(Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all. So don't sue me. Please.)

A Note from the Author: It's summer vacation and I'm just languishing in the house. I'm trying to survive on Joe Schmo 2 (such an awesome and hilarious show, tee hee) and reruns of CSI: Miami. I hope all of you guys are enjoying the act of sleeping in and minimal to non-existent brainwork (er, aside from writing, of course) as much as I am. Anyway, this chapter was fun to write – perhaps a bit disjointed. I guess that means it's fluff-tastic, but we all need a taste of that after those four 'weighty' chapters, right? Onwards! (Btw, happy Canada Day!)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Silent, Ryan and Summer just laid in bed together, both battling with their inner demon of the week. Ryan was growing increasingly colder with each passing minute, noticeably shivering, yet he didn't want to actually get up or give any other indication that he was conscious. In addition, Summer was starting to sweat underneath her cocoon of blankets, her limbs warm and clammy against her body. He counted the seconds uneasily, with a paranoid diagnosis of hypothermia crossing his mind more times than he'd have liked. She was busy wondering whether it was possible to die from dehydration by uncontrollable sweating.

Neither of them wanted to wait and find out.

Swearing under their breaths, both rid themselves of any physical hindrances and stood up, one with teeth chattering, the other heavily breathing. They faced each other and suddenly Summer took in the sight of Ryan's dishevelled hair and clothes, plus his sudden habit of staring at anyplace except for at her. He looked adorable.

God, she wanted to jump him.

Unnerved by her sudden desire, Summer stammered a bit loudly, "Pee! I need to pee!" while gesturing wildly and pointing in a somewhat general direction with both hands. Then she ran off, leaving behind two steamed footprints on the floor.

In the privacy of the bathroom and under the glare of fluorescent lighting, she scrutinized her appearance. Oh, fuck, her hair. She looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. No wonder Ryan didn't want to look at her, he was probably scared shitless. Grabbing her make-up kit, she finished making herself presentable and stepped outside warily. Must keep mind out of gutter. Must try not to think only about Ryan's body. Must… not… revert… back… to… thoughts… of… summer!

Ryan quickly changed into something warmer and dutifully made up his bed, glancing over briefly when he heard the bathroom door open. Then he promptly flushed and turned away. Must keep mind away from puppies and rainbows. Must try not to think only about declaring his feelings for her. Must… not… revert… back… to… thoughts… of… Summer!

There was a moment of silence as their eyes met momentarily.

"Oh!" Ryan interrupted, sounding quite panicked. "What day is it today?"

"Uh… day? Monday, I think." She scrunched up her face, going through her mental calendar.

"Fuck! Don't we have school today?"

Realization dawned on her face. "No!" she exclaimed breathily. "I mean, yes! I mean, holy shit, like, what time is it?"

"It's… 7:18! What? Why didn't Kirsten or Sandy wake me up?"

"Maybe… they had been planning to. And then they saw… us. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit… Oh! Coop!"

"School first. We'll call Luke on the way."

"Okay," Summer strode towards Ryan and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll swing by later, I just need to like, get all school-prepared."

Ryan gave her a hard look. "School-prepared? As in primp in front of the mirror for an hour?"

She feigned offence. "An hour? Chino, you know as well as I do that I only take, like, forty-five minutes! …Just kidding. I'll only be a sex. Sec! A second! Only a second."

He snorted, oblivious to what she had just let slip. "Whatever, see you later. Love y–"

"Huh?"

"Glove!" he said fervently, startlingly her. "I'll need to remember my glove."

"Maybe it's in your sack. I mean, your knapsack. Oh God." She ran, almost sprinted out of the pool house before she burst into flames on the spot. It wasn't until later when she had the air-conditioning on at full blast in her car on the way home that she could finally think straight. Could she have been more obvious in front of Ryan?, she lamented. Sex, sec, that was like a typo everyone giggled over. It wasn't until she was face-to-face with her father, who looked none too pleased, when it suddenly hit her.

Ryan played baseball?

"Marissa!" Luke called for the umpteenth time, throwing his brother's baseball methodically against the bathroom door. "It's time to come out! We have school today, remember?"

Marissa wiped the drool off of her face and stretched from her makeshift bed, the bathtub. Grabbing the curtains and pulling herself upright, she groggily surveyed the room. Was it just her, or did her dad's apartment get even more small? And geez, what was that thumping? The upstairs neighbours really needed to get their place sound-proofed. She pushed open the door, only to get whacked in the stomach. Oh yeah. This was turning out to be a real winner of a morning.

Luke had the pleasure of informing her that "No, Ryan did not come for you last night" and "Really, that rash needs to be checked out by the doctor". "Why do you care about Ryan, anyway?" he asked her over breakfast, one eyebrow quirked at her Cocoa Puffs cereal drenched in coffee. He briefly wondered whether she'd be twitching by third period. Oh well. At least right now she could form full sentences. "I thought you were mad at him for hooking up with Summer."

"What, you think I'm going to treat him the same way I treated you when you cheated on me?" she retorted. "I know it's not his fault."

"What?"

"I'm just saying, Sum can be really persuasive. And dependent. Ever since her mom abandoned her or something, I've always been the shoulder she cried on." Reaching for her bowl, she gulped down the remaining chocolate-coffee mix. "And when I went to Europe, there was Ryan."

"Uh… Marissa, I don't think you understand…"

"Look, Luke. I did some thinking in Chino and that was what made sense. I'm not worried at all. And I think I'm the better judge of both of them, right?"

"Um… Yeah." Right now, for some odd reason, Luke could only think about the many euphemisms that applied to these circumstances. One card short of a deck. The lights aren't all on upstairs. The wheel is spinning, but the hamster's dead. It kind of scared him.

She grabbed the car keys from their usual place on the rack, still familiar with the layout of the house and the Ward's habits. Luke could feel his heart seize in his chest.

"We're going to be late."

"O… okay. I just need…" He gingerly reached his hand forward in the direction of the keys.

Marissa shook her head in amusement and gently pushed him aside, unaware that he was beginning to almost hyperventilate. "No, it's okay. I'm driving. I can get us there faster than you ever could," she reassured. "We won't be late."

Right, Luke could see how this comment made it all better. Uh huh. He wasn't scared at all.

He was terrified.

Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. At least Chino looked happy on his little hamster wheel. Unlike the other members of the Roberts household.

"Great, just great," Summer grumbled as she straight-ironed her hair in record time. "The one day they choose to give a damn about me… I don't come home for the whole night." She had really never seen her father look so angry with, like, veins popping out and stuff. And her step-mother look so sobered up with, like, the ability to parrot whatever Dad said. "'Summer, I'm disappointed in you.' 'Yeah, we're so disappointed,'" she mimicked as she angrily grabbed her purse where it landed after she had hurled it across the room post-parental lecture. What gave them the right to tell her what to do now? Certainly not their fabulous parenting for the past decade or so. And she hadn't realized that they would be coming back from Jamaica so early… Otherwise, she would've done… well, nothing different.

They were the ones who had changed, suddenly becoming laughable caricatures of good parents. They had brought up a curfew that had never been enforced until yesterday night. They mentioned alcohol missing from the cabinets, some of which Summer actually hadn't partaken in. They had even pointed to the hamster cage and asked her whether 'that creature' was sanitary!

The nerve! When had they ever cared about her? What, had they gone to the Wizard of Oz and got two hearts?

More like they had gone to Dr. Phil and got two 'hearts'.

This entire situation was just wrong in its… wrongness. It gave her a headache, especially the last part. What was it her dad had said? Oh yeah.

"I'd like to meet the punk who corrupted my muffin."