Chapter Thirteen

"Ryan…" Marissa whispered into her sleeping boyfriend's ear. When she noticed his lack of response, she leaned up and kissed the area behind his ear, "Ryan." She whispered again

Ryan groaned and pulled his eyes half-open to give her a sleepy gaze, "It's Sunday, I sleep in." He mumbled and let his eyes fall closed again.

"It's nine in the morning this is sleeping in for you," she let her kisses trail from his ear down his neck. "Don't go back to sleep," she moved her way along his jaw line and began to kiss around his mouth.

"Umm unn," he shook his head playfully trying to escape her kisses. "Sleep is good."

Marissa pulled back and grinned at his playfulness, it was a trait that wasn't seen that often, but it was something that just made him that much more adorable to her. "I'll get you awake." She gave him a stretched grin and lightly ran her fingers down his face, before she tossed the covers off of both of them.

"Now I'm just cold and naked and still going back to sleep," he told her through the slits of his eyes.

Her response was to merely shake her head, making Ryan think he'd won the battle. But Marissa Cooper was not one to let anyone get the best of her if she could help it; she had a few tricks up her sleeve. Before Ryan had a chance to pull the covers back over them, she threw a leg across him and sat straddling his chest. Marissa had never felt this comfortable with another person before, she wasn't ashamed of herself of her body with him, she wasn't afraid to let him touch her. And for the first time ever she wasn't afraid to be the initiator. Her actions worked for their purpose, Ryan full opened his eyes, and moved his torso upward trying to catch her lips in a kiss, which Marissa was artfully dodging as she giggled. Determined not to let him be the one, who started things this time, she finally moved in and caught his bottom lip between her teeth, biting down gently and urging him towards her. Both smiled as they kissed, making it all the more difficult to achieve a deep kiss, but neither was worried about that, this was a level of playfulness they'd never achieve before.

"Hey Coop," Summer unknowingly called for the other side of Marissa's door, and before Marissa had a chance to break her kiss and respond, Summer barged in. "Cohen and I are going tooo…." Summer's eyes flew open as she saw Marissa naked sitting on top of Ryan, trying to cover herself with her arms. She quickly jerked her head in the other direction and lifted a hand up to shield her eyes. "Ewww! Ewww! Ewww! Coop, Chino, ew, ew, I didn't need to see that."

"See what?" An oblivious Seth heard Summer from the hallway and followed her voice into Marissa's room. "OoooKKKaayyyy, right…." Seth also jerked his head and shielded his eyes, "Yeah didn't need to see that," he put his free arm around Summer.

"Ummm, yeah" Summer waved her free hand and looked for something to say. "Ok, well, come on Cohen… Coop, Chino, we'll see you guys downstairs, DRESSED." She quickly pulled Seth from the room, nodding her head in shock the whole way out, and slamming the door behind her.

Marissa collapsed red faced into Ryan's chest. "Oh my God," she laughed and shook her head into him.

"Jesus, Cooper what kind of cheap apartment is this, you don't have a lock on the door?" He grinned and hugged her to him.

"Well we didn't exactly think about that last night now did we."

"We, oh no, you were the last one to walk out the door last night."

"Ryan, I was not."

"You were too, when you went into Summer's room."

Marissa jerked her head off his chest and pointed her finger at him, "Um someone got up to go to the bathroom last night at 3 am, right after I did."

"Oh yeah," Ryan shifted his eyes around the room and avoided eye contact.

"Yeah, so this is all your fault."

'I'm not the one who crawled on top of me this morning, if we'd still been laying there sleeping, Summer would not have freaked out nearly as bad."

"I didn't hear you complaining after I got on top of you."

"Anyone else want to walk in on us?" He threw his hands in the air to laugh off what had just happened. "The Cohens, you dad. Your mother maybe?"

"Don't say that."

"Yeah you have a point, she might actually walk in, I mean her anti-Ryan sensors are probably going nuts right now." He laughed and kissed Marissa on the forehead.

All Marissa could do was laugh, just bury her face in Ryan's chest and laugh. "I cannot believe that just happen."

"We'd better get dressed and go down there before they think…"

"That we just continued on as soon as they left the room?"

"Yeah," Ryan nodded his head at her.

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Summer and Seth silently sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee and silently looking at each other. "So…" Seth took a sip of his coffee and looked up at her.

"No, the answer is no." Summer bluntly stated.

"There was no question, Summer all I said was so…"

"I don't care, after seeing that, the answer will always be no." She finished her sentence, and jumped almost knocking the table over as she heard someone coming through the kitchen door.

"Ryan, hey buddy," Seth jumped from and slapped Ryan on the back, shaking his hand at the same time. "Good to see you this morning… again… and dressed."

"Seth why are you touching me?"

Seth quickly let go of Ryan's hand and sat back down, "Sorry, too much coffee, it makes me all crazy in the mornings."

"Where's Coop?" Summer got right to her point.

Ryan looked down at the ground and tried not to seem embarrassed as he answered, "She's umm getting dressed."

"Good." Summer looked to Seth and Ryan standing in the kitchen both with their hands in their pockets like schoolboys. "You two go do something together," she waved her hands at them. "I need to talk to Coop, it could take a while." She watched as Ryan and Seth looked at each other then back to her. "That means leave… And Cohen… we have a date 5 o'clock sharp."

They looked to each other again and starting making their way to the door, "Did she just kick us out?" Ryan raised an eyebrow to Seth.

"Yes but don't argue, just keep walking," Seth leaned over covering his mouth he whispered into Ryan's ear, "She has rage black-outs"

"I heard that Cohen!"

"Quick run!" Seth grabbed Ryan by the shoulder and pulled him out the door.

No sooner had the door closed then Marissa made her way down the stairs. "Did someone just leave?"

"Not willingly." Summer answered.

"Huh?" Marissa walked the last few stairs stroking her hair with a brush.

"The boys I kicked them out, don't worry they'll be back."

"Ok," Marissa cocked her head to the side and gave Summer a funny look.

"So, sit let's talk. You, Chino, naked, bedroom, let's discuss it…. But let's not give me that mental image ever again."

"Well it would have helped if you'd knocked."

"How was I suppose to know you had company, I mean its not like his car was here or anything like that."

"You still could have knocked."

"Yeah, yeah, so…" Summer gave her best friend a slick grin.

Marissa gave a deep sigh and a broad smile, "He told me he loved me and… Everything just felt… perfect, like more perfect than anything I'd ever felt in my life. I am insanely, little kid like, trashy romance novel, bad romantic comedy, in love with him." Another smiled crossed her face, and she met her best friends loving gaze. She knew Summer had never seen her like this, she'd never seen herself like this. It finally felt like maybe for once, her life was falling coming together.

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"Coop?" Summer called into the kitchen to Marissa. "Have you heard from Chino?" She looked at her watched again. It was ten till six and she hadn't heard a single word from Cohen. She'd told him and Ryan to get lost, but she didn't actually mean get lost. She meant leave and be back at five for their date, she told him that. Now he was risking a rage blackout.

"No, why?"

"Because he and Cohen left here together when I kicked them out and now Cohen is almost an hour late for our date and I'm going to kick his bony ass for it. I know he's like heterosexually in love with your boyfriend and all, but still I am suppose to be more important."

"Wait?" Marissa poked her head into the living room and gave Summer a quizzically grin. "He's in love with Ryan?"

"In that envious, heterosexual crush, talks about him, wishes he had a body like that kind of way, yeah."

Marissa rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen laughing, Summer always rolled her eyes, but her was in annoyance. She jumped when the phone rang, she didn't even have to say hello, and her instincts told her who it was. "Cohen you'd better be outside my door with a good excuse."

"I need to talk to Marissa," his tone emotionless.

"You're an hour late for our date, and you call here wanting Marissa, you'd better already be dead"

"Summer!" He yelled without yelling. "I need Marissa on the phone."

She sensed the urgency in his voice and silently walked into the kitchen and held the phone out to

Marissa. "It's Seth." Her tone as cold as his had been.

Marissa raised an eyebrow, but immediately felt a sinking in her gut, something was wrong. She hadn't heard from Ryan since he'd left with Seth, and now… Well her real tip off was Summer calling him Seth and not Cohen. "Seth? What's going on?"

"It's Ryan… Well not exactly… We went to Chino today and… Joey died of a heart attack last night…"

"Oh my God," Marissa clasped her hands to her mouth and felt the hot tears begin to stream from her eyes. "Where's Ryan."

"We're at my house… He's…. Well he's pretty much unresponsive, he didn't even want me to call you."

"I'm on my way." She hung up the phone before Seth could put forth protest.

Frantically Marissa began searching for her purse and car keys; Summer watched helplessly not knowing what was wrong or what to do. "Coop… what happened?"

"Ryan's trainer, Joey… He died last night. They're at the Cohen's I gotta go."

Summer jumped into responsive mode, "I'll drive you."