Disclaimer: we all know I don't own them
AN: This was supposed to be a one- shot. Some people asked me to continue and- I guess I am rather easy to manipulate.
New Years Eve- Pt.2
He's sitting with his back to the pool house door, listening for the sound of gravel.
Luke said he wanted to come pick him up around six, claimed to be bored at home, but they both know he really just wants to be a good friend. He doesn't call the other boy on it, because he does actuallyappreciate it. Luke understands. It really is like Oliver all over again, except that Johnny isn't crazy. Just stupid.
He hears the car arrive and gets up. There's no need to tell the Cohens where he's going. They're not here.
Sandy had to go, he is having lunch with Matt because there is something they need to discuss. He didn't ask what.
Kirsten is having an informal business meeting with Mrs. Cooper. Cooper- Nichol? If he saw right yesterday night, before he took of, she might be steering towards Cooper- Nichol- Summers. He wishes Summer and her dad good luck. Maybe someone should warn the guy. But then, according to Luke's report about the infamous Newport gossip mill, everyone in Newport knows about what she tried to do. They just don't care.
So far, he isn't doing a very good job at being optimistic.
"Hey man, you alright?" Luke hasn't even left the Jeep, just sits there looking at him, waiting for him to get in so they can leave. Things are easy with Luke.
"Fine." He lets himself fall down on the seat, buckles the seatbelt. "Let's go."
"Crab shack ok? I kind of miss it."
"Sure. I haven't been there in…I don't know when I was there the last time. Don't even know why we no longer go."
Luke doesn't say anything, just starts driving.
They are sitting in a booth, waiting for their lobster.
"So, did you figure out what you are going to do?"
He doesn't know what Luke is talking about. At least, that's what he tells himself.
"Ryan, seriously. You know you'll have to do something, right? Marissa- she won't stop unless you ask her to."
"She knows I don't like him. She knows why. She knows that he wants to be more than friends. Still, she says he needs her to be there for him. There's nothing I can do to change her mind." Why are they even talking about Marissa? Wasn't this supposed to be about nothing but hanging out, no problems, no deep thoughts?
"What about changing yours?"
What? "What?"
"Change your mind. Show her you're not going to let her treat you like that."
"You're telling me to break up with her?" Funny, two years ago, maybe even one, he would have thought Luke was seeing this as an opportunity to get Marissa back. Now the other boy really doesn't seem to give a damn about her. Some things do change after all.
"Dude, she treats you like crap. Why hasn't Seth convinced you to kick her to the curb, yet? Isn't he supposed to be, like, your best friend?"
"You think my best friend should make me break up with my girlfriend?" He's not going to answer the other question. Seth is busy with Summer and getting mentally prepared for college. He's happy, and that's a good thing. And it's not as if he is the only one who could initiate Seth/ Ryan time. They are just both busy.
"If she treats you like that, then yes he should."
"Summer is Marissa's best friend." He doesn't really have to say anything else, they can both picture fairly well what Summer would do if she found out that Seth had told her best friend's boyfriend to brake up with her.
He concentrates on this, on arguing about what Seth should or shouldn't do, because it keeps him from thinking about what Luke really wanted him to listen to. He doesn't want to think about it. Luke is making far to much sense for his liking.
"Chino? Are you doing that thing where you just don't say anything and I'm supposed to drop it?"
No comment should be answer enough to that one. Unfortunately, he doesn't really believe it's going to work.
"I won't do that. I am right, and you know it. I mean, no matter how much you love her or …whatever, she shouldn't treat you like that. And you really need to grow some and tell her."
Getting mad at Luke wouldn't make sense. He's not wrong. But he isn't right, either.
"I can't just break up with her. Too much has happened." Luke should know that. He was the one who told him that every plot line had been done at least once.
"Yeah, well. Shit happens, right? I mean just ´cause everything was screwed up the last years, doesn't mean things have to stay that way. But if you don't do something, they will."
Luke makes it sound so easy. He tries to come up with the right answer, then one that might make him understand, but then the waitress brings their food-finally- and he stops thinking for a minute to admire the view. So does Luke. Apart from Mrs…from Marissa's mother, they seem to have the same taste.
Thewoman disappears behind the kitchen door and Luke turns back to him. "If you break up with her, you can find yourself someone better." Seems like staring at strange women's obvious assets isn't enough to make him forget about his personal agenda. It just helps him come up with another argument. "If Marissa spends as much time with the idiot as you say, and you guys are always fighting, it must have been forever since you got some"
There's no way in hell he'll say anything to that. If he doesn't want to think about it, he certainly won't talk about it.But in a way, Luke is right. The thought of someone else does have its merits.
"I get why you would want Marissa, I mean I dated her for pretty much forever, but that's why I know she isn't that great. And don't even think about hitting me, ´cause I'm not talking about that. What I mean is that she is not really special enough to go through so much shit just to keep her."
The fact that he doesn't even feel the need to defend his girlfriend against her exprobably goes a long way to prove Luke's point.
"Why are you staying with her? And I want areal answer this time. If I have to plax " Special Unit Cheer up Ryan", I deserve at least that much.
He doesn´t remind Luke that he didn´t ask to be cheered up. That´s not the point. Is he really going to have this discussion? With Luke? While eating lobster at the Crab Shack?
"Marissa was my first girlfriend." Yes, it seems like he is. "I had other girls before, but never a real relationship, you know? I…nothing went right, you know? First you -no offence-, then her drinking and shoplifting, then Oliver, then Theresa, then the shit with…her running away to Chino, thenthe ba…Theresa again." He's a little out of breath. It is a rather long list. He will not think about what he amost said. That´s not what this is about.
"I really don't get why that is a reason to stay with her. More like a reason to run. Sounds far to exhausting for my taste." Luke interrupts his thought process before he can even start talking about what happened the following year. That's ok. It's not something he feels like repeating, even if it's just in his mind. Luke got the gist of it from others already. That's enough.
"What I mean is, we never got it right, something was always causing trouble. I want us to get it right." He needs to know that he is capable of that, needs to know that he can be in a relationship without causing it to self-destruct within weeks.
"Maybe that's not possible. Maybe things keep going wrong because you two just can't get it right."
He still isn't used to the thought of Luke as someone to get advice from. What happened to the jerk whose face he punched in this very restaurant?
"Are you telling me to just give up?" Because that is really the problem, isn't it? He doesn't want to give up. You fight, you survive. You give up, you die. Maybe no longer literally, but the principle still applies.
"Shit man, I don't know. Giving up on her is better than giving up on yourself, right?"
as always, tell me what you think