VAMPING THE OC

Part I

The Real Chino

Justine

Ryan slumped into his chair, his expression thoughtful and introspective. Seth watched as Ryan's eyes tracked the women as they crossed the room. He had to fight the urge to blurt out the first thing that came to mind; but he wanted Ryan's attention back on him. Seth had almost worked himself up to asking Ryan a question when he saw that the three people who'd been watching them from across the room were now headed for their table. The young woman walked ahead of the two men, who followed three paces behind and flanked her on either side. Now that Seth could get a better look at the men he decided that for all their tuxedos they carried themselves like security.

One was tall and lanky. And while he didn't look old enough to drive was probably in his twenties. He had tightly curled ash blond hair that covered his head like a skull cap and the kind of fair complexion that probably showed color if he walked across a room. The other guard was shorter and older, perhaps thirty, with an olive complexion. He wore his black hair long, pulled back into a braid.

Seth was struck by the way the two men carried themselves. They moved like gymnasts or dancers, he thought. Neither big nor beefy they conveyed an impression of precision, litheness, and danger – the suppleness and elegance of a rapier rather than the solidity and directness of a saber – in their movements. Seth shook his head, wondering where the imagery his mind provided might have come from. All I camefor were some pancakes.

The eyes of both men roamed the room observing, evaluating, and categorizing diners and staff alike. Seth knew in the rational corner of his brain that he should have been relieved to be considered unworthy of notice by these men. Nevertheless, he still felt a pang of envy that as they got closer the shorter of the two men found something about Ryan that attracted his attention. Seth saw his eyes touch and linger on Ryan several times. Whatever question Ryan raised in that guard's mind, it seemed ultimately to rate no more than a look of puzzlement from him.

Seth was grateful for this. A little interest would have been okay; but he had no desire to be near anyone who could elicit from them the cold, flinty-eyed stares that the two men directed toward a couple seated near the bar. The man and woman had arrived while Ryan and Taylor were out of the dining room. Now they sat watching as the three people from upstairs moved toward Ryan and Seth. Their drinks sat in front of them, ignored. They made no effort to disguise their interest in what was happening. Their attention was focused entirely on the girl. An interest that Seth found totally creepy. It seemed to be composed of an unnatural mix of equal parts awe and naked hunger.

The girl's guards for their part returned this attention with equal bluntness and a cold anger that seemed to sharpen their features. Their faces were well trained but Seth saw flicker in the men's eyes another emotion, something darker and more elemental, that he couldn't identify. He felt a little frisson of dread. This is a restaurant in LA not a tavern on the way to Castle Frankenstein. He silently promised himself he'd consider moderating his horror movie intake.

The girl; however, seemed oblivious to the people around her, her two escorts, or the air of barely contained danger that surrounded them. She approached the boys' table with a smile. Seth tapped Ryan on the forearm with a finger and gestured toward the girl and her companions. "Ryan, we've got incoming."

"Incoming? What are you talking about?" Ryan asked in confusion as he turned in his chair. He spotted the party heading their way and frowned. "Oh. Incoming,"

The guards separated as they approached Seth and Ryan. The short guard walked past their table and took upposition, his back to them, facing the bar and the couple with the ugly desire so clearly visible on their faces. The younger man fell behind the girl as she walked on toward their table. He stopped a dozen feet from them, facedaway from them and took up watch on the other half of the room. Seth supposed the stations they'd assumed were meant to give the illusion of privacy to those at their table. It didn't work for him. He didn't believe for a minute that the older man nearest their table couldn't hear everything that was said at it. He wondered who their little act was meant to fool - them or the girl.

The girl walked the last few steps to their table and stopped. "I have a message for Ryan Atwood," she said quietly, her attention fixed on Ryan. Seth wondered when he'd acquired the invisibility cloak. She hadn't given him so much as a flicker of an eye the entire length of the dining room.

Ryan slowly stood and Seth followed his lead. "I'm Ryan Alwood," He said emphasizing his last name. He returned the young woman's stare.

Seth's gaze went back and forth between the two young people. They both wore similar expressions that he guessed might best be described as uncertain. As the silence dragged on, Seth had almost decided that an appropriately snarky comment was called for when the girl's expression slowly changed to one of confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" She frowned.

She's even pretty when she frowns. Seth felt a momentary twinge of guilt at this implied unfaithfulness to Summer.

"Alwood! My name is Ryan Alwood." Seth heard the emphasis again on the last name. Studying his friend's face he resolved that he'd never play poker for money with Ryan.

As she paused, apparently uncertain how to proceed, Seth saw the nearer of her two guards look back over his shoulder and make eye contact with her. She shook her head as though to clear her thoughts and apologized, "I'm sorry. I was sure my brother said Atwood. I must have been mistaken." She smiled brightly. "I know he was quite definite that the message was for someone at this table named Ryan. So it must be for you Mr. Alwood. My brother would like to meet you."

"Your brother?" Ryan asked eyeing her two guards warily. His hands gripped the back of his chair.

"Nicholas Stavros, Ryan. He said he only needed a few minutes of your time."

Ryan, his face closed and guarded, considered the girl for a moment before turning to Seth. "You go ahead and order, Seth. Don't wait on me. I'll be back soon." He nodded at the girl who stood still staring at him. The look of puzzled confusion had returned.

"Ryan?" There was a question in Seth's voice.

"It's only going to be a few minutes, right, Miss Stavros?" Ryan's voice was cool.

"Yes, that's right." It seemed as though the act of having to talk swept all her confusion away. She nodded. "Only a few minutes. Christian here will take you upstairs." The tall, blond guard turned to face them and stepped forward. He stood at ease, eyeing Ryan, while he waitedfor Ryan to make up his mind..

Seth found himself taking an immediate dislike to Christian. He was sure that it was the man's vanity that had caused him to buy studs of lapis lazuli for hisshirt that exactly matched the color of his eyes. The blue of his eyes was so bright that Seth could distinguish this even at a distance. As Seth waited for Ryan to come to a decision, the thought bubbled up from the depths of his inferiority complex: he probably has dimples.

"Nicky asked me to keep your friend company, Mr. Alwood. He said it would be rude to leave him all alone down here." Justine smiled and this time she included Seth in the warmth of that smile. It irritated Seth to realize how happy he was to be included in the smile. Grateful for crumbs, huh, Cohen? She cocked her head waiting for Ryan's decision. "Nicky's waiting, Ryan."

Ryan shrugged and giving Seth a last lookwalked over to where Christian stood waiting for him. Christian turned and led him toward the staircase to the upper floor. Seth, finally rememberied the manners that his mother had paid so much money to have imparted to him, turned to Justine and offered her a chair. As she sat down he noted that her remaining guard had changed position and moved closer to their table. He still kept himself between them and the bar. Glancing up he saw that the couple continued to stare at Justine..

"Thank you. I'm sure it will only be a few minutes." She smiled sweetly at Seth and held out a hand. "Justine Palmier."

"Oh, right."Seth stared at her hand for a moment before belatedly extending his own. "Seth Cohen." How many ways can I screw up in one day? To try to cover his discomfort he picked up the menu but then laid it down on the table again.

"You should go ahead and look at the menu, Seth. I've already eaten. I won't be offended if you ignore me."

Hungry as he was, Seth didn't know what he wanted to do. He could look at the menu or try to talk to this pretty girl. He knew where wisdom lay but still... Whatever else could be said for today's excursion to Chino, Seth Cohen had spoken with more beautiful girls and women in one day as a result of meeting Ryan than in the previous sixteen years of his heretofore, wretched and uneventful life.

Seth decided that studying the menu did provide cover for a stealthy recon of his new companion. His first thought when the menu safely hid him was that Justine Palmier could never have had much experience with being ignored by boys. She had soft, strawberry blond hair that just touched her tanned shoulders. As he completed his preliminary survey he noted that her green eyes were focused above his head on something that was going on in one of the second floor boxes. He assumed that she was watching Ryan meet her brother but he couldn't think of a way to check without being incredibly obvious. It figured, however, that she'd be checking out Ryan. He seemed to have that effect on women.

With her attention distracted Seth took the opportunity to study her more directly. Seth approved of the way her black dress hugged her body. Its low neckline exposed breasts that sent another shiver of guilt through him. His devotion to Summer was receiving a real testing today.

The bodice of Justine's dress shimmered with hundreds of black sequins embroidered on it. At her neck she wore only a crucifix set with diamonds. Seth ducked his head hastily back behind the menu when Justine looked down and found him studying her cleavage instead of the menu. He closed the menu with a snap and laid it down with a flourish. "Well, I've decided. Swedish."

This earned him a puzzled look from Justine. "Meatballs?" She inquired with a squint and a tilt of her head that reminded him of Ryan.

"No, pancakes. I'm starting my personal pancake tour of North America tonight here at The Stables. God, does that sound weird or not?"

"You mean like in Kerouac?"

"You've read Kerouac?" Seth's face blossomed into a big smile.

"One of my tutors was, I think, a rehabilitated beatnik. He had me read On the Road when I studied modern American Literature. Not all of my tutors were that cool." She rolled her eyes. "Hardly any of them were, in fact"

"You don't go to school?" Seth asked. Listening to his stomach and taking to heart Ryan's clear instructions, he waved their waiter over and placed his order. He really needed to eat something soon or his stomach would soon be serenading the entire restaurant. "Are you sure I can't get you anything. I have my mom's credit card." He cringed internally. I didn't just say that? Can I just die now? Seth gave her a weak smile.

Justine ignored his gaff and continued. "Thanks, no; and, actually, I do go to school now. Nicky finally let me dump the tutors and enroll at Our Lady of Victory in September. It's not public school and there aren't any boys." She made a sour face. "But it's a big improvement. I guess Nicky finally realized that he couldn't keep me locked up on the estate forever." She paused and looked thoughtful. "Although I have wondered if OLV's biggest attraction to him wasn't its high walls." Justine laughed. "It's a start for him."

"High walls, guards, what's he afraid of?" Seth looked pointedly at her guard standing only six feet away.

"Nicky says kidnappers but it sometimes seems more that that. I have a guard with me all the time: at school, here in Nicky's own restaurant, and even when I'm at home. It's as though we have enemies or something. They've always been around but I didn't notice it so much when I was little. Now they're pretty obvious. My classmates at school certainly don't seem to mind having them around." She followed his gaze toher guard. "I don't know who needs the protection more though, me or my men. You know what they say about girls who go to convent school." Justine gave Seth an wicked smile that totally flustered him..

"My brother means well and he knows he has to let me get out and see the world. Tonight is part of that. I'm sixteen today and he let me choose what we did for my birthday. I picked the opera. We went to the Performing Arts Center and saw Boito's Mephistopheles. It's scarier and the music isn't as pretty as Gounoud's Faust but the character of Mephistopheles is much more interesting and true love still saves Faust in the end."

Seth had to remind himself to close his mouth. Mom would think she'd died and gone to heaven if I brought Justine home. She'd be making out the guest list for the wedding before we got out the front door. Seth had to rein in his imagination. "Opera? Don't you like any music, like, from this century?"

"I know it's a weird choice when Nicky owns the biggest clubs in town but I'm a romantic and I know he likes opera. I wanted to spend some time with him; and how do you talk to someone at a rock concert? He enjoys the energy of rock but not an entire evening of it. Maybe I'll get to go to one of his clubs some day with someone." Seth saw her eyes drift up toward the balcony. "That would be fun, I think."

"Home gets lonely with no one but servants and guards around. They're all very good to me; but Uncle Stephan has been in Europe so long and I hardly ever see Nicky since he took over the business, so I thought I'd let him treat me to something on my birthday that we'd both enjoy." Justine touched the crucifix at her throat. "Uncle Stephan sent me this as his present." Her face lost its animation and Seth wondered what he should do if she began to cry.

With a visible effort that pained Seth to watch, she composed herself and changed the subject. "Where do you and Ryan go to school?" Before he could answer, she apologized. "I'm talking way too much, aren't I? I'm sorry"

"Happy birthday," Seth said enthusiastically. "I go to Harbor in Newport." He let it go at that. Ryan's situation, what little he knew of it, was too complicated to go into. If she drew the wrong impression about Ryan, it wouldn't be from something he'd said. "That's okay. I'm a recovering babbler myself." Seth made a show of checking his watch. "My name is Seth and it's been two hours since I last babbled."

Justine smiled. "Hello, Seth," she responded, joining him in the joke.

"I'm in the early stages of a 12-step program for babblers. I'm on Step 3 - making amends to everyone I've ever bored with my babbling."

"How far have you gotten on Step 3?"

"I'm still compiling my list of people that I owe apologies to. I'm up to the sixth grade and have five pages of names."

"And your friend Ryan? Is he a babbler?" She tried to sound casual but Seth heard more interest in her voice than perhaps she intended to show. "Is he in the program too?"

Seth shook his head. "Ryan is the anti-babbler. You're lucky to get six sentences an hour out of him. A least, that's about what he's been averaging tonight. I don't know if this counts as an average night for him or not," Seth said pursing his lips. "I think it might not be; but I haven't known him that long. He does seem to have a high tolerance for meaningless chatter. I'm still alive, after all." He smiled at her and wished, as she returned his smile, that she wasn't so pretty. Well, maybe Ryan would let him hang around after tonight as his sidekick to provide comic relief. It didn't look as though Ryan would have to worry about any competition for girls from him. He got a certain perverse satisfaction out of Justine's obvious interest in Ryan. She's the first person I've met tonight who didn't think Ryan and I were a couple.

Seth didn't want to talk to Justine about Ryan any more. If he couldn't talk about himself, a topic of infinitely greater interest to him, he'd rather know more about this girl. "How come you and your brother have different last names? Different fathers?" Seth asked and watched with a sinking feeling in his still empty stomach as her eyes filled up with tears.

"No. Nicky isn't actually my brother. His father's my guardian." Justine stopped and looked down at her hands. "My parents worked for his father, Stephan Stavros, and when they were killed…" She paused. "When they were killed Stephan became my guardian. I was four then. Nicky and his father are the onlyfamily I have."

Justine pulled a small lace handkerchief from her clutch and played with it as she talked. "It's great to have Nicky here now that he's in charge of the business. But it's a stupid tradition!" Seth jumped as she slammed her fist on the table. She blushed. Seth saw her guard look toward the table, concern visible on his face. "I'm sorry, Seth. It's a family tradition that the heir is never in the same place as the head of the family. Nicky grew up with his mother in Europe. But now that Uncle has gone to Europe, Nicky can be here in California. It's a strange way to live. The present I really wanted this year was to see Uncle Stephan before…" She didn't finish and began to cry softly. With the exquisite timing so common in restaurants and bars the waiter arrived with his order at that moment. Seth sat stricken watching Justine cry.

"I'm sorry, Seth." She smoothed out the handkerchief and then refolded it neatly before putting it away. Justine sniffed loudly and then gave him a shaky smile. "I seem to be saying that a lot to you tonight. I promised myself I wouldn't cry today. Nicholas doesn't show it but it has to be hard for him. Uncle Stephan is his father, after all. I don't want to make things harder for him."

"Uncle Stephan is dying. All the Stavros men have this hereditary heart condition. They never live past 40 and Uncle is 38. That's why he's in Europe and Nicky is in America running the business. There's an entire clinic in Switzerland working on a treatment but Nicky says there's still no cure."

Justine noticed Seth's food sitting in front of him untouched. "Seth, you need to eat it while it's hot or else you and Ryan will have to come back." She gave him a sly look. "It won't count as the a stop on your pancake tour if you don't eat. Then you'd have to come back and see us again." Seth wished he thought it was a desire to see him again that prompted her comment.

"Oh, Ryan's coming now." Justine blushes very prettily, Seth thought. As he started to turn in his chair to face the staircase, he heard several heavy thuds and the sound of dishes being dropped. All conversation in the restaurant stopped as people turned to see what had happened. Seth completed his turn in time to see Christian reach the bottom of the staircase in a rush. Concern was evident on his formerly impassive face even from across the restaurant. He disappeared from Seth's sight as he went down on his knees. Seth felt Justine's hand slip into his own. "What happened to Ryan?"