This part is dedicated to elzed. Just remember - baby steps!
PART TWO: BARGAINING
Seth and Summer came back from a walk along the beach. They saw Ryan hanging with Luke and his friends from the soccer team. They were laughing at something, and Ryan stumbled toward Luke, who pushed him back upright. They both overcompensated and fell to the sand, rolling on their backs, still laughing.
Summer laughed. "Is Ryan drunk? It's funny – I don't remember seeing him drunk before."
Seth wasn't laughing. "I doubt you have. He doesn't like to get drunk."
"Come off it, Seth. He always drinks at parties."
"He always nurses a beer or two for the evening. He doesn't like to get drunk. He told me once he didn't like what it did to people – you know, his dad, his mom, Marissa…"
"So you're saying he's never been drunk?"
"Oh no, he's been drunk. Just … not in a while."
Seth made his way over to where Ryan was still lying down. He held out his hand to help him up. Once upright, Ryan put his arm around Seth and patted him on the chest. "He's a good guy, right here. Whoo for Seth!"
Luke, Mike, and Jeff joined in. "Whoo!"
Seth just tried to ignore them all. "Is everything OK, Ryan?"
"Everything's great, Seth." Ryan grinned at him goofily. "I love you, man."
He knew Ryan must be really drunk to be saying something like that out loud. "That's great. Give me the keys, please."
"What?"
"You're drunk and you have the keys. I don't think you'll be driving tonight, buddy."
"Does this mean I don't get to decide when we leave?"
Ryan wandered away from Seth and the other guys. He sat down on a blanket and then noticed Emily Johnson teetering toward him. He didn't really know Emily, but he knew of her. She ran in Summer's crowd, and he'd seen her at parties, but he'd never talked to her before. Or more accurately, she'd never talked to him before. So he was surprised when she sat down beside him.
"So that was a nice speech you gave today."
Ryan looked at her warily. "Thanks."
"I expected to be asked to give it, you know." Ryan looked at her and saw silent tears running down her face. "I was never any good at sports, I was never elected anything, I'm not the most popular or the prettiest or the smartest. But I worked hard and I always did everything the teachers asked. I did everything I could to make them remember me when it came time to pick salutatorian."
Ryan didn't know what to say, so he put his arm around her to comfort her.
"And I was mad when I heard it was you. What had you done to deserve it? It wasn't fair."
"Well, if it helps you any, I don't know why they picked me either."
"Oh, but your speech was good. It sounds like your life was crappy before you came to Newport and…"
"It wasn't that crappy." Even though he knew how bad his life was before, he didn't like other people thinking about how bad it actually was.
"But you said you had no hope. No hope sounds pretty crappy. And then the Cohens took you in, and you did really well at Harbor. That deserves recognition more than just not being the most popular, or the smartest, or the prettiest."
Ryan really didn't want to be talking about how crappy his life and his mother were, so he leaned closer and kissed her. "I think you're pretty."
She giggled as she kissed him back. "I didn't think you ever noticed me. You always kept to yourself."
He smiled as he leaned her back. "I'm shy."
Ryan didn't know Emily that well, so he wasn't sure how far she would let him go. But he figured the only way to find out was to try. He slid his hand up from her waist, over her shirt, to her breast. She seemed to enjoy it and didn't push his hand away. He moved his hand to her back, up under her shirt as his mouth moved to her neck.
"Wow, you're a good kisser." Emily giggled some more. "Most guys get sloppy when they're drinking."
Most guys? He thought that sounded promising. He moved back to her mouth and slid his tongue in to distract her as his hand moved up under her bra. He thought things were going well as he ran his thumb over her nipple.
"Whoa." She realized what he was doing and pushed his hand away. "Uh uh." She sat up and reached behind her back to reattach her bra. "I didn't even notice you doing that." She grinned at him. "You're smooth."
He rolled onto his back. "Not smooth enough," he muttered to himself.
She giggled again as she leaned over and kissed him. "You're cute, too. You should call me sometime. Summer has my number."
Ryan watched her walk away and then went off in search of Luke.
Summer watched Seth watching Ryan. "He's fine, Seth."
"He was just making out with Emily Johnson. That doesn't sound fine to me."
"He's just having fun. Like we should be?"
"Does he even know Emily Johnson?" Seth shook his head. "Something's wrong. He's acting different."
She turned his face towards her. "He's drunk, Seth. That's it. People act different when they're drunk. More relaxed." She smiled and started to kiss him. "It won't hurt Ryan to be more relaxed."
Seth relaxed into Summer's kisses. "I guess you're right."
She pushed him back onto the sand. "I know I am."
TBC