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 10 - Sunday Brunch, Continued

As they all got close to finishing their brunch, Marissa spoke up.

"So, guys. I guess we should decide what we're all doing today. Remember, you agreed that we could do something together."

It was Marissa's idea for them to all hang out together today. She hoped that they weren't all going to back out and do separate things again. She didn't want to end up spending the afternoon by herself, again. So she took it upon herself to push it for them to find something for them all to agree on.

Summer answered, "Well, Cohen and I already did a sleigh ride, so I guess that's out."

Marissa suggested, "What about ice skating?"

Seth and Ryan both quickly said, "No."

Ryan suggested, "They have cross-country skiing..."

Seth shook his head. "Too much work."

Ryan continued, "... or snow-shoeing ..."

"Also too much work. What are you trying to do, kill me?" Ryan smiled. Seth continued, "What about snowmobiling?"

Summer and Marissa looked at each other and shook their heads.

Marissa suggested, "Why don't we go tubing?"

Ryan asked, "What's tubing?"

"Oh, um, snow tubing is basically sledding, on a large inner tube. It's really cool, and it's easy, anyone can do it. I mean, there's no skill or experience required. You sit or lie down on the tube and slide down the hill along these lanes. Don't worry, they have different height hills, we can go on the low one."

Marissa hoped that Ryan wasn't too embarrassed that she brought up his fear of heights, again, but she wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to say no.

Summer got caught up in Marissa's enthusiasm. "Yeah, Cohen, and we can tie our tubes together and go down as a couple!"

Marissa added, "And they have these cool tube tows to get you back up the hill. You just tie your tube to the tow and get pulled back up, sitting on the tube. We don't have to hike up the hill or anything."

Marissa looked around at everyone and continued, "So what do you guys say? It'll be fun!"

They all looked at each other and nodded and shrugged. Marissa took that as agreement. "Great!"

Carson Ward arrived at the restaurant for brunch and saw the kids sitting at a table. He went over there to check in, like he had been doing at every meal. When he got there, he saw that Luke wasn't with them. Carson nodded to all the kids, and they nodded back at him.

"Hi, guys. Where's Luke?"

Ryan and the others all looked at each other. Obviously, they didn't want to tell Luke's father that he was still in bed because he was hungover. After a moment, everyone ended up looking at Ryan, so it was up to him to tell Luke's Dad something.

"Um... he's... uh... sleeping in. Um... He didn't get much sleep last night, so he was tired..."

Carson was immediately suspicious. He knew his son too well. "Uh-huh. Sure. He was out drinking last night, wasn't he?" And then Carson muttered to himself, "Damn. I've talked to that kid about his drinking..."

Carson turned away from the table, towards the restaurant door. He looked determined. The kids guessed that he was headed up to Luke's room to confront him. They all quickly jumped up and Ryan moved in front of Carson. Carson stopped.

"Mr. Ward -- Why don't you let me go up there and see if he's awake?"

Carson considered this. It was probably not such a good idea to try and confront Luke while he was hungover. Letting Ryan go up there and get him out of bed might be a good idea. So Carson nodded at Ryan.

"OK, Ryan, I guess that would be a good idea. We can get a key to the room from the front desk."

Without thinking, Summer blurted out, "Ryan has a key."

Everyone looked at her. She realized that she just made a major mistake. The parents weren't supposed to know that Ryan was in the same room as Luke, or that she was in the same room as Seth.

Carson could see that Ryan having a key to Luke's room was significant. "Ryan, why do you have a key to Luke's room?"

"Um... I'm rooming with Luke."

"Why?"

"Uh... Seth and I had a fight." Ryan looked at Seth, hoping that he'd back him up, if necessary.

Carson was not stupid, or blind. It didn't look to him like Ryan and Seth were fighting. And he could see that Seth and Summer had been all over each other all weekend. They would want to share a room. Maybe Ryan moved out of Seth's room to stay with Luke so Summer could stay with Seth. Carson sighed. He should have figured this would happen. Well, he had only himself to blame. He was supposed to be watching the kids, and he wasn't.

Carson told them, "I see." The kids could tell that Carson did. Carson continued, "OK, well, I guess it is too late to do anything about it now, since we're all leaving this evening anyway. And don't worry, Seth, Summer, I won't tell your parents, although I should."

Ryan thought, cynically, yeah, because then you'd have to admit you weren't really keeping an eye on us.

Carson decided at this point to forget about trying to straighten anything out right now. "Ryan, forget about waking Luke up right now. When he does wake up, just tell him I'll deal with it when we get home, OK?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Ward."

After Luke's Dad left, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They sat back down and finished their brunch. On the way out of the restaurant, Marissa addressed everyone.

"So do we want to go right out tubing now, or... ?"

Seth answered, "Actually, Summer and I are thinking of going and soaking in the hot tub for a while."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I think maybe we should wait a couple of hours. That will give Anna time to get back from skiing, and give Luke a little more time to sleep before I drag him out of bed."

Marissa looked at her watch. "OK. How about... hmmm... how about we meet up at about 1 0'Clock?"

They all agreed. "Sounds good."

To Be Continued