The Drama-less College Years….. Right?

By: jvogel54321

Disclaimer: If I did own it would I still be living in Cleveland? Probably not.

Responses (because you all rule!)

Thekiller00 – yeah marissa did come off kind of harsh, I was just trying to not have weepy marissa, she can get kind of annoying – but she has some nice moments with seth and ryan in this chapter and I have to wonder if I can make the four of them fantastic again. As far as SM the whole way through, I really can't say but for now I am going to see where they take it. I wanted to try something different. Seeing as how there are so many, SS, RM, and SumRyan fics, I aimed for something a little more unique.

CutieCay22 – thanks, hope you like this chap as well

IiI Elise IiI – I really shot for that typical pre-credits moment. Obviously its SM for now, but I understand the gripe. AS far as the show is concerned, I am a HARDCORE SS shipper, and always will be. But I wanted to do something different that we won't have the chance to see on TV.

A/N: Hey, I just can't stop writing about this, probably another chapter or two at the most to wrap up this first "episode". And I promise Summer will make a brief appearance before we're done. I hope my devotion to this story is reciprocated and I will try to be more careful with the grammar slips. Please R&R. Also, FYI, my preferred title for this episode was The Secret, but the show already used that one.

Episode One: The Future Now (Chapter Three)

A grey Highlander slides across two lanes and onto the exit ramp of the 73, descending towards Newport Beach. Two cars behind it slam on their brakes and horns begin blaring. Sitting behind the wheel, Seth (his left cheek now deeply black-and-blue) races to the green light and swings off the road hooking a right. Beside him Marissa is hanging onto the overhead handle as if her life depends on it, but her face is just a big smile, barely containing a fit of laughter. Caitlin sits behind them and nearly topples over when Seth takes the hard right.

"Geez Seth, drive defensively, for cryin' out loud!" Caitlin yells.

"Hey, first this is a bad time to distract me," he replies. "Second off, I really, really want to get home before Ryan does. I need to smooth things over before we all walk in on the parents. And thirdly, to quote Homer Simpson, 'Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.'"

Marissa turns to Seth and puts her hand on his knee. "Relax, Seth. Breath."

"You know that's really not the thing to do to encourage that kind of behavior," he replied, nodding toward her hand. Then with a grin added, "We'll deal with that later tonight. A couple times maybe."

"You know young, impressionable, innocent children are right here you know," Caitlin inserted, not wanting to be forgotten or left out.

"Excuse me, didn't you used to be my drug dealer."

"Narc."

"You guys know all our parents are probably setting up for the big party. Nobody is even home to hear the news," Marissa said.

"I swear to God, I am going to kill Julie Cooper," Kirsten said under her breath as Sandy carried a tray of wine glasses into the dining hall. Sandy just grinned and raised his eyebrow.

"No, I mean it this time," she continued. "Every little thing is getting changed time and again and again. This little 'Singles Night Out' we organized has become the focus of her life. It just isn't healthy. For Me."

Sandy set down the glasses on a large tray a bit harsher than Kirsten would have preferred. "You know Julie, she just gets a bit, over-involved. When she doesn't have distractions she just dives into some project with her considerable might. Which makes you upset, which I gotta say isn't helping me out either."

"If only she and Neil were still going out. At least that could be a distraction," Kirsten mused.

"Or if Marissa hadn't moved out."

"Or if Caitlin hadn't spent the last few days visiting her."

"Well just think about it honey, tonight Julie will be so distracted by Neil and Marissa and Caitlin, she won't even notice you're here."

"Promise?"

"Honey, if all else fails we can send Ryan over to talk to her," Sandy concluded before pulling his wife in for a kiss and good, firm hug. "Of course then there'd be all those questions about child endangerment."

"Kiki!"

Kirsten held close to Sandy for another moment before breaking off to deal with Julie's latest emergency. Sandy meanwhile schlepped back outside to carry in more supplies for Newport's last big summer party. He fondly thought back to the days before he took over the Newport Group and before his wife became the county's official party planner. Outside he saw the ocean in the distance and remembered when he would spend his Saturday surfing while Ryan and Seth would help their mother with the latest in the endless stream of events this city managed to hold. He was quite happy thinking of them spending the morning tomorrow hauling everything back out to the vans while he relaxed for the first time in months. Just like the good, old days.

As Ryan pulled into the Cohen driveway, he looked up to see Seth skating in the driveway, waiting for him. When he say the mark on his cheek, Ryan felt more than a little twinge of guilt, but then steeled himself. Stay angry. Stay mad. As he got out of the car, Seth rolled to a stop a couple feet in front of him.

"So anyway," Seth began. "Before I stupidly brought your daughter into it, I was trying to explain that Marissa and I started to hang out as friends. We spent a week together as friends. Decided to go on a trip as friends and sampled some of the finest pancakes the western United States has to offer as friends. When things started changing, and in our own defense you weren't around for us to actually discuss any of this with beforehand, it wasn't about being the jerk that you probably think I am. I mean I never pried into what went down with you guys before you left, but… I think there must have been some finality there, or Marissa and I never would have happened. We both know she's better than that."

"You aren't a jerk, but a call would have been nice," Ryan replied.

"We thought about it, but of course that would have hurt the goal of actually getting you to come back here."

"Maybe."

He still wasn't able to look Seth in the eye though. That would mean forgiving him and no way was he doing that. No way in hell. He just stood there and let the silence stretch and stretch. Seth was never the type to sit through these silences. Every time, he pulled Ryan out of his brooding with some snappy comment, some inane Seth Cohen babblings and it always worked. Well except that one time Lindsay left town. But for once Seth bit his tongue until he thought of something to say that would make it better between them. But there was another first. Nothing was coming to him.

"Hmm." Seth wasn't sure if Ryan said something or if that was some type of grunt challenging him to a Chino street fight.

"Yeah, the comfortable silences were never something that really worked their way into the Seth-Ryan dichotomy," Seth began.

"Well I like to think I did my part."

"Yes, Ryan you always were the type of guy to make the effort and you were very consistent about it. Consistent. Trustworthy. Reliable. But now that I think about it, I think it's your enormous forgiving streak I always admired the most."

Damn it, Ryan thought, now he was smiling. "So, I'm not okay with this," he began. "And I really don't see myself being okay with it or either of you guys for a good long time."

"All I'm asking for is some light at the end of the tunnel here, man." Seth said as he rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet.

"Christ, I can't stay mad at you. Let's just say, we'll work on it. For Sandy and Kirsten if nothing else." Seth's smile was so damn infectious even Ryan can't help smirking. "So who knows—"

"You, us and Caitlin," Seth rattled off. "She had it figured out about 10 minutes after we got back. Everyone else was going to find out at Mom and Julie's little get together tonight."

"Yeah, I was looking for an excuse to skip that actually."

"Come on man, Caitlin needs an escort, it's her first time in years to be tortured by the snootiest of the snoots at one of these things."

"I don't know man…"

"And you can watch Julie Cooper-Nichol's face when she finds out her daughter is dating her grandson."

"Wow, didn't need to picture that." Ryan grimaced as he and Seth started towards the front door. "You guys are really going to do some grand coming out thing?"

"Well, not the coming out some of Newport coughLukecough expected me to have, but yeah. We just want to get past everybody finding out and get back to normal."

"Is it serious? I mean do you think it's going to last?"

"Well it was a good summer even before, you know…, but we have only spent four days together in Newport, so we have another four hours or so before we hit the county-wide limit. By the way, we don't have to like throw down or anything to be cool again because… well FYI you're tougher than me."

"No, Seth. If Mary taught me anything this year it was patience."

"Yeah, my face noticed that. Oh, hey, in case I forgot to say it before, welcome home."

"Thanks, Seth."

A few hours later, Seth stood in front of his bathroom mirror. He was almost finished dressing for the event. Just the tie, footwear and jacket remained, but right now he was more concerned about his face. Besides the damage to his perfect face, he really didn't think he needed to do anything to make himself seem even less impressive when standing next to Marissa Cooper. Not just that, but if his parents saw it there would be questions about what happened when Ryan visited him this morning. And of all the things in the world their relationship needed right now, reliving the fight (or beating as the case may be) wasn't near the top of the list.

Without knocking, Marissa stuck her head in the door. "Hey Seth?"

"Yeah?" Seth nearly stumbled backwards when he saw her. Between the cross-country trip and crashing in their apartment, it had actually been months since he last saw Marissa in all her made-up-to-be-the-envy-of-all-Newport glory. And certainly not since they became a them. She stood there in a drop-dead gorgeous knee-length crème dress. She wore her hair down, but it was cut so it now just reached her shoulders. Seth's first thought was to say that she blew his socks off, if, you know, he was wearing any at the time. But sometime over the summer he found he had the miraculous ability to think before words emerged.

"Guh," unfortunately was all that came out. Of course Marissa had an idea what he meant and smiled anyway.

"I brought you something," she said. Only now Seth realized her hands were conspicuously hiding something behind her back.

"Well, I was almost dressed, but hey if the lady needs some Seth, then—"

"In your dreams, Cohen."

"Yes, in fact," he replied. God, I can't stop smiling when she's around. "So…"

Marissa moved her hands to reveal a make-up case.

"Any chance there's a Gameboy in there?"

"Nope," Marissa mused, as she skipped over to Seth's bed and sat down. "It's for your face. You know to avoid awkward questions, well more than we plan on getting otherwise."

"I was thinking of breaking out the old Spider-man mask actually," Seth said as he walked over and sat down next to her, brushing his fingers along her arm.

"Well," Marissa began, catching her breath whenever Seth made contact with her. God, how did he do that. "As rugged and manly as both the bruise and your mask make you look, I was thinking more along the lines of presentable."

"But I'm a man."

"It's just a little, to hide the bruise. Just think of it as being in a play."

"You're thinking of the wrong Cohen brother," Seth replied. Damn it, he thought immediately. He loved talking to Marissa about anything in the world. Except the other half of the FF. Of course then he thought of how Marissa would eventually come to her senses, get back together with Ryan as per usual and leave him alone, again.

"There's only one Cohen brother, I'm thinking about lately, trust me," Marissa replied as she leaned in and began kissing Seth. Still smart enough to take a cue Seth began kissing back and slowly leaned Marissa back onto his bed, moving on to nibbling at her neck. After a couple minutes she worked up the desire to push him away. "Make-up first, sex later."

"Well, that's a deal I can live with!" Seth said hopping and standing on his bed. "Wow," he continued, turning around, "This place is really deserted. No posters, no comics, no computer, no Captain Oats—"

"And in five minutes no Cohen or Cooper, so sit down," Marissa interrupted pulling him down by his belt and opening her make-up case.

Ten minutes later they walked into the living room, hands intertwined. They only separated moments before they came into view of Ryan and Caitlin. Ryan wore a black suit, matching Seth's and Caitlin wore a full length purple dress with her hair done up in a bun.

"Wow, you Cooper girls sure do clean up nice," Seth said.

"Yeah, while you and Ryan were doing whatever it is men do when they apologize for beating the snot out of each other and keeping secrets—"

"We call that bonding Caitlin and it's a very masculine process you wouldn't understand," Seth interrupted.

"Yeah, so while you guys were making out with each other or whatever, we went to a salon, which quite frankly Mrs. Road Trip over there really needed."

"And she looks absolutely fabulous for it," Seth said as he began snaking an arm around Marissa's waist. He jolted to a stop when he caught Ryan's eye and the awkward silence returned.

"Look Ryan," Marissa began. "I'm sorry about the way you found out. Of everyone we wanted to tell you… well you and Sum are the two we really wish we never had to tell. But we should have done it right. Or at least better than we did."

"It's… it's going to take some time," he replied. "But if I gave up on you guys completely, well Seth would be impossible. Well, more so."

"A-ha. And I still thought I was the funny one."

"You really are the only one who thinks that Seth," Caitlin said.

"Wow, you guys all look so great," Kirsten said as she came down the stairs, putting on her right earring. Sandy followed behind her, adding, "Yeah, very nice."

Kirsten took a moment to look at the four of them and smiled. "It is just so great to have all of you here together. I really missed this. The whole family."

"Alright, let's get a move on before Kirsten starts crying and needs to redo her make-up. I'm sure Julie is anxiously waiting for our arrival."

"Wow, Dad, you really need to work on your inspiring speeches."

"Yeah, Sandy," Marissa added. "You're really making an evening of the ninja game sound pretty entertaining."

"That's just silly, 'Ris, ninja games are by their very nature entertaining," Seth replied.

"Alright, alright," Sandy said waving his hands in defeat. "We all know we're not getting out of this. We're going to take the car, you kids all want to follow in the Range Rover?"

And yet another awkward silence settled over them. Then like a line of dominos, Caitlin looked to Marissa, who looked at Seth, who turned to Ryan. "Yeah," the final domino said. "Sounds like a plan."