Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the OC.
Thanks for all the reviews for the first part! I actually meant for this story to be a one shot but I got some reviews asking for more so I decided I'd finish it and tie up all the loose parts like the consequences and stuff like that. Hope you like it!
That night after Ryan had walked her home, she sat on her bed and thought about how great of a guy he really was. She could never picture Volchok doing something like that for her. He didn't care about her. The only reason he acted like he did was so she would put out for him. And as she had been in one of her rebellious stages she had. She regretted it now. But it was in the past and she wasn't going to drag it into the present so she tried to forget about it.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized how perfect she and Ryan were together. They completed each other. He kept her grounded while she let him be more care free. She wasn't sure if they were officially a couple anymore (all he had done was dance with her and walk her home) but it had just felt so good to be wrapped in his arms that night. She had been so close to kissing him goodnight at the door. She had actually lowered her head (seeing as Ryan is shorter then her) waiting for his lips to meet hers before she remembered they weren't together. Yet.
She was going to get him back. She knew that he wanted to be with her. Even when he was with Sadie and other girls he had gotten involved with over their time apart, whenever he was around her she always caught him staring. He'd shake his head and try to play it off but she could tell he was flustered whenever he did that. He wouldn't be flustered if he wasn't actually looking at her.
She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she thought about the things he did. The way he picked at his sleeve when he was nervous. Or how he'd grind his teeth together when he was scared but too manly to say anything. Her personal favorite was the way he'd clench his hands into fists whenever he was absolutely terrified of something. It was her favorite because it reminded her of their first kiss on top of the Ferris Wheel his first year here. He had been petrified. And it was adorable. She was supposed to have been angry with him but seeing him so out of his element seemed to melt all her anger and soon she was giving into the temptation and kissing him.
She just hoped he wouldn't get in too much trouble for getting involved in a fight at a school activity. She knew that Dr. Kim would be mad but it was nothing to what she expected the Cohen's to be. They had put so much faith in him and she guessed that the fight would be tearing down some of the trust they had accumulated with each other over the years. But they loved him and nothing could stop that. She shouldn't be worrying about this. He wouldn't be in too much trouble.
"Hello?" Sandy answered the phone in the kitchen.
"Hello Mr. Cohen. I have some bad news. This evening at the dance Ryan got into a fight." Sandy sighed. This was just what he didn't want Ryan to get into.
"Do you know who he was fighting with?" Sandy prayed it wasn't one of the people that Ryan usually got into fights with. Not after they'd drilled it through his head that he wasn't allowed to fight these preppy trust fund kids. But on the other hand, the last thing Ryan needed was another person to fight with.
"He didn't go to Harbor. He came as Marissa Cooper's date. You might know who he is, seeing as your family seems close with Marissa. I'll be calling her also to get some details on who provoked it, who the young man was, and just other information that I'll need to determine what consequences Ryan will be faced with."
"Dr. Kim, I'm not saying that Ryan shouldn't be punished. Believe me he will, but could you please try to refrain from suspending him from school? He's had so much to go through this year and another suspension would add too much stress." Sandy hoped she would say there was no way Ryan could be suspended but he knew that Ryan had been given one more chance with Dr. Kim after the whole Trey incident last summer. Sandy hated to think that Ryan had just blown it.
"I'm going to do everything I can, Sandy. But Ryan has been in this situation before and nothing seems to be getting through his head. I know he's violent but he can't just go beating up random kids." The dean sounded frustrated. Sandy was also feeling pretty annoyed with Ryan's behavior.
"I understand, Dr. Kim. Just please think about it. Once I get through with him he won't want to raise his hand to pick up a pencil, let alone throwing a punch at someone." Sandy had to convince Dr. Kim that Ryan would be getting punished. Which he would, just not as harshly as he was implying.
"I'll do my best, Sandy. But I'm not the only one who decides these things. Getting into a fist fight at a school activity is simply inappropriate. But I will plead Ryan's case with the disciplinary committee. I know he's a good kid. You should be proud, Sandy. Take care. I'll be calling to inform you of what's going on."
Sandy heard a click and realized the dean had hung up. He didn't realize he was grinding his teeth in frustration until he placed the phone down and ran a hand through his hair.
He heard the door open and went to see who it was. Hopefully it was Ryan so he could get this talk over with. He wasn't looking forward to this. Somewhere in the past year Ryan had taken to acting like their biological son. Being stubborn and talking back when he was being punished. In a way he was happy that he was comfortable enough to be himself but another part missed the quiet, overly polite Ryan. Not that he wasn't polite still. Just not so much in the house. Seth had been rubbing off on him.
As he got to the door he realized it was his more talkative son arriving home. He figured Seth had been at the dance so he might as welt try to get some information out of him.
"Seth Ezekiel. In the kitchen. Now. I have some questions for you." Sandy was going to need to be tough to get Seth to rat out on his best friend/brother.
Seth came shuffling in looking nervous. He always got this way when Sandy used his lawyer voice.
"Yeah?"
"Where's Ryan?" He didn't mean to be too straight forward. He knew that now Seth might try to find a reason to bail.
"Um, he got, uh, he looked really, uh tired so, uh, I guess he decided to leave early or something." Seth was stammering. Something he only did when he was trying to hold something in.
"What would have made him so tired? You guys were only there for about an hour and a half."
"Well, I know you wouldn't think this about Ryan but the guy loves dancing. Danced up a storm tonight, that guy. You should have seen him. He was like your typical ballerina only he wasn't as graceful. Came pretty close to knocking over the punch bowl a few too many times." Seth was quite animated when he was making up this lie. Sandy had to admit, if Dr. Kim hadn't called he might have believed Seth. His son was quite the liar. He could even make the most ludicrous stories seem real.
"Huh. Ryan a dancer. Are you sure there wasn't anything else? Somehow I just can't see Ryan dancing. I was there at cotillion you know. I won't forget the image of Ryan attempting to dance for quite some time." Sandy chuckled at the image of Ryan nervously shuffling around trying to keep in time to the music.
"Well, I guess he took some lessons or something. That's probably it." Seth was thinking on his feet and it was getting obvious. His lies were running short.
"And your mother and I wouldn't have noticed Ryan leaving with a pair of dancing shoes?"
"Oh father." Seth shook his head as if Sandy was talking a different language. "In this day and age you don't need dancing shoes. You can get your groove on in your everyday running shoes. Or in Ryan's case, every day boots."
"Seth, cut the crap." Sandy was tired of this. Now, not only did he want to know about the fight, he also wanted to know where Ryan really was.
"What crap! I'm telling you the truth! This is horrible. You won't even trust your own son. I can't believe this. After I've given you so much reason to trust me you turn agains…."
"I know about the fight, son. And I want some details. Ryan is going to be in a shitload…."
"Dad, don't say shit." Seth said doing a near perfect imitation of Kirsten.
Sandy just glared at him. Seth was quiet at once and bowed his head down indicating that he was ready to listen.
"As I was saying, your brother is going to be in a whole bunch of trouble. Maybe if you tell me what happened I'll make it so he won't get in as much trouble."
"Anything to help out a brotha yo." Seth said while forming his hand into the east side sign.
Sandy sighed. Sometimes he thought it was impossible to even try to have a serious conversation with Seth without having a sarcastic comment or a joke thrown in at every other sentence.
"Care to tell me the story?"
"Okay, well, since this is going to help Ryan out I'll be truthful with you. Marissa was there and she asked Ryan to dance I think, might have been the other ay around, and so he did. And then Volchok came in from outside. I swear you could actually see steam coming out of his ears, he was so pissed. But he's such a hypocrite. I saw him macking on some poor freshman when I got there. Poor girl. Doesn't know what she's getting into," Seth said shaking his head sadly.
"And..."
"Oh right. Yes, well, then Volchok punched Ryan and we both know that Ryan doesn't stand around and take stuff like that. Especially from people he hates. So naturally he fought back. Then they got really into it and Dr. Kim had to split it up." Seth said all this as if it was the most natural thing in the world with a wave of his hand and a shake of his head.
"That still doesn't explain where Ryan is." Sandy wanted to know where he was. Now.
"He walked Marissa home. He should be home soon," Seth said as he started to walk away. "And now father dearest, I'm feeling fatigued so I'll see you in the morning. 'Night." And with that Sandy was left alone, as Seth walked upstairs to his room, wondering what he was going to say to Ryan when he got home.
Soon enough he heard the door creak open a second time and Ryan walked into the kitchen.
"Sit. Now. You have some explaining to do," Sandy said pointing to a chair.
Ryan tentatively sat down. It was then that Sandy noticed his shiner and split lip.
"Seth already told me the story. All I want to know is why you did it. You know I don't like you fighting. And don't worry; Seth didn't make it sound like you provoked it. Am I being smart in believing him?"
Ryan instantly nodded his head.
"Okay then. Why would you do this?"
"He punched me. I wasn't going to let him get away with that."
Sandy sighed. "Kid, sometime you are gonna have to think with your head. Just because someone hits you, it doesn't give you the right to hit them. If you need to defend yourself, fine. But I don't expect you to be throwing in hard punches and tackles. Especially at a school dance!"
"I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I promise. On Monday I'll go to Dr. Kim and apologize."
"I also want you to go to the boy and apologize." Sandy knew the chances of this happening were low but he expected Ryan to be the bigger man. This meant admitting to his mistakes and apologizing for hurting the kid.
"Volchok?" Ryan scoffed. "You want me to go to Volchok and apologize. Are you crazy?"
"Don't talk to me that way. And no. I don't want you to apologize. I'm telling you that you're going to. No questions. First thing Monday morning you're going to apologize to Dr. Kim. Then you're going to go over to this boy's house and apologize to him to. Even if he started it."
"Whatever," Ryan rolled his eyes. Sandy was getting frustrated.
"Don't roll your eyes at me! And don't whatever me either!"
"Sorry. I'll go apologize to both of them on Monday. I'm really tired though; can I go to bed now?" Sandy believed Ryan when he said he would apologize to Dr. Kim and this Volchok kid. Ryan was the worst liar in the world and right now he was telling the truth.
"Sure. But I want you to know, you're grounded. That means no playstation, no TV, no phone, and no Marissa." At the mention of Marissa's name Sandy noticed the smile that quickly swept across Ryan's face.
"OK. Goodnight Sandy."
Ryan was a good kid. Sandy new that. If only Ryan would keep his fists to himself they'd have no problems. But Ryan being Ryan, Sandy knew that would never happen.
TBC
Hope you liked it. It's longer then what I usually do. I was going to split it up into two separate chapters but I decided to just post it all together. Kirsten will probably be in this story sometime. I just didn't have the time to work her into it yet.
Please remember to review!
Thanks.
