The Drama-less College Years….. Right?

By: jvogel54321

Disclaimer: Ich besitze dies nicht

Replies:

Princess Sparkle: Glad you like it so far. Who knows, keep reading and maybe we'll see some Summer. Hint hint.

Kellocfan: Thanks for the positive response. I recently read your SM story (A New Life – everyone check it out!) and look forward to your next update as well.

A/N: at the end of this chapter.

Episode One: The Future Now (Chapter Five)

As Seth and Kirsten continued their dance, flying cheese cubes from the direction of the Cooper sisters quickly silenced the few snickering teenage boys. While Caitlin and Marissa smiled and whispered back and forth, Ryan worked his way over towards Sandy, who was standing just off to the left of the dance floor with a huge grin on his face. Before he spoke, Ryan thought back to last time Sandy, Kirsten and Seth and himself were all together. It was a couple of nights before he left for Atlanta, just after the last day of finals. He remembered Seth saying something about outlawing talk about the future and not allowing them to do anything special. They ended up sitting around the living room, eating Chinese leftovers. He smiled thinking of Sandy pinning Kirsten down to stop her from putting The Joy Luck Club on and how Seth nearly killed himself racing upstairs to get a copy of Rocky III and getting it back to the DVD player before Kirsten escaped. By the time the credits were running on Nighthawks several hours later, the others were passed out where they were sitting. Sandy and Kirsten were lying on the couch holding each other. Seth was passed out on the floor, drooling on a seat cushion he was using as a pillow. Rather than heading out to the pool house, he leaned back on the base of the chair he was sitting against and faded to black.

"Some shindig," he said coming up next to Sandy.

"Yeah, Julie and Kirsten sure know how to make high society a little more sociable. So, where you in on Seth's little stunt? He really showed up my unprepared comments."

Grinning, Ryan replied, "I don't think any of us can really expect what Seth is going to do next at any giving moment."

As they look on, Kirsten is laughing, but can't seem to stop tearing up. Every so often she just stops dancing and gives Seth a hug. Sandy grabs Ryan's shoulder, saying, "I think I'm going to get in line. If we don't get her away from Seth soon the poor boy is going to drown."

As he starts to walk away, Sandy spins around, "Oh, hey, I never got to ask how things have been going with Marissa. Is there any chance of you guys mending some fences? She seems to be having a good time. You know, she and Seth are just going to school a half-hour drive away from you."

"It isn't looking good, but after tonight, I'm starting to think maybe we can go back to being friends."

"As Seth once said, 'When were you and Marissa Cooper ever friends?'"

"Maybe we can be," Ryan replied without too much conviction in his voice.

"Right. Well, keep your chin up."

As Sandy went to the line to reclaim his wife, Ryan headed back to their table in the back of the room. He noticed Caitlin whispering into Marissa's ear as they both tried to hold in their giggle-fits. His latest attempt to harden his heart was pretty much taken apart when he got a flash of the Marissa Cooper full-on-smile. She waved for him to hurry the rest of the way back to the table, saying, "So, you decided you couldn't tear yourself away, huh?"

Ryan smiled, saying, "Well, Seth so rarely makes a scene, I figured I should take in the chance to see him at his best. So what are you talking about over here?"

"The many admirable traits about the Cohen men," Marissa replied. "All three of them."

Even after everything that had happened today, at the end of the day Ryan still found himself thinking of how he could make things better with Marissa. What if they weren't meant to just be friends? Despite his best efforts to try and convince himself otherwise, he couldn't completely fool himself into thinking he was the Cohen man she and Caitlin had been talking about a minute ago. Ryan began to think he was getting used to the idea of Seth and Marissa as a couple. Not to say it still didn't piss him off a bit. If for no other reason, when he was looking at her, he thought about the two of them and their big moment. The one Seth just threw away for no other reason than to not make him feel worse. Which granted he felt he was owed, but it was still nice.

Seth had managed to surprise him, throwing what he wanted for himself onto the backburner. But what was happening right in front of him now, well that was expected. Something going wrong for Marissa Cooper, only to have her smiling away because somebody else is feeling better. She actually kind of reminded him of somebody else. Damn it.

"Well," Caitlin said as she stood up. "I'm pretty much completely parched here. Drinks?"

Ryan shook his head and Marissa asked for some punch. Raising an eyebrow, Ryan asked, "Just punch?"

Marissa looked at him a moment before she comprehended where he was going.

"No," she answered. "Before we left, Seth and I made a deal. No more pot. No more alcohol. I believe he used the phrase, 'Our bodies are our temples.'"

"Serious?"

"Ten weeks, three days without a drink. That's a pretty impressive accomplishment on my part, especially considering that after you left, I had more than a few." After a moment, she continued, "So I hear your smoking again."

"Yeah, not so much thinking of myself as a temple."

"Well stop," Marissa shot back. "If not to stay alive for your daughter, then at least so my sister doesn't get grossed out when she gets that kiss at the end of night she is hoping for. But no tongue, she's still a kid. I'm thinking something on the cheek. This really is her first grown-up Newport function. She hasn't learned to fear them yet like we have."

Ryan just looked dumbfounded for a minute as he stared at Marissa the Big Sister. Then smiling he leaned forward and quietly responded, "Yeah don't want to turn her off guys altogether. It's never fun when the Cooper women get experimental. Although Seth always seemed fascinated by you and Ale—"

Slapping Ryan's arm, Marissa said, "Well Seth can be a smartass sometimes. There's no need for you to be just like him. That would just be… confusing."

Looking over at the stage, he saw Sandy next in line to make a fool of himself. Looking back at Marissa he soaked in her eyes for a second, and then said, "Yeah, I could probably be a little more like him without it being so bad."

Before Marissa could respond Ryan took off for the stage, nearly knocking Julie Cooper to the ground. Briefly turning back with half an apology he kept moving towards the stage as the current song ended and Sandy began to introduce himself to a group of people that had known him for years. Leaping onto the stage, he grabbed Sandy by the shoulder and grabbed the microphone.

"I promise you can have the next one Sandy," he said. Looking out into the crowd, he half mumbled his introduction and request. "Yeah, um, I'm Ryan and..uh, yeah. So, I just need to – kind of. I need to cut in there."

Pointing at Seth and Kirsten, he hopped off the stage and walked towards them. As he came up to them Kirsten grabbed the both of them in a big hugs. "Both you boys, just… This is so wonderful. I love you both, so much. It's just… just, well wonderful to have you two together again."

"Hey man," Ryan started saying as Kirsten released them. "I think Marissa could use a ride. Caitlin and I can get a ride home with Sandy and Kirsten. That okay, Kirsten?"

"Sure," she replied. She kissed Seth on his left cheek and told him to drive safely while a couple more introductions finished up and the next dance began. As he backed off the dance floor, Seth looked down into his hand, seeing the valet receipt for the Range Rover that Ryan had slipped into his hand. Smiling at Ryan, he tipped his imaginary hat and walked towards Marissa, picking up his pace as he went along. Stopping at the table he took the cup of punch out of Marissa's hand and gulped it down. He smiled at told Caitlin, "So Ryan and you are getting a ride home with Mom and Dad. We're supposed to get going now."

Smiling Marissa took his hand and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

"Well, get going kids," Caitlin said, pushing them away from the table. "I'll make sure Julie is none the wiser."

Once they walk through the door, Seth takes off at a run, dragging Marissa down the hall and out the front door, laughing behind him. When they come out the front door none of the valets are at their stations, maybe thinking the party would last a couple more hours. There was a heavy rain coming down, nearly flooding the parking lot. Seth couldn't remember a rain this bad in Orange County in the last couple of years. Kissing her on the forehead, Seth continued dragging Melissa towards the valet station where he dropped the slip of paper and dug out his key.

"Ready?" he asked. Without a response, Marissa took off ahead of him out from under the overhang and into the rain. Racing across the parking lot, they were drenched to the bone by the time they found the range rover. Marissa went to her door and tried to open it, but it remained locked.

"Seth!" she screamed over the rain. "What's the matter?"

"I just realized we never got the chance to have our big romantic dance."

Walking around and intertwining their fingers, Marissa rubbed his cheek, streaking the make-up that was covering his bruise. "It's a little wet and your make-up is running."

"So is yours," Seth said as he took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders. "But humor me, 'Ris."

Marissa glared at his with a raised eyebrow and Seth continued, "Yeah, that nickname really isn't working out for me either. Any chance I can get a change of heart about calling you 'Coop'? 'Cooper' even?"

"Let's say that I'll take it under advisement."

Walking in front of the Range Rover, Seth took her in his arms and began swaying back and forth. After a couple minutes Marissa looked at him soaked to the bones and stuck to her, she grabbed his chin and made him look her in the eyes, "Just so I'm clear what song is playing in your head right now, Seth?"

"Our song, of course," he answered before kissing her.

"Good."

The next morning, Seth woke up and started trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. In between thoughts of coffee and bagels and pancakes, he smiled and started rubbing Marissa's head. He spent the next few minutes debating whether or not to wake her. They were in what Seth had identified as one of their three main sleeping positions. He lay on his back, Marissa on her side squeezed under his right arm, using his chest as a pillow. While her left arm snaked underneath his right arm with her hand limp below his neck, her right draped over his other shoulder and her right leg was nudged between his. It was their second most tangled up sleeping position. He really did enjoy it, even if they both did wake up with cricks in their necks. Of course, he did need some caffeine and the fact that they were still wearing their dress clothes wasn't exactly comfortable. Did I leave my shoes on? Despite his better judgment, Seth decided to face the day, smoothly sliding out the left side of the bed and making his way into his bathroom.

Before he finished brushing teeth, he heard Marissa waking up. Already changed into sweats and a t-shirt, Seth stepped back into the bedroom. He returned the smile she offered, continued scrubbing his teeth and spoke up, "Hur hwake."

"I missed you," Marissa groaned, stretching her arms over her head and rolling over burying her head in the pillow. By the time Seth finished gargling his mouthwash; she lifted her head up and spoke again. "Coffee?"

"For that, you have to face the gambit of my parent's kitchen," Seth responded.

"No chance of you bringing some up to me?" Grinning she added, "I'll make it worth your while."

"No chance," Seth decided as Marissa dropped her head back into the pillows. "If I thought you could go a week without a little Seth—"

"Please stop using your name to describe sex."

"Alright, without sweet, sweet loving?"

"No, but a step in the right direction."

"Either way, that threat would carry more weight. Myself, I'm in a baking mood this morning. I'll see you down there."

"Are you expecting me to wear my formalwear?"

"I still have some shirts and sweats in the closet," he said. Before walking out and closing the door behind him, he added, "Ignore anything still moving."

Ryan was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the coffee to be ready when Seth wandered in. Without any greeting, he asked the eternal morning question in the Cohen household, "Coffee?"

"Almost ready," Ryan answered. Watching Seth grab a bagel and the canister of cream cheese, it wasn't too hard to imagine the last couple years not having happened. Almost every morning with Seth was like the first. "So you still drink coffee? What happened to your body being a temple?"

"There are some sacrifices even Buddha would never ask of us, Ryan. If coffee, bagels, pancakes, comics, Death Cab, or any friends or family are against the tenements of any religion, then I will happily jump on the atheism bandwagon."

As he begins eating the bottom half of his bagel, Seth heads over to the cabinets and pulls out a box of pancake mix and a large bowl. He grabs his remaining ingredients from the refrigerator and tosses Ryan a stick of butter, saying, "Lend a hand. Heat up a frying pan and grease her up."

Seth began quickly throwing the mix together as Ryan started the oven. "So you make your own pancakes now?"

"Nine-and-a-half weeks, 13 states, a combined total of pancakes ordered well into the triple digits, Ryan. I picked up a few skills."

Marissa came downstairs wearing similar non-descript sweats as Seth, still drying her hair with a towel. After a few awkward hellos were exchanged, she sat in the seat Seth had occupied a couple minutes ago and grabbed the nearby newspaper. After flipping through a few pages, she found a story that caught her interest and began reading. Walking over to pour the first pancake, Seth stops in his tracks and sees Marissa eating the rest of his bagel, "Oh hey, flag on the field!"

"You're making pancakes," she replied.

"Yes, for everyone. This is something I should be rewarded for, not punished. Am I right? Ryan?"

"I have no opinion on the matter what-so-ever," he answered, leaving Seth to the pancakes and poured three cups of coffee.

"Well, how did you know it wasn't Ryan's?"

"I went with the instincts that said you weren't reading Building Design and Construction," Marissa responded, pointing at the magazine next to Ryan's plate.

"She is very wise, Seth," Ryan added with a smirk.

Several minutes later, Sandy and Kirsten pulled on their robes and came down to the kitchen. Ryan was setting plates and silverware at the dining room table while Marissa and Seth were working side by side on the stove, whispering back and forth. Ryan was the first to notice the Cohens, sleepily stumbling into the kitchen and alerted the other with an indirect cough.

"Morning, Mom, Dad," Seth greeted them, turning his head over his shoulder to gauge their response from seeing Marissa visiting for breakfast, in his clothes. They clearly weren't expecting to see her, but it wasn't that unusual for her to be in their house for breakfast. Sandy was the first to notice what she was wearing and his eyebrows poked upwards working it out through his sleep-addled mind.

"Hi, Sandy, Kirsten, I hope you don't mind having me here for breakfast," Marissa attempted to explain. As Seth elbowed her slightly for her half-truth, she continued, "If you want to grab some coffee the food is just about ready."

Forgetting Marissa for a moment at the mention of coffee, Kirsten headed towards the pot, only to be cut off by Ryan, "I got that, you guys sit down."

Even if curiosity was starting to get the better of him, Sandy began nudging Kirsten over the table where they sat down in the two nearest seats. Moments later, Ryan slid two cups of coffee in front of them that they graciously accepted and began sipping. As if on cue, Seth set two plates towering with pancakes in the middle of the table and Marissa came over with a bowl of scrambled eggs and slid around to the other side of the table, sitting opposite the Cohens. Seth grabbed two cups of coffee and sat next to her, followed closely by Ryan, who sat on Marissa's left. For a moment all five sat silently looking over the meal.

Finally, it was Sandy that spoke up, "Nice breakfast… wow. So what did you do?"

"Sandy, maybe they're just being…" Kirsten began. She then looked pointedly at the large blue mark on Seth's face. "What did you do?"

"Made pancakes and eggs," Seth answered sheepishly.

"And coffee," Ryan added.

"Seth Ezekiel?" Kirsten snapped, raising her voice.

"Oh, the dreaded middle name," Seth snipped. After a brief pause he looked over at his compatriots for a moment, then back to his mother and continued. "This is, well besides a great, delicious breakfast, it's actually a bribe. It's our attempt to soften some news. This summer, a couple of weeks into the Pancake Tour, Marissa and I-" he paused taking her hand. "We decided to be more than just friends."

As a deep pause settled over the table, Sandy and Kirsten stared and Seth, taking brief glances at Marissa and Ryan. Leaning forward, Seth added, "That's all."

"Oh, Thank God," Sandy added. "So you aren't pregnant or anything like that?"

"God NO!" they both yelled together. Ryan chocked a bit on his coffee at the comment.

Looking significantly calmer than the boys on either side of her, Marissa explained, "Seth and I are just a couple. That's the complete totality of news we have."

"So explain your face Seth?" Sandy questioned with authority to his tone.

"Um, yeah, that one's actually my fault," Ryan offered. "I probably could have taken the news better."

"It's fine," Seth quickly interjected. "We probably should have told Ryan sooner and we definitely could have found a better way. We've both admitted I made some mistakes there, but we're handling it now."

"Are you going to be okay with this?" Sandy asked looking at Ryan.

"We're working on it," Ryan said, trying to be as honest as possible. "I mean I think with time we can all get past it. In all that's happened so far, nothing the last three years has broken us up for long."

At that last comment Marissa turned at looked at Ryan. Seeing her face, he clarified, "I was talking about me and Seth. Not that we can't be 'friends'. It'll be something new."

"Now, not that reliving fights with Ryan and discussing my love life with my parents isn't just a ball," Seth said. "But allow me to point out: breakfast."

Seth slid a couple of pancakes onto his plates. Kirsten placed a couple spoonfuls of eggs on her plate and everyone slowly and tentatively began filling their plates. Looking up from his meal after a minute, Seth abhorred the silence, but accepted it would take some time for his family to get back to their normal routine with one another. He just hoped things would be better by the time they came home for Thanksgiving. Seth made a silent promise to visit Ryan often and make the new Seth-Marissa-Ryan dynamic work before the holidays. Just because it was just the three of them now and although they had couple of tough days was no reason they can't be fantastic again.

The first attempt at conversation came from Sandy, "So no more surprises today, alright?"

"Definitely," Seth responded. "We're just going to take it easy, help Ryan move into his dorm and than head back to our place for classes tomorrow."

Sandy and Kirsten exclaimed, "You're living together?"

"Yeah, um," Seth replied. "The thing about that is... um... see... Ryan's smoking again."

Seth and Marissa sat quietly on the couch holding hands as Sandy and Ryan carried the last boxes of his things outside. Marissa held her cell phone open. A picture of Summer graced the screen, but she couldn't quite work her way to pushing the send button. Looking at Seth, she questioned, "Are you sure we're ready to do this?"

"No," Seth quickly said. "But she's your best friend and I'm her ex-boyfriend. We were stupid not telling Ryan and we've been stupid not telling Summer. We owe it to her to not let her find out through some grapevine. And we owe my face to not let her find out like Ryan did."

Squeezing his hand Marissa pushed the send button and held the phone to her right ear and Seth leaned in so he could listen and talk as well. After a couple of rings a familiar voice answered, "Coop!"

"Hey, Sum. How was Hawaii?"

"Oh it was so great. The little vacation in the sun was just what I needed to get over what's-his-name. I'm so sorry we didn't talk more this summer though. Caitlin said you took some road trip. You didn't get all grungy did you? You know, following some band around."

"No, nothing like that. Just redefining and adjusting priorities in life before college."

"I so agree, but really Providence isn't so different from Newport, except, well no beach."

"Well, it is just the start of September, we'll see what you say about it in three months."

"It's cool, my dad got me this sweet leather jacket I would never have had a chance to wear in SoCal. So, out with it, has Ryan come back yet? How goes that drama?"

"Actually, I'm over at the Cohens' now, we're all helping move Ryan move to his dorm. But we're trying to cut down on the drama."

"You're there now? Cohen isn't all locked in his room listening to Grateful Dead is he?

Smiling as Seth threw out an over-the-top exasperated face, Marissa took a deep breath and took the plunge, "Actually Sum, Seth is right here too. We need to talk."

Marissa starts to explain the situation to her friend, hoping things will work out. A brief look down at Seth's hand holding hers reminds her that no matter what, neither of them are alone in this. She hoped Ryan and Summer didn't feel alone either. But even before she announced the big news to Summer, she looked at Seth and smiled. They would find a way to work it out together. A way to work it out for everybody. No matter what it took, they would be fantastic again.

End of The Future Now

A/N: Hoped you liked the first episode. Sorry for so little Summer, but she'll be back again soon. I had written another version with the entire conversation, but there was just no good, easy way to wrap up the episode afterwards. I figured getting to that point, making things at least a bit better with Ryan, letting Sandy and Kirsten know and working up the courage to tell Summer was a good arch for SM to go through. And this is a nice, fade up the music before fade to black and credits moment. FYI – I have a couple of choices, but would love to hear opinions on what Seth and Marissa's song should be. Any ideas? Anyways, as always R&R and I hope to have the prologue for the next episode up soon. Expect things to be a little more spread out now and a few familiar faces to return… i.e. not as much of the SM. For those of you hoping these two don't last, you never know, I really only have planned it out as far as the Chrismukkah episode so we'll see where it goes.