Chapter 2: Back to "Normal"

"Hello, Sunshine." Ryan smiled at Marissa.

"Hey..." she scooted closer, "this is what I needed."

"What is?"

"Being with you. I'd be driving myself crazy if I wasnt with you."

Ryan kissed Marissa's forehead. "You know, you can stay as long as, you know,

you need to be with me."

Marissa smiled. The phone rang and Ryan jumped up to get it. Marissa got up and

stretched, looking at Ryan desperately. Ryan hung up smiling.

"What?"

"Trey is going to be alright."

"That's great!" Marissa jumped up and hugged Ryan.

"Im not smiling because of Trey."

"What else would you be smiling for then?"

"You look beautiful, rested, and you're with me, how could I not smile?"

Ryan grabbed Marissa's hands.

"This is such a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, Ry. I did this to him, not to kill him,

but to get him off of you," her eyes began to water, "I love you, Ryan."

"I love you too and I would have done the same thing for you. I know, he's my brother, but he's

tainted the whole relationship I had with him.He deserved it and you had every right to."

Ryan kissed her forehead and walked out front. Marissa ran up behind him and hand - in - hand, they

walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Ry! What's new? How's Trey?" Sandy asked.

"He's gonna be alright."

"That's great! But, hey, I need to go to work... bagel?"

"Nah!"

"No thanks, Mr. Cohen."

Seth walked down in his bath robe. "Ryan... Marissa... parental..."

"Bye!" Sandy walked out the door.

"News on Trey?"

"He's gonna be alright, so maybe he'll heal and disappear." Ryan said calmly.

"Cohen?... Cohen!" Summer walked in. "Oh my God! COOP!" Summer ran up and

grabbed Marissa and hugged her tightly. They both began crying in each others arms.

They walked out into the backyard to talk and left Ryan and Seth to chat.

"Heard from your mom?" Ryan asked Seth.

"She called last night when we were at the hospital. Can you believe it? Sheonly gets 15 minutes a day to talk on the phone.''

"Wow..."

"Yea, she made friends with a knitting group."

"Fun..."

"Let's go see what our girls are up to." Ryan and Seth walked out by the pool. Summer and Marissa

sat there still crying but smiling. Seth sat next to Summer and Ryan next to Marissa.

"Lets go to the beach." Summer said

"Does this mean we could go back to normal?" Marissa asked looking around hopefully at her group

of friends.

"'Rissa, look at us. Are we ever normal?" Seth asked smiling before being soxked in the stomach by Summer.

They all smiled and got up and walked out the door on their way to the beach.

chapter 3 coming soon...