THE BEST CHRISTMUKKAH EVER
The Cohen's had just finished telling Ryan about their Christmas traditions, with Seth adding in his new invention of Christmukkah when Ryan politely excused himself from the discussion. Christmas had come fast this year, and everything seemed to finally be falling into place – for Rachel anyway. Marsal had been put on probation; Rachel still trying to find the strength within herself to have him arrested. Sandy had suggested she take everything in stages, the first stage was now done; Marsal would now find it extremely hard to hurt her.
Rachel watched Ryan go from her position in front of Seth, his arms around her waist.
"I don't blame him," Rachel said when Ryan was out of sight. "Christmas, not big with our family."
"You must have some memories," Sandy suggested.
"Oh I got plenty, most of which involve my mother drunk, Ry' getting the crapped kicked out of him and me crying."
A silence swept over the room as Rachel's brutal honesty hit hard.
"Like I said, I don't blame him."
Seth squeezed her tighter and shook his head. "Not this year though. Christmukkah is on your side."
"How do you figure?"
"Well you have the combined power of Jesus and Moses, and those two working together...they're unstoppable."
Rachel forced on a smile.
.........
"I'm going to get a drink," Seth said, kissing Rachel on the forehead.
The entire family was at Julie Cooper's Christmas bash, each of them as bored as the next. Ryan was still finding it hard to think of Christmas as a celebration and was constantly looking over his shoulder, expecting something to go wrong.
"Don't be long," Rachel replied as he walked away from her.
The moment that he left, a young man who she had seen a few times amongst the crowd intercepted her.
"Hi," he said.
"Hey," Rachel replied.
"I'm Daniel. I didn't mean to just approach you like this but I thought, what is a guy like him, leaving a pretty girl like you alone for?"
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "For the same thing that you're holding."
Daniel looked down at his drink. "Oh, what are the odds?"
"Yeah, this being a party and all." Rachel smiled at Daniel's nervousness.
"So...uh...you're from Chino, right?"
"Born and raised."
"And you're Ryan's sister?"
"Yeah."
"Sister?"
"That's what they call the daughter."
Rachel's attention was away from Seth now who was moving through the crowd, only to be intercepted by Summer and forced into the house.
Daniel rocked slightly back and forth trying his hardest to think of what to say when Rachel helped him.
"I'm Rachel by the way."
"Daniel," he said again.
Rachel laughed. "Yeah, I got that."
Daniel looked at her for a second. "You're nothing like Ryan."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, you look a little similar, but your personalities are completely different."
"Not so much. This is my fake, party smile, doesn't usually travel around with me much."
"So you're similar?"
"You tell me."
"I already did."
"Right."
Another silence.
"Well I'd better..." Rachel went to move away.
"Oh, sure, don't let me keep you. It was nice meeting you."
"You too," Rachel said honestly, she so far hadn't had the chance to socialise in New Port, generally making friends with Ryan's connections.
"Say hi to your brother for me," Daniel said walking away.
"Will do."
.........
"Rach!" Ryan called through the crowd as he saw his sister moving through the people.
She turned at the sound of her name and walked up to him and Marissa who had been in the middle of a 'anywhere but here' game.
"Hey guys," she said. "Have you seen Seth?"
"Uh...yeah," Marissa replied. "He was going into the house with Summer, about five minutes ago.
Rachel turned and looked at the door, which she was certain, was the one Seth would have gone through.
"Are you enjoying the party?" Ryan asked.
Rachel moved away from them toward the door. "I'll let you know."
.........
Seth was standing before Summer, staring into her face, the face he had longed for since he could remember. Her Wonder Woman roped – complimenting the same outfit – was tight around his body and she pulled him closer.
"Merry Christmas Seth," she whispered before kissing him.
"Seth...?"
"Seth looked up to see Anna standing in the room a confused look upon her face.
"Anna..." he said.
"Oh my God," Summer whispered looking to her friend.
They both stood there, staring at Seth now, waiting for an explanation.
A small sound like someone whose air had been cut off came from the doorway and they all turned to see Rachel standing there, a look of shock and hurt on her face.
The girls froze, knowing full well who the new arrival was.
Rachel couldn't form words, her mind went blank. Seeing her boyfriend standing there with two girls practically throwing themselves on him...
Rachel turned and ran from the room hearing Seth call out to her. She sprinted down the stairs into the lobby and finally to the front door, reaching out to take hold of the handle. Seth grabbed onto her arm having run after her the entire way un-noticed.
Rachel spun around to face him, ready to attack.
"Rach...I..."
"You what Seth? What the hell were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," he insisted, not being able to bare the pained look that was on her face, knowing that he had caused it. "It just happened."
"Things like that don't just happen. I trusted you."
"It was an accident, I swear."
"What you just tripped and fell on her lips?"
She had seen the kiss, he thought.
"Rach it meant nothing," he insisted.
"Then why'd you do it, huh?" Her voice was now entering the yelling range. "You had two girls throwing themselves at you, knowing damn well that the one you had come with tonight was sitting alone outside."
Seth didn't know what to say, this was the person he cared about the most, who was having a hard enough time trying to deal with everything else in her life without him contributing.
"I'm sorry."
Rachel was quiet now, looking deep within Seth's eyes and trying to find it in her heart to forgive him. Instead she whispered three words which nearly killed him inside.
"So am I."
She turned back to the door and opened it, stepping outside.
"Rach..."
Rachel looked at Seth one last time. "Merry Christmas Seth." She shut the door in his face.
Once outside Rachel stopped when everything she had just seen finally hit her. She thought she could trust Seth that he was not like the other people she had had in her life previously. That, especially with everything else in her life right now, he of all people wouldn't hurt her.
But he had. The pain was so deep that her chest physically ached.
Her eyes fell on an open bottle of vodka resting on the seat in front of her.
.........
When Rachel finally returned to the party, all thoughts of Seth were erased from her mind. She didn't need him, not now, not ever.
"Ry'!" She screamed running up to her brother and throwing her arms around him.
"Hey Rach, you're surprisingly happy," he commented looking over at Marissa who was in a deep conversation with one of her mum's friends.
"Yeah. I'm tired of having crappy Christmas holidays. So I said to myself, 'self. Less crying more partying', which I thought rhymed until I actually said it."
Ryan narrowed his eyes and looked at her.
"So how's your Christmas?" She asked practically hanging off him.
"An improvement." Ryan held her still, taking the glass she held from her hand. "Rach...are you okay?"
"Yeah, just in the holiday spirit. I thought I'd make the most of it and get really, really..."
Ryan smelt the glass he held. "Drunk?"
Rachel stopped short. "I'm not drunk."
Putting the glass down Ryan bowed his head a little to her. "I know what happened with Seth."
Rachel looked at him and he saw the pain return to her eyes.
"I know how you feel."
"No...you don't. It's like I've been ripped apart and half of me is missing. And I thought, why not begin the healing process?"
"Healing is talking, and laughing and having fun, not drinking."
"You drink," she stated.
"But not till I can barely stand! You're only fifteen Rach."
Rachel frowned at him. "So? I have pain, real, legitimate pain and this is the only way I can get it to stop."
"No it's not!" Ryan yelled.
"Yes it is Ry'! It always is! How do you think I've gotten through my life up until now? I'm not as strong as you think I am."
"Alcohol isn't strength!"
"It is for me!"
Ryan looked at Rachel. Really looked at her and when he spoke his voice was quiet. "You're starting to sound like mum."
Rachel looked back at him. "Don't even go there."
"It's true."
A long silence swept over them before Rachel began to walk away.
"I'm leaving."
"Don't walk away from me!" Ryan yelled.
"I'll do whatever the hell I want!"
Ryan ran after her. "Rachel..." he said taking a hold of her arm.
"Don't touch me!" She screamed pulling away from him.
Ryan stood there in shock, why was she doing this? Why was she making this even harder?
"Fine. Get in the car. I'm taking you home."
.........
Neither Ryan nor Rachel said anything as the car rolled down the quiet highway. Mostly because they had nothing too say. Both knew what Christmas meant fights, tears and alcohol and as much as they didn't want to admit it, they thought it would never change.
Ryan caught the sight of blue and red police lights behind him and reluctantly pulled over.
"Only tonight," he murmured.
Rachel remained silent and instead looked away from him and out of her window.
"Licence and registration please," the officer said.
Ryan glanced over at Rachel who still hadn't looked away from her original spot and handed over what the officer asked for.
"You haven't been drinking tonight have you?" The man asked.
"No sir," Ryan replied politely.
The officer looked past Ryan at Rachel. "Are you okay miss?"
"I'm just dandy," Rachel replied with a fake smile before turning away again.
"You kids have a safe trip home," the officer said before handing Ryan back the papers and returning to his car.
Ryan sat there is silence, noticing that Rachel had found and empty liqueur bottle on the floor and was now tapping it against her palm.
"Alcohol, cops and tears," he said, more to himself than anyone else. "Must be the holidays."
"Ironic huh?" Rachel stated.
Ryan took in a deep breath. "That's it," he said climbing out of the car and walking over to Rachel's side.
He swung the door open and ripped the bottle from her hands, turning and throwing it as far as he could into the darkness. It shattered into a thousand pieces when it hit the ground. Ryan then turned back to the car, taking hold of the door and slamming it shut over and over until Rachel screamed for him to calm down.
"Ry' stop it, you're scaring me!" She cried.
"Good," he replied stopping his rampage and leaning against the door. "Because you're scaring me."
He kicked at the dirt and moved away from the car, crouching in the dirt and trying to calm himself. Ryan couldn't handle this, he couldn't handle being told to believe something that wasn't true. Everyone had said this Christmas would be different...so far it had all been the same.
Rachel approached and knelt down before him. She stayed silent for a moment, watching her brother who held his head in his hands. She went to say something but only two words escaped her mouth.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Ryan didn't look up. "I know."
"I didn't mean when I said that this always happens, I just thought you wouldn't be so mad if you thought it wasn't the first time."
"I'm not mad."
"You...you're not?"
Ryan shook his head and looked up at the sky letting out a long sigh.
"I thought I'd left this all behind. Maybe I was just getting my hopes up."
"Don't say that!"
Ryan looked at Rachel seeing all of their past family gathering and not liking any of them.
"It's true."
"No," Rachel insisted. "I screwed up. I didn't mean for this to get out of hand and I didn't want you to have a crappy party, especially after everything. Ry' I'm sorry and I swear it won't happen again, I really do. I didn't mean to upset you."
Ryan smiled slightly. "You just scared me."
"I won't do it again."
"I know."
There was a long silence.
"Daniel says hi," Rachel commented.
"Who?"
"Some guy called Daniel that I met while I was waiting for..."
Rachel's words trailed off and Ryan saw her eyes become darker.
"I'm sorry about Seth," he said honestly.
Rachel was quiet for a moment. "Are all guys like this? You think you can trust them and wham, you can't."
"He's sorry."
"That's what the last one said too. I thought Seth was different, you know, he was the guy that I had always wanted and I know it sounds corny but..."
"It doesn't."
When Rachel spoke again he voice carried the sound of innocence, of someone who was truly in pain.
"He hurt me Ry'. I never thought I could feel like this. It's like my heart has been torn out and it hurts too much to even breathe. I thought I thought I could trust him."
"You still can."
"Can I?" She asked honestly. "I trusted him to be faithful and that didn't really pan out too good."
"Maybe you should just give it some time, let things settle down."
"Yeah, maybe."
TO BE CONTINUED.........(Dunno how u liked this chapter with the whole episode adaptation thing, I just thought that it might be cool. Please review. Will post soon.)