Chapter 21

Lindsay walked out of the Bait Shop still in shock. Even though this situation was not expected, it made her even more intimidated of Marissa. As she was shuffling along the pier a thought popped into Lindsay's head. Marissa wasn't just kissing Alex, she was dating Alex. Nobody who is just kissing holds hands. Marissa was over Ryan. She must be! If only Ryan knew, maybe he could begin to get over Marissa as well, and Lindsay knew she could help him with that. A feel of guilt swayed inside her as she thought about telling Ryan, but it was overpowered by her desire to have Ryan to herself again.

Lindsay rang the Cohen's doorbell and uneasiness boiled within her. Seth answered the door and nodded at her. "Ryan" Seth called lazily and walked back to the living room.

Ryan came to the door, and was surprised to see Lindsay, "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Ryan, I need to talk to you," Lindsay nodded her head in Seth's direction, "Do you want to go to the pool house?"

"It's ok Lindsay, we can stay here. Seth's in another world as it is."

Lindsay nodded, "I just wanted to say that I may have overreacted last night, and I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

Lindsay continued, "It's just that, seeing you and Marissa together made me really nervous that were still feelings between you guys."

Ryan didn't say anything.

"I wasn't sure if you guys had moved on, but now I know that Marissa is dating somebody, so I guess I had nothing to worry about."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ryan interrupted, "Marissa's dating somebody?"

Lindsay did her best to act innocent, "I thought you knew!"

Ryan shook his head, "Who's she dating?"

"Ryan, this morning, I saw her with Alex. They were kissing."

Ryan didn't say anything for a minute before finally asking, "How could you do this?"

"Do what?" asked Lindsay painfully.

"I never thought you would sink as low as to spread lies about Marissa! I just can't believe that you expected me to believe that!"

"Ryan, I'm not lying to you!" Lindsay was going to keep defending herself, when her eyes landed on Seth in the other room.

Seth had a panicked look on his face, and he was shaking his head slightly.

"See!" Lindsay exclaimed, "Seth knows! She is dating Alex!"

Ryan turned around to look at Seth, "What? Seth." Ryan said pleadingly.

Seth swallowed, "I don't think, I mean…"

With Seth's stuttering, he was clearly confirming it. Ryan turned and opened the door and walked out of the house.

"Oh no. Oh crap." Seth said to himself after Ryan had left and Lindsay had both left. "Summer is going to kill me."

Just then, as on a command, Seth's cell phone rang. Summer's face popped up on the screen, and Seth answered it cautiously. "Hello?" He asked nervously.

"Cohen!" Summer replied enthusiastically. "I was thinking that Coop and I could come by around six, we could grab a bite and see a movie?"

Seth stuttered, "Uh…I'm not sure Summer…"

"Cohen…" Summer repeated, a hint of suspicion in her voice. "Why?"

"Ryan's not home." Seth said quickly.

"Oh, well that's fine, we can just come over when he gets home."

"Well…" Seth continued.

"Cohen…" Now the suspicion was obvious, "What happened? What did you do?"

"I think Ryan might know about Marissa and Alex."

"What!"

Seth pulled the phone away from his ear as Summer continued to shout.

"How did he find out! Cohen, if you told him…"

"No! Lindsay came by, she saw Alex and Marissa kissing!"

"Why didn't you deny it?"

Seth paused, and his voice softened, "Summer, if Marissa and Alex are back together, isn't it better that Ryan can be happy too?"

"Cohen you ass-clown Marissa and Alex aren't together! Marissa told me about that! It was a good-bye kiss!"

Seth was silent for a minute, "Crap."

Summer sighed, "Ok, Cohen, we need to do serious damage control. Meet me at the diner in 15."

Seth nodded, "As you wish."