Chapter Seven
"Marissa, it's so good to see you," Kirsten Cohen greeted Marissa at the door with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"It's good to see you too Kirsten," when it came to Newport parties, the Cohen's were Marissa's light at the end of the tunnel. "Is Seth around?"
"Yeah he's outside somewhere talking to Sandy."
"Ok I'm going to go find him." Marissa nodded to Kirsten and began making her way outside, only to get side tracked.
"Marissa honey you came." Julie Cooper grabbed her daughter by the arm. "It's a really good thing you did, because I was just trying to explain to people why my daughter wasn't here yet."
"Well, I'm not staying long mother, I have plans." She told Julie, as she continued to make her way outside.
"Plans? What could possible be more important than your mother's charity function?" Julie followed behind her.
"Oh I don't know anything."
"Marissa, this is important to me."
"I know, so I'm here but what I do afterwards is my business… Dad!" Marissa ran to her father, who was standing talking to Seth and Sandy.
"Hey kiddo," Jimmy responded as Marissa jumped into his arms.
"Thank God you're here," she whispered into his ear.
"Yeah well Seth here," Jimmy gave Seth a sharp slap on the back, "Was just telling Sandy and I about your new boyfriend."
"Oh was he," Marissa tried to mask that she was talking through her teeth, but made sure to shoot Seth a harsh glance.
"Well, it just kinda came up in topic and I…"
"Started rambling?" She asked him.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go get a drink now, before I'm missing a larynx." Seth made a hasty exit. He started to make his way towards the bar, when he noticed Summer standing waiting for a drink. Quickly Seth turned around. "No, no, you're not in high school anymore Seth, you can do this, she's just a girl." He told himself then turned back around and walked up to the bar. "Hey Summer."
Summer looked at him strangely for a moment, trying to figure out why he felt the need to talk to her. "Cohen." She responded in her usual Summer tone, which made Seth smile.
"Sooo, you're here at the bar… alone."
"Thank you Captain Obvious… I was going to go talk to Coop but she seems tied up with the parentals."
"Yeah they're talking about Ryan."
"How could they be talking about Ryan, she hasn't told her parents she's dating anyone."
"Well…"
"You didn't Cohen," she watched as he blushed, and then reached up and slapped him in the chest. "You idiot, she didn't want her parents to know that."
"How was I suppose to know that."
"God Cohen!" Summer rolled her eyes and walked off.
"At least she knows your name…" Seth told himself as he watched Summer walk off.
"Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone kiddo?"
"Well… I've been so busy, and I haven't really got the chance to sit down and talk to you, but I was going to tell you I swear." Marissa felt like a five-year-old child who'd just stolen the last cookie from the jar.
"Tell him about what, honey?" Julie walked up and interjected herself into the conversation.
"Nothing, I'll talk to you about it later Dad."
"No honey, anything you need to tell your father you can tell me as well."
Marissa sighed knowing there was no way to get her mother to leave them alone. "I was telling Dad about the guy I'm seeing."
"You're seeing someone! Honey that's great its long over due that you start dating again. So what's his name, or more importantly who are his parents… No wait I bet he's not from here, a USC student, rich family from the East maybe?"
"His name is Ryan, and he's from Chino." Marissa paused and waited for the explosion.
"CHINO! Where on Earth did you meet someone from Chino…? Oh my God my daughter is dating a hood."
"Julie, who Marissa dates is her business." Jimmy firmly stated to his ex wife.
"Oh that's just great the felon is telling me it's already for our daughter to be dating someone who's probably a criminal as well."
"That's my cue to leave," Marissa leaned in and gave her father a kiss on the cheek, "Bye Dad."
Marissa casually walked away from her bickering parents, ignoring her mothers pleads and calls. She relaxed for a moment as she paused to tell Sandy goodbye.
"I can't blame you for leaving, I'd leave too if it weren't my house."
"Yeah I can honestly say these parties got less interesting after I stopped drinking," she joked to Sandy.
Kirsten stopped and laughed at Marissa's comment, "Well we still drink and they're still not all that interesting. So I take it the boyfriend situation didn't go over so well with your mom."
"Not exactly… I know you guys didn't exactly get the best impression of Ryan, but I promise he really is a great guy."
"Well I've got an idea," Sandy arched his eyebrows at her before continuing to speak. "How about you bring him over for dinner sometime, let him change that impression."
"Sandy that's a great idea, Marissa we could invite your dad and Hailey, and your mom, that way he could meet them under less intimidating circumstance."
"Wow honey Julie Cooper is not intimidating, she's just evil… Really do you want to scary the poor kid off like that, and make me suffer yet another evening with Julie Cooper."
"Sandy…" Kirsten scolded her husband for his comments. "Just think about it Marissa, and if Ryan's as good of a guy as you say he is, which I'm sure he is, then everything will go great."
Marissa politely smiled, "I'll think about it Kirsten, right now I'm kinda late to meet him, so I'd better get going."
"Hey Marissaaaa," Seth scooted his arm around her as she started to walk away.
"Seth I have to go, but don't worry later I'm going to kill you." She shot him a half-kidding smile, mixed with serious eyes.
Ryan winced as he sat on the railing to the lifeguard house, Marissa was late and he was in pain. He didn't want her to think he would ever stand her up, but he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to just hang out without something to distract him from his pain. He tried to focus on the waves, the water, and the moonlight, but one of his eyes was nearly swollen shut so that was making things difficult. His fight hadn't been won with ease and had gone the full ten rounds before Ryan scored a unanimous decision over his opponent. And as soon as the ring doctor had checked him out and give him the thumbs up, he was out the door more than ready to see Marissa. He zipped up his sweatshirt, as the breeze off the ocean grew colder. Even at the beginning of summer, the weather on a California beach could grow quiet cold.
Marissa pulled her car to a stop in the parking lot near the lifeguard house, before she even got out of her car she could make out his figure sitting on the railing. It was him, she could already tell from the distance, but even more so she could feel it in her stomach as she started walking closer and closer to where he was.
"Hey," she whispered in his ear as she wrapped her arms around him.
Ryan sharply winced, then responded through gritted teeth, "Careful."
"Oh I'm so sorry," she quickly withdrew her arms and made her way around to face him. "Oh my god, are you ok, what happened to you." She tried to mask a hint of tearing up in her voice.
"Occupational hazard. I get punched in the face for a living remember?"
She lifted her fingers up and barely traced out his swollen eye, "I'm sorry, are you ok?"
"A little sore, but I'll feel better in a few days. I'm a fast healer." He gave her a half smiled trying not to break open his split lip.
"I knew you boxed, but I guess I don't know I guess it was like play boxing where no one gets hurt."
"Marissa when you met me I was laying in a hospital bed from a fight."
"Point taken," she took his hand and led him inside the lifeguard house. This was their place now; she made that decision in her head right then. She never wanted to spend time there with anyone else ever again; he erased all the bad memories from it and brought her new one. They took seats on the floor; Marissa sat a few feet away being sure to give Ryan space, knowing he was in pain.
Ryan reached over and pulled Marissa against him, "I'm not made of glass."
"I know I just don't want to hurt you… So did you win?"
"Yeah I won, and after I looked around for you, only to remember you had to go to some party tonight. Did you have fun?"
"Never, those parties are always the same thing a bunch of stuff people talking about each other and whatever is the scandal of the moment while they drink far too much."
"So get drunk with them, I'm sure it makes those people much more interesting."
"Yeah it used too."
"Used too?"
"Rehab when I was seventeen, sober three years running."
Ryan cocked his head back and gave his a side glance and half smile, this look made Marissa'a heart melt, "Am I ever going to stop learning new things about you?"
"Sure hope not, things would get boring then." She let out a smile laugh and felt Ryan kiss her temple.
"Sure would, certainly gotta keep things interesting."Ryan kissed her temple again, but he could tell just by the air about her, that Marissa had something on her mind. "What's up?"
"Nothing just thinking…"
"About?"
Marissa sighed, she couldn't believe she was about to do this, "So Seth let it slip to… probably everyone on the planet that I'm seeing someone… And that everyone on the planet just so happened to include my parents."
"Really?" Oh Ryan did not like where this one was going.
"Yeah, and then Sandy and Kirsten had this idea that you could come over to their house for dinner sometime and I know you and the Cohens didn't exactly hit it off but they're really great people and you're really great and they'll like you because I like yo…"
"Marissa! Marissa!" He tried to silence her, "You sound like Seth."
"How would you know I sound like Seth, what you guys talk now?"
"He doesn't have many friends," Ryan joked to her.
"So anyway dinner at the Cohens and you could meet my parents in a neutral environment, that way I don't have my mother breathing down my neck?"
Ryan sighed, "I've never done a parent meet and greet.." He saw that Marissa had heard the hesitation in his voice, because when he looked down she was pleading with her eyes large pools of blue. "But I guess for you I can."
"Thank you," she leaned up and kissed him.
Ryan deepened the kiss for a moment then sharply pulled back, "One condition though."
"Anything."
"Either you give you let me heal up, or we tell them that you're abusive." Once again Marissa heart melt as he gave her the side-glance and half smile. She knew right then that she would come to love that look, and if she let herself she would come to love this man, in fact it was already happening quicker than she'd like.