~ Lies - Chapter 23 ~
Seth's occasional mumbling could be heard over the sound of the movie. Anna, sitting on the floor in front of Ryan, hit the pause button. "Seth, is there something you want to say that's more important than the scene where Legolas flips backward onto his horse? Because I'm thinking there's not. And it's coming up soon, so – what are you mumbling about?"
Summer raised her head from his shoulder where she'd been comfortably dozing. "Numbers." She yawned. "He keeps saying numbers." She let her head fall back to his shoulder.
"I'm calculating the odds of someone breaking their arm while actually IN a hospital. The non-probability amounts are staggering. If you consider –"
"Stop. While the odds may be on everyone's side but yours, it happened. I'm sorry you tripped, and I'm sorry you broke your arm, but here's a positive thought. You match Ryan and Summer with the cast and the glazed eyes from painkillers. Can we watch the movie now?"
Summer, sitting in the middle of the two boys, looked from one to the other while Seth and Ryan looked back and forth between the three of them. They all turned their heads in unison, looking at Anna.
She raised her hands in front of her. "Oh no. I won't be breaking anything just to fit in with the crowd, thanks."
"Things happen in threes, you know. Ryan, Summer and Cooper all got it at the same time, then me. I'd be careful if I were you." Seth nodded, teasing her.
"Obviously, you're NOT me, because you'd know I don't believe in those old wives' tales." She had a grim look on her face.
Ryan nudged her with his good foot. "Hey. Are you ok?"
She turned back toward the TV and looked at the floor. "Yes. I'm sorry I'm snapping at you, Seth." She sighed. "I'm just upset about all of this. You guys are hurt, and nobody knows how Marissa is, and I feel...I don't know how I feel. "
"Helpless? Like you should be doing something but you don't know what?" She nodded slowly. "Trust me when I say we're all feeling it." Seth looked down the couch at the other two as they nodded.
"Maybe we should do something then. It seems pretty obvious to me." Everyone looked at Summer. "I mean, I think I'd feel better if I could at least SEE Coop. Ryan? What's gonna make it better for you?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
"C'mon, there has to be something. What's the first thing you think of when you remember the accident?" Summer's voice was soft.
He closed his eyes. "I want to talk to her. Tell her I'm sorry." He turned to Summer. "But she can't hear me anyway."
"You don't know that, sweetie." Summer's eyes got a faraway look.
Anna joined in. "She's right. A lot of doctors think unconscious people can hear everything going on around them."
Ryan shook his head again. "Mr. Cooper wouldn't want –"
"Dude. He's blaming himself, not you. He'd be happy that you came."
Ryan raised his eyebrows in question.
Seth nodded. "True story. Dad told me. And it wasn't your fault anyway, so quit thinking it."
"Just like I told you – it wasn't your fault." Anna smiled at him.
Summer looked up at Seth, seemingly in deep thought. "You were watching while I was floating."
He glanced at her, amused. "Summer, what did I tell you about taking only the prescribed doses of meds?"
"I was so happy it was you and not Daddy. Because I like you best."
Seth felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck and he sat up, watching her intently as Anna and Ryan looked on, puzzled. The last time he'd heard her say 'she liked him best' was their first night in the hospital, when she'd been the child-like seductress comparing his apology to the one she never got from her father. He didn't get the floating reference, though. "What's that mean, I was watching while you were floating? What do you remember?"
Anna interrupted them. "What's going on?'
Seth held up a hand to quiet her. "Summer?"
Her eyes cleared and focused on him. "I just got, like a flash of something, like I remembered thinking or saying that. But I don't now." She shrugged.
"Think hard. See if you remember."
"Why? What is this, Cohen?" She was tired and her head hurt.
"Please. Just try to remember, then I'll explain. I promise. Try hard."
She thought for a minute, then her eyes opened wide as it came back to her. "Oh! It's like a weird dream. I wake up in a hotel room, like when I was little and my dad took me places with him for his business. And I see someone sitting beside the bed, asleep with his head on it, but he's looking away so I don't know who it is. That's when I thought that. Or said it, I don't know. I knew that the person was always with me while I was asleep and I was safe, I felt it – no, I KNEW it. Positively. Then he woke up and looked at me and it was you, and I was so happy it was you and not Daddy. Your eyes were like – totally talking to me and I knew you really cared so much about me, and it made me cry." She looked around at the others. "Bizarre, huh?"
Seth stood up, excited, and started pacing. "Summer, that happened; it wasn't a dream! Remember how I told you about you waking up in the middle of the night and telling me about your daaaa – uh, that one thing? That you wrote about?" She nodded. "That's exactly how you woke up. I fell asleep sitting by the bed with my head on it by your hip and I woke up and looked at you and you were smiling at me for a minute and I was so glad you were awake finally and then you started to cry!! You were awake for like a half hour or so, and we – we talked about stuff; I told you what happened and where you were hurt then you went back to sleep and didn't remember any of it the next morning. Dr. Mead said unconscious people do that a lot, for various reasons. This is so freaky! And awesome! I can't wait to tell her!"
Anna was perplexed. "What's so exciting about remembering waking up in the middle of the night? We all do that sometimes."
"She remembered me talking to her while she was out!" He turned to Summer. "You said you KNEW I was watching while you floated, which obviously means while you were unconscious. So listen - I started talking to you right after I called the ambulance. Cause I thought you might be scared or think you were by yourself and Emily heard Nicolas so I thought it was worth a try. I told you over and over again that I was there with you and that I wouldn't leave you and kept talking to you about all kinds of stuff in the hospital room. You heard me while you were unconscious! That's how you knew I'd been watching you when you first woke up!"
Summer looked amazed. "Wow! You watch General Hospital too? That is WAY freaky, Cohen. Really cool, too. The unconscious stuff, I mean."
"But that's pretty slim evidence, Seth. I'd be more inclined to believe it if she remembered something specific that you said to her while she was asleep. But it's extremely intriguing, no doubt about it." Anna looked to Ryan and he nodded.
"I smell an AP Science paper being written in your head right now. Something's burning." Ryan gave her a half smile.
Anna blushed. "Am I that obvious?"
Seth, Summer and Ryan nodded.
"Ok, people. So it's settled, then. We go visit Coop tomorrow." Summer yawned again.
Ryan nodded and slowly stood, grabbing his crutches. "I'm kinda tired, too. Anna, could you, uh - help me get out to the pool house?"
She smiled and got to her feet. "Sure. I'd hate to worry about you falling in the pool with a cast on your leg."
Seth's jaw dropped. "Wait! Did I just hear my "Mean-Streets-of- Chino–raised" brother ask for help? Is Satan playing hockey in hell right now?"
"Very impressive, Ryan. I'm shocked." Summer winked at him.
Ryan rolled his eyes and sighed. "I should have known better."
Summer and Seth stood and each hugged Ryan. Summer finally pulled away from him. "You're getting pretty good at that too."
He looked at the floor. "It's not as hard as asking for help," he mumbled. He glanced at Anna.
"Let's go." She walked near him, guiding him around various obstacles. She opened the door and he slowly made his out as she followed.
****
"I'm sooo tired. Can we sleep together, or will your dad get all parental about it?" She kissed his shoulder.
"He's really not paying much attention. Now if Mom were here, there'd be all kinds of serious talk about girls-don't-sleep-with-boys-because-they- might-find-out-they-have-different-parts-that-feel-good-when-introduced-to- each-other- OhMy! um – parenting going on. But we have to go home anyway, Summer."
"You are home, Cohen," she reminded him dryly.
"No, no, I'm talking about our – our place, at your house, you know? Where I get to have you all to myself and I get to discover more awesome things about you, and - and us. "He motioned between the two of them. "This."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Not the sexual things, if that's what you're thinking. Not that I don't uh – of course I'm FULLY invested in the sexual discoveries, so much so that if the NYSE had "Sex Stock" and it should ever um – bottom out, I'd be a completely penniless man, THAT'S how much I'm invested in the sex part, but right now I'm talking about just you, not you and, uh – sex."
"Oh yeah!" She agreed brightly, then rolled her eyes. "Which is why you just mentioned the word "sex" 5 times in under 15 seconds."
"No! Really! I thought you might have thought that I meant that – meant sex, and I don't want you think that I thought that, because I don't think that at all. Not even a little. I told you I loved you BEFORE we had sex, remember? I want us to talk, and– and laugh, and have fun like this morning. Before you fell, of course, but that's all I meant."
Summer closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. "My head hurts and you completely lost me with all the thinks and thoughts but it doesn't matter." Smiling, she looked over at him. "I want to go home too. I can't get up your stairs to the guest room anyway, right?" She winked.
"Exactly. Great minds think alike." He stood. "I'll let Dad know and then we'll go."
"Seth?"
He stopped and looked back. "Yeah?"
"The fact that you were worried what I thought and made sure I knew it wasn't all about sex?
"Uh huh?"
"That makes me want to go home and have sex with you."
"It does?" He looked confused as she nodded. "Ok - I seriously need to write this down because – because... You are such a huge mystery."
"OhmyGod, Cohen, you don't need to write anything down. Just be yourself. It got you this far."
"So – so I don't totally suck at the boyfriend thing? Because frankly, I'm pretty worried, never having been in love before or anything. With someone that felt the same way. You know. Like this."
Her eyes softened. "Aw, honey, you're not sucking at all! Just the opposite."
He looked more worried. "Ok. But the opposite of suck would be to - to blow. So I blow?"
She laughed at him. "No! Seth, I would have lost my mind without you through all of this. And you've only been my boyfriend since last night. So, that means you're not only a great friend; you're a great boyfriend. Stop worrying, sweetie." She laid her head back onto the couch again. "Did I stroke your ego enough?"
"Quite thoroughly, thank you. But really, all this talk of sucking and blowing and stroking has to stop, naughty girl. We're both injured now and I think sex is out is the question, no matter how much you beg me."
"Cohen! You started – That's not what I -!"
He grinned and headed for the hall as she threw a pillow at him.
****
Ryan dropped his crutches and sat down, falling back onto the bed. "It took 5 minutes to go 50 feet." Groaning, he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Aren't your pain pills working?" Anna watched him sympathetically.
"I guess. My ankle's not throbbing like it was."
"What about the rest of you? I would think getting thrown around inside a rolling car would make everything ache." She sat on the bed.
"Yeah. There's that."
She checked her watch. "Then we need to fix you. When did you take your prescriptions last?"
He turned his head to glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "It's time again."
After getting him some water, she handed him his medicine. "Take these. I'll be right back." Heading into the bathroom, she found two large towels and soaked them in hot water, wrung them out, then returned to Ryan. "Take your shirt off. Do you care if the bed gets a little wet?"
He opened his eyes and slid them sideways to look at her appraisingly.
She blushed. "Ok, since you had your eyes closed and didn't SEE the towels I can understand how that might have sounded like a come on. It's not. Just take off your shirt and lay on your stomach, ok?"
He pulled his legs up onto the bed and turned over, then removed his shirt. "You're awfully bossy. I kind of like it."
She hit him with a towel. "Behave or you're on your own." Crawling up beside him, she laid the hot towels across his shoulders, back, and lower back, trying very hard not to notice the muscles under his tanned skin. When she was done she moved back to the foot of the bed and stretched out. "How's that?"
"Good. Really good. Thanks."
"Let me know when they cool. It's too bad you can't get in the hot tub. That would feel great on your sore muscles, but obviously destroy your cast."
"Don't remind me. I stared at it all day."
"I thought you said you slept?"
He sighed heavily and turned his head toward her, pressing his other cheek into the comforter. "I tried. Every time I pass out, I – dream about it. So I made myself stay awake."
"Your dreams were that bad?" Her voice was soft and her heart went out to him. He not only lived through a nightmare, he was still having it when he tried to rest.
"Yeah. She's yelling and it doesn't..." He trailed off. "They're bad." He shut his eyes, as if he were willing the memories away.
"You can tell me. Maybe it will help. If you want," she hurried to add.
"It's not that I don't want to. I just don't talk about stuff. It's hard for me." He didn't want to offend her.
"Ryan, you don't have to. Just know that I'll be here for you if you ever want to."
He hesitated a minute, then reached across the bed to take her hand. "Thanks."
She looked down at his hand over hers. "No problem." Her eyes drifted up his gauze-wrapped forearm to bruised and battered skin over hard biceps and shoulders. His body was totally unlike Seth's, which was actually the only boy's body she'd ever had her hands on. Seth was surprisingly well muscled under the camouflage of his shirts, he was just thin and wiry. She'd briefly noticed Ryan was well built before, but never dwelled on it. Seeing him half-dressed? Well, suddenly she knew why girls flocked around the athletes of the world. There was such a huge desire in her to know what that bicep felt like under her fingers, and the urge to run a hand soothingly over the muscular valleys and hills on his back was overwhelming. As her gaze slid higher she suddenly found herself locked on a pair of ice blue eyes studying her own. They showed no emotion and she had no idea what he was thinking about her embarrassing foray into lust. She sat up quickly. "So. Have your towels cooled off? I'll bet they have." She pulled them off of him and, dragging her eyes away from his back, headed to the bathroom. "I'll just heat them up again for you."
She waited until her cheeks cooled, then went back to the bed, determined to stop thinking about Ryan's muscles. He was a friend, and he was hurting from a horrible wreck and worried about his true love. She had no business – "Ryan! Is that – is that from the seatbelt?"
He'd turned over onto his back, and a long, wide red welt covering even more bruised flesh ran from his right shoulder down his chest and stomach, disappearing under the jeans covering his left hip. He nodded once. "Before it broke. I thought the heat might help." He held up a tube of something. "The doctors gave me this for it, but it still..." He looked away, uncomfortable telling her how much pain he was in.
"And I made you lay on your stomach! Why didn't you say something? I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be. My back was hurting as bad as the front."
She walked over to him, dropping the towels onto the bed. "What'd the hospital give you?" He handed her the tube. After examining it, she took off the cap. "This is really good stuff. Maybe you're not putting enough on. Why don't we try it again, with the heat, and see if it helps?"
He shrugged. "I'll try anything at this point."
"How many pain killers have you taken today?"
"Just the four you made me take."
She rolled her eyes. "And you wonder why it hurts so much. Geez."
"I told you they make me feel weird."
She grabbed the vial and took out another tablet, handing it and the water to him again. "Take it."
He sighed and obeyed.
She picked up the tube of cream. "Here. Put this on again." After watching him struggle to apply it with his burned hand, she took pity on him, sitting next to him on the bed. "Lie back. No wonder it didn't help you." She grabbed the tube from him and opened it, squeezing a thick line along his wound.
"This is humiliating. I can't walk, can't even put on my own medicine."
"I'm sure it's frustrating for you, but it's only temporary." Trying to decide which end to start on, she was struck by the definition of muscles in his chest and stomach. Biting her lip, she blinked hard.
"Is something wrong?"
"No! Not at all." Avoiding his eyes, she concentrated on rubbing the crème onto his shoulder as gently as she could, leaving a thick coating on the welt. "Am I hurting you?"
He was quiet for a second. "No."
She barely heard him, his voice was so low. Continuing down his chest was, annoyingly enough, a thrill for her as the feel of his hard pectoral muscle under her hand was even better than she'd imagined. He was smooth and hard and her fingers sliding across skin was disturbingly erotic. She reminded herself that he was in love with Marissa and she still cared about Seth and these feelings were very, very wrong. His voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"It was pretty bad watching them, wasn't it?"
She sat back, thankful for the opportunity to get her hand off of him.
"It's weird, because they've both been so nice about it that I can't be angry. Seeing them together makes me realize how right they are for each other. Seth and I – we never had sparks. We didn't have that connection they so obviously do." She averted her eyes.
"But?"
"It still hurts. It makes me sad." She felt the tears coming and leaned forward again, rubbing the crème in across his flat stomach. She did it as gently as she could, hoping not to hurt him. While turning her head and wiping a stray tear against the shoulder of her shirt, she caught his eyes. Startled by the intensity of his gaze, she began to pull away, only to feel his hand holding hers in place on his stomach.
"Don't."
Anna was suddenly afraid. His strength scared her, his muscular body frightened her, her need to touch him completely terrified her, and the intense look in his eyes pierced her, seeing right through to her desire. She shivered.
His voice was very soft again. "Those are sparks, Anna."
"I'm scared."
He immediately let go of her hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't -"
She got up and grabbed the towels, hurrying back into the bathroom. As she ran them under hot water she tried to calm the thoughts whirling in her head. She'd enjoyed spending time with him today, no matter how bad the circumstances. She genuinely liked Ryan and was impressed by his efforts to turn his life around. Things were easy and uncomplicated between them, which was a welcome change from all the confusion regarding the triangle between herself, Seth and Summer. And she had to admit, Seth was high maintenance. In the end, he'd finally picked no one and she was ok with that, but seeing them together today had made her feel somehow inferior and cheated deep inside. She had never considered Ryan as anything other than Seth's new brother and Marissa Cooper's boyfriend. Until tonight. Kissing Seth was always sweet and good, but she knew in her gut that kissing Ryan would have her on fire in a matter of seconds and that's what troubled her. She laughed ironically. Ryan Atwood had just completely killed her previous idea of what 'sparks' were.
Moving almost mechanically, she returned to the bed. He was lying on his back still, with an arm over his eyes and he sat up as he heard her, guilt all over his face.
"Sorry. Really. I don't know what I was thinking." He looked sincere, and miserable again.
"It's ok." She motioned for him to lie back, then arranged the hot towels on his chest and stomach as he watched her, surprised. "You're NOT thinking, and that's because you're hurt and worried about Marissa. Mix in all your unfounded guilt and the drugs I forced down you, and you have someone looking for some comfort. It's natural, and I'm the closest warm body." She returned to her place at the foot of the bed.
He sat up quickly, startling her again, and the towels slid onto the comforter and into his lap. She expected him to yell, from the look on his face, but his tone was soft.
"No, Anna. You are not just a warm body. I may have been looking for comfort, but it was from you because I – I like you; I always have. We're friends, and the way you go about things impresses me, and... I'm sorry." He lowered his head to study the towels on his legs. "I wasn't trying to just use you. I shouldn't have done it anyway. I don't know why - I just -"
"Got caught up in the sparks?"
He slowly lifted his eyes to hers, and they shared an intense moment. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I felt it too. It was too much; it terrified me."
His eyes narrowed in concern. "It wasn't like that before? With –?"
She cut in, not wanting to bring Seth's name into the conversation. "Never."
He laid back and pulled the towels onto his chest again. "Why don't you come up here and lie with your head on the pillow, and we'll just talk. I'm ready to talk, if you'll still listen."
Feeling instantly calmer, and glad that he felt like he could confide in her, she crawled up the bed, lying on her side next to him. "Of course I will."
****
Seth's occasional mumbling could be heard over the sound of the movie. Anna, sitting on the floor in front of Ryan, hit the pause button. "Seth, is there something you want to say that's more important than the scene where Legolas flips backward onto his horse? Because I'm thinking there's not. And it's coming up soon, so – what are you mumbling about?"
Summer raised her head from his shoulder where she'd been comfortably dozing. "Numbers." She yawned. "He keeps saying numbers." She let her head fall back to his shoulder.
"I'm calculating the odds of someone breaking their arm while actually IN a hospital. The non-probability amounts are staggering. If you consider –"
"Stop. While the odds may be on everyone's side but yours, it happened. I'm sorry you tripped, and I'm sorry you broke your arm, but here's a positive thought. You match Ryan and Summer with the cast and the glazed eyes from painkillers. Can we watch the movie now?"
Summer, sitting in the middle of the two boys, looked from one to the other while Seth and Ryan looked back and forth between the three of them. They all turned their heads in unison, looking at Anna.
She raised her hands in front of her. "Oh no. I won't be breaking anything just to fit in with the crowd, thanks."
"Things happen in threes, you know. Ryan, Summer and Cooper all got it at the same time, then me. I'd be careful if I were you." Seth nodded, teasing her.
"Obviously, you're NOT me, because you'd know I don't believe in those old wives' tales." She had a grim look on her face.
Ryan nudged her with his good foot. "Hey. Are you ok?"
She turned back toward the TV and looked at the floor. "Yes. I'm sorry I'm snapping at you, Seth." She sighed. "I'm just upset about all of this. You guys are hurt, and nobody knows how Marissa is, and I feel...I don't know how I feel. "
"Helpless? Like you should be doing something but you don't know what?" She nodded slowly. "Trust me when I say we're all feeling it." Seth looked down the couch at the other two as they nodded.
"Maybe we should do something then. It seems pretty obvious to me." Everyone looked at Summer. "I mean, I think I'd feel better if I could at least SEE Coop. Ryan? What's gonna make it better for you?"
He shook his head. "I don't know."
"C'mon, there has to be something. What's the first thing you think of when you remember the accident?" Summer's voice was soft.
He closed his eyes. "I want to talk to her. Tell her I'm sorry." He turned to Summer. "But she can't hear me anyway."
"You don't know that, sweetie." Summer's eyes got a faraway look.
Anna joined in. "She's right. A lot of doctors think unconscious people can hear everything going on around them."
Ryan shook his head again. "Mr. Cooper wouldn't want –"
"Dude. He's blaming himself, not you. He'd be happy that you came."
Ryan raised his eyebrows in question.
Seth nodded. "True story. Dad told me. And it wasn't your fault anyway, so quit thinking it."
"Just like I told you – it wasn't your fault." Anna smiled at him.
Summer looked up at Seth, seemingly in deep thought. "You were watching while I was floating."
He glanced at her, amused. "Summer, what did I tell you about taking only the prescribed doses of meds?"
"I was so happy it was you and not Daddy. Because I like you best."
Seth felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck and he sat up, watching her intently as Anna and Ryan looked on, puzzled. The last time he'd heard her say 'she liked him best' was their first night in the hospital, when she'd been the child-like seductress comparing his apology to the one she never got from her father. He didn't get the floating reference, though. "What's that mean, I was watching while you were floating? What do you remember?"
Anna interrupted them. "What's going on?'
Seth held up a hand to quiet her. "Summer?"
Her eyes cleared and focused on him. "I just got, like a flash of something, like I remembered thinking or saying that. But I don't now." She shrugged.
"Think hard. See if you remember."
"Why? What is this, Cohen?" She was tired and her head hurt.
"Please. Just try to remember, then I'll explain. I promise. Try hard."
She thought for a minute, then her eyes opened wide as it came back to her. "Oh! It's like a weird dream. I wake up in a hotel room, like when I was little and my dad took me places with him for his business. And I see someone sitting beside the bed, asleep with his head on it, but he's looking away so I don't know who it is. That's when I thought that. Or said it, I don't know. I knew that the person was always with me while I was asleep and I was safe, I felt it – no, I KNEW it. Positively. Then he woke up and looked at me and it was you, and I was so happy it was you and not Daddy. Your eyes were like – totally talking to me and I knew you really cared so much about me, and it made me cry." She looked around at the others. "Bizarre, huh?"
Seth stood up, excited, and started pacing. "Summer, that happened; it wasn't a dream! Remember how I told you about you waking up in the middle of the night and telling me about your daaaa – uh, that one thing? That you wrote about?" She nodded. "That's exactly how you woke up. I fell asleep sitting by the bed with my head on it by your hip and I woke up and looked at you and you were smiling at me for a minute and I was so glad you were awake finally and then you started to cry!! You were awake for like a half hour or so, and we – we talked about stuff; I told you what happened and where you were hurt then you went back to sleep and didn't remember any of it the next morning. Dr. Mead said unconscious people do that a lot, for various reasons. This is so freaky! And awesome! I can't wait to tell her!"
Anna was perplexed. "What's so exciting about remembering waking up in the middle of the night? We all do that sometimes."
"She remembered me talking to her while she was out!" He turned to Summer. "You said you KNEW I was watching while you floated, which obviously means while you were unconscious. So listen - I started talking to you right after I called the ambulance. Cause I thought you might be scared or think you were by yourself and Emily heard Nicolas so I thought it was worth a try. I told you over and over again that I was there with you and that I wouldn't leave you and kept talking to you about all kinds of stuff in the hospital room. You heard me while you were unconscious! That's how you knew I'd been watching you when you first woke up!"
Summer looked amazed. "Wow! You watch General Hospital too? That is WAY freaky, Cohen. Really cool, too. The unconscious stuff, I mean."
"But that's pretty slim evidence, Seth. I'd be more inclined to believe it if she remembered something specific that you said to her while she was asleep. But it's extremely intriguing, no doubt about it." Anna looked to Ryan and he nodded.
"I smell an AP Science paper being written in your head right now. Something's burning." Ryan gave her a half smile.
Anna blushed. "Am I that obvious?"
Seth, Summer and Ryan nodded.
"Ok, people. So it's settled, then. We go visit Coop tomorrow." Summer yawned again.
Ryan nodded and slowly stood, grabbing his crutches. "I'm kinda tired, too. Anna, could you, uh - help me get out to the pool house?"
She smiled and got to her feet. "Sure. I'd hate to worry about you falling in the pool with a cast on your leg."
Seth's jaw dropped. "Wait! Did I just hear my "Mean-Streets-of- Chino–raised" brother ask for help? Is Satan playing hockey in hell right now?"
"Very impressive, Ryan. I'm shocked." Summer winked at him.
Ryan rolled his eyes and sighed. "I should have known better."
Summer and Seth stood and each hugged Ryan. Summer finally pulled away from him. "You're getting pretty good at that too."
He looked at the floor. "It's not as hard as asking for help," he mumbled. He glanced at Anna.
"Let's go." She walked near him, guiding him around various obstacles. She opened the door and he slowly made his out as she followed.
****
"I'm sooo tired. Can we sleep together, or will your dad get all parental about it?" She kissed his shoulder.
"He's really not paying much attention. Now if Mom were here, there'd be all kinds of serious talk about girls-don't-sleep-with-boys-because-they- might-find-out-they-have-different-parts-that-feel-good-when-introduced-to- each-other- OhMy! um – parenting going on. But we have to go home anyway, Summer."
"You are home, Cohen," she reminded him dryly.
"No, no, I'm talking about our – our place, at your house, you know? Where I get to have you all to myself and I get to discover more awesome things about you, and - and us. "He motioned between the two of them. "This."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Not the sexual things, if that's what you're thinking. Not that I don't uh – of course I'm FULLY invested in the sexual discoveries, so much so that if the NYSE had "Sex Stock" and it should ever um – bottom out, I'd be a completely penniless man, THAT'S how much I'm invested in the sex part, but right now I'm talking about just you, not you and, uh – sex."
"Oh yeah!" She agreed brightly, then rolled her eyes. "Which is why you just mentioned the word "sex" 5 times in under 15 seconds."
"No! Really! I thought you might have thought that I meant that – meant sex, and I don't want you think that I thought that, because I don't think that at all. Not even a little. I told you I loved you BEFORE we had sex, remember? I want us to talk, and– and laugh, and have fun like this morning. Before you fell, of course, but that's all I meant."
Summer closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. "My head hurts and you completely lost me with all the thinks and thoughts but it doesn't matter." Smiling, she looked over at him. "I want to go home too. I can't get up your stairs to the guest room anyway, right?" She winked.
"Exactly. Great minds think alike." He stood. "I'll let Dad know and then we'll go."
"Seth?"
He stopped and looked back. "Yeah?"
"The fact that you were worried what I thought and made sure I knew it wasn't all about sex?
"Uh huh?"
"That makes me want to go home and have sex with you."
"It does?" He looked confused as she nodded. "Ok - I seriously need to write this down because – because... You are such a huge mystery."
"OhmyGod, Cohen, you don't need to write anything down. Just be yourself. It got you this far."
"So – so I don't totally suck at the boyfriend thing? Because frankly, I'm pretty worried, never having been in love before or anything. With someone that felt the same way. You know. Like this."
Her eyes softened. "Aw, honey, you're not sucking at all! Just the opposite."
He looked more worried. "Ok. But the opposite of suck would be to - to blow. So I blow?"
She laughed at him. "No! Seth, I would have lost my mind without you through all of this. And you've only been my boyfriend since last night. So, that means you're not only a great friend; you're a great boyfriend. Stop worrying, sweetie." She laid her head back onto the couch again. "Did I stroke your ego enough?"
"Quite thoroughly, thank you. But really, all this talk of sucking and blowing and stroking has to stop, naughty girl. We're both injured now and I think sex is out is the question, no matter how much you beg me."
"Cohen! You started – That's not what I -!"
He grinned and headed for the hall as she threw a pillow at him.
****
Ryan dropped his crutches and sat down, falling back onto the bed. "It took 5 minutes to go 50 feet." Groaning, he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Aren't your pain pills working?" Anna watched him sympathetically.
"I guess. My ankle's not throbbing like it was."
"What about the rest of you? I would think getting thrown around inside a rolling car would make everything ache." She sat on the bed.
"Yeah. There's that."
She checked her watch. "Then we need to fix you. When did you take your prescriptions last?"
He turned his head to glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "It's time again."
After getting him some water, she handed him his medicine. "Take these. I'll be right back." Heading into the bathroom, she found two large towels and soaked them in hot water, wrung them out, then returned to Ryan. "Take your shirt off. Do you care if the bed gets a little wet?"
He opened his eyes and slid them sideways to look at her appraisingly.
She blushed. "Ok, since you had your eyes closed and didn't SEE the towels I can understand how that might have sounded like a come on. It's not. Just take off your shirt and lay on your stomach, ok?"
He pulled his legs up onto the bed and turned over, then removed his shirt. "You're awfully bossy. I kind of like it."
She hit him with a towel. "Behave or you're on your own." Crawling up beside him, she laid the hot towels across his shoulders, back, and lower back, trying very hard not to notice the muscles under his tanned skin. When she was done she moved back to the foot of the bed and stretched out. "How's that?"
"Good. Really good. Thanks."
"Let me know when they cool. It's too bad you can't get in the hot tub. That would feel great on your sore muscles, but obviously destroy your cast."
"Don't remind me. I stared at it all day."
"I thought you said you slept?"
He sighed heavily and turned his head toward her, pressing his other cheek into the comforter. "I tried. Every time I pass out, I – dream about it. So I made myself stay awake."
"Your dreams were that bad?" Her voice was soft and her heart went out to him. He not only lived through a nightmare, he was still having it when he tried to rest.
"Yeah. She's yelling and it doesn't..." He trailed off. "They're bad." He shut his eyes, as if he were willing the memories away.
"You can tell me. Maybe it will help. If you want," she hurried to add.
"It's not that I don't want to. I just don't talk about stuff. It's hard for me." He didn't want to offend her.
"Ryan, you don't have to. Just know that I'll be here for you if you ever want to."
He hesitated a minute, then reached across the bed to take her hand. "Thanks."
She looked down at his hand over hers. "No problem." Her eyes drifted up his gauze-wrapped forearm to bruised and battered skin over hard biceps and shoulders. His body was totally unlike Seth's, which was actually the only boy's body she'd ever had her hands on. Seth was surprisingly well muscled under the camouflage of his shirts, he was just thin and wiry. She'd briefly noticed Ryan was well built before, but never dwelled on it. Seeing him half-dressed? Well, suddenly she knew why girls flocked around the athletes of the world. There was such a huge desire in her to know what that bicep felt like under her fingers, and the urge to run a hand soothingly over the muscular valleys and hills on his back was overwhelming. As her gaze slid higher she suddenly found herself locked on a pair of ice blue eyes studying her own. They showed no emotion and she had no idea what he was thinking about her embarrassing foray into lust. She sat up quickly. "So. Have your towels cooled off? I'll bet they have." She pulled them off of him and, dragging her eyes away from his back, headed to the bathroom. "I'll just heat them up again for you."
She waited until her cheeks cooled, then went back to the bed, determined to stop thinking about Ryan's muscles. He was a friend, and he was hurting from a horrible wreck and worried about his true love. She had no business – "Ryan! Is that – is that from the seatbelt?"
He'd turned over onto his back, and a long, wide red welt covering even more bruised flesh ran from his right shoulder down his chest and stomach, disappearing under the jeans covering his left hip. He nodded once. "Before it broke. I thought the heat might help." He held up a tube of something. "The doctors gave me this for it, but it still..." He looked away, uncomfortable telling her how much pain he was in.
"And I made you lay on your stomach! Why didn't you say something? I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be. My back was hurting as bad as the front."
She walked over to him, dropping the towels onto the bed. "What'd the hospital give you?" He handed her the tube. After examining it, she took off the cap. "This is really good stuff. Maybe you're not putting enough on. Why don't we try it again, with the heat, and see if it helps?"
He shrugged. "I'll try anything at this point."
"How many pain killers have you taken today?"
"Just the four you made me take."
She rolled her eyes. "And you wonder why it hurts so much. Geez."
"I told you they make me feel weird."
She grabbed the vial and took out another tablet, handing it and the water to him again. "Take it."
He sighed and obeyed.
She picked up the tube of cream. "Here. Put this on again." After watching him struggle to apply it with his burned hand, she took pity on him, sitting next to him on the bed. "Lie back. No wonder it didn't help you." She grabbed the tube from him and opened it, squeezing a thick line along his wound.
"This is humiliating. I can't walk, can't even put on my own medicine."
"I'm sure it's frustrating for you, but it's only temporary." Trying to decide which end to start on, she was struck by the definition of muscles in his chest and stomach. Biting her lip, she blinked hard.
"Is something wrong?"
"No! Not at all." Avoiding his eyes, she concentrated on rubbing the crème onto his shoulder as gently as she could, leaving a thick coating on the welt. "Am I hurting you?"
He was quiet for a second. "No."
She barely heard him, his voice was so low. Continuing down his chest was, annoyingly enough, a thrill for her as the feel of his hard pectoral muscle under her hand was even better than she'd imagined. He was smooth and hard and her fingers sliding across skin was disturbingly erotic. She reminded herself that he was in love with Marissa and she still cared about Seth and these feelings were very, very wrong. His voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"It was pretty bad watching them, wasn't it?"
She sat back, thankful for the opportunity to get her hand off of him.
"It's weird, because they've both been so nice about it that I can't be angry. Seeing them together makes me realize how right they are for each other. Seth and I – we never had sparks. We didn't have that connection they so obviously do." She averted her eyes.
"But?"
"It still hurts. It makes me sad." She felt the tears coming and leaned forward again, rubbing the crème in across his flat stomach. She did it as gently as she could, hoping not to hurt him. While turning her head and wiping a stray tear against the shoulder of her shirt, she caught his eyes. Startled by the intensity of his gaze, she began to pull away, only to feel his hand holding hers in place on his stomach.
"Don't."
Anna was suddenly afraid. His strength scared her, his muscular body frightened her, her need to touch him completely terrified her, and the intense look in his eyes pierced her, seeing right through to her desire. She shivered.
His voice was very soft again. "Those are sparks, Anna."
"I'm scared."
He immediately let go of her hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't -"
She got up and grabbed the towels, hurrying back into the bathroom. As she ran them under hot water she tried to calm the thoughts whirling in her head. She'd enjoyed spending time with him today, no matter how bad the circumstances. She genuinely liked Ryan and was impressed by his efforts to turn his life around. Things were easy and uncomplicated between them, which was a welcome change from all the confusion regarding the triangle between herself, Seth and Summer. And she had to admit, Seth was high maintenance. In the end, he'd finally picked no one and she was ok with that, but seeing them together today had made her feel somehow inferior and cheated deep inside. She had never considered Ryan as anything other than Seth's new brother and Marissa Cooper's boyfriend. Until tonight. Kissing Seth was always sweet and good, but she knew in her gut that kissing Ryan would have her on fire in a matter of seconds and that's what troubled her. She laughed ironically. Ryan Atwood had just completely killed her previous idea of what 'sparks' were.
Moving almost mechanically, she returned to the bed. He was lying on his back still, with an arm over his eyes and he sat up as he heard her, guilt all over his face.
"Sorry. Really. I don't know what I was thinking." He looked sincere, and miserable again.
"It's ok." She motioned for him to lie back, then arranged the hot towels on his chest and stomach as he watched her, surprised. "You're NOT thinking, and that's because you're hurt and worried about Marissa. Mix in all your unfounded guilt and the drugs I forced down you, and you have someone looking for some comfort. It's natural, and I'm the closest warm body." She returned to her place at the foot of the bed.
He sat up quickly, startling her again, and the towels slid onto the comforter and into his lap. She expected him to yell, from the look on his face, but his tone was soft.
"No, Anna. You are not just a warm body. I may have been looking for comfort, but it was from you because I – I like you; I always have. We're friends, and the way you go about things impresses me, and... I'm sorry." He lowered his head to study the towels on his legs. "I wasn't trying to just use you. I shouldn't have done it anyway. I don't know why - I just -"
"Got caught up in the sparks?"
He slowly lifted his eyes to hers, and they shared an intense moment. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I felt it too. It was too much; it terrified me."
His eyes narrowed in concern. "It wasn't like that before? With –?"
She cut in, not wanting to bring Seth's name into the conversation. "Never."
He laid back and pulled the towels onto his chest again. "Why don't you come up here and lie with your head on the pillow, and we'll just talk. I'm ready to talk, if you'll still listen."
Feeling instantly calmer, and glad that he felt like he could confide in her, she crawled up the bed, lying on her side next to him. "Of course I will."
****