Hello again my beautiful readers. Thanks for all the support, and good reviews (for some reason, my stories don't get alot of reviews...someone tell me why!) Anyways, I expect this particular story to go on for at least 2 to 3 more chapters, depending on how inspired I get. If you are reading this story, or just this chapter, PLEASE REVIEW! It can be good, bad, a death-threat, a love letter, I don't care, just write something. I hope everyone enjoys the story, and some of the risks I am taking (Keeping Ryan-Marissa apart most of the time/ moving Ryan back to Chino) and I hope to have a long, and hopefully well recieved list of stories to my name, and I'm appreciative for anyone who's along for the ride!
Chapter nine: A fresh start
It had been about a month since Ryan had arrived back at chino to a huge hug from his big brother. Trey's wife ashley was out of town for a while on business, so it was just Trey, and Ry in the old, beat up house they grew up in...at least until dawn came home. She arrived at the house to hugs, and tears from both of her boys, especially Ryan. He cried for the first time since the phone call from Kirsten that started this whole strange journey. "It's good to have you home Ry."
"It's good to have you back Mom...It's good to be home again." Ryan said while his Mother ran her hand over his nearly buzz-cut hair. Dawn didn't age a bit over the years, and Ryan found comfort in the warm embrace of the Mother who had left him behind all those years ago.
That was three weeks ago, and Ryan's mood had changed drastically. He went back to Chino with an open heart, a new life, he came back for a fresh start, but now, he missed his old life. He missed the Cohens. He missed Sandy...but the one thing that scared him the most was the fact that he missed Marissa.
-meanwhile in Newport beach-
The warmth that had always inhabited the Cohen house had faded away ever since Ryan went home. Seth, and Summer didn't communicate much anymore, Kirsten was back to drinking heavily, and no one was themselves. Everyone just passed eachother by without a word, and stayed to themselves most of the time. The only person who wasn't in a permanent doom and gloom attitude was Sarah, and she was five years old. During one of his daily appearence outside his room, Seth saw his mother pouring the remnants of a vodka bottle into a glass filled with ice. Seth raced over to her and took the glass and poured it down the drain.
"Mom, you gotta stop this, you're not making things better with this!" Seth said while catching the glare his mother sent his way.
"That was my second to last bottle Seth! It's not like I'm overdoing i..." She slurred as she nearly collapsed to the ground. Seth helped her maintain her balance.
"Listen, we're all kinda messed up right now, I know, but you've gone back to your old ways, you're gonna end up in rehab, or worse this time."
"Oh no...I am NOT going to rehab again Seth! One of my sons just left to be with a Mother who left him out in the cold...How am I supposed to feel right now?" Kirsten said while looking around in the freezer for her last bottle of vodka. Seth slammed the freezer shut and blocked it from her.
"Mom...this has gotta stop...I'm not gonna let you do this to yourself again. If Ryan were here, he'd be right here instead of me, and you know it." Seth said while trying to reason with her, but he saw no change in her eyes.
"Yeah, right...but Ryan isn't here...Ryan felt it was more important to go back to the family that treated him like trash, and leave us behind." Kirsten said in a clearly inebriated slur.
"He didn't abandon us Mom, he went to find out if things could work in Chino. For all we know, he could be on the highway on his way back...Hell he could be at the door right now!" Seth said before pausing as if Ryan would just knock, and walk in right at that moment. He knew it was a lie, but it was a lie he wanted to believe.
"Seth...please...Ryan is as much a son to me as you are, I love you both more than life itself...and he just left us without a second thought...I don't think this is a situation where you should limit my intake right now honey...Tell me you wouldn't be drinking right now if Sarah grew up and just walked out of your life..." Kirsten said in near tears. What she said, even though she was drunk, was absolutely right. Seth would be in her shoes in that situation too. He reached in the freezer, opened the vodka bottle, and poured 3/4 of it in the sink. He handed her the small amount that was left
"Take the rest...I'm going to see Ryan, see if I can bring him home." He hugged his Mother, and watched her down the rest of the bottle. He threw the bottle away, and went out the door and into the Range Rover. As soon as kirsten heard Seth pull away, she reached into the back of the freezer, pushed a few boxes of frozen food away, and pulled her hand out with another full bottle of vodka in her grasp. She felt bad for doing this too him, but it was the only way she knew how to cope.
-Meanwhile in Hawaii-
Marissa had only gotten worse since she broke up with Ryan. She was drunk almost everyday, she had black bags under her eyes, and the beautiful, smart Marissa that everyone adored had all but died.
Jimmy sat in the living room when the doorbell rang. He opened the door and saw the fiery red hair he hoped he would never have to see again. "Hello Jules." Jimmy said while letting her into the house.
"Well James, you've done pretty well for yourself...suprising." Julie said with dry hatred that made Jimmy squirm.
"Good, get it out of your system because I didn't call you to come and make our lives worse...Well then wait...why did I call you?"
"Nice Jimmy, nice. And to think you told me you would be happy to see me."
"Yeah, I don't know what the hell I was thinking, but we have bigger problems here...Our daughter is a wreck." Jimmy said while tilting his vision to Marissa's room.
"What is it this time. Drugs, painkillers?" Julie said without an ounce of shock in her voice.
"Alcohol, she and Ryan broke up, she hasn't consumed anything more than water, and a little food in the past week and a half, and I have to force her to eat that." Jimmy said with a voice full of worry.
" What the hell Jimmy! Why didn't you call me sooner?" She said with the lethal tone again.
"Because I knew you would do what you always do...Try to get her put away."
"It's called tough love James, she needs to get better, and since you're not mister authority, we need someone to help her out. If that's a doctor, then I'll do what I must, but I can't let her self destruct again."
"What she needs is some love, and support from her Mother and Father, not to be put in a facility Julie, maybe you don't understand that in order to be a Mother, YOU have to help your child, not a doctor."
"I've tried to help her, but she just pushes me away, an..." She was cut off.
"You're kidding me right? You never listened to her, or helped her through her problems. You pushed her to be just like you, she had to be perfect." She cut him off this time.
" I tried to give her the future she deserved. I didn't get born into that kind of luck. I was trying to make sure she had everything I didn't."
"You expect me to believe that Julie? I'm not some newpsie trophy wife, I know you, you married me, and caleb for the money, and you wanted her to be just like you, but she's not you, she's better than you." Jimmy said with an anger that he rarely ever showed.
"STOP IT!" Marissa yelled from the floor above. "Both of you, just shut up. You don't care about me! You just want to get back at each other, and I'm just a convienence. Listen you really wanna help me Mom?...Then get the hell out of my life." Marissa said with anger in her voice that they had never heard before.
"Listen Marissa, you have no right to speak to me like that...I am your Mother!"
"And you have no right to control me anymore. I'm not a kid , you can't just lock me away, that's a choice I make, not you!"
"I can lock you up if I need to, but I don't want to, and I shouldn't have to. I didn't raise you like this."
"You didn't raise me you bitch, Dad did, you pushed me away because I wasn't the child you wanted. You put my little sister in boarding school just because she didn't turn out like you wanted her to. If anyone deserves to be locked away it's you!" Marissa said with anger. Julie looked shocked at the words her daughter used.
" MARISSA COOPER! Who in the hell do you think you are? I'm calling the local rehab center and you're getting help!" Julie says while pulling out her cellphone.
"Julie wait, you don't have to do this, just let everyone cool down." James said trying to reason with the women.
"No Dad, let her call, I'll be long gone by then." Marissa said from her room. She picked up the bag she packed just in case she needed it, and headed towards the door.
"You're not going anywhere Marissa. The doctors are on the way now, and we're gonna get you healthy again honey. I'm sorry I yelled at you, b..." Marissa cut her off.
"Well I'm not. I don't need help, I need you to get out of my way, and out of my life. You're just making things worse for me...Move." Marissa said as she walked forward getting closer to the door. Julie grabbed her arm violently. "Let me go!"
"No, you need to learn that there is a consequences to hurting yourself. I'm doing this for you." Julie said while Marissa tried to wiggle herself free.
"Mom, let me go...right now." Marissa said with a dark look of rage in her eyes. She finally pulled her arm out of Julie's grasp, and ran into her car, and sped off.
"Well that went well." Julie said while opening her cellphone.
"Jules, you sure do bring out the best in people." Jimmy said while walking away.
-meanwhile in Chino-
Ryan was sitting on his bed, running his hand along his hair. He still wasn't used to not having long bangs in his eyes. The knocking at the door suprised him, no one had come to the house except for his mother. Dawn yelled "I'll get it" from the other room, and Ryan relaxed again.
"Hello, can I help you?" Dawn said not recognizing the curly haired boy at her door.
"Yeah, my name is Seth Cohen, is Ryan in?" Seth said nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, you're Seth! I knew I've seen you before, Ryan talks about you alot. Come in, he's in the room on the left." Dawn said while opening the screen door and letting Seth in the modest house.
"Thank you, I'll just go talk to Ryan quickly." Seth said as he walked into the small room that Ryan was laying in.
Seth Knocked on the door, and Ryan jumped up when he saw Seth. The boys hugged, and Ryan let Seth sit on the chair next to his desk. "It seems like forever since I saw you last man, how are you?" Ryan said while handing Seth a soda from the small fridge just outside his room.
"Oh, I'm fine bro...I like the hair, it looks good on you."
"Yeah, thanks...I just figured it'd be easier to take care of...We don't exactly have access to high quality, high priced shampoo here." Ryan said with a smirk. "So what brings you into the neighborhood bro?"
"It's about Mom...my mom, sorry. She's a wreck man, she's drinking like crazy again, and it's starting to scare me. Summer and I arent' talking much anymore, and everything just got worse since you left Newport." Seth said before taking a drink of the soda Ryan had given him.
"You wan't me to drop by the house, help you get her into rehab again?" Ryan said with a look of worry.
"Actually, we want you to come back for good. We Mom, and I always considered you part of the family, but we never realized how much you helped us, and meant to us."
"Seth...I can't go back now. I'll just end up unhappy again like I was before I came back." Ryan said while rubbing his stubble-ridden cheeks.
"Ryan, come on. I can tell just by looking at you that that's a load of bull. You aren't happy here, and you won't be happy until you're with Marissa again. We both know that's true."
"I'm not gonna say everything is perfect, because it's not, but being here gives me something to take my mind off of her. At your house, you guys paid for everything, and handed me everything on a silver platter, and god knows I appreciate it. But here, I have to work for my keep. I have a job, a life, a reason to get up in the morning." Ryan said with a lot of passion. He meant every word, but he was losing his conviction.
"You can get a job in Newport, you can help build the P.F Changs, I don't care, but we all want...we need you to come home." Seth said with real need for his friend and brother to come back.
"Seth...You guys let me in to you house but I've been denying something for so long. This is my home, it always has been, and I'm just starting to realize that."
"So you're not coming back?...You're just gonna let my Mom drink herself sick, or worse, you're gonna leave us like this?" Seth said with a lot of hurt in his eyes.
"I said I'll help Kirsten get help but I cannot go back to Newport right now, I need to let her go, get her out of my mind...Maybe one day I'll be able to get over her but...but until then...My home is Chino...I'll pay for your Mother's rehab with the money I get from overtime, and I'll even drop in alot, but I just...I just can't go back right now...I'm sorry." Ryan said in a heavy tone of sadness.
"Don't worry about it man, I'll take care of it, you just get over your girlfriend, and let the only family you've really ever had get worse, whatever your priorities are. Later bro."
"Seth, come on man, don't be like this. Seth wait!...Damn it!" Ryan left a giant hole in the wall as he punched it when Seth slammed the door in his face. He gave Trey, and his Mom a look of anger. He went into his room, and slammed the door on everything. He worked so hard for a fresh start, but the starting over would be harder than he ever imagined.
Well, that's the 9th chapter. I hope it's not too long, but I wanted to make up for all the time between chapters. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Oh yeah REVIEW!...Thanks!