Disclaimer: I don't own any O.C.-related - only the characters I may invent during the writing of the story - they're all FOX's property.. thanxx 2U, guys
Autor's note: So, next part of the bad-conscience-driven posting session.. have fun and R&R.
They arrived at the Bait Shop just on time. Summer was already there, waiting at the entrance, impatiently hopping from one foot to the other and looking at her watch.
Seth ran to her, kissed and hugged her before triumphantly pointing at his wristwatch, exclaiming: "See! Eight o'clock sharp! Like I promised." Summer rolled her big brown eyes but laughed, grabbed Seth's wrist and pulled him through the door. "Well, calm down, Cohen, no time to waste. I'm dying with thirst. The sushi was a little spicy." Ryan chuckled. These two were just hilarious. "Good thing you dragged Chino along. Luke arrived right after me and kept like.. drilling me with all kinds of questions. Besides, you've done enough lonely brooding during the last months, Atwood", Summer said when they got to the bar, gave him a brief kiss on the cheek, then motioned behind him with her chin. Before Ryan could turn around, a large hand landed on his shoulder, propelled him around and dragged him into a bear-hug. When Luke finally let go of him, he secretly checked for broken ribs. "Hey Chino!" Luke yelled, obviously already a little drunk. "One who always keeps promises", said the young blonde man who towered over him with a large grin that showed all of his perfect white teeth. Considering their very first encounter it was a wonder he still had all of them. And that Ryan was still alive. The episode of Mr. Ward's coming-out had shown that sometimes bad situations bring out the best sides of people, and despite himself Ryan felt grateful to have found such a friend in a former foe.
Luke started to introduce him to his friends. Ryan had seen most of them at school but from day one he'd avoided the guys from the waterpolo-team. His friendship with Luke was a mere accident, though a lucky one.
Trevor really was a typical red-head, with copper-red curly hair, a pale complexion that showed first signs of sunburn, a lot of red freckles that disguised some of his pimples and pale blue eyes, but all of this could be overlooked at the sight of his congenial, good-natured wide smile that exposed a set of huge incisors.
Luke kept on babbling about their plans for the rest of the night and how excited he was about going to the Blaze with all his old friends, when suddenly something else caught Ryan's attention: While listening to Luke, he'd watched Alex who'd first been talking to a tiny woman with big dark eyes and brown curly hair who had been tuning her guitar on the stage, then his eyes had followed her as she went upstairs – walking up to somebody he recognized only at a second look. She still wore the black base-cap and baggie jeans, but this time she'd put on a black wife-beater on top of a white one and an unbuttoned khaki-colored shirt above it all.
Alex and her hugged swiftly and talked for a moment. Alex even laughed, then motioned down at the stage, gently stroked over the girl's head and quickly descended to finally disappear behind the stage.
When Ryan looked back up, she was gone. He'd just decided to go upstairs himself when Luke shoved a beer in his hand. "Thanks, but I don't really.." "I know, I know. Hey, just one to clink with us." "I still gotta drive.." "Now, don't be such a sissy!" Luke protested but forgot what else he'd wanted to say because at this very moment the band began to play. Summer and Seth moved closer to the stage, waving to him to keep them company, but he gave them a sign of refusal. There were less people at the bar now, and moreover, Alex had reappeared behind the counter.
He didn't address her but waited until she had time for a little break to drink something herself and spotted him at last. "Ryan! Hey. Nice to see you again.. I guess. I already asked Seth if you got off again but he said you barely left "Casa Cohen" at all." She laughed, then added more seriously: "Uhm.. I've heard of all of this "illegitimate-daughter-story".. I mean.. I'm really sorry for you." He shook his head and shrugged. "Break-ups are never easy. I was more sorry for Seth's family. And for Lindsay of course. You remember her?" Alex nodded. "Yeah. From our "group-hang". She seemed to be really nice.. even though she lay in my office, passed-out, when I saw her the last time. I hope she's okay?" "By now, she is. She went to Chicago with her mother. She.. uhm.. wrote a letter. To all of us. Seems to like it there.. And it's definitely easier for her after all she had to go through." He tried to smile, failing miserably.
Alex laid her hand on top of his, making him jump slightly, so she resisted from asking him how he felt. Instead, she clinked her glass with his bottle and said: "It'll get better." She threw a glance at the stage, then changed the subject. "So.. Cohen left you all alone with the jocks?" Ryan looked behind him where meanwhile Trevor's friends had put him in a T-shirt that was covered with signatures of the whole team and had a photo of all of them in a pool on it's back. Ryan raised his eyebrows and took a sip. Alex chuckled. "Ya know, I almost didn't recognize you among them." He put down his beer, surprised at this statement. She reached out and passed her hand over his hair. "Started bleachin' it?" she asked. "Nah.. Sandy's teaching me how to surf. The sun and the salt, ya know.." he explained uncomfortably. "Oh. That certainly explains your new tan. Suits you.." she smiled, then clicked her tongue, "And it seems to be a pretty good workout, hm? ..Hey! Did you just blush! Can't handle a compliment or what?" She watched him smile insecurely. "Don't worry, I'm no danger for you. Remember: No sparks!" At least this finally earned her a warm smile and actually a shy laugh. When he was pulled back by Luke to give another cheer for Trevor, Alex seized the opportunity to lean back and inspect him, brows knitted.
Cohen's foster-brother really almost looked like one of those waterpolo-guys, even though a short one. Okay, he'd never been thin, but although completely dressed in black he now looked pretty well-trained, downright athletic. Alex took a closer look, realizing she'd been wrong about Ryan's similarity to the jocks. Aside from his lack of stature there was something about him that would always keep him from blending with those people. Something that lay within those serious, once shut down and cold, once vulnerable and sad, deep-blue eyes. She didn't have a thing for him, but she could tell that girls would fall for those eyes – while rejecting him unconsciously at the same time. She knew that he didn't just seem mature beyond his age, but that his former life must have caused this as well as his silent, sometimes even brooding nature. Seth hadn't told her much about Ryan's past – he'd been too occupied with other things during their short romance, like with himself, her and above all Summer – and she'd had a far-from-perfect family-life herself. In fact, she'd always thought it'd sucked, but now she asked herself what might have madeRyan the way he was.
Alex pulled herself together and forced a smile upon her face whenhe managed to finally free himself from his new "fellas" and turned to her again. Too late: He'd already sensed that something was going on with her and he eyed her suspiciously before shutting down visibly, clearing his face from anything that would allow her to read him. For a moment she wondered if he could do such on purpose, then she cursed herself when she remembered how Seth had once told her that he found Ryan's ability to see people through quite uncanny. "He reads everybody like an open book, even this crazy Oliver who got everybody else fooled." At that time she'd just laughed and retorted: "That is because you TALK like a book, Cohen."
Without having intended to do so she suddenly heard herself apologize. Astonishingly he seemed to know what she meant, slightly shook his head, saying: "Nevermind", with a smile.
To her surprise he cleared his throat and carried on: "Uhm, Alex, I gotta ask you something.." He paused. Quite long, so she nodded encouragingly. "Yes?" "Well.. that girl, you've been talkin' to.." "Tess? She's the singer of the band.." "Yes. No, I mean the other on. Upstairs. The one with the base-cap." She knew who he was talking about, and she knew that he sensed that. "Oh! Yeah. What about her?" "I met her at the pier, like two weeks ago. I've never seen her around before and never since." He hesitated again. "Who is she?" Alex shrugged.
"Just some girl I know. I don't know where she's from, but she definitely doesn't live in Newport." Ryan's glance said: "Oh. Really."
"One of my friends once brought her to a little party at my place. Neither of us noticed when the guy left, and since we were all a little wasted I let her crash there for the night. And the following.." Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Oh. So she's.. like.. one of your ex-girlfriends?" "No! No. Definitely not. I mean, it's not like she's not my type. In fact, you'd be surprised what's really hidden under all this clothing. No, it's.. I dunno. It was weird." "What's weird?" "Well, she's strange. She behaves like some sort of a hurt beast, know what I mean?" He nodded and said: "She's all fight or flight." "Exactly. She didn't do anything wrong.. she actually helped me. Cleaning up the next day, preparing something to eat.. But she still seemed to think that she kinda owed me something. What she didn't. Obviously she knew that I like women, too, so before she left, she.. she kinda offered herself to me. As if to pay me off. As you can imagine it was a little embarrassing for both of us when I explained to her that I wouldn't accept that." Ryan nodded again and whispered: "It's never good to have any debts.."
"Anyway: A week later there was an envelope in my mailbox. A card saying Thank You and fifty bucks, which was way too much. Yeah.. and since then she'd show up at the club a couple of times when there was a band, and I usually let her in for free." Alex stopped rinsing the glasses, what she'd been doing while talking to Ryan. "Ya know.. it's good to actually see her.. relax a little. ..I wonder where she's gone now. She'd listened to Tess' record at my place and said she liked it." She looked around the room. "Maybe she just wasn't in the mood. She wasn't exactly in good shape today." "What do you mean?" Ryan interjected. "Nothing in particular, but", she dried her hands, "black eyes and bruises aren't a Chino-monopol, as you might know."
As if on clue Ryan was rudely shoved against the counter, almost causing him to drop his bottle. Instantaneously he spun around to defend himself against whoever, but realized that it had only been an accident: Trevor seemed to have returned from outdoors, and his friends were jokingly pushing him around, calling out good wishes, patting him on the back and drilling him with questions about some "birthday present". After a few moments he shushed them and exclaimed slightly slurring: "Fellas – thank you! I must say..", he paused, then grinned widely, "this really BLEW my mind. Got it!"
Ryan shook his head and turned back to the counter, intending to listen to the band a little closer when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Alex handing the girl he'd secretly been looking out for the whole evening a bottle of water. He watched her walk to the door, stop and cast a quick glance to the bunch of guys behind him and then step outside. He thought about asking Alex about it, but first, he didn't know about what exactly, and second she was occupied on the other side of the bar. Maybe he should follow the girl – but again: For what reason? He sighed and emptied his bottle. And suddenly noticed that Doug, the massive goal-keeper of the team, a real six-foot-ten, also approached the door, holding up both thumbs to his friends before leaving.
"Hey man, what was that all about?" Ryan addressed Luke who had tears in his eyes from laughing. "That? Doug wants to check out the quality of Trevor's present." Ryan shook his head questioningly, so Luke finally had mercy and spilled out the details: "Dude, Trevor's nice'n funny but not exactly a ladies' man. So, a few of the guys thought: Why not buy him a nice little blow-job to his birthday? At first, they wanted to get him a hooker for an "all-inclusive-service", but first, he didn't want that, for whatever reason, and second the whole thing was kinda spontaneous, so they'd only found a chick who'd exclusively serve like this. Well.. from what he's reported, she absolutely knows what she does. Yeah, and this made Doug wanna try her, too. Dude, it's unbelievable! That guy's so wasted! I really hope she can handle those 300 pounds!" he cried out, laughing. "Do you know where they went?" Luke shrugged. "Down to the beach, I guess. There's a little spot right behind the lifeguard-tower where one can get a little.. privacy", he giggled. "Hey! Where you goin'?" he called after Ryan who was storming out of the club.
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Will try and post a littler sooner this time, promised. I'm always curious what you think about it - Let me know.
Spoiler: Ryan against 300 pounds. Hmm.. how does that look? We all know about somebody having kind of a "white-knight-complex", don't we? Maybe he'll get to know the still unnamed girl a little better.