By; Exchanged
Fandom; The O.C.
Pairing; Ryan/Summer
Rating; PG13
Summary; When Ryan comes to visit Summer in 2x02, things don't go exactly as he had planned.
They'd been hanging out for nearly a month now and had only slipped up that one time in Summer's bedroom. Which was amazing, really, because Ryan wanted nothing more than to kiss her whenever they were in the same room together. Unfortuntely, Seth still wasn't giving up on getting Summer back and as much as Ryan hated to admit it, maybe he never would. And Marissa, even though she was with DJ now and would never admit it, even to herself, was not over Ryan yet. Even though she repeatidly has said that she no feelings for Ryan - Summer can tell differently. She notices every single one of the longing looks she throws his way whenever whenever he enters the room.
"Hey!" Summer called cheerily, stepping into the pool house.
Ryan stepped out of the bathroom, dripping wet, wearing only a towel around his waist. He stopped short.
"Summer, Hey!"
She couldn't take her eyes off of him. "Sorry, I must be early," she managed to choke out.
"No, no. I'm late." He glanced down at the towel and suddenly felt very vulnerable and self conscious.
Summer finally blinked and looked away. "Right. Well, I'll wait in the car," she said, hurrying back out the door.
It only took Ryan a couple of minutes before he was slipping in the passenger door of Summer's car.
"So," she said. "Ready for school?"
He grinned. "Am I ever?"
It was nearly the end of the school day. Summer was sitting in Biology 101 and she still couldn't stop picturing a semi-naked, dripping-wet Ryan. It was days like these where she actually started to resent Marissa for not getting over Ryan sooner. She couldn't stop the feelings she was having towards him.
Summer tapped her pen against her unopened textbook and turned to Marissa. "Coop. What're you doing tonight?"
"Me and DJ are going to the movies," she replied with a smile.
"Ah, how's your mom taking that?"
"She still doesn't know. I figure, she's never around, so no reason she should, right?"
Summer thought about this for a minute. "No, you're right. Unless it turns into something serious.." she trailed off after she caught the look on Marissa's face.
"He wants us to live together," she blurted out. "Which is crazy, I know. No way we could even afford a decent place. And it's not all that bad living with my mom right now-"
"Wow," Summer interrupted. "You guys are getting serious!"
"I guess we are," Marissa replied, thoughtfully.
The bell rang as everyone stood to leave the classroom. Summer's mind was racing a thousand miles an hour. If Marissa was getting serious about DJ then maybe, just maybe, she really was over Ryan. And if she was over Ryan..
"Coop!" She called out, racing to catch up to her in the crowded hallway.
Marissa turned back. "I'm sorry, Summer! I'm going to be late," she started to hurry off but Summer called out.
"I'm in love with Ryan!"
Marissa stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back towards her friend.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. It just happened. I figured that now you're with DJ that I could finally tell you."
She tried to read Marissa's face, worrying that maybe she should've kept her mouth shut.
"Why would I care about Ryan?" She asked. "I told you weeks ago that I was over him."
"I know, but-"
"Look, if you like Ryan then I'm happy for you. It's not like you need my permission." She glanced back down the hall. "But I really have to go now."
"So, we're good?" Summer asked.
"Of course. I'll call you later, okay?" Marissa replied, with a fake smile plastered across her lips.
"Okay," Summer said, watching her friend's retreating form.
She smiled to herself. One hurdle down. Summer wanted nothing more than to have it possible for her and Ryan to get together, but they had to do this smart or they'd be losing their closest friends. They didn't want to start a relationship with this much baggage, it wasn't fair. They deserved to have a fighting chance.
Summer turned and began to hum to herself as she walked in the direction of her locker. Things were working out, and she wanted nothing more than to celebrate her good fortune.
Ryan walked quietly through the Cohen house and out towards the poolhouse. It was really late. Summer had been in an amazingly good mood tonight, but he still didn't know why. She had wanted to do her favourite thing in the world, go shopping. Since Marissa was busy, Ryan had the honours of going shopping with her. Until the mall closed, however, and the security guards eventually kicked them out.
He smiled to himself as he opened the glass down to the poolhouse and flipped on the light switch.
He started walking towards the bathroom when a voice suddenly made him jump.
"Ryan."
He turned around to see Seth sitting on the stairs, staring straight ahead.
"Where you were so late?" he asked.
"Shopping," Ryan replied, holding up two, large shopping bags. "If you can believe it. Summer was in a really good mood tonight and dragged me to the mall to celebrate with her."
Seth stood up and walked over to where he was standing. "Uh huh. So, funny thing I heard in school today..."
TBC...