Chapter 23 – Forever Lost

As darkness fell so did the temperature. A cold brisk wind blew in from the south and a thick cloud formation settled ominously in the skies above Orange County. A full moon hung heavy on the horizon. Inside the pool house Ryan laid on his bed, his eyes closed, his thoughts drifting. The door to the pool house swung open. Seth stepped in. He immediately headed to the mirror and checked the position of the dark red tie he was putting on. "Anna is going to be here soon so I thought we would leave at eight, eight-thirty. Arrive fashionably late and..." Seth turned round from the mirror to see Ryan lying on the bed. "Hey, man. You're not ready."

"I'm not going." Ryan said bluntly.

"What? Since when?"

"Since..." Ryan paused. "Since Marissa came over last night."

"Marissa came over?" Seth asked shocked.

Ryan nodded.

"How did it go?" Seth said just as he noticed the fist-shaped dent in the wall. "Never mind."

Ryan pulled himself up into a seating position. "It's just, I don't know what she wants, you know?"

"Not really but carry on." Seth replied.

"She's with Luke but she comes over her, at night, alone." Ryan said.

Seth nodded but did not speak. Ryan looked out of his window. A silence engulfed the two.

"So." Seth said dramatically. "You coming?"

Ryan gave him a stern look.

"Come on, man. Sure, you could sit here perfecting your silent brooding or you could come to the party, have some fun, show Marissa you're not silently brooding in your pool house over her, and," Seth said heading back to the mirror. "Help me solve the conundrum that is woman."

"Summer still not taking your calls?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, she's taking them, just as long as it takes me to say don't hang up."

"Maybe you should leave her alone for the moment. Just let her think things through."

"Yeah, okay, good idea. We'll call that plan B. Now, what do you think plan A should be? I'm thinking giant romantic gesture, dove carrying a rose in its beak, I love you written in the sky by one of those sky-writing planes. Oh! I got it; a field full of yellow daffodils a la Big Fish. What do you think?"

Ryan just stared at him.

"Leave her alone, huh?" Seth said almost to himself.

"Leave him alone, Coop." Summer said with a flourish of her hand. "Play with his mind. Boys love that."

"I don't know, Sum. Sounds a little 90210 to me." Marissa replied.

"Well, you tried telling him how you felt." Summer said.

"Yeah." Marissa said solemnly.

"So, what have you got to lose?" Summer asked.

"I suppose..." Marissa hesitated.

A grin crept onto Summer's face. "That means we'll both be footloose and fancy free."

Marissa looked confused. "What?"

"We both won't have boyfriends." Summer replied.

"Oh. What about Seth?" Marissa asked.

"Who? Oh, that lanky, desperately needs a haircut, neurotic, Jon Stewart-wannabe?" Summer asked innocently.

"Yeah." Marissa nodded.

"We're so over. We're so over we didn't even begin." Summer said.

"O...Kay." Marissa said looking at her friend strangely.

"Anyway, we're going to go to this party, get drunk, and find yourselves new boys. Boys who don't have little comic book-loving Tinkerbelles as their 'friends'." Summer put sarcastic emphasis on the last word.

"Maybe we shouldn't go." Marissa said.

"No! We have to go." Summer shrieked. "We have to rub our new-found freedom in their faces. We can't do that if we're stuck in here watching some crappy teen soap."

"But you love the valley." Marissa said.

"You see what being cooped up inside is doing to me."

Marissa looked at her watch. "We've been here for an hour."

"Please..." Summer pleaded.

"Oh, all right. I'll go. But promise me you won't rub anything in anyone's face." Marissa said with a smile.