A/N: I am so sorry for the wait. I guess I just had a lack of inspiration. Just know that I'm done being lazy and you can expect updates more frequently. Again, I'm sorry! Hope you enjoy this next chapter and it was worth the wait!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
MrPresident: Thanks so much for the in-depth review! I really appreciate the advice!
slimkay: Thanks for taking the time to read, I'm glad you're enjoying it!
kursk: Thanks for the review! Read to find out about the baby..
Dogsbody: I wish I would've thought about that at the time I was writing this. ;)
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Seth sat on his couch, weged in between Summer and Anna- a situation that would've been very common one year ago, but not now. Summer had been skeptical at first. She wasn't sure if she wanted Seth, her boyfriend, hanging out with Anna.. So, she agreed on one, simple condition: she came along. She was now beginning to regret her paranoia.. now she was stuck watching cartoons with two of the biggest nerds she had ever met in her life.
"Can we do something else?" she asked, anxiously. "This is boring!"
"What, you don't like Batman?" Anna shifted uncomfortibly. Why they all had to squeeze together on one couch when there was plenty of other furnature in the room was beyond her.
"And what do you suggest we do?" Seth turned off the televison using the remote control he had been clinging onto for the past hour, and turned toward Summer, giving her his full attention.
"I don't care." she replied, frustrated. "Just anything but this.. It's a nice day, why don't we go outside? It's no wonder why you have such pasty, white skin."
"Thanks, Summer. I'll remember that next time you invite me to go tanning with you." he retorted.
"I've never invited you to go tanning with me."
"Exactly. Now you know why I'm so pale.."
Anna played with a loose strand of hair as she listened to the two bicker. It was just like old times.. she had forgotten how much it used to annoy her. "Why don't we just go get something to eat?" she said loudly, ensuring her voice would be heard.
Seth and Summer, who had evidently forgot about Anna's precense, stopped arguing and turned toward her.
"Crab Shack?" Anna suggested, having already made the deciscion that they were leaving the house to get something to eat.
"Sure." Summer agreed while slowly getting up.
Seth nodded and followed the two girls out of the house.
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Marissa lied on her oversized bed, staring up at the ceiling. She thought back to one of the most painful days of her entire life- the day Ryan left for Chino. She was devastated. She remembered watching him leave while waiting for Caleb's limo to come pick her up. A lot has changed in a year. Who knew that in one year she would be arrested for shooting Ryan's brother? Who knew that in one year her mother would end up a widow? Who would have suspected the idolized Kirsten Cohen being sent to rehab for an addiction to alcohol? Who knew that Theresa would be the mother of a healthy baby.. one that Ryan wasn't aware of?
She sighed, knowing that she had a deciscion to make- one that could change her entire life. Should she tell Ryan about the baby?
"No." she said quickly. "I can't let Ryan go back to Chino! I can't go through that again!" Slowly, she looked around her bedroom- just to be sure it was empty. Was she really talking to herself? Maybe she should go back to therapy..
"Marissa!" Her mother's voice echoed through the hallway. "Is someone in there with you?"
"No, mom." she replied, getting up to close the door. "I'm just.. watching TV."
"Oh, okay."
Just as she was about to collapse back onto her bed, she stopped herself. She needed to talk to someone. Her and Theresa were friends at one point in time.. sort of. Of coarse she could talk to her. She really had no right to tell Ryan anything without an explanation from Theresa.. Her mind was now made up. She was going to Chino. With that, she grabbed her sweater and headed for the door.
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Marissa hopped out of her shiny, red convertible and locked the doors. Afterall, she was in Chino. The front door was opened before she even reached it and Theresa appeared, holding a crying baby.
"Hey Marissa," she said while rocking the baby back and forth. "I was hoping that I would see you.."
Marissa slowly nodded, she was at a loss of words. Theresa appeared to be about ten years older than she actually was. She was wearing old, ratty jeans with small holes appearing by the knees. An oversized t-shirt covered the small pouch she still had yet to work off from child birth. Her hair was slicked back into a tight bun. There were small wrinkles just underneath her eyelids. She looked tired.. And a baby was not the common accessory for an eighteen-year-old girl.
"Please," Theresa said, stepping aside. "Come in.. We have a lot to talk about."
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"I can't believe this!" Julie said, snatching the paper away from Caleb's lawyer. "He didn't leave me anything!" Her eyes widened as she scanned the paper- searching for her name.
"No, Mrs. Nichol." the man answered, exasperated. "Like I told you, everything is to be split equally amongst his three daughters."
"Three?" Julie took her eyes off the paper, finally making eye contact. "Caleb only had two daughters."
"Kirsten Cohen," he replied, beginning to name them off. "Hailey Nichol, and Lindsey Wheeler."
Julie slammed the piece of paper back down onto the desk. She had forgotten about Lindsey.. She was about to become a millionaire when she's only known the guy for a matter of months.. and Julie was left with nothing. She threw her hands up in the air in frustration and stormed out of the office- creating as much drama as she possibly could. What the lawyer conveniently left out- looking out for his own interests.. not wanting to be the recipient of any slaps- was that Caleb changed his will the day before he died.
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Theresa sat down on the couch- the baby resting peacefully on her lap, atleast for the time being. Marissa sat opposite her on a wooden chair that, only in Chino, would be considered actual furnature.
"So, I heard about what happened with Trey.." Theresa said, breaking the awkward silence. "I'm really sorry."
Marissa shifted uncomfortibly. "Uh, it's okay.. That's actually not what I came here to talk about.." she anxiously tugged on her skirt, wondering what it was she actually did come to talk about.
"Of coarse.. Well, what do you want to know?" she didn't even need to ask the subject.
"Um.. what's it's name?"
This took Theresa by surprise. She was expecting something more along the lines of: 'Is it Ryan's?' or 'Are you gonna tell him?' These were the questions she was preparing herself for. "Brooke."
"Brooke." Marissa repeated. "That's a cute name." It wasn't necessary for her to ask if it was Ryan's baby. She could tell by her big, blue eyes. Ryan had a six-week-old child- one that he didn't even know existed.
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The way Julie Cooper stormed into the house told Jimmy that things did not go well with Caleb's lawyer.
"That stubborn, old man didn't leave me a penny!"
Jimmy folded his newspaper neatly and set it down on the end table. "Nice to see you, too, Jules."
"I don't even get to keep the house!" she ranted on, ignoring his sarcastic greeting. "It goes to the Newport Group. Can you believe that? What are they suppose to do with a house!" She was fuming by the time she plopped herself down on the couch right next to the armchair Jimmy was sitting in. "I put up with him for a year, and what do I get in return!"
"You got to live like royalty in this beautiful house for a year." he replied reasonably. "And now it's time for you to face reality."
She blew a piece of loose hair away from her face and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well," he began, crossing his fingers and resting his chin on them peacefully. "When I came back to Newport, we agreed to start over.. As a family."
"I know that, honey, but how are we going to start over without a place to live?" she said rationally, finally beginning to calm down.
"I made some money while living in Maui, and I think we'd have just enough to buy a house." he watched as her face changed and she jumped up off the couch, ready to attack him with kisses. "Nothing fancy," he quickly added. "It would probably end up being about the size of my other one."
She stopped dead in her tracks.
"I'm going to go on a walk," he said after a moment of silence. "Think about it." with that, he got up and left the room. If he would've looked back, he would've seen Julie walk over to the liquor cabinet. She would need a few drinks in her system before ever agreeing to live in a house that small.
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"I'm actually not quite sure why I came here.." Marissa announced after a painfully long silence.
"Let me guess," Theresa said while shifting the baby to the other side of her lap. "You came here to ask what the eyes already gave away."
She bit her bottem lip to stop the quivering. The truth hurt. "You guessed it." she managed to say, despite the tightening in her lungs and the tears she was holding back. Ryan was the father..
"I wanted you to know that I don't plan on telling him." Theresa said, offering any information that could cheer Marissa up. "He's so happy in Newport.. telling him would only destroy that. He deserves to be happy.. You both do."
"What about you?" Marissa was suddenly overcome with guilt. She had only been thinking about herself.. It looked like Theresa needed him more than she did.. But would she have the strength to let him go? Again?
"I'm happy." Theresa replied, lacking reassurance. In return, she received a skeptical expression from a silent Marissa. "Please," she said, nearly begging. "Don't tell him."
"I guess.. If you're sure that's what you want?" Marissa said ever so softly, feeling very uneasy about keeping something this important from Ryan.
"Thank you." Theresa replied, forcing a smile. What she wanted, more than anything, was for Ryan to be happy, and not be burdened by this baby.