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..
Author's Notes: This is the last chapter of this story. A final thank you to all of the people who have reviewed. A thank you to my beta, Eileen. The answer to the trivia question from chapter 8 is at the bottom. This is your last chance to guess. Good Luck!
Chapter 12 - The End of the Trip
Marissa led her five friends out to the lowest hill that the ski resort had for snow tubing. They purchased their tickets and got their inner tubes.
Ryan stood at the bottom of the hill with his friends and looked up. It didn't look too bad. It wasn't any worse than the hills around Newport, for example the one behind the back of the Cohens' house which led down to the beach. Maybe he could do this.
Ryan followed the rest of the gang over to the tube tow, attached his tube to it and sat down for the lift up to the top. It was pretty cool. At the top, Ryan looked down the hill. So far so good. It didn't trigger his fear of heights.
Luke went up behind Ryan and gave him a playful shove, saying, "Race you down the hill!"
Then Luke threw his tube down and flopped down on top of it and pushed himself off, down the hill.
Ryan was right behind him. "Oh, no, you don't!"
The two of them raced down the lane, bumping and racing each other, like little boys.
Summer and Seth, as expected, tied their tubes together and went down the slope hand in hand.
Marissa and Anna shared an amused glance at the antics of their friends. Then they went ahead and slid down the slope, in a more ladylike manner.
After an afternoon of fun on the tubing hill, the gang headed back to the lodge. They were going to have dinner and then head back home.
On the way in, Anna pulled Marissa aside. "Marissa, do you want to ride back to Newport with me? I came by myself."
Marissa smiled. "That would be great."
As a matter of fact, Marissa was thinking of asking Anna if she could ride with her. She didn't really want to spend the entire trip back with Seth and Summer arguing, and sitting in the back awkwardly with Ryan.
Anna and Marissa rejoined their friends. They all headed upstairs to their rooms to relax for a little while before dinner.
While they were in their room, Luke asked Ryan, "Hey, Ryan, could you ride back with me and my Dad? I really don't want to be alone with him."
Ryan smiled. "Sure."
Ryan knew that Luke was trying to put off getting yelled at by his father for his drinking. He didn't blame him.
After an hour or so, the gang all headed down to the restaurant for dinner. As they walked in, Luke saw his father sitting at a table. Luke stopped. He really didn't want to do this right now. Lukily, his father apparently felt the same way, because he just looked at Luke and didn't come over. Luke sighed with relief and hurried to join his friends.
They all sat down at a table and ordered dinner. Luke looked around at his friends. Since this trip was his idea, he asked everyone,
"So, everyone had a good time, right? I mean, this was a good idea, right? I told you guys this was a good idea."
The group had to smile at their friend's enthusiasm. There were murmurs of agreement all around.
Luke continued, "The snowboarding was good. And Anna, the skiing was good, too?
"Yup, really good. Thanks for suggesting it. I'll have to come back here again sometime." If she wasn't going back to Pittsburgh...
With a knowing smurk, Luke looked at Seth and Summer. "And I think we all know that Cohen and Summer had a good time..."
Summer reached over and hit Luke. "Luke! Get your mind out of the gutter!"
The rest of the group laughed.
Marissa picked it up, "And the snow tubing was fun, right?"
More murmurs of agreement.
The group settled down into smalltalk and had a nice relaxing dinner.
After dinner, they all headed up to their rooms to pack up. On the way up, Marissa told Summer that she was going with Anna, and Ryan told Seth that he was going with Luke and his father.
As Ryan packed up his stuff, he thought about this weekend. It was a little strange for him -- a mixture of the upper-class ski resort stuff, and the working-class job as a busboy and the house party. Ryan laughed to himself. It was kind of like his life -- a mixture of both.
Luke interrupted Ryan's thoughts. "Hey, man, are you ready?"
Ryan looked over at Luke. "Yeah."
Ryan and Luke grabbed their dufflebags and headed down to the lobby to wait for Luke's father. Luke didn't want to go to his father's room because he didn't want to see his father with his friend, so he told his father that he'd meet him in the lobby.
Carson knew that Luke didn't want to see him with Keith, so he said goodbye to Keith in their room, then headed down to the lobby to meet up with Luke. He spotted Luke sitting on a chair, waiting for him, and went over. Ryan and Luke saw him coming, and stood up.
"OK, Luke, let's go." Then Carson saw Ryan. He said, surprised, "Oh, Ryan --"
Luke interjected, "He's coming with us."
Carson turned to Ryan. "Why don't you go home in your own car?"
Ryan exchanged a look with Luke, then answered Luke's father, "Seth and Summer wanted to be alone."
"I still think you should head back in the Cohens' car."
"Dad, Seth and Summer have already left." Luke made sure that they left before he caught up with his father.
Carson looked between Luke and Ryan. This was a little bit too suspicious. Obviously, Luke didn't want to be alone with him. Carson had been hoping to talk to Luke about his drinking on the way home. Since he was dropping Luke off at his mother's tonight, Carson wouldn't be able to talk to Luke about it until he saw him again, in a couple of weeks. Obviously, Luke was trying to take advantage of this to avoid the talk altogether.
Carson sighed. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now, if Seth had already left. He couldn't very well just leave Ryan stranded here.
"OK, fine. Come on then you two, let's go."
Luke and Ryan exchanged a quick look then followed Luke's Dad out to his car.
As Luke's father pulled out of the parking lot, Ryan took one last look back at the ski resort. Well, this was the end of his very first ski trip. He had fun, maybe a little bit unconventional fun, but fun nevertheless.
The End.
The answer to the trivia question from chapter 8.
Question: What do all of my original characters' names have in common?
Answer:
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Are you ready?
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Are you sure?
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You're sure you don't want to guess?
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OK, if you're sure...
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Answer: They are all part of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
Keith Foulke -- relief pitcher (closer)
Scott Williamson -- relief pitcher
David Ortiz -- first baseman and designated hitter
Terry Francona -- manager
Manny Ramirez -- left fielder
Byung-Hyun Kim -- pitcher
Trot Nixon -- right fielder
Congratulations if you got it right!