Down A Rabbit Hole We Go – Chapter 14
Disclaimer: I do not own the OC or any of its characters.
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On Wednesday, Ryan met Seth at the pier for lunch, but the two ended up back at the Cohen house playing video games in the afternoon.
"Dude, I can't believe you made Luke Ward back down with a look," Seth commented excitedly.
Ryan just shrugged and continued playing as he thought back to their earlier encounter. Ryan and Seth had been leaving the diner when they ran into Seth's neighbor and Summer's best friend, Marissa Cooper. Ryan had heard a lot about Marissa, both good and bad, from Summer, but they'd never met. They talked for a few minutes and Marissa seemed nice enough. Ryan had noticed Luke and two other guys watching them from a distance. Marissa excused herself and entered a nearby shop. Seth was chattering away as he and Ryan walked and didn't notice the other boys approaching until he bumped into Luke Ward's chest. Ward shoved Seth and growled, "Watch where you're going, freak." Ryan caught Seth before he hit the ground, righted him, and then stepped forward until he was face to face with Luke. The two stared at each other until finally Luke smirked and commented to his friends, "Let's get out of here," before hitting Ryan's shoulder with his own as he passed the two.
Ryan was brought out of his thoughts by Seth's cry. "Noooo! Dude, where'd you learn to play this game?"
Ryan had just been playing reflexively and was still giving Seth a run for his money.
"I've got a PS2," Ryan answered.
"In Chino?" Seth asked.
"No. At the house in Anaheim. Dad bought it for me for Christmas the year it came out."
"Ahh, at the home base," Seth mused. "Grandpa bought this for me for Christmas after it came out too."
Ryan shook his head in amusement. Seth had quizzed him all morning and had been referring to the Anaheim house as the original Nichol-Atwood home base or the home base for short since he found out about it. Ryan had mentioned that they were going up one day soon to get some of his things from the house and Seth made him promise that he could go with them when they went.
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Kirsten grabbed her briefcase, locked her car door, and headed toward her front door. She'd been surprised when Seth called her earlier this morning to tell her that he was meeting Ryan at the pier for lunch and then they might head back to the house to hang out. It had been a strange few days. "Uncle" Ryan was all Seth could talk about and it was a constant reminder of her dad's betrayal to her mom and his daughters. She was incredibly angry with her father and honestly wasn't sure she could ever forgive him. Ryan seemed like a good kid, but she was leery of Seth hanging out with him. Chino was a rough area and Ryan had a history of truancy and fighting and had been arrested riding around with his brother in a stolen car. His brother was a criminal. And Ryan had punched Sandy who was trying to help him. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but she just couldn't fully trust him around Seth. She'd left work early to check on them.
Upon entering the house, he heard Seth and her new brother in the Den along with the sounds of one of Seth's video game. "Seth, I'm home," she commented as she entered the room. "Hello, Ryan. How are you today?" she asked.
Ryan stood quickly, dropping the video game controller on the couch. "Ah…hi Kirsten," he said quietly. "I didn't realize you'd be home this soon," he commented shoving his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, dropping his gaze to the floor. She could tell he was as uncomfortable with her as she was with him. Maybe more so.
"With dad home from work things were pretty quiet, so I decided to come home early," Kirsten explained. "Did you boys have a good time today?"
"We had a great time, right "Uncle" Ryan?" Seth quipped, causing Ryan and Kirsten to roll their eyes. "Mom, you should have seen Ryan face down Luke Ward. It was awesome! I thought he was going to give Luke a smackdown, but he never said a word, just gave Luke a look and Luke left."
Ryan shook his head at Seth, trying to get him to shut up. Kirsten didn't need more reasons to think badly of him.
"Seth, you know violence is no way to handle problems," she commented, but looked pointedly at Ryan.
Ryan looked down at his feet again, feeling his face heat up. He was startled by the sudden ringing of his cell phone. Pulling it out of his pocket, he recognized the number as being from Chino. He looked back up at Kirsten and Seth. "Excuse me. I'm just gonna…." he trailed off as he walked out of the den toward the Cohen's kitchen.
After a few minutes Ryan came back into the den, looking even more spooked than he had when Kirsten arrived.
"Ah…that was MS Haggerty from children's services. She wanted to let me know that she didn't think she'd be able to get to Newport to follow up on my case this week." Ryan rocked back on his heels, his hands in his pockets again.
"Oh," Kirsten replied. She hadn't thought about children's services visiting her dad's house to check on Ryan. "Well, I'm sure everything will be fine, whenever she comes." Kirsten assured him.
Ryan just shrugged his shoulders. He'd dealt with children's services in the past. He and Trey were taken from Dawn and Frank for two days when they lived in Fresno. Dawn and Frank had been fighting and the neighbor called the police. Dawn and Frank both spent the night in jail and the boys went to a foster home with five other kids in the house. Ryan was six and was terrified. Trey had smarted off to the foster father and had come home with a black eye. Caleb hadn't been around as much back then because his wife was still alive. Dawn told Ryan that she and Frank wouldn't have been fighting if he and Trey hadn't been misbehaving and Caleb would be disappointed if he found out they had caused so much trouble. Ryan didn't say a word to Caleb about it. The second time he'd been 12 and Caleb was out of the country for three weeks. Trey was on the streets avoiding Dawns latest fling. Ryan hadn't been able to avoid him and his teachers reported his injuries. Ryan admitted that Lenny had been hitting him, along with Dawn, and Lenny had been arrested. Ryan was sent to another foster home. He was told he should only be there a few days, until they could do a home assessment. But Dawn was so furious that she left him there for two weeks, only bringing him home the day before Caleb was supposed to return. She told him that if he told Caleb, she'd send him back into the system for good, pointing out that Caleb still wouldn't claim him in public so he shouldn't expect any help from his rich daddy.
Ryan shuddered involuntarily. "I should get going and see what dad's doing," he commented, heading toward Kirsten's door.
"Dude, what's the hurry?" Seth asked.
"Do you need a ride?" Kirsten added.
"No, I'll walk. Thanks," Ryan replied as he rushed out the front door.
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