2 weeks later

"Ryan! Guess what!" Marissa said as she went and hugged Ryan.

"What?" Ryan smiled, his arm around her waist.

"You have to guess?"

"Ummm. You just jumped up and fell down?"

"No. Guess again."

"I have no idea." Ryan said confused. He had just got off of work at the restaurant and was tired.

"I've been drug free for 36 days!. That's my favorite number."

"Awesome."

"Want to come celebrate with me?"

"How are you going to celebrate?" He asked skeptically. All the other times she celebrated, she either ended up drunk or in the hospital.

"Don't worry. I'm going over to Summer's and just going to hang out. We haven't talked for a while so I'm just going to surprise her."

"Ok. Be Careful.:"

"Wait? You sound like you're not coming."

"I can't. Since Theresa's thing last month she's supposed to go and check up once a month. It's tonight. She asked me to come with. For support."

Marissa frowned but then tried to cheer up.

"Don't worry. Me and Summer will have a good time.:"

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Marissa drove up to her best friends' house. She hadn't got to talk to Summer for over 2 weeks and she had a lot to tell her about. For one, her dad had decided not to come back home after weeks of delaying his arrival home. He thought it best if he took a vacation. The Cohen's had been nice enough to let her stay even longer then her previous 2 week stay. Her mom and Caleb went on another vacation to Europe with no set day to come back. And Ryan and her were getting closer then ever before.

She got out of her car and walked up to Summer's house. Her best friend's dad and step-mom had left on a month long get-a-way to Hawaii leaving Summer all alone.

"Knock , Knock, Knock" Marissa said as she tapped on the door.

No one answer. She looked under the mat for the key Summer would always leave for Seth. Instead of the key was a note. It had her name on it.

Marissa ripped open the letter and read it.

Coop,

Seth and I decided to go to Tathi. I'm so excited. See you before school starts!

XOXO Sum

Marissa looked at the letter then felt very left out. There was a date that stated Summer wrote the letter 2 weeks ago. Wasn't that the day Seth went to talk to Summer? Then Marissa went and thought of the last time she saw Seth. She remembered, Sandy said something of that Seth went back to Tathi but she never asked why. Now she knew.

She got really depressed. As she went and placed the mat back into place she noticed that key was actually there. She got an idea. She opened to door and walked into Summer's huge house. It was pitch black; all the curtains were closed except the one in the kitchen. She walked into the room when she noticed the bar in the corner.

She immediately closed her eyes and pictured Ryan. She couldn't do that to him but it looked so tempting.

Her brain fought against her wants. Her wants won. She went over to the counter opened the bottle and took a gulp.

Ryan walked into the hospital's hallway looking for Theresa.

"Hey, there you are!" He turned around and saw Theresa waddling over to him.

"Wow! You look great." The awkwardness of the past months seemed to disappear as they hugged.

"No. I'm fat."

"That's what they all say."

"Did you see them. They are."

Ryan and Theresa laughed at her joke.

"Well let's go to the waiting room. We should be able to go in in a little bit."

"Sounds good. Now tell me what's been happening since the last time I've saw you."

Theresa smiled.

TBC