Ryan and Seth got home. Seth went upstairs and Ryan headed to the pool house. "Hey" He said. "Hey Ryan" Kirsten said. "How was school?" She said. "It was okay. Um Kirsten do you happen to have a phone number were Jimmy Cooper can be reached?" He said leaning on the table.
"Um yeah in my palm pilot why?" Kirsten said. "No it's nothing I just wanted to talk to him about Marissa" He said looking at her. Kirsten saw concern in his face. "Is everything okay?" She said.
"Yeah it's nothing like that she's kind of upset he's not coming to graduation so I just wanted to talk to him about it" He said. "Sure honey let me just go get it for you and I'll bring it into the pool house" She said. He nodded. "And don't worry I won't say a word to Marissa or anyone else for that matter" Kirsten said. He smiled. "Thanks" He said. She left him and he went to his room.
Kirsten had given him the number and he tried to reach him a few times since this afternoon but he kept getting his voicemail and he didn't leave a message just in case he called him back while Marissa was there.
This would be the fourth time he's tried. He dialed it rang and rang and voicemail. "Hey who are you calling?" She said with a smile coming in. He looked up. "You" He said automatically. "That's weird my cell didn't ring" She said.
"I thought you'd be home and you know so yeah I called your house" He said rather quickly. "Are you okay?" She said. "Yeah. So I didn't know you were coming" He said. "Yeah I actually can't stay Taylor having a last minute run down in the school gym I actually just dropped Sum off so I could have the car. I just stopped by to say hi" she said.
He smiled. "Unless of course you want to help out at the gym? I know your always dying to make paper machete decorations" She said trying to con him. He laughed. "Yeah I think you definitely got the wrong person in fact I think you got the wrong family all together" He said.
"Kirsten is always the best party planner" She said with a smile. "Yeah I didn't mean the Cohen's when I said family" he said. "Yeah I know what you mean. Besides I don't know about when you were little but Trey was never into organization so I don't think he'd be very good with decorations" She said.
It was the first time in a long time that Trey had been mentioned in a not so serious tone. He tried to make light out of it. He nodded. "You know you're actually right it must a Chino thing" He said. She laughed. "Okay well on that note I should go before Taylor hunts me down. Oh and if I don't show up to school tomorrow just make sure Taylor hasn't strangled me to death "she said joking.
"Will do have fun" He said. "Don't I always" she said leaving him. He thought about her and she really deserved this he picked up and tried again. He almost gave up when he heard "Hello" He said. "Hey is this Jimmy Cooper?" Ryan said awkwardly. "Yes it is how can I help you?" He said.
"Mr. Cooper its Ryan" He said. "Ryan as in Sandy and Kirsten's son?" He said. He smiled. "Yeah" He said. "Well it's good to hear from you but you must have called for a reason" Jimmy said. "Yeah uh it's Marisa" he said. "Is Marissa okay?" He said. "Oh no she's physically fine it's not like that I just wanted to talk to you about her and graduation" He said.
"Right" Jimmy said. "She's upset Mr. Cooper and I know you left intending to not come back and you know she told me that she asked you not to because it was obviously to hard to have to keep saying good bye. But I know this is something Marissa really wants and I don't want to put any pressure on you especially if there's really no way you can come because of work or something like that. I just thought you should know she really wants you there" He said.
"And instead of telling me that she just covered it up pretending it was okay?" Jimmy said. "Well she's pretty stubborn that way" Ryan said with a small laugh. "Yeah it's a Cooper gene I guess" Jimmy said. "I guess" He said.
"Okay so I'm not making any promises but I'm gonna see what I can do try to get out of work" Jimmy said. Ryan nodded. "Okay" He said. "Yeah so just you know keep it quiet and I'll get back to you when I know for sure or I'll leave a message with Kirsten just in case Marissa's with you alright" He said.
"That's fine" Ryan said. "Okay well Ryan thanks for letting me know about Marissa" Jimmy said. "It's no problem Mr. Cooper" He said. "You're a good friend to her" He said. "Yeah it pretty much goes both ways" He said thinking of her.
"Okay well it was nice talking to you and thanks again for calling" Jimmy said. "Bye Mr. Cooper" He said hanging up. Jimmy hung up. If Marissa had known what he'd just done she probably wouldn't have believed it.
It was one thing for Ryan to help people and stand by them but a talker Ryan wasn't but he was when push came to shove and there was no other option. Ryan went to talk to Kirsten and tell her all about it just in case Jimmy called.
By the time Thursday rolled around everything was pretty much hyped at school being that prom was being held on that Friday which meant the weekend started early for the seniors because they had Friday off.
He spotted Marissa carrying crafts and such and trying to manage. From her appearance it was obvious that Taylor had driven her crazy and now she was in work mode with the hair thrown back in a messy pony tail. He laughed and decided to help her out.
"You need some help?" He said not waiting for her answer and grabbing some of the things from Marissa. "Thanks" She said. "So where are we going?" He said and they walked down the crowded hallway. "Um the gym storage closet there gonna work on finishing up later" She said.
"You seriously have to finish tonight?" He said. She laughed. "For like two hours after school and I made that clear" She said. "Does Taylor understand that?" He said. "Yeah which is why she keeps texting me all this kinds of errands to make up for my absence later. Summer would kill me if I was late for getting our nails down" she said pushing the door open.
Ryan stared at her weirdly. "Which is not something you would want to talk about. Sorry see I haven't socialized in days so your just gonna have to excuse me" She said. He smiled. "Where do you want it?" He said.
"Right there's fine" She said closing the door behind them. "So how's it look?" He said going to walk into the gym. She stopped him. "Oh no you don't nobody enters those doors until prom" She said.
"Okay and what would you have done if I had offered to help the other night?" He said. "Please there's not a creative bone in your body" She said. "I can be creative when I want to be" He said teasing her.
"Okay so not a conversation I want to have with you. We'll just leave it as you'll see the gym tomorrow" She said. "Okay so you free for some lunch or does Stalin have you working" He said joking about Taylor running a tight ship. She laughed. "I'll just turn off my phone come on" She said leaving and he followed behind.