I own nothing

Thanks for the reviews. Brandywine, multitasking? What's that?

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It was late afternoon and Seth was walking around the neighborhood, trying to enjoy some fresh air. He had only been back for a couple of days but he'd begun to feel like a prisoner. He wondered why his mother bothered giving him a curfew because she called at all hours of the day to make sure he was adhering to her instructions and not leaving the house. He was only risking it because he suspected that she was already on her way home and he knew that she hated using her cellular phone while driving.

As he turned onto Main Street, he spotted Summer and Marissa step out of a clothing store. She was wearing little shorts and a tank top and he would have drunk in her beauty if he hadn't been trying to make an escape. Just before he succeeded, he heard his girlfriend call out his name.

Caught, he skipped across the street to her. Her arms were folded under her breasts and her head tilted in defiance. Seth would have hugged her if he wasn't fearful of being scalded by the smoke coming out of her ears.

"Marissa, do you see what I see or is it all a bad dream?" she snorted.

"Unless we are having the same dream, I'll say that's Seth," her friend replied with a wicked smile. Seth wished he could smack that smirk off her face, after all, if not for all her drama, he would never have had to go sailing in the first place and in turn, wouldn't have pissed Summer off.

"Seth, as in Seth Cohen? Why does that name sound familiar? Maybe it's someone I knew a long time ago."

Seth sighed. If he wanted to see a performance, he'd have gotten tickets to The Producers. He didn't want to waste his last fifteen minutes of freedom playing 'apologetic boyfriend'. "Summer...," he started, reaching for her elbow.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she screamed, separating and flailing her arms. "I'm even surprised you remember my name."

"What do you mean? I called you when I got back," he protested.

"Oh, Marissa,'' she whispered, moving her head closer to her friend but not taking her eyes off him, "he's a bastard AND a liar."

"I'm not lying. I called you yesterday and your father told me you weren't home."

"Well, I don't believe you. My dad never said you called and even if you did, why didn't you call my cell?" she wanted to know.

"Because I'm grounded."

"And that stops you from using the phone?"

"I'm only allowed one call a day," he lied. He was quite pleased with that line – it fit his Oz theme, without the buttfucking, thank God. He'd always felt that lying should only be used when the truth sucked and lately, everything just sucked. He realized he'd left her a shitty letter and as a result, he didn't know what to say to her because he was scared shitless of her reaction. Not that jail's newest star could actually be scared shitless –it was merely an expression. There was no way he could be frightened of someone who was about half a foot shorter and weighed at least thirty pounds less. Heck, who was he kidding? He'd been more than relieved to hear her father's voice at the other end of the line. That call showed --without him having to talk to her and receiving a tongue-lashin-- that he still cared enough to contact her the minute he arrived. Well, it had been the next day, but that was close enough.

"Seth, that's just bullshit. Your parents will never do that to you." She rolled her eyes.

"Wanna bet? Think of how mad you are. Now multiply that by one million – that's how mad they are. I'm grounded; I feel like I'm in San Quentin."

"Good for you – you deserve it," she replied, her nose flaring. "You're an ass and a complete idiot and I feel stupid for ever worrying about you since it seems you never worried about me."

"Summer, I called you."

"When you got back. While you were gone, did you once bother to call me to just let me know everything was okay? I was scared that you'd been eaten by a shark or something."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. If you were, you'd have come straight to my house to let me know everything was okay. Instead, you made an imaginary call. If I wasn't sure I wanted to break up with you before, I'm definitely sure now. It wasn't nice knowing you, assface."

"Summer…"

"Marissa, let's go. I saw a sale sign in the Prada store."

"Summer, I'm sorry."

"Whatever," she said, pulling Marissa's hand as she walked away.

----

It wasn't that Seth was surprised that Summer had dumped him – he'd kind of expected it. And in a way, he was kind of relieved. He knew that he and Summer would eventually get back together –how could they not -he just needed some time to himself to reflect on the way his life had changed and how his future would be different from what he'd imagined. He was wondering what a summer without Summer would be like when he almost walked past The Crab Shack. He decided to just pop in for a few minutes to say hello to Ryan when he saw a waiter he didn't recognize and remembered that Ryan no longer worked there. Yes, all his summer plans had been shot to hell just because Ryan was too pigheaded to stay where he belonged. On his way out of the restaurant, he heard someone say, "Hey, Emogeek, where's your boyfriend? Had a lovers' spat?" He spun around to see Jake Anderson, an old pal of Luke's, smiling back at him.

When Seth was back on the street again, he looked around for Master Cheng's school. He'd finally figured out what he'd do for the summer: take karate lessons. Not only would that keep him busy, it also meant that he'd finally be able to make good on the few ass-whoopings he owed.

----

"… but it's coming along nicely," Sandy finished.

"That's good," Ryan said even though he wasn't quite sure what his former guardian had said. His newest family had run out of a few things and just as he was about to go to the corner grocery store, Theresa's phone rang, so he decided to take it with him on the walk there. But the thing was, Chino wasn't the safest place to walk alone while the sun rested so Ryan had to remain alert, which meant he couldn't concentrate on his conversation.

"When do you start your new job?" Sandy asked.

"Next week," he wished he didn't have to say. If only he had other options. $8.50/hr wasn't bad for a high school student but this wasn't a burger joint. He'd be working at a factory making parts for transformers and after visiting the plant, he wondered how was going to work there without contracting a deadly disease.

"Is Seth around?" he asked. He was getting increasingly irritated with the whole thing. It wasn't his style to beg people for forgiveness and he just wished Seth would just talk to him so that they could move on. After all, he did have far more important things to worry about than his feelings.

"Yes," Sandy said, "let me get him."

Ryan was still on hold when he stepped into the grocery store. He was already heading for the cashier with a full basket when he heard Sandy's faint voice say, "If you know what's good for you, pick that phone up!" A few moments later, he heard someone breathing at the other end.

"Seth?"

"Yes," a reluctant voice replied.

"How is it going?"

"Fine."

"How was your trip? I feel so bad that we didn't get to sail together." He'd only found out about the trip after Seth had returned and he still wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Whatever."

Ryan sniffed –Seth had begun to test his patience. "I'm thinking of coming down for a visit soon. Maybe we could hang out then."

"I'll be busy."

Ryan sighed - the boy sure as hell wasn't making it easy for him. Being back where he grew up reminded him that it was possible to live in less-than-ideal situations. Sure, he wouldn't necessarily be happy but if Seth wanted to act like that, he'd figure out a way to deal with it. He wasn't giving up, but he was tired and Theresa's mother was waiting for him, so, he decided that he'd had enough for the day. "Okay, I'll see you. Take care, Se---" He heard a click before he could finish his sentence. Ryan hung up, put the phone in his pocket then put the groceries on the belt.

He smiled at the cashier but when she frowned in return, remembered that 'service with a smile' didn't apply in Chino. He was looking through his wallet when she spoke to him.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" he asked, looking into her cold brown eyes.

"Ry, are you saying you don't remember me?"

Ryan peered into her face and after a few moments, she started to look familiar. Then it hit him – with shorter, darker hair, she'd look exactly like Eddie's little sister. "Hey, Jenny, how's it going?"

"You're back for a visit?" she asked, running his crate of eggs over the scanner.

"No, I'm back for good."

She lifted her left eyebrow. "Got kicked out? Couldn't stand to live around all that money while getting none?"

"No."

"Then why did you come back?"

Ryan shrugged. It wasn't anybody's business. Besides, in a few months, when Theresa started to show, they'd all figure it out. Till then, however, he didn't think it was his duty to give them any information.

"Alright, be like that – don't tell me. But you might want to go somewhere else because my brother is mad at you."

"So what? I can't help that. And I don't care."

"Well, you had better care. This isn't some prissy rich-boy neighborhood you can be all bad-ass in. Remember that you ain't shit and if Eddie wants to get you, he will, so don't even try to act macho with me. Take my advice and skip town - the cops won't be able to save you if he gets to you. Don't forget - this is Chino."

Don't forget? Like that would happen if he tried.