"Ryan! Look at this!" Seth came crashing through the pool house door, waving a green flyer.

Ryan looked up from where he was doing push-ups on the floor. He dropped onto his knees to grab the towel that was lying on the bed, wiping the sweat off his face and arms as he stood up. "What is it?" He threw the towel back on the chair and grabbed the flyer out of Seth's hand.

"Galactic Crush!" Seth seemed very pleased with this announcement, but Ryan had no clue what he was talking about. "Galactic Crush, Ryan. They're the next big thing. Everyone's talking about them. Well, maybe not everyone, but everyone should be because, as I said, they're the next big thing."

Seth moved closer to read the flyer over Ryan's shoulder, but took a step back when his nose reminded him that Ryan had just been working out. He pointed to the flyer from a safe distance. "See? They're playing at The Palace this weekend."

Ryan scanned the flyer quickly and stopped halfway down when something caught his eye. "Seth. The Palace is in Long Beach."

"So?"

"So do you think we need to go to Long Beach just to hear a band?" Ryan walked up behind the bar to get a bottle of water from the mini-fridge.

"Yes, Ryan. Yes, I do. Because they're the next big thing. Could you really live with yourself if you missed out on the next big thing? And besides, you spent your birthday hacking up a lung and trying to keep Mom's chicken noodle soup down – though really, that part may have had less to do with the flu and more to do with Mom's cooking - and then you insisted on actually studying for midterms – we're seniors, Ryan; seniors don't study - and now it's, like, a month later and we haven't celebrated yet. And it's just not right to not celebrate your eighteenth birthday. It'd be like Superman not rescuing someone in danger. Just not right."

Ryan shook his head. Some days he couldn't even pretend to follow Seth's train of thought. "I don't know."

"It'll be fun, Ryan. Come on. Please?"

"I'll think about it." He walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

He turned on the hot water and let the bathroom fill with steam. He had been studying a lot lately and a night out would do him some good. But he couldn't resist making Seth work for it. It was the dynamic of their friendship from the beginning. Seth always acted like Ryan would say no, which he never did, and Ryan always acted like he was going to say no, which he never did.

The last time he and Seth had gone to Long Beach, things hadn't ended well. But that was a long time ago and they were older now, and more mature. He walked out of the bathroom and saw Seth lying on his bed, rolling from the head to the foot, counting as he did and then falling onto the floor.

He looked up at Ryan. "Hey, did you know I can roll 5 times before I fall off?"

Ryan laughed. Okay, maybe not more mature. "All right, we'll go."

Seth pumped his fist. "Yes! Now all we have to do is run it past the parents. Should be no problem."

"Long Beach?" Sandy shook his head as he passed a plate to Kirsten. "I don't know, guys."

Seth had decided that suppertime would be a perfect time to broach the subject. The way he'd explained it to Ryan was that food triggered happy endorphins in the brain, and they'd be less likely to say no with a stomach full of food.

"Come on, Dad," Seth said. "We're eighteen. We're adults in the eyes of the law. It's not like we really need your permission."

Ryan jumped in before Seth torpedoed their chances of going out, ever. "Except, of course, that we live under your roof and need the use of the car." He glared at Seth. "What Seth meant to say was that Long Beach isn't actually that far, and we promise to make curfew." Seth had actually wanted to ask for a later curfew, but Ryan didn't want to push their luck.

Seth made an appeal to his mother. "It's for Ryan's birthday. Remember how he was on death's door and you were so worried about him? And now that he's made this miraculous recovery, it just wouldn't be right if he didn't get to celebrate."

"Miraculous recovery? He had the flu, Seth." But Ryan could see that she was wavering so he kept his eyes on Sandy as she thought it over. "What do you think, Sandy?"

"There'll be no drinking?"

"No." Ryan was relieved. Sandy was going to say yes.

"Of course not." Seth was already starting to bounce.

"And you'll be home by curfew?"

Ryan saw Seth start to protest, and quickly jumped in. "Home by curfew. No problem."

Seth sighed. "Home by curfew."

When they arrived at The Palace, there was already a line forming outside. Seth was complaining that they were late because Ryan wanted to help Kirsten move some furniture and then there had been more traffic than there should have been on the highway, and why hadn't they left earlier? But Ryan knew that the doors were just opening, and it was just a bottleneck of people waiting to get in and that they were in no way late.

He had become inured to Seth's babble and so wasn't exactly paying attention to what he was saying. Unfortunately, he also wasn't paying attention to where he was walking either, and bumped into the guy in front of him.

"Watch it!" The guy who turned around and glared at him was tall. He had about five inches and fifty pounds on Ryan. His dark hair was shorn close, revealing a scar that ran from his temple to his ear.

"Sorry, man. I wasn't paying attention."

The guy looked him up and down. "You're a little far from home, aren't you?"

"What?"

"You're not from around here. They don't got clubs where you're from? You gotta come here to ours?"

Ryan sighed. It seemed like every guy he met from Long Beach tended towards psychotic. "Look, we're just here to see the band."

"Jake, come on." The guy's friends were calling to him as the line was moving again and they started letting more people in.

Jake glared at Ryan. "Stay out of my way tonight. You don't want to cross me." He turned and joined his friends.

Seth shook his head. "How'd he know we aren't from around here?"

"Look at us."

"What? We're wearing jeans and T-shirts, just like him."

"Can you tell the difference between a twenty dollar pair of jeans and a ninety dollar pair of jeans?"

"Yeah."

"Well, so can he."

Seth nodded. "It's amazing. Some people can go their whole lives and never get in a fistfight. You just seem to draw them to you."

"I know. I guess I'll just have to do my best to avoid him tonight."

"Yeah," Seth said as they made their way into the club. "Good luck with that.

Inside, the club was one big room, but felt like it was divided into two rooms, with the stage in the back room and the bar along the side wall. They meandered their way through the tables in the front room and found a place along the wall near the stage. They stood together and watched the people as they filled up the bar. Ryan noticed a cute redhead staring at him, so he smiled at her. She winked at him and smiled right back.

The band came on stage, but they weren't that good at all. "We came all the way to Long Beach to hear this?"

"No, man, this is the opening act. Galactic Crush won't be on until later."

Ryan tried to listen to them, but his ears couldn't stand the racket. "I'm gonna go to the bar. You want anything?"

"Sure," Seth said. "Mountain Dews all around."

Ryan pushed his way through the crowd, making his way back to the front room. As he stood at the bar waiting for his drink order, he felt a sharp jab in his side. He turned to see Jake glaring at him. "I told you to stay out of my way."

"Look, man, I paid to get in, same as you." He picked up his drinks. "Just leave me alone."

Jake bumped his arm, spilling one of the drinks over his hand.

"Watch it," Ryan said. "I'm not looking for trouble, but you can't push me around. Back off."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, you're threatening me. I'm just telling you, it's not working."

Ryan made his way back to Seth, where the first band was still playing and still sucking. He handed Seth a Mountain Dew, and downed what was left of the one Jake had spilled. When the band finally finished their set, Ryan was relieved. Seth headed off for the bathroom, so Ryan leaned against the wall, waiting for Galactic Crush to start. He felt a presence beside him, and turned to find the redhead from earlier.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Amanda."

He nodded back at her. "Ryan."

She put her hand on his arm. "You're not from around here, are you? I don't remember seeing you before."

"Yeah, no. We're just here," he pointed at the stage, "to hear the band."

"Yeah? What did you think of the first band? They're the house band; they always open here."

"Truthfully? I think they sucked."

"Really? Everyone always raves about them, and I thought I was missing something." She smiled at him and leaned towards him. "I'm glad to know it's not just me."

Suddenly Ryan felt a hand on his shoulder, and he got spun around. "What are you doing with my girlfriend?"

Ryan looked from Amanda to Jake, the owner of the hand. He groaned inwardly. Seth was right – he did have a knack.

"Jake, I'm not your girlfriend anymore. I told you yesterday. We're through."

Jake was ignoring her, concentrating on Ryan. "You think you can just waltz in here and steal our women?"

Our women? Was Long Beach still in the Stone Age? Come to think of it, Jake did look a little like Fred Flintstone. "Look, man, I'm not looking for trouble. I just wanted to hear the band. Besides, she started talking to me."

This didn't seem to calm Jake down at all. "So you're saying she's a slut?"

Before he could protest, Jake pushed him forcefully. He fell backwards, but luckily the wall was there to catch him. Ryan shoved Jake back. "I said to leave me alone."

"Stop it, Jake," Amanda said. "That's enough."

"Yeah, that's enough," Jake said. He turned to walk away, but then wheeled around quickly and punched Ryan.

Ryan's head snapped back and hit the wall again. He was lunging back towards Jake when he was grabbed from behind. "There's no fighting in here," a voice from behind him said. "You can take this outside, away from here." Ryan's arm was twisted behind his back as he was led towards the door. He saw Jake being strong-armed beside him.

Ryan was pushed out the door, and had to catch himself before he went headfirst into the sidewalk. He heard the bouncer talking to Jake. "Look, this is the third time this month we've had to kick you out for fighting. You're not allowed back."

Ryan walked away from Jake and sat down on the curb, trying to figure out what to do now. Seth had a cell phone, but he didn't, and he wasn't sure if Seth had seen what had happened or not. He couldn't go back in to get him. He figured the best thing to do was just wait there until Seth came out when it was time to go home. This was the worst fake birthday he'd ever had.

He felt a hand grab his arm. "Get up, rich boy. We're not done." Ryan was hauled to his feet. He was looking into the face of a very angry man - an angry man who also seemed to be fairly drunk. Unfortunately, not drunk enough that Ryan could take him in a fight, and he couldn't see a way out of it. This guy seemed to be ready for a fight, and he had his sight set on Ryan.

"Look, man. I'm sorry for whatever I did that pissed you off. Okay? I just don't think we need to do this."

Jake spun him around and pushed him towards the alley beside The Palace. "I need to do this."

Ryan backed up into the alley until he bumped into a dumpster. He didn't take his eyes off Jake, who was advancing towards him. The look on Jake's face was one Ryan recognized from his days in Chino. It was a look that meant the owner was in a blind rage, and the only defense was duck and cover – he was past the point of reason.

Jake came lumbering towards him. As he swung, Ryan spun to his right, ending up against the brick wall of the club. This just seemed to anger Jake further. "Come here, you little punk." He threw his whole body at Ryan, and Ryan didn't have time to get out of the way. He felt the wind get knocked out him as he was crushed against the wall. Jake pulled back to slam into him again, but Ryan ducked under the blow and scrambled behind him.

Jake turned around with a quick roundhouse punch and his speed caught Ryan off guard. He felt an explosion of pain in his cheek, as his head snapped sideways and his body was propelled backwards. When he recovered his balance, he lowered his shoulder and drove it into Jake's midsection, knocking Jake back against the wall. Jake recovered quickly and responded with some quick uppercuts into Ryan's ribs.

Ryan's chest was aching and he loosened his grip on Jake. Jake shoved him away, and Ryan stumbled backwards against some crates on the opposite side of the alley. He pushed off them, and ran at Jake again, head butting him in the stomach, pushing him back. Jake doubled over, and Ryan brought his knee up, smashing Jake's nose. He shoved Ryan again, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Jake reached down and grabbed Ryan's hair, pulling him back to his feet. His fist slammed into Ryan's face, and with a couple of more body blows, Ryan was back against the crates again. This time, Jake was looming over him. He grabbed Ryan around the neck and started squeezing. Ryan leaned back until he was lying on the crates, trying alternately to fight against the bigger man's hands around his throat and gouge his eyes out. He was getting dizzy and struggling to breathe. He worked his legs up, pushing against Jake. Finally, he got his knees up to his chest. With all the strength he could muster, he got his feet on Jake's chest and kicked as hard as he could. Jake went flying away from him. Ryan rolled on his side, and savored the flow of oxygen into his lungs again. He struggled to sit up, wary of another attack.

When he saw that Jake was collapsed on the other side of the alley, Ryan allowed himself to slide down the side of the crate. He pulled his knees to his chest, wrapped his arms around his legs, and rested his head. He heard the sirens and could see the flashing lights through his closed eyes, but he didn't look up.

Inside the club, Seth came back from the bathroom just as Galactic Crush started to play. He looked around where they had been, but he couldn't see Ryan anywhere. He saw a throng of people near the front of the stage. He couldn't imagine Ryan willingly moving into a sea of that many people, but Seth thought he should check it out. He pushed his way through to the front, but still couldn't find Ryan. He got a lot of dirty looks as he elbowed his way back through the crowd.

Now Seth didn't know what to do. It wasn't like Ryan to take off without saying anything. He decided that he must have gone to the bar again and would be back soon. He returned to where he last saw him and watched the band.

Beside him, he overheard some girls talking. "So Jake got kicked out for fighting again?"

"Yeah." Her friend laughed. "I kind of instigated it, too. God, he's just always hovering. So I started flirting with this really cute guy. Sure enough, it set Jake off. The bouncers were watching him, anyway, and as soon he threw a punch, they were on them. They both got kicked out."

A fistfight? Typical. He couldn't take Ryan anywhere without something happening. But maybe he was jumping to conclusions. Maybe it wasn't Ryan at all. He turned and headed for the front room. Outside the window, he could see the cop car lights flashing and rushed out the door.

"Keep your hands where I can see them, and stand up please."

Ryan lifted his head and blinked at the flashlight that was shining at him. He put his hands on the ground in front of him and pushed himself up. The cop came over and quickly patted him down. "Can you tell me what happened here?"

Ryan leaned a little against the crate. "We were fighting, I guess."

"About what?"

Ryan thought about the question. "A girl?" He shrugged. "I don't really know."

The cop asked him for ID. "A little far from home, aren't you?" he asked when he noticed the Newport Beach address. Ryan just shrugged because what else could he say. The cop brought him over to the squad car and told him to stay by the bumper.

Ryan watched as the cop talked on the radio, no doubt checking him out. Sandy had told him that when he turned eighteen, his records would be sealed and he'd be clean again. He had been curious about it, but had hoped that he wouldn't have to test it to find out. He looked over at the cop who was with Jake. Jake was still lying on the ground, and that didn't seem right to Ryan. Then he saw that cop come over to the squad car and talk with the first cop, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.

The first cop came back "I'll bet you wish now that you never decided to come slumming tonight," he said. "Ryan Atwood, you're under arrest for the death of Jake Malloy." The cop continued to read him his rights as he cuffed his hands behind his back, but Ryan couldn't really hear him. All the blood had drained from his head; his ears were buzzing and it was all he could do to keep his legs under him and not collapse to the ground.

TBC