was even present.
"Oh my God! Ryan that's a cop! Jorie has no seatbelt on!" Seth panicked again.
Ryan grabbed Jorie by her hips and pulled her down on his lap to stop her from dancing. "Jorie get on the floor. Quick!" he instructed her.
Seth slowed the Rover as he approached the police car in the lane next to them.
"Damn it. I was hoping he'd make the light. Oh this is bad. This is so bad."
"Seth it's fine. Just be cool." Ryan knew he probably had a better chance of getting the cop to understand why Jorie wasn't wearing a seatbelt than he did of calming Seth down at a time like this.
"Be cool are you kidding me? You have a 14 year old girl on the floor between your legs!" He felt a cold sweat break out on his face.
"But they don't know that," Ryan clarified, looking out the window and waving to the cop.
Seth sat motionless at the wheel. Terrified to even look at the cop for fear he'd see his paranoia and ask him to pull over.
"Have a nice evening," the cop called out and then drove away.
Seth's heart was pounding away. He wasn't used to these close calls.
"You need to pull over so you can pee?" Smiling, Ryan enjoyed watching Seth squirm at times like these when there was no real danger.
"That's not funny Ryan."
"Go ahead. I'll even keep Jorie on the floor so you can have your private moment." Jorie laughed at Ryan's comment. "She won't see a thing."
"Laugh if you must Ryan. I'm not commando trained for survival like you guys are."
After another 2-3 minutes of driving Seth pulled the car over.
Jorie and Ryan broke out into a fit of laughter. Seth passed out aggravated looks to both of them as he exited the car. Jorie hinted to Ryan about jumping in the driver's seat and taking off without Seth. Of course they'd come back for him...later. Lucky for Seth they dismissed that idea.
Arriving back home just after midnight, Ryan and Seth were shocked to find there were still lights on.
"Damn it Ryan! You just had to promise her those nachos didn't you!" Seth complained.
A plan was formulated and everyone got ready for "Operation Sneak In" as Seth named it. It was Seth's job to go in first and distract Kirsten in the kitchen while Ryan snuck Jorie down the hallway behind the back wall of the kitchen. They would then be in springing position to reach the pool house.
"Hey. Where have you guys been?" Kirsten wondered.
"Oh you know. Out doing guy stuff. It was Guys Night."
"So I've heard. Is Guys Night over with?"
"Yeah, yeah it is. It was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end."
"Where's Ryan?"
"Ryan? Uh...Um....bathroom. He's in the bathroom." Lying as he motioned toward the powder room.
"Oh. Well, I think I'm going to go finish up my mess in the living room and then head to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Disappearing into the living room, Ryan and Jorie tiptoed from the family room up to the kitchen table.
"Oh shoot," they all heard Kirsten say followed by footsteps heading towards the kitchen. Jorie and Ryan hit the floor behind the dinner table. "Did I leave my notebook in here? Yep, I did. Goodnight sweetie."
"Night Mom." Seth was still standing in the same spot as if he was glued to the floor. Once she left the living room for upstairs, the members of "Operation Sneak In" all sprang towards the sliding door that led out towards the pool house. Within seconds, they were all safely hidden in the darkened pool house. Ryan offered Jorie a t-shirt to use as a nightshirt. While the guys talked, Jorie drifted off to sleep in Ryan's bed.
Seth couldn't help but end the evening with an ironic comment. "I guess a Guys Night gone wrong isn't so bad when you end up with a girl in your bed."
Worn out himself, all Ryan could do was threaten Seth with a look.
"I know, I know. Just kidding. See you in the morning buddy." Carefully checking out the window before breaking for the house, Seth waved and disappeared into the black.
Ryan looked down at Jorie. He smiled to himself and shook his head. What a crazy night it turned out to be. Leaving his clothes on, he laid down next to her on top of the blankets and soon fell fast asleep.
Chapter 3: The Trouble with Girls
Seth watched Ryan and Jorie talking from a distance. It wasn't until they were in the video store when Seth noticed Jorie had the remnants of a black eye. Seth admired the way Ryan handled Jorie. Almost like a little sister. His mind wandered, trying to understand what it must have been like for them. Like speaking to like. They had ties he could never understand. He looked down at the rack of movies in front of him, lost in thought. Ryan and Jorie were ready to have a fun evening. They aren't dwelling on anything and Seth shouldn't either. Seth was snapped back to reality when Jorie caught him by surprise.
"Broadway Musicals Seth?" she hesitated. Perfectly imitating Ryan's eyebrows, "You Newport people are creepy!"
"You guys find something?" Ryan hoped, joining the group empty handed.
"Seth wants to watch a musical."
"I don't want to watch a musical. I just ended up here when you walked up," he grasped for an excuse but found he was surrounded by musicals, documentaries and exercise videos.
"There's not much to pick from. It's 8:00 on a Friday night,"
"Let's skip the movie and go for pizza." When in doubt, munch. That was Seth's motto. The human vacuum was alive and well.
"What about the nachos?" Ryan reminded him.
"We'll have those later. Besides, look at Jorie. She needs to be fed and watered. Maybe she'll grow a little bit."
"Seth, she's not a Chia Pet."
"Does he always get this weird when food is involved?" Jorie interrupted.
""Always. And there's only one known cure."
"Feed the monster?" Jorie offered.
"I'm liking Jorie more and more with each passing minute Ryan! Yes! Feed the monster! But do I have to be a monster? I mean I really don't feel like a monster."
Ryan and Jorie exchange a defeated look.
"Pizza it is. Let's go." Grabbing the car keys out of Seth's hand, Ryan led the trio to the car.
The pier was empty for a Friday night. After purchasing their slices, they found a table facing the water.
"I never knew you were a pepperoni sort of guy Ryan. I think I may have to go back and get one of those fajita slices that Jorie has. That looks really good."
"I'm gonna run back up there for soda. Be right back." With that Ryan disappeared leaving Seth alone with Jorie.
"Want to taste this pizza Seth? Being the food fan that you seem to be, I think you'll like it." Jorie offered leaning across the table.
"Jorie you need to eat. You could even afford about 4 more pieces if I can find a way to fit them into you."
"I said a bite Seth, not the whole piece."
With that, she leaned even further across the table and dangled the pizza in front of Seth. Unable to stand it any longer he took a bite.
"Oh man that's good pizza. Oh! OH! You weren't kidding. Oh I need a piece of that!"
"COHEN!"
Seth stopped in mid moan and mid chew. Looking over his shoulder he found Summer with her head cocked to one side, her hip thrown out and her fingers drumming on her purse strap.
"Not what it looks like," he gargled through a mouthful of pizza.
'Suppose you explain it before someone gets hurt!" she screeched.
"Uh uh...uh uh," Seth muttered, shaking his hands and head while trying to untangle his feet from the chair legs. "You don't want to go there Summer. This is Jorie. She's a friend of Ryan's from Chino.
"I don't see Ryan anywhere and if she's a friend of Ryan's, what is she doing here – alone – with you! And she's feeding you her pizza!" Summer was never good at being subtle. If she could have found a way to shoot steam out of her ears she would have done it.
"Summer," taking her arm and gently leading her away from the table and just out of ears reach of Jorie, Seth did his best to put a new spin on the situation. "Incase you weren't listening, I said she's from Chino. According to Ryan she's like Pop Rocks."
"You're not making any sense Cohen!"
"Pop Rocks – small, sweet and explosive!"
"Sweet! You think she's sweet! Enjoy your 'Pop Rocks' Cohen! That's the only sugar you'll be getting for a while!" Seth tried calling after her silhouette as she stormed down the pier but all he got was hand gestures. Defeated, he returned to the table and rejoined Jorie just as Ryan reappeared.
"What happened?" Confused, Ryan took his seat and passed a soda to Jorie.
Seth caught that "big brother" gesture and, for whatever reason, he panicked about what Ryan might think or do if he knew Seth had sampled Jorie's pizza. Seth looked down at his plate, then at Jorie, then at Ryan and then back at his pizza. "Nothing Ryan. It was nothing."
Ryan read right through the little act, stopped chewing and turned only his eyes to Jorie.
Jorie looked at Ryan and shrugged off his glance rather matter-of-factly and continued eating. "He thinks he's in trouble."
At that comment Ryan turned to his gaze to Seth and narrowed his eyes, "What did you do?"
Now in full-blown heart attack mode, Seth started singing like a songbird. "Ryan it was innocent. It was nothing. It was a nip. That's it. Just a nip. Nothing more. I shouldn't have done it. I was wrong and I'm sorry. Please don't punch me."
Jorie let out a little snicker at that last comment while Ryan's face got contorted, "You kissed Jorie?!"
In Seth's twisted mind things just went from bad to worse. If Ryan thought that he kissed Jorie surely he was dead. He couldn't sit still and even though he had an explanation in his head that would clarify what happened, his mouth was moving 100 mph, but nothing was coming out.
Finally Ryan gave in and turned to Jorie to make sense of what was going on, "What is he babbling about?"
She finished chewing the mouthful she had and sipped her soda before answering Ryan. The delay was sheer torture for Seth. Wiping her face with a napkin, she put him out of his misery. "You got up to go get the soda. I let him have a bite of my pizza because I thought maybe he'd want a piece of that for himself. In the mean time a girl saw us. I'm assuming it was his girlfriend because she had a total conniption over the situation at hand. Now, he's afraid that you're going to kick his ass because he had a "nip" of my pizza which you misunderstood as a kiss."
"That's it?" Ryan stated, amazed and yet somehow not surprised at Seth's melodramatic take on the given situation.
"I told you it was nothing," Seth blurted out. "I think I'll just go for a short walk. I'll be right back."
"Where are you going? Gonna get another slice?" Jorie intruded.
"Um, no. I'm gonna go pee now that I know I won't wet my pants."
Looking at Ryan, "Nice to know you haven't lost your touch!" Jorie admired.
They had spent more time on the pier than they thought and it was getting late. It was time to head back home and think of a way to sneak Jorie into Ryan's room for the night.
Jorie sat in the back seat of the Rover enjoying the ride until her favorite song came on the radio. "Oh! Turn it up I love this song!" Singing and dancing from the back seat she decided it was time for a change of scenery and climbed into the front seat on Ryan's lap. Reaching for the radio she blasted the song and tried to encourage the boys to live it up a little. While Jorie was gyrating, singing and shimmying in the front seat, Seth brought the car to a stop at red light. Ryan and Seth were laughing at Jorie's little front seat performance, until their fun was interrupted.
"RYAN!"
Looking sharply to his right, just outside his window in the car next to him, sat Marissa.
"Oh man she's pissed," Seth noted without any regard.
"It's not how it looks! I'll explain it tomorrow!" Ryan yelled as Seth pulled away from the intersection the instant the light changed.
"See Ryan! See how fast that happens? You don't even know what hit you right now do you? See I had just a nip and my girlfriend lost her mind. I got caught in a completely innocent moment. And the same thing just happened to you. You have a dancing friend on your lap. That's it. It's nothing. And WHAMO! Now you're in trouble too!" Ryan knew that Seth truly believed that little explanation made sense but he knew it was going to take more than that to convince Summer and Marissa that Jorie was no threat.
Engulfed in her own little world, Jorie was still dancing and singing on Ryan's lap. She was completely clueless that anyone else was even present.
"Oh my God! Ryan that's a cop! Jorie has no seatbelt on!" Seth panicked again.
Ryan grabbed Jorie by her hips and pulled her down on his lap to stop her from dancing. "Jorie get on the floor. Quick!" he instructed her.
Seth slowed the Rover as he approached the police car in the lane next to them.
"Damn it. I was hoping he'd make the light. Oh this is bad. This is so bad."
"Seth it's fine. Just be cool." Ryan knew he probably had a better chance of getting the cop to understand why Jorie wasn't wearing a seatbelt than he did of calming Seth down at a time like this.
"Be cool are you kidding me? You have a 14 year old girl on the floor between your legs!" He felt a cold sweat break out on his face.
"But they don't know that," Ryan clarified, looking out the window and waving to the cop.
Seth sat motionless at the wheel. Terrified to even look at the cop for fear he'd see his paranoia and ask him to pull over.
"Have a nice evening," the cop called out and then drove away.
Seth's heart was pounding away. He wasn't used to these close calls.
"You need to pull over so you can pee?" Smiling, Ryan enjoyed watching Seth squirm at times like these when there was no real danger.
"That's not funny Ryan."
"Go ahead. I'll even keep Jorie on the floor so you can have your private moment." Jorie laughed at Ryan's comment. "She won't see a thing."
"Laugh if you must Ryan. I'm not commando trained for survival like you guys are."
After another 2-3 minutes of driving Seth pulled the car over.
Jorie and Ryan broke out into a fit of laughter. Seth passed out aggravated looks to both of them as he exited the car. Jorie hinted to Ryan about jumping in the driver's seat and taking off without Seth. Of course they'd come back for him...later. Lucky for Seth they dismissed that idea.
Arriving back home just after midnight, Ryan and Seth were shocked to find there were still lights on.
"Damn it Ryan! You just had to promise her those nachos didn't you!" Seth complained.
A plan was formulated and everyone got ready for "Operation Sneak In" as Seth named it. It was Seth's job to go in first and distract Kirsten in the kitchen while Ryan snuck Jorie down the hallway behind the back wall of the kitchen. They would then be in springing position to reach the pool house.
"Hey. Where have you guys been?" Kirsten wondered.
"Oh you know. Out doing guy stuff. It was Guys Night."
"So I've heard. Is Guys Night over with?"
"Yeah, yeah it is. It was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end."
"Where's Ryan?"
"Ryan? Uh...Um....bathroom. He's in the bathroom." Lying as he motioned toward the powder room.
"Oh. Well, I think I'm going to go finish up my mess in the living room and then head to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Disappearing into the living room, Ryan and Jorie tiptoed from the family room up to the kitchen table.
"Oh shoot," they all heard Kirsten say followed by footsteps heading towards the kitchen. Jorie and Ryan hit the floor behind the dinner table. "Did I leave my notebook in here? Yep, I did. Goodnight sweetie."
"Night Mom." Seth was still standing in the same spot as if he was glued to the floor. Once she left the living room for upstairs, the members of "Operation Sneak In" all sprang towards the sliding door that led out towards the pool house. Within seconds, they were all safely hidden in the darkened pool house. Ryan offered Jorie a t-shirt to use as a nightshirt. While the guys talked, Jorie drifted off to sleep in Ryan's bed.
Seth couldn't help but end the evening with an ironic comment. "I guess a Guys Night gone wrong isn't so bad when you end up with a girl in your bed."
Worn out himself, all Ryan could do was threaten Seth with a look.
"I know, I know. Just kidding. See you in the morning buddy." Carefully checking out the window before breaking for the house, Seth waved and disappeared into the black.
Ryan looked down at Jorie. He smiled to himself and shook his head. What a crazy night it turned out to be. Leaving his clothes on, he laid down next to her on top of the blankets and soon fell fast asleep.