Blast From The Past Chapter Two

A/N: I'm not saying how Marissa sees what happened with Theresa is how it SHOULD be seen or will be seen at the end of the day; this is her instinctive reaction. Also, I don't believe Marissa is aware of what Trey told Ryan the night of prom (for the purposes of this story, let's pretend she's not. Yet). And Summer will eventually back down, lol.

"Man. You totally blew it."

Ryan raised a brow at Seth as they sat on a bench at the pier together. "Thanks," he said sarcastically. "You make me feel much better."

"Well come on dude!" Seth protested. "You kept your correspondence and past meeting with your ex-girlfriend- who you may or may not have gotten pregnant at one point in time- a secret from your girlfriend, who had to hear it from the ex over a voicemail. Does it even get any worse than that?"

"Thanks for the recap," Ryan sighed, running a hand over his face. It sounded even worse when stated like that. He felt sick to his stomach when he imagined what was running through Marissa's mind right now.

Seth frowned curiously. "I gotta ask…why didn't you tell her? I mean, is there still something there with Theresa or…"

"No," Ryan immediately shot down. "I mean, I care about Theresa. I always will. But if that summer in Chino taught me anything, it's that I just don't feel THAT way about her anymore. Really, it was never like it is with Marissa. It's definitely not about that. It's just…" he sighed again and shook his head. "I'll never forget the look she used to get on her face every time something I did with Theresa got thrown in it." Flashes of it went through his mind even as he said it. Marissa when Eddie confronted him in school about sleeping with Theresa…Marissa when he rushed off to beat the crap out of Eddie in the bridal shower…Marissa when she told him Theresa was pregnant…Marissa when he told her he was leaving….Marissa as they danced together at her mother's wedding. Those images had never stopped haunting him. "I didn't want to hurt her, you know?" he said aloud. "And it's not that easy for me to talk about anyway. But now I have a whole new picture of her face in my mind." He closed his eyes briefly. "When she heard that message…I was just standing there looking at her and I felt like such a bastard."

Seth patted his back sympathetically. "Just explain it to her like you just did to me, man. It should at least make it better."

"I'd love to if she'd talk to me," Ryan said ruefully. "I tried to call her, but her phone is off."

"Her PHONE is off?" Seth repeated incredulously. "When was the last time Marissa actually turned her pho…." he trailed off at the dejected look on Ryan's face. "Sorry." He patted him on the back again. "Come on, I'll treat you to lunch at the diner. We'll figure out something."

"I cannot BELIEVE that jackass!"

Marissa swallowed a smile. She and Summer had been shopping for a couple hours now and Summer clearly hadn't gotten over her rage blackout about the Ryan/Theresa situation. Marissa had ended up spilling all when she got back to Summer's house and Summer caught her on the wrong side of tearful. "Sum, he's not a jackass," she halfheartedly protested, even though her friend's unquestioned loyalty cheered her up.

"Oh please. That punk has been writing letters saying God knows what to his ex for God knows how long and it turns out they had some secret meeting and you're defending him?" Summer broke off when she saw that Marissa was on the verge of tears again. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry," she said sympathetically, shifting her bags to one hand and wrapping an arm around her friend's waist. "I'm sure it doesn't mean anything like that. He loves you, I know he does. He just shouldn't have set you up for this kind of reveal."

Marissa shrugged miserably. "I would never ask that he NOT be friends with her. He's been friends with her his whole life; I would never ask him to give that up. I just don't know why he didn't tell me. He NEVER talks to me about her, not about anything that happened that summer. He gave me a really brief overview at the beginning of last school year and there's been absolutely nothing since. And seeing her in May? We were together in May; why wouldn't he tell me about that? He told her about me; she mentioned me on the message." She closed her eyes to fight back tears. "It feels like we're not any further along than we ever were. He still trusts her more than he trusts me."

"Baby…" Summer sympathetically lifted her hand to stroke Marissa's hair. "Want me to kick his ass for you?"

Marissa giggled in spite of herself. "No," she smiled a little, her tears thankfully pushed back. "I appreciate the offer, though. Come on, the diner's right over there. Let's get some lunch."

"Thank God you mentioned it, I am famished," Summer said dramatically. "Let's just have a total calorie fest. Situations like this demand choc…" she trailed off as they both entered the diner. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she groaned.

Marissa shook her head and sighed as she spotted her boyfriend and Seth sitting in their regular booth. That was just her luck. "Did you know they were going to be here?" she warily asked Summer.

"Oh please, if it were up to me Ryan would sit around wondering where you are for days," Summer scoffed, even as Ryan glanced up towards the doorway and did a double take when he saw Marissa and Summer standing there. He quickly said something to Seth and made a beeline for the entrance, as if he thought Marissa was going to bolt. "Hey," he smiled hesitantly as he stepped in front of them.

Marissa gave him the same deliberately casual smile she had before. "Hey," she said breezily. Summer merely rolled her eyes at him and flounced off to sit next to Seth.

Ryan braced himself against the irritation he felt at her wall of polite behavior; he'd been asking for it, he reminded himself. "I tried to call you a couple times," he said, leaning in to kiss her and wincing when she moved her head so he only had an aim at her cheek. He pressed his lips to her warm, smooth skin and was satisfied when he felt a slight tremble.

"Summer and I were busy," Marissa shrugged, irrationally irritated that no matter what he could still make her FEEL like no one else did. Just the slightest touch set her off.

"Well, I'm glad to see you," Ryan tried to smile again. "I was hoping someone would show up and save me from riding my bike back home."

"Sure," Marissa said distantly, inwardly dying at the thought of keeping this up for a whole car ride with him.

Ryan sighed. Okay. That did it. "Come on, let's talk outside," he said, gently taking her by the elbow and leading her out the door.

"Ryan, I was there for lunch with Summer," Marissa protested weakly, dreading what she knew was coming.

"She can wait a few minutes; she obviously knows what's up anyway from the way she was glaring at me," Ryan said bluntly, leading her to the railing of the pier. "Okay," he sighed, leaning against it. "We've had enough of this. You're obviously pissed off about that phone message from Theresa. Would you just say it? I don't know if you're trying to save face or don't think you have a right to be mad or what, but there's no point to it. I'm standing here telling you I'd be mad if I were in your shoes."

Marissa clenched her jaw. Okay, if he wanted to play it that way. "Fine, I'm pissed off," she snapped back. "I don't understand why you didn't tell me. When have I ever given you the impression I'd flip out about other girls if you just told me about it? Or is that an area of your life I'm just not deemed worthy to know about?"

"What?" Ryan said blankly, stunned. "Marissa, come on. It's not like that. I just didn't want to make you feel…"

"When did you see Theresa?" Marissa impulsively interrupted.

Ryan blinked, caught off guard. "What?...last May, she said it on the message."

"No, I mean when exactly did you see her?" Marissa pressed. "What was going on that specific night? Why did you talk about me?"

Oh, shit. Of all the questions she could have asked, that had to be the worst one in terms of how much she was going to want to kill him. "What- what does it matter?" he fumbled. "It was just a day last May."

"If it doesn't matter, why aren't you telling me?" Marissa challenged him, realizing if he was evading the answer it was probably as bad as she thought.

Ryan closed his eyes and sighed deeply. There was no way he could see around this. "It was the night of prom," he responded wearily.

Marissa frowned for a moment as she ran the events of that night over in her head….then understanding dawned. "Ohhhh," she said softly, bitterly. "You saw her before you came to prom."

Ryan met her eyes evenly. "Yes."

Marissa shook her head and stared out at the ocean, tears swimming in her eyes that she didn't try to fight for a change. "All this time, I thought you came there because you realized on your own I would never do that to you, never cheat on you with your own brother," she said quietly, a note of resignation in her voice that chilled Ryan. "But it wasn't that at all. You didn't come there because you decided to, you came there because she TOLD you to. You couldn't trust me. It had to come from her."

"You're putting words in my mouth," Ryan protested in agitation. "You're putting two and two together and coming up with ten. I didn't say any of that."

"Oh really?" Marissa angrily challenged him. "Then tell me what part of that isn't true. Did you not go to her and complain about your slut of a girlfriend, only to be told by her that maybe I'm not THAT much of a whore which caused you to change your mind about standing me up for prom?"

Ryan gave her his patented look that clearly suggested had he actually said something to go along with that look he would have called her 'woman'. "I didn't call you a slut or a whore, to start. I've never even considered calling you that. And I didn't go to her, I ran into her. And I came to you that night because I wanted to. I wanted to be with you."

"Oh please," she shot back. "When you think I'm hooking up with your own brother, what else would I be but a slut? And no one ever said you didn't want me, Ryan. But when you have to be convinced by your ex girlfriend to not stand me up at prom…" she broke off, knowing if she went any further, she'd either break down or be tempted to slap him. "You know what, I'm done with this. Ride your bike home," she snapped, pushing past him. "And I'd get air in those tires; you aren't going to be getting a ride from me for a long time." She figured she'd let him take that any way he wanted to as she stormed off in the other direction.

"Oh, come on- Marissa! MARISSA!" Ryan shouted after her, but she quickly vanished into the crowd. He threw up his hands in frustration; that had gone even worse than he thought it would.

"What the hell? What did you do to her?" Summer demanded, suddenly appearing out of nowhere with Seth on her heels.

"Not now, Summer," Ryan sighed. "Maybe I deserve to have my ass kicked, but she's taking everything the wrong way and I have to…"

"You have to stay away from her is what you have to do," Summer shot back, fiercely defensive against him in a way he hadn't seen in years. "I mean it. Back off." With that, she ran off down the pier after Marissa.

"Ryan?" Seth asked warily. "What just happened?"

Ryan closed his eyes as the full impact of their fight hit him full on in the chest. "There's a chance I just lost my girlfriend."