"The Confession"

Note: I do not own The O.C. or any orginal characters from the show.
In this chapter, we get to know Lauren a little better and Marissa comes clean. Please R&R! :)

Seth woke up early to the sound of moving trucks beeping and hand trucks moving boxes. Ryan was sitting in his room waiting for him to wake up. Seth let out a frightened sound, almost like a scream, when he saw Ryan.

"What the hell, dude?!?!" Seth grabbed his chest, "You scared me."

"I need to talk to you. It's Marissa, I don't know what to do. She's falling apart and getting mad at me and just acting…..I don't know, I think she may be drinking again."

"Really? Oh my God, what are you gonna do?" Seth asked, oblivious to the fact that Ryan didn't know and that's why he had come for help.

"What can I do? She's a big girl, she knows what she's doing."

"Yeah, but she's also your girlfriend. And when she needs your help, even if she doesn't want it, you have to be there for her," Seth said, surprising himself at his insight.

"That's very wise, Seth," Ryan said, repeating one of Seth's own lines, as he got up and left the room.

"I do what I can…" Seth said curling back up in bed. BANG! CRASH! He heard the trucks again and pulled the blanket over his head. BEEP...BEEP...BEEP…He could sleep through some noises, but that incessant beeping was not one of them. He groaned as he got out of bed and headed downstairs.

Ryan went to Marissa's house, but her car was still gone. He drove by her father's house and found her car, but not her. Jimmy's car was missing, so he figured Marissa went somewhere with Jimmy. When he wasn't able to find her, he decided to go home and wait for her to return his calls.

When Ryan got home, Lauren was walking up the Cohen's driveway.

She spun around and saw Ryan. "Hi there," she said, grinning a little bit.

"Hey," Ryan said.

"I was just coming to see if you and Seth wanted to go down to the pier, or maybe the mall, or – I don't care really, I just wondered if you guys would show me around.

Ryan thought about Marissa, and knew if he stayed home, he would just sit there and think about Marissa some more. "Sure, yeah. Let me ask Seth," he said opening the front door. "C'mon in."

She followed him in but waited in the foyer while Ryan found Seth in the kitchen.

"Hey, man," he said to a groggy-looking Seth. "Uh, the new girl, um, Lauren – she wants us to show her around, go down the pier. What do you think?"

"Hmm…" Seth responded, sipping his coffee.

"It'll take our minds off of them," he said, referring to their respective girlfriends, with whom their minds were occupied.

Seth looked at Ryan and nodded. "You are right, my man," he got up and put his coffee down. "Give me 5 minutes," he said as he ran up the stairs to get dressed.

Ryan left a note for Sandy and Kirsten, and went back to tell Lauren Seth would be down in just a minute.

Jimmy's face was pale. Marissa had cried all the tears inside her. They were sitting in the airport waiting for Hailey and Marissa had just finished telling Jimmy everything about Julie and Luke and all the new problems with Caleb.

"Wow," Jimmy said in a sigh.

"Yeah," Marissa nodded.

Jimmy reached out and took a hold of Marissa's hand. "This is all…going to be okay," he comforted her, "We'll figure this all out together. You – you shouldn't be worrying about…this kind of stuff, you know? I'll talk to your mother, and I'm sure once her dirty little secret is out, she won't have a problem with you coming back to live with me."

"But I don't want to intrude on, you know, you and….Hailey."

"Honey, you will always come first to me," Jimmy said, rubbing Marissa's shoulder.

"Thanks, Dad." Marissa looked over at her father and saw his face light up like she had never seen before. He had something in his sights as he stood up.

Hailey came running up to Jimmy and threw her arms around him. "Oh my God, I missed you so much!" she basically yelled.

"Oh, I missed you too," he replied pulling back to look at her face. Then they kissed. For a long time, and Marissa realized there may not be enough room for her in her father's life either.

Lauren wasn't polished looking like Marissa or Summer. She wore a denim miniskirt and a plain pink tank top and had her blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail. She wore a little bit of lip gloss, but no other makeup. Still, she was very pretty, Seth thought as the three of them made their way down to the pier. Ryan rode his bike and Lauren attempted to ride Seth's skateboard. She wasn't very successful, but Seth held her hand while she glided along, steadying her so she wouldn't fall. They all laughed as she screamed every time she lost balance. They got down to the pier and had corn dogs and lemonade while Lauren told them about Seattle. She talked about her old school, her boyfriend, her father's job in Seattle, and trips she took to Canada every summer to go camping.

"I hated camping, but my friends would talk me into in every year," Lauren told them. In all the time she talked about Seattle, she seem to skirt around the subject of her brother. But neither of the boys asked anyway.

"Hey," a familiar voice came from behind them. They turned around to see who it was. "It's my two favorite guys in Newport," Anna said.

Seth introduced Anna to Lauren, and then excused himself to talk to Anna.

Jimmy dropped Hailey off at the apartment, which was now their apartment, and took Marissa to Julie's house.

They went inside and Julie and Caleb were in the kitchen, obviously arguing about something.

"What's going on?" Julie asked when she saw Jimmy.

"Well, we should probably talk," Jimmy said, then looked at Caleb, "Alone."

"This is my house, Jimmy-" Caleb started to say.

"And this is my family," Marissa interrupted, shocking everyone. Then she glared at Julie. "I doubt you want him to hear this, anyway."

Julie panicked. What was Marissa planning on talking about the Caleb shouldn't hear? The stripper she almost went home with? Luke?

"Cal, honey, just give us a minute, hm?" she feigned composure.

When he left the room, taking his coffee and newspaper with him, he gave Jimmy a dirty look as he passed by. Once he was gone, Julie's apprehension reappeared.

"What is going on? What are you two trying to do to my marriage?"

"This isn't about you, Julie. This is about your daughter, in case you've forgotten," Jimmy said, looking more serious than ever.

"Cut the crap, Jimmy. What the hell do you want?"

"I know about Luke. I want Marissa back, she belongs with me. This is not an argument, this is what's happening."

"Marissa," Julie's tone softened and she forced a slight smile, "you don't really want to leave, do you?"

Marissa scoffed at her mother's phoniness. "Yes, I do. I can't stand living here, I never could. I just want to go back to living with Dad." Her eyes started to tear up, but she quickly wiped her sadness away. "I hate Caleb for what he did to me and I hate you for not knowing," she said calmly, then turned and walked toward the door of the room. "I'll get my things," she said without stopping.