A/N- Thanks for all the reviews, guys! We're really glad we can make a story you've been waiting for and we'll try our best to make it good lol Keep R&Ring cuz we write faster when we have incentive :)

A/N2- Answering questions- We decided that it's going to be traditional MarissaRyan, SethSummer because of the fact that we've both spent entire weekends watching our Season 1 DVDs and after that, it's difficult to write other couples lol. And Ryan will be jockish, but not crazy mean jerk jockish (like Luke at the beginning of season 1). Plus, we're keeping their personalities the same, otherwise the story wouldn't be interesting. Seth is still sarcastic, but a little darker and more nervous than in the show and Ryan is still quiet and athletic, but not AS brooding as in the show because, well, because he's a Cohen and has very little to brood about. Though, don't quote us as saying there'll be NO brooding Ryan. Cuz brooding Ryan is sorta fun to write...

Smile Like You Mean It

"Wait here for a minute, I just have to go talk to the wife," Sandy told Seth, pausing anxiously to look at the keys sitting in the ignition. Seth noticed the gesture, and quickly answered the older man's unasked question with a smile,

"It's no fun if the keys are in the ignition." Sandy laughed at the boy's wit; his own son was slightly more serious, and had he said it, it would have seemed more grave than the way Seth had portrayed it. He really liked the kid, who had been cracking jokes to break any uncomfortable silence in the car. I just hope Kirsten feels the same way, He thought blandly as he climbed out of the car, making his way into his large house.

Seth, needing to stretch his legs, got out of the car and made his way down the driveway. He stood and breathed in the warm summer air; it was cleaner here than back in Chino. Suddenly, unexpectedly, he heard footsteps behind him. He instinctively spun around in a defensive maneuver to find a girl his age walking down the Cohen's driveway. She was tall, thin, and beautiful. But not his type. She was too tall for him, her hair was dirty blonde while he preferred brunettes, for some reason he just wasn't attracted to that type of girl. For a fleeting moment he considered that maybe he would be attracted to one of her friends, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, quickly returning to his normal, funny self.

"Hey," The girl said curiously, sizing Seth up in the dim moonlight.

"Hey," Seth repeated, giving the girl a half-smile. There was an awkward pause that not even Seth could fill, and she quickly tried to start a conversation.

"You here with the Cohens?" Seth considered for a moment- how much did Sandy really want known? He decided a nod would suffice and she chose to continue questioning him, "Did you just pull in with Sandy?" another nod, "I'm Marissa. I live next door."

"Seth. Mr. Cohen brought me home."

"What are you here for?"

"Honestly? Mr. Cohen is my lawyer. I wish it could be for something cool like holding up a liquor store or kidnapping a celebrity, but it was just um... let's say... unwilling car theft. I was with my brother when he stole a car. He made me jump in and I got arrested when my stupid, drunk brother crashed it. My mom kicked me out and Mr. Cohen took me in." Seth silently cursed his habit of nervous rambling, hoping he hadn't divulged too much personal information. He waited for Marissa to run, or smack him, or any combination of the two. What she did instead, however, shocked and confused him. As she began to laugh, Seth was puzzled, "What?" She levelly looked him in the eye,

"You're Ryan's cousin from Boston, right?" Seth quickly got the game she was playing; there was no way she'd believe the truth. Nodding enthusiastically, he responded,

"Yup. Seth Atwood. Ryan's cousin from Boston," He felt stupid for responding so dumbly, but decided to prod into this girl's life (She had prodded into his, even if she hadn't believed him), "How do you know Ryan?" Seth knew that Ryan was Sandy's son; he had explained on the way over.

"Oh... I'm his girlfriend, Marissa. I'm sure he's mentioned me." Seth shook his head silently, then looked the girl directly in the eye; he had learned early that to lie convincingly it was necessary to give direct eye contact.

"We don't talk often, so those kind of things don't really come up so much. How long have you two been dating?"

"Since fifth grade." Seth was taken aback; they started young in Orange County.

"Oh. Well, we really don't talk much. Not that we don't want to. Just never get the chance." He was saved the further anguish of rambling to the stranger by a tap on the shoulder. He turned to find Sandy behind him, smiling expectantly.

"I see you two have met."

"Hello, Mr. Cohen," Marissa greeted politely.

"Marissa, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Mr. Cohen."

"And how's my son? I haven't seen him all day and I know you two spent all night together." Marissa blushed and smiled at Sandy; they were pretty close as far as those kind of relationships go, and she knew that Sandy loved to tease her.

"He's fine. We studied tonight; expect an A on his history test." Sandy winked at her,

"Yeah, sure." Her blush deepened and she said a hasty goodbye, retreating to her house next door.

Sandy put his arm around Seth's shoulder and led him up the long driveway to the oversized door. They opened the front door and Sandy led Seth, whose mouth was gaping, into the kitchen, face-to-face with his wife, Kirsten.

"Hello, Seth. I'm Kirsten. I'm the wife. Welcome to our home. You can put your stuff in the poolhouse, that's where you'll be staying."

"Uhh...yeah...ok..." Seth stuttered, not quite sure of what to say, "thank you so much for letting me stay in your home. Especially with such short notice and seeing that, you know, well everything that's happened, and everything that I did, and, well, it's so great that" He knew he was rambling, but he couldn't stop himself. It emanated from trouble he had gotten into as a little boy, when he had attempted to talk his way out of getting hit by his mother's fling-of-the-week.

"Yeah, no problem" Kirsten said; she felt bad that this kid was so nervous; she interrupted him to prevent him making more of a fool of himself than he already had.

Seth stepped into the spacious poolhouse and drew a sharp intake of breath. This is the poolhouse? It's bigger than my house... wow, this is some life they have.

He unpacked all of his things, laying down on the bed with Captain Oats on top of his chest,

"Well, buddy, this is gonna be... interesting."

Sandy climbed into bed and recalled Kirsten's reaction to Seth not a half hour earlier.

"Sandy, you brought him home? I can't believe you sometimes! He is not a puppy!"

"Kirsten, he needed somewhere to go."

"Well, why does our home have to be that 'somewhere'? What about Ryan? Did you even think about him?"

"His mother abandoned him; he has no home. Ryan won't care. He might even be excited. Remember when he was a kid, he used to ask for a brother?"

"Fine. He can stay for the weekend. But if Ryan's uncomfortable with this, he's out."

The next morning, Seth awoke with a start. He sat up in the bed and blinked to adjust to the light. It really wasn't a dream. He thought, taking in the poolhouse for the first time in the light, I'm really here. He slowly got up and pulled on his t-shirt before making his way into the main house.

"Hey," he said with curiosity to the blonde boy, about his age, sitting on the floor in front of the couch. Must be Ryan. Seth thought, not quite sure what to do.

In between handfuls of Froot Loops from the box, he looked back up at Seth. "Hey," Ryan said. So this was the "kid from Juvie" that dad brought home. Ok, well, let's see what he's all about, " you... wanna play some video games?"

Seth exhaled- at least Ryan was accepting him.

"Uhh..sure...I guess...i mean if you don't mind...and, I haven't exactly played in a while, and i might not be that good, so" He cursed himself silently. STOP RAMBLING! Ryan was struck by Seth's nervousness,

"Um, so you do wanna play or... we could do something else?"

Seth smiled and shook his head no, this game would be fine. Grabbing the controller, he sat down next to Ryan,

"What game?"

"Well I was playing this football game, Madden. But I have Grand Theft Auto too...that's a pretty good game. You steal cars and then..." Ryan told Seth as he slipped some cereal into his mouth, realizing what he had just said. Damn, his rambling's rubbing off.

"Yeah..."Seth interrupted him, letting his mistake slide, "Let's just play Madden."

"Yeah, good idea...sorry about that." Seth sighed,

"Don't worry about it."

After several games of Madden, Ryan was bored of being inside,

"Wanna go do something? Maybe go down to the beach?" Ryan asked; he was sick of Newport, but maybe this kid could bring something interesting to the table.

"Uhh... alright. Sounds cool..." Seth said skeptically; he'd never really spent much time at the beach.

The two boys walked down the long path in the backyard, and down to the beach that lay conveniently in the backyard.

Ryan took of his shirt, getting ready to go into the water,

"Come on, let's go in the water or something."

"Uh... nah. I'll just wait here..."

"C'mon, man. It's alright; the water's actually nice today." Seth shook his head lightly, casting his eyes downward,

"I actually... I can't swim."

"Oh, ok. No problem." Ryan took a seat on the sand in complete silence as Seth wandered over to a small sailboat; he found it very intriguing.

"So, uh...whose is this?"

"Oh that's mine, but I don't really use it too much. Just when my grandpa comes over. He takes me out on it... he bought it for me. He wanted to teach me, but I never really got into it." Seth said nothing, still staring at the boat, "So, you ever go sailing?"

"Not really. I mean, I went on a boat once with my dad, before he was locked up. But never a sail boat. I was, like, seven. I really liked it, and he always promised me that I could do it again sometime... guess that'll never happen. Maybe I could organize a breakout or something, though I'm not sure if he'll appreciate the reason for it."

"Let's go."

"What?"

"Put on the lifejacket and help me push it out. Let's go."

Seth did as he was told and put on the orange lifejacket, pushing the boat into the water and jumping in. Seth couldn't help but notice Ryan's well-built body.

"You work out?" Seth questioned Ryan, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Nah, not really. I play soccer, but that's it... you?" Ryan asked Seth, eyeing his tall, slender body with some vague muscle tone.

"Nah me neither." There was an awkward silence between the boys for a moment before Seth began another conversation, "So, that girl who lives next door..."

"Marissa?"

"Yeah. I met her last night. She's your..."

"My girlfriend. We've been dating for, like, six years."

"Seems nice."

"She's the best... you have a girlfriend?"

"No... I'm not great around girls." Ryan paused for a second and considered,

"Summer would be perfect for you." Seth was confused, but quickly retorted,

"And you're a winter." Ryan laughed and looked out on the ocean before looking back at Seth,

"No, no. Summer Roberts. She's Marissa's best friend. You'd really like her."

"Really?"

"Definitely." They sailed a bit longer, discussing Sandy and Kirsten, Marissa, Summer, school, and Seth's background. Ryan noted that he felt at ease around Seth like no one else that he'd known. He was always a bit more silent (and not nearly as cocky) than the rest of the Newport crew, but this kid brought out a talkative side in Ryan- one that his father would've been proud of.

At the same time, the boys realized that they were back at the Cohens' private beach and jumped out of the boat, removing their life vests and putting their shirts back on.

"That was really...relaxing."

"Yeah, I haven't done that in a while."

"Hey, Ryan! Seth!" They turned to the sound of Sandy's voice calling them from up the pathway. They turned to find Sandy walking quickly towards them.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hi, Mr. Cohen."

"Seth, it's Sandy. Mr. Cohen is... well, he's not me." Seth nodded in acknowledgement and glanced at the seascape.

"Dad, you going surfing?" Ryan asked, looking at his father's wetsuit.

"Already did- a while ago... So Ryan, about that fashion show later. I was thinking we would go around seven. You can loan Seth one of your suits that's too long on you." Ryan nodded and stole a look at Seth, who had been staring out into the water, but was jolted back to the people in front of him by the mention of his name.

Why do they need a fashion show? Everyday is probably a fashion show for these people. I mean, other than Marissa and Ryan, my guess is that there's not many accepting people in this town.

"Okay, dad."

"Yeah, sounds like...fun." Seth added, trying to hide the fact that the idea really bothered him.
Sandy walked back up to the house, with the boys following him.

"So Ryan, how are these things?"

"Boring as all hell. But you get used to it."

"Well, maybe I should just stay here. You're gonna get some weird looks hanging out with the kid from juvie. Besides, your suit probably won't even fit me. I'm taller and thinner. It's gonna be big and short on me. Maybe I'll just stay back and hang with Captain Oats tonight."

"Captain who?" Ryan asked, his interest piqued.

"Oh... never mind," Seth blushed.

"And calm down... I have suits of all shapes and sizes. My grandpa made my mom get me a whole bunch because 'I'm a growing boy, Kirsten. You never know when I might shoot up seven inches overnight.'," He paused for a second, opening the door to the poolhouse, "Besides, you know me, and my mom and dad. It'll be fine, and whoever Captain Oats is, you could bring him if you really want to. Whatever makes you comfortable. Besides, Summer will probably be there."

"Yeah...great... then maybe I can meet fall and spring also," Seth mumbled the last part under his breath, but Ryan heard and laughed.

"Will you chill? It'll be fine." Seth really didn't want to go, but he knew there was no way Ryan was letting him out of it.

Seth found a suit laid out on the bed and picked it up, holding it to himself,

"I don't think I've ever worn a suit before..." Ryan looked up at him curiously,

"Well, get used to it." Ryan sat down haphazardly on the bed before quickly jumping back up, "Ow!" Seth turned around quickly; he knew from experience that the word "ow" was never a good thing to hear, "Ahh shit that hurt."

"What, what happened?" Ryan turned around and looked on the bed to see what had hurt him.

"I sat on a plastic horse."

"Oh... Ryan, meet Captain Oats," Seth said as he looked down at the floor.

Ryan looked at Seth, confused, as Seth walked over to him and grabbed the horse out of his hands, putting him down gently on the pillow.

"Wow," Ryan let out, a bit confused by what had just happened.

"Yeah, my one and only friend," Seth cast his eyes downward- he had never really had any friends in Chino. He was different. An outcast. A misfit.

"Well, he isn't your one and only friend anymore. I mean, I'm your friend. Right?" Seth smiled to himself, then looked up at the boy he'd come to regard as a good friend,

"Right."