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.
Chapter 2 - "Meeting Luke"
While dancing with Joan to the slow song, Ryan noticed a blond kid with glasses getting bullied by two not-very-nice looking guys. He heard the kid say to them, "Please." Joan must have heard it too, because she stopped dancing and turned around to look. Apparently she knew the kid, because she said, "Luke", and started making her way through the dancers over to him.
Ryan was surprised at the surge of jealousy that went through him. He had barely even met this girl Joan, and he didn't even know who this kid Luke was. For all Ryan knew, he was Joan's brother. Ryan followed Joan through the dancers.
When Ryan got a chance, he asked Joan, "Luke?"
Without even turning around, Joan replied, "My brother."
Ryan was relieved to hear that.
When he and Joan arrived at Luke and the two bullies, Ryan stepped in front of Joan, next to Luke, and put on his tough guy act. The bullies were bigger than Ryan, but that was nothing new. Ryan was used to taking on bigger guys. And tougher guys. From up close, these two didn't look like they could last two minutes on the streets in Chino.
Ryan got into the face of the one who looked like the leader, and told him in his toughest voice, "Back off."
Joan was surprised to see the change in Ryan from the nice, considerate guy she was just dancing with, to this tough guy ready to take on two bigger guys to defend her brother, whom Ryan didn't even know. Although looking at his clothes, and given the kind of neighborhood they were in, she knew she shouldn't have really been surprised.
Joan didn't want to see Ryan or Luke get into a fight, so she said to Luke, "Let's go."
Joan grabbed Luke's arm and started pulling him away from the bullies towards the front door of the house. Ryan stayed behind for a few seconds to make sure that the bullies wouldn't go after them, then he followed. The three of them went outside, to an area of the yard which was quieter.
Joan turned to Luke and asked him, "Are you OK?"
Luke took a deep breath and answered, "Yeah, I guess."
Joan looked over at Ryan and said, "Thanks, Ryan. You didn't have to do that."
Ryan gave her a little smile, shrugged, and said, "It was nothing."
The sounds of laughter caught the attention of all three of them. They watched as the same two bullies came out of the house and started drinking beer on the front lawn. They didn't pay any attention to Ryan, Joan, and Luke.
But Joan didn't want to take any chances. She said to Luke. "We should go."
Ryan saw Luke nod. Apparently they were leaving. Ryan didn't want to just let Joan go out of his life and never see her again. Now he understood why Marissa came to the model home to see him the night before he was going to leave town. Too bad that didn't work out. Damn Luke. Newport Luke, that is.
So Ryan spoke up. "Do you need a ride? I have a car..."
Before Joan could answer, Luke did. "Yeah. That would be great."
Joan gave Luke a look like why did you say that? Luke had seen how Joan and this Ryan guy were looking at each other. He decided to play matchmaker. So he gave her a look back like what?
Ryan ignored the looks they were giving each other and just said, "Great. Just let me get my jacket."
Joan watched Ryan head back into the house. While she was waiting for him to come back, she spotted the heavy-set high school girl that He showed up as sometimes. She sighed and left Luke to go over and talk to Him/Her.
The heavy-set girl said, "Take him home. Introduce him to your parents."
"You're kidding, right? Him? They'll have a coronary."
The girl just smiled, turned around, and walked away, waving her right hand back at Joan.
It hadn't taken Ryan long to go inside and get his jacket. When he came back out, he saw Luke standing by himself where he left him. He looked over at where Luke was looking and saw Joan talking to another girl. Ryan saw the other girl turn and walk away.
Luke and Ryan walked over to where Joan was. Ryan said, "Ready?"
Joan replied, "Yeah."
Luke felt the need to play matchmaker some more. So he said to Ryan, "It's still early. You are going to come in, right? We can hang out. Play video games or something."
Ryan again ignored the look that Joan gave her brother. He told Luke, "Sounds good."
The three of them walked out of the yard and down the street to where Ryan had parked his borrowed car. Joan took one look at the beat up old car and thought that it was exactly the kind of car that she'd expect someone like Ryan to have. Her father wasn't going to like this.
Ryan unlocked the doors to the car, and while Joan got into the front seat and Luke got into the back seat, Ryan opened the trunk and put his leather jacket inside. He took out the blue long sleeve button-up shirt that he had left home wearing and put it back on. The sleeves were already rolled up. Ryan also tried to use his fingers to fix up his hair a little bit. If he was going to this nice girl's home, he wanted to look better than his Chino self that he projected at the parties.
When Ryan got into the car, Joan noticed the change in his wardrobe. She thought it made him look totally different. Like the difference between him as the tough guy and him as the considerate guy. Maybe her Dad wouldn't object too much after all.
To Be Continued