A/N- okay, so I'm a bit later with the update than predicted but at least I updated. As for the last chapter, I agree that Ryan was OOC however, it seemed to fit for the plot line,I'd like them to be less serious. Anyway, with that out of the way, here's chapter 13! It's a bit short but that's because the next will probably be really long, so once again, enjoy!

Marissa slowly pulled the keys out of the ignition as she pulled into the mini-golf parking lot. Her confusion had left her speechless the entire ride. She had glanced over at Ryan from time to time but he had this ridiculously huge smile on his face. Once or twice she would catch his eye and he would give her this strange look. She wasn't sure she understood that either.

Mini-golf? What could they possibly accomplish by going to mini-golf? Unless he wanted to be away from everyone because she was certain NO ONE from school or Newport would be there in the middle of a weekday. But they could have gone back to the poolhouse or SOMEWHERE but why mini-golf? It was weird. He had been acting weird since the other day, when they had fought. She had been too, she supposed. But she hadn't suggested they head over to the nearest park for a quick ride down the slide. She sighed.

Ryan glanced over at her. He knew she was confused. That was fine. But he didn't want her sad or angry. Just a little baffled. He studied her face so he could decide why she had sighed. It was definitely frustrated confusion, and he could deal with that. He quickly got out of the car and walked around to her side as she got out. Marissa looked at him.

"So, here we are," Marissa hesitated on the words.

"Yep," Ryan said as he touched her hand, then pulled it into the warm and safe grip of his own. "Now, let's go in." He brought her hand to his lips and gave it a quick kiss.

Okay. Who was this guy and where was Ryan Atwood? Marissa just didn't have the words but this was definitely weird.

"Riiight, but Ryan, we have to— " Marissa tried to bring up their problem.

"No, we don't have anything to do, just mini-golf. Relax. We need to." Ryan smiled at her. He looked briefly at her lips and she thought he might kiss her. But he didn't. She felt a little pang of regret.

"Uh, okay. Mini-golf. I haven't done this since I was like six with my Dad. I'm not even sure I know how to do it anymore." Marissa tilted her head to the side and gazed with anxiety at the 18 hole course they were approaching.

"Don't worry, it's fun anyway. It's not like Chino had a bunch of these to hang out at anyway. We'll learn together, I'll try and help you." Ryan smiled a little, he hoped this plan or whatever it was would work.

They walked into the clubhouse and paid for their rounds and walked out to the completely deserted course.

"Okay, well the first course is really easy. Just, a straight show up a small kinda hill-like thing. We can do it." Marissa said, although even she didn't believe it.

"Well, if we combine our efforts, maybe we'll do okay." Ryan said.

Marissa looked at him, trying to find some hidden meaning. Was he trying to compare their lives to mini-golf? Was that what he had meant, they both didn't know enough about life but together they would be okay? She needed to say something, this was getting to be insane.

"Okay, what is going ON? This isn't my boyfriend. We've never gone mini-golfing, you've never even mentioned it. You've been all perma-grin for the past hour, which has never happened before. And okay, that might be a good thing but for you it means something is up. And you can't start comparing life to mini-golf, I know that's why we're here! It's not even like that, it's time to be serious Ryan, we need to-" Marissa just kept talking and talking. Ryan had been following everything she was saying up until the last part about life and mini-golf.

"Wait, what? Life and mini-golf? I didn't compare anything. We're here because life has been too serious for us Marissa. We're always fighting about a person, communication, something. And now our future's have become this huge what if. We need time to just have fun, be us, live in the now… we'll deal with whatever we need to deal with, later. Right now, I just want to have some happy, uninterrupted time with my… girlfriend… if she still wants to be mine." Ryan bit his lip at the last part of the sentence.

Marissa saw the hint of hurt reflected in the depths of his eyes before he turned away. She knew she had put it there and she couldn't take that. It hurt her too. She took a tentative step towards him. He looked up at her; she reached both arms out to him. He moved forward and threw both arms around her and they hugged each other. The feel of her in his arms, her heart beating against his, the smell of her hair, this was what he had been missing. He smiled to himself. He picked her up and he twirled her around.

"I do." She responded. His head flashed to a future where she would say the same thing, all in a white dress. But he quickly flashed back to the present and at her smiling face, he needed to not take things too quickly or seriously.

"About mini-golf. Um, you take your first shot, and try to get it in the hole. That's what I know. But I know it looks pretty fun, if you're with the right people." Ryan scratched his head.

"Oh, great, so Mr. Mini-golf doesn't know how to play." She smirked at him.

"Well, since you know what to do, why don't you go first?" He looked at her expectantly.

"Fine." Marissa smiled back at him, and stepped up to start their round. She positioned herself and made her first shot, it took two bounces and was off the first hole and entered the third hole's surface. Ryan couldn't hide his laugh at her shot. "Shut up." She said at him but she couldn't keep a completely straight face.

"What if I help?" Ryan asked. He walked up right behind her and put both arms around her, putting them on her club. "Okay, I think we know you have to hit it a little bit lighter than that." Ryan said as he took a sharp intake of breath. Being so close to Marissa was sending his system into crazy flips.

Marissa's heart beat hadn't stabilized, with Ryan so close to her, she could smell him, feel him and nearly taste him. His hand move up the club a little and covered her hand. She slowly turned to look up at him. He was smiling down at her a little, and she was smiling up at him. Slowly their heads moved together and their lips met.

Yes! Yes! her heart seemed to be screeching to her. It was like champagne was slowly coursing through her veins. It was like their first kiss all over again. Their tongues met and she sighed a little and melted back against him even more.

Ryan had just come down from the rocket that had launched when they had kissed. This girl had the most insane power over him and he didn't care. He felt her slow but complete surrender in his arms. He smiled and pulled away. "Trying to delay the inevitable?" He grinned at her stupidly.

She scowled at him and then they took the shot together. It went about 4 feet ahead of them and she turned at Ryan with a fake contemplative smile. "Hm, maybe a bit harder than that, what do you think?"

"I think at least it stayed on this hole that time." Ryan said as he put his ball down and prepared to take his turn.

"Hm, maybe you need a little help? Why don't I just teach you how to take the shot?" Marissa stepped behind Ryan and put her arms around him. She had to stretch a lot because his body was wider than hers but it was still fun. Ryan grinned. Slowly they both took the shot again. It went a bit further than Marissa's and Ryan smiled and turned, he put both arms around her. "Well, you're definitely going to have to teach me how to keep doing that." He gave her a quick kiss.

"Hm, I suppose. And maybe you could give me another tutorial because at least you keep me on the right hole."

Ryan smiled and took her hand. This was exactly what they needed. He knew that they still had the serious stuff to talk over, it was there. They were Ryan and Marissa so there would always be this intensity surrounding them. But he knew that they were also teenagers and needed to have some form of fun, to have a small amount of time together to know why all the pain, seriousness and hurt was worth it. He glanced at Marissa.

Her eyes were full of excitement, happiness and something else. Something like complete joy. There was no shadow of pain or hurt, which he normally saw there. They had both been through a lot. And only now it seemed like they had found a fun place. As Marissa got her ball in the hole after 7 shots and whooped, he chuckled a little and gave her a long kiss. They had needed this.

Marissa smiled at Ryan. They both completely sucked but they were having an amazing time. They had needed some time away from all of the stuff that often suffocated the relationship. She took his hand as they walked to the next hole. This was love too; it was a part that they hadn't given enough attention to. She was glad that they hadn't talked just yet. They would talk of course, but not yet, they had better things to do right now.

A/N- Okay, that's that. Nothing really resolved but honestly this couple needs to have fun like their first date… it's so rare, I thought I'd write some. I guess most of it makes the characters seem OOC but it just was fun time. Anyway, the next chapter will be the talk dealing with all of this and then I'll wrap it up shortly after. R/R :)