DISCLAIMER – About my master plan…having some time to think it over, it might not go very well. First of all, I am very clumsy and silly so I will probably get caught. Then I will go to jail, and they won't let me control the OC from jail. And there's always the chance that even if I didn't get caught, they wouldn't give the OC. Then I may have just killed a genius for nothing.

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"So, you two know each other? That's great, right?" asked Kurt again. He was sitting in between Ryan and Marissa, trying to avoid any unnecessary fights. And talking, they didn't seem to talk very well. Not that that was a problem right now. Marissa looked like she never wanted to talk to Ryan again.

"I guess," mumbled Marissa, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, avoiding Ryan's glance at all possible times.

Ryan said nothing.

"So, uh…" Kurt's eyes flickered desperately between Ryan and Marissa. "…How do you guys know each other? Marissa, did you used to live in Chino?" he laughed at his own joke.

Marissa didn't see the funny side to it. "No," she mumbled.

Ryan finally decided to speak. "When I told you that I used to live in Newport, I lived next door to Marissa. We were going out for a while."

"Oh?" Kurt looked surprised at the coincidence unfolding before him. "Anything serious?"

"Yeah, quite a bi…" started Ryan, before Marissa's head flew up, her eyes blazing.

"No." she said firmly. "Nothing serious. At all." She said the last words to Ryan, her words as cold as ice.

"Oh…um. OK. Well, at least you can be…friends? Now." Said Kurt, wondering if "friends" was a good way to put it.

As a way of response, Ryan and Marissa both groaned.

"Maybe not." Said Kurt with a sigh. "But what a crazy coincidence that all of this brought us together! Funny huh?" he asked brightly, trying one last time to start a flame of conversation.

"Mmm, what a coincidence." Ryan said without much care.

"Hilarious," muttered Marissa, staring Ryan right in the eye as she jabbed her dinner viciously with her fork. He flinched. He knew she was imagining that the lettuce was him. Poor lettuce.

Poor him.

After that, Kurt stopped trying to make conversation with them about anything other then work.

"So, Ryan, did you get a chance to call your wife yet?" asked Kurt.

Marissa blinked in shock at the mention of his wife. Theresa. Not that it mattered. She would be Kurt's wife soon enough.

"Uh, I tried to call her, but she wasn't home."

Either that or she was too drunk to pick up the damn phone, thought Ryan bitterly.

"But you're sure you'll be able to take the job?"

"Quite sure." Ryan replied.

Even if he didn't, he had to get out of Chino. With Chrissie. Even if it meant coming to Newport again.

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"Thank you for inviting me to dinner tonight," Ryan said to Kurt as he leaned out the window. Marissa stood beside him, grumpily crossing her arms, rubbing her shoulders. Ryan saw she was cold, and for tiny second he wanted to hug her, or offer her his jacket, anything to give her some warmth.
He couldn't.
But Kurt could.
Ryan wondered why he wouldn't want to, to hug a beautiful woman like Marissa.

Not that it mattered.

"That's fine, hopefully we'll get a chance to know you better…won't we Riss?"

Marissa shivered slightly, and while Kurt may have thought it was from the cold, Ryan knew it was from the nickname. Marissa had only ever liked it when he had called her Riss.

"I guess," she said softly, trying to avoid Ryan's gaze.

"Well…bye then…" said Ryan, driving away. As he looked back, he saw Kurt waving to him, and standing next to him, Marissa had raised her head. For the first time that night, she looked straight into his eyes. He could feel her glare penetrate through him, but this time, it wasn't threatening. It was softened, and more friendly. It was ready to forgive him.

And she smiled at him. One small, tiny smile.

He smiled back at her. Just slightly, so that Kurt might not suspect something. But Marissa saw it.

As he drove down the road, streetlights dancing their reflections happily before him, he realised that the whole night, the whole thing had been worth it.

Just to see her smile again.