Sorry if you were waiting for this to get updated more quickly. Somehow I've gotten myself into a few other stories, and have been thinking about them more than this one.

This story is still set back in the time of Season 1, but I'm playing with some of the issues at the start; I'm leaving Dawn alone, and really trying to focus on Ryan and Summer having to run into each other at various Newport events.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The OC. This is just my mind hard at work.

Chapter 4: Unexpected

After his time with Summer, Ryan managed to find Seth in the sand outside the house. Seth's head was sticking up from the sand, with his body covered in sand shaped like a mermaid. Ryan knew that the water polo team must have been responsible.

"You need some help out of there?" he asked.

"Um…no, Ryan. I'm perfectly happy to be stuck in the sand," Seth retorted.

Ryan took that to mean that Seth wanted out, so he dug him out. Ryan noticed that the sand was wet, but he didn't want to know from what. Seth was finally free, and they left the party.

As they approached the car, Seth started to talk about his evening.

"Well, first Luke tried to pee in my shoes, and then the rest of the team decided to put me in some sand that they peed in. How was your night?"

"Oh, pretty boring. I had to entertain Summer."

"You had to entertain Summer? You call that boring? That's my dream come true," Seth responded.

Ryan knew he had to tread lightly, or else Seth would blow the story that Ryan had come up with.

"It was alright. I'm just really tired now. Do you mind driving?" Ryan said, hoping Seth was sober.

"Sure man. Being stuck in the sand for the last 3 hours, I don't have a buzz at all."

Good think, Ryan thought to himself. After his night of pot and sex, the last thing he wanted to do was drive. Slowly he got in the passenger seat and sat back as Seth drove them back to the Cohen home.

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Seth had determined that he needed to sleep in the pool house with Ryan to avoid his parents' attention about their arrival home.

Seth's moved had failed, of course, when the next morning Kirsten came into the pool house worried sick about Seth.

"Up. Inside. Now," she demanded, and Seth responded, slowly.

Kirsten gave Ryan a look, and he wondered how long he'd still be welcome in her house.

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Ryan gave everyone some time to cool down before he entered the main house. His time in the pool house also gave him time to think about what had happened the night before. He had just slept with the object of Seth's desire for no reason other than Ryan was supposed to keep her entertained for the night. If he was going to stay in Newport, things were going to get very complicated, and that wasn't what Ryan wanted. The Cohens had been nice enough to take him in, and now he was going to cause trouble for them. As Ryan continued to think about what a mess he had made the night before, he realized that he was in serious need of coffee and food. He always had the munchies hours after he had smoked, and today was no exception.

As he finally walked in the Cohen kitchen, he saw Sandy and Kirsten talking and reading the paper at the table and Seth sitting at the island with a cup of coffee and a large bowl of cereal.

"Morning, Ryan," Sandy said. "How was your night?"

"Oh, it was fine. I met some interesting people," Ryan said back, while he walked over to the coffee pot to pour himself a large cup.

"That's good," said Kirsten. "We're going to another charity event next week, so you'll know some of the other kids there."

"Huh?" was all Ryan could say when he heard Kirsten. Ryan's head was racing; he had to see Summer and all of those other kids at another Newport party. This was not going to go well at all, he thought.

"What was that Ryan?" she asked.

"Nothing, Mrs. Cohen. I was just thinking; that's all. I can't wait for next week," he said with faked enthusiasm.

"Ok…" she said as she decided to leave for a shower.

Sandy followed her lead, and left Seth and Ryan alone in the kitchen.

"So, that was an awkward conversation," Seth mentioned.

"Uh…yeah," Ryan grunted.

Seth wasn't sure how to respond to Ryan's monosyllabic answers, but he decided to let Ryan alone. "I'm going to go upstairs, but I'll find you later, OK?"

"Sure," Ryan said. He grabbed his coffee mug and went back to the pool house.

So there ends another chapter in this lovely story and I hope that you all like it.

Please let me know if there are things I can do better for the next chapter. I like the idea of switching between what's going on with Ryan and Summer before Vegas Night, just so everyone knows where this is going.