Title: Ryan and Joan

Summary: Ryan meets Joan from Joan of Arcadia.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C. or Joan of Arcadia.

Author's Notes: In this alternate universe, Ryan and Marissa never went out. In "The Heights" she never forgave him at the carnival for attacking Luke at soccer practice and the things he said to her later that night. This takes place about a month later, in mid-October.

Chapter 1 - "Meeting Joan"

This Saturday, Ryan went through what had become in the last month his usual Saturday routine. He received his phone call from Donny's friend, or The Party Guy, as Ryan thought of him. The party this week was in Arcadia. Ryan had never been to Arcadia, so he used his laptop computer and went on the web to get directions to this place. Ryan dressed down in his older clothes, including one of his so-called 'wife-beaters'. He got on his bike and rode down to the numbered streets to pick up the car his friend from the Crab Shack was letting him borrow every Saturday night while his license was suspended. He put on his leather jacket and hooded gray sweatshirt which he left with the car every week. He wanted to fit in to the places where he was going.

Ryan drove to Arcadia and found the house party in a working class neighborhood with no problem. The neighborhood reminded him of his old neighborhood in Chino, with the chain-link fences around the small but well-kept houses. This house reminded him of Theresa's house. By the time Ryan got there, at about 8 O'Clock, the party was in full swing. He entered the house and since it was hot in there, he took off his jacket, leaving him with just his tank top on (and pants and boots).

Ryan took his usual look around, scoping out the girls to find some that would be willing to get into it with a guy they just met. Such girls were easy to find in places like this. He hadn't had any problems finding willing girls in the four previous Saturday parties he'd attended. Right away, he spotted three good candidates. He managed to catch the eye of each one, and they each looked back at him like they were interested. He picked one and went over to her and asked her to dance. Normally he didn't like to dance, but he found that it was the best way at these parties to pick a girl to get it on with. He usually danced with each candidate for one song and then picked one of the girls to go off with.

While Ryan was dancing with candidate number one, another girl caught his attention. She was the total opposite of the kind of girl he was looking for at these parties. She looked sweet and innocent, had probably never gone all the way, maybe never even kissed a guy. She had long brown hair and a pretty face. She wasn't beautiful or striking, but there was just something about her that Ryan couldn't put his finger on. She was the kind of girl you'd have a serious relationship with. And since that was totally not what Ryan was looking for, he tried to forget about her and concentrate on his dance with candidate number one. But he couldn't forget about her. He kept finding himself looking over at her. With the next song, and candidate number two, he hoped to have better luck, but it was the same thing. He kept thinking about that other girl.

Joan had noticed the good looking guy in the tank top as soon as he came in. She saw him take off his leather jacket and carefully place it out of the way so that it couldn't get beer or something spilled on it. She watched him scan the room and nod to three slutty looking girls. She was a little disappointed that that's the kind of girl he was looking for. She tried to forget him since he was obviously not the kind of guy she was looking for. But she kept finding herself watching him dance. He didn't dance very well, but the girl he was with didn't seem to care. She had her hands all over him. She watched him move on to a second skank when the next song came on. But she still couldn't stop looking at him.

While Ryan was dancing with candidate number two, he looked over at the nice girl, again, and this time she was looking at him at the same time. Their eyes met. He looked away quickly, embarrassed, but not before he saw her do the same thing. So she was interested in him too. That just made him more attracted to her. He decided he wouldn't be able to get her off his mind unless he danced with her. So after the song was over, he bypassed candidate number three and approached the nice girl instead.

"Hi."

Joan was a little surprised that the cute guy actually came up to her. All she could say in response was, "Hi."

"Would you like to dance?"

Joan smiled and nodded. Ryan took her hand and led her out to the middle of the dancers. It was a fast song, so they didn't have to touch while they danced. And the music was so loud that they couldn't really talk, so they just danced. Ryan found that the close proximity of this girl was doing the opposite of what he had hoped. Now all he wanted to do was to get to know her better. He totally forgot about why he came here in the first place.

When the song was over. Ryan said, "My name is Ryan, by the way."

"Joan."

Ryan smiled. That name was perfect for her: simple, plain, sweet. The next song started playing. It was a slow song. All of the couples around them started to put their arms around each other and sway to the song. Ryan looked over at Joan and gave her a questioning look, asking if she was interested in doing the same thing. She gave a little shrug and small smile, indicating that it was ok with her. So Ryan carefully put his arms around her, trying not to get too familiar. He didn't want to scare her off. He was happy when she did the same thing. They started to sway to the song.

To Be Continued