Disclaimers: Meh.

Authors Notes: I have finally decided this is going to be an RM fic. I can't write AM, no matter how hard I try. Sorry to all those AM fans, but I hope you'll continue reading for the sake of it. :) You'll recognize some lines from the Blaze of Glory here… Original aren't I:)

It was a beautiful night. The stars twinkled in the violet sky happily. The air was crisp and warm and the dark waves of the pool cast dark shadows across the pool house. Ryan sat on his bed, his laptop balanced carefully across his knees, as he mentally worked out some of his math homework.

He paid no heed to a loud engine that rumbled through the Cohen's street. And why should he? The Cohen's new neighbors were two loud, obnoxious drunks and they were forever inviting friends over. Obviously these friends had no taste in cars or they wouldn't have picked such cars with such an ear-splitting engine.

But the person that was driving to the Cohen's was no friend of the Cohen's new neighbors. It was Alex.

Alex parked her car up the Cohen driveway and sat still for a second. She could hear the late night noises echo through the silent (well apart from loud rock music thudding next door) neighborhood. An owl hooted somewhere and the moon emerged from behind dark clouds. Alex clutched her steering wheel in anxiety. What was she going to do when she saw Ryan? Demand him not to talk to Marissa again? Seriously, how low was she stooping?

In a moment of hesitation, Alex felt like leaving. What was she doing? She was going to hurt the person Marissa cared about most. Wait. The person Marissa cared about most? No, one of the people Marissa cared about most. Right?

She picked up her wallet to see how much money she had. Maybe she could just ditch this plan and go to the local bar and get a drink. Yes. That would be what she would do.

As she searched her wallet, a picture of Marissa fell out. Alex caught her breath. She was so beautiful. Alex stroked Marissa's hair with her thumb. And then an ugly image popped into her head. She had a vision of Marissa and Ryan…somewhere…alone…And that was all it took. Alex abandoned the plan of going into a club and having a drink. She got out of her car defiantly and strode right up to the Cohen door step. She raised a hand to ring the door bell, but then had a better idea.

She remembered Seth mentioning Ryan slept in a pool house. Alex didn't have an all that great education, but she knew it had to be a room next to the pool. She snuck around the house, and climbed over the fence. She saw a glittering pool and right behind it, the pool house. She saw a shadow sitting still on the bed, and thought, no, knew it had to be Ryan.

She ran silently to the door and threw it open. She was right. It was Ryan sitting on the bed doing his homework. And when Alex opened his door, he looked up with a look of absolute surprise on his face.

"Alex?" he asked, astonished. "What are you doing here?"

Alex looked at Ryan in disgust. He was trying to play the I'm-innocent game. Well, she would show him.

"Stay away from her!" she shouted, in a burst of anger.

Ryan looked at her in pure confusion. He put his laptop aside and stood up. "Who?" he asked, bewildered.

"Who?" Alex scoffed. "Marissa!"

Ryan looked at her, almost pityingly. "There's nothing going on," he said honestly.

"Oh, yeah? Working late together? Sharing a sleeping bag? Sure, there's nothing going on!" Alex was growing increasingly angry. She looked at Ryan's pale blue eyes, and saw nothing but truthfulness and confusion. It was then she realized he was telling the truth, but she had come this far already. She wasn't going to give up now.

"Look, there's nothing going on, Alex. Nothing at all."

"I don't care!" Alex screamed. "Just don't touch her. Don't talk to her. Don't do anything with her."

"You can't tell me to do that," Ryan said quietly. "I have every right to talk to Marissa."

Alex narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, yeah?"

Ryan stuck out his chin. "Yeah."

There was silence for a minute and Alex could smell the clean sense of defeat. She couldn't think of anything to say. She'd been beaten at her own game. She spun on her heel, ready to leave, only to be interrupted by Marissa. Marissa looked a mess. She'd been crying and her eyes were red and swollen. Ryan noticed this immediately and stepped towards her, but Alex's piercing look stopped him.

When Marissa saw Alex, her face changed completely and she looked suddenly confused.

"Alex?" Marissa asked, stepping into the pool house. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Alex asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Um…I was…going to, uh, check up on our biology homework…" Marissa said hesitantly, sniffling.

Ryan raised his eyebrows. Marissa was never the best liar. He remembered when Marissa spent the night, when they were still together and when Kirsten caught them, she said, "I, uh, found a rat in my, uh, wardrobe, and I was, um, worried there might be a whole family of them living in my room. So I came over."

"You don't do biology," Alex said suspiciously. "You do chemistry."

"Uh, I switched. Yeah. The dean said there was a mix-up and I was actually in biology for this semester," Marissa said, hoping she sounded sincere. "And, uh, me and Ryan were assigned to a project and I was going to come over to work together…"

Alex threw a distrustful glance at Ryan and went to Marissa. "You'll be home soon, right?" she whispered. She didn't believe a word Marissa said just then, but she couldn't say anything to that.

"Yeah, by 11," Marissa said nervously.

Alex pecked Marissa on the cheek and threw a last dirty glance at Ryan, before leaving the pool house.

As soon as Alex was gone, Marissa fell into Ryan's arms, sobbing heavily. Ryan stood with Marissa in his arms and stroked her hair softly. He didn't say anything, just waited for her to calm down.

Marissa cried for a long time, before whispering, "I'm so scared, Ryan."

"Sshhh. What's the matter? What happened?" Ryan asked soothingly.

"My dad. My dad's dead," Marissa croaked, before bursting into another series of heart-wrenching tears.