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Chapter 5.

"What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?" Groundhog Day.

Ryan only barely heard the phone ringing. His head hurt. His whole body hurt. Why was it that a whole day could reset itself but somehow his hangover remained? And now Seth was there, babbling on as usual. His head felt hazy with leftover alcohol. But the sound of Seth's voice triggered something. Somewhere in the deep realms of his mind lay the hint of a memory……..

He fumbled with the pool house door. It wouldn't open. He pushed and pulled but it wouldn't budge. All he wanted to do was crash. Actually no, he wanted to eat and then crash. Fridge. There was always food in the fridge in the kitchen. He staggered over to the main house, swaying this way and that but still just about keeping his balance. The lights were off and he didn't bother turning them on. The glare would only hurt his eyes. Food. Food then sleep. That was all he needed right now. There had to be a plate of leftover chicken in the fridge. There was always a plate of leftover something in there.

The world was spinning. Somehow he'd managed to stumble his way home. His bike was still chained up outside the bar he'd just spent the evening in. Not that it mattered, as soon as morning came it would be right back in the garage again. Drinking the day away was something he'd never thought he'd end up doing. That was a Dawn Atwood thing. He could kind of see why his mom had turned to alcohol. Living in Chino, knowing nothing would ever change, everything always turning out the same. That was something he knew a lot about now. This day, this repetitive day, he couldn't fix. He'd tried. Tried everything he could. It was driving him crazy. It had driven him crazy. When he'd failed to make Lindsay stay again he'd headed towards the pier. A sudden urge for a beer had grabbed him. A couple of beers to give his mind a rest from all the thinking. He'd made his way to a little musty bar in the numbered streets, grateful for the fake I.D in his wallet. It felt good to be somewhere different, doing something different. Shoot a few rounds of pool, drink a few beers. His brain felt relieved. He felt relieved. Numb. Numb was good. It made a change from all the thinking and planning.

Ryan swayed from side to side in front of the open fridge door.

"Hey. Thought you were one of the parents."

Ryan looked up to see two Seths standing in the arch between the kitchen and living room. His head began to spin as he tried to focus the two blurry images into one.

Seth was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "And parents would be a bad thing because yes, that was Summer just leaving. The craziest things happened tonight-" Seth switched on the main light and caught sight of Ryan swaying in front of the open fridge.

Ryan attempted in a very uncoordinated fashion to cover his eyes from the light and in doing so accidentally knocked one of the bottles of wine from the fridge door. It fell to the floor, smashing into a puddle of chardonnay and glass.

"Whoa," Seth exclaimed, joining Ryan by the fridge. He took in Ryan's bloodshot half-focused eyes. "You're drunk!"

"Mmm," Ryan mumbled, stumbling back and resting haphazardly on the kitchen island counter.

"Then it's a good thing the parents aren't home," Seth decided, closing the fridge door. "Things must have gone really badly with Lindsay."

"Always." Ryan leant back against the counter. That was an understatement. It started to laugh. It wasn't really funny, the alcohol just made it seem that way. Lindsay was leaving and he was drunk. Two things he'd never had imagined a few weeks ago.

Seth gave Ryan a worried look. Ryan was not one for laughing and especially not the semi-hysterical laughter he was currently exhibiting. He was also not one for drinking. Something really bad must have happened. Something bad enough for Seth to put his self-absorbed mentality to one side and resist the urge to tell Ryan all about the night he'd just had with Summer.

Ryan stumbled again and almost knocked a plate of bagels onto the floor.

Seth looked Ryan up and down. He needed to get him out of the kitchen before his mom and dad got home. "We need to get you to the pool house."

Ryan rubbed at his eyes. "Pool house. Yeah." Seth hooked an arm underneath Ryan's and began leading him towards the door, trying to manoeuvre around the broken glass as he did so. Supporting Ryan's weight was harder than he thought. If this was going to become a common occurrence he was going to have to start thinking about working out.

"What happened Ryan?" Seth asked gently. "What happened with Lindsay?"

Ryan shrugged slightly as they made their way outside. "She's leaving. Always leaving. Can't change it. Can't do anything." As he said the words his body slumped in defeat, catching Seth off balance and causing them both to stumble backwards onto the step.

"Okay buddy. We'll do this in two legs. Kind of like a relay," Seth smirked. Although something really bad must have happened for Ryan to get into this state it was still quite funny to see him so inebriated.

Ryan kept talking quietly, almost to himself. "Always today. Never tomorrow. The clock just turns right back. Can't change it. Can't change anything. Lindsay leaves, Always leaves. Stuck. Stuck in today."

Ryan was babbling. Ryan didn't babble. He brooded. Seth babbled. And drinking – that was Marissa's thing. Ryan really wasn't acting like himself. And he really wasn't making sense. He could see that Ryan was slowly beginning to fall asleep sitting on the step. There was no way he'd be able to move him if he was unconscious.

"Let's get you to the pool house before the parents show up and catch you drunk." He tried to get Ryan to stand but Ryan refused to move.

"Let them find me. Doesn't matter. The day will just start over and none of this will have happened."

Seth looked amused. "Buddy, you're gonna wish you had the power to turn back time when you wake up with a hangover tomorrow."

Ryan shook his head, annoyed. Seth didn't get it. No one got it. "Not super powers Seth. Groundhog Day."

Seth looked at him quizzically. "You get drunk and think you're in a Bill Murray movie? We seriously need to get you to the pool house." Seth tried one more time to get Ryan to move but he still refused to co-operate.

"Same day. Over and over and over," Ryan muttered.

"Okay." Seth decided the best way to get Ryan to move was to humor him. Because there was no way he was going to be able to carry him by himself. " So when you wake up and its today again then just remind me of this conversation."

Ryan tilted his head and glared at Seth. Except the drunk cross-eyed expression that showed on his face took away any of the annoyance the look was meant to portray. Seth didn't get it. "You won't remember this conversation. Won't have happened yet."

Seth thought about this for a moment. He was one of the few people in the world who thought seriously about seemingly impossible things. Example: He regularly tried to use the force to move a ringing telephone towards him and often checked to see if he'd developed x-ray vision when he walked passed the girl's locker room. "So tomorrow-"

"Today," Ryan interjected. Seth really didn't get it.

"Okay, today. When it's today again tell me something to convince me. Tell me something you'd only know if you were stuck in a Groundhog Day. Like, I don't know?" He thought for a moment for something only he knew. "Okay, tell me how I tried to part the rain between the house and the pool house like Moses parted the sea when you didn't answer the phone this morning so I wouldn't get wet."

Even in his drunken state Ryan could see the sense that made. "Okay," he nodded. If he'd been less drunk he would have realised that he now had a way of convincing Seth. He'd contemplated telling him before but the only evidence he had to persuade him was the Spider Man kiss. And by the time that happened and Seth was convinced it would be too late in the day for him to help in any way.

"Deal." Seth could see he'd won Ryan over. He was looking less stubborn. "So let's get you to bed."

Ryan co-operated this time. The world was spinning so badly now that he really needed to lie down.

Seth helped Ryan through the pool house doors and over to the bed. "So get some sleep and we'll do the whole day over. It'll be great. We can get tattoos or something."

Ryan collapsed face first onto the bed and Seth, satisfied of his good dead of getting Ryan to bed before the parents found him in a drunken state, headed to the door. He paused at the entrance and turned round. "And if tomorrow doesn't turn out to be today I'll see you in the kitchen for a breakfast of coffee and Tylenol to tell you all about Summer not going to Italy." He grinned, thinking over the crazy night.

Ryan stirred slightly on the bed. "Yeah, yeah," he murmured into the mattress. "Spider Man kiss. Already know."

Seth's grin widened, caught up in the memory. "Man, that kiss. Spider Man wasn't the best movie – not on par with X-Men- but seriously, that…." He stopped in his tracks. "That kiss. I haven't told you about that kiss." How the hell did Ryan know? He turned on his heels. Maybe all the nonsense Ryan had been babbling about Groundhog Day was true. "Jesus and Moses! You're telling the truth!" He covered the ground between the door and the bed in two steps. "Ryan!"

But Ryan was already deep in an alcohol induce slumber...

Seth stood over him, holding the edge of the bed covers. "Okay. I'm giving you 5 seconds to get up and then I'm taking your covers away. Five, four, three – You're not naked under there are you? Two – You'd better not be naked under there-"

"You just tried to part the rain like Moses parted the sea because you didn't want to get wet on your way over here," Ryan said. A half-smile caught on his lips as Seth stopped and did a double take.

"No I didn't," Seth tried, looking sheepish. He walked over to the blind-covered windows. "How did you…"

Ryan couldn't help but grin, and then wince as pain throbbed at his temples. Suddenly the pain didn't matter so much. It would take some explaining but Seth would believe him. If anyone was going to believe him it would be Seth. He was Seth Cohen afterall. Today was going to be different. Today he wasn't going to be alone.

TBC