Ryan woke up at 6:00 a.m. He was ready for the long drive to see Marissa. The only problem was getting Seth up. He knew that Seth would bitch about having to wake up so early, but he was the one who insisted on going with Ryan.

Ryan walked into the kitchen to find Kirsten already up.

"Hey Ryan. You're up early on a Saturday."

"I was getting ready to wake Seth up to go see Marissa." Ryan spoke quietly. He didn't really like to be asked questions about him and Marissa, or their dating.

"Okay…well I made coffee…and there's bagels. I'll go get Seth up for you. You can go ahead and eat some breakfast."

"Thanks." Kirsten left the kitchen to wake up Seth.

Ryan couldn't wait any longer. As soon as Kirsten left the room he grabbed the phone off of the receiver and dialed Summer.

Summer woke up to her cell phone ringing. She didn't want to answer it, it was 6:15 a.m. She felt that she needed to though. She looked at the caller ID and answered.

"Seth…?" Summer asked sleepily.

"No, Ryan…are you up? You need to hurry. C'mon Summer, we don't have all day and Seth is just getting up…"

"Chino..? Calm down. I'm getting up right now. I'll be over there in a little while okay. Make sure Cohen takes a shower." With that Summer hung up the phone. She was way too tired, but she knew how excited Ryan was to be seeing Marissa. She was too, of course, but she did stay up really late. She got up eventually and got dressed, having took a shower the night before. "I hope Chino or Cohen's driving…" she said to herself.

Seth walked into the kitchen fully dressed and ready to go. He was going to be there for Ryan and not complain about his discomfort…for once. "Okay, Ryan…I am ready. My hair is working for me today. I got my sketch book and our itinerary…"

"Itinerary? Seth, we're not even staying all night. You really think we need an…"

"Yes Ryan, we do. Me and Summer planned on giving you and Marissa some 'alone time' so I went on the Internet and found some cool places to go…y'know. Who knows anyway, we could spend the night."

"I don't think so, but might as well be prepared. I guess I could go pack some extra clothes." Ryan walked out of the kitchen to go pack his bag. This was going to be a very long drive he figured. Seth and Summer arguing…Death Cab for Cutie playing, but he decided he didn't mind them all that bad. He even became accustomed to Seth and Summer's non-stop bickering. Sometimes it was funny to hear what stupid arguments they came up with.

"Okay Seth you call us every hour…you got that?"

"Yes, father, every hour."

"We'll see you guys later then." Sandy and Kirsten watched as Ryan, Seth, and Summer drove away. "Good thing we trust them." Sandy said out loud.

"Yeah, I guess we have to." Kirsten said turning around and walking back into the house.


"First stop of our trip, we need food, drinks, and other survival requirements!" Seth said referring to the convenient store as he hopped out of the Range Rover. "Whaddya think? Some Goldfish maybe? Mountain Dew will hype me up."

"No!" Summer and Ryan screamed at the same time. "The last thing you need is to be hyped up Cohen." Summer added. "If you are a good boy, maybe later, but for now just get some waters and a little snack."

"Yes dear, I shall do that." Seth walked into the store to get the supplies.

"We've only been driving for 30 minutes and he's starting to drive me nuts…how on earth can he be that hyper when we stayed up til like 4:00?"

"Lack of sleep can make you that way, I guess." Ryan replied…Seth was starting to get to him too. For the first 30 minutes of the trip Seth mainly talked about comic books, but he kept getting off subject and talking about himself. It didn't surprise Ryan at all though. He was used to it by now. But for some reason Summer was acting pretty moody towards Seth…more than usual. Ryan wasn't sure why, maybe lack of sleep turned her into a bitch.

"We'll just give him the GameBoy and put him in the back…" Summer said trying to think of ways to get Seth to be quiet for a little while.

"That would work, if I hadn't forgot the GameBoys. He brought his sketch book. Let him draw a little." Ryan stopped pumping the gas for the Range Rover as Seth walked out of the store.

"Let's go!" Seth yelled enthusiastically. "I've got the goods."

This is going to be a longer trip than I imagined. Ryan thought.


Marissa had to be up at 7:00 a.m. She took a shower and got dressed. She was allowed to spend the day with Ryan until 10:30 at night. She was so happy. She would get to see Ryan finally.

Even though Marissa had only been at the recovery center for 5 days, she didn't get to see Ryan for a long time before that too. She had to go through with the therapy sessions and Julie kept Marissa on house lock for 2 weeks. Marissa hated her mom even more now.

Marissa's life was exactly the same everyday at the center. You wake up, shower, dress, eat breakfast, go through some therapy, get some time to yourself to do what you want, then eat lunch, more time to yourself, then it's more therapy, then eat dinner, and last go to bed. She usually stayed up later than most the other girls. She would read or write or just listen to her headphones. But either way, she hated the never ending cycle. The monotony.

It was almost 8:30 now, and Marissa was waiting for the group session to be over. Then she would go to her individual session, and then she would get to do whatever she wanted for the rest of the day. She found that the weekends were different. Not as much schedule, and she loved it. But she knew deep down that she loved it more because Ryan would be there soon.


Ryan pulled up to the Recovery center at 11:00. Seth was in the back seat asleep and Summer was in the front seat asleep. Ryan decided to leave them in the car and he'd go get Marissa on his own. Just in case they woke up, he put the keys by Summer's bag, so she could find them.

He walked into the glass doors and right away there was a nurse looking lady asking him questions. "Who are you here for?" "Marissa Cooper." "Are you family?" "Boyfriend." and a few more like that. Then she led him to where Marissa was sitting on the couch watching The Valley with some other girls. She didn't know he was there, looking at her. She looked so much better than before. She was sober. He cleared his throat and all the girls turned and looked at him. Marissa jumped up and ran into his arms.

"I missed you so much Ryan."

"I missed you too. Ready to get out of here for a little while?"

Marissa just smiled and started walking towards the nurse looking lady. She filled out some papers, signature here and there. What time she'd be back etc. And they were out of the Recovery center. Marissa never felt so free in her life. Ryan walked with her, holding her hand and smiling and turning to kiss her every few seconds. They were going to have the best day ever. He knew it. She knew it. They were happy and they were together, which was all that mattered.