--- Chapter 16

Friday morning, Ryan was sitting in class lost in his thoughts … of Marissa of course. He hadn't seen her since the fateful dinner on Wednesday night and even though he'd spoken to her briefly on the phone to organise to meet her for lunch and plan their evening, it just wasn't enough. He missed her. And he still had no idea how he could get them back on track. He was concerned that Marissa really did think that all that was between them was the commitment to 'do the deed' … when he was pretty sure that it was a whole lot more … or at least he thought so. But was that all just wishful thinking on his part?

He had just over a week until her birthday and he knew that he would have to finalise things by then. They had an agreement. Plus the fact was that he knew that he would have trouble hanging out that long anyhow, he wanted her so much it was eating at him. It seemed that she filled every waking thought. But now he was scared that once the deed had been done that she wouldn't need him around anymore. Her problem would be solved. Maybe she would then just see him as a complication in her life that she didn't need. He frowned. He hated the thought that she may not be as emotionally invested in this as he was.

He realised that he'd held back at the start because he'd wanted it to mean something to her. Not just be a physical act. He didn't want her to come to regret it like Theresa had. But now it was a whole lot more. He wanted her to want him.

He was trying to think of someway of finding out just how she really felt about him when his phone began to vibrate. Hoping that it may have been a message from Marissa he quickly pulled it from his pocket and flipped it open. He read the message and then smiled. It wasn't from Marissa but just maybe this could be his answer. He waited until he got out of class and then returned the call.

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Kirsten was just cleaning up in the kitchen when the phone rang. She smiled as she looked at the caller id.

"Hello there my handsome man." She answered.

Ryan smiled. "You'd better not let Sophie hear you say that."

Kirsten laughed. "Do you think I have a death wish? She's outside playing so I'm safe. Those jealous daggers that she has for anyone that shows any interest in you have scared me off completely from saying anything in front of her."

"I see. So it's not that she's lost interest and that I've been replaced by someone new?" Ryan asked.

"No. You're still her favourite. Although it has been so long since we've seen you that I couldn't blame her if she'd forgotten what you even look like."

"It's only been a few weeks." Ryan laughed.

"Four. It's been four whole weeks. And that's much too long. For her and for me. Much as I like the sound of your voice, seeing you in person is a whole lot better. Plus, if you have the time, Sandy could really use some help with the tree house. I have suggested getting a contractor in but he seems to think that he's capable of doing it on his own and let me assure you that he isn't. At least not if he hopes to have it finished before Sophie goes to college."

Ryan laughed. "I'm sure that it's not that bad."

"You haven't seen it yet. I swear he had those plans of yours upside down the other day. He may be a great attorney but he is definitely not good with his hands." Kirsten stressed and then added. "Except maybe in the bedroom."

"Okay too much information there." Ryan laughed. "Impressionable son here."

Kirsten laughed. "Don't bother playing the blushing virgin on me. I have too much dirt on you." Kirsten teased thinking about Taylor's very vocal appreciation of Ryan's talents. It may have been a while ago but it had left lasting memories with them all.

"Okay. Hanging up here." Ryan said embarrassed.

"No. Don't do that." Kirsten said. "I promise to be good. So is there any chance that you could find a few hours in your busy schedule for us sometime in the near future?

"Of course." Ryan replied. "You know that you only need to ask."

"But you know that I don't like to ask. I know that you have a busy life and you don't need us bothering you all the time but we do miss you."

"And I miss you." Ryan said genuinely.

"So you'll come for a visit?" Kirsten asked.

"Sure. I'd love to." Ryan replied.

"This weekend?" Kirsten asked hopefully.

"Tomorrow if it suits." Ryan replied.

"Tomorrow sounds great. Maybe you could come over in the afternoon and give Sandy a hand and then stay to dinner if you have no other plans?" Kirsten suggested.

Ryan thought about the party that he'd been invited too but decided that this was much more important. "Sure. Sounds great."

"Okay. But I'm not telling Sophie until the morning otherwise I'll never get her to sleep tonight because she'll be too excited." Kirsten informed him.

"Whatever you think. You know your daughter better than anyone. But um … I was wondering …." Ryan started.

"What?" Kirsten asked.

"Would it be okay if I bring a friend with me?"

Kirsten smiled. He was still so polite even though he was part of the family. "You know that Luke's welcome anytime." She replied.

"I didn't mean Luke. It's someone else." Ryan explained.

"Someone else?" Kirsten asked. "You mean ... like … a girl?"

Ryan laughed. "Not just 'like' a girl but a real actual honest to goodness girl."

"Like a girlfriend?" Kirsten pushed.

Ryan shrugged. "Not yet. But who knows?" He could think of nothing better than having Marissa as his girlfriend. But they were still a fair way from that happening.

"Ryan Atwood. No wonder we haven't seen much of you. You've been holding out on us. If you have a young lady in tow then you know that we'd love to meet her."

"I haven't asked her yet. But hopefully she'll want to come with me." he said and as soon as the words left his mouth he realised that the only thing that he was sure of was that she wanted to 'come' with him. It was spending time with him that he wasn't so sure about.

"How could she not? If she has any sense at all, of course she will." Kirsten replied intrigued by the idea of Ryan and a new girl.

"You may be biased." Ryan suggested.

Kirsten laughed. "Only a lot. But before you get serious about her you'd better bring her here for inspection. However you should warn her not to expect a warm welcome from Sophie if she's going to take all your attention. Sophie might share her toys with her but I doubt that she'll be keen to share you."

"There's plenty of me to go around." Ryan assured her. "So – I'll call you after I've spoken to her and let you know when to expect us."

"I'll look forward to it." Kirsten replied. Ryan hadn't brought anyone home to meet them since he'd broken up with Taylor in his first year at college. She doubted that he was living life as a saint but it was still exciting to think that someone had him interested enough that he wanted to bring her home.

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When Ryan met up with Marissa for lunch they were both very tentative with one another, not wanting to say or do anything that would start things out on the wrong foot. It was as if they were starting out all over again.

She had been waiting for him outside the library and he'd approached her from behind and much as he'd wanted to put his arms around her and pull her in to a hug, something made him hold back. He hadn't seen her since Wednesday night and he didn't know quite how things stood between them. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder and she turned around the smile growing on her face.

She'd missed him too much to be able to contain it.

"Hi." She said.

"Hi to you too." He answered.

She hesitated, as did he, but she couldn't help herself. Her body seemed to be magnetically attracted to his and she found herself leaning in ever so slightly.

Fortunately, he did too until they both touched and then his arms wrapped around her.

She snuggled in. Closing her eyes as she drank in the feel and scent of him as her arms unconsciously wrapped around him.

"I'm sorry." She said into his shoulder.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for." He said, drinking in the feeling of holding her close.

"Yes I have. You must be wondering what you've gotten involved in? I was so … so …" she had no idea how to describe her behaviour on Wednesday night.

Ryan smiled. "You certainly were." He said.

She pulled back a little to look into his eyes and saw the mirth there. "It's not funny." She said. "I'm so embarrassed when I think about it."

"When I think about it … embarrassed isn't the word that comes to mind … Unless of course you're referring to me?" Ryan informed her.

"Why would you be embarrassed?" Marissa asked. "I was the one that planned it all."

"Excuse me?" Ryan asked disbelievingly. "Why would I be embarrassed? Who was the one in a permanent state of arousal all night?"

Marissa smiled remembering back. "You did seem to be … or at least a part of you did seem to be … interested."

"Interested? That's an 'interesting' choice of word." Ryan replied smirking.

"So are you denying it?" Marissa asked.

"It would be pretty hard to deny it given the state that I was in. Actually speaking about things being pretty hard – if we don't change the topic then I'm likely to be again if we keep talking about it. Can we move on to something else?" Ryan asked.

"Sure. But I just wanted to apologise." Marissa stressed.

"Please don't apologise. I'm hoping that we'll have a repeat performance sometime soon." Ryan informed her.

Marissa looked up surprised. "Really?"

Ryan nodded. "It's gone right to the top of my fantasy list."

"What else is on that list?" Marissa asked intrigued.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." Ryan replied smiling.

"How can I make them come true if I don't even know what they are?" Marissa asked pertly.

"How about I make you a deal that as we work our way through them, I'll tell you?" he suggested.

"That sounds like fun. But what about my list?" Marissa asked.

Ryan did a double take. "Your list? What's on your list?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Marissa laughed as she repeated his words back to him.

"This could be fun." Ryan suggested and then looked around. "Are we waiting for Molly?" Ryan asked. They'd gotten in to the habit of all lunching together.

"Um … no. I convinced her not to come today. I figured that we needed to talk." Marissa said and then added. "Plus … she was a bit angry at you."

"Me? Why?" Ryan asked perplexed. He hadn't even seen Molly for a couple of days he couldn't think why he would be in her bad books.

"When she found out that we still hadn't done anything …" Marissa shrugged and then went on to explain. "She thinks that you're messing me around." Marissa explained softly.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be." Ryan shook his head. "But then again, I don't think that you could possibly say that 'we haven't done anything'. We have been doing plenty." He smiled. "You can't say that you haven't learnt anything new?" he said thinking about the very tentative hand job that she'd given him in the shower on Monday night compared to the whipped cream popsicle that she'd played with on Wednesday. "And you've introduced me to a whole new way of eating." He teased.

Marissa went bright red. "Can you please stop reminding me?" she wanted to change the subject quickly, not liking where it was going at all. "Speaking of eating … are we going to? I'm hungry." She said and then looking around puzzled she added. "And where's Luke?"

Ryan smiled. "Hopefully he's lunching with Molly some where. I sort of suggested that he might have more success with her if he got her on her own, instead of them always hanging around us. So I think that he was going to give her a call about them maybe lunching together." Ryan explained.

"So you were only thinking of Luke?" Marissa asked. "It wasn't that you were hoping to spend some time alone with me?"

"Well …" Ryan shrugged coyly realising that he'd been caught out. "I did think that maybe we could both benefit from the idea." He raised his eyebrows waiting to see if she would disagree.

Marissa laughed. "Why Ryan Atwood … if I didn't know better I could think that you were trying to get into my pants." She teased. "But we both know that's not the case. You've had me with no pants and you still didn't try anything."

"Could you keep your voice down?" Ryan exclaimed. "I have a reputation to uphold." He laughed.

"Ah. Maybe that's how I can get what I want from you? Blackmail?" Marissa suggested laughing. "You know … maybe all this talk about your experience is just that … talk. Maybe it's all done with smoke and mirrors. Maybe you don't know anymore than I do. I mean I don't know anyone that you've actually done it with. Maybe you haven't? Or maybe you're no good at it?" Marissa teased. Once she'd gotten going she couldn't seem to stop herself. The look of surprise on his face was priceless.

"I didn't realise that I needed references. But I'm sure that if we go for a wander through the cafeteria we're sure to find someone that could vouch for me." he said grabbing her by the hand and starting to walk in that direction.

Marissa was mortified. The last thing that she wanted was to come face to face with one of his …. conquests. "And if I find them and tell them that you holding out on me what will that do for your reputation?" she asked.

"I think that could damage your reputation more than mine." Ryan suggested still walking.

"My reputation can't be damaged. It's already so low that the only way is up." Marissa said.

Ryan stopped dead and turned to her. "That's not true. And you shouldn't just throw it away." He said earnestly.

"What are we talking about here?" Marissa asked. "Are we still talking about reputations?"

"You know we're not." He said. "We will do it. And soon. Let's just take some time to get to know one another first. Is that too much to ask? Or do you find spending time with me so abhorrent that you can't?"

Marissa sensed that for all his jest there was a hint of insecurity in his words.

"You know I like to spend time with you." She said simply.

"Okay." He said nodding and then softly kissing her. "So let's go and get some lunch and you can tell me what movie you want to see tonight and I'll tell you about our plans for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? I have work tomorrow." Marissa stated wishing that she could change it. She could think of nothing better than spending the weekend with Ryan.

"I forgot about that. What time do you finish?" he asked,

Marissa thought for a moment. "I'm on early shift, so I work 8 to 4." She said.

"Four?" Ryan said thinking about whether he should go to the Cohen's on his own or what.

"If I work through my breaks, I could finish at 3." Marissa suggested.

Ryan smiled. "Three sounds great." He said giving her a kiss as reward.

"What are we doing?" she asked wondering about what he had planned. He seemed so excited.

"Building a tree house." He said as he turned and made his way towards the cafeteria leaving a puzzled Marissa a few steps behind.

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