Seth and Ryan arrived at school a little earlier than normal.
"I guess tomorrow we can leave later now that we don't have to pick up Marissa and Summer." Seth said.
"Yeah, so what are you going to say to Summer if you see her today?" Ryan asked.
"I'm hoping that we can be friends, we left things on really good terms." Seth replied.
"Are you sure that is what she wants? Are yous ure that is what you want?" Ryan asked.
"Of course, Summer is a great girl." Seth replied as they walked to their lockers.
Seth was bent down putting books into his bag and Ryan looked down the hall.
"Are you ready to see her, cause she's walking this way with Marissa." Ryan informed and gave Marissa his classic smile.
Seth's head immediately turned towards the girls. Summer noticed Seth and stopped walking and stopped Marissa.
"Coop. I'm going to go to my class, see you at lunch?" Summer asked.
"We still have lots of time. Why are you going so early?" Marissa wondered but noticed that who Ryan was with, "OK Sum, I'll see you at lunch."
Summer smiled at Marissa to thank her for understanding and walked in the opposite direction Ryan and Seth were. Marissa continued until she reached the boys.
"Hey." Marissa said giving Ryan a quick kiss, "Hey Seth."
"Where did Summer go?" Seth asked.
"Ummm." Marissa said trying to think quickly, "She just remembered she had to talk to one of her teachers about a project."
"Oh." Seth replied not believing one word, "I should go too, see you at lunch Ryan."
Seth walked off and Ryan turned towards Marissa, "This is going to be fun."
Marissa nodded, "See I told you, it's going to affect us eventually."
"Not if we let it." Ryan smiled and reached his hand out for Marissa, "Want me to walk you to class?"
Marissa smiled and accepted his offer.
At lunch time Marissa met Summer at their usual table and sat down with her.
"How was your morning Sum?" Marissa asked.
"The usual, hey lets ditch the afternoon and go shopping or go get a facial." Summer suggested.
"We can't, I have a quiz to make up this afternoon. You won't believe how much work you can miss in one week." Marissa replied, "But we can go after school."
"Nah that's ok maybe some other time." Summer mumbled and played around with her food, "This is like the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten."
Marissa just watched Summer and wished there was something she could do to make her feel better.
"Sum, are you ok?" Marissa asked.
"Yeah of course, why wouldn't I be." Summer said a little to fast.
"Well you did just break up with your boyfriend. It's ok to be sad about it." Marissa informed.
"I'm not sad Coop, I'm just disappointed that he beat me to it." Summer defended by knew Marissa wasn't buying it.
"Ok Sum." Marissa replied, "He asked what happened to you this morning when you took off."
"He did?" Summer said surprised.
"Yeah, he does still love you Summer." Marissa infomed.
"Hey Coop, why don't we go out Friday night? Just us girls, no Ryan and no Seth." Summer suggested.
Marissa smiled, "Really go out?"
"Really, we'll get dressed up and go out and maybe check out that new club. You'll just have to make sure Cohen's not working." Summer replied.
"Cool, sounds fun." Marissa smiled and Summer smiled back.
Once Marissa and Summer were back in class, Ryan and Seth were out for their lunch. They met up at their usual table and sat down to eat.
"I can't believe Summer's going to be avoiding me now." Seth stated.
"What do you expect Seth?" Ryan asked, "It might be a little hard for her."
"But it shouldn'be." Seth replied.
Ryan didn't say anything and waited for Seth to start talking again.
"Hey man I don't have to work Friday." Seth informed.
"Ok?" Ryan replied not sure what he was getting at.
"We should go out just the two of us." Seth replied.
"Like we did last night?" Ryan asked.
"No last night wasn't any fun. They're having this cool band at the Bait Shop on Friday night, we should go check it out." Seth suggested.
Ryan wasn't really sure he wanted to go but he could tell Seth wanted and needed this, "Sure."
"Really? Ryan Atwood agreed to go to a party without any hesitations." Seth stated, "No asking Marissa if it's ok."
"Seth shut up." Ryan laughed and they continued to eat.
Ryan and Marissa had plans for Tuesday night, he knocked on her door at 7 and Marissa opened it with a huge smile.
"Hi, where are we going?" Marissa asked letting him in.
"Ryan hi, how are you?" Jimmy called out from the couch.
"Good, you?" Ryan asked back.
"Excellent, so you and Marissa are going out tonight?" Jimmy asked.
"Yeah, I was thinking we'd go play mini golf." Ryan said looking over at Marissa for her approval.
"That sounds fun, we haven't done that before." Marissa smiled and grabbed a jacket just incase.
"I won't be late daddy." Marissa said walking over to him to give him a kiss.
Not long after Ryan pulled into the miniture golf course.
The two were having a blast joking around with eachother.
"So Summer wants to go out Friday night." Marissa informed.
Ryan immediately looked up at her, "Really, where does she want to go?"
"The Bait Shop, but she wanted me to find out if Seth was working first." Marissa answered.
"No he's not working Friday." Ryan simply said.
"Oh, she'll be happy. She's looking forward to a girls night out." Marissa informed.
"Seth wants to do the same thing, he wants to go see this band on Friday night at the Bait Shop. I promised him I'd tag along." Ryan replied.
"Wow, what should we do?" Marissa asked, "Summer won't go if she knows Seth will be there."
"How about we all go and pretend like we didn't know." Ryan suggested.
"Good plan." Marissa agreed.
On Friday Marissa and Summer made plans to go out for dinner and then head to the Bait Shop. Marissa didn't mention anything to Summer about the boys also going, all she told Summer was that she was positive that Seth would not be working.
Summer arrived at Marissa's place around 7 and went to meet her in Marissa's room.
"Coop you're not dressed, whats up with that?" Summer asked flopping down on her bed.
"I don't know what to wear, it's been so long since we actually went to a party Sum." Marissa said going through the clothes laid out on bed.
"No problem Coop." Summer smiled and started rumaging through the clothes and eventually picked out the perfect Marissa outfit.
She held up a satin slip shirt and a skirt, "Coop this is perfect, put it on.
"Wow Sum, you're good." Marissa smiled and took the clothes.
Marissa was completely ready 5 minutes later and the girls headed down to the Crab Shack for supper.
"Too bad you're not single, we could have so much fun tonight Coop." Summer said as she looked at the menu.
Marissa looked up and laughed, "I'm not breaking up with Ryan just cause you and Seth are taking a break."
"I know, I just thought it would be fun." Summer replied and took a sip of water, "I know how happy you two are."
"Even though you probably don't know this but I know you and Seth will end up back together, just wait and see." Marissa said softly and in a way that she didn't want Summer to respond.
"So did Chino have a problem with you coming out with me tonight?" Summer asked.
Marissa looked up at her a smiled, "Not at all, he's planning on hanging with Seth tonight anyway. I didn't tell him where we were going."
Marissa felt horrible lying to Summer but what else was she supposed to do.
Summer and Marissa took their times eating because they didn't want to get to the club too early.
"So Coop have you realized we have some hotties going to our school this year?" Summer asked.
Marissa shook her head as she took a sip of her drink.
"Yeah I have one in my economics class and I've been catching him looking at me this week." Summer said.
"Sum are you ready to start dating again?" Marissa asked.
"Well yeah." Summer said, "How else are Cohen and I supposed to know if 'we're meant for eachother'."
"Have you talked to him?" Marissa asked.
"Nope, but I was talking to Trish who happened to be sitting next to him at the time and informed her that I would be at the Bait Club tonight, loud enough for him to hear me." Summer said, "I'm hoping he'll be there tonight."
Marissa laughed, "That's Summer."
Summer looked over at her and smiled, "It's not like I could just go up to him and tell him to go, if he's there tonight I'll know he's interested."
"What's his name?" Marissa asked.
"Zach, he plays water polo." Summer replied with a huge smile on her face, "He has the cutest smile ever."
"Well I guess we'll find out when we get there." Marissa said and looked down at her watch, "It's 8:30 ready to go?"
"When ever you are Coop." Summer said and got up, Marissa followed.
They arrived at the Bait Shop shortly after, Marissa looked around the parking lot for the boys car.
"Good, they're not here yet." Marissa thought to herself as Summer parked the car, "Hopefully they don't get here till the parking lot is full."
"Coop you look distracted, what's the matter?" Summer asked.
"Nothing, just looking around. There's not many people here." Marissa said.
"Well hopefully it'll pick up later on." Summer said and wrapped her arm around Marissa's and they headed inside.
"Wow this place is bigger than I thought it would be." Marissa said looking around.
"I know it's huge, lets walk around and find a good place to stand." Summer said. Marissa nodded and the girls started looking around.
After about 30 minutes the place had filled up. Marissa and Summer had made their way upstairs and were looking down at everyone when Ryan and Seth came in.
"OMG Coop look who's here." Summer said pointing towards the door.
Marissa looked, "What are they doing here?"
"Coop did I thought you didn't tell Chino where we were going tonight." Summer stated.
"I didn't Sum, he didn't tell me what him and Seth were doing either." Marissa lied, "It's a coincidence Sum, Seth does work here so he did know about the band tonight."
"I'm sorry Coop, lets go see if we can find Zach." Summer said brushing off what she just saw. Marissa hesitated for a second still looking down at Ryan.
"Wow he looks good." Marissa thought to herself. Ryan looked up and acknowledged that he saw her, Marissa gave him a slight wave before Summer pulled her to find Zach.
Seth didn't notice Summer or Marissa but did notice Ryan looking up stairs.
"What are you looking at bro?" Seth asked.
Ryan looked over at Seth, "Uh, I thought I saw Marissa, but I must have been seeing things."
Ryan wasn't good at lying so he basically told Seth the truth, but not the whole truth.
"Let's go find Alex, she mentioned that she might be here tonight." Seth said nudging Ryan to start walking. Ryan sighed and followed.
Ryan felt like he was single again, he was so used to having Marissa by his side along with Seth and Summer. He wasn't used to this any more and he didn't miss it one bit.
Summer and Marissa looked around upstairs but couldn't find Zach, Summer sighed, "Coop I guess he's not interested, let's just go downstairs."
Marissa nodded and followed Summer to the stairs, Summer was walking with her head down and walked right smack into someone.
"Oh I'm sorry, I should be payiiii." Summer said and looked up, "Uhh, hey, Zach right?"
Zach gave Summer a smile, "I was hoping to run into you tonight."
"Really? You came here to see me?" Summer blushed.
"Yeah." Zach replied.
"Oh umm this is my best friend, Coop. Actually her name is Marissa, I just call her Coop cause her last name is Cooper." Summer said realizing she was rambling.
Marissa laughed, "She may not realize it but her and Seth are so meant to be." Marissa thought to herself.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Marissa smiled, "Don't mind Summer she rambles like that when she's nervous."
"Hi, do you go to Harbor too?" Zach asked.
"Yeah." Marissa replied.
"Summer would you like to dance?" Zach asked.
"I'd love to but I shouldn't just leave Coop here by herself." Summer said looking up at Marissa.
"No it's ok Sum, go have fun. I'm going to walk around for a bit." Marissa replied.
"I'll come find you after." Summer said taking Zach's hand and he lead her downstairs to the dance floor. Marissa smiled and made her way downstairs to look for Ryan.
Ryan followed Seth around as he looked for Alex, eventually they found her sitting alone in one of the booths.
Seth stopped, "Should I just go up to her?"
"Go for it man!" Ryan replied.
"Nah I shouldn't, you'll be left by yourself." Seth said.
"Go for it, I can take care of myself." Ryan replied.
Seth nodded and slowly approached Alex. Ryan looked up to see if Marissa was still where he had last saw her, when she wasn't he started looking around for her.
Marissa saw Ryan standing just a few feet away from her, she smiled and started walking up to him. He was stood back on to her so she slowly made her way up to him. When she was close enough to him she wrapped her arms around him and kissed the back of his neck.
Ryan jumped, "Hey what do you think you're doing."
Ryan immediately turned around and Marissa smiled at him. He returned the smile, "Sorry I thought you were someone else."
"Why are there girls hitting on you tonight?" Marissa asked as she held on to his shirt.
"No, I just didn't know who was kissing the back of my neck." Ryan replied and gave her a look over.
"I guess I'm happy you snapped like that just incase someone was trying to hit on you." Marissa said and noticed Ryan staring at her, "What?"
"You look...uh." Ryan started, "Really good."
Marissa smiled, "You like?"
"I think I like it a little too much." Ryan confessed and Marissa pulled him in for a kiss.
Seth must have seen Ryan kissing a girl cause he immediately marched up to Ryan and tapped him on the shoulder, "Ryan don't you think Marissa's going to go bazzurk on you knowing you're kissing randoms."
Ryan pulled away from their lip lock and gave Seth his look, "Randoms?"
"Oh sorry, Marissa what are you doing here?" Seth asked shocked.
"Uh, Summer wanted to come out tonight and we ended up here." Marissa confessed.
"Ryan did you tell her that we were coming here?" Seth asked as Alex came up to them.
"Nope, they had no idea. I didn't even know they were coming here." Ryan said and looked away.
"Seth I thought you were getting us some drinks." Alex said grabbing onto Seths arm.
Marissa gave her a look and Seth noticed.
"Marissa this is Alex, Alex this is Marissa Ryan's girlfriend." Seth said a little uncomfortable, "We're going to get drinks."
Seth immediately left without letting the girls even say hi to eachother.
"I can't believe how quick those two found new people." Marissa said amazed.
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.
"Summer came here tonight with her eye on this guy named Zach, they're out dancing together right now." Marissa confesssed.
"Really." Ryan said looking around the dance floor for Summer and this new Zach guy.
"Are you having fun?" Ryan asked.
Marissa looked up at him, "I kind of want to dance."
Ryan looked at her, "Really?" Hoping that she would forget the idea.
"Ryan come on, no one is going to be looking at you. Seth's busy with his new girl pal and Summer's off with Zach. No one will ever know you danced with your girlfriend."
Ryan hesitated by finally agreed and Marissa took his hand and led him out to the middle of the dance floor.
After a couple of songs a slow song started playing, Ryan pulled Marissa close to him and held her tight as they swayed to the music.
Marissa noticed not to far away from her Summer and Zach dancing. Summer had a huge smile on her face as Zach was talking. Marissa couldn't help but watch them. By the time the song was over, the two were standing still on the dance floor kissing.
"Ryan look." Marissa said and Ryan looked over to see Summer and Zach kissing.
"Look over this way." Ryan said and pointed to Seth and Alex on the other side of them, just a few couples away. They were also stopped and kissing.
"What if they see eachother?" Marissa asked.
"I don't think they will, they both are too busy to realize what's going on around them." Ryan replied.
Another slow song started to play and Marissa looked up at Ryan to see if he wanted to stay out on the dance floor or if he had enough.
Ryan smiled and wrapped his arms around Marissa and they stayed on the dance floor.
"Is it weird, things aren't supposed to be this way. It's supposed to be me and you, Summer and Seth." Marissa whispered looking over at the two other couples.
Summer was finished kissing Zach and looked up to see Marissa, she waved and Marissa nervously waved back. Summer noticed who Marissa was dancing with and pulled Zach over close to Marissa and Ryan.
"Chino? When did you get here, Coop did you call him?" Summer asked.
"No he showed up here." Marissa replied.
"Seth and I came." Ryan informed trying to block Summer's view to Seth and Alex but it didn't work.
"Eww, whose Cohen dancing with?" Summer demanded.
"Oh that's just his boss. They bumped into her a little while ago." Marissa said trying to make it sound completely innocent.
Summer studied Marissa's face and dropped it, "Anyways Chino this is Zach he's in my economics class."
"Hi." Ryan said.
"Zach this is Coop's boyfriend, Ryan." Summer said looking up at Zach.
Zach shook Ryan's hand.
"Summer, I'm hungry do you want to go grab something to eat?" Zach asked wrapping his arm around her waist.
"Coop can you go home with Chino right?" Summer asked.
"Yeah no problem." Marissa agreed.
"I hope you're not mad, we had a girls night planned and all." Summer asked.
"No it's completely cool, I may have been a little annoyed if Ryan wasn't here." Marissa confessed.
Just before Summer and Zach left Seth and Alex approached Ryan.
"Hey Ryan I was kind of hoping that..." Seth said and stopped when he noticed who Ryan and Marissa were talking to.
"Summer?" Seth said.
"Uh hi Cohen." Summer said looking down.
"What's going on, who's this?" Seth asked.
"Ummm, you know what we were kind of in a hurry so we should go." Summer said and pulled Zach towards the door.
"Ryan what was that about, is Summer on a date with that guy?" Seth asked.
"Look man I don't know but I don't think you should be all that mad with what you were just doing." Ryan replied.
"Was that your ex girlfriend?" Alex asked.
"Yeah that was her." Seth informed.
"She's seems kind of snobby." Alex replied.
Ryan and Marissa looked over at her and she stopped talking, Seth wrapped his arm around her neck, "Alex and I are going to get something to eat."
Before Marissa and Ryan knew it they were gone.
"Maybe we should leave to." Marissa suggested.
"You won't believe this but we now don't have a ride home." Ryan said slightly laughing.
Marissa sighed, "Figures!"
They walked off the dance floor thinking about what they were going to do.
"We can walk home." Marissa suggested, "It'll take us about an hour but it's beautiful out there tonight."
Ryan thought for a minute and took her hand, "Yeah let's walk home."
Ryan and Marissa finally arrived at Marissa's house.
"I'll get the car keys and drive you home." Marissa offered opening her door.
"You don't have to, you should probably get some rest." Ryan replied.
"It's ok, I'm not all that tired yet. Besides I'm not letting you walk another half hour by yourself." Marissa replied, "Come in for a few minutes."
Marissa left Ryan and went up to her room to grab her car keys, she noticed her dads door closed and realized he must be home and in bed. Marissa returned back downstairs quietly and found Ryan sitting on the couch.
"Do you want to stay awhile or go home now?" Marissa asked standing behind the couch and started rubbing his shoulders.
"If you keep that up you'll never get me to leave." Ryan smiled tilting his head up to look at Marissa. She smiled down at him.
"My feet are killing me, those shoes are definitely not walking shoes." Marissa complained.
"Come sit down, I'll rub them for you." Ryan suggested.
"No its ok." Marissa replied but sat down next to him on the couch.
Ryan looked over at her, she was looking extremely hot. The shirt showed just enough to drive him crazy.
Marissa looked over at him and noticed the look he was giving her, "Ryan my dad's home."
Ryan laughed, "We can be quiet."
"Ryan!" Marissa smiled, "Maybe I should drive you home now."
"Ok I'll be good, I promise." Ryan promised and pulled her in to cuddle with him.
"I still can't get over Seth and Summer tonight." Marissa said.
"I know but their break up could have been worse." Ryan informed.
"You're right." Marissa agreed and yawned.
Ryan looked down at her and her eyes were slowly shutting but he could tell that she was trying hard to keep them open.
"I'm ready to go home, but I'm going to walk." Ryan said getting up.
"No Ryan, please let me drive you." Marissa said jumping up off the couch with her keys in hand.
"You're tired." Ryan said while putting on his shoes, "I don't mind walking, really."
"I'm not taking no for an answer Ryan." Marissa said sternly.
Ryan hesitated but waited for Marissa to get her shoes on and followed her out to her car.
The car ride home was pretty quiet, Marissa pulled into his driveway and parked the car and looked over at Ryan.
"Thank you." Ryan smiled got out of the car. She waited till he walked around to her window and rolled it down.
"Be careful driving home, blast the air conditioning, it should keep you awake till you get home." Ryan suggested.
Marissa smiled at the way he was trying to take care of her, "Talk to you tomorrow?"
Ryan nodded and leaned in and gave her a kiss, "Good night, love you."
Marissa smiled, "I love you too."
Ryan watched Marissa back out of the driveway and drive away then finally entered the house and went straight to bed.
Seth wasn't home yet, they went through a fast food drive-thru and parked down by the beach.
"So are you ok about seeing your ex with someone else tonight?" Alex asked.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I mean I didn't like it or anything but it could have been worse." Seth replied looking over at her.
"I don't think she liked seeing you with me." Alex replied, "I don't think Ryan and his girlfriend liked it either."
"Well Marissa is Summer's best friend and we used to do everything together. It just something they need to get used to, but they are great people." Seth replied.
Alex smiled and leaned over and kissed Seth, "I hope we can do this again."
Seth smiled and put his drink down and lightly placed his hand behind her head pulling her lips into his to kiss her again.
Summer and Zach were sitting in a quiet ocean side restaurant just outside of Newport. They were sitting in the back, Zach had was eating and Summer just ordered some pie.
"So when that guy came over and we hurried off, what was that about?" Zach asked.
"What?" Summer asked wanting to avoid the question.
"Come on Summer." Zach said, "Honestly I like you and I'm assuming you're into me as well. Are you involved with him?"
Summer looked up at him and knew she had to tell him the truth, "We were, we broke up not to long ago. It was the first time I saw him with someone else and the first time he saw me with someone else. I guess it's just akward that's all."
Zach had finished eating and pushed his plate away to the side. Summer has her hands figiting on the table, Zach reached over and took them into him.
"Are you ready to move on or should I hold back for a little while?" Zach asked with complete sincerity.
Summer looked up at him and smiled, "I like you Zach."
"And." Zach waited.
"Do you want to go out with me tomorrow night?" Summer asked.
Zach smiled and leaned over to kiss her, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you out on a date."
"Well ask me then." Summer replied letting her face sit only centimetres from his face.
"Summer will you go out with me tomorrow night?" Zach asked.
"Depends where you take me." Summer smiled.
Zach moved back about 2 inches, "Why don't we go out for dinner and then a movie. Something simple and nothing to serious, just take this slow since you just broke up with someone else." Zach suggested.
Summer smiled and Zach leaned in and finally kissed her, "Why don't you take me home now before I let myself get carried away tonight."
Summer smiled and Zach threw money on the table and followed Summer out to her car.