CHAPTER 10: THE THANKSGIVING
It's Thanksgiving Day and the Cohen kitchen is abuzz with activity. Everyone is planning and doing their bit for the annual Thanksgiving Day supper. Kirsten as usual was not allowed to have anything to do in the kitchen. Sandy was grilling the meat, while Ryan and Seth were preparing the potatoes, vegetables and desserts.
This Thanksgiving Day promised to be a real interesting one as the Nana had decided to visit. Although Thanksgiving was not traditionally a holiday celebrated by Jews per se, she had thought that spending time with the family may not be such a bad idea. The chemo treatment was going well, and the doctors had said that the cancer had almost gone completely in to remission.
"What time is your mom arriving?" Kirsten asks Sandy as she walks outside to where he is barbequing.
Sandy looks at his watch. "...In about half an hour." He answers. "And she's staying for a couple of days."
"She's what?" Kirsten says in shock.
"It's just for a few days, honey. She wants to spend time with her family. She won't be available for Passover and wants to make every opportunity to have quality with us." Sandy clarifies.
Kirsten just gives him a look and he realizes that this reasoning is not going to fly with his wife.
"Okay, so she's here to do a bit more spying..." Sandy finally confesses as he turns the meat over.
"Are you not going to fetch her from the airport?" Kirsten asks.
"No, she insisted on taking a cab... says leather makes her itch." Sandy responds.
Kirsten turns around and heads back in to the house.
"Where you going?" Sandy enquires.
"...To make sure there is no expense linen on the beds and to put away the fine china." Kirsten says sarcastically.
In the kitchen, Seth is chopping up carrots and eating half of them at the same time. Ryan is preparing the salads.
"You going around to see your brother today?" Seth asks Ryan.
"No, I... I don't think so." Ryan responds.
"Any idea when he gets out?" Seth asks another question.
"Should be soon... like in a few months or so." Ryan replies. "Hey, is Summer coming over?" Ryan asks getting the attention off himself.
"No. Her mom's here for the holidays, so she's having supper with her." Seth responds.
"Oh, you know, you could ask Anna." Ryan teases, remembering Seth's experiences last year with Summer and Anna.
"That's... very hilarious of you, Ryan." Seth responds sarcastically. "But this year, I plan on having a pain-free Thanksgiving." Seth says while rubbing his side; he remembering last year's escapades.
"Well, I'm planning on having an angst-free Thanksgiving this year." Ryan says.
"If Tracey's coming over and Marissa's gonna be here..." Seth says realizing that Julie, Caleb and Marissa had been invited too.
"No, no Tracey. She's gone home to spend Thanksgiving with her sister." Ryan explained.
"Ryan Atwood chickless... this really is going to be a memorable celebration." Seth replied.
Just then they hear the voice they've all been waiting for...
"Hello? Anyone in here?" The Nana announces her presence. "I'm here!" The front door was open as usual.
Sandy comes walking in from the back, Kirsten meets him at the bottom on the stairs, and together they greet the Nana.
"Hello ma." Sandy says and kisses her on the cheek. "Can I take your bags?"
"It's not necessary, I'm not dying, you know!" The Nana replies in jest. "But you can go pay the driver outside."
Kirsten looks at Sandy who turns around and goes to pay the cabbie.
"Hello Kirsten. How are you, dear?" The Nana asks and hugs Kirsten.
"I'm fine. How are you?" Kirsten replied.
"Good, dear. Thanks for asking." Nana responds.
Seth and Ryan come in from the kitchen.
"Ah, Sethalar, my favorite grandson." Nana says and grabs his face, and then hugs him. "Looking very fine indeed."
"Hi Nana... and also your ONLY grandson." Seth replied.
"If your father would give me more, you would still be my favorite." The Nana says with flattery.
"Wow, thank you for that image." Seth says softly under his breath.
"Ma, you remember Ryan?" Sandy introduces Ryan again as he comes back in from outside.
"Ah, yes. The stray. Nice to see you looking so well and healthy." The Nana says patronizingly.
"Well... I've made the guest room up for you. I'm sure you must be tired from your trip." Kirsten says. "We're going to have supper ready by 7."
"Thanks. I trust you're not doing any of the cooking?" The Nana says slightly concerned and mocking at the same time.
Kirsten says nothing, as Sandy helps his mom up the stairs. Ryan and Seth head back to the kitchen.
AT THE NICHOL MANSION
Marissa and Summer are lying poolside on the sun beds. They are both dressed in bikinis; Summer's red and white, and Marissa's pink and blue.
"You should go." Summer says.
"I dunno Sum... I mean Tracey will probably be there and that... well, will be awkward." Marissa responds.
"Well, you can't lounge around here day." Summer reasons.
"I don't see why not." Marissa retorts. "Besides, I need some alone time... problems free."
"Whatev, Coop, but if I were you, I'd go. Besides, Tracey probably won't even be there... she's got family of her own and only sad people don't spend Thanksgiving with their family." Summer says.
"Why don't you come with then?" Marissa asks Summer.
"Because Coop... I have to spend this evening with my mom and her 'fiancé'. I haven't seen her in like 2 years." Summer says with a sarcastic emphasis on 'fiancé'.
Marissa knew this, but she was just hoping that Summer would still agree to come with. Even though her and Ryan had spoken to each other and were getting on reasonably well as friends, it was still going to be awkward with the whole family there.
Marissa takes a sip of her fruit shake, but says nothing.
OVER AT THE COHEN'S
It's an hour before supper time. Kirsten is preparing the margaritas, Nana is making sure than the turkey does not burn this time and Sandy is roasting the final few cobs of corn.
Seth and Ryan are in the poolhouse. Ryan has just got out the shower and put on a T-shirt and jeans.
The doorbell rings and Kirsten goes to open it.
"Jimmy." Kirsten greets. "Happy Thanksgiving."
"To you too." Jimmy returns the greeting and enters the house.
"How are you doing?" Kirsten asks.
"I'm good. The boathouse is sold and I'm in the process of moving in to my new place. It's really great... And I have a job interview for accounts manager as a local accounting firm on Monday..." Jimmy replies excitedly about his new home and job prospects.
"That's great Jimmy, really. If anyone deserves a bit of happiness it's you." Kirsten replies.
"Thanks... things do seem like they are looking up..." Jimmy says. "Uhmm... is Sandy around? I want to thank him for organizing the job for me."
"He's out back... I've got some finishing touches to do before we eat." Kirsten motions Jimmy to the back door.
"Okay, I'll just go say hi." Jimmy says and heads outside.
About five minutes later, the doorbell rings once more and at the same time Julie and Caleb enter the Cohen home with Marissa lingering behind looking slightly nervous to be there.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Kirsten!" Julie says very happily and hands Kirsten a small pot plant as she comes in from the kitchen to greet the new arrivals.
"Thanks." Kirsten replies politely and takes the plant.
"It's not much, I know, but..." Julie says.
"It's great, thanks Julie." Kirsten says reassuringly.
"Kiki, happy thanksgiving." Caleb says and kisses Kirsten on the cheek.
"Thanks dad. You too." Kirsten replies.
"The company's going well I believe... the news papers are reporting very positive signs about it." Caleb says.
"Oh, Cal... It's Thanksgiving, can you trying and not talk business for one day?" Julie pleads.
"Fair enough." Caleb replies.
"Ah, Cal... Julie." Sandy says as he comes in from the back with Jimmy following behind.
"Sandy." Caleb greets, and Julie nods.
"Happy thanksgiving, Jules." Jimmy greets his ex-wife.
"You to, Jimmy." Julie responds half-heartedly.
"Marissa, hi." Kirsten greets Marissa. "How you doing?"
"I'm good, thanks." Marissa says shyly.
"Hey kiddo." Jimmy greets his daughter and they hug.
"Ryan and Seth are in the poolhouse." Kirsten directs Marissa seeing that she is not quite enjoying being there.
"Thanks, I'll just go... this way...." Marissa goes out through the kitchen. As she enters the kitchen she is greeted by the Nana.
"Hello dear." The Nana says.
"Oh, hi." Marissa says startled, as she did not expect any one in the kitchen.
"How are you?" The Nana enquires.
"I'm great, thanks." Marissa replies.
"Is your friend coming?" The Nana asks. "What's her name.... uhmm..... Summer was it?"
"Oh No, she's not... she's having Thanksgiving with her mom." Marissa explains.
"Oh, ok, that's nice." The Nana replies and turns around to check on the turkey. Marissa heads for the door and then stops and turns around again.
"Uhmm... can I ask you something?" Marissa asks.
"Well, you didn't give me much of chance there did you, dear." The Nana says jokingly, and Marissa feels a bit sheepish. "What's it dear?"
"Do you know if Ryan's girlfriend is coming over?" Marissa finally asks after plucking up enough courage.
"Is this a trick question? I though YOU were his girlfriend." The Nana responded.
Marissa looks down at the floor. "No, we broke up a while ago."
"Strange... because he still talks about you all the time." The Nana says. "In fact, I haven't heard him mention any one else."
Marissa smiles broadly. "Thanks."
"Only a pleasure dear." The Nana says. "Now hurry along, I need to make sure this turkey doesn't burn."
Marissa quickly hurries out to the poolhouse with The Nana's words running over and over in her head. "He talks about you all the time."
She opens the door and enters to find Seth sitting on the bed playing with a tennis ball and Ryan standing by the mirror fixing his hair.
"Hey." Marissa says.
"Hey Amigo." Seth greets with a Mexican accent.
"Hey." Ryan replies and quickly finishes his hair. "Glad you could make it."
The three of them stay and chat for a while until Kirsten calls them in for supper.
AT THE COHEN'S AFTER SUPPER
Thanksgiving dinner went off rather uneventful, which is something of an event in itself for the Cohen's and company. Everyone was grateful that the Nana was around to do most of the cooking, as the turkey was absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious, and as was everything else including the vegetables, potatoes, salads and the corn.
The adults were relaxing in the living room sipping on margaritas. Sandy and Jimmy are talking about Jimmy's new job opportunity. Kirsten and Julie are discussing the next nupsie event, and strangely enough Caleb and the Nana are hitting it off well.
"I've got all this free time on my hands now with not running the Newport Group, I'm considering doing some traveling again... go see the world." Caleb explains to the Nana.
"I know what you mean." The Nana sympathizes with Caleb. "Since the chemo, I've been unable to do too much and also find myself twiddling my thumbs at home."
"It's very frustrating. And now with Julie being second in command at the company, she thus with very little free time of her own, I therefore really don't have a traveling partner." Caleb continues his story.
"Well, I may not be much company..." The Nana hits as she smiles at Caleb.
Ryan, Seth and Marissa had gone to the lounge to play some PS2 games.
"Oh, oh... and that's the game!" Seth yells as he annihilates once of Ryan's ninjas.
"Not so fast buddy." Ryan says and frantically pushes every button on the controller. A few seconds later... "Now, THAT'S the game!" Ryan exclaims as he finishes off Seth's men.
Seth gets up surrendering to defeat and Marissa takes his place. "Match practice is going to do nothing for you..." Marissa says as she takes up the second player's controller.
They start playing and Seth goes to the Kitchen to get a soda. As he closes the fridge, the doorbell rings and he goes over to open it.
"Summer." Seth says surprised as he opens the door. "I thought you..."
"I was, but now I'm not." Summer says abruptly. Seth stands there. "I understand now why I could never see that woman more than once a year!"
"Your mom?" Seth asks.
"Duh. Well, are you going to invite me in or just let me stand out here?" Summer retorts.
Seth opens the door wider to let Summer in. He leads her to the lounge where Marissa and Ryan are.
"Hey Sum." Marissa greets. "Supper finished early with your mom?"
"Hey. Yip... don't wanna go in to it." Summer responds and sits down on a nearby couch.
During the evening, the four of them take turns in playing, but all the while Marissa and Ryan seem to be really getting closer. Summer picks up on this and decides to give them some 'alone' time.
"Uhmm... Cohen, can you help me in the kitchen?" Summer says.
"Summer... I'm about to kill..." Seth says while making some impressive finger movements on his controller.
"NOW, COHEN!" Summer demands and Seth obeys very quickly now. They go to the kitchen.
"What, what's so important that it could not wait till I..." Seth says but is cut off as Summer smacks him on his arm.
"Ouch, what was that for?" He explains.
"You a$$!" Summer says to Seth. "Can you not see it?"
"All I can SEE is you hitting me; bringing back some memories of last thanksgiving." Seth says rather annoyed as he rubs his arm.
"Marissa and Ryan!" Summer says exasperated.
"Ooohhh." Seth says as he sneaks a peek around the corner and sees Ryan and Marissa sitting very close to each other on the couch.
"Let's go up to my room." Seth suggests.
"No, uh uh." Summer says.
"We can't stand in the kitchen the whole evening." Seth reasons.
"Okay, but no funny business or I'll kill you." Summer replies.
They go up to Seth's room. It's the first time Summer has been in his room in months. She looks around and almost nothing has changed. There are framed photos on his desk of the four of them taken earlier that year. She picks up the picture, looks at it and puts it down again. As she turns around she sees Captain Oats on Seth's side table. She picks the toy horse up.
"Princess Sparkles has been missing you." Summer says softly under her breath, but still loud enough for Seth you hear.
"Oh, what's that Captain Oats?" Seth says pretending to hear the horse speak.
"He says he misses Princess Sparkles too." Seth says to Summer.
"Well, he's a horse, not an a$$, he could have called." Summer says and puts Captain Oats down.
"He would have, but he was too confused and upset." Seth replied. Summer turns around and her and Seth just stand in silence for what seems like for ever, but in reality was only about a minute.
"What about us?" Seth asks, deciding this is as good a time as any.
"What about us?" Summer asks.
"You and me, Summer... Captain Oats and Princess Sparkles." Seth says.
"What are you on about, Cohen?" Summer says sort of annoyed. "There is no you and me. I'm just not ready yet."
"Okay, well then when you finally do decide what you want, why don't you let me know too." Seth says angrily and kind of hurt and turns to storm off.
"What do you what from me Cohen?" Summer asks also feeling hurt.
Seth turns around and looks in her eyes. She is teared up. Seth sighs deeply and then says, "You, Summer. All I have EVER wanted is you."
Summer look at Seth, who also now has tears in his eyes. She steps towards him and does something she has never done in a long time. She kisses him.
Downstairs, Marissa and Ryan have finished playing games and are chatting and giggling together like good old friends.
The doorbell rings and Ryan gets up to go answer it.
"Wait here... be right back." Ryan says as he gets up to answer the door.
As he opens the door, he gets a nervous chill.
"Tracey. Hi." Ryan says surprised to see her there.
"Hey babes." Tracey greets and steps forward and kisses him.
AT THE COHEN'S FRONT DOOR
"Hey babes." Tracey greets and steps forward and kisses him.
"Hey." Ryan responds nervously. "I thought you were with your sister tonight?"
"I was, but she felt ill so, I left. Thought I'd come spend the rest of my Thanksgiving with my boyfriend." Tracey says.
"Oh ok, great." Ryan says half-smiling, but really it's not so great he thinks.
They just stand there for a moment. Tracey looks at Ryan; Ryan looks at Tracey. Eventually Tracey speaks up.
"Well, are you going to invite me in or what?" Tracey says with a half-hearted laugh.
"Oh, right. Uhmm... now's not really such a good time... I mean... the Cohen's and Seth..." Ryan says anxiously.
"Why, who've you got hiding back there?" Tracey says and tries to force a peak around the door. "Another girlfriend?" All this she says in jest.
Before Ryan can respond, Marissa comes up behind him.
"Ryan, who's it?" Marissa asks and as she walks up to him, she sees Tracey.
"Oh... uhmm... Hi Tracey." Marissa says surprised.
"Marissa, Hi... How are you doing?" Tracey says rather overly enthusiastic as she pushes past a tense Ryan and gives Marissa a friendly hug. "I heard about the AIDS scare... How totally horrible." Tracey shakes her head as she says this.
"Yeh, but hey it's over now." Marissa replies stoically. "I really want to just get that part of my life behind me."
"I don't blame you. That Mark was a real creep." Tracey responds almost sympathetically.
"Yeh. Well, I've got to be going..." Marissa says, but is cut off.
"No, nonsense. Stay. We can all hang out." Tracey says eagerly. "...if that's okay with you, Ryan." She says turning to Ryan.
"Yeh, sure... I mean, if you want to..." Ryan says very confused now. He turned to Marissa as he said that. They both looked at each other with complete bewilderment written on their faces. Both of them thinking the exact same thing: 'Why was Tracey being so nice about this?"
The threesome walk back to the lounge to play video games; Tracey sits herself down right between Ryan and Marissa.
Back upstairs in Seth's room, things between Seth and Summer are going a whole lot better than with their friends downstairs. They are lying on the bed; Summer on her back diagonally across the bed with Seth resting his head on her stomach. Summer is playing with Seth's hair.
"Cohen... this hair is out of control." Summer teases Seth about his Jew-fro.
"You know what else is out of control?" Seth jumps over and kisses Summer unexpectedly. "Me." She smiles as he finishes up the kiss.
"Let's take it slower this time." Summer comments.
"Whatever you say Summer..." Seth says. "But I don't know for how long you will be able to resist this." Seth pulls in to Summer for another kiss. She kisses him and then pulls back.
"I'm serious, Cohen!" Summer reinforces her stance. "I don't want things to get all messed up again."
"Okay. I totally agree with you." Seth says as he rolls over on to his back.
"Let's go downstairs and see how our friends are doing." Seth says.
"Eww!" Summer responds. "You just want to spy on them making out!"
"You read my mind so well!" Seth replies and gets up. The two of them make their way downstairs.
As the get to the bottom of the staircase and close to the lounge, Summer calls outs: "Okay, we're coming in, hope you two are not making ..." Summer stops as they enter the lounge.
"Oh... Tracey..." Summer says confused as she and Seth enter the lounge.
"Hey guys." Tracey says. "You're hope we're not making what?" Tracey asks intrigued to hear the end of the sentence.
"Uhmmm..." Summer see is stumped now...
"Uhmm... Christmas cards... yeh. We were..." Seth quickly tries to cover for Summer.
"... all gonna make Christmas Cards for the poor orphans in the hospital." Summer quickly picks up the story.
"Yeh, Summer's so excited, she didn't want us to start without her..." Marissa quickly fills in her own bit.
"Well, I think that's an excellent idea you guys." Tracey replies, clearly seeming to have taken the cover-up.
Seth and Summer sit down. Seth squints at Ryan and Summer looks at Marissa with a 'what the hell?' kind of look.
The five of them now continue to play games and chat, but there is a strange awkwardness about the situation.
About an hour later, Julie comes to call Marissa.
"Marissa, honey. Caleb and I are leaving now..." Julie announces.
"Okay, I'll come with you now then." Marissa says and gets up.
"You can stay longer if you want... I don't mind giving you a lift later." Tracey quickly offers.
"No, it's fine... I'm really tired and have a lot to catch up on before school next week." Marissa says. She really wasn't feeling very comfortable with the couples. Tracey, even though she seemed like she cared, had actually alienated Marissa from the others.
Ryan gets up to go see Marissa off, and Tracey follows behind.
"Well, it's been a good evening. Thank you for inviting us." Caleb says to Kirsten and Sandy as they make their way to the door. He turns to the Nana, "Maybe we'll see more of each other before you leave?"
"I'm counting on it." She replies with a smile.
Caleb, Julie and Marissa leave, and Jimmy exits with them too.
As they exchange good-byes at the door, Ryan turns to Tracey. "Thanks for being so understanding..." Ryan's still a bit confused of what to make of all of this.
"It's no problem." Tracey responds. "Marissa needs friends now, and I understand that you and she are friends... This means, me and her are friends too." Tracey smiles. "Besides, it's not like the two of you will ever be together again any time soon."
She kisses Ryan, but he reluctantly returns her kiss with an edgy smile. Something about what Tracey just said did not sit well with Ryan, and he knew what it was...
IN MARISSA'S ROOM
Marissa was lying on her bed staring blankly at the ceiling. Inside she was a pot of mixed emotions. She was happy that finally she and Ryan were back on the map again, but she was also angry that Tracey was still very strongly in the picture, and at the same time she was totally confused by Tracey's reactions. Had Tracey freaked out about her being there with Ryan, as difficult as the situation would have been, she at least would know where everything stood. At the moment, she couldn't figure out if Tracey was being truly genuine in her friendship, or just patronizing and manipulative.
AT THE COHEN'S
Back at the Cohen's place, the Nana was cleaning the kitchen and Sandy and Kirsten has gone to bed straight after Jimmy left.
Ryan, Tracey, Seth and Summer were watching TV, reruns of the Valley, while munching down on popcorn and left-over dessert. Summer and Tracey were having a ball, and in fact so was Seth, but Ryan was feeling very bored and uninterested.
Summer starts crying. "Oh... this is totally the saddest part... He leaves his girlfriend to look after his pregnant ex..." Summer exclaims while wiping her eyes. "I mean, who does that?"
She then realizes what she's just said and darts a quick glance over at Ryan to see if he's heard her... which he has. "Oh, right." Is all Summer can reply.
"Yeh, and then his best friends like runs away..." Seth continues as he tries to hold back tears... Ryan looks over at him with raised eye-brows. Seth quickly puts his head down trying to hide his tears.
Just then the phone rings. Ryan notices none of the other three are interested in anything other than the show, so he gets up to answer it. He takes the extension in the kitchen.
"Hello?" Ryan answers.
"Hey kid, how're you keeping?" A woman's voice on the other end asks.
"Good." Ryan replies surprised.
"It's been a long time." The woman on the other end says.
Ryan and her chat for a few minutes and after a while he puts the phone down and rejoins the others just the Valley comes to an end.
"Oh that was so sad." Summer says drying her tears; Seth's still trying to conceal his emotion.
"So who was on the phone?" Tracey eventually asks.
"My mom." Ryan replies.
"Oh, so, how was that?" Seth asks after having recomposed himself.
"Good... she's good. She's moved to Reno..." Ryan says. "...got herself a steady job."
"That's great for her..." Seth says trying to be encouraging.
"She also says Trey's coming out in a week or so... was granted parole." Ryan continues.
"Hey, that's... that's awesome." Tracey says supportively.
"Yeah." Ryan replies, but not quite sharing in her enthusiasm.
"It is awesome, right?" Seth asks, sensing that perhaps things are not all awesome.
"Yeh, no, it's... its great." Ryan responds, snapping out of his own daze, but not convincingly. He's thinking about something his mom said on the phone that disturbed him.
"So... what did she have to say?" Seth hounds him. "Got her a man?"
"No, nothing... just phoned to catch up." Ryan replies.
"She must have said something, because you don't seem very happy about it." Tracey persists.
"It's not important, let's just enjoy the rest of the evening." Ryan says shrugging off Tracey's interrogation.
"Well, it's getting late anyway... I should get going." Summer says. Seth walks with her to her car.
Ryan sits down on the couch and Tracey sits down right next to him. Tracey turns to Ryan and kisses him. He returns the kiss half-heartedly and Tracey senses that he is preoccupied with other things on his mind. She lifts her head,
"What's wrong, Ryan?" Tracey says kind of annoyed that he is not opening up to her.
"Nothing, really... I'm... just really tired." Ryan replies.
Tracey now clearly annoyed and angered, gets up and grabs her hand bag.
"Tell me what's going on, Ryan... you've been blowing me off lately and when I come over I find you all buddy-buddy with your ex." Tracey says angrily. "And I don't like it! It's either her or me."
Ryan looks at her... "Oh, so what about that 'if she's your friend, she's my friend' speech earlier? That performance may have fooled everyone else, but it didn't fool me. All you did was make Marissa feel like uncomfortable. ...I care for her, and if you can't accept that..."
Tracey's feeling hurt and angry simultaneously. She wipes a tear away. "I'm not going to stand here and pretend like we're going out, when we're not. If you want me, you know my number... until then, have a good life." And with that Tracey leaves. Ryan thinks about stopping her, but he doesn't.