Chapter 2

"Why don't you just ask her, I mean what's the worst that can happen" Ryan asked Seth as they sat in the cafeteria munching dodgy looking burgers. Seth rolled his eyes"how about she says no, completely rejects me and I shrivel up under her angry glare" Seth chucked down his burger in frustration.

"well first of all, stop going over the top, your such a woman sometimes and second what makes you think she'll say no, I mean you said it yourself you had a great time in your room the other night, I think your exact words were, 'she was digging me'" Ryan said to Seth.

Seth shrugged his shoulders and they were both silent for a few minutes in till Seth's eyes lit up"who are you lecturing me dude what about you and Marissa, how come you haven't asked her" Seth finished looking extremely satisfied. Least the heat was off him for a second.

Ryan rolled his eyes"ummm how bout the small factor that she's got a boyfriend u idiot"

"so what, I mean you know Luke's going away don't you, he isn't going to be here for the dance so why don't you tell her u wana go as friends because you don't want her to miss out, then you could use that old Ryan charm I know you got in...ummm...somewhere"
Ryan hit Seth on the arm as he started laughing, then he continued "and then she falls on her face with desire for you, Luke's out the picture and Ryan my friend you get the girl" Seth dusted off his hands"simple..as...that"

Ryan looked at Seth maybe he was right for once, maybe this was a perfect opportunity to spend a whole night with Marissa, show her the guy he could be for her. He smiled as he thought of dancing with Marissa, holding her in his arms as he kissed her gently. Seth smiled at him"I'm right aren't I?"

Ryan stood up and threw his burger wrapper in the bin"for once you are Seth, but seriously if I ask Marissa, we gotta make a deal that you gotta ask Summer as well"
Seth started to argue but was stopped by the image of Summer being with him at the dance and holding her close. "Ok you got a deal"

The Following Wednesday…

"What am I supposed to do coup? I mean what is it gonna do to my reputation if I turn up dateless, how can everyone be taken I was only off ill for a couple of days, this cant be happening" Summer complained to Marissa as they strolled down the school corridor. Marissa laughed, typical Summer always worrying too much about what people thought, like a good example would be her complete denial of having a good time with Seth.

Marissa stopped at her locker, and saw the picture of Luke she had on the inside"well you could be like me with a boyfriend out of town, I mean no ones gonna ask me because Luke would kill them if he found out, I cant even go and have a good time" she sighed, she sure didn't see Luke much anymore, if it wasn't football practice, homework or 'hanging with the guys' it was impromptu trips to Miami with his dad.
Just then Seth walked over to Summer looking extremely nervous and twiddling with his thumbs,

"Ummm...hey Summer, Marissa, how you doing? He smiled at them nervously.

Summer crossed her arms and looked at him"can I help you Cohen"

He shuffled on the spot"welliwaswonderinifwantedtogotothedancewithme"he muttered as quickly as he could. He crossed his fingers behind his back; please please please say yes he prayed silently in his head. And to his shock he heard the words"yes, ok, pick me up at 8"she instructed him, and with that she marched off down the corridor leaving Seth picking his jaw up from the floor. Marissa who was still stood there laughed as Seth looking completely dazed and ecstatic walked off down the corridor.

THE COOPERS DRIVEWAY

Ok this was no big deal, he was just going to walk up there ask her to the dance and hey presto, no problem...well except for the fact she could say no. Ryan kicked another stone as he worked up the guts to ask Marissa to the Dance it was tomorrow night and he still hadn't done it. He had been coming up with excuses all week why he couldn't ask her but it had finally come to his last chance, it was just so hard...I mean why would she want to go with him...she had a boyfriend and...

"Ryan" oh crap she was behind him. He swivelled round on the spot trying to look as cool as he could. She was looking at him, questioningly, dam it she looked so hot.

"Oh...ummm...hey Marissa...I was just passing and I was thinking I would just come and say hi" phew that sounded ok, least she wasn't going to think he was such an idiot now.
"Well ok but how were you gonna say hi at the bottom of my driveway, shout through the window?" she laughed as she started walking up the drive"come on then, you aren't gonna just stand there are you" and with that she walked towards the door. Ryan followed feeling extremely stupid, she must think he was such a fool, maybe he should just ask her now, because he didn't particularly want to be inside her house when she rejected him. He stopped.

"Actually, ummm...there is something I wanted to ask, you see well you know its the dance tomorrow" god dammit why did she have to look at him with those eyes, it totally put him off"and well I guess because Luke's away your not going and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me...obviously as friends, I just don't want you to miss out on all the fun" he took a deep breath waiting for her answer, god his hands were sweaty.

"You know what, why not" she smiled at him. "I do really wanna go, thanks Ryan". He couldn't believe it she actually said yes, he smiled back at her, "well, that's great, I better go but I'll pick you up at about 7.45 then we'll go pick Summer up" He started to walk down the drive way, he could barely wait for tomorrow he waved at her as he climbed into his car.

She couldn't believe how excited she was, she didn't know what was wrong with her, and surely she should be upset that she wasn't going with Luke? God she was such a mess these days, it was pretty obvious to her now that she was developing feeling for Ryan that were more than just friends but she had to fight them. Dammit why did she say yes to him when he asked her to the dance yesterday, now she would have to spend the whole night resisting that perfect smile and that cheeky grin he always seemed to save just for her.

She found her self knocked out of her thoughts by a loud knock at the door, it must be Ryan she thought, god the butterflies were back. She took a deep breath, grabbed her bag and ran down the stairs; she swung open the door to find Ryan standing there looking incredibly handsome in his suit.

He smiled at her, "you look so beautiful". She looked up in to his eyes "Than……" she was stopped by the intense look in his eyes, he was looking at her as though, as though he …..no it wasn't possible.

"Umm…shall we go?" he asked. She smiled "Yeh sure" this was gonna be a tough night she thought as she climbed into the car.

"I'll just run and get Summer" Seth said to Ryan and Marissa as he pulled into Summers drive way. God he was so nervous, he still couldn't believe she was going with him. Maybe tonight he could show her that he was the guy for her; he knew she mostly put on an act; he just wished he could break it down and find the real Summer.

He reached the front door step, "Well here goes" he said to himself as he rang the bell.

God finally he was here, trust Cohen to be late, it was kinda strange but she felt a bit nervous, which was completely ridiculous considering it was Cohen. She grabbed her bag and started towards the door, he had been quite fun the other day when he wasn't such a geek, he was pretty funny when he wasn't trying too hard. But most the time he just annoyed her, I hope I don't have to spend all night with him she thought as she opened the door.

He was stood there holding a rose, "This is for you, and you look beautiful by the way" he smiled at her. She took the rose and couldn't help but smile and blush, god he was sweet maybe he wasn't such an idiot after all. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she closed the door, what the hell was going on, how could Seth Cohen be giving her butterflies?

The cafeteria had been decorated beyond recognition, wow this was actually quite cool they never really did this sorta thing in Chino. "This is kinda cool" he said to Marissa who was walking beside him.

She smiled at him and laughed"Well that's the thing about Newport Beach, we sure know how to do things" she pointed to a table"shall we sit there" He nodded back at her.

Without thinking she grabbed his hand and led him over to the table, when they got there they both looked down at their hands, both could feel the electricity between them, she dropped his hand, blushing slightly"ummm...sorry I just grabbed your hand without thinking...I...didn't wanna lose you in the crowd" He smiled at her, it looked quite strained"yeh sure that's what I thought, no worry's" he replied just as Summer and Seth walked up arguing.

"God Cohen was it so necessary that we park so far away, there were plenty of spaces nearer"

"They were too small; I wasn't going to scratch the car" She threw her arms up in exasperation,

"My gran could have parked in those spaces you moron" and with that she stormed off in the direction of the punch bowl.

Seth looked at Ryan and Marissa"is she always such a spoilt little princess or has she just got a stick shoved up her asse" Ryan tried to control his laughter, seeing as Marissa was Summers best friend but he couldn't help it and so started laughing, joined by Seth.

Marissa crossed her arms"hey that's my best friend your talking about" she tried to look angry but couldn't help laughing too, it was true that sometimes Summer really did need to relax sometimes instead of getting so worked up. She looked round to see where Summer had gone and finally caught sight of her dancing with some water polo guy. She looked at Seth to check he hadn't seen, one look at Seth's hurt face answered that question.

Seth turned to them"great she's already off with some other guy, can she not even stand me for 5 minutes" he flopped down onto the seat behind him, looking sad and depressed, what a great night this was gonna be he thought.

Later On In The Evening…

"So Ryan, when exactly are we gonna dance, I mean you can't invite me to a dance and then refuse to dance" Marissa tilted her head at Ryan trying to charm him onto the dance floor, it wasn't working.

Ryan grimaced"I just don't think we should wreck the evening by witnessing the torture that is me dancing, trust me it's not pretty".

She started to give him the puppy dog eyes "pleeeasssseee, just one dance, seriously if you dance the next dance with me then I swear I wont make you dance for the rest of the night, deal". He thought about it, it was quite a good deal; hopefully the next song would be something he could just bounce along to and not look like a complete idiot.

He looked at her, well them eyes definitely clinched it for him"Ok, ONE dance, no more than that and then I'm done!" She laughed in triumph. Just then the song finished and Robbie Williams- Angels came on. Oh crap, he thought exactly what I can't handle, holding her in my arms.
They both looked at each other, caught up in the others eyes. He stood up and held out his hand, she took it and they walked out onto the dance floor, she wrapped her arms round his neck while he placed his hands on her waist. God this felt right he thought as they swayed to the music, if only she felt the same he thought sadly.

She didn't think she could handle this for much longer, and they had only been dancing for a few seconds. She could feel the warmth of his hands on her waist and his breath on her neck. Why had she made him dance, she couldn't handle her feelings for him when she was this close to him. God this felt so right, if only, she thought sadly.

Summer looked around the dance floor, trying to see which couples were dancing, she caught sight of Ryan and Marissa dancing, god they looked so into each other, she could almost see the heat and tension coming off them. She continued looking round the room and her eyes stopped on a figure slumped in his seat the other side of the room, her heart gave a lurch, Seth looked so sad and vulnerable, she had been pretty horrible to him. He wasn't that bad she just, well she didn't really know why she was so horrible to him, sometimes she thought it was just because he was really weird and sometimes she thought it was because she was scared, scared about feeling things that would make her vulnerable too, she didn't want the real her to be seen it was too, well, scary. Maybe she should go and talk to him; she was supposed to be his date after all. She started across the room towards him.

Well this sucked he thought as he stared down at his feet, some dance this was turning out to be, he had spent all night sat on his own watching Summer dance with every guy except him. I bet she hasn't even thought about me once all night. God I've had enough of this, I'm out of here.
He stood up, and stopped in his tracks as he realized that Summer was stood in front of him"Let me guess there's no more guys left to dance with and you need me to drive you home, well funnily enough Summer that's not really something I wanna do at the moment" he seethed at her angrily.

She looked at him, he could see apologies in her eyes"I'm sorry Cohen, I know I've treated you unfairly and well you know what your wrong on one thing"

He looked at her sceptically"what would that be" he asked not really caring what the answer was nothing she said could make this evening any better.

She looked up at him again, her eyes looked different somehow, more honest some how"well I haven't danced with every guy in the room, there's still one left" she held out her hand"will you dance with me?"

He looked at her dazed and in shock, had she just said what he thought she said? He looked at her outstretched hand and held his own out letting himself be led out on to the dance floor. She turned around to face him and he felt his whole body shudder as she looked at him with those huge brown eyes, god she was beautiful he thought. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her waist, then she wrapped her own arms around his neck and they started to sway. Surely she could feel how special this felt? He thought as they continued to sway.

What was happening to her she could feel her self melting in his arms, why did she feel like this, the butterflies in her stomach were out of control, it felt so right but it was so incredibly wrong, this was Seth Cohen. She pulled her head back slightly to look at him; his huge brown eyes were looking straight back at her, his lips were moving towards her, she felt her self move towards him, she felt as though she was being pulled towards him and she couldn't control it. They lips nearly met and then she pulled back, and took a step back from him, what was she doing this was so wrong, she couldn't understand what was going on, this couldn't happen, she needed to get out of here, she looked up at the hurt in his eyes and ran out the cafeteria.

Marissa pulled her head back slightly to look at Ryan, she didn't know what she was feeling, it was too crazy, she looked at his eyes, and they were so caring.

Then she saw a different pair of eyes, angry and coming towards them fast"Luke" she pulled away from Ryan who turned around just as Luke smacked him in the face"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND CHINO" he shouted in Ryan's face before grabbing Marissa's hand and storming out the hall. Ryan looked up from the floor, he could see Marissa looking back as she was dragged out the door, he could see the confusion in her eyes. He slumped back on the floor and groaned as he felt his face.

The Next Morning…

"Well could that night have sucked anymore" Seth moaned as he threw his piece of toast back on the table. Ryan nodded in agreement as he caught sight of his bruise in the mirror.
What a night that had turned out to be, Seth actually seemed to be making progress then Summer ran out on him and Marissa, well, he'd felt like for that one night she was his girlfriend, it had felt so right and...then it had all gone crashing down. He didn't even wanna think about what school was gonna be like today.

Seth stood up from his seat at the breakfast counter and grabbed his bag"You coming or what? Hey you never know maybe no one saw him send you flying across the floor" Ryan gave him a, that's not funny look, as they walked out the door.

"See its not that bad, we haven't even seen Marissa and Luke today" Seth said to Ryan as they walked down the hall. Just then Marissa and Luke emerged from a classroom, hand in hand, Ryan's heart gave a lurch, they were still together, a part of him had hoped they would break up and then at least his bruised face would be worth it. It seemed like last night hadn't meant anything to her, he saw her glance towards him then look away quickly. He started to feel angry, Great she couldn't even look at him, well if that's the way its gonna be then I'm not gonna waste anymore time on her, maybe its just best if I move on. Obviously she doesn't feel the same about me; I must have been kidding myself he thought as he walked past her, ignoring her, deciding that he didn't want the hassle anymore.

Seth had just walked out of Biology when he saw her; she was stood at her locker completely oblivious to him staring at her. Maybe he should just get it over and done with and find out how she felt. He walked towards her trying to work out what he would say but when she turned around and he saw her beautiful face all words pooped out his head.

She looked at him flustered at first and then seemed to regain her cool. "What do you want Cohen" She slammed her locker shut and stood waiting for his reply.

"Umm...well I think we should talk about last night, I mean you just ran out and we were kinda having a moment, so I just wanted to see what you think" he just about managed to get his words out.

She looked back at him, he could see amusement on her face"we were having a moment, yeh sure whatever you say Cohen, god your more deluded than I thought you were, why would we have a moment, I don't even like you so stop kidding yourself" with that she turned around and walked off down the corridor.

Seth sighed sadly and started walking down the corridor, he wished Summer would realize that it wasn't Seth who was kidding himself...it was her.