Title: Apples and Trees
Description: Ryan is in danger of following in his brother's footsteps.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C.. Not for profit.
Author's Notes: This is the last chapter of this story. So long and thanks for all the fish, or I mean reviews.
Chapter 9
Ryan threw his duffle bag and jacket onto the bed in the cheap hotel room and then flopped down next to them. Five hours on a bus, or was it six? Either way, it was a long trip to Vegas by bus. Ryan was tired. He wondered if Trey felt the same way after his bus trip. Ryan smiled to himself. So he did follow in his brother's footsteps after all, or rather his tire tracks. Not that he expected to find his brother here or anything. Ryan figured that Trey would have probably just made some money here then moved on. And even if he happened to still be here after all these months, Las Vegas was a big city. Ryan probably wouldn't just run into him at random.
No, Las Vegas just seemed like a good place to start. When he was here before, for Caleb's bachelor party which never happened, Ryan noticed lots of construction going on. And he remembered seeing on the news – or did he read it in the newspaper? whatever – that Vegas was a rapidly growing city, which meant lots of construction. Needless to say, Ryan was hoping to get a construction job.
Or if all else failed, Ryan figured he could make some quick cash playing poker or blackjack, like his mother had taught him. Ryan lay back on the bed. God, his mother. It was a good thing that she went to Reno instead of Vegas to do her gambling. He would really hate to run into her here. That would be... indescribable.
Ryan shoved his duffle bag onto the floor with his foot, and picked up his jacket and tossed it onto the old, ratty chair in the corner. Then he looked around. Not up to Newport standards, obviously. Barely up to Chino standards, even. But it was inexpensive and fairly clean. Ryan had remembered seeing signs for several cheap hotels with rooms for rent by the day/week/month on the way to that illegal poker game that he played in the last time he was here. So when he got off the bus earlier, he immediately headed over this way and picked out the one which looked the cleanest, with the fewest hookers and winos hanging around.
He decided to rent the room for a week, so he wouldn't have to hurry out tomorrow. It would give him time to look for a job. Once he had a job, he'd look into finding a nicer place to stay. But for now, this was good enough.
Ryan took a deep breath. Couldn't put this off any longer. He reached in and took his cell phone out of his pocket. He'd had it turned off ever since he left the Cohens'. He especially didn't want to deal with anybody else after he left Marissa. But now it was time to check his messages and listen to what everyone had to say.
He had messages from Seth, Marissa, and the Cohens, saying what you would expect them all to say. Ryan glanced at his watch. It was close to midnight. Normally, he would consider it too late to call, but he knew the Cohens would be worried, and Marissa had asked him to call when he got where he was going, no matter how late it was. He'd just have to bite the bullet and call.
So Ryan flipped open his phone. Before dialing, Ryan hesitated for a moment. He wasn't planning on telling the Cohens where he was, but he knew that if they really wanted to find him, enough to hire a private investigator, they could track him down through his phone. Well, he figured, he should call anyway. He did promise to keep in touch, and if they really wanted to know where he was that badly, he probably couldn't stop them from finding him in any case. And it wasn't like he was hiding his face at the bus station or anything.
After a brief call to Marissa to let her know that he'd arrived safely, Ryan debated whether to call Seth first, or Sandy and Kirsten directly. Caution won out. He decided to talk to Seth first and get the lay of the land, that is, find out how mad Sandy and Kirsten really were. Maybe he could put off talking to them until tomorrow.
So Ryan dialed Seth's cell and waited.
"Do you know what time it is?"
Ryan smiled at Seth's way of answering the phone. "Hey, man."
"Ryan? Oh, my god!"
Ryan could imagine Seth was pretty awake now. "Yeah."
"Oh, my god! Where are you? My parents are so pissed..."
Ryan sighed. "Yeah, I can imagine."
"Where are you?"
Ryan chuckled. "I'm not telling you."
"Why not?" Seth sounded a little annoyed.
"Because. You know you can't keep a secret."
"Dude, that is so not true. I can keep a secret as well as anyone."
"Name one."
Silence.
"Okay, maybe you have a point."
Ryan laughed again. Then he got serious. "You said Kirsten and Sandy are pissed? How pissed?"
Seth laughed a little. "Pretty pissed. You should have heard my dad."
Ryan wasn't sure he wanted to hear this, but... "What did he say?"
"You know my dad. He was ranting all evening. Hey, you owe me one for having to listen to all of this in your place, you know."
"Noted. What did he say?"
"Oh, you know, stuff like, he should never have agreed to your plan for school, that you need to get your life back on track, and now with you running away, your life is even more off-track –"
Ryan interrupted. "Hey. I'm not running away. I'm just... taking a break. I explained it all in my note."
"Yeah, I know. I don't think they liked what you had to say very much. My mom was practically crying. I think she's afraid that you're not coming back."
Ryan sighed. "I promised that I would come back and finish school, and I will."
"Hey, it's not me that you have to convince, it's my parents."
"I know..."
"You want me to go get them? They're in bed, but knowing them, they're probably still awake –"
"No! No, I'll... I'll talk to them tomorrow."
"Yeah, well, good luck with that."
Ryan smiled. "Thanks."
After chatting a bit more with Seth, Ryan hung up the phone and started getting ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
The End.