Title: Ryan's First Ski Trip
Summary: Ryan and the gang go to a ski resort for the weekend.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C..
Chapter 1 - Prologue
"I assure you, Sandy, I will be there. The kids will be fine."
"Thanks, Carson." Sandy hung up the phone.
Sandy and Kirsten had been worried about the kids going on this ski trip on their own, unsupervised, after the golfing trip to Palm Springs where Oliver's parents were supposed to be there and it turned out Oliver lied and they were never coming. But they hated to refuse to let Ryan and Seth go away for the weekend with their friends. After the whole Oliver fiasco, things really needed to get back to normal.
That's why Sandy was relieved to know that Luke's father, Carson Ward, was definitely going to be there this weekend to keep an eye on Luke, Ryan, Seth, Summer, Anna, and Marissa.
Sandy smiled to himself. Seth and Summer had just started dating, and Sandy knew that they were sleeping together. They were going to be a handful. Ryan and Marissa, on the other hand, were no longer dating. Sandy didn't know exactly what had happened between them. All he knew what that they were trying to be friends, but he didn't know if that was going to work since they'd never been just friends.
On Friday evening, Carson and Luke arrived at the ski resort at Big Bear first. Well, not entirely first. Carson's new boyfriend Keith was already there waiting for him. Carson had hated misleading Sandy Cohen about the extent of his parental supervision plans for this weekend, but he knew that if he hadn't, Sandy wouldn't have let Seth and Ryan come.
Carson had been planning this weekend getaway with his lover, and Luke had kind of blackmailed him into letting him and his friends come along. Carson wasn't really planning on "supervising" them very much. He was going to be busy. Carson figured that the kids were old enough to take care of themselves, mostly, but he would be around in case there was an emergency, like a skiing accident or someone getting into trouble.
When Carson and Luke walked into the lobby of the resort, Carson smiled when he saw Keith sitting there waiting for him, with all his bags. Keith was as bad as his soon-to-be ex-wife Meredith when it came to packing. As Carson approached, Keith smiled in response and stood up. Carson really wanted to kiss Keith right then and there, but even though they weren't in the closet any more, he didn't like to advertise, either. Especially with Luke standing right there. He knew seeing this sort of thing made Luke uncomfortable. So Carson and Keith both contented themselves with smiling at each other and bumping their shoulders a little bit as they started walking together towards the front desk.
Luke quietly put some distance between himself and his father. He hated this part. He had steeled himself to deal with seeing his father with his boyfriend (god, he hated calling him that), but it still freaked him out. But he'd have to live with it, at least until they had checked in and gone to their separate rooms. Luke had made sure that his father's room was on a different floor than his and the other kids' rooms.
Luke followed his father as he went up to the front desk and checked in. Once the desk clerk had handed Luke his room key, he couldn't get out of there fast enough. He took his leave of his father, went up to his room and dropped his dufflebag off, and went back downstairs to wait for the other guys. He hoped to not see his father for the rest of the weekend, until it was time to go home on Sunday night.
The next to arrive was the Cohens' Range Rover with Seth, Summer, Ryan, and Marissa. The drive up to Big Bear reminded Ryan of the trip that the four of them took to Tijuana. Seth and Summer had argued the entire way about the music and anything else they could think of. Ryan and Marissa sat in the back seat, uncomfortable with each other, and didn't say a word the entire way.
When they arrived at the resort, Summer insisted on getting a bellhop to handle their bags for them. Well, mostly to handle her bags. And Seth had no objections. Summer's bags were heavy. Everyone else got along with at most two bags for the weekend, but Summer of course had to bring four very large and heavy suitcases. He didn't know why she thought she'd need so many clothes.
As the four of them walked into the resort's lobby, Ryan was glad to see Luke there waiting for them. Finally, someone that he could just relax with, after the strain of being with Marissa for two hours. Ryan and Luke were going to share a room. Normally they wouldn't, but things got a little messy when Seth and Summer had insisted upon rooming together.
They told all their parents that Ryan and Seth would share a room, paid for by Kirsten and Sandy. Summer and Marissa were going to share a room, paid for by Summer's father, since Marissa's parents couldn't afford this sort of trip right now. Luke was supposed to have a room to himself, paid for by his father. And Anna also had her own room, paid for by her parents. All of the rooms were booked with two queen size beds.
After Seth and Summer wanted to share a room, they had to shuffle everyone around. If Ryan and Marissa were still dating, Ryan would have just switched with Summer and that would be that. But Ryan and Marissa weren't dating any more, so they had to get more creative. It ended up, with six people and four rooms, that Seth and Summer had one room, Ryan and Luke had another room, and Marissa and Anna each had their own rooms. The only other alternative was for Marissa and Anna to room together, but this way seemed better. And Ryan was actually looking forward to spending some more time with Luke, now that Seth had Summer, which really cut into Seth-Ryan time.
When Luke saw the four of them walk in, he got up to meet them. The now five of them went up to the front desk so that Seth and Summer could check into the two rooms that their parents were paying for. After checking in, Seth kept his key and Summer handed her key to Marissa. They all went upstairs so that Ryan could drop his dufflebag in Luke's room, and Seth and Summer could unload all of their bags into their room, and Marissa could do the same in hers.
Then they all went back downstairs to the lobby to hang out and wait for the remaining member of their group, Anna.
Anna arrived last, in her convertible. She was really looking forward to this weekend in one way, but dreading it in another way.
She really loved skiing, and went all the time back home in Pennsylvania. That was one of the things she missed by living in southern California. This was only the second time she'd been able to get in some skiing this winter, if you can call it "winter".
On the other hand, she wasn't looking forward to this trip because she'd have to be around Seth and Summer. She was still in love with Seth, and even though she was the one to break up with him, it still hurt. She had been seriously considering moving back to Pittsburgh and living with her Aunt and Uncle, but hadn't gotten up the courage yet to ask her parents.
When Anna arrived at the ski resort, she was surprised and happy to see everyone there waiting for her. She wasn't really all that close friends with any of them except for Seth. They all got up and joined her as she checked into her room, then they all went upstairs. After Anna dropped off her bags in her room, the six of them all piled into Luke and Ryan's room to discuss their plans for the next two days.
This was going to be fun.
To Be Continued