Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

xGoingUnderx: wow, wow, wow! That is the best idea ever, it had honestly never occured to me! I had already written chapter 5 but you inspired me to write this instead! Hope you like it!

KC-Chick: yay, glad to hear you're still loving the ss! Hope you enjoy this.

IluvDanBen33: glad you're liking it so far!

smartiepantz: yep, she's going to the party! sorry! lol, hope you like it.

I-Believe-In-The-Butterflies: am i really that predictable! oh dear :(. hope not, I know I promised some PS2 action but then xGoingUnderx had a fab idea and it would have been too long to put it all in one chapter, there's some in chapter 6 - i promise!

BrSoccerChic: I know! i love them as friends too!

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On Saturday night, after much persuasion from Summer, Marissa found herself at Jake's party - and hating it. She and Summer had arrived over half an hour ago and there was still no sign of Seth - much to Summer annoyance - which meant that today was her turn to rant. Very loudly, in Marissa's ear.

"God! I hate him!" Summer exclaimed. "He's never on time anywhere."

"Mm." Marissa mumbled scanning the room. "Wait, isn't that him now?" She asked, pointing to the door.

"Yeah."Summer said looking over."About time too. I'll kill him when he gets over here."

"Looks like someone's going to beat you to it." Marissa said as they both watched Seth being jostled by several very large water polo players who pounced on him as soon as he walked in.Ryan suddenly appeared from out of nowhere and started to defend Seth. The girls watched open mouthed.

"What the hell's Ryan doing here?" Summer asked, gob smacked, he wasn't invited."

"Neither were you." Marissa teased.

"That's different, you needed me." Summer replied simply. "Anyway," She continued before Marissa could protest otherwise. "That doesn't explain why Ryan's here."

"True." The scuffle died down within seconds when the water polo players decided it was no fun picking on Seth if they were going to get hit back by Ryan who, although not as tall and blonde as them, was still pretty strong.

"You ok Cohen?" Summer asked when he eventuallycame over, her anger toward him vanishing.

"Yeah. Remind me, why am I here again?" He asked smiling weakly.

"Cos, you love me, and I had to come to protect Coop." Summer smiled sweetly.

"Right, ok then." Seth said unconvinced.

"Why did you bring Ryan?" Summer asked at full volume, not caring that he was standing right next to her.

"Good question." Ryan said glaring at Seth.

"Because, well, I wasn't going to come without him was I? He's like my bodyguard. But..." He lowered his voice before continuing in Summer's ear. "He took a bit of persuading though - that's why we're late."

"Hey! Marissa!" A voice said interrupting them. It was Jake, and he was wasted. Really wasted. "Come and dance!" He said grabbing her hand and dragging her away from the group. Marissa rolled her eyes but allowed herself to be dragged.

"If I'm not back in twenty minutes send help." She said dramatically to Summer.

"Will do!" Summer chirped. "Come on Cohen, let's go get drinks."

"You wanna come?" Seth asked Ryan.

"No, it's ok, you go." They left, leaving him alone. A few girls approached him but Ryan was more interested in watching Marissa and Jake - he wanted to make sure Jake was behaving himself - than talking to them so they soon left.

Ten minutes later he lost sight of them in the crowd, he thought he saw Marissa go outside but he couldn't be sure it was her.

The twenty minutes passed and Marissa still wasn't back, neither were Seth and Summer. The task of rescuing Marissa fell to Ryan yet again, not that he minded. He made his way outside and panicked when he saw thatthey were nowhere to be seen. The beach was deserted. Ryan's eyes scanned the whole beach, then he saw them way offin the distance. Marissa had both of her arms around Jake's waist, he seemed to bent over double, laughing. Ryan's heart sank. She obviously didn't need rescuing. He turned and started to make his way back inside.

"Ryan?" Marissa called, his head jerked around as he saw her running towards him.

"You ok?" He asked when she caught up with him.

"I am. He's not." She said gesturing towards Jake who was now lying on the sand. Ryan surveyed her more closely, her hands and forearms were covered in vomit.

"What happened to your hands?"

"He was sick. He could barely stand, it was so gross!" Ryan took a second to digest this information. So, Jake hadn't been laughing, he'd been puking. Well, that was reassuring.

"Yeah, pretty gross." He said sympathetically.

"I know, I just wanna wash my hands and get outta here. But I can't."

"Why not?"

"I haven't got my car, I came with Summer."

"Um, I've got the car, you wanna lift?"

"Is that ok?"

"Trust me," Ryan smiled "I 'm not exactly thrilled to be here either."

"I can imagine." Marissa smiled imagining the cajoling it would've taken to get Ryan here."Well, I'll just go wash my hands, meet you out front?" Ryan nodded. "K, see you in a minute." She went into the house and located a sink where she washed off all Jake's puke from her hands before going to meet Ryan. Rescued by Ryan again, she thought to herself, and boy was she glad of it.

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"Well, thanks for the lift." Marissa said as they arrived at her Dad's fifteen minutes later. "And for getting me outta there."

"No problem." There was an awkward pause while they both thought of something to say. "Hey, d'you think Jake'll be ok?" Ryan said suddenly remembering that they had just left him on the beach.

"Dunno, don't care." Marissa said. "He's an idiot."

"True," Ryan agreed. "And he did puke on your hands."

"I know, they still smell." She said pushing her hands under Ryan's nose.

Gross!" He said pushing them away again, laughing.

"I know! Think I'll need about ten showers." She smiled. "Anyway, I should go, thanks again."

"No problem, see you Monday?"

"Yeah, bye."

Ryan smiled as he watched her walk to her front door where she turned and waved before going in. Maybe now that Jake was out of the picture he could put himself back in the frame? He missed her. Really missed her. It was worth a shot. As long as he didn't puke all over her.