The Drama-less College Years….. Right?

By: jvogel54321

Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas ceci.

A/N: So here comes the second to last chapter of episode one. I hope I can keep the momentum going. Just as importantly I want to know if anybody besides me is enjoying this. Please R&R. We have one more chapter after this, and then on to episode two where hopefully we can break away from the Seth, Marissa, Ryan and Caitlin show and incorporate more variety. That means more Sandy/Kirsten, more Julie and of course Caitlin is going to meet new kids going to Harbor alone (I promise they will not be as annoying as Johnny and Chili). Also note the wicked cool formatting changes, pretty sweet, huh? A final note, sorry about the excess of cheese at the end of this chapter. I warn you there will be more next chapter, but I'm a firm believer of ending season openers on upbeat notes.

Episode One: The Future Now (Chapter Four)

As the Cohens and Coopers walked out the front door, the sun was setting over the ocean, casting a long expanse of orange sky across the horizon. Seth was thinking back on how the last few years have always been highlighted by some big, life changing events for his small group of friends. Just three years ago, Ryan moved in and he had his first real friend, a brother. His life has never been close to the same after that. Days later, the girl who lived next door, who hadn't said a dozen words to him since they were seven, became his second friend. And whatever he said about her before, he admitted almost from the beginning that she had far better taste in music than Ryan. And that brought Summer into his world and started the most interesting year of his life. The next year, when he and Ryan both got out of the three-month funk and returned to Newport, he had already been working on plans and ideas for getting the whole group together to rekindle the spark from that first year. He never mentioned it to anyone, even Summer, but the problems junior year had him doubting if things would ever be okay between any of them again. There were dozens of almosts and maybes that kept them apart for a good, long time. Last year was great though; Marissa didn't end up in jail, depending on your definition of public school. And his entire group was happy and together, in the pairs they all thought had survived the worst and were permanent now. This year was different on so many levels. He is finally out of Newport (well not at the moment, but in 24 hours – FREEDOM!). This was the first time he was going to start a school year on the outs with Ryan. Agreeing to sit in the same vehicle together wasn't exactly their most unified moment. As Caitlin got in the front passenger seat, Seth realized this definitely wasn't the same fantastic four. Besides the changes in the Seth-Marissa-Ryan dynamic, Caitlin Cooper was definitely no Summer. They may both have somewhat aggressive personalities, but there was this subtlety to Caitlin: like taking the front seat so he and Marissa can sit together without making a conscious, disruptive decision to do so, they just it because those are the only seats left. And though she was many things, Summer had never been a subtle person. And as he took her hand and help her in he thought about Marissa. There was something there so completely different here than what he had with Summer. He was not sure if it was the fact that they were away from Newport, spending so much time together out in the real world, going to college together, or the fact that they were living together, although we actually have to unpack for that to count, or maybe despite the years of continuous upheaval between him and Summer and her and Ryan and all the many more significant others mixed in, the two of them have been friends for three years now.

As Seth continued to his run-on thoughts about Marissa, Ryan started up the SUV and thought what the hell am I doing. The plans of picking things up with Seth and patching things up with Marissa were definitely thrown out the window. He really didn't want to hang out with either of them right now, but here he was, driving them to a Newport formal dance (speaking of things he didn't want to do) where apparently they were going to announce their love to the world. He still wasn't exactly clear on all the details of how they were going to announce it. Of course, this is Seth Cohen. He could just ask them what they had planned. But that would involve talking to them and Ryan wasn't ready for an all out conversation with them. He finds himself checking the rearview mirror every few seconds, wondering what they were doing. They weren't talking that's for sure, but hearing no smart-a$$ comments coming out of Seth's mouth for five minutes was almost as discomforting. Their eyes were bouncing back and forth like Ping-Pong balls between his back and each other. For a minute he though maybe they were communicating through some morse-code or nonverbal—

"Ryan!" Caitlin yelled as Ryan slammed on the brakes. The range rover skidded to a halt just a few inches from rear-ending Sandy and Kirsten's car. Caitlin released her grip on the overhead handlebar, which she referred to as the Oh-Shit-Bar, and decided to do something before these three idiots killed her. And it would be a shame if that happened before she even got to experience the socially crippling first week at Harbor. "Um, Seth, trade spots with me, I need to talk to Marissa."

"Sure," Seth said stepping out of the SUV and trading places with Caitlin. He waved at his parents as he got back in the front seat. "Two miles to the gallon, air conditioner on the fritz, brakes are shit, but you can't argue with this legroom."

"Beats Yakama," Marissa adds.

"What's Yakama?" Caitlin asks.

Marissa is about to explain when Seth cuts her off, turning around to look at her, "No, no,no. Can't you bring up any story where I don't make a fool of myself?"

"I don't think any of us can work miracles like that," Marissa replies. Seth nods at her to continue and faces forward burying his hand in his face. She begins, "Well we had just spent three days in Portland with Luke and his Dad, it was just after the Fourth of July. We started out of the eastern leg of the big trip. Of course, an hour into it Seth convinces me to head north to Seattle."

"I just thought the Experience Music Project would be cool."

"It was. So, anyway, we cut north onto Route 97, which will take us north to 82, 90 and back west to Seattle. The road cuts through the Yakama Indian Reservation for 50 miles. We broke down about 20 miles in and somebody decided not to bring our cell phones."

"Excuse me," Seth interjected. "Kerouac didn't bring his cell with him. And I don't remember you raising any objections when I brought up the idea."

"It's true, Marissa," Caitlin added. "I believe your exact words were 'sounds like a real adventure.'"'

"Quiet, traitor. Eventually this incredibly sweet woman, Sally Littlefeather, pulls up in this jeep and offers to put us up for the night and have her brother fix the van the next day. She was actually really nice. She told us these amazing stories about her being a nurse during the Korean War."

"She actually had a great sense of humor," Seth chirped in. "She would have fit right in with the 4077 on MASH."

"Are we to the point where we can laugh at Seth yet?" Caitlin asks.

"Look, I'm sure Ryan doesn't want to hear anything about the Great Pancake Tour, least of all the parts where through no fault of my own something embarrassing happens."

Everyone sits a moment in silence, thinking about how Ryan really doesn't want to hear about Seth and Marissa's summer adventure. Especially the things that happened in Seattle, Marissa thinks. Even a couple years ago, Ryan would have been perfectly content to sit the rest of the ride in complete silence and then spend the next day avoiding all of them like the plague. Now according to the annoying voice in the back of his head, the one he liked to call Seth, he wasn't willing to shut the door on his two best friends. "Well," he began slowly, "As long as it's embarrassing for Seth, I suppose we could hear about it."

"Thanks for the back up, man," Seth whined.

"Well the next morning while Steven, that was her brother, is fixing the Highlander, Sally decides to take Seth and I for a horse ride and some fishing."

"Seth rode a horse!" Caitlin practically screamed.

"Well at least until it threw him into the Columbia River," Marissa added before everyone in the car, even Ryan started laughing. "And the best part is he thought it was 'thrilling'. He fell in love with the outdoors. After Seattle, he decided to spend a weekend hiking and camping around Mount Ranier and then again in Yellowstone."

"You went camping?" Ryan asked. "Like outside?"

"You know Marissa, I could bring up a couple stories about Pittsburgh," Seth said with a lilt to his voice."

"Shut up Seth," Marissa said with a smile.

"What happened in Pittsburgh?"

"Nothing Cait," Marissa quickly inserted. "We ran out of time, drove across the country in just under three days and got home four days ago just as we ran out of money."

"Only to quickly find out I had a $400 pull list piled up at the comic shop," Seth mused.

"So you really aren't going to tell us?"

"No! Yes!" Marissa and Seth said at the same time.

Seth leaned towards Caitlin and mouthed I'll tell you later to which Marissa lightly slapped him on the top of the head.

"Ow," Seth exaggerated. "What's with all of my friends today? If I wanted to relive the pain of freshman year, I would go visit Luke again."

"We're here," Ryan announced, pulling into the driveway and stopping at the valet station.

By the time they entered the ballroom where the party was being held, a large crowd had already filled much of the room. At the far right of the horizontal room a DJ was set-up next to a small stage with a microphone. In front of the DJ and stage was a sizable dance floor and beyond and to either side of that were tall, thin tables set-up to accommodate small groups of up to four people. Various waiters and waitresses ran around the crowd with the typical appetizers of a Newport Party, although the main item on the menu, as usual, was liquor. Ryan and Seth each felt a bit for Sandy who, in their absence, probably ended up hauling most of those bottles and glasses around this morning. Ryan and Caitlin both noticed Seth and Marissa scanning the ballroom. All of the standard-bearers of the Newport community were in attendance. Julie stood with groups of Newpsies near the stage. Since she became their best chance to land a second (or in some cases third or fourth) husband, Julie had found herself significantly more accepted by her former peers. It didn't particularly thrill Marissa or Caitlin, but at least she was feigning some degree of happiness. Seth bumped Marissa and pointed to the opposite edge of the room, where Dr. Roberts was speaking with some men they recognized from the local hospital: more doctors. Kirsten and Sandy began winding their way through the crowd towards Julie and the stage, as Sandy called back to them, "Into the lion's den, you kids stay safe and behave."

"Well, I don't know about you Cait, but I have a wicked craving for some cheese cubes," Marissa said, motioning towards a nearby table overflowing with platters of food.

"Cool."

"We'll find a table," Seth offered, calling after them, "Just grab some swiss and cheddar for me."

Ryan and Seth walked off towards the left of the dance floor and found an open table near the back of the room. "Yep," Seth began. "Out of the way, clear path to the exits and the food: definitely a Seth-Ryan table."

After a moment, Ryan looked over to him and said, "Look, whenever you are going to do, whatever it is your going to do, I don't really want to be around, so just let me—"

He was interrupted by the sound of Julie tapping the microphone to get everybody's attention. The room quieted down and looked towards her and Kirsten on the stage, both putting on happy faces for their clients.

"She can still make everyone in a room feel like a bad fifth-grader," Ryan whispered.

"Some things, Little Grasshopper, are as constant as the tides."

"Hello everyone," Julie began. "Kirsten and myself would both like to welcome you to the Newport Club's final event of the summer."

Kirsten continued for her, "When we agreed to organize this event, Julie and I both knew that we wanted to try something different. Something to make all of us feel a bit special. Now in a few moments the music will begin, but there are a few rules."

"Yes, first and most importantly, all dancing is by request only, but all requests must be made publicly."

"We are going to ask that any of you that wish to dance come up here on stage, introduce yourself, the lady or gentleman you would like to dance with and tell us all why."

"Secondly," Julie said. "The first rule also applies to cutting in."

"Basically, you won't be allowed on the dance floor without first announcing yourselves."

"But we aren't just a couple of cruel women out to embarrass you. If you should find that someone special, you are allowed to remain on the dance floor as long as you like and return whenever you like, but only with the same partner."

"That's correct if you would like to dance with someone else you have to come up here and tell us why all over again. Although, I advise you skip over why that person wasn't your first choice," Kirsten concluded, getting a slight laugh from the crowd.

"So with that out of the way," Julie stated matter of factly. She paused for more than a moment looking in Neil Robert's direction. She caught her breath and coughed when Kirsten prodded her with her elbow. "Who would like to begin?"

As the DJ began playing a slow, formal dance, the crowd hesitated before a line began to form. It was mostly made of younger boys that Marissa recognized as a year or two behind her at Harbor. As she looked down from the stage and began putting some cheese cubes and other finger foods on a couple small plates, she looked to her sister at her side, doing the same thing.

"For Ryan," Caitlin said, explaining her second plate. "Don't want to make him feel isolated. Well, more isolated."

"If nothing else, this whole day has taught me that we need to be careful about how people find out about us."

"And by people, you mean Ryan and Summer."

"Well there really isn't a good way to break it to Mom. And Sandy and Kirsten will be fine, as long as we try hard to stay considerate of Ryan. But with Sum's dad here, I figure we should give her a call tonight and talk to her about it, before somebody else does."

"Yeah, maybe you should have done that with Ryan."

"I think definitely is the phrase, you're looking for. We just kept pushing it off and pushing it off and then he was there. And by there I'm not talking in the abstract. I mean he was in our living room. We messed it up once, I just don't want to again, hence a late-night gab session with Sum tonight."

"Well," Caitlin said, dragging the word. "You might want to make that call right after the party. See over there? Taylor's mom is in attendance, which mean a half-hour after she leaves Taylor will know, which means ten minutes later she will be at Summer's dorm room letting her in on the news."

"Well you certainly have your finger on the pulse of Newport's seedy gossip underbelly."

"Excuse me, Miss Romantic Odyssey, but I spent the last couple months here. Alone. In a house with Julie Cooper-Nichol. Of course all of this is assuming Mrs. Townsend doesn't end up wasted stumbling home with a random male Newpsie. Which currently I'm giving 5-1 odds on, but if you want to make some money I advise putting a 50 spot on Mr. Savage fondling a woman who isn't Mrs. Savage."

"What are you the local gambling connection?" Marissa questioned, nudging her sister away from the food trays and towards where Seth and Ryan were sitting.

"Well, since Loverboy convinced me to give up my other form of income, I decided to make-up for it by cornering the Newport gambling market: at least for teenagers with too much time and money on their hands. And believe me, rich kids will bet on anything. I plan on making a nice little profit Monday morning."

"My sister the Mafioso, just wait until after freshman orientation to start rigging the sporting events."

"I make no promises," Caitlin concluded, her head held high as she sat next to Ryan. Marissa gave Seth his plate before sitting down next to him. The table became deathly silent as Ryan concentrated very intently on his small plate of cheese, picking at various pieces. When he did nod his head up, he just saw them sitting next to one another. It was finally Seth that took the initiative. After fiddling with Marissa's hand under the table nervously for a few minutes, he gave it a slight squeeze and stood up.

"Well better get this over with."

"Nice Mr. Romance!" Caitlin almost stood up as she said.

"Well," he replied wit a patented Seth grin. "I meant before some high school senior with a three-year-old crush beats me to the punch for the best girl in the room."

"That's better!" Caitlin yelled. As she sat down Marissa was blushing and Ryan looked down at his cheese plate with the same near-sullen expression he had worn for the last several minutes. After the three of them continued their silent observance for five more minutes as the now long line made its way along. As Seth stepped up on stage, Ryan pushed his plate away. Marissa and Caitlin both looked at him. His face screamed, I can't do this! I can't watch this!, but he didn't say a word as he got up and made a beeline for the exit.

"Hi, everybody, Seth Cohen here," Seth began as he stood on stage, covering his eyes for a moment while they adjusted to the spotlight. " I'm here, about to make a fool of myself, as usual, but once again as usual it's for a beautiful, wonderful girl. A girl that I love with all my heart."

As he looked towards the table, Seth wanted to see two friends and the woman he loved. He saw two faces etched with worry and concern. His eyes flashed towards the door Ryan had almost reached and then back to Marissa. In less than two instants, he knew what he had to do.

"My Mom!" Seth pretty much screamed, bringing an immediate smile to Marissa and Caitlin's faces and stopping Ryan in his tracks. The entire room that had only politely paid a slight bit of attention nearly froze in its tracks to stare at the razing lunatic on stage. Throughout the room, barely audible digs and insults came from the jocks and Newpsies that Seth had learned to tune out long ago. Waving Kirsten towards him, he continued. "Mom, you want to come up here. See Kirsten Cohen didn't just throw a, and I think we can all agree on this, wicked cool party tonight."

As Kirsten stepped on stage, Seth near violently there his arm around her and pulled her next to him. "See she loved me even before my Jew-fro grew in. And she and Dad raised me and did a great job keeping me grounded and normal-ish. She made sure I cared about the important things in life and that family, her, Dad and Ryan, were all the most important and involved people in my life; even my grandmother-in-law, Julie Cooper-Nichol."

Marissa and Caitlin started giggling as their mother's face turned a shade whiter. Even Ryan smirked and Sandy had to stifle a laugh. Seth started staring at Marissa as he concluded. "So I'm sure that someday I'll end up at one of her parties with the love my life on my arm. But until then I'm proud to stand by my Mom, whom I love."

As Seth led his Mom off of the stage and onto the dance floor, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Seth, that was very sweet. You really made this a great night for me. Best Newport party ever, in fact. I'm sorry if you got a little embarrassed though."

"Well you're the one crying, so I hope I didn't embarrass you," he replied. Then looking over her shoulder at Ryan and Sandy added, "Nothing as important as showing your family how much you care."