Chapter 2

"You're back?"

"In just a few minutes, we will be landing at LAX," Marissa heard over the speaker on the flight. It was hard to believe in just an hour, she would be standing on the front steps of the Robert's house. Her mom had been really relieved when she found out Marissa was going to come stay with her. Marissa couldn't believe her mother was sick. She had trouble believing her mother would die though. She was strong and could get through this. The plane landed smoothly. A few minutes later, Marissa grabbed her Chanel bag, and headed off the plane, and towards baggage claim. She got a cart, and through all five of her Louis Vuttion suitcases on there. Her mother had arranged a limo driver, and Marissa found him holding a sign, "Marissa Cooper,"

"Hey, I'm Marissa,"

"Hello Marissa, I'll push this for you, just follow me to your car,"

Once they started driving, and finally got into Newport beach, all the memories came back. For some reason a lot of them were memories about Ryan. Running away from all of this just made it so much easier, but now she pushed back into, forced to deal with it. Things were different now, sure she would see Ryan again, but they could be just friends.

The driver dropped her off and brought all her luggage inside, Julie payed him at the door. Marissa gave her mom a huge hug.

"Oh my god, it had been such a long time. How are you doing? How do you feel today?" Marissa asked her.

"Alright, I suppose. I've got a lot of pain killers in me, it helps. Next week is my first treatment of Chemo Therapy, I've been online looking at real hair wigs, and trying to pick one out,"

"Mom, I'm really sorry. That sounds horrible, but I'm here to help you, anything you want, just let me know."

"I am really tired Marissa, but I wanted to wait til you got here to take a nap, I couldn't wait to see you. So I'll go nap, you can get settled and we'll go out to dinner,"

"Alright, sounds great mom,".

Marissa went up to the room that she used to live in when she stayed here. She started to unpack some stuff, and noticed Summer's empty room. Marissa then decided to call Summer, and tell her she was back.

Summer was sleeping when the phone rang, it was 9am on a Saturday, and this was her day to sleep in, "Ew- who is calling me this early,"

Summer awoke Seth by moving to get the phone,

"It's Marissa!" Summer screamed when she saw the caller id and then picked up after only two rings, "Hey Coop! I'm sorry I didn't call you, but I have some huge news. But why did you call? You never call! It's always me!"

"Yeah, well I have some big news too,"

"You first!"

"Well, I am back, in Newport. I'm at your old house actually,"

"OH MY GOD. I am coming over! I will be there in 20 minutes!"

Summer hung up the phone and jumped out of bed starting to dress.

"Marissa's back?" Seth asked her.

"YES! I have no idea why, or how long, or any details, but yeah she is back! This is the first time I've seen her in like god, 3 years!" A year after Marissa left, Summer had gone to Hawaii to visit her. They hadn't seen each other since.

"I wonder what Ryan will think of this," Seth suggested.

"I am sure he'll be happy, or maybe feel awkward, but things are so over between them. He is with Taylor now, and Marissa has some boyfriend back in Hawaii, Jake or John, or something. I forget. Well I am out."

"Should I tell him?"

"No! Lets just see what happens,"

Summer walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, Ryan and Kirsten were both sitting at the table, looking at a model home. Ryan worked for them now as an architect. He moved out a few weeks ago into his own home about 10 minutes down the road, but him and Kirsten must have had some work to do, which would explain why he was here.

"Hey Summer, you're up early for a Saturday, is Seth still in bed?"

"Of course he is. Yeah, I just have an old friend to catch up with, I'll be back in a bit, have fun you two,"

Summer headed out before anymore questions came up. Ryan hadn't seemed to notice when she said "old friend".

A short drive down the road, and Summer arrived at her old house. It was weird, she hadn't been back here in a over a year, when she was back on her breaks this year, her father had all ready moved out. She walked right through the front door and upstairs, "Coop?"

Marissa appeared in the doorway. She had a white skirt on that went to about her knees, and a pink tank top. Her hair was still long, but a little bit darker since Summer had last seen her, and her skin had a deep, natural tan to it.

Summer ran up to her and offered a hug, "Oh my god Coop, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too Sum!"

"So, I hate to ask because I am afraid to know the answer, but how long are you here for?" Summer asked as they broke away from their hug.

"For a while, don't tell anyone yet, but my mom has cancer, and she has to get all kinds of things done to treat it, so I'm here to take care of her. Eventually, I was thinking about seeing if I could get a job at the Newport Group."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry to hear about Julie, that is horrible. I'm sure when and if you want a job at the Newport group, my future mother in law could hook you up,"

"Mother in law? Oh my god, you and Seth are getting married?"

Summer smiled and showed her the ring, "Well hopefully you'll be around for the wedding, because I could use a maid of honor!"

"Yeah, no way can you get married without me being there. I'm so happy for you Sum, and the rings beautiful."

Marissa thought about asking about Ryan, but decided not to. She didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea, that she still thought about him or anything.

"So do you want to go get breakfast?" Summer asked her.

"Yeah, sounds great. At the diner? Oh my god, how I've missed that place."

They both got into Summers car and drove down to the pier.

Ryan got up from the table, "This sounds like a good plan, now we just have to talk to the contractors on Monday, but I think this could take away a whole week of work by making the change. I'm going to get going though, I promised Taylor I would meet her for breakfast,"

Kirsten smiled, "Alright Ryan, we're having dinner for Sandy's birthday tomorrow night can you make it?"

"I thought the party was next Saturday?"

"Yeah, the party is, but I thought we could just have a family dinner tomorrow night for his real birthday,"

"Right. I knew that, I sort of said I would go to Taylor's work party tomorrow night, its like a launch party or something. I promised I would,"

"It's okay. It was just a thought. So I'll see you Monday morning then,"

"Yeah, see you then."

Summer and Marissa got into the diner, and Marissa noticed how it looked exactly the same as it had four years ago. Right then, out of the corner of Summer's eye, she saw Taylor walk in. She didn't seem to notice them, which was good. She was alone, but Summer guessed she was meeting Ryan here. Summer knew she had to tell Marissa before Marissa watched him come in and kiss Taylor or something like that.

"So do you talk to Ryan much anymore?" Summer asked.

Marissa knew Ryan would come up eventually, "No it's been about a year I'd say, how is he doing?"

"Great! He has a great job, nice place, and is dating Taylor,"

"Taylor?? As in Taylor Townsend?"

"I know, they are like the weirdest couple ever, but I guess in a cute way,"

"Now that is funny. I can't believe it. Why didn't you tell me!"

"I was afraid you would be upset,"

"Upset? Why would I be upset. I mean Ryan and I, its been years Sum, and that is just to funny,"

Ryan was really close to the diner, and stopped for a red light. All of a sudden he felt a bang, someone hit from behind. "WHAT THE FUCK" Ryan said out loud to himself.

It was some jerk kid, "I'm so sorry Man. I didn't see you stop,"

"Well, this is going to need to be fixed. It's okay, I mean things happen, can you just give me your information,"

Marissa and Summer payed, and were ready to walk out the door, when Taylor noticed them.

"Marissa Cooper?"

Marissa turned around and smiled, "Taylor? How have you been?"

"Great. You're back in Newport? I had no idea, no one told me,"

"Yeah, well it was kind of sudden. So is Ryan meeting you for breakfast?" Marissa hadn't been so sure if she should mention Ryan or not, but she felt this way, it proved she was okay with it.

"Well Ryan is supposed to be, he said he would be here 20 minutes ago, so I have no idea what is going on,"

"Well I'm sure he'll be here soon. I have to get back home and unpack and stuff, but it was nice seeing you Taylor,"

"Yeah, you too. How long are you back for? Maybe I'll see you again before you leave," The reason Taylor asked was because she really hoped Marissa was leaving Newport soon.

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll bump into you again. I'll be here for at least a couple of months if not longer,"

Taylor's jaw kind of dropped. Just great! Not to mention Ryan seemed to have blown her off. Taylor waited a couple of more minutes, then decided to head out.

Just five minutes after Marissa and Summer left, and two minutes after Taylor left, Ryan reached the diner. He went and noticed Taylor was no where to be found.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Taylor's number, "Hey, where are you?"

"I'm on my way to work Ryan, the reason I wanted to have breakfast with you is because I am working all weekend getting ready for the launch party. Then you just forget to tell me Marissa is back, and then you blow me off for breakfast, where I ran into her,"

"Wait, hold on Taylor- Marissa is back? You saw her? This is the first I've heard about her being back,"

"You didn't know? Well yeah, her and Summer were at the diner having breakfast, you just missed them."

If he hadn't gotten into that fender bender, he would have seen Marissa. He just missed her by five minutes.

Taylor noticed the silence, she knew he was shocked that she was back. He probaly even felt hurt that she didn't tell her. Which made Taylor worry, even though she really had no idea what was going on in his head.

"Okay, so you didn't know she was back, but why did you blow me off?"

"I stopped at a red light and some 16 year old didn't stop in time, and hit me."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Have a nice day at work, if you get out early or anything, you can stop by if you want."

"Alright, well if not, I'll see you Sunday night?"

"Yeah about that. If you really want me to go, I will. I know I promised. Just last time I went to one of these, you were so busy you didn't have time to even talk to me. Sunday is Sandy's birthday, I was going to over there for dinner, so I'm just asking if its okay,"

"Yeah, you're probably right. I might not have much time to talk to you. Have fun at the dinner. I'll call you sometime this weekend. I will probaly be working really late tonight, so I don't think I'll be able to stop by, but we'll see."

Taylor couldn't help but feel that things were slightly weird between them.

Summer and Marissa drove back to the house.

"Well I should head back, Cohen and I were going to go look at houses, so we can catch up later?"

"Yeah, well my mom and I were going to grab dinner tonight, so do you want to tomorrow?"

"Actually, the Cohen's are having a dinner for Sandy, do you want to go?"

"Is Ry going to be there? It's not that I don't want to see him, I just- I haven't gotten a chance to tell him I'm back, and I just don't want it to be weird."

"Actually, he isn't. I know this for a fact, Taylor works for fashionwide, as an editor, and there is this huge launch party, so I know Ryan is going to that. So what do you say? I'm sure the Cohen's would love to catch up with you,"

"Yeah, sure. What time?"

"Come over around five, dinner is around six."

"Okay, see you tomorrow!"

Marissa was able to get most of her unpacking done, and the room now felt very complete. She decided, since it had been a few hours, to go check on her mother.

She was all sweaty looking, and still asleep, she stirred when Marissa came in.

"Hey mom, are you okay? You look really, well, sweaty,"

"Yeah, I've been getting a lot of night sweats, and I always feel fatigued. That's cancer fo you."

"Well you should go shower, I'll go make you some lunch."

"Thanks honey, I really appreciate it."

Marissa went downstairs and looked through the fridge for something to make, and all she could think of was Taylor. She could not believe Ryan was with her, it was so weird and unexpected. Even though the whole situation was kind of funny, she couldn't help but feel jealous and possessive. It had been years, but what were her and Ryan supposed to be, friends? There really wasn't much choice, Summer was her best friend, she was marrying Seth, and Ryan was his best friend/brother.

Summer walked into the Cohen's front door, Sandy and Kirsten were in the living room watching tv, "Hey, so did you guys here, Marissa is back?"

Kirsten nodded, "Yeah, I talked to Julie this morning. I figured that's who the old friend was, I felt weird mentioning it in front of Ryan."

"Speaking of Ryan, he isn't coming tomorrow night, right?"

"Nope. He has the launch party with Taylor tomorrow night,"

"Good. I invited Marissa over, is that okay?"

Both of then nodded, "Yeah that's fine. We'd love to see her again."

"Alright, well I am going to head upstairs, Seth and I are going to look at houses today, so maybe finally we'll be out of your hair."

"That's great, that way you'll have your house all settled and everything before the big day," Sandy said.

Summer and Seth hadn't mentioned it to them yet, they were going to Sunday night.

"Oh, so Seth told you?" Summer smiled.

"The ring on your finger kind of gave it away, I can't wait to tell Seth what great taste he has by the way," Kirsten mentioned.

Summer went upstairs and found Seth still in bed, "Cohen!"

Summer jumped on top of him, and kissed him a few times, "You have to get up,"

"I AM UP, you getting on top of me usually does the trick, especially when you have a short skirt on and a shirt that shows your cleavage like you have now, and well the fact that your beautiful."

"Cohen, we don't have time!"

"Sure we do, with the way you look right now, I just need to like two minutes,"

Summer laughed, "Okay, but its going to be quick." She kissed him, and since he only had boxers on and she had a skirt, they had easy access.

After Seth's wake up he showered and got dressed.They met with the real-estate agent that Kirsten had set them up with and looked at some houses. They were all really nice and really expensive. They looked at about five houses before Summer and him picked one that they both fell in love with. Seth saw the huge finished basement as a place for him to turn into a game room, and Summer saw a room that she could use as her office to design some of her own clothing, and the master bedroom had two huge closets where all her stuff could go.

The house was right on the ocean, they had a pool on the side of their house, then the backyard was beach.

Seth and Summer took a minute to talk about it, but then decided on the house.

"We'll take it!" Seth announced. They went back to the office to fill out paper work.

After they were leaving they decided to head out to a late lunch, "Now that is taken care so all that is left to do is plan for the wedding!"

Seth kissed her, "Well, we have still have to get furniture, and EVERYTHING for the house, but after that I think we can start,"

"True that,"

Marissa loved living in Hawaii, but after just spending one day back in Newport, she realized it was her home. This wasn't just going to be a few months to a year, she wanted to stay here. It wasn't something she had to think about it, and she realized she had to call Jason.

The phone rang a few times and he picked up, "Hey"

"Hey Jason, how is it going?"

"Pretty good. I miss you like crazy all ready,"

"Aw, I miss you too. But I need to talk to you about us. It's not going to work."

"Marissa, I told you I don't mind waiting,"

"Well, it's not going to be a few months, its not even going to be a year. I love Newport, and Hawaii was a great fun place to go to college, but this is my home. I'm not coming back to Hawaii, I'm staying here. So you there, and me here, its just not going to work,"

"Look, I know it must be great to come back, but can you at least take a few more days to think about this,"

"Well I guess, but I'm pretty sure its final,"

"Alright, whatever makes you happy, just let me know."

"Okay. Bye Jason,"

Marissa hung up the phone knowing all ready that she made the right choice.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I know this chapter is a little boring, but I kind of needed a transition chapter. I know there wasn't a lot of Seth and Summer in this post, but there will be in the chapters to come with the wedding and everything. I will always try to give them a decent story line as I know there is a lot of Summer and Seth fans out there. Well I will be updating again within the next day or two- Thanks again!