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 3 - Mistaken Identity

Ryan and Luke were still eating when Summer, Seth, and Marissa finished their brunch. Ryan told them, "Why don't you guys go ahead? You don't have to wait for us."

The three of them looked at each other and came to silent agreement. Seth said, "OK. Have fun snowboarding."

"See you guys at dinner."

They got up and headed off to arrange for some skiing lessons. After they left, Ryan turned to Luke. "Uh, Luke -- I don't know if I can go snowboarding."

"Ryan, what are you talking about? Of course you can. You're an athlete, unlike Cohen..."

"That's not what I meant." Luke gave Ryan a questioning look. Ryan continued, "I don't do... heights."

"You don't do heights? What does that mean? You're afraid of heights?" Ryan confirmed it with a little nod. Luke was confused. "Oh. OK... Why'd you even come, then?"

Ryan shrugged. He had been wondering that himself. Well, I mean, of course he came to be with his friends, and to get away from home for a few days, and because he'd never seen snow before. Even if the snow here was made by a machine, at least it was snow. But he really had no intention of skiing or snowboarding. Last night he thought he could give snowboarding a try, but after thinking about it overnight, he chickened out.

"Listen, man, not everyone knows about my acrophobia..."

Luke quickly interrupted, "I can keep a secret as well as you can."

Ryan and Luke shared a little smile, remembering how Ryan had kept Luke's secret about his father.

"Thanks. Look, I'd like to let everyone else think that I did go snowboarding with you. If Seth knows I didn't, I'll never hear the end of it."

Luke nodded. Knowing Cohen, he could understand that. "Sure. But what are you going to do today?"

"I don't know yet. I'll find something."

Luke was done with his brunch. He stood up. "Well, if you're sure..."

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'll see you tonight."

"OK." Luke headed off to go snowboarding by himself.

After Ryan finished his brunch, he went wandering around the ski resort lodge, checking everything out. There were an amazing number of things to do here that didn't involve actual skiing. They had a heated pool with a hot tub and a steam room. They had a spa where you could get a massage after a hard day on the slopes. There was an exercise room. There were areas where you could just relax in front of a fireplace, have a hot drink, and watch the people skiing outside through large windows.

Nothing really interested Ryan except for maybe the exercise room. He went in and looked around. They had a lot of nice equipment. He decided against it, partially because of the looks he kept getting, in there and everywhere he went. All of the other hotel guests were dressed in expensive-looking ski clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. Ryan had his usual clothes on, including his boots and wrist cuff. If he didn't feel out of place here before, he did now.

At this point, Ryan felt the need to be around people like himself. He went outside the lodge and wandered around towards the back, outside the kitchen of the restaurant where he had eaten his brunch. He could smell the food cooking in the kitchen for lunch. He could hear the people inside. It was familiar, comfortable, because he worked at a restaurant before, and because these were working-class people, like himself.

When Ryan got near the open back door of the kitchen, he could see a couple of men outside, smoking and talking. He had a sudden craving for a cigarette. Maybe it was the environment, who knew. He hadn't had a cigarette since Kirsten and Sandy asked him to quit when he moved in with them. Ryan approached the two men, hoping to bum a cigarette.

"Um, excuse me?"

The one man who had his back to Ryan as he approached, now turned around. He wasn't what Ryan was expecting. He was older, wore a suit, looked like he was in charge, of something. Ryan looked and spotted a nametag on his suit which said that he was the restaurant manager. Oops.

"You're late."

"Excuse me?"

The manager put out his cigarette and took Ryan by the arm, leading him in through the kitchen door.

"You're Williamson's friend, right? Didn't he tell you that the shift started at 9 O'Clock? You're lucky that we're so understaffed."

This guy talked as fast as Seth did. Ryan didn't get a chance to tell him that he wasn't who he thought he was.

"Since there's only 6 hours left on the shift, you're only getting paid for 6 hours. Did Williamson tell you that this is under the table? So you'll get paid, in cash, at the end of the shift. Have you done this kind of work before?"

The guy finally took a breath. Here was Ryan's chance to tell him that this was a case of mistaken identity. To his own surprise, Ryan found himself answering the manager's question instead.

"Uh, yeah. I worked at a small restaurant last summer, waiting tables, we also bussed the tables, worked the register, ..."

"Well, this is just a busboy job. I'm sure you can handle it. What's your name?"

"Ryan Atwood."

"How old are you, Atwood?"

"Seventeen."

Ryan didn't know why he said that, except that maybe it sounded better to be 17 than 16. He was still a couple of months away from his 17th birthday. He knew he could pass for older, but he figured it was too risky to claim that he was over 18 when he wasn't.

The manager nodded, then turned and gestured to a busboy, who came over. "Ortiz, this is Atwood. He's taking Williamson's shift. Get him set up, OK?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Francona."

Ryan was relieved to hear that he was taking this Williamson guy's shift, that is, that Williamson, whom Ryan was supposed to know, wasn't actually here.

Ryan followed Ortiz into a locker room which was next to the kitchen. Ortiz went to get Ryan the busboy uniform: a white t-shirt which had the name of the resort on it, plus a white apron, like the kind Ryan used to wear at the Crab Shack.

Ortiz handed them to Ryan. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

Ryan took off his outer shirt and his black t-shirt and put on the white shirt. He also took off his watch. He put them all into a locker. Ryan tied the apron around his waist. As Ortiz took him out and showed him around, Ryan had a chance to think about what just happened.

He really didn't know why he didn't speak up and get himself out of this. But now that he was here... He could use the money. He could always use more spending money. Also, he didn't really have anything to do for the next 6 hours, so he might as well do this than go back to the room and watch TV or something. It might be fun, you know, hanging around with people like himself. He already liked this Ortiz guy, who looked to be about Ryan's own age.

Ryan figured he wouldn't get caught doing this because the rest of the gang were off skiing or snowboarding and probably wouldn't be back until after Ryan's shift was over at 5 O'Clock. And since Luke's father was at brunch, he figured he wouldn't be back at the restaurant until dinner, after 5, so that should be OK too.

So Ryan went to work as a busboy at a ski resort that he was a guest at...

To Be Continued