"Did Ryan really tell his mother he didn't want to hear from her anymore?" Kirsten still couldn't believe that this is what transpired between Ryan and his mother. "He seemed so…happy today."
Sandy rubbed her arm. "He did seem comfortable with his decision. I think he meant it, but I worry it's going to hit him later what he really did."
This is where it hits him.
PART ONE: DENIALSeth pulled into the beach parking lot and pointed to all the cars. "See, Summer? We're not the first to arrive."
Summer pouted. "Just because we're not the first to arrive, doesn't mean we're not early."
They got out of the car and Ryan went to the back to get the blankets they brought. As they walked down the path toward the beach, Seth put his arm around Summer. "I told you. Once Ryan convinced the parental units that we should be allowed to stay out all night, we had to get out before they changed their minds. I thought early was better than not at all. Right, Ry?"
Ryan shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't sure he wanted to stay out all night in the first place, but he knew Seth was looking forward to the graduation bonfire. As they got to the beach, they saw a bunch of kids getting everything set up. Ryan handed the blankets to Seth and went over to where some guys from the soccer team were moving driftwood logs.
"Hey, Ryan!" Mike said. "You're just in time to help us move these closer to the fire for people to sit on."
Ryan picked up the other end of the log Mike was holding, and Jeff came behind, carrying a smaller log himself. Once they had the logs where they wanted them, Mike slapped Ryan on the back. "Your speech today. That was cool."
Ryan was embarrassed. "Thanks, man. I wasn't going to do it, but…"
"Yeah, but parents eat that type of thing up," Jeff said. Mike elbowed him and looked at him pointedly, trying to tell him to shut up.
Ryan smirked at Jeff's lack of awareness. "Yeah, the Cohens were pretty happy about it."
Jeff finally clued in to what Mike was trying to tell him. "Oh, man, I didn't mean…"
Ryan thought back to his conversation with his mother that afternoon. He shook his head and smiled at Jeff. "No, it's OK. They're like my parents, I guess."
Mike shook his head at Jeff's ability to stick his foot in his mouth at every possible chance. "All right. There's a cooler over there full of beer. It's time to get this party started."
Ryan reached into the cooler and snagged a beer for himself and one for Seth. He found Seth with Summer, talking to Emily and Sarah. He looked bored out of his mind. Ryan caught his eye and gestured one of the beers towards Seth. A wave of relief washed over Seth's face, as he excused himself from Summer and joined Ryan.
"Thank you, man. That Emily Johnson just never shuts up."
Ryan tried not to laugh at that statement, but didn't do a very good job.
"No, seriously, I know I talk a lot. But she? Talks more. And it's not that I don't care who looked hippy in the gown today, or whose dress was 'so last year'." Seth made air quotes as he talked.
Ryan smiled. "It's that you don't care."
"Exactly! You understand me so well. Oh, hey, you want to take the keys tonight? I mean, you usually don't drink a lot at these things, and not that I'm planning on drinking a lot, but if you have two beers and I have two beers … well, let's just say that your tolerance is way higher than mine."
Ryan held out his hand. "Give them to me. But that means I get to decide when we're leaving. Deal?"
"Deal." Seth looked past Ryan and broke into a grin. "Hey, what's he doing here?"
Ryan turned around and saw Luke carrying a cooler onto the beach. Mike walked over to him. "Hey man, you made it!"
Summer came over to drag Seth away again, so Ryan sat on a driftwood log, drinking his beer and staring at the fire. He felt someone sit beside him. "You haven't changed much. Still sitting by yourself, brooding. Have you not made any friends since I left?"
Ryan looked over to see Luke, grinning at him like an idiot. "Good to see you, man. What are you doing here?"
"I graduated last week and once again I'm spending the summer with my mom. I saw Mike this afternoon and he told me about the party."
"Glad you came. You were there today?" Ryan found the ceremony boring himself, and he had to be there. He couldn't believe someone would voluntarily attend.
"Yeah. Nice speech, by the way. I'm surprised you're even talking tonight. I thought you used up your weekly word quota this afternoon."
"Yeah, well, I didn't talk all last week. I was saving up for today." They grinned at each other.
"Was that your mom I saw today?"
"Yeah. You saw her?"
"Yeah. I was sitting at the back and I saw her slip in just as Dr Kim introduced you. I thought I recognized her, but I wasn't sure..."
"Yeah, it was her." Ryan couldn't believe that Luke would remember what she looked like, since he only saw her that once.
"That's kind of cool, isn't it? That she showed up?"
Cool wasn't exactly the word Ryan would use to describe his visit with his mother that afternoon. "Not exactly."
Luke looked at him questioningly.
"We had words later. I basically told her to stay out of my life for good."
"That's rough, man. I'm sorry."
Ryan didn't need anyone feeling sorry for him. "Nah, it's all right. It's for the best. I mean, it's not like I've seen lots of her in the past couple of years. It's not really going to change anything."
Luke reached into his cooler and pulled out a bottle that looked like pop.
"You're not drinking beer?"
"I was in the mood for something a bit stronger than beer tonight so I mixed a bunch of rum and coke. I got lots. You want some?"
Ryan thought something stronger sounded good right about now. "Sure."
"Help yourself. The cooler's full."
TBC