Chapter Six
"Bite?" Marissa held her ice cream bar out to Ryan, who shook his head.
"Bad for my diet."
"Come on take a bit, you know you want to." She held the bar out directly in front of his face as they made their way down the beach.
"This is so bad for my diet," he said before taking a quick and small bite of her ice cream.
"Are you always in training?" She asked leading him into the lifeguard house.
"Yep, never know when Joey's going to tell me he got me a fight. Which in this case is this weekend."
"Oh that's right, you have a fight Saturday… Too bad you're going to miss a great time. Newport parties are always the best, gossip, drinking, and scandal. Sure you wanna miss it for some silly fight." She joked.
"Sure you can't skip the party and watch a silly fight?"
"Wish I could but my mom's hosting," she sat down on the floor and patted the ground next to her.
Ryan sat down next to Marissa, slightly ajar giving her enough seat the scoot back and lean herself against him. "This is a really nice spot," he commented as he watched the waves crash into the beach.
"I used to come here all the time when I was younger. First with my dad, sometimes with whoever I was dating, but mostly by myself whenever I needed to think, kinda like you and the swings behind the gym."
"Yeah but I never brought girls to those swings."
"You're telling me I am the only girl you've ever been on those swings?" Marissa questioned him, not believing for a second that someone like him hadn't used the swings as bait before.
"Just you and Theresa."
"Who's Theresa?"
"You remember Arturo from my birthday party. She's his sister. She's the only other girl I've ver really dated. We grew up together, so we played on the swings together as kids."
"So what happened with you guys?"
"Childhood sweethearts are over rated. I went to juvie; she met someone else, got pregnant, got married… What about you what am I like the millionth guy you've brought here?"
Marissa shook her at him, "Not even close. I've only had thr…" she caught herself, she liked Ryan but there were still things she wasn't quiet ready to tell him yet. "Two real relationships, Luke and Alex. Ironically Luke was my childhood sweetheart, who cheated on me in high school which I tell tried to kill myself and ended up in a mental institution." She waited for a reaction for Ryan secretly praying that what she'd just told him wouldn't be something to scare him off.
"Well, I guess anything is an improvement after that," he tried to joke in order to mask the disgust in his voice. He wasn't disgusted at Marissa and her actions, but at the fact that anyone would ever do anything to hurt her.
"Yeah well you know you do crazy things when you're a teenager."
"So what about Alex, tell me about him."
"Her." Marissa corrected him and watched as his eyes slightly widened.
"Her?"
"Like I said you do crazy things when you're a teenager. I was coming off a rough time and we clicked, I can't really explain it to you Ryan. I mean no more than I can explain why…"
"We click?" He reached his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him.
"Yeah, why we clicked." She rested her head against his chest.
Ryan leaned down and kissed her temple, "You sure you can't skip that party," he slid his lips back and kissed around her ear causing Marissa to giggle.
"I wish, I really hate them… But maybe we could meet up after?"
"Sounds good… I don't want you at my fight anyway, you've got this really good habit of distracting me."
"Whose fault is that?"
"Yours," he reached his hand to her face pushing it towards his. Slowly he moved in and kissed her.
The Earth could have opened up and swallowed her and Marissa wouldn't have cared. She loved kissing him; she loved being with him. He felt safe, like he would never let anything hurt her ever again, and that was a feeling Marissa could live with. However at that moment something rare happened and rather than the Earth opening up, the sky opened up.
"It never rains in Newport," Marissa told Ryan as she fumbled with the keys to her apartment.
"You shivering," Ryan pressed his wet body against Marissa trying to give her warmth as she tried to open her door.
The door popped open and for a moment they separated, "I'm going to go change, the bathroom's over there."
"Yeah I know," Ryan took his gym bag with him and changed clothes, before he took a seat on Marissa's couch, and began flipping channels.
"Ok so I look like a drowned rat," Marissa called to Ryan as she started to walk back downstairs. "I'm going to blow dry my hair really quick." She walked behind the couch and started towards the bathroom.
"You looked beautiful," Ryan told her as he reached back and grabbed her arm, pulling her down to him, attempting to kiss her.
Marissa gave into his advances and came over the couch into his lap, "I… wish… you… didn't… have… to… go…" she told him in between kisses. "The weather's bad, can't you stay a bit longer?"
"I'm already late," he pulled back from her.
She caught his face between her hands and brought it within inches of hers, "So what's a little longer?" She moved in kissing him deeply.
The kiss deepened and became more passionate, Ryan knew he should leave. He knew that Joey was going to be pissed that he was late for training so close to a fight, but he felt prepared for his fight and a few extra moments with Marissa were something to be cherished. She moved across him, straddling his lap to hold him in place, and ran her fingers through his hair as she continued to kiss him, hoping he'd forget he needed to go.
"Oh my God," the front door slammed, not phasing Ryan and Marissa who continued to kiss. "Why is it raining in Newport." Summer's voice rang irritation as she walked into the living room. "COOP!" She yelled when she saw Ryan and Marissa making out on the sofa. "EW! You have a room."
"Oh hey Sum," Marissa greeted her friend and wiped her mouth as she pulled away from Ryan.
"Hey Summer."
"Chino," she gave him a luke warm reception. "This is like the fourth time I've come home to you two making out on my sofa, is it so hard to just walk up a few stairs so I don't have to witness your grossness?"
"Um Summer I bought the sofa." Marissa told her.
"That is so far from the point, which is that I don't need to see you and Chino constantly making out."
"I have a name you know."
"Yeah it's Chino. No one has real names with me, I mean hello Marissa is like my best friend and she's Coop."
"It's a term of endearment really Ryan, just accept it." Marissa laughed.
"Is that what it is?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh whatever, you're Chino. I'm going to the kitchen, don't be here when I get back."
"You're kicking me out?"
"If that's what you want to call it."
"Summer?" Marissa scolded her friend.
"What?" Summer grinned and turned going into the kitchen.
"Sorry she's…"
"Summer…"
"Yeah."
"I need to get going anyway, like I said I'm already late," Ryan stood and started making his way towards the door with Marissa in tow.
"Ok, will I see you tomorrow?"
Ryan leaned in and gave her a succession of short kisses; "We'll have to see. I've got a busy day…"
"Yeah I know, work, the gym…"
"Just a normal day in the life of Ryan Atwood, it's a wonder I have time for a girlfriend." He started to kiss her but noticed when she jumped back.
"Girlfriend…?" Marissa tried to conceal her slight smile. "Is that what I am?"
"Y—Yeah I mean I guess I was assuming and… uh… I mean if you don't…"
"No. I like the idea of being your girlfriend." She moved in and kissed him. "So I'll call you tonight when you get home from the gym and we'll talk about tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I talk to you then." He gave her one last kiss before he rushed out the door; he was in shock at what had just taken place. He hadn't meant to call her his girlfriend and the fact that she wanted to be that elated him. Ryan knew that he was getting in over his head, he'd known that from day one, but in was something he just didn't care about.
Summer waited until she heard the door close, then came out of the kitchen, "Thank God."
"Next time you decide to kick someone out, you want to discuss it with me first." It was rare Marissa got annoyed with her best friend, but the way Summer had just treated Ryan annoyed her.
"Ok but he is here like every time I come home, and you two are always like making out. It gets old, besides it's not like you two are serious or anything, right?"
"Well…"
"Well what? Okay I know I pushed you to date and all because before him you hadn't had a date in like a decade, but first I didn't mean pick up some guy from Chino, and second I didn't mean get into a serious relationship… I mean are you ready for that Coop?"
"I like him, a lot. And… he makes me feel safe."
"Yeah but we all know you're not the best judge of character, I mean there was Luke, and then there was he who we do not speak of, and then Alex, who while a nice person did have a bit of that scary lesbian vibe to her."
"Well Ryan knows about Luke and Alex."
"What about…"
"No and right now he doesn't need to know about that, I'll tell him when I'm ready."
"Ok but back to the subject, are you really ready for this, I mean things with Chino, it's like boom boom, boom, intense quick. Can you handle that?"
Marissa nodded her head, "Yeah I can. There just something about him, its like he gets me. And everything I've been through even without telling him about it, I feel like he's been there too. I mean nothing I tell him even phases him. And for the first time Summer I feel like someone really understands me in a way that I can't even comprehend. I'm falling and I don't want to be caught unless it's by Ryan."
'Well if you like him that much, I guess I can deal with Chino… But he needs to understand he will always be Chino and if he so much as thinks about hurting you there will be a serious rage blackout."
"You're late kid. Really late." Joey caught Ryan on his way into the gym.
"Sorry Joey, I was in Newport and I lost track of time and traffic was hell."
"Newport what the hell were you doing in Newport?"
"You remember the pretty girl from the hospital there?" He waited for Joey to nod in response. "That's Marissa, I've been seeing her for a little bit."
"I didn't know you were seeing someone… You keeping things from me kid, how long you been seeing her?"
Ryan shrugged, "I don't about a month now."
"About a month… You been seeing a girl for about a month, and you haven't told ole Joe about her yet? So she's a Newport girl, is she Daddy's little rich girl."
"Nope, that's her roommate. I don't Marissa different; she's not like anyone I've ever met before. It's like on the surface we wouldn't have anything in common, but… I think we've got more in common then even I know. You know, kinda like you and me."
"Hey don't start comparing me to some broad, now." Joey laughed.
"I don't know Joey, when I'm with her it's just… I don't know she makes me feel different like I'm something you know."
"Ryan, kid you should needed a girl to make you feel like something."
"I know. I just feel different around her like nothing I've done matters. She gets me, and I've never felt this comfortable around a girl, not even Theresa. I want to be with Marissa as much as I can and she wants to be with me and it's like nothing else exists."
"Well kid, I'm happy for you but you also gotta remember, that you've got a career to think about. You can't keep being late like this, I mean we've come too far for you to let it go cause you're going gaga over some chick. Remember women are bad for the legs."
"I thought that was sex?"
"Women, sex, same thing right?"
"I'm not sleeping with Marissa, if that's what you're worried about. I wanna do things right with her, not treat her like some girl I just picked up in a bar."
"Still you gotta a career…"
"Yeah I know Joey, and I'm totally focused on that, I can manage both. Plenty of men are boxers and boyfriends. I'm not going to throw my career away for Marissa, but I'm not going to throw Marissa away for my career, I need to see where this could go, both things I owe it to myself."