Disclaimer: Don't own a damn thing.

Chapter One: Ryan vs. Julie

Ring, ring.

"Hello?"

"Linds? It's me."

"Ryan! Um, how are you?"

"Lindsay. You saw me an hour ago."

"Right. Right. I know that. Ow!"

"...Sorry?"

"Nothing. Sorry, I'm a little distracted. Never try to separate a puppy from another puppy. Especially when they're happy."

"...."

"Ryan?"

"Lindsay, why are there multiple puppies at your house?"

"...."

"Lindsay?"

"They're from Caleb."

"Ah."

"Yeah. I guess he thinks that every little girl needs a puppy or two. Or five. Talk about excessive. I don't know what I'm going to do with these guys. I mean, they are really cute, but...."

"But they're from Caleb."

"Right."

"What are you going to name them?"

"Hmmm....I'm not sure. Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail....I probably won't even – hey! Stop that! Oh, damn, damn, damn."

"Linds?"

"Nothing. God. I mean, Mopsy here just ate my earring. The one my grandmother gave me. Oh goddammit. It's my own stupid fault, I shouldn't have left it lying around...God! I can't stand this."

"Lindsay, are you okay? You sound like..."

"...I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm just sick of this. I don't want to be here anymore."

"Do you want to come over tonight? We could just watch movies, hang out – very chill. Nothing stressful."

"Yeah, that sounds good. What movie?"

"Your pick."

"Hm....feeling adventurous, are we, Ryan Atwood?"

"That's me. Come by around eight?"

"Sounds perfect."

"See you then."

"Wait, Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks."

"Hey. Anytime. I'll see you tonight."

"Bye."

It was a pretty nice day, he decided. Pocketing his brand new cell phone, he strolled into the Newport Group offices with an uncharacteristic spring in his step. Usually, this place intimidated him – the lobby was all marble floors and intimidating brass – but not today. Today, he was taking the night off and hanging out with his girlfriend. Today, he was stress-free. It was Friday, there was an entire weekend between himself and Monday morning, and he was officially without a care in the world. Not even Julie Cooper could freak him out.

This euphoria lasted about fifteen minutes – precisely the length of time that it took him to check in with the front desk, discover that the check needed to be handed directly to the aforementioned Julie Cooper, ride up to Julie's office in the elevator, enter her office, hand her the check, and get roped into running yet another errand.

"Ryan, I was wondering if you could help me out." Ryan wondered if anyone else had ever noticed how like a panther's Julie Cooper's eyes were. And at the moment, they seemed as if they were about to devour him whole.

"No way," he told her reflexively, "Absolutely not, whatever it is, no."

She smiled predatorily. "Ryan, you don't even know what I'm about to say."

"Probably something that's going to get me in trouble. Right?"

Julie laughed lightly. "Of course not. I've just got a little errand, remarkably similar to the one you just ran for Kirsten."

"You need me to drop off a check."

"That's it."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"That's it. Why are you so suspicious?"

Ryan raised both eyebrows.

"Okay, okay," Julie gave in, "I need you to drop off a check to one of our clients at a club in Chinatown."

Ryan laughed incredulously, shortly. "No."

"Come on, Ryan...please?" Again with the eyes.

"Kirsten's expecting me home for dinner in an hour."

"She won't mind if you miss it. It's for work; I'm her boss."

"Why can't you do it yourself, then?"

"I hate driving into the city! Anyway, I'm cooking tonight."

"You're cooking?"

She smiled thinly. "That's irrelevant. What's relevant is that I desperately need for this check to be delivered tonight, and everyone else that's trustworthy has gone home already."

"You trust me?"

She opened her mouth angrily, closed it again, and then opened it again in a perfectly made-up smile. "Of course I do, sweetie."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "That's it. No way. Deliver your own check." He turned to go.

"I'll pay you!"

Slowly, he turned around. "Really."

Julie smiled brightly. "Naturally! Twenty dollars!" He cocked an eyebrow. She shrugged and relented. "Okay, fifty."

Ryan toyed with the idea in his mind. On the one hand, he could stand to earn some cash; he hadn't gotten an after-school job yet, and he was loath to ask the Cohens for money. On the other hand, he wasn't sure he wanted any money that Julie Cooper was about to hand out. Expelling a short breath of air, he told her, "Listen, Julie, is this legal? Because if not, I want nothing to do with it."

She smiled yet again – pretty sincerely this time, he thought – and said, "Ryan. Of course it's legal. Caleb has learned his lesson about dabbling in criminality. And if it weren't legal, I'd never ask you to do it – Kirsten would kill me!"

She sounded genuine, trustworthy. Half of the bones in his body screamed at him not to trust her, but the other half really wanted the fifty dollars. Maybe he could buy something for Lindsay, help cheer her up.

What the hell. She was right – Kirsten and Sandy would kill her if anything happened to him. Even if he couldn't trust Julie Cooper, he could trust her sense of self-preservation.

"So what's the name of this club?"

She flashed one of those Julie Cooper grins of triumph. 'The Blue Lotus. I'll give you directions if you hang on a second."

Dear God. He hoped that he wouldn't regret this.