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: A reminder that while Halloween really was on Friday in 2003, in this story it is on Saturday.

Chapter 13 - "Halloween, part 1"

Saturday. October 31st. Halloween.

Ryan was in the pool house getting ready for his trip to Arcadia for the day. He and Joan had gone back and forth on the phone during the last week over a costume for him for the Arcadia High School Halloween Costume Dance tonight. He didn't really want to wear a costume at all, but Joan insisted. They finally compromised.

He was going to wear what Joan called his "Chino clothes" -- his old boots and old cheap pants that he brought with him from Chino, plus a wife-beater, and his leather jacket with the gray hooded sweatshirt. As far as he was concerned, they were real clothes, not a costume, so he was fine with it. Joan thought they would be OK as a costume since the kids at her school didn't dress like that, so she was fine with it too.

So that his Chino clothes would seem more like a costume when he changed into them before the dance, this morning he dressed in some of his nicer clothes. Not dressy, just nicer. His new boots. An almost new pair of $98 designer jeans from South Coast Plaza. One of his nicer black t-shirts. One of his nicer long sleeve buttoned shirts, black, with a subtle pattern on it.

When Ryan arrived at Joan's house in the Range Rover, he parked as before along the curb out front. Joan came out to meet him at the car and gave him a kiss before they headed into the house. She brought him to the kitchen first to get a couple of Cokes, then they went upstairs. Ryan didn't see anyone else home, until they walked past Luke's room. Ryan looked in and saw Luke in there, working on his computer.

Ryan and Joan went into her room, and she closed the door behind them. Ryan smiled to himself. Apparently nobody obeyed the rules when their parents weren't home to catch them. They sat down on the bed and drank their Cokes and talked. They also engaged in a little kissing, but nothing too heavy.

When she was done with her Coke, Joan got up and put some music on her stereo. Slow music. She smiled at Ryan and said, "I thought we should practice dancing. You know, for tonight."

"I really don't dance."

Joan joked with him. "Yeah, I know. I remember the party."

Ryan gave Joan a sheepish smile. He guessed that when they danced with each other at the party, she could tell that he didn't really dance very well.

Joan continued, "That's why we need to practice."

Ryan smiled at her, got up from the bed, and went over to her. She put her arms around him, like she had them when they were dancing to the slow song at the party. Ryan decided to joke back with Joan. As he put his arms around her, he let his hands wander downwards a little too far.

"Hey, hey, hands. Remember, this is a school dance."

Ryan moved his hands back up to an appropriate area. Ryan and Joan started to sway to the music.

After they'd practiced dancing to a couple of different CDs, they decided they'd better get going if Joan was going to show Ryan around Arcadia. Joan headed off to the bathroom to do whatever girls do to get ready to go out of the house. While he was waiting, Ryan wandered over to Luke's room, where Luke was still working on his computer. Ryan stopped in the doorway.

To let Luke know he was there, Ryan said, "Hey."

Luke turned around. "Hey."

Ryan looked in at Luke's room. It was filled with all sorts of science-related stuff. "Cool room."

"Thanks."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Luke thought, Wow. A cool guy like Ryan thought that his room was cool. And he was polite, too. People usually just came barging in. Luke didn't like people coming into his room too much, because they liked to pick stuff up and move stuff around and it messed up his science experiments. But to Luke's surprise, Ryan wasn't like that. It was as if Ryan knew what all this stuff meant to Luke. Ryan kept his hands to himself and just looked.

Ryan slowly walked around Luke's room, looking at all the cool stuff that he had. Ryan always liked science. At Chino Hills High, it was pretty boring though since they didn't have any money for interesting labwork. At Harbor High, the chemistry class he was taking was much more interesting, and challenging. He was having a tough time with it.

As Ryan looked at Luke's stuff, he'd ask questions about what something was, or comment that it was fascinating. Pretty soon, Luke got up from his computer and started giving Ryan a tour, explaining what everything was.

When they got to something about chemistry, Ryan was able to identify it before Luke told him.

Luke was a little surprised. "You know chemistry?"

Ryan laughed a little. "Well, I'm taking it. I wouldn't say that I know it. Like, I know what you have here is for, but I don't really understand the process."

"It's easy. I could explain it to you. It will take 5 minutes."

Luke stopped because he realized that he had just insulted Ryan, implying that he was stupid because he didn't understand something that was easy. Luke was nervous about how Ryan would react. He was still a little afraid of him. Ryan was tough. He was from Chino.

Ryan could see that Luke was nervous around him. He knew that Luke didn't mean to insult him. So Ryan said, "That would be great. We're studying this right now, and I have a test next week. If you could get me to understand it, it would really help me out a lot."

Luke relaxed and smiled. "Yeah, I could do that. Have a seat."

Ryan sat down. While Luke went over to his books and got his chemistry textbook and a notebook, Ryan said, "You're taking chemistry? I thought Joan said that she was taking chemistry."

Luke sat down next to Ryan. He flipped through the textbook and opened it in the right section. He opened the notebook to a blank page. "Yeah, we're in the same AP Chemistry class."

"That must be weird."

"Tell me about it."

Luke and Ryan settled in. Luke started to explain the chemistry process. He pointed things out in the textbook and drew stuff up in the notebook. Ryan asked questions. After a few minutes, Ryan was starting to get it.

When Joan was done getting herself ready, she came looking for Ryan. She followed the sound of his voice to Luke's room. She stopped in the doorway and smiled at what she saw - Luke and Ryan, deep into talking about some chemistry thing. Luke was really enjoying himself. And Ryan didn't look like he was having such a bad time, either. She was glad that Luke and Ryan were getting along.

Neither Luke nor Ryan noticed Joan standing there. Joan wanted to get going, so she got their attention. "Hey."

They both paused in what they were talking about and turned to look over at her. Ryan smiled and held up one finger. He needed just 1 minute more. Joan nodded. Ryan turned back to Luke, who continued the explanation. Joan waited patiently by the door. It was somewhat more than 1 minute before they finished.

When they were done, Ryan stood up and took several pieces of paper that Luke had been writing things on, folded them up, and put them into his pocket. He said to Luke, "Thanks, man." And shook his hand.

Luke smiled. This had been fun. "Any time."

Ryan went over to Joan. "Ready?"

"I was ready 5 minutes ago." Joan replied, pretending to complain. But her smile gave her away.

Ryan smiled too and gave Joan a kiss. Then he took her hand, and they headed out to the Range Rover.

To Be Continued