Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC
Seth ambled around the corner to the kitchen.
"Afternoon mother, father, oh, ok, I don't appear to know you."
Boy, this kid sounded like a comic book geek, the kind that would get his ass whipped in Chino, but then, Ryan wasn't in Chino, and he doubted he'd be too good at the whole ass kicking business anymore. This was a new start for him, Sandy had said, maybe he could get along with this kid.
Just then, Sandy took a hold of his shoulders, he tensed as Sandy rotated him round, presumably to face this kid.
"Seth, this is Ryan, he's going to stay with us for a while. Ryan, this is my son, Seth, he's your age, maybe you guys could hang out."
Seth was a bit sceptical, this kid looked rough, the kind to kick your ass, not play playstation with, besides, he had a shifty look in his eyes…
"Why is he staying with us?"
"Seth," Kirsten warned, but Ryan cut in:
"Because I stole a car, got banged up, now my mum doesn't want me so I have nowhere else to go."
"Right," explains him looking rough, thought Seth; "Do you want to play Grand Theft Auto? It's pretty cool. You can like, steal cars and... not that that's cool. Or uncool. I don't know... um..."
"Yeah, and I'm not so good at the whole playstation thing, being blind and all kind of makes it difficult."
…and that explains the shifty look, thought Seth.
"Oh, well, blinds cool, means you can't see what a geek I really am and do all that judging-before-you-know-me type stuff."
Ryan nodded; "Oh, I have no doubt that you're a comicbook geek, you'd have to be more than blind not to know that, lucky for you, I'm ok with geeks."
"Cool," Seth nodded back. There was something about Ryan, he was alright, and he was cool, if somebody cool wanted to hang out with him, he wasn't gonna argue…
"Okay, so that's a no on the Grand Theft Auto, what do you say to the wonder that is the Graphic novel?"
Ryan raised his eyebrows:
"Seth, for the same reason I can't play Grand Theft Auto, I can't read comicbooks!"
"Whoa, dude, the correct term is G-R-A-P-H-I-C N-O-V-E-L"
The boys were interrupted by Sandy chuckling. They had only just met but gelled so well, like brothers….
"Fine, that's a no on the graphic novel as well. Tell you what, why don't you come and meet a friend of mine, Captain Oats. You don't need eyes to appreciate him dude."
Ryan, looking extremely sceptical allowed himself to be dragged away by an enthusiastic Seth, who, Sandy noticed did not make Ryan wince when he touched him.
When the boys were definitely out of earshot, Sandy turned to face his wife. She still looked a little peeved, but had clearly relaxed when, like Sandy, she had seen how well the boys got along.
"Sandy, I'll agree to him staying the weekend, but what then? The kid doesn't seem too well adjusted to being blind, he need some help, guidance, not just a roof over his head, and anyway, when he leaves us on Monday, where's he going to go?"
Sandy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Your right, he does need some help adjusting, thing is, first thing is though, as far as the court sees it, the most important thing is that he's a young offender and that comes before rehabilitation. Second? There isn't exactly many facilities available to a 'juvenile delinquent' with no health insurance and no money, and what there is, there are waiting lists for."
Kirsten was struck by the sadness and sheer desperateness of Ryan's situation.