Chapter Three
Once reunited with his friends, Seth and Ryan marched on home, meanwhile Summer and Marissa carpooled back to their houses. Seth sighed impatiently, ready to tell Ryan about his catastrophe. Ryan beat him to it, though.
"Seth, I have to ask you something." Ryan asked gulping down anxiety, as they were well off school property.
"Yeah, what's up." Seth asked, carelessly awaiting a response. Seth was too badly immersed in his own problems to listen to Ryan's but he knew, Ryan would hear him out too.
"Well… I think I…" Ryan stammered, watching the black paved California ground. "I think I love Marissa, again. What do I do?" Ryan questioned this statement as it emmerged from his mouth, but he didn't at all doubt it. He just wondered how Seth would accept the news.
"Go figure. You were like practically on top of her today." Seth, obviously bored out of his mind with this announcement, and made his way to answer this easy, beyong easy question. "Obviously, you gotta ask her out Ryan. She obviously loves you too."
"What, is your like spider sence tingling or something? Can you feel the love?" Ryan joked, but quickly his face hardened. "Seriously, man. I need honest advice. What if she doesn't like me back?" Ryan was worried, that what he had just said was true. He cared about Marissa, and as much as he thought he loved her right now, he couldn't be entirely true. What if this was just the common feeling he hadn't felt in so long? What if his body was just trying to fool him?
"Then get over it, Ryan. If she doesn't love you, then she'll tell you. Then you'll go back to being friends. La dee da. And THEN you'll live happily ever, freaking after." Seth wasn't in any particular mood to give his best-friend advice on getting the girl- he wasn't so lucky himself, and as much as he wanted to swallow his own advice, it was easier said then done.
Ryan quickly changed the subject, noticing his friend was quite troubled himself. "Maybe you'll help me when whatever is up your arse gets out. So, you wanna talk about it?" Ryan senced Seth was angry, and Ryan, despite his afflictions went on roll to help his friend out.
"Summer. Need I say more?" Seth answered.
"Uhh… yeah? What's up?" Ryan was confused by this one word answer.
"We're partnered up for a project together." Ryan was once again confused. Summer was the girl of Seth's dreams, and yet he wasn't at all happy partnered up with her?
"Yeah… uhh, I'm not getting it. And you're pissed, because?"
"Because why should I be happy, when she's obviously not? She made me feel like crap," Seth sighed, then continued. "Why should I be happy, when she's going to be suffering?"
"You never know Seth. You never know…" Ryan repeated reassuringly. Seth managed to spit out a 'Yeah… whatever' before a car pulled up behind them. A familiar voice jerked out from the window.
"Seth! Ryan! God, guys it's been too long!" Luke called out from behind the driver's wheel.
"Luke!" Ryan's face lit up, and he smiled as Luke got out of the car. The greeted eachother, under the blazing California sun. "What brings you here?" Ryan asked seeing an old buddy.
"Just driving by. I wanted to see how everyone was doing. Guys need a ride back home?" Luke offered, and Seth and Ryan quickly accepted. A night of video games awaited them. As Luke's truck pulled up into the driveway, of the beautiful Cohen residence, Ryan got a telephone call.
"Hey Ryan. It's Marissa." Marissa's sweet voice taunted the other side of the cell phone.
"Hey Marissa. What's up?" Ryan asked, with genuine concern, hoping Marissa's casual phone call, was no reason to worry.
"Oh nothing, really. Oh man… I'm so bored." Marissa was almost begging Ryan to invite her over, in the tone of her voice, not wanting to seem desperate or anything.
"Umm… you wanna hang out, or something?" Ryan asked, smiling.
"For real? That'll be, umm… cool," Marissa tried to search for words that wouldn't make her look too obviously in love. "You want me to come over to your house, at like 6-ish? You don't mind if I stay for dinner, do you?"
"Oh no, not at all. I'm sure the Cohen's will love for you to come over." Ryan also, tried to cover up his bliss. A romantic candlelight evening bloomed in his mind. The only problem, seemed to be Luke, who had came out of nowhere hoping to hang out, after not seeing his friends for the longest time ever. "Yeah, so 6 is perfect." Ryan added.
"Okay, I'll be there. It's a date," Marissa added, not thinking. She blushed as she said this, and then embarassingly, to soothe the silence, she yelped. "Sorry…" Ryan was contently shocked, and he smiled carefully.
"It's okay. I'll be waiting, Marissa. Talk to you at 6 o'clock." Ryan hung up the phone, turning to face Luke and Seth who were watching him, showing evident shock on their faces as well. "What?" Ryan asked as their shocked turned into chuckles, and later turned into hardcore laughs.
"Hmm… let me guess, Marissa?" Seth joked, in a singsong voice. "Is she going to come over?"
"Uh… yeah, actually." Ryan said slightly blushing, as Seth and Luke mocked and ridiculed him.
"Who would have known? Ryan could only be smiling like that for his girlfriend!" Luke proclaimed unknowingly, which then turned the almost funny environment into a silent and uncomfortable situation. Seth shook his head, and mouthed 'No', closing his eyes in dissappointment. Luke realised he had said something totally wrong.
"Let's just go in, okay?" Ryan shattered the uncomfortable silence, and led the way inside. He was slightly angry, and humiliated at the same time. After Ryan was well in the lead, Seth whispered to Luke.
"They're not a couple, man. Don't say anything else, about it- I suggest. Ryan's kinda… erm… confused, I guess." Seth informed the completely lost Luke, who nodded understanding the situation why the situation was so odd. Kirsten Cohen greeted the boys in the kitchen, smiling her usual ear-to-ear smile, exposing her lovable laughlines.
"If it isn't my boys," Kirsten said more happily then usual. When she saw Luke walk into the kitchen, she gasped in shock. "And Luke!" Kirsten practically ran over to greet him. She gave him a hug, and continued chattering curiously. "So what brings you to Newport?" Kirsten ushered the boys to sit down at the kitchen table, as she scurried to prepare a buffet of snacks. Without letting Luke start, she offered numerous drinks and snacks. "Luke, what would you like to eat? Drink?"
"Oh, Miss Cohen, I'm really okay. Thanks for asking," Luke shook his head, as Kirsten offered more and more scrumtious foods. "I actually ate coming to Newport, from Portland, so I'm really not hungry." Luke added to satisfy Kirsten, so she could go on with her daily routine without freaking out.
"Now that my mom's off your back, you wanna do the old chillage? Some video games, and what not?" Seth suggested eagerly, already getting up from his chair.
"I'm beat," Luke said, yawning after a long and tedious ride from Portland. "But come on, it's not every day I can play video games with the two greatest people on earth." Luke convinced himself, and the three men approached the gameroom. As the three settled, Ryan was uneasily gaping at the clock- it read 5:34. It didn't comfort him at all that Marissa was arriving in less then thirty minutes, to hang out with Ryan- not Seth and Luke in addition. It ticked cruelly, engraving the meagre sound into his mind.
Ryan stood up tensely, and announced, "Well Marissa's coming by. I better get dressed." Ryan shrugged, and left before he could listen to Seth and Luke's mockery. A measely 2 minutes had gone by before Ryan had gotten to the pool house where he would get ready. He changed from his school shirt, revealing his muscular chest. He slipped on a light grey button-down shirt, showing the elegant and romantic Ryan. He changed from his filthy jeans into cleaner ones. He almost tripped over a pillow that was lying innocently on the ground, as he shuffled toward the bathroom. He spattered some shaving cream on face, and started shaving. Hoping time would flow by a little bit faster, Ryan continuously repeated the motion of scraping the shaving cream off his face. With a moment of disregard, the razor sharply cut through Ryan's skin. The sever let out a small bead of blood, that Ryan soon penetrated with a piece of toilet paper. While he was applying water, to soothe the cut, he glanced at his watch, notcing it was already 5:47. Quite satisfied with the time that he had taken, undressing and dressing, and then shaving, he sprinkled some cologne and found himself ready to go. He left the pool house, turning off all the lights, and approached the house once more. He soon joined Luke and Seth on the sofa, wordlessly. He hoped too, that they wouldn't make a huge deal out of Mr. Fancy-pants.
"What time's she coming at?" Seth broke the silence, and found it oddly hilarious how Ryan was trying to impress Marissa.
Ryan gulped, and nodded. "6." He barked out, as he glared at the smiling Seth, who was amused by Ryan's tension.