Title: Love in Dispute, Part 3
Rating: Pg-13 for adult language and content
Disclaimer: They Belong to FOX, not me.
Spoilers: Up to The Escape, though my versions of what happened in TJ differ a tad…
Description: Just a continuation of before. Still sappy and cheesy. No crying this time though, thought I'd try something new. Thanks to kellyerielf, Tori, and SHMILY from fanfiction.net for their ideas and encouragment to write another part.
Ryan woke up the next morning to find that they had moved in the night.
They were no longer snug in each other's arms, but now Seth was flat on his back, legs spread, with one arm over his head and the other around Ryan who was using Seth's chest as a pillow, curled up on his side. Ryan extracted himself from Seth and sat up in bed. His motions did not wake the other boy; Seth just draped his arm around his waist instead and continued to sleep on, his mouth slightly open and a small trickle of drool on his chin. Ryan rolled his eyes, but couldn't have kept the smile off his face if he tried. Ryan rubbed the feeling back into his ear and cheek (Seth's chest wasn't exactly the softest pillow) and got off the bed before he did something rude, like wake Seth up to fool around some more. But he knew Summer would be meeting them sometime this morning and they needed to clean up their mess before she arrived. So instead, he headed into the bathroom, where he took a quick shower and got dressed for the day, before heading out of the hotel room and around the block to pick up some breakfast for the three of them. He was hoping Seth would be awake when he got back, so they could strip the bed they hadn't slept in before Summer arrived. After Ryan ordered food, coffee, and juice, he waited in the restaurant lobby, a blank half smile on his face as his thoughts drifted to last nights activities.
***
Summer, having got up a lot earlier than she normally liked to when on vacation, walked the 3 blocks from where her friends' hotel was to the one Ryan and Seth were in. The rest of her night had been exhausting, on the phone with Marissa for hours, trying to calm her down after she found out the truth about Luke. Even when they had finally hung up, Summer hadn't liked what she heard in Marissa's voice and knew it would just be for the best if they got home as soon as possible. As she reached the hotel, she walked up to their room and used her key to let herself in.
The main room was empty, but she could hear the shower running in the bathroom and both beds had obviously been slept in, as they were all
Torn apart, bedding all over the place.
"It smells funny in here." Summer muttered to herself, wrinkling up her cute little button nose. She used her high heal sandal to kick aside a pair of boxers that had been carelessly discarded the night before. She gave another little sniff. "What is that?"
Summer continued to wander around the room, kicking aside clothes that littered the floor and stepping over random bedding that was hanging off the beds. It was when she got to the bed that was farther away from the front door that she actually took a closer look. Something was stained on the white sheets and that familiar, yet indefinable smell was stronger on this side of the room.
Summer looked over at the stained sheets and sniffed a third time, realization dawning on her face. Her first reaction was to smirk.
"Someone got lucky last night." But then she took a second to think about it. Which one of them was it? It didn't make much sense to her. Seth wasn't the type to meet a girl and take her home for sex... plus, he liked her... right? He was like supposed to be... like in love with her... or something. And then if it was Ryan... true, she could definitely see him bringing a girl home for a one night stand more than Seth, but he obviously had a thing for Marissa. And after the whole fiasco at Caleb's party, she couldn't picture him wanting to get even farther into Marissa's bad graces by doing it again. Unless... unless he had given up, finally conceding to the fact that Marissa and Luke were together. Except he was there last night when they caught Luke with Holly... so wouldn't that show him that he now had more of a chance, because Marissa would certainly part ways with Luke after something like that. Neither made any sense what so ever. And...if the one did hook up with someone, what did the other do? Put a pillow over their head and try to ignore the fact that two people were having sex in the other bed? Or did he just stay out until the other was done? This didn't make sense either, because Summer would place all the money she had on the fact that it wasn't Seth who had gotten some last night. But she also was fairly confident that there was no way Ryan would have let Seth roam around Tijuana on his own. She had noticed Chino was a bit protective of Cohen. Truth be told, Ryan was usually like the boy's shadow in any situation he deemed over Seth's head.
And... and... where were they? The car was still out front. Someone was in the shower, yes, but where were the other 2? Or, if whichever boy had gotten lucky was in there with the girl, where was the other guy? Summer was tired and a little cranky and didn't want a puzzle like this to figure out right now. She wanted some answers. And she wanted them now.
And like Summer always did, she got her wish. Just as she was about to sit down, she heard the shower turn off and Seth's voice call out. "Hey, I heard you get back. Where'd ya go? I woke up and you were gone. I was hoping we could have repeated a little of last nights action before we left." So it had been Seth. Summer was in mild shock. And obviously the girl had snuck out when Seth was asleep. Poor Seth, she must have woke up and realized what she had done and fled. So that explained half the quandary. Now where was Ryan?
Seth strolled out of the bathroom with a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt on and another hanging over his head, as he dried his hair. "So what do you think, do we have time for a quickie before Summer gets here for breakfast?"
"No, I don't think you do." Summer said coolly, giving Seth her famous ice queen look.
Seth slowly lowered the towel from his head. "You aren't Ryan."
The impact of that simple sentence hadn't hit Summer yet. "Not the last
time that I checked."
"Uh... what I mean..." Seth was scrambling for some way to cover up
what he had just said. "I meant you aren't..."
But he was saved from having to come up with some ridiculous story temporarily as the front door swung open again and Ryan walked in, his face obstructed by three styrofoam carry out containers and a large drink holder all balance precariously on top of one another. "Hey Seth, I'm back. I've got breakfast, but we better clean up our mess on the bed from last night before Summer gets here."
And then it came together for Summer. When Seth had come out of the shower asking for the 'quickie' and saw it was her, he hadn't said 'You aren't insert random female name here.' He had said 'You aren't Ryan.' And Ryan had definitely just said we need to clean up 'our' mess on the bed from last night. There was no girl. For either of them. Seth had been asking for that quickie from Ryan. Ryan and Seth 'had' made that mess on the bed.
Ryan and Seth had sex last night.
As if she wanted to make sure she had really saw what she had seen on
The bed, Summer wandered over there again. She looked down at the bed once more. "Ew."
Ryan, who had sort of froze when Seth hadn't answered him and he sensed
That there were more people in the room, now was putting down the take out containers on a table. Ryan realized he had just given the two of them away and was searching his mind for a way to rectify the situation.
Absolutely nothing came to him, so he kept his mouth shut; sinking into a chair next to the table he had placed the food.
"Ew." Summer repeated, still looking over the dirty bed. "Men are slobs.
Don't tell me one of you slept in this last night."
"No, we both slept in..." Seth trailed off, realizing what he been about to say.
Summer smirked at that. "Caught ya."
Seth blushed bright red. "Caught us at what? I mean caught me at what?
What are you talking about? I think you've been out in the Mexican sun to long; you're obviously having hallucinations or something. You should sit down; I'll get you a glass of water."
"Can it Cohen. I am not having hallucinations. I'm not imagining the guilty looks on your faces or the cum on those sheets. And once again, for the record, ew." She turned to Ryan. "You couldn't have cleaned that up before you went to get breakfast? You'd think you two wanted to get caught."
"I didn't want to wake Seth." Ryan mumbled in a gruff voice.
"Bet you didn't, did you give the poor boy a hard night?" Summer teased.
Ryan glared at her.
"Listen Summer, I don't know what your insinuating, but whatever it is, you are way off the mark." Seth insisted. He knew he had told Ryan last night that he didn't want to have to hide it. But there was no way they first person he had planned on telling was Summer. Not with her pen chance for gossip.
"Way off the mark am I? So you and Ryan weren't having sex in here last night?" Summer stood staring him down, her one hand on her slightly thrust out hip, her head angled a fraction to the side.
Seth moved over and sat down on the clean bed. He shot a nervous look over at Ryan, who shot his own half nervous, half angry look back. Seth knew Ryan wasn't angry at him, but at the situation.
Summer rolled her eyes at the two of them. "First things first. You need to clean up that bed." She shot it what she planned as her last look and gave a little shutter. "Ew... it smells."
The two boys just kind of looked at her.
"Alright then, come on." She clapped her hands at them. "Chop, chop."
Seth sprang up off the bed and Ryan slowly raised himself from the chair. Both going over to the bed and starting to strip it of the sheets and blankets. Summer in the meantime took Ryan's seat at the small table. She watched as the two boys shoved the dirtied items into a laundry bag and then hid it in a closet. They both turned to her when they were done, as if looking for approval or praise.
"Very good. Now, on to the second thing." She gestured towards the table. "Now that there isn't that unsightly mess and smell to ruin our appetites, why don't we have breakfast?"
This time Ryan and Seth shot each other confused looks. But slowly, cautiously, they sat around the small table with Summer.
"So Ryan, what did you get?" Summer asked, her voice naturally pleasant.
Ryan was still looking at her like someone eyes a snake they expect is going to strike any moment. "One is scrambled eggs and toast, one is pancakes and sausage, and the third is french toast and bacon. I know Seth and I will eat anything, so you have first choice." His voice was on the hard side, precise and as wary as the look on his face.
"I'll take the eggs and toast then, if you don't mind." Summer said, grabbing the container Ryan had pointed at while listing them off and looked at each boy to make sure they wouldn't object.
Both just nodded at her silently. When they saw that she was opening the container and beginning to eat, also grabbing one of the small plastic cups of juice and a larger styrofoam cup of coffee, they did the same as well. Seth grabbing the pancakes and Ryan the french toast.
They ate in silence for a few moments, before Summer spoke up again.
"So, are you two like a couple? Or do you just fool around when there's no girls available?"
Seth spit out his mouth full of pancakes and Ryan knocked over his half drank glass of juice.
Summer rolled her eyes at them again. "Slobs. Men are slobs." And she handed them both some extra napkins.
Ryan quickly mopped up the juice before it could drip on the floor and
Seth cleaned up the pancake that had sprayed on the table.
"Well?" Summer pressed, after the second clean up of the morning had been completed and she still hadn't been answered.
"Summer..." Seth's voice was strained. "Do we need to talk about this?"
"What?" Summer looked a little hurt. "I was just interested."
Seth sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just... this is kinda... awkward."
"Why?" Summer looked at him questioningly. "Because I saw what was on the bed? Don't stress about it. I'm used to it. I've seen it before."
Seth made an exasperated noise. "No!" He couldn't believe how nonchalantly she was talking about this. "But because you know... you think that we're..."
"That I know that you've had sex? That I think that you're together?"
Summer filled in for him. "What's so awkward about that?"
"Summer, this is kind of new for us. We hadn't planned on any of our friends finding out so soon." Ryan finally spoke up, using his dead voice.
Summer gave them both a sympathetic look, which surprised them. "I see.
I probably have the two of you shaking in your boots, don't I? Am I the first one to find out?"
Ryan shook his head. "His parents know."
Summer turned her gaze specifically to Seth now. "Shit. How'd they take it?"
"Better than we would have expected." Seth mumbled, still slightly mortified.
Summer sat back and looked thoughtfully at both of them. "So you two are together? Like a couple?"
They both nodded grimly.
Summer gave a small twitter of a nervous laugh. "Well, neither of you
Seem very happy about it."
Seth looked down at his half eaten breakfast and poked at some of the sausage with his plastic fork. "Like Ryan said, we hadn't planned on any of our friends finding out so soon. We're still kinda new at this, it's a little..." Seth shot a look at Ryan as if to ask him what adjective he should use here.
"New." Ryan dead panned, finishing for Seth.
Summer smiled. "You guys are probably nervous about how everyone is
going to take it, huh?"
They nodded in unison again.
"We weren't even 100% sure we were going to tell anyone. We were thinking we might keep it a secret." Ryan looked sideways at Seth and felt as the boy reached under the small table and gave his knee a reassuring squeeze. Ryan gave his first smile since Summer had entered the room.
"You see, we know we aren't the most popular two people in town and we really didn't want to supply anyone with more ammo to use against us."
Seth offered, sheepishly.
"Ahhh..." Summer nodded her head. "And am I guessing right in thinking as the three of us aren't exactly close and personal that you think I'm going to go and tell certain anyones all about this?"
"It has crossed our minds." Ryan said flatly.
Summer sat for a moment, munching on her last bit of toast. "Well guys, rest assured. Your secret is safe with me. I won't even tell Marissa. Though..." She turned to face Ryan. "I think you better get around to telling her at some point. Before she gets over Luke and on to you."
Ryan paled a slight bit, but nodded in agreement.
Summer now turned to Seth. "And you! I guess I don't have your advances to look forward to anymore, hmm?"
Seth blushed bright pink again. "I... I..."
"Unless you were going to do something cheesy, like still hit on me so no one would ever guess you were with Ryan." Summer said, raising her eyebrows at him.
Seth went from pink to maroon.
"Thought so." Summer smirked. "Well, it is cheesy, but a sound plan none the less. If you are really serious about no one finding out about the two of you, we can set something up. You know, let people in school see you flirting with me in the hallway or at lunch. And once Marissa is brought up to speed on it all, we can go on double dates and all." And just as Seth and Ryan were completely amazed at how out of character this was for Summer, she said. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my social life, of course."
Both Ryan and Seth smiled then. "Thanks Summer. Really, we totally appreciate it. And I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything." Seth gave her an apologetic look. "But why are you being so nice to us all the sudden?"
Summer gave them a look like she was thinking hard. "Listen, you can't repeat this to anyone. But, my favorite Uncle Andy, he's gay. And he's never had all that easy a time in life because of it. I don't want the same things to happen to you two. I know we aren't uber close, but we are friends, right? And I'd never want to see anyone hurt the way my Uncle Andy's been hurt. You understand?"
With sympathetic looks on their faces and a touch of nervousness in their hearts, they both nodded. "Thanks again Summer." Ryan said, his voice finally losing all of the cold tone he had been using most of the morning.
"Yeah, thanks so much Summer." Seth agreed.
Summer's cheeks were tinged a little pink. It was very attractive on her actually. "Aww, forget about it! Come on, let's get packed up. I want to get home and check on Marissa."
So they did. They packed everything up and loaded the SUV. Summer offered to drive, if the two of them wanted to make out in the backseat for the ride home. And as tempting as that was, they told her no thanks, and she took the back seat so she could make up for some of the sleep she had lost last night on the phone with Marissa. Ryan kept Seth company as he drove, adding a word in here and there to Seth's non stop chit chat (whispered of course, as not to wake Summer). And when they were on a long stretch of straight highway, Seth even let Ryan take his hand and they drove like until Summer woke up for a spell and seeing it, giggled at them, causing them to pull apart in embarrassment.
And they made it home. They dropped Summer off, both giving her hugs and whispered thanks, before heading to their house. They dropped off
Ryan's stuff in the pool house and then on a mutual decision, went up to the main house to tell Mr. and Mrs. Cohen the news.
"Mom? Dad?" Seth called out as they walked in though the kitchen entrance.
"In here Seth." Mrs. Cohen's voice called out from the living room. She sounded... tired or...
"Mom, Dad, we've got some good news for you." Seth looked at Ryan and smiled. Ryan took the boy's hand in his. "Well, we think it's pretty good news."
They entered the living room and found Mr. and Mrs. Cohen sitting side by side on the couch, both looking tired and worried.
Seth looked down at his watch. They weren't late; it wasn't even dinner time yet. Maybe it wasn't the time; maybe they had been worried about finding out what the two boys had decided. He started talking, treading softly. "Mom, Dad. Ryan and I have decided to be together. Now, we're going to respect your wishes and follow all those rules, so don't worry." He paused looking at how upset the two of them still looked. "Did you change your mind? Are you not happy about this now?"
Sandy and Kirsten both perked their heads up a little, as if they had only really been half listening. "No! No boys... really, we're very happy for you." Kirsten said in a voice that showed the signs of forced happiness.
"And we know you boys will respect our rules." Sandy added, not even trying to sound happy. "Boys... we just have some bad news. And we don't know how to tell you. Right after your trip and this big news and all..."
Seth grasped Ryan's hand a little tighter. Ryan squeezed his right back. "Is someone... Has someone died?" Seth asked, just realizing the only time he had ever seen that look on his mother's face had been when he was very young and his grandmother had died. "Is it grandpa?" His voice shook a little and Ryan squeezed his hand again.
"No... no..." Sandy said, but he wasn't saying no as if Seth had been all that off the mark. "Boys, maybe you better sit down."
So they did, sitting next to each other on the other couch, hands still clamped tight.
Kirsten gave a sad smile looking at the two of them. In times like this, she and Sandy often sat like that, thigh to thigh, holding on to each other for support. "Boys, its Marissa. She OD'd last night. They're not sure she's going to make it."
To be continued... once the show is.
Rating: Pg-13 for adult language and content
Disclaimer: They Belong to FOX, not me.
Spoilers: Up to The Escape, though my versions of what happened in TJ differ a tad…
Description: Just a continuation of before. Still sappy and cheesy. No crying this time though, thought I'd try something new. Thanks to kellyerielf, Tori, and SHMILY from fanfiction.net for their ideas and encouragment to write another part.
Ryan woke up the next morning to find that they had moved in the night.
They were no longer snug in each other's arms, but now Seth was flat on his back, legs spread, with one arm over his head and the other around Ryan who was using Seth's chest as a pillow, curled up on his side. Ryan extracted himself from Seth and sat up in bed. His motions did not wake the other boy; Seth just draped his arm around his waist instead and continued to sleep on, his mouth slightly open and a small trickle of drool on his chin. Ryan rolled his eyes, but couldn't have kept the smile off his face if he tried. Ryan rubbed the feeling back into his ear and cheek (Seth's chest wasn't exactly the softest pillow) and got off the bed before he did something rude, like wake Seth up to fool around some more. But he knew Summer would be meeting them sometime this morning and they needed to clean up their mess before she arrived. So instead, he headed into the bathroom, where he took a quick shower and got dressed for the day, before heading out of the hotel room and around the block to pick up some breakfast for the three of them. He was hoping Seth would be awake when he got back, so they could strip the bed they hadn't slept in before Summer arrived. After Ryan ordered food, coffee, and juice, he waited in the restaurant lobby, a blank half smile on his face as his thoughts drifted to last nights activities.
***
Summer, having got up a lot earlier than she normally liked to when on vacation, walked the 3 blocks from where her friends' hotel was to the one Ryan and Seth were in. The rest of her night had been exhausting, on the phone with Marissa for hours, trying to calm her down after she found out the truth about Luke. Even when they had finally hung up, Summer hadn't liked what she heard in Marissa's voice and knew it would just be for the best if they got home as soon as possible. As she reached the hotel, she walked up to their room and used her key to let herself in.
The main room was empty, but she could hear the shower running in the bathroom and both beds had obviously been slept in, as they were all
Torn apart, bedding all over the place.
"It smells funny in here." Summer muttered to herself, wrinkling up her cute little button nose. She used her high heal sandal to kick aside a pair of boxers that had been carelessly discarded the night before. She gave another little sniff. "What is that?"
Summer continued to wander around the room, kicking aside clothes that littered the floor and stepping over random bedding that was hanging off the beds. It was when she got to the bed that was farther away from the front door that she actually took a closer look. Something was stained on the white sheets and that familiar, yet indefinable smell was stronger on this side of the room.
Summer looked over at the stained sheets and sniffed a third time, realization dawning on her face. Her first reaction was to smirk.
"Someone got lucky last night." But then she took a second to think about it. Which one of them was it? It didn't make much sense to her. Seth wasn't the type to meet a girl and take her home for sex... plus, he liked her... right? He was like supposed to be... like in love with her... or something. And then if it was Ryan... true, she could definitely see him bringing a girl home for a one night stand more than Seth, but he obviously had a thing for Marissa. And after the whole fiasco at Caleb's party, she couldn't picture him wanting to get even farther into Marissa's bad graces by doing it again. Unless... unless he had given up, finally conceding to the fact that Marissa and Luke were together. Except he was there last night when they caught Luke with Holly... so wouldn't that show him that he now had more of a chance, because Marissa would certainly part ways with Luke after something like that. Neither made any sense what so ever. And...if the one did hook up with someone, what did the other do? Put a pillow over their head and try to ignore the fact that two people were having sex in the other bed? Or did he just stay out until the other was done? This didn't make sense either, because Summer would place all the money she had on the fact that it wasn't Seth who had gotten some last night. But she also was fairly confident that there was no way Ryan would have let Seth roam around Tijuana on his own. She had noticed Chino was a bit protective of Cohen. Truth be told, Ryan was usually like the boy's shadow in any situation he deemed over Seth's head.
And... and... where were they? The car was still out front. Someone was in the shower, yes, but where were the other 2? Or, if whichever boy had gotten lucky was in there with the girl, where was the other guy? Summer was tired and a little cranky and didn't want a puzzle like this to figure out right now. She wanted some answers. And she wanted them now.
And like Summer always did, she got her wish. Just as she was about to sit down, she heard the shower turn off and Seth's voice call out. "Hey, I heard you get back. Where'd ya go? I woke up and you were gone. I was hoping we could have repeated a little of last nights action before we left." So it had been Seth. Summer was in mild shock. And obviously the girl had snuck out when Seth was asleep. Poor Seth, she must have woke up and realized what she had done and fled. So that explained half the quandary. Now where was Ryan?
Seth strolled out of the bathroom with a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt on and another hanging over his head, as he dried his hair. "So what do you think, do we have time for a quickie before Summer gets here for breakfast?"
"No, I don't think you do." Summer said coolly, giving Seth her famous ice queen look.
Seth slowly lowered the towel from his head. "You aren't Ryan."
The impact of that simple sentence hadn't hit Summer yet. "Not the last
time that I checked."
"Uh... what I mean..." Seth was scrambling for some way to cover up
what he had just said. "I meant you aren't..."
But he was saved from having to come up with some ridiculous story temporarily as the front door swung open again and Ryan walked in, his face obstructed by three styrofoam carry out containers and a large drink holder all balance precariously on top of one another. "Hey Seth, I'm back. I've got breakfast, but we better clean up our mess on the bed from last night before Summer gets here."
And then it came together for Summer. When Seth had come out of the shower asking for the 'quickie' and saw it was her, he hadn't said 'You aren't insert random female name here.' He had said 'You aren't Ryan.' And Ryan had definitely just said we need to clean up 'our' mess on the bed from last night. There was no girl. For either of them. Seth had been asking for that quickie from Ryan. Ryan and Seth 'had' made that mess on the bed.
Ryan and Seth had sex last night.
As if she wanted to make sure she had really saw what she had seen on
The bed, Summer wandered over there again. She looked down at the bed once more. "Ew."
Ryan, who had sort of froze when Seth hadn't answered him and he sensed
That there were more people in the room, now was putting down the take out containers on a table. Ryan realized he had just given the two of them away and was searching his mind for a way to rectify the situation.
Absolutely nothing came to him, so he kept his mouth shut; sinking into a chair next to the table he had placed the food.
"Ew." Summer repeated, still looking over the dirty bed. "Men are slobs.
Don't tell me one of you slept in this last night."
"No, we both slept in..." Seth trailed off, realizing what he been about to say.
Summer smirked at that. "Caught ya."
Seth blushed bright red. "Caught us at what? I mean caught me at what?
What are you talking about? I think you've been out in the Mexican sun to long; you're obviously having hallucinations or something. You should sit down; I'll get you a glass of water."
"Can it Cohen. I am not having hallucinations. I'm not imagining the guilty looks on your faces or the cum on those sheets. And once again, for the record, ew." She turned to Ryan. "You couldn't have cleaned that up before you went to get breakfast? You'd think you two wanted to get caught."
"I didn't want to wake Seth." Ryan mumbled in a gruff voice.
"Bet you didn't, did you give the poor boy a hard night?" Summer teased.
Ryan glared at her.
"Listen Summer, I don't know what your insinuating, but whatever it is, you are way off the mark." Seth insisted. He knew he had told Ryan last night that he didn't want to have to hide it. But there was no way they first person he had planned on telling was Summer. Not with her pen chance for gossip.
"Way off the mark am I? So you and Ryan weren't having sex in here last night?" Summer stood staring him down, her one hand on her slightly thrust out hip, her head angled a fraction to the side.
Seth moved over and sat down on the clean bed. He shot a nervous look over at Ryan, who shot his own half nervous, half angry look back. Seth knew Ryan wasn't angry at him, but at the situation.
Summer rolled her eyes at the two of them. "First things first. You need to clean up that bed." She shot it what she planned as her last look and gave a little shutter. "Ew... it smells."
The two boys just kind of looked at her.
"Alright then, come on." She clapped her hands at them. "Chop, chop."
Seth sprang up off the bed and Ryan slowly raised himself from the chair. Both going over to the bed and starting to strip it of the sheets and blankets. Summer in the meantime took Ryan's seat at the small table. She watched as the two boys shoved the dirtied items into a laundry bag and then hid it in a closet. They both turned to her when they were done, as if looking for approval or praise.
"Very good. Now, on to the second thing." She gestured towards the table. "Now that there isn't that unsightly mess and smell to ruin our appetites, why don't we have breakfast?"
This time Ryan and Seth shot each other confused looks. But slowly, cautiously, they sat around the small table with Summer.
"So Ryan, what did you get?" Summer asked, her voice naturally pleasant.
Ryan was still looking at her like someone eyes a snake they expect is going to strike any moment. "One is scrambled eggs and toast, one is pancakes and sausage, and the third is french toast and bacon. I know Seth and I will eat anything, so you have first choice." His voice was on the hard side, precise and as wary as the look on his face.
"I'll take the eggs and toast then, if you don't mind." Summer said, grabbing the container Ryan had pointed at while listing them off and looked at each boy to make sure they wouldn't object.
Both just nodded at her silently. When they saw that she was opening the container and beginning to eat, also grabbing one of the small plastic cups of juice and a larger styrofoam cup of coffee, they did the same as well. Seth grabbing the pancakes and Ryan the french toast.
They ate in silence for a few moments, before Summer spoke up again.
"So, are you two like a couple? Or do you just fool around when there's no girls available?"
Seth spit out his mouth full of pancakes and Ryan knocked over his half drank glass of juice.
Summer rolled her eyes at them again. "Slobs. Men are slobs." And she handed them both some extra napkins.
Ryan quickly mopped up the juice before it could drip on the floor and
Seth cleaned up the pancake that had sprayed on the table.
"Well?" Summer pressed, after the second clean up of the morning had been completed and she still hadn't been answered.
"Summer..." Seth's voice was strained. "Do we need to talk about this?"
"What?" Summer looked a little hurt. "I was just interested."
Seth sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just... this is kinda... awkward."
"Why?" Summer looked at him questioningly. "Because I saw what was on the bed? Don't stress about it. I'm used to it. I've seen it before."
Seth made an exasperated noise. "No!" He couldn't believe how nonchalantly she was talking about this. "But because you know... you think that we're..."
"That I know that you've had sex? That I think that you're together?"
Summer filled in for him. "What's so awkward about that?"
"Summer, this is kind of new for us. We hadn't planned on any of our friends finding out so soon." Ryan finally spoke up, using his dead voice.
Summer gave them both a sympathetic look, which surprised them. "I see.
I probably have the two of you shaking in your boots, don't I? Am I the first one to find out?"
Ryan shook his head. "His parents know."
Summer turned her gaze specifically to Seth now. "Shit. How'd they take it?"
"Better than we would have expected." Seth mumbled, still slightly mortified.
Summer sat back and looked thoughtfully at both of them. "So you two are together? Like a couple?"
They both nodded grimly.
Summer gave a small twitter of a nervous laugh. "Well, neither of you
Seem very happy about it."
Seth looked down at his half eaten breakfast and poked at some of the sausage with his plastic fork. "Like Ryan said, we hadn't planned on any of our friends finding out so soon. We're still kinda new at this, it's a little..." Seth shot a look at Ryan as if to ask him what adjective he should use here.
"New." Ryan dead panned, finishing for Seth.
Summer smiled. "You guys are probably nervous about how everyone is
going to take it, huh?"
They nodded in unison again.
"We weren't even 100% sure we were going to tell anyone. We were thinking we might keep it a secret." Ryan looked sideways at Seth and felt as the boy reached under the small table and gave his knee a reassuring squeeze. Ryan gave his first smile since Summer had entered the room.
"You see, we know we aren't the most popular two people in town and we really didn't want to supply anyone with more ammo to use against us."
Seth offered, sheepishly.
"Ahhh..." Summer nodded her head. "And am I guessing right in thinking as the three of us aren't exactly close and personal that you think I'm going to go and tell certain anyones all about this?"
"It has crossed our minds." Ryan said flatly.
Summer sat for a moment, munching on her last bit of toast. "Well guys, rest assured. Your secret is safe with me. I won't even tell Marissa. Though..." She turned to face Ryan. "I think you better get around to telling her at some point. Before she gets over Luke and on to you."
Ryan paled a slight bit, but nodded in agreement.
Summer now turned to Seth. "And you! I guess I don't have your advances to look forward to anymore, hmm?"
Seth blushed bright pink again. "I... I..."
"Unless you were going to do something cheesy, like still hit on me so no one would ever guess you were with Ryan." Summer said, raising her eyebrows at him.
Seth went from pink to maroon.
"Thought so." Summer smirked. "Well, it is cheesy, but a sound plan none the less. If you are really serious about no one finding out about the two of you, we can set something up. You know, let people in school see you flirting with me in the hallway or at lunch. And once Marissa is brought up to speed on it all, we can go on double dates and all." And just as Seth and Ryan were completely amazed at how out of character this was for Summer, she said. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my social life, of course."
Both Ryan and Seth smiled then. "Thanks Summer. Really, we totally appreciate it. And I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything." Seth gave her an apologetic look. "But why are you being so nice to us all the sudden?"
Summer gave them a look like she was thinking hard. "Listen, you can't repeat this to anyone. But, my favorite Uncle Andy, he's gay. And he's never had all that easy a time in life because of it. I don't want the same things to happen to you two. I know we aren't uber close, but we are friends, right? And I'd never want to see anyone hurt the way my Uncle Andy's been hurt. You understand?"
With sympathetic looks on their faces and a touch of nervousness in their hearts, they both nodded. "Thanks again Summer." Ryan said, his voice finally losing all of the cold tone he had been using most of the morning.
"Yeah, thanks so much Summer." Seth agreed.
Summer's cheeks were tinged a little pink. It was very attractive on her actually. "Aww, forget about it! Come on, let's get packed up. I want to get home and check on Marissa."
So they did. They packed everything up and loaded the SUV. Summer offered to drive, if the two of them wanted to make out in the backseat for the ride home. And as tempting as that was, they told her no thanks, and she took the back seat so she could make up for some of the sleep she had lost last night on the phone with Marissa. Ryan kept Seth company as he drove, adding a word in here and there to Seth's non stop chit chat (whispered of course, as not to wake Summer). And when they were on a long stretch of straight highway, Seth even let Ryan take his hand and they drove like until Summer woke up for a spell and seeing it, giggled at them, causing them to pull apart in embarrassment.
And they made it home. They dropped Summer off, both giving her hugs and whispered thanks, before heading to their house. They dropped off
Ryan's stuff in the pool house and then on a mutual decision, went up to the main house to tell Mr. and Mrs. Cohen the news.
"Mom? Dad?" Seth called out as they walked in though the kitchen entrance.
"In here Seth." Mrs. Cohen's voice called out from the living room. She sounded... tired or...
"Mom, Dad, we've got some good news for you." Seth looked at Ryan and smiled. Ryan took the boy's hand in his. "Well, we think it's pretty good news."
They entered the living room and found Mr. and Mrs. Cohen sitting side by side on the couch, both looking tired and worried.
Seth looked down at his watch. They weren't late; it wasn't even dinner time yet. Maybe it wasn't the time; maybe they had been worried about finding out what the two boys had decided. He started talking, treading softly. "Mom, Dad. Ryan and I have decided to be together. Now, we're going to respect your wishes and follow all those rules, so don't worry." He paused looking at how upset the two of them still looked. "Did you change your mind? Are you not happy about this now?"
Sandy and Kirsten both perked their heads up a little, as if they had only really been half listening. "No! No boys... really, we're very happy for you." Kirsten said in a voice that showed the signs of forced happiness.
"And we know you boys will respect our rules." Sandy added, not even trying to sound happy. "Boys... we just have some bad news. And we don't know how to tell you. Right after your trip and this big news and all..."
Seth grasped Ryan's hand a little tighter. Ryan squeezed his right back. "Is someone... Has someone died?" Seth asked, just realizing the only time he had ever seen that look on his mother's face had been when he was very young and his grandmother had died. "Is it grandpa?" His voice shook a little and Ryan squeezed his hand again.
"No... no..." Sandy said, but he wasn't saying no as if Seth had been all that off the mark. "Boys, maybe you better sit down."
So they did, sitting next to each other on the other couch, hands still clamped tight.
Kirsten gave a sad smile looking at the two of them. In times like this, she and Sandy often sat like that, thigh to thigh, holding on to each other for support. "Boys, its Marissa. She OD'd last night. They're not sure she's going to make it."
To be continued... once the show is.