Ryan lay on his bed, in the pool house reading one of Seth's comic books. It was the new Legion comic in the series. Although he was not a big proponent of comic books, he had nothing better to do this one lazy, early summer afternoon. Seth was off with Summer - doing God knows what and Sandy was at the office working with one of his clients. Suddenly, he heard a knocking on the wall of the pool house. He propped himself up to see who it was. Marissa waved hesitantly at Ryan.
"Hey, is it all right that I stopped by?" she asked. She did not move from where she was standing.
"Uh... yeah, sure. Wanna sit down?" Ryan offered. He sat up, and moved over to make room for Marissa, but she went and sat down in one of the wicker chairs that were in front of him. "Something you want to talk about?"
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, again, about your brother. About everything," Marissa responded.
"Thanks..." Ryan trailed off. He took a deep breath. "It's been hard to talk about this to anyone. No one really seems to understand."
"Same here." Marissa agreed. "I've tried to talk to my mom and my therapist, but they just don't get it. Summer really doesn't understand either, for that matter. My dad is cool, though. I mean, he doesn't understand everything, but he tries, and supports me."
"That's good. Sandy and Seth want me to talk about it, but it just doesn't feel right - to talk to them. I mean, I'm not upset about what happened, and I'm not mad at you. I guess I was at the time, but it was just the shock of everything. In fact, I'm glad that you did... what you did because who knows if I would be here otherwise, right?" Ryan replied. He gave her a grin.
"Yeah. I'm still pretty freaked out about it. I mean, I still have to go to a judge or trial, whatever. I still have to have a lawyer, and I still have to live with the fact that I killed someone," Marissa said.
"Hey, if you ever want to talk about it or anything," Ryan told her.
"Thanks, but we're just friends, remember?" Marissa said, reminding him.
"Yeah, I know, but friends still talk about stuff, and friends can still go to the movies together. And we have a common interest. We both hated Trey," Ryan said, trying to cheer her up.
"Well, that's true. Maybe I will take you up on your offer sometime," Marissa replied with a smile, as she got up from the chair and began to exit from the pool house.
"The offer still stands," Ryan answered, as he waved good-bye to her. "Thanks for stopping by."
Ryan and Marissa felt a sense of relief after their brief conversation. Although Marissa had thought that when she shot Trey, their relationship as they knew it was over, she now felt a sense of relief knowing that Ryan would still continue to be in her life, in any capacity. She was happy to have him as a friend - someone to confide in - besides Summer. Besides, they would always share their common bond - Trey.