Down A Rabbit Hole We Go – Chapter 18
Disclaimer: I do not own the OC or any of its characters.
Recap:
"If we can sneak Seth in, we'll call your dad, Chino, get him to pick us up outside of Marissa's drive. I still think you need to go to the hospital."
"I'll be fine, Summer." Ryan countered, but gasped as he stumbled over a rock half buried in the sand.
"Boys..." Summer muttered, exasperated.
XXXXXXXX
It seemed to take forever to get from the beach to the Cohen's patio. Summer and Ryan both held their breath as Seth came perilously close to taking a swim in the Cohen's infinity pool, stumbling into a patio lounger causing it to scrape across the concrete. They all froze, but the lights in the Cohen kitchen remained off.
Seth gave them a sheepish look and muttered, "My bad," as Summer glared at him. Ryan had insisted that they walk Seth to his door to make sure he got inside ok, and Summer could feel him trembling from the effort it had taken to get up the path from the beach.
She stood watching, still holding much of Ryan's weight, as Seth fumbled to open the door.
Once the door opened, Seth turned slightly to wave goodbye, before heading into the house. Due to his lack of attention, as well as his inebriated state, he stumbled over the threshold to the door, flailing wildly into the breakfast area, and landing in a heap on the floor taking a dining chair with him.
Hearing the commotion, Summer dropped Ryan's arm and rushed in after him, leaving a shocked Ryan to stagger in behind her.
"Cohen?" Summer whispered harshly, just as the lights flicked on to reveal a frowning Kirsten and half-asleep Sandy standing in the entry to breakfast area.
After returning home from the fashion show, Kirsten had changed into casual clothes and Sandy into sweats. They had been sitting on the couch in the family room watching TV since Kirsten refused to go to bed while her son was still out. Sandy had drifted off to sleep before they heard Seth crash to the floor in the next room.
Kirsten took in the scene before her. Seth was pushing himself into a seated position from being sprawled on the floor next to an overturned chair and Summer Roberts stood frozen just inside the patio doors as her newly acquired brother staggered in behind Summer. Turning her attention back to her son who was now sitting up, but making no further effort to rise, she spoke. "Seth, what are you doing?" She paused as she noted the bruising around her son's eye. "What happened to your face?"
Seth raised one finger to his lips, considering the question. "Ummm…I got into a fight."
"With who?" Kirsten half shouted, hands on her hips. "Why?" she added with a glare in Summer and Ryan's direction before turning back to her son for an answer.
"I don't really know. I don't really remember. Hmmm...I was really drunk. Yeah…I think I still am…a little bit." Seth held his thumb and pointer finger up about a fourth of an inch apart to indicate 'a little bit.'
"Let's go…room…now!" Kirsten ordered, reaching down, and grabbing Seth by the arm, attempting to pull him up. "Sandy!" she snapped, recruiting her still half-asleep husband to help. The two of them managed to get Seth to his feet and Sandy steadied him against the edge of the kitchen island as Kirsten advanced toward Summer and Ryan.
"I knew it was a mistake to trust you with Seth," she spat at Ryan. "I trusted you and you repay me by stumbling into my house so drunk you can barely stand up, getting my son drunk, and getting him beaten up. This isn't Chino! I want you out of my house!"
Ryan flinched, visibly stung by his sister's words.
"Kirsten," Sandy cajoled, trying to calm her.
"Mom, you don't understand," Seth added. "Ryan didn't get me beat up. He totally had my back out there."
"Let's go, Summer," Ryan mumbled, turning back toward the patio doors.
"No Ryan, wait. She can't talk to you like that." Summer answered, glaring at Kirsten before reaching for Ryan, grabbing his left arm, and pulling him roughly back toward her, forgetting about his injured ribs.
Ryan gasped, paled, and slumped to the floor unconscious.
"Chino," Summer called, going down with Ryan and rolling him onto his back with his head resting in her lap.
"Ryan!" Sandy shouted, now fully alert as he moved toward the two.
"That can't be good," Seth muttered as Kirsten looked on in alarm.
Sandy tapped Ryan's face, calling his name. Ryan moaned but didn't wake up.
"How much did he have to drink, Summer?" Sandy asked.
"He wasn't drinking, Mr. Cohen." Summer answered, shaken by her friend's state.
Sandy looked at her in disbelief and Summer realized that he probably smelled the alcohol that Jess had spilled on Ryan's shirt.
"Honest, Mr. Cohen. Ryan doesn't like drinking. He smells like a beer because that skank Jess Sathers spilled beer down his shirt. And he didn't get Seth drunk or into a fight. We decided to leave, and we found Seth drunk and being harassed by the water polo team."
"They were about to make me swim with the fishes." Seth added for good measure.
"Ryan told them to put Seth down and leave him alone and a fight broke out. There were four or five of them against Ryan…"
"Hey, I totally jumped into the fray," Seth corrected her, pointing towards his bruised eye.
"Against Ryan and Seth and me and my pepper spray…" Summer corrected with a huff. "And Luke kicked Ryan in the side in the same spot that AJ kicked him last week. And Ryan went down screaming…it was awful…and I tried to get him to let me call an ambulance, but he insisted that ambulances meant cops…and then we decided to walk down the beach to get here…and I'm so stupid…I should have insisted on calling an ambulance…"
Sandy put his hands on the rambling girl's shoulders to get her attention. "Summer, take a breath, ok. It'll be ok. Let's just take a look here," he added as he started to pull Ryan's jacket away and his shirt up.
Kirsten gasped as she saw the huge purple bruise on Ryan's side, surrounded by obvious older bruising that was staring to turn yellow in some areas.
Ryan moaned, pushing at Sandy's hands as he started to come back to awareness.
"Kirsten, call an ambulance, honey." Sandy instructed, then turned his attention to keeping Ryan and Summer calm.