The O.C

Jalouse

A/N: Sorry it's been awhile but this chapter's kind of long to make up for it. There was the whole writer's block thing but I had inspiration today and I've written bits of future chapters so they should come quicker. Steffi gets a big mention today because she wrote some of this chapter. Well done, Stef! Happy reading! Love, Genevra and Stephanie xxx

Chapter Eight: Confrontation

"Hey, Riss!" Sianna called out as she walked across the quad.

"Sia," Marissa cried back, a smile growing on her face. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go play tennis at the country club," Sia grumbled. "My mother insisted."

"Want a partner? I play too and I was just thinking that I should get back into it. It's great exercise," Marissa said, leaning against Sianna's car.

"Sure. Sounds great," Sia said with a smile. "I have to go home and get my gear but. I left it at home hoping that I'd be too late to play."

"That's ok," Marissa said. "I left my stuff at the Cohen's so I can run in and get it. I'll follow you."

The two girls hopped into their respective cars but Sianna didn't move. She stuck her head out the window and yelled out to Marissa.

"Why don't you go ahead? I have to wait for Ryan and Seth so that way, you can get your stuff from the Cohen's and meet at me house," Sianna suggested.

"Sure," Marissa said. She waved at Sianna and then peeled out of the car park, her red car speeding away. Sianna heard two car doors open before and heard Ryan and Seth's voices as they chatted about some water polo player.

"Hey, did Marissa just leave?" Ryan asked, pecking Sianna's cheek as he climbed into the passenger seat. Seth tapped her should before buckling himself into the backseat.

"Yep. Her and I are going to play tennis together but she said she left her gear at your house a few months ago so she went to pick it up."

"Yeah, she left it there when we went to Palm Springs, remember?" Seth asked Ryan who nodded. Seth chuckled quietly. "Great times."

"Seth," Ryan said, his voice full of warning. He turned to Sianna. "Si, Seth and Summer were going to go down to the Pier for dinner tonight and I thought maybe we could go too."

"Sure," Sianna said, as they pulled into her driveway. "Sounds great."

"We'll pick you up about five-thirty then," Ryan said, kissing her on the lips. Seth had already left the car and was chatting to Marissa who sat on Sianna's front step.

"How about I meet you down there at six?" Sianna said. "That way, if some of us want to stay longer, we can."

"Sure. I'll see you then," he said, kissing her again and getting out of the car.

Marissa and Ryan waved at each other before he walked with Seth back to their house. Sianna and Marissa chatted as they walked towards Sianna's bedroom.

"Hey, Deidre," Marissa called into her old living room as they walked past. She'd been a fixture at the family's house for the last two weeks.

"Hello, Marissa," Deidre said, glancing up from her soap opera. She saw Sianna and her face lit into a smile. "Hey, honey."

"Hi, Mum," Sianna said, leaning over the couch to kiss her mother on the cheek. Her mother smiled at her and touched her daughter's hair. "How was your day?"

"Great, honey. How was school?"

"It was good. The usual," she replied. "Marissa and I are going to go play some tennis."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it," Deidre said. She turned her attention to Marissa. Marissa plastered a smile on her face. She was jealous. Her mother and her could barely stand to be in the same room, let alone kiss each other on the cheek or have un-bitchy conversations. She would never say it out loud but she wished she and her mother were like that. Deidre was so proud of her daughter. "Sianna was in the national championships for her school last year."

"That's great, Sia," Marissa smiled. Sianna shrugged and kissed her mother again before leading Marissa to her room. "Hey, Si? What's that sound?"

"What sound?" Sianna said, craning her head towards her bedroom. They heard the yelp of a puppy dog and after catching each other's eyes, ran towards the bedroom. Sianna flung open the door and let out a cry. "She's so cute! Oh my gosh."

"She's beautiful," Marissa said, patting the fur of the tiny cocker spaniel.

"She's a guilt gift from my parents," Sianna said, closing the door. She scooped the puppy up. "They must be going on a trip somewhere."

"She's a gorgeous gift but."

"What am I going to call her?" Sianna shrieked, excited. "I've never had a dog before."

"How about Coffee?" Marissa suggested. "Her fur's kind of like a latte. No, Latte!"

"Oh please."

"Madge? Daisy? Mia?" Marissa said, barely containing her laughter.

"Be serious, Coop," Sianna said, pretending to be frustrated. "Concentrate."

"Ok," Marissa agreed, pasting a focused look on her face. They were silent, their eyes landing on different objects on the room. Their eyes hit Marissa's Chanel bag at the exact same time.

"Chanel?" Marissa said, looking at the dog. It didn't quite fit so they looked at her a little longer.

"Coco!" they shrieked together. Sianna smiled and clutched Coco to her chest and danced with her around the room before sitting down on her bed.

"Welcome home, Coco."

-

Sianna was quietly listening to Seth babble with Ryan about something she wasn't paying to much attention to. She could almost feel what Summer thought of her and it was really getting on her nerves. She sighed and turned her attention to Seth, willing herself to get over it. "Seco, has anyone ever told you you're an ear bender?"

Ryan laughed and Summer sighed impatiently. Seth pretended to be insulted but he was smiling so it failed. The fact that Coco was on his lap, licking his face didn't help. She was a beautiful dog and everyone, even Summer, had cooed over her when Sianna had bought her down.

"Sia, why would you say that?" he said, in mock aghast. He placed a hand over his heart and fell backwards so he was leaning against Summer who involuntarily smiled at him. "I'm wounded, Sia. Wounded."

"You'll get over it," she said, turning her attention back to her food. She looked up around the table and caught everyone's eyes. She saw Summer tense and lean over and whisper something to Seth who nodded.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt your convo but is it okay if Summer and I go grab a cup of coffee?" Seth asked. Ryan and Sianna looked at each other and shrugged then they were off.

"How was tennis with Riss? She's a really good player," Ryan said. Sianna noted that he looked proud of her and she felt a pang of jealousy swoop across her stomach.

"You really love her, don't you?" she asked, glancing down at her empty burger wrapped. Ryan leant over and took one if Sianna's hands. She reluctantly stared up into his face, his blue eyes beaming into hers.

"Yes," he answered truthfully. "But she's my best friend. She and I have a history but you and I might just have a future. You don't need to worry about it."

"I'm not worried," Sianna said, pecking Ryan on the cheek. "It was merely speculation."

They could hear the insistent chatter of Summer and Seth's voices as they returned to the table, coffee cups in tow. Sianna could tell by Summer's posture, she was bitching about her. She caught the tail end of the conversation.

"Not that I understand why she would wanna have coffee with me," Summer whispered and then sat down at the table. Sianna sighed.

"This is exactly why I wanna have coffee with you. We need to straight this out once and for all. I know you don't like me," Sianna said, knowing this confrontation would happen one day.

"I don't really think anything about you," Summer said and drank some coffee.

"Ryan, can you go and get me an ice-cream please?" Sianna asked, flashing him a dazzling smile. He looked at her like she was crazy but readily agreed.

"Seth, why don't you come with me?" Ryan asked, standing up. He prodded Seth's shoulder who yelped because he spilt some coffee on his shirt.

"Well now I have to come because I have to clean this up," he grumbled, standing up. He kissed Summer's forehead before following Ryan away from the girls.

"I don't know why you did that," Summer snarled across the table. "I don't have anything to say about you because I don't think anything about you."

"Yeah, okay. Whatever. The point is you don't like me cause according you, I've stolen you best friend and stolen the name you made up. Correct me if I'm wrong."

"At least your not stupid."

"See the 'Summer' attitude doesn't scare me. If you wanna spend the rest of your teenie years being pissed off at things, it's fine by me. But I'm not taking any shit for something I haven't done."

"See you just don't understand. That's the thing you did. You kissed my boyfriend and you took my best friend. I can't see why you shouldn't take shit from me," Summer said, her voice and eyebrow raised.

"Summer, you don't have to talk to me like that. I haven't raised my voice at you. I'm not deaf yet so you don't have to scream," Sianna said, making a big show of covering her ears.

"Just cut it out and tell me what it is that you want to tell me so badly," Summer snapped, growing impatient. She was angry that she'd let Sianna get to her so badly and so quickly.

"Okay, first of all, I didn't kiss your boyfriend. I kissed your ex, Seth, who's now your boyfriend again. But you weren't together when it happened so you have no reason to get mad. Jealous, yes, but not mad. There is no reason to be jealous either cause Seco and I are just close friends. We're neighbours. We will spend time together but not as a couple. Second, it's not like I planned to steal Marissa from you. She's still your best friend and why would she leave you? A real friend would never do that."

"How would you know what a real friend is?" Summer spat. "You don't look like you've ever had any."

Sianna recoiled as if Summer had slapped her but she steeled herself and continued in a smaller voice.

"I had great friends in Paris," she said. "But that's not the point. You don't see it, do you? Seth is a really great guy. I like him. He has an amazing sense of humour, he makes me laugh and he has this cute, goofy smile. In fact, the only thing we don't share is music. But believe me, I pose no threat to you. He and I are just friends. And Ryan. Ryan is just amazing. He is one of the sweetest people I know. He's loyal, he's gorgeous and he would do anything for you. And Marissa, she is me. Marissa and I are so alike it's not funny. But the friendship her and I have is different to yours. We do things together that you don't like and we're close but Summer, she always goes back to you. You are her truest friend, her closest friend. You two have a past. You all have a past. None of them are going to leave you for me. You have nothing to worry about. You have a right to be jealous but not to be worried. Which is I think the problem. It's not that your jealous, you're scared that they're going to leave you but they wont. They'd leave me first."

"This isn't making me feel better," Summer said, tapping her fingers on the table. Sianna rolled her eyes. "It's making me feel worse."

"It's not exactly supposed to make you feel better but I certainly didn't mean to make things worse," Sianna muttered. "Look, you and I need to get this sorted out. I'm not planning on moving from Newport anytime soon and since it seems that we're going to share the same friends, it would be great if we could get along and maybe even one day like each other. If not, know this. I'm not going to stop hanging out with Marissa and for goodness sake, Seth is my neighbour. I'm going to see him a lot. Even if you and I can't get along, you're going to have to handle that. What do you think?"

"I guess we could try and get along," Summer said, giving Sianna a small smile. they smiled tentatively at each other across the table. Summer inhaled and exhaled quickly before steamrolling Sianna. "And what do you mean I don't see what a great guy Seth is? Of course I do. That's why I'm with him."

"I know you and Seth are together and I'm happy about it because you seem to make him happy and I just want to see him happy," Sianna said. "But don't be too hard on him. You guys have had a rough go of it and he knows he's made some mistakes but you aren't so perfect yourself. You have to work at this because if you leave him, it's the last time. He's not going to come back to you. Marissa will always come back to you but Seth won't."

"What would you know?" Summer stopped, before covering her mouth. "I'm sorry. It's just an automatic reaction. I think you're right, actually, I just…"

"It's ok," Sianna said, tapping Summer's hand. "I get it."

Looks like Ryan and Seth are getting impatient. They're waiting for us over there," Sianna said, waving at him. he waved back. they stood up and began walking towards the boys. "Should I be worried about him and Marissa?"

"Riss?" Summer asked, her eyes widening in shock. "They make a terrible and dysfunctional couple. Don't be. Can you do me a favour though?"

"Depends," Sianna answered, as they walked towards Ryan and Seth.

"Can you stop calling Coop Coop?" Summer asked, her voice small. "It's just that it's special. No one else calls her that."

"Sure," Sianna said, not taking her eyes off Ryan. Coco tried to run towards Sia but Ryan's grip on the leash was firm. "I'll think of something else."

"I'll try not to be jealous," Summer said, as she walked away from Sianna towards Seth who had began to walk back towards the car.

"How was that?" Sianna said, coming up to Ryan. They laced their hands together and began to walk together. "I think Summer and I are actually going to get along."

"Stranger things have happened," Ryan said with a smile.

"I highly doubt that," Sianna laughed lightly. She took Coco's leash from Ryan and they strolled along the boardwalk and onto the sand. "Am I allowed to let her off her leash?"

"She's only a puppy, Sia," Ryan explained. "I wouldn't. she's not trained. She might not come back."

"I guess," Sianna said, feeling stupid. She walked closer to the water and rose and eyebrow at Ryan. "She's not too young to learn how to swim but."

"Don't you dare," he said, taking quick steps backward. Sianna wound Coco's leash around her wrist and lunged at Ryan, causing him to fall forward, his face landing in the wet sand. "I'm going to get you for that."

"I doubt it," she said, trying to crawl away but Coco was having none of it. she ran to Ryan, jerking Sianna towards him. He grabbed her and rubbed his wet and sandy face all over her own face and over her top. She squealed and tried to get away but he grabbed her and kissed her, water dripping from his face onto hers. She smiled up at him and then glanced down the beach where Coco was digging furiously. The dog yapped and ran back towards her owner. "You made me let go of Coco."

"I'll help you catch her," he said, helping Sianna up. They began to walk stealthily towards the dog but Sianna found herself being pushed into the cold water. She shrieked and ran to Ryan, launching her full body at him. He laughed and tried to push her off but she refused to let go and clung to him, water covering his body. They kissed again and smiled into each others faces before eventually catching the dog and walking, dripping wet back to the car.

"That was fun. We'll have to do it again," Ryan said, handing Sianna a towel.

"Or not," she said, getting into the car. "Too cold."

"Wimp."

"Walk home," she said, starting the car.