I do not own The O.C.
A/N: Did you think I abandoned this? Well, Anna and Ryan kept bugging the hell out of me so I had to put this on ice. So does that mean there will be quicker updates? Yes. Will it be finished before the premiere? Yep. Will the said updates be consistent? Well, sure, but only in the month of October. Do I have anything else to say? Nope.
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Ryan pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat that had begun to settle on his brow. He'd worked the 7-7 shift the previous night but couldn't even sleep-in because Eva had decided they were having a garage sale. Arturo was being let out of jail for good behavior so she had no choice but to get rid of what Ryan teased were her "prized finds."
He'd already spent half of the morning hurling out bulky furniture and placing it neatly with the other junk Eva normally kept in the backyard. His skin burned as he walked briskly to the grocery store. He'd been ordered to pick up some empty boxes and couldn't wait till he got back so that he could just jump into the shower and relax. He puffed on the last of his cigarette as he approached the store and as he walked up its driveway, he noticed Jenny leaning against the wall closest to the entrance.
He wasn't normally a snob but after his previous encounters with her, he had no intention of stopping to talk, so he just kept on walking. When he was about to push the door in, he heard her cough.
Reflexively, he turned and saw her staring back at him.
"Can I bum a smoke off you?"
Ryan rolled his eyes. She had to be kidding.
"Ryan," she said, smiling, "I'm really dying here. Just one."
He looked at her full lips and widely spaced eyes and wondered how someone who looked so innocent could act the way she normally did.
But hell, it was only a cigarette, right? It was no big deal. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the box of Malboro, held it out to her and waited as she pulled one out. He was about to turn around when she said, "Hey, talk to me for a minute."
She said it so sweetly, that he couldn't help but oblige her. Plus, he'd be talking to the same two women for weeks now that he didn't mind hearing a difference voice. Even if it was hers.
"I'm really sorry about what happened," she said, her face grim. "Eddie's my brother, you know. I have to protect him."
Ryan moved to the wall and leaned against it. He knew all about protecting one's older sibling except in her case, it didn't really make much sense. It's not like he'd been going around getting on Eddie's case. "I didn't start it," he reminded her.
"Come on, now. Everyone here knows what you did with Theresa. He was the laughing stock for a while. I mean, how da hell does someone in another town steal a guy's girl? I couldn't just let you punk him out like that, you know? At least now, everyone knows that we don't just stand back and let people disrespect us."
Ryan nodded. Even though he believed that even if he wasn't in the picture, Theresa would still have left Eddie, he could understand that sometimes, pride and honor were the only things people in Chino had to hold on to. "Is that why you're now a gangbanger?" he asked, the corner of his right cheek raised slightly.
Her forehead wrinkled, she said, "Huh?"
"Your little kicking friends."
"Oh," she said, giggling. "I guess you can call us a gang. We just got sick of dealing with the bullshit in this town. It's like, if we don't do something about it, nothing will fucking change."
"What do you mean?"
"Other than becoming some kid's mom, married –if you're lucky, what does a girl have to look forward to here?" she asked, looking around her. "Absolutely nothing. So we support each other. The thing is, we've got bigger plans and we're going to make damn sure we get out of this dump."
"How?"
"The usual; getting good grades, working hard, earning money the right way – there's no quicker way to get to jail than doing some dumb shit like trying to rob a 7-11."
It was so different from what he'd expected to hear that he couldn't help being fascinated. "What else?"
She sucked on the cigarette then let the smoke escape through her nose. "You know, not getting pregnant and all that shit. Or even worse, falling in love with some loser who'll screw you up in the head and make you think you're happy being his slave."
"Sounds like a good plan, I guess. So I take it you guys don't hang out with dudes, huh?"
"Nope. We don't. But we fuck, though... hey," she said, pinching herself, "I'm not made of wood." She laughed at her own joke. And then almost like an afterthought, shrugged and added, "We are just careful."
"That's good." If being careful was all it took, he'd have been back in Newport.
"You know how girls are," she continued. "A guy's sticking her and she thinks he loves her and it's like, 'bitch, he's just sticking you because you're a warm body. Tomorrow, he's going to be fucking the girl down the street.' We understand that and just treat guys the same way. I guess you can say we fuck like guys."
He hadn't expected the conversation to go in that direction so all he could manage was, "Cool."
She laughed before, once again, placing the cigarette in her mouth. After exhaling, she nudged him. "Yeah, you thought you had cornered the market, huh?"
"On what?"
"On this." She put her hand on his head and pushed his face closer till she engulfed his lips with hers.
She tasted of burnt nicotine and hash browns and he decided he didn't really like that combination. She didn't kiss like any girl he knew; she wasn't sweet or sensuous, or even playful and teasing. Instead, she was demanding, sucking his tongue hungrily, only stopping to lash hers inside his mouth, ensuring every single inch was licked. At some point, he was sure she even bit him. Before he could even think to stop the madness and get her off him, she stepped back.
"See?" she said, smiling impishly. "Just like a man – I take what I want."
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Ryan spent the walk home wondering why he'd let that kiss last longer than it deserved. It hadn't been the first time that a girl had thrown herself at him, but he wasn't quite sure that she had thrown herself at him. She had done something though, and he suspected he didn't like it very much. Sure, she was cute, but was he really attracted to her? How would any guy in his right mind be? But she was definitely interesting.... Okay, maybe not interesting, but she was definitely different. But he'd never thought of himself as someone who liked different. They hadn't parted with promises of any sort but Ryan couldn't help wondering when he'd see her again.
He walked into Theresa's backyard, tasting Jenny's cigarette on his tongue, looking at the remaining sticks in their box, wondering if it was time to finally quit when he noticed Seth piling junk on one of the tables.
"What are you doing here?" he called, running up to him.
Seth ran his hand through his hair and said, "Oh, I called and Theresa said you were having a garage sale, so I'm here to help."
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A/N: I apologize for the extreme suckage and boringnessation of this chapter. (Yeah, I create my own words.) I guess I am just getting back into the swing of things. The next one will be better (I hope).
