Chapter 14—Thursday Night
By: Calcium Yeah
Summary: Slash. Luke/Seth. Ryan/Seth. Ch.14. Some filler to get from A to B.
A/N: Something to hold you over while I come to some decisions about how I'm going to wrap this up in a few more chapters. Damn, I started this story a long time ago.
Seth didn't know if this was intended as punishment for his absentmindedness.
Then again, why else would his father drop him off at the beach and not bother to make any arrangements to get him back home?
He hadn't brought his skateboard so he would either be walking back or he'd have to call one of his parents for a ride. He began to wish Ryan had a cell phone—or that they had those walkie-talkie things—so he could get Ryan to come for him. Then again, it probably wasn't a good idea to encourage Ryan to drive off with other people's cars.
Seth began to weigh the pros & cons of calling for a ride. Pro: he'd get back to Ryan faster. Con: he could possibly face an awkward dinner with Ryan and his parents. Pro: he wouldn't have to deal with a long and boring walk. Con: he would probably be facing another long and boring lecture on the ride home. There was also the distinct possibility that his father would just laugh and hang up when he called for the ride since he'd obviously been left here intentionally.
While doing all this contemplating, Seth had already ambled his way up towards the boardwalk. His decision was basically made and he decided to keep going and if he got tired, well then he'd just give in and call for a ride.
In hindsight, of course, he'd ask himself why he did it. These walks never turned out well for him. Someone always…turned up. And just like clockwork, "someone" showed up. But not in the way he had before, because this time Seth saw him first. And this time, he had company.
Luke and Marissa stood leaning against their respective gigantic vehicles. Seth would have laughed at the absurdity of it, but then he remembered what he was driving around in only hours earlier.
Seth must have blinked, because one second they were engaging in a mutual angst fest, and the next thing he noticed, they were both looking at him. He didn't know if they'd seen him at the same time or if one of them saw him first and told the other, or what. A few weeks ago, he would have just steered clear, but he was obviously expected to say or do something now.
As he got closer, Seth could almost feel Marissa wanting to ask about Ryan. She probably thought he was somewhere nearby.
You should've stayed at home; you might have seen him recovering from the blowjob I gave him. An image flashed in his mind, one of him on the receiving end, Luke's head moving frantically—
Seth shook his head, clearing his thoughts and receiving a strange grimace from Marissa, but Luke only scratched his eyebrow. Seth wasn't getting any vibes from Luke at all, nothing but neutrality there. Was he doing this because they were in public, or because he'd really let Seth go?
This wasn't the usual interaction they had when they were in public though. He was acting like…nothing. Maybe it had something to do with Marissa and her problems. Was he actually trying to stay with her? It's not like he really needed a beard—maybe he did in his mind, since he also felt he needed to verbally assault Seth to maintain his image—but, maybe he really liked her for some reason.
It had been less than 24 hours since they'd had sex. That was all Seth could think about as he approached them. It was driving him crazy. Marissa titled her head slightly, mumbling something at Luke that sounded to Seth like, "you choked up whippy", which Seth assumed was "you broke up with me".
You did. You broke up with her. "Hey." What else was there to say? Marissa, looked up sheepishly, seemingly nervous or ashamed of something, and Seth felt good knowing he wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable. Luke hadn't looked away since Seth first noticed them looking at him.
They'd technically been together that very morning. Luke's face remained blank and he turned to Marissa, apparently continuing some other part of their conversation. "He's worked with money, forever, right? He just has to do some things differently—."
"Can we just not talk about this?" Marissa was getting irritated. Luke obviously wasn't being sensitive enough. He was, after all, still just Luke.
It had been better than Kal. Seth now felt like he shouldn't be standing there. He couldn't even b.s. a line up to feign concern or offer condolence or anything. He was pretty sure that if he spoke, something inappropriate would come out of his mouth, like "believe me, you'll see just how horrible this lifestyle you've become accustomed to really is once you're on the outside looking in." Seriously, that's exactly what he was tempted to say, it was the only thing waiting to come out, and it was the only thing in his head besides…Ryan. There, he was now thinking of Ryan. Much better.
"I'm sorry. Look, maybe you should be with him, I'm not helping."
"No, it's not that. But, you're right. I need to be home." Marissa kept glancing up at Seth as she spoke, and he knew without a doubt that she wanted to talk to Ryan. But, she obviously still felt uncomfortable with the topic around Luke, so she was using every bit of willpower not to ask about him. Apparently, expelling all that energy on holding her tongue caused her to forget to offer him a ride. That, or maybe she wasn't really going home. That's what he told himself, it couldn't be that she didn't care to give him one. Never that..
Luke's movements were only a few behind Marissa's, rounding to the driver's side of his jeep as she was sliding into her SUV. Seth was insanely confused as he'd assumed Luke would be hanging around for a moment after Marissa left. Why was he leaving?
Luke didn't look back at him; he hadn't so much as snuck a glance since turning away from the stare earlier.
Something was wrong. When Luke had dropped him off earlier, he'd gotten this feeling like…it was messed up to say, but he had been pretty sure that Luke was thinking about doing…something. Seth kept dodging thoughts of the word 'suicide', but it jumped around his head anyway.
"You didn't want a ride, right?" Luke shouted in his general direction once Marissa was gone.
Seth paused with one foot in mid-air. "Um…," the foot landed, "I was just walking."
"So, you don't want a ride?"
Seth thought about it, but perhaps not long enough, because the furthest he got was 'why the hell not?'.
Just as Ryan suspected she would, Kirsten came home shortly after Seth & Sandy's departure. He immediately ducked down & decided to find somewhere inconspicuous to be until she went in the house, at which time he'd leave the premises to avoid any interaction with the lady of the house. He still got the impression that she wasn't too comfortable with him, and he really didn't want to push his presence on her right now.
He thought of checking on Marissa. He didn't know why, it just felt like the thing to do. But, then he thought about jacking off. Not because he really had to, just because he basically wanted to. He wanted to do it while he thought of Seth.
But, while that would keep Ryan tucked away & out of Kirsten's path, there was always the chance that she would actually come across him—and that would just be far too uncomfortable to allow to happen.
So, now Ryan was in the unfortunate position of sincerely craving some "time with himself", but not wanting to risk having that time while Kirsten was in the house, and being unable to think of anything to do besides go next door.
Then again…Ryan remembered that shower he'd been planning on taking. A shower could work; he'd be out of the way in the shower. And no one would walk in on him in the bathroom—well, maybe Seth would, but Seth wasn't home.
Ryan whipped off the wife beater he'd just put on and tried to undress as casually as possible, not like some perv who couldn't wait to touch himself in the shower…again.
But, how else could he really describe himself? Because as soon as he got in the shower, he had a handful of shampoo and no intention of washing his hair. This looked like it was turning into a daily thing.
It was harder—more difficult—today though, without Seth's voice outside keeping him going. Ryan tried to make his brain reproduce the sound, but it wouldn't come out right.
"Seth." He breathed the name, knowing it was a bad habit to get into, that it was just asking to give himself away to anyone who might be listening, but it felt like something he had to do. He shoved the image of Seth into his mind, trying to recreate what he'd felt the day before.
He thought about it, replaying Seth's words. He could almost feel it now, as he remembered how Seth fell deeper into his lies. Ryan was getting more and more into it with everything he remembered. His own hands massaging in very single lie, relishing them, feeling them in a way that he could only do now. In this box, this sensory deprivation chamber of a bathroom, he didn't brood, he didn't feel disappointment, he didn't fret and worry about the reasons for and repercussions from Seth lying to him. He just took it, and let it feel good.
It had been slightly easier yesterday. Today, he had to throw in some rationalizations, telling himself that people get off on much worse things. Physically hurting themselves or other people, using animals, kids. Whereas he just took in something and chose not to let it hurt him, used it instead…for pleasure.
The rationalizations helped, he got into it—it felt like it took forever, but he got into it. His hand felt better and better as he listed every lie he could think of that Seth had ever told him. Even things he wasn't sure were lies, he pretended they were.
His body temperature had risen and the water was feeling too hot, but he didn't want to move his left hand, which was balancing him on the slippery surface—and he certainly wasn't interrupting what his right was doing.
The heat was getting unbearable, and he focused on his thoughts.
"Seth." He said it again, but it didn't have the desired effect.
"You're lying." That helped.
"Seth, you're lying." Better. Much better. He could almost feel what he was looking for.
"Seth, you're lying to me." Ryan had found it. The phrase that got him over. He didn't repeat it, but he kept it on his mind as he finished.
Ryan held his hand out under the water, watched the stream clean his hand off, but even when it looked clear, it still felt sticky. He stared down at it, droplets still streaming down, but the feeling wouldn't leave.
It wasn't clear how long he'd stood there.
Ryan was buzzing, and now that it was over, he chose not to dwell on what it took to get him there. He knew that it was hard to substitute once you'd had the real thing, and he'd had the real thing this morning. And afternoon.
He tore his gaze away and shot his hand down to adjust the temperature, sending a shock of cold into his body. He grabbed the bar of soap resting where he'd left it that morning. He slathered himself in soap, but kept feeling like he wasn't clean enough. Eventually, he had to ask himself how long he'd been in there and he realized it was probably time to rinse off and get out.
Ryan didn't bother with a towel; he stormed out of the bathroom and flopped down on the bed, realizing that there were almost certainly a few things wrong with his new routine in the shower. After a moment, it clicked that he was lying there naked in a pool house with a lot of open windows. He wondered briefly what Kirsten would do if she saw him like that and was half tempted to find out—or 49 tempted because he decided it was better to get dressed.
Ryan didn't want to start watching the clock again, but Seth obviously wasn't home yet because he definitely would have came to see him, so Ryan still had an indeterminable amount of time to kill. Thus it was back to Plan A. Or B, or whatever plan letter going to check on Marissa was.
After digging around, Ryan found a pair of basketball shorts and an actual shirt with sleeves and everything that hopefully wasn't appealing enough to entice Marissa since he wasn't in any condition to deal with that. He'd try to get her to talk somewhere where he could see the Cohen driveway when Seth got home. That way he'd get a chance to change before they saw each other.
Ryan peeked around before exiting the pool house, and seeing no one in sight, he slid out into the open and began heading down the driveway. Ryan noticed that Sandy's car was back and didn't know if he was relieved that the two adults could entertain each other, or anxious that if they saw him and wanted to talk, he'd be stuck in a room alone with the two of them together. He stayed pretty close to the barrier between the Cohen and Cooper properties, but he knew it was kind of stupid since he wouldn't be obscured from view as far as anyone in the Cohen home was concerned.
However, the barrier clearly blocked any view from the Cooper household as he could distinctly hear that on the other side someone was carrying on what sounded from the tone of voice like a sensitive phone conversation.
He didn't recognize the voice at first, but after the word "gnarly" was used, Ryan concluded it was Summer.
"Did he, like, try to get back together with you?" Summer's tone seemed worried, he could tell her face was probably scrunched up as she listened to the response he couldn't hear. Ryan wasn't too sure about his status in the eyes of Summer. He didn't know whether to hide out until she was gone, or try to find out if the coast was clear to go see Marissa.
"But, come on, he'd probably try to give your father the money himself if he could. He's totally into you. You're like soul mates" Ryan realized then that it was Marissa on the other line. Meaning she wasn't home…probably, you never know, these did seem like the kind of girls to get on the phone with each other after they'd just been together.
"Trust me, you do not want to come home right now, I was just there since I couldn't get through on your phone." Okay, so she definitely wasn't home. There went that idea.
"Cohen?" Ryan paused, thinking Summer had heard him walking along side her. Summer laughed "And you just left him? Um, hello, he probably came over looking for a ride. That is too funny…Coop, why would Luke give him a ride? I'm pretty sure he just left him there…I could really use a chai latte."
Ryan stopped himself, realizing both that he was almost at the end of the driveway and would inevitably bump into Summer, and that there was really no point in continuing that way anymore.
He stood still for a moment, knowing there was something he should have picked up from that conversation, but unsure what it was. He spun around the second it hit him. Something else almost hit him as Sandy was pulling out of the driveway. Ryan could see Kirsten in the passenger seat trying to conceal a smirk. He wondered about the things she found amusing.
"We'll be ba-ack." Sandy's tone was playful and he didn't question why Ryan was standing in the driveway. Well, then they more than likely didn't suspect him of smoking down there. He guessed that they were a bit too involved in whatever they were doing. They were probably going to have some alone time themselves after picking up Seth….
Who was somewhere with Luke.
Not with him, Ryan told himself. They were just in the same area.
But, it sounded like he'd approached them.
Why would Seth approach them? He hated Marissa…and Luke. With good reason, he hated Luke.
Ryan asked himself why he was even thinking about this.
He trusted Seth. That's all there was to it. There was no reason not to trust him. Marissa had clearly been wherever he & Luke were, and it was probably a public place, which would keep Luke in check. He trusted Seth, and Luke was in check. He was fine.
He was fine with storming up to the pool house, grabbing his bike, and finding Seth.
But that was silly since Sandy & Kirsten were going for him right now. And hey, there was that empty house he wanted. Perfect for viewing random, unmarked tapes you find stashed behind a rock.
As soon as he entered the pool house, Ryan's eyes drifted over to the duffle bag in which he'd stashed the mystery tape. He thought it would be ironic if it was porn since he'd basically sated himself for the night.
But, he also kind of hoped it was porn since he'd gone through the trouble of waiting until the house was empty. For a brief moment, he worried that Kirsten and Sandy might return. But after he e walked over to the bag and pulled the tape out, he looked at it and thought "why the hell not?'
I absolutely promise you the next chapter before the holiday (meaning I'll upload it on Sunday, who knows when the hell it'll post).
I heartReviews…was that even legible?