Thanks to my new contingency beta Emrose, she is a star. 'mwah'...This is for my beta Melanie39 who wanted tiki hut romance.

Read and review...you know I'm a reviewwhore.

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

A Brief Moment in Time

Ryan

Ryan led Marissa through the sand, his hand over her eyes. He felt nervous and apprehensive, it seemed like such a good idea at the time but now he wasn't so sure. He still felt new to the whole dating thing. His track record with Marissa showed how much he needed to learn about being a boyfriend. So he'd wanted this last night to be special, to give Marissa a little touch of old Hollywood glamour, their own 'From Here To Eternity' moment on the beach in the sand. He wanted to give her something that she could take away with her and remember him by. He needed her to remember him not for the fistfights, the break ups and the other stuff. He'd just wanted this to be special but now he was worried that it was too contrived…too staged. He was pulling out the stops for full on romance, but would it just come off as a blatant 'I want sex before you go' gesture? He did want that to happen, but he didn't want her to feel she owed him something. He wanted it to happen because now seemed right, and not out of a sense of obligation.

It was too late now to worry about that as he led her to the hut, and if it meant that they just sat and talked all night to prove to her that sex wasn't all he wanted, then he'd do it.

He felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter as he took his hand away. Would she laugh? Would she think he was stupid? Would she think it was all too kitsch? He wished this dating game came with a manual.

Marissa

Marissa let Ryan lead her blindly along. The undulating sand under her feet, the roar of the surf and the sharp salty tang of ozone told her that she was on the beach. The sound and smell took her briefly back to 'that night' but she shifted the thought from her mind. Ryan was nothing like his brother and she trusted him; she'd always trusted him. From the first moment she laid eyes on him she felt safe. They stopped and she felt both excited and apprehensive. Ryan didn't usually act this way. He took his hand away and she saw the rows of candles and Roman torches that led the way to a small hut. She felt the tears prick at the back of her eyes. She couldn't believe he'd done all this for her. He led her into the hut and she watched as he pressed play on the CD player, the sweet tone of Jeff Buckley's voice filling the hut.

It was perfect.

Ryan

Ryan heaved a sigh of relief - after all, what did he know about romance? The closest he'd gotten to that in Chino was giving a girl a glass for her beer, remembering her name and giving her a ride home 'afterwards'. He smiled as Marissa touched the fabric he'd draped around the walls and picked up the scatter cushions he'd laid on the floor, running her hands over the cloth. He was so pleased that he'd made the effort now; her face was a picture of wonderment. She turned to him and uttered the words 'thank you.'

They kissed on the throws and she had startled him when she left his arms and made for the door. He wondered how he'd manage to screw things up again but then her mischievous face had appeared at him from behind the drapes, poking fun at all the times that she'd run out on him.

He'd laughed with her and thought what a breakthrough it was for them that they could now be cool about all the stupid mistakes they'd made. He thought it ironic that only now, as she was leaving, had they finally managed to put the past shit behind them.

He really didn't want her to leave.

Marissa

It seemed right. They had waited so long for this moment and this was one thing she could give him that would mean something to him. She needed him to know that she was his completely, to know that this important moment would be forever ingrained in his memory. She desperately wanted him to know that she wasn't walking away from him lightly. He looked into her eyes and softly said the words "are you sure you want to do this?" and she knew he meant them. She knew that if she were to back down now he would be disappointed, but he wouldn't ever let it show out of respect for her. That was the moment that any doubt fled her mind that this might not be the wisest thing to do now she was leaving. This was their moment. It was going to make it harder to leave but he stood in front of her looking so unsure…so vulnerable, not something she saw in Ryan often as most of the time he was a closed book, but she could read him so well this evening. She started to unbutton her shirt, letting him know that after all this time…now they were ready. He took his shirt off and it was a cliché to say it but his breath really did hitch and it did something to her.

The strange thing was that tonight there was a languid atmosphere in the air. They had made out a lot, usually with the hungry need that saw them kissing and pawing each other, over and under their clothes, but tonight they slowly undressed in front of each other, each taking their time. It was like the cosmos was deliberately bending time for them, pausing the clock and making the world stop. Even the sound of the waves seemed distant…all that mattered was here and now. They stood naked and it felt natural for Ryan to be staring at her, taking in every contour of her body like he was imprinting it to memory. She did the same, not feeling embarrassed by his obvious male need, just feeling a sense of pride that he was so hard for her, that he clearly still wanted her after all this time. She knew that she was different from what he was used to in the past. Theresa had been so blatantly sexual and she could only guess at the others. She had only had one painful experience with Luke and a brief thing with DJ to her name. She sometimes felt so out of her depth with Ryan but tonight she didn't. Tonight for the first time she felt confident, tonight she didn't feel like she was a foundering virgin, tonight she felt like his equal.

Ryan

The air was electric. Ryan hadn't expected it to feel like this. He wasn't sure if it was the setting or the fact that they both knew that tonight was finally the end of their relationship, but something was so different. It was like they weren't just a couple of horny teens out to get their rocks off, but something more, something indefinable, and he'd never had this before. He was the master of banging a girl in the backseat or on a pile of coats at a party, and what he'd had with Theresa was hard to describe, but this felt…. strange. It was so confusing to him, he wasn't sure why he felt so nervous. It was certainly not the feeling he'd ever felt before when he was buck naked about to have sex with a beautiful girl.

He tentatively ran his hand across her jaw line, cupping her chin. He leant forward and he kissed her. He kept his mouth closed feeling that a full on open-mouthed kiss would seem crass at this stage in time. They may be both naked and yes, he had an aching hard on, but the moment was strangely innocent, chaste and he didn't want to break the spell just yet. They both ran their hands over each other's bodies, light touches that felt like butterfly wings whispering against their skin. He mirrored that softness of touch with his mouth, barely grazing her flesh each time his lips touched. He wanted to kiss every inch of her, to own every patch of her soft pink flesh. Her slight exclamations as his mouth roamed her body would be ingrained in his brain as would the way she shivered and sighed. He put to the back of his mind that this would be the last time he did this.

She eventually pulled him down onto the throws and cushions and that subtlety shifted the previously languorous pace. He could feel the heat radiate from her body as he held his weight off of her. She shivered again and he wasn't sure if it was anticipation or the rapidly cooling night air that made her tremble. He pulled a cotton throw up over them to trap the calidity of their bodies and started to kiss her once again. Their tongues invaded each other's mouths this time and they seemed to kiss forever. He knew that it was going to happen tonight, nothing was going to stop them and he wanted this to last. Time meant nothing to him; they were spending the whole night together and to hell with curfews and rules for once. All that mattered was on this beach with him, lying in his arms. The here and now…that's all he wanted.

Marissa

She was surprised by his control; he was being so gentle yet passionate. Not that she had much to compare with. DJ had been through a haze of alcohol. And Luke had been a selfish lover if truth be told. She wished that she could turn the clock back and have this as her first time instead of that bitter coupling, where Luke didn't give a shit and she had just wanted to hurt Ryan.

She wanted him now and told him so. He stopped kissing her neck and looked into her eyes. He asked her if she was sure again and a little more of her melted. She nodded. She felt cold when he rolled off her and reached over for a bag in the corner of the hut. She giggled as he upturned the bag and about a dozen boxes of condoms littered the floor. He joined in with her laughter as they both remembered that fateful night so many months ago. 'Just wanted to be prepared' he said with a kink of his eyebrow. She seized a box from the floor and as she undid it and pulled a condom free, she told him that he was being a little bit over optimistic as to his sexual prowess…he didn't answer as she rolled the thin rubber down onto him. He became serious and shut his eyes as her hand made contact with his hardness. She saw him swallow thickly. He opened his eyes and she thought that for the first time ever she saw the real Ryan Atwood, with no barriers lying between them. And for once she saw her real self, reflected back at her.

He covered her again with his body and gently pushed into her. He didn't break eye contact with her as he slid slowly back and forth. She felt tears once again well up in her eyes as a soft strumming guitar sounded in the hut and 'Hallelujah' started playing…. His eyes changed and she knew that he was thinking about that night in the model home too. Would things have been different for them if they had just admitted their feelings for each other sooner?

The mood of the song dictated the pace of their coupling, it was sad and bittersweet but she wouldn't have changed a thing. It was a song that always reminded her of Ryan and now it would have more meaning; she knew that when she listened to the song now it would take her back to this moment.

The song swelled and flowed and Ryan continued the slow pace, and she felt so relaxed in his arms that the build up to her orgasm took her by surprise. It was her first honest experience of pure pleasure through the actual act. With DJ and Luke she'd felt empty and detected during sex, so she'd faked to cover up the fact that she felt a failure as a woman for not getting into it with them. But with Ryan she didn't need to pretend, he always made her feel like the most sensual woman he'd been with, when they fooled around he had pretty much always managed to get her off but the release she felt this time was profound and so much stronger than normal, it left her breathless and stunned. He stopped moving inside her and she wondered if she had missed him coming. She felt disappointed; she had wanted to commit his face to memory. He whispered that she was beautiful and started to move again. He thrust deeper into her and she clung into him as the previous feelings intensified in her body, sweeping her up again so she felt like she was flying in his arms. She watched as he tensed and shuddered slightly, his eyes shut…she should have known that he would not give into histrionics like Luke. His orgasm was as understated and controlled as he himself was. He collapsed and rested himself on top of her body, the solid weight of him felt comforting. She smelt his earthy sweat and listened to his laboured breathing, she wrapped her arms around his back and held him close.

She wasn't going to cry.

Ryan

He breathed in the scent that was uniquely Marissa, enjoying the feeling of her body under his. He burrowed into her neck and shut his eyes. He couldn't explain why he felt this strong connection with her. All he knew was he'd felt it the first moment he had set eyes on her. He knew that she was the exact opposite of anything he had ever wanted in a girl but he couldn't help himself…he wanted her so much even though they tore each other apart continually.

And she was leaving tomorrow…

Life was cruel.

He should be used to it by now.

He wasn't.

Fin