"Yes, ah … please come in," Kirsten said after a moment of hesitation. "Sorry to barge in on you like this, but I was hoping to talk to Ryan." Trey looked around the house, trying to take it all in. When the cab driver had pulled up in front of the address that his mom had given him, he asked Trey is he was sure this was the right place. He eyed Trey suspiciously as he took the money. Trey knew he was thinking that he was probably going to rob the place. For a moment Trey let his eyes sweep around the house, taking stock of the electronics that he knew he could get a good price for. Trey forced himself to stop thinking about stealing and focused again on the people in front of him.
"Trey?" Ryan asked incredulously from the hallway. "Hey little bro, they let me out and I thought I would come check on you." Ryan didn't move and he didn't respond. Sandy sensed the tension and he put his hand on Kirsten's back and said, "why don't we give them some time to talk," as he gently guided her out of the room. "What are you doing here?" Ryan asked as he walked toward the living room. "What? Can't I come see my own brother?" Trey said with an innocent shrug of his shoulders.
"I thought you would be happy to see me," Trey said. Ryan studied his brother. "You're high man, why the fuck would you come here when you are high?" Trey dropped his eyes, "Come on Ryan, I'm not high. I don't do that shit anymore."
"Bullshit!" Ryan said louder than he would have like. "Anyway man, I can smell the alcohol from here," Ryan said. "Yea I forgot, you're like a goddamn saint now. What you never drink? You never go to any rich kid parties and have a beer?" Trey asked his voice starting to rise in anger. "This is more than that Trey and you know it." Trey was starting to wish he had stayed curled up on the doorstep. He had a killer hangover and the last thing he wanted to do was argue with Ryan. He was just looking for a place to sleep where he wouldn't have to worry about getting his ass kicked, but he knew Ryan. He would have to listen to whatever Ryan wanted to say. He just hoped that when all was said and done, he would have a place to stay for a few days.
"Look at me Trey, look me right in the eyes." Trey brought his eyes up to meet Ryan's. Ryan dropped his voice and said, "I know you're high and if your not right now you were last night. You're eyes are all red and shaky. Did you forget who your lying too? Did you forget that we grew up with a mom who was fucked up all the time?" Trey took a step back and put his hands up in the air. "Ok man, you got me. I just spent over a year in jail and I partied when I got out. Hey, I had sex last night too. Does that make me evil too?"
"No, what makes you evil is the fact that you have come here to fuck up my life and the Cohen's. They're my family now Trey and I won't let you hurt them," Ryan said his voice almost hoarse with emotion. Trey sighed. "Alright bro, I got it. I'm not here to mess up your life, but Gattas is still after me. I spent last night sleeping on the fucking street. Can I just crash here for a few hours? If I could get some sleep maybe I could think straight and come up with a plan." Ryan still looked unconvinced so Trey tried a new tactic. "Look Ryan, no matter what you say we are still brothers. Look at me man, I'm still Trey. All I'm asking for is a little help. I don't think there is any rich family that is waiting to adopt me." Ryan exhaled slowly and rubbed his temples. "I've got to get to school. Let me go talk to Sandy and Kirsten, maybe you can stay, but just for today."
"Honey, aren't you going to be late for your appointment?" Kirsten asked Sandy. He shook his head. "It's ok, the guy will wait. I want to see what is going on here." Kirsten leaned toward him and whispered, "Isn't he still supposed to be in jail?" Seth jumped out of his chair, "Maybe he escaped, maybe he jumped a guard and took his clothes. I saw that on a movie once." He volunteered. Kirsten shot Seth a look that quickly shut him up. "I don't think he escaped," Sandy said while scratching his head thoughtfully. "He had a three year sentence and with good time he would probably serve about a year and a half." Sandy wasn't sure exactly what Trey was doing here, but it made him uncomfortable.
Ryan cleared his throat as he walked back into the kitchen. "Um … do you think it's ok if Trey sleeps in the pool house today?" He asked hesitantly. "Of course it is honey, he is your brother after all." Kirsten said. "Are you sure you want him in the pool house? He could stay in the guest bedroom." Kirsten offered. Ryan shook his head, "No the pool house will be fine. Thanks." Ryan turned and walked out of the kitchen to show Trey to the pool house. He stopped at the doorway and said in a quiet voice, "Make sure you lock the house today."
"Come on, lets go," Ryan said to Trey as he walked out the front door. Trey got off the couch and followed him. "So I can stay?" He asked hopefully. Ryan didn't slow down until he reached the pool house. "You can stay for today." Ryan said as he picked up his clothes off the floor. "I don't get to meet the family?" Trey asked. "No." Ryan replied. "So you are embarrassed of me? Your own brother. You don't want them to meet me cause you don't want them to know where you come from; see what you could have been." Trey saw Ryan's muscles tense up and he could tell that he had struck a nerve.
"They know where I come from and where I was headed. I met Sandy in jail, remember?" Ryan glanced down at his watch. If he didn't leave soon he would be late for school. "Look man, I gotta go. I'll see you around 4:00." Ryan walked out of the pool house towards the Range Rover. He was glad that Seth was riding with Summer this morning. Seth would probably think it was great that his brother was back. Ryan, however, knew that his brother meant trouble.
The morning passed quickly for Ryan. A physics test and a pop quiz in history kept his mind occupied. Ryan didn't even see Seth until lunch. As closed his locker and headed down the hallway towards the table they usually sat at, Marissa appeared beside him. "Hey," she said as she fell into step beside him. Things had been kinda awkward Marissa after he had heard her confession at the mall. When are things not awkward with Marissa? Ryan thought. Actually, as he looked at Marissa he knew that she was the only one who knew what Trey was really like.
"So I hear Trey is out of jail," Marissa said, trying to keep her tone light. "Yea, he showed up wasted this morning asking for a place to stay." Ryan answered. "Looks like Seth and Summer are already at the table." Marissa observed. "I don't know if I can make it through another lunch with them." Ryan looked at Marissa with his eyebrows raised. "Don't get me wrong or anything, I am happy that Summer and Seth are back together. It's just kinda hard to be around the happy couple sometimes."
"Yea, I know what you mean. Seth has been so happy lately that sometimes I feel like strangling him." Ryan said as he looked over at Summer who was feeding Seth sushi. So things aren't going well with Alex?" Ryan asked. He didn't know much about Marissa and Alex. Even though they had lunch together everyday, she never really talked about her relationship with Alex. "Not really," Marissa said as she put a smile on her face and sat down at the table.
"Hey Ryan," Summer said cheerfully. "Seth said that your brother is out of jail. You must be excited. It's probably nice to have some family around …" Summer stopped talking as soon as she realized what she had said. She looked at Seth and said, "I mean … you already have like a brother and stuff … I just meant… "Summer stopped and Seth said, "Oh, you are so cute when you are babbling." As Seth and Summer kissed, Marissa turned to Ryan and make a gagging gesture. Ryan laughed. "What are you laughing at Chino?" Summer asked. Ryan shared a quick look with Marissa and said nothing.
"So anyway Ryan, what do you think about your brother being out of jail? I mean, it's a good thing, right?" Seth asked, unsure of the answer. Ryan bit his lower lip as he tried to decide what to tell Seth. Honestly, Ryan wasn't sure it was such a good thing. Deep down, he loved Trey. He was his brother and they had been through so much growing up, but Trey was trouble and Ryan knew that. "Yea … you know it's good that he isn't in jail anymore." Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It's just that you don't know Trey like I do. He's kinda like my mom," Ryan said dropping his voice to almost a whisper.
Marissa reached over and put her hand on Ryan's leg. Ryan put his hand on top of Marissa's and looked into her eyes. Marissa was the only one who knew what Trey had asked Ryan to do at Thanksgiving. She knew that Ryan could have been arrested and would have been seriously hurt if she hadn't followed him to the chop shop. "So do you think he is going to stay very long?" Seth asked. "I don't know." Ryan was torn. He knew he should help his brother, but Ryan was still terrified that something would happen and his new life would disappear.
"So which sandwich do you want? The club or the wrap?" Kirsten asked as she unpacked the bag containing their lunch. "So this is our special lunch, sandwiches?" Sandy asked. "Well, since we are eating on the beach behind your … office, I thought this would be most appropriate." Kirsten still couldn't believe that Sandy had chosen this as his new office. Secretly thought, it pleased her that he had shunned corporate life and gotten back to his roots. Not that she would ever admit that to Sandy. She just wished that he would have let her help with the decorating.
"So what do you think about Trey?" Kirsten asked as she took a bit of the wrap. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never met Trey before, I have only seen his file, which includes a lengthy and varied rap sheet." Sandy looked out at the ocean, replaying the mornings events in his mind. "Ryan didn't seem very happy to see him." Kirsten said. Sandy agreed. He had always thought that something had happened when Ryan and Marissa went to visit Trey at Thanksgiving. He thought it was suspicious that Trey would call out of the blue on a holiday and demand a visit. Especially after what Ryan had said about Atwood family holidays.
"What do you think Ryan meant about locking the house?" Kirsten asked. "Well, Trey has several arrests for breaking and entering, larceny. I don't think that Ryan fully trusts him." Kirsten sighed. "Don't you think that that is sad? Not being able to trust your own brother. I mean I know Trey has gotten into some trouble, but you don't think he would really steal from us, do you?"
"I don't know. I think we need to trust Ryan on this. Maybe he has a good reason to be cautious or maybe if he spends some time with his brother, he will learn to trust him again." Sandy threw the rest of his sandwich back in the bag. "Uhh … this is terrible. Where did you get this?" Sandy asked while stuffing his mouth full of potato chips to try and get rid of the nasty taste of the sandwich. "I'm sorry honey, I was so preoccupied this morning that I forgot to order lunch. My assistant picked these up at the last minute from a little deli I have never heard of and will never go to again. So what do we do?" Kirsten asked. "I don't know," Sandy said with a sign. "I think we should be careful. I don't think letting him stay with us in necessarily the best thing"
"Sandy, it's his brother. How can we not offer to help him?" Kirsten asked. "I mean maybe if he had the same advantages Ryan did, he could turn his life around." Sandy nodded, but he didn't share the same hope his wife did. All the years in the PD's office had given Sandy a sixth sense with regards to the rehabilitation prospects of repeat offenders and he didn't think that Trey wanted to change. "You're right. I think we should leave it up to Ryan. If he wants, we will do whatever we can to help Trey." Sandy said.
"Hey man, are you sure you don't want me to go home with you?" Seth asked as they walked down the hallway after their last class. "You just don't want to go shopping with Summer, admit it." Seth feigned innocence. "No. I just want to be there for you and if I have to miss a shoe shopping trip then so be it." Ryan laughed. "I'll be fine. Besides, Summer will need someone to carry all those shoe boxes for her." Seth groaned, "Uhh shoe shopping and manual labor. Great." Summer walked up and grabbed Seth's arm. "I gotta go, but seriously Ryan, you can call me if you need me."
Ryan walked slowly to the car and got in. He had been dreading this moment all day. He had no idea what he was going to say to Trey. As he started to drive off, his phone rang. It was Kirsten. "Hi Ryan, I just wanted to talk to you before you got home. Could you swing by the office?" Ryan could tell from Kirsten voice that she was worried. "Yea, I am just leaving the school now. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Ryan walked into the large building that housed the main offices of the Newport Group. No matter how many times he came here, he always felt out of place among all the men in power suits and expensive furnishings. "Go on in, she is expecting you," Kirsten's assistant said in a pleasant voice. "Hi Ryan, how was your day?" Ryan shrugged. "It was ok, I think I aced my physics test." Kirsten smiled. "That's great! Why don't we sit down," Kirsten suggested pointing to the couches in the corner of her office. "So … I wanted to talk to you about Trey."
"Sandy and I have discussed it and we want you to know that we will support whatever you want to do." Ryan looked up in surprise," What do you mean what I want to do?" He hadn't expected Sandy and Kirsten to defer all the decisions to him. "Well, we are prepared to let Trey stay with us and help him get a job, if that is what you want. I know that he is your brother and you know him better than we do, so that is why we decided to let you decide what our involvement should be." Kirsten stopped talking and looked at Ryan. Even now, after Ryan had been with them for over a year, she still had trouble reading him. She could tell, however, that right now Ryan was conflicted.
"So this is what Sandy wanted to do?" Ryan asked still trying to process the information. Kirsten hesitated and said, "Truthfully, Sandy had some reservations about Trey, but we both agreed that we will help him if that is what you want." Was it what he wanted? All day Ryan had been struggling with how he felt about his brother. He had hoped that Sandy and Kirsten would just say that there was no way that Trey could stay, so that he wouldn't have to make the decision. Ryan stood up. "Ok, thanks. I need to go check on Trey and I'll think about what you said." Kirsten stopped Ryan before he walked out of her office. "Ryan," Kirsten paused to clear her throat. "If Trey stays he will have to follow the house rules, which means no drinking and no drugs."
"Right," Ryan said, "I already talked to him about that. I'll see you at home." As Ryan walked out of the building he felt as if a 50lb weight had been dropped on his shoulders. He knew that if Trey stayed bad things would probably happen. However, Ryan didn't know if he could kick out his own brother and leave him homeless. Well, so much for my boring life, Ryan thought as he got in the car and drove towards home.
xxxxx
Hmm, there are all sorts of things that Trey could do. Since the "Brother's Grim" episode is on next week, I had better write quicker. Thanks for the reviews. Some more would be awesome!