When You Least Expect It Chapter Eight
"I am SO tired," Marissa sighed dramatically, playfully stumbling into the pool house and collapsing on the bed next to Ryan one evening.
"Hey," Ryan smiled warmly, abandoning the book he'd been reading and reaching out to run his hand through her hair. "What's up?" It had been a couple weeks since their big blow out and they were finding a somewhat even keel again. He still got frustrated and she still got a little defensive and hurt sometimes, but they were both making an effort and it showed. At the least, things weren't constantly awkward like they had been. "Who were you out? I'll kick their asses in spirit."
Marissa laughed. "The social committee, who else? I'm planning this winter formal, which is really kind of a Valentine's Day dance but not actually on Valentine's Day since no one wants to be in school on Valentine's Day. As usual, I feel like no one is listening to me and I end up doing all these errands myself. I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off ever since school let out." She curled up more snugly into his side. "Can I just hide in here? Like, forever?"
Ryan chuckled. "I'm not at all opposed to that idea," he teased her. He noticed her absently slip her shoes off and rub at her one of her feet. Well, that was something simple he actually could do. "Give those here," he gently commanded. She lifted her head to shoot him a quizzical look. "Feet," he elaborated, patting his lap.
"I should protest...but I have no willpower," Marissa sighed, obediently shifting herself so her feet could fit somewhat comfortably in his lap. She moaned appreciatively as he took her right foot in his hands and began rubbing the sole of it. "Baby, you have no idea how good that feels," she murmured, letting her head fall back. "I'm forever in your debt."
"Thaaaat's the plan," he grinned. "Man, you're tense. Is it that bad?" he asked, dropping the playful tone in concern.
"Am I? I don't know. I'm just annoyed. I don't know how they expect me to plan such elaborate events right on top of the other and still like, sleep and eat and do my schoolwork," she vented. "Anyway, enough about me. How was your night?"
"Boring," Ryan shrugged. "Until you showed up, anyway."
Marissa rolled her eyes even as she flushed with pleasure. "Flatterer," she retorted, but she knew he meant it. He could say something that she'd brush off if any other guy were saying it, but he so obviously meant what he was saying that it ended up being adorable. "Hmmm, tomorrow's Saturday. Want to be totally lazy and just veg out all day?"
Ryan chewed on his lip; no time like the present. "Actually, I was going to ask you about that." She raised her head and lifted her brows inquiringly. "I…I have my doctor's appointment about my leg tomorrow, to see how I'm doing and I was wondering if you could maybe come with me. If you don't have anything else to do," he added hastily, flushing for sounding like such a sixth grader asking out a girl for the first time.
Marissa was a little taken aback at first; he must have known about this for awhile. Then she remembered a couple times over the past week or so that he'd started to say something and changed the subject. He'd been nervous to ask. Her heart ached that he'd be hesitant to ask for something so simple and small. "Of course," she said simply. "Wouldn't miss it."
Don't you feel like a moron for dragging your feet? Ryan silently scolded himself, even as he felt relief sweep through him. "Thanks," he said, leaning over to kiss her before returning his attention to her feet, putting the right foot down in favor of the left one.
Marissa felt like an idiot for blathering on about her stupid problems; he was about to learn whether or not he needed more surgery and she was whining about a school dance. But before she could even question him about it, he was on another topic.
"I guess Valentine's Day is coming up," he commented. "Anything special you want to do? Since this one hopefully won't suck for us."
He really MUST not want to talk about his doctor's appointment if he's actively engaging in conversation about a chick holiday, Marissa mused. "Not really," she said aloud. "Valentine's Day isn't as big a deal to me as it is to some girls, I guess."
"And that is why you are a better girlfriend than you realize," Ryan laughed. "Seriously though, we should do something special."
"Hmmm." Marissa considered. "We could try cooking something special together."
Ryan looked at her skeptically. "Your idea of special is us killing each other by way of food poisoning?"
Marissa laughed. "You have a point. I don't know." She raised her brows suggestively. "I'd rather think of something special we could do tonight."
Ryan grinned. "I really need to learn to leave this kind of thinking up to you," he murmured, abandoning her feet altogether in favor of pulling her onto his lap.
"Hey," she protested laughingly. "What about your ribs?"
"They haven't been sore for awhile now," Ryan cajoled. "And as much as I know it's a bad idea to bring up this topic in any way, shape, or form with a woman, I gotta tell you that you weigh next to nothing."
Marissa raised her brows; he didn't appear to be sore and trying to hide it in an attempt to get some action- not that she'd put it past him. "Well, that certainly opens some doors," she murmured, lowering her head and kissing his neck, flicking her tongue across his Adam's apple.
Ryan sucked in his breath. At that exact moment he didn't care whatever other capabilities returned to him as long as he could still do this. "Let's start opening those doors, then," he suggested huskily. Marissa giggled, then gasped his hands slid up her dress. This night was DEFINITELY looking up.
Marissa awoke suddenly in the night.
It took her a minute to realize what was going on. Ryan's arms were around her as usual, but she could tell from his body tension that he was awake. "Ryan?" she asked sleepily. "What's going on?" She lifted her face to look at him; even in the dark she could see the discomfort.
"Did I wake you?" he asked apologetically, kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry. It's just so goddamn hot in here," he sighed. He must have seen the confusion on her face; it was the time of year that was particularly cool for Southern California. "My cast," he explained. "There isn't a whole lot of getting around it. It covers up my whole leg, and nothing really hurts on a consistent basis anymore which is good but I don't take painkiller that knock me out, which is bad. It feels like it's August to me."
"Awww," she said sympathetically. "Am I making it worse? I could…"
"Don't even think about it," he playfully warned, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "You're not going anywhere; I wouldn't care if it was August."
I've created a monster, Marissa silently decided, then the wheels started turning in her head. "Well, maybe there's another idea," she said slowly, then deftly squirmed out of his grasp. For all his surprising playfulness, Ryan never held her so tightly she couldn't get away; he never had.
"Hey!" Ryan protested. "What did I just say?"
"Oh, calm down," she teasingly shushed him. "I'll be right back."
Ryan raised his brows as he could hear her opening and closing his refrigerator. "Do I even want to know what you're doing?" he inquired, wishing it were more easy for him to twist around and see for himself.
"Oh, I think you'll like this idea," she laughed. "Close your eyes."
"What?" Ryan said in confusion. "Why?"
"Do you want your surprise therapy or not?" she shot back playfully.
Why was that even a question? "Done," Ryan said obediently, quickly closing his eyes. He could feel the shift in weight as Marissa climbed back into the bed with him and crinkled his brow in confusion; what was she up to. All of the sudden, he sucked in his breath as something ice cold dribbled on his bare belly. "Ahhh!" he gasped in shock. "Is that ice, or water from ice? How is that…" He just about lost his ability for all coherent thinking as her tongue followed where the water had just dripped. "You really do want to kill me," he said dazedly.
Marissa giggled in that coy in that coy way of hers that never failed to arouse him- not that he currently needed any help in that area. "Of course I don't!" she protested lightly. "This is therapeutic. To get your mind off your cast."
"My mind isn't anywhere near my cast at the moment, I can assure you that," Ryan said emphatically, groaning as she repeated the process across his chest.
"Good! Then it's working," Marissa teased. "Guess I'll just have to keep doing this for awhile…"
"If you must," Ryan breathed, almost choking as she gave his neck the same treatment. There was something so intoxicating about the smell of her hair, he decided randomly, almost deliriously as he placed his hands over her head.
"Are we feeling any better?" she grinned up at him.
Ryan laughed throatily. "Oh, I am feeling SO much better," he assured her. "Come here."
Marissa giggled and scooted up his body a little so their lips met; Ryan relished the cool feel to her wonderfully familiar mouth.
"I should make a plea for therapy more often."
Marissa sat quietly in the doctor's office next to Ryan; she noticed him fiddling anxiously with the buttons on his over shirt and reached out to take his hand in hers. He jolted for a minute, then gave her a rueful smile. It was just her with him; Kirsten was out of town and Marissa had been momentarily worried Sandy would be offended Ryan seemed to simply want to go with her, but he'd merely smiled and winked at her over Ryan's shoulder. She'd sat outside pretending to read a magazine while he had some tests done; now they were sitting together waiting for the results. She wanted SO badly for this one thing to go well for him. The past couple months had been hell for him; she ached at the thought of him suffering another disappointment.
Ryan struggled to focus on the familiar warmth of Marissa's hand in his to keep from going out of his mind. He was torn between wanting the doctor to hurry up so he could move on with the next chapter of this whatever it may be and wanting to freeze this moment so he could at least live with the fantasy he wasn't going to need surgery. The idea of another hospital stay and having this happen all over again almost made him sick to his stomach. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to think of only Marissa's thumb gently caressing the palm of his hand.
"Mr. Atwood?" Ryan jumped at the sudden sound of an unfamiliar voice; he'd been so caught up in his own thoughts he almost forgot what he was expecting. He turned to see a doctor in his…fifties, it seemed, smiling mildly at him from the doorway.
"That's me," he tensely smiled, reaching out his free hand to shake the doctor's as he rounded Ryan's chair. "I'm Ryan Atwood. This is my girlfriend, Marissa Cooper."
"I'm Doctor Northrop; it's nice to meet you both," he said, taking a seat at his desk. "I'm going to get right to it, since I can tell you're both anxious. I've looked over your records, and I have good news for you- I can't see any reason why you'd need surgery."
The words almost didn't register with Ryan at first; he wasn't used to getting good news at this point. When they did, he almost collapsed in relief in his own chair. "Are you sure?" he asked somewhat dumbly, gripping Marissa's hand tighter and glancing her way to see a smile so wide it almost broke her face.
The doctor laughed. "Yes," he said, smiling. "You've made a wonderful recovery with your leg; better than most, really. Now, that's not to say you can take off your cast and start running laps tomorrow. The first step is to get you a walking cast, which we might be able to do in the next week or so, and you're going to have to use that for awhile, and then you'll probably need a knee brace while you do some physical therapy. But you aren't going to be set back by surgery; your leg is healing nicely all on its own."
Ryan sat in his chair surprised speechless for a long moment while Marissa effusively thanked the doctor over and over. He wasn't going to have surgery. The light at the end of this tunnel was finally starting to appear. "Thank you," he croaked out at length. "Thank you very much."
Dr. Northrop smiled genuinely. "You're welcome; it's nice to give good news, especially to someone who was injured the way you were. I'll call you later in the week to set up an appointment about that walking cast, but for now feel free to go celebrate with your girlfriend."
"Oh, I will," Ryan said, suddenly feeling like laughing hysterically. After both thanking the doctor several more times, Marissa and Ryan made their way out of the office.
"You see! Sometimes things go right!" Marissa said giddily, wrapping her arms around his neck in the hallway as he buried his face in her hair. "We have to celebrate. What do you want to do? You're the man of the hour."
"Hey." Ryan balanced himself on one crutch long enough to take her hand briefly and pause her excited chatter. "I just want to say something. I know I haven't made things easy on you throughout this…"
"Oh, Ryan…" she started.
"No, let me finish," he insisted. "I know I've gotten pissed off and angry and made you feel like you were crowding me or doing a lousy job of taking care of me. I just want you to know…how NOT true that is. From being there when I woke up to taking care of me when I got sick to knowing what to do if I got a headache to making sure I didn't wear out my leg even when I was being a jackass about it…I mean, if it hadn't been for you, I probably would have done something stupid and I would have needed the surgery." He shook his head ruefully. "Anyway, in case I don't say it later for whatever reason, I just wanted to thank you. You've been so amazing."
Marissa's breath caught in her throat. She wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry, she wanted to tell him all she needed were little moments like this to make it all worth it. Instead, she simply leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn't as passionate as some others they tended to share; the sweet simplicity of the gesture was all it took to convey the love and commitment she felt for him.
"I would do anything for you," she said softly when they broke away, looking square into his eyes. "Anything."
Ryan gazed back at her. "The funny thing? I think I actually believe that right in this minute." They stood smiling silently at each other for a long moment, then Marissa broke the ice.
"Come on. It's time to celebrate."