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 9 - "Grounded, part 3 - Still Monday"
When Ryan was finished with his call to Joan, he left Seth's cell phone in his room and headed downstairs. He ran into Seth on the steps. When Seth heard Ryan coming, he got up to meet him.
"Hey. How'd it go?"
"Good."
"What'd you two talk about?"
"Seth, that's private."
"Right, between you and your girlfriend. Got it."
"She's not my girlfriend."
"Yet, you mean. But you want her to be, right?"
"I guess." Ryan looked at Seth for a moment. He decided to share. "I've never really had a girlfriend."
Seth was surprised. He was sure that Ryan had had lots of luck with the ladies. So he said, "Really? Because I thought you were... I mean, you had... That is, you have you know before, haven't you?"
Ryan gave him one of his looks. "Yeah, I've hung out with girls. But we never really... went out."
"Ah, got it."
When the reached the kitchen, Seth headed for the TV. "Let's fire up the playstation."
"Seth, I'm still grounded."
"Same deal, man. My Mom and Dad still aren't here."
"No."
"Come on. You broke the rules for Joan but you won't for me?" Seth gave Ryan a mock pout.
"Seth, talking to Joan was important to me, playing video games isn't."
"Fine, fine. But by the time you're not grounded any more, I'm going to be so good I'll kick your ass all over the house."
Ryan smiled at Seth, like indulging a child. "Whatever you say."
Ryan went out to the pool house to try and get some homework done before lunch. And Seth started up the playstation and started playing by himself.
Sandy headed home at lunchtime. He had planned to put in a full day's work, but with the holiday and all, the courts and everything related to them were closed. So he figured he'd get as much work done at home as at the office.
Sandy was definitely not worried about leaving Ryan home alone while he was grounded. Of course not. And actually, Ryan wasn't really alone. Seth was there too. And those two could never get into any trouble together. Yeah, right.
When Sandy arrived home, he heard the sounds of someone playing a video game. He hoped that it was Seth playing and not Ryan. Sandy smiled to himself. It was so much easier when it was just Seth he had to worry about. Then, if he heard video games, he knew who it was who was playing.
Sandy followed the sounds of the video game to the den. He found Seth playing by himself. Ryan was eating lunch at the kitchen table. Sandy looked around to see if there was evidence that Ryan and Seth had both been playing. Like maybe just a second ago when they heard him come home, Ryan quickly moved over to the kitchen table. There wasn't any such evidence. Well, maybe Ryan was abiding by the rules after all.
"Hey, fellas."
"Hey." That was from Ryan.
"Hey, Dad. What are you doing home?"
"With the holiday, the courts are closed. So I thought I'd work from home this afternoon."
Seth and Ryan exchanged a glance like they didn't believe that for a second.
Sandy continued, "Well, I'm going to go change, then I'll join you guys for lunch."
Sandy went to his bedroom to change out of his suit. By the time he got back to the kitchen, Ryan wasn't there and Seth was making himself lunch.
"Where's Ryan?"
"He finished eating lunch. He went out to the pool house to work on his homework."
"Ah."
Sandy joined Seth in making himself lunch, and the two of them sat down at the kitchen table to eat.
Ryan was sitting up on his bed, with his homework open in front of him. He was trying to actually work on his homework, but was having the same problem as he'd been having since yesterday. He couldn't concentrate. He found himself going over and over in his mind the conversation that he and Joan had on the phone earlier.
After a while, he realized that this was pointless. He needed to get up and do something. Either something to take his mind off of Joan, or something where it didn't matter if his mind was preoccupied. He looked out at the pool. That sounded like a good idea. He could swim or float without having to think about it, so he could think about Joan. And swimming would help him work off his 'nervous energy'.
So Ryan changed into his swim trunks. He went out to the pool and dove in. He swam around for a while, then got one of the floating pool chairs and floated on the water for a while. He sat there looking out at the ocean and thinking about Joan.
Ryan was pulled out of his thoughts by Seth and Anna walking over to the edge of the pool.
"Hey, Anna."
"Hey, Ryan, how's it going?"
"Good."
Anna looked confused. "Seth said you were grounded."
Ryan smiled. "I guess I meant as good as can be expected since I'm grounded."
Seth and Anna both smiled back at Ryan. Then Seth said, "So, Ryan -- Anna and I are going out to the comic book store. Do you want me to get you anything?"
"I'll just read whatever you get for yourself."
"OK. See you later."
After Seth and Anna left, Ryan looked over at the hot tub and thought about moving over there. When he got up the energy. For right now, he went back to staring at the ocean.
Sandy stood in the master bedroom and watched Ryan lounging in the hot tub. Ryan had his eyes closed. He was probably picturing Joan in the hot tub with him. Sandy smiled. He could picture Kirsten and himself in the hot tub, with a couple glasses of wine, and Mr. Soloman Burke playing in the background. They really needed to do that again soon. It had been a while.
Sandy decided that he needed to have another talk with the kid, and now was as good a time as any. He walked out of the French doors in the bedroom and across the grass to the hot tub.
"Hey, kid."
Ryan jumped a mile. Sandy smiled. Ryan had probably been deeply concentrating on thinking about Joan.
Sandy told him, "Sorry. Didn't mean to sneak up on you."
"That's OK."
"No hurry, but whenever you're done with your swim, we should talk."
"OK."
"Good." Sandy walked away back to his bedroom, smiling to himself.
Ryan sighed. Another talk. Well, he could put it off by staying out here in the water for a while. He closed his eyes and tried to pick up where he left off with the wonderful fantasy he was having about Joan. After a couple of minutes he gave up trying. It was no use. All he could think about was what did Sandy want to talk to him about this time. So Ryan got out of the hot tub. Might as well get this over with.
Ryan went inside the pool house and took a quick shower to rinse off the chlorine. When he walked out of the bathroom, in his t-shirt and pants, he found Sandy sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed, reading the newspaper. It was time. Ryan walked around and down the steps and sat down on the end of the bed across from Sandy.
Sandy folded up his newspaper and leaned back.
"Ryan, if you're going to have a serious relationship with Joan, we need to talk."
Ryan thought, Oh, great. It was worse than another lecture or interrogation about Saturday night. It was The Talk.
To Be Continued