Chapter Nineteen

Complicated

Before he even came close to the Roberts house, Seth made sure that Ian Roberts' car was absent from the driveway. Once he was certain everything was clear, he took a deep breath and jogged across the road, stopping on the front stoop and knocking on the door. He waited several minutes, then knocked again, calling, "Summer, it's me. Cohen." He added that part on afterthought, though he was certain that Summer was expecting no one else.

Seth sighed as he waited, shifting his attention toward the sky, which was becoming cloudier by the second. It wasn't very often that a storm struck New Port but when they did come, they came with force.

Seth was about to knock on the door once more when it swung open, revealing Summer standing in the foyer, looking as though she hadn't slept in hours, her hair falling down her shoulders in thick tangles. She smiled slightly when she saw him standing there and nudged the door farther aside. "Hi Cohen." Summer greeted, motioning for him to come inside. "How are you?"

Seth entered, ignoring her question as he asked how she was. Summer sighed, frowning slightly as she thought about an answer to give him. "I've been better." She answered, truthfully.

"I might have some news to cheer you up." Seth said with a slight smile. "The doctors are letting Marissa come home from the hospital tonight." Summer's smile grew slightly wider. "We're having a sort of welcome home party for her at my house."

Summer looked as though she hadn't heard happier news in days and, in truth, she hadn't. "All right." She decided before Seth even asked the question. "What time?" She might even invite her father.

Seth smiled as well, his spirits lifted by her enthusiasm, something he hadn't seen from her since Oliver had killed himself. It was like having the old Summer back; with Marissa coming home and Summer seeming less animatronic, he realized that things really were on their way to being normal again. He told her when she should be at his house, but then offered to pick her up after her therapy session. "Who knows, maybe this'll be your last session."

Summer's smile disappeared slightly even as she forced herself to nod, trying to put on a good show. As badly as she wanted to, she just couldn't believe that the imagines in her head would go away after a few more hours. It seemed impossible that they would ever leave her. "Yeah." She muttered weakly. "Maybe I'll be all better."

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Since Seth had left moments ago to go to Summer's house, something that Sandy had suggested since it was even more evident that she needed as much company as she could get, Jimmy was stuck with helping Sandy decorate the living room. He and Sandy were standing side by side, trying to figure out if the homemade banner was straight.

Jimmy turned to look at Sandy and sighed, causing the other man to look over in his direction. "Can I ask you something?" He questioned and Sandy nodded, looking at Jimmy with a raised eyebrow. "In L.A., Hailey lived with this guy that hit her and he's here, now. He says he's going to force Hailey to come back to L.A. with him."

Sandy sighed, the pieces of Hailey's mysterious life in L.A. coming into place, aside from the reason that she kept what had happened a secret from Kirsten and himself. But he was a lawyer, and he knew that people sometimes kept quiet because they didn't know what else to do. "Did she go to the police?"

Jimmy shook his head. "She wouldn't, I tried to get here to go." He sighed. "Today, after he showed up at the grocery store and hit her again." Suddenly, the whole matter seemed much more complicated.

"Well, if you can't get her to go to the police, there's not a whole lot anyone can do." Sandy said, deciding the banner was straight enough. "If Hailey goes to the police, she could get a restraining order, all sorts of things to keep him away from her."

Jimmy nodded, his eyes shifting away from the welcome banner and down to the threshold of the kitchen, where Kirsten and Hailey were standing, with empty glass bowls. Hailey was glaring at him and Kirsten looked largely uninterested, her gaze flicking from her husband to her old friend.

Hailey handed Kirsten her bowl. "Jimmy," she started, taking a step toward him. "You swore you wouldn't tell anyone."

Jimmy wasn't quite sure how to respond or justify telling Sandy what he had and Hailey used his silence to turn and head back into the kitchen, opening the doors that led to the patio and slamming them shut behind her. With a sigh, feeling genuinely guilty for speaking to Sandy about something really only partially concerned him, Jimmy stepped away from Sandy and stepped past Kirsten, heading toward the patio where Hailey had disappeared.

Hailey was sitting in one of the lawn chairs, her gaze settled on the rippling waters of the infinity pool, reflecting by the cloudy sky above. "Hailey," she didn't look away, didn't even make the move to acknowledge that he had spoken. "I shouldn't have spoken to Sandy without asking you first, but I felt like we could have used his opinion."

"We?" Hailey repeated, her gaze still settled on the still waters of the pool. "Last time I checked, we weren't being beaten and stalked by our ex-boyfriend."

Jimmy sighed, feeling like he deserved her anger, whether it be completely misplaced or not. "You're right, but I'm just trying to help you Hailey. I don't want to see that asshole hurt you anymore." Hailey turned back to look at him, her amber eyes settling on him, as though trying to read the truth in his words. "I guess I just don't understand why you won't go to the police."

Hailey sighed, her gaze dropping to the ground. "Because going to the police would only give Jacob the chance to point a finger at me, too." She muttered and Jimmy stepped closer to her, kneeling beside her like he had done earlier. Her gaze met his again. "I wasn't living the life in L.A., Jimmy; I did a lot of things that I never want to think about again. And Jacob knows all of those things."

Jimmy took her hand and squeezed gently, sympathetically and offered her a slight smile. "I understand." He said, even though he wasn't certain that he did. A part of Hailey would always remain hidden to him, known by one of the men he was beginning to despise, and that bothered him more then he would have liked. Maybe one day, she'd tell him just what type of hell she had been living through but for now, she didn't trust him enough, didn't believe he could still love her if he knew. Jimmy wished he could make her see different, make her understand that there was nothing he could find out about her that would make him love her any less then he did but now wasn't the time for that. "We can take care of this."

Hailey smiled faintly and squeezed his hand as well, leaning over and kissing him lightly on the cheek. It still worried her how much Jimmy seemed to be falling in love with her and how she felt the same way; how could he like someone like her? Someone completely opposite of everything in New Port, someone who most days couldn't even like herself? But the smile remained on her lips as she forced those thoughts to leave her head. "Come on," Hailey stood, still holding onto Jimmy's hand. "I think we have your daughter's party to plan."

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Night had fallen in New Port, though it was difficult to tell night from afternoon with the heavy cloud cover blocking the sun from view. Nevertheless, it was dark by the time Julie and Marissa arrived from the hospital with Ryan and Teresa in tow. When Marissa had first learned that Teresa had been invited and intended on coming, she wasn't exactly quite sure which emotions were mixing in her head. Did the fact that Ryan invited her mean that there was something going on between them, that they could possibly be more then just friends?

Ryan seemed to sense Marissa's unease about Teresa's arrival and took her aside, marveling at how she had improved in a few short hours, managing to walk alone, though very slowly. "Are you all right?" He'd asked. "About Teresa coming?"

Marissa considered giving him the truth, telling him that she didn't want Teresa coming to her party because she didn't want Teresa anywhere near him to give him any ideas but she forced herself to sigh instead. She even resisted asking him why he had invited her, if there was something going on that she didn't know about. "It's fine." Marissa had muttered, taking another heavy breath.

Ryan didn't look so certain but didn't want to press it anymore; he might get the answer that he didn't want to hear, the one he knew he should be expecting. Instead, he'd just smiled and given Marissa a quick kiss before heading back to where Julie and Teresa were standing, occasionally staring at each other in uncomfortable silence but mostly staring down at their feet. Julie seemed revealed when her daughter returned.

And now here they were, at the Cohen household, with Marissa attempting to be a cordial to Teresa as possible and Teresa trying to be so friendly and both girls knew they were trying much too hard.

The front door swung open before they had even reached the stoop and Jimmy came out of the house, heading toward Marissa and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into a fatherly bear-hug. Marissa couldn't help but smile, wrapping her arms around him as well, feeling completely at ease for a moment. "Look at you," Jimmy said with a smile when they finally parted. "I'm so proud of you, baby." He hugged her again.

Marissa smiled, trying to look as though she was embarrassed by all of her father's attention when really it made her feel like nothing had ever been wrong in the first place. "The doctor says that I still have to go back for physical therapy." She explained. "But he's impressed with how well I've recovered."

Jimmy smiled, looking his daughter over as though checking for signs that she had even been frightened or in pain. He seemed satisfied that there were none, even though he knew differently. But that didn't matter now, because Marissa was walking and smiling, eager to put everything behind her and continue with the life she was entitled to. It seemed that, while all the bad things happened at once, the good things did too.

Jimmy and Marissa led the way into the house with the others finally behind, Teresa looking like she knew that she shouldn't be at what should be a private family party. Ryan offered her a reassuring smile as they entered the house. Seth looked up from where he had been sitting on the couch, looking more worried then he normally did, his eyes settling on Ryan and Teresa. When Ryan looked over at him, he raised an eyebrow and Ryan waved his hand dismissively, as if to say 'it's not like that.' Seth didn't seem so sure but he kept silence, standing and heading over toward them.

After everyone had told Marissa how happy they were to see her walking again and, in turn, how proud of her, Ryan introduced Teresa to everyone, much with the same reactions Seth had shown. Kirsten had smiled politely and offered Teresa something to drink before leading her into the kitchen and asking why she was in New Port and an assortment of questions that Teresa answered politely.

Seth nudged Ryan in the ribs and smiled slyly at him. "So, bringing the ex over for dinner?" He questioned.

"She's not my ex." Ryan clarified. "Teresa was my best friend in Chino."

Seth nodded, the sly smile still upon his face as he raised his eyebrows. "That's right; I forgot just how friendly Ryan Atwood was."

Ryan let out a deep sigh. "It's not like that, man." He muttered, looking over at Marissa who was smiling at something Sandy was saying. "I just thought it would be the nice thing to do."

"Right." Seth muttered. "Does Marissa understand this gesture of kindness?"

Ryan looked at him, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Seth began. "Does Marissa know that you're just friends, or does she think you're 'special friends.'?" The smile returned slightly.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "What? Who talks like that?" He questioned and Seth just shrugged his shoulder. "Marissa knows we're just friends." He paused, his eyes scanning the room. "Speaking of special friends, where's Summer?"

Seth sighed, the smile disappearing from his face. "That's what I'd like to know." He muttered. "I called her house to tell her I was on the way but no one answered." He looked at Ryan. "There might be something wrong."

"Why don't you just go over there?" Ryan questioned. Usually Seth didn't need an invitation to drop by Summer's house and he told him so.

Seth didn't answer, letting out another long sigh through his teeth and staring down at the ground. He seemed to be thinking heavily on something, which Ryan rarely often saw him do and when he finally looked up again, he seemed resolved. "I'm going to go over there, make sure she's all right."

Ryan nodded and clapped him on the shoulder and the two parted ways, with Seth heading for the door, subtly snatching the keys to the SUV off the coffee table, and Ryan going off to find Marissa, while keeping an eye on Teresa.

Though he had gone to Summer's house many times before, the drive this time seemed to take longer to Seth and he knew it was just because he was worried about her. He knew that he shouldn't be worried, that Summer was improving, smiling more everyday and she would never do anything to hurt herself or give him cause to worry but he was nervous nonetheless.

The pale orange glow of the streetlights revealed the Roberts house before he pulled into the driving, showing that Ian still hadn't returned from whatever had kept him away all afternoon. Seth pulled the SUV into the driveway, pulling the keys out and unbuckling at the same time, tangling himself in his safety belt as he tried to stumble out of the car. It was only when Seth forced himself to slow down and push his worries for Summer aside that he was able to untangle himself and make it to the front stoop.

When Seth knocked on the door, he wasn't surprised when no one answered right away; he could practically see Summer standing in her room, trying to decide if it was worth the trip downstairs to see who was knocking. Undeterred, he knocked once again, stepping back and listening for her soft footsteps coming down the carpeted stairs and toward the door.

What Seth heard instead was the sound of glass shattering from somewhere upstairs in the house, faint but nonetheless obvious and he felt his heart skip a beat. What if Summer wasn't all right after all? What if there was something wrong? He knocked on the door again, simultaneously trying the brass doorknob, not stopping to think about why it was unlocked when the door swung open.

Seth headed upstairs, going automatically toward Summer's room where he was certain the noise had come from, calling her name as he hurried. Most of the lights in the house where on and he flicked on as many as he could as he headed up the stairs and down the hallway.

Summer's bedroom door was ajar, with only a single lamp on in the room and Seth pushed open the door to find Summer standing in the middle of her room with her face buried in her hands, shoulders shaking with every sob that escaped her lips, looking utterly helpless and defeated. Seth remained in the foyer for a moment, studying her and taking in the scene, trying to figure out just what he was seeing; there was a shattered picture frame against the wall directly across from Summer, which accounted for the noise he'd heard and Summer didn't look hurt in anyway. Just upset.

"Summer?" Seth said, taking a step toward her, keeping his voice low and even when all he wanted to do was throw his arms around her and ask her what was wrong, why was she falling apart again? Summer didn't look up, didn't acknowledge that he had spoken or entered her room. "Summer, what's the matter? Are you all right?" It seemed as though he was asking that question a lot lately.

Seth gently rested his hand on her shoulder and Summer flinched for a moment before relaxing and turning to face him. Slipping his arm around her waste, he managed to get her to sit down on her bed, though she was still crying softly, her hands laying useless in her lap.

"Summer, what's the matter? Is everything all right?" Seth questioned again, hoping for an answer this time. He didn't know what to do, what to expect or what to think; he just wished he understood what she was seeing, what made her act this way. Would he ever know?

Summer took a deep breath, hiccupping softly as she attempted to get herself under control, to calm her breathing and stop her crying. It took more effort then Seth would ever know and she finally managed to look at him again, her deep eyes round and shining with tears. "Today," she swallowed, forcing the words out. "That doctor made me talk about things that happened when I was younger." Another deep breath followed.

Seth looked at her with a look of confusion on his face. "I don't understand." He said, making sure to choose his words carefully so that Summer didn't jump to any conclusions. Summer stared at him in silence. "I don't understand why you're so upset." It took a lot of energy to speak that way, when all he wanted to do was grab her shoulders and shake her until whatever was haunting her had fallen out and vanished.

For a while, Summer was silent, staring down at the floor and occasionally her walls and Seth thought that he had said the wrong thing. He was about to rephrase his question when she pulled another deep breath into her lungs and let it out slowly. "When I was eight-years-old, my mom and I were home alone because my father was out on some business trip," she was surprised at how easily the words were slipping from her lips now. "She had just finished tucking me into bed when we heard a noise from downstairs, a window breaking, something like that.

"My mom went downstairs to see what it was and I followed because I didn't want to be left alone." Summer swallowed. "It some man, and he was going to rob us or something but he wasn't planning on my mom and I being at the house. My mom told him he'd better get the hell out of the house and I could tell that she was so scared, she was shaking but she sounded so tough.

"The man didn't move, I think he was scared too, and then my mom moved to get the phone, to call the police and he shot her." Seth's eyes went wide at her words. "I don't remember a lot after that, just a lot of blood and a lot of crying. I didn't know what to do, I just stood there and stared; I should have been able to help her...I should have done something."

Summer closed her eyes, tears squeezing onto her cheeks and she clasped her hands together tightly, though that did nothing to keep them from shaking. That night had been almost nine years ago, but it still seemed so fresh in her mind, like a movie constantly playing every time she shut her eyes and often when she didn't. She took another deep breath, her eyes remaining closed, seeing the horrible scene unfolding for the hundredth time. "Finally, my mom managed to get me to call an ambulance, but it was all ready too late by then. She was dead by the time she got to the hospital, all because I couldn't do anything but stare at her." Summer opened her eyes and looked at Seth, tears running down her cheeks. "I couldn't help my own mother."

For a moment, Seth didn't even know what to so, couldn't even begin to think of the right words; everything he had imagined about what was bothering Summer didn't even come close to what the truth was. No wonder she had lost it when Oliver shot himself, it reminded her of her mother, stirring up the memories she had obliviously worked so hard to shelf away in the right place. "Summer, you can't blame yourself for what happened to your mother." He said, hoping his voice had the desired, soothing effect, and he took her hands, holding them tightly. "It wasn't your fault."

"That's not true." Summer said, her voice little above a whisper. "If I had called an ambulance sooner, done something to help her, then maybe she wouldn't have died." More tears rolled down her cheeks. "It is my fault."

Seth shook his head venomously. "Bullshit." He snapped but Summer showed no reaction. "You can't blame yourself for that, Summer; shit happens, and I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for you to lose your mother and what it's like for you now, but there's nothing you could have done."

Summer pulled away from him, standing but remaining where she was, as though she was unsure of what to do now. Seth stood as well, unwilling to let her destroy herself all over again for something out of her control. "It wasn't your fault, you can't keep thinking that it was." He told her, looking into her eyes.

Summer looked away from him; the things that Seth was saying to her now where things that she had heard all of her life, from her father, from various other people that attempted to set her right again, but never from herself. "You don't know." She whispered, voice almost too low for Seth to hear. "You weren't there."

Seth moved toward, gently resting her fingers against the curve of her cheek. "Listen to me-"

Summer pulled away. "No!" She shouted with venom, unwilling to hear anymore. Seth didn't understand, she shouldn't have expected him to be able to; no one understood and that was why she couldn't fight back the images in her head anymore. She didn't even want to anymore. "Go away." She whispered before turning away from him and rushing into the adjoining bathroom, slamming the door so hard behind her that several other pictures rattled on the wall.

Seth took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, unable to organize the thoughts swarming through his head; now wasn't the time to worry about what he was thinking. Now he had to worry about Summer, had to help her in some way, though he wasn't sure how. Seth knocked lightly on the bathroom door; Summer didn't bother to answer and all he could hear was the soft sound of her crying into her hands again.

With a sigh, Seth sat down on the floor, leaning against the door. Whether she wanted him to or not, he wasn't about to leave her now.

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Marissa was watching Ryan out of the corner of her eye as she stood with her father and Hailey, the fact that he was closely watching Teresa not escaping her attention. He had barely talked to her all night, giving most of his attention to Teresa, constantly asking if she was all right, if she needed anything as though she was the one that had just regained the ability to walk.

Teresa sighed under her breath as she stirred the slowly melting ice in her drink, listening to it clink against the sides. This party was a bad idea, she had known that since the moment she'd walked in the door; out of the corner of her eye she could see Marissa starting at her and acting like she wasn't and Ryan was constantly favoring her over the girl he should be with.

Kirsten, a nice woman, Teresa thought, stepped up to Ryan and asked him if he had seen Seth (who was a little strange in her opinion) and she saw her chance. Setting her drink aside, she slipped into the kitchen and out onto the patio, silently closing the door behind her and taking a deep breath. The temperature outside was comfortable, though humid because of the approaching storm, and she stood for a moment, enjoying the night air; even the weather in New Port was perfect.

Teresa's eyes scanned the Cohen's spacious backyard, passing over the pool house where Ryan stayed and the infinity pool stretching out beyond it, settling instead on a half-rusted swing set that looked like it hadn't been used in ages. With a slight smile on her face, she headed over to the set, gently easing herself onto one of the yellow plastic sheets, letting her toes drag on the ground; when she had been younger, she'd used the swing sets in the park as her private place, the place she could go and think and not worry about someone bothering her about her thoughts.

And there were a lot of thoughts going through her head now, mostly about Ryan; it seemed different, seeing him like this after he'd left Chino without even a goodbye. And when she looked at him recently, it was hard to see him as the dorky boy she'd played Capture the Flag with and made mud-pies with in the sandbox. Though, a part of her knew that she had always looked at Ryan how she was looking at him now, that she had always known that she was in love with Ryan Atwood.

You're married, remember? The reasonable Teresa reminded her. And pregnant. She touched her round stomach fleetingly; how could she forget such a thing?

But none of those thoughts seemed to register at that moment. All she could think about was Ryan and how she wished he had never left Chino, wished that maybe, just maybe, it was he that she was married to.

Teresa was still thinking these thoughts when the swing-set groaned and she saw that Ryan had sat down on the swing beside hers. He offered her a slight smile. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." Teresa answered with a sigh. "I just seem a little out place, that's it." She admitted, looking back at the Cohen house. "Never in a million years could I ever live in a place like that."

Ryan followed her gaze. "That's what I used to think." He said, looking back at her, trying to read the thoughts beneath her hazel eyes. "Are you happy?" Teresa looked at him, caught off-guard. "With Eddie, I mean?"

Teresa nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, I really am. I've always wanted to start a family and Eddie loves me." She sighed. "I just never thought it would be so soon, I guess."

Ryan nodded, knowing exactly where she was coming from; at one point in his life, he had thought he was going to live forever, that he was never going to get old, never going to run out of time. After he had realized that wasn't reality, he had still thought he'd have plenty of time to be a kid, to grow up and do stuff before meeting the right girl and settling down to have a family. He'd never thought that it would happened for Teresa when she was only eighteen.

Teresa looked at him with a slight smile. "I wish we were kids again." She admitted, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to cry.

Ryan sighed and nodded; things hadn't been exactly simple when he was a kid, but they had been less complicated then they were now. Silence settled over them for a moment until it was finally broken when he asked, "Remember when we were kids and we used to have those 'competitions' on the swings where we'd jump off and see who landed the farthest?" He didn't know where the question had come from, but as soon as he asked, Teresa nodded.

"You always lost because Trey would act like he was going to push you off right before you jumped and it freaked you out." Teresa added, smiling at the thought. "I remember," her smile grew wider, "when Trey tried to do it one time and landed against a tree trunk. He broke his nose and my mom freaked out and wouldn't let us do that anymore."

Ryan nodded, remembering. "That was probably very wise of her. We'd probably all be dead or injured in some way if not for that." They were lost in their memories for a moment, remembering hot afternoons in Chino when nothing mattered other then who could jump the farthest. Ryan turned to look at Teresa again with a slightly mischievous smile on his face. "You want to play now?" He asked.

Teresa couldn't tell if he was serious and when she decided that he was, she said, "Ryan, I'm pregnant." The message didn't seem to sink in. "I shouldn't be jumping off swings."

Ryan grinned wirily at her and started swinging, pumping his legs back and forth to gain height. "You're just saying that because you're scared you'll lose now." The grin reminded and Teresa rolled her eyes.

"You haven't changed, Ryan Atwood." She muttered.

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Marissa had noticed that Ryan had vanished the second he slipped out of the kitchen but she couldn't go after him to see where he had gone because Jimmy was forcing her to listen to some story he'd read in the newspaper the other day. Her dad was trying to so hard to act like nothing had happened that it was painfully obvious but she loved him for his efforts anyway. She wished she could pretend like nothing had happened.

As she listened to her father's story, Marissa kept her eyes focused on the kitchen, where Ryan had disappeared. As soon as she could, she was going to find out where he had gone off to.

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Ryan had managed to convince Teresa that there was no harm in jumping a short distance off the swings just once and they had managed to gain a great deal of height before Ryan decided it was time to let go. Teresa squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she was absolutely crazy for doing what she was, and forced her hands to let go of the swing.

For a moment, she felt just like a kid again, eyes shut tightly, hoping to outdo the person that had jumped before her and everything was perfect. That was, until Teresa collided with Ryan who had decided to jump the same second she had, sending them both crashing to the ground in a heap.

Ryan groaned as he rolled over onto his back, a smile on his face despite the back that he felt like he had chipped at least one tooth. "Now, if we had been in the movies, that would have ended romantically." He muttered to no one, sitting up slowly. "I think I swallowed a tooth."

Teresa sat up as well, touching the tender spot on her head where she had knocked in Ryan. "Ow." She muttered. "That was definitely not a good idea."

Ryan looked at her with concern. "Are you all right?" He scooted a little closer to her so that he could see her in the dark light. Maybe he shouldn't have suggested jumping off the swings, because she could have seriously injured herself or the baby.

Teresa looked up at him, startled at how close they were and their eyes met. "I'm fine." She assured him, suddenly feeling tense, but a good sort of tense. It was the way she had felt right before she had gotten her first kiss.

Their eyes remained locked for another moment and before Ryan knew what had happened, he had closed the distance between himself and Teresa and his lips met hers. Teresa didn't seem surprised by his actions, closing her eyes and returning the kiss, not thinking for a moment about Eddie or Marissa or anything other then Ryan and what was happened at that moment.

When the kiss was finally broken, Ryan found himself smiling, eyes settling on Teresa once more. Teresa was smiling as well, but her eyes were drifting toward something behind his shoulder and the smile was slowly fading. Feeling a sudden sense of dread, Ryan slowly turned around to see what had captured her attention. A part of him wasn't at all surprised to see Marissa standing on the patio, staring at them with hurt evident on her face even from where he was sitting.

Ryan got to his feet quickly, torn for a moment between Teresa and Marissa, the girl that he loved beyond the shadow of doubt. But how was he supposed to believe that, how was she supposed to believe it, when he was kissing another girl? "Marissa..." He started toward her but Marissa turned away, clearly trying to make a getaway but finding herself unable to make a quick one.

And because of that, Ryan was able to catch up with her easily; he grabbed her arm and forced her to turn and look at him. "Marissa, let me explain-" He didn't know what to say past that, didn't think he could explain what had happened.

Marissa jerked her arm free and glared at him. "Explain what?" She challenged, daring him to come up with an answer.

Ryan knew remaining silent was the wrong choice but he was unable to do anything else. Marissa's eyes filled with tears and she turned away from him, ignoring him when he called her name. "Leave me alone!" She snapped, voice thick with tears, as she hurried off into the darkness.

Ryan watched her until she had been swallowed by the darkness surrounding the Cohen house and then stood for a long while, staring at the place where she had disappeared, trying to figure out how things had gotten so complicated again.