I got some nice feedback about the car ride, so I'm guessing everyone else is ok with it.

Here comes another chapter, which hopefully will get us closer to the big moment.

As always, I love feedback…I can't get better at this unless you help me.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything in this story. Sad really?

Chapter 4: The Scar

The Scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin…

Seth and Marissa held hands for the last 30 minutes of the cab ride to USC before having to separate when they arrived at the Delta Phi Gamma House.

The silence was broken when the driver announced, "That'll be $140.60."

Marissa looked over at Seth, and he realized that it was on him to pay.

"Sure thing! Thanks for the ride." With that, Seth handed over $180, and scooted out of the cab first.

After he was out of the cab, he finally noticed that the rain had stopped somewhere during their drive. He held is hand out to Marissa as she was exiting the car, and she quickly grabbed it before she took the lead and walked up towards her house.

"Don't worry, Seth. No one is going to give you dirty looks for being here. If anything, I'll get the looks since I told the girls I was going home for the day."

Somehow Marissa's voice didn't calm Seth down at all—he felt like he did before Ryan arrived. These women that Marissa lived with would probably think he was just some loser that Marissa promised a mercy fuck to, not her high school boyfriend's brother. Seth fussed with his hand as Marissa kept her grip strong. She wasn't going to let him go, no matter what happened when she walked in.

They approached the house and Marissa looked down at her right hand—Seth's was still intertwined with hers. She looked over at him, and he finally caught her stare.

It took him a second, but he realized that she couldn't open the door. With his hand, he turned the knob and walked into the house.

The foyer of the house was open and colored a light green. Seth was impressed with how the house looked, since this was something he had never seen at Columbia.

"Nice digs," he commented.

"Thanks. It's note Caleb's old McMansion, that's for sure. Anything had to be better than that."

"I'm sure. Living with Caleb was never easy."

"Oh, Caleb wasn't the problem—Julie was."

With that Seth let out a laugh. He realized that it was the first time he'd laughed since he found out about Ryan. It felt good, he thought. He never thought that Marissa Cooper would have made him laugh, but he went with the feeling.

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Marissa realized, after her conversation about Caleb, that talking about the dead, even in jest, was a bad idea today. She, of course, was horrible at these social moments. How she managed to get to be so popular she wasn't sure at the moment.

She led Seth out of the foyer and turns at large grand staircase. Her excitement was growing, so she started to move more quickly. With that move, she lost Seth's hand.

As she realized that, she decided to try and make Seth laugh again. "First one to my room gets treated to dinner."

"Not fair! I have no idea where I'm going."

"Well, then I guess we're going to Nobu for dinner tonight."

Seth didn't feel like arguing with anyone, so he acquiesced and tried to find Marissa's room.

When he walked down the second floor, he thought he heard the distinctive sounds of Rooney. He walked towards the sounds of "Shakin'" thinking of Luke at that concert. Sure enough, the door was ajar and Marissa sat on her bed listening to the album.

"Haven't thought of them in ages," Seth remarked.

"I know. We had a good time that night, right?"

"I don't know. Oliver got arrested for trying to buy coke, Luke yelled at us because he stood too close to a speaker, and Summer found out Anna and I were dating. I don't remember the concert except for that."

"Well, I guess it's better than my memories. Ryan wanted…" she trailed off, realizing that Ryan should be an off-limits.

"It's ok Marissa. You can talk about him. We should remember the good times."

"Right, because Ryan and I had so many of those," she snarked back. Suddenly she realized how bitchy that sounded and tried to take some of it back.

"Sorry, Seth—I didn't mean to snap. I just tried so hard to forget him once we broke up, and Julie's call didn't help."

"I can understand that," he said empathically. Truth be told, he realized how much Ryan's death was going to make Newport hell all over again. He hadn't had many good Seth/Ryan moments once they left for college. Even though the distance between New York City and Ithaca wasn't far, there was a distance between them.

Marissa watched as Seth responded. He looked sad, which he hadn't been earlier. She looked around her room for anything to help Seth out, and then she noticed Share Bear sitting by her pillows.

"Will Share Bear help? She's a really good listener, remember?" she asked quietly.

"Talking to your stuff animal won't help, but if you want to listen, that'd be cool," he responded coldly. Seth's emotions were starting to get the best of him, which annoyed him. He needed to put Ryan behind him, but sitting in a room with Marissa made it so much harder.

"Sure thing Seth; I know that Ryan meant so much to you. I'll listen," she said. She motioned with her hand for him to sit on her bed. She hadn't noticed that he was still standing over her. He looked so imposing, but he was breaking inside.

"Thanks," he replied. "I know that Ryan was a huge part of your life in Newport, but he was an even bigger part of mine. Until he came to town, I hated everything about the city."

"Even Summer?" Marissa questioned. Seth gave her an evil look, and then continued.

"For the most part, Newport was just a place that I needed to be until I could leave all of the pretexts and find normal people outside. For everything that sucked about Newport, Ryan reminded me that there was something else. He didn't meet me at school or know how much of a loser I was, and he still liked me."

"I never knew how much you hated Newport until now…" Marissa couldn't believe that Seth hated the city so much. She though back on how she treated Seth before Ryan came to town—she didn't remember a single moment with him.

"It's ok Marissa. It's just hard to realize that after so many years of Ryan being part of Newport he's not going to be around anymore. All of the confidence that I had when he was around won't matter anymore."

Marissa was trying to stay strong while Seth poured out all of the emotions in his head, but she knew that it wouldn't last long. She started to move closer to Seth to comfort him, but thought that it might be awkward for him. She stayed in the same spot on her bed, and Seth continued to talk.

"Even though Ryan and I went to different schools, I always things would be the same when we came home for vacations. I guess I forgot that Ryan would make new friends, as would I, and that we'd lose something in transition." Seth's voice was starting to break, and he felt like crying. He tried to hold it back, but it wasn't going to happen.

Seth started to talk again, but this time the words were lost in the slow and steady sobs. Marissa decided that it was now acceptable to try and comfort Seth. She slowly moved over towards him, and wrapped her arms around him.

She leaned into his shoulder and said, "Its ok Seth…let it out." She then picked up her head and kissed his forehead.

Well, there's the end of this chapter. I know it's longer than the previous ones, but I think this sort of scene needed more background and discussion.

As always, I'd love to know what you thought. Please review…