An evening among friends

Ryan walked into the kitchen the next morning to find Seth sitting at the breakfast bar flipping through the paper with a bagel and coffee by his side. "The morning ritual I almost forgot you did that" Ryan said. "It's all apart of the plan R. A." Seth said. "Seth don't refer to me as R.A. ever again" He said.

"Why not? Its way shorter then saying Ryan Atwood" Seth said. "How about just saying Ryan or better yet don't say my name at all" Ryan said with a smile going to grab a bagel. "So how would I get your attention if I wanted to talk to you about something? Huh? Am I supposed to just walk up to you and strike up a conversation? What if there's more than one person in the room you may think I'm really talking to them" Seth said.

"Or I could be thinking please make him stop talking" Ryan said. "Sorry we have to have breakfast more often you're falling behind on the Cohen chatter this early" Seth said. "Yeah I think it's better now that you live with Summer" Ryan said. Seth gave an insulted look. "So when are you going to look for your own place? You going to stay with mom and dad forever?" Seth said.

Ryan laughed. "No. And I don't know I haven't really thought about it" He said sitting next to him. "Really so your plan is to live in the pool house your entire life?" Seth said. "You make me sound so pathetic" Ryan said. "Speaking of pathetic how was the date last night?" Seth said. "It was alright" He said.

"Alright? Ryan this was the first date you had in months and all I get is alright" Seth said. "Seth calm down" Ryan said. "Seriously did it not work? Was there was something wrong with her? Is she crazy?" Seth said. "No Lauren is not crazy and there's definitely nothing wrong with her" Ryan said without thinking.

"Lauren huh? So who the hell is she? Did Lisa bring some other girl along on the date" Seth said. Ryan realized the mistake. "No it's just well I" he paused looking at Seth who had obviously caught him red handed.. "Did I say Laura I meant Lisa" Ryan said. "Okay R. A. what's up? Tell me where you really were last night?" Seth said.

"I was with Lisa and stop calling me that" Ryan warned. "Seriously bro I'm just not buying it and quite frankly Ryan your stories starting to fall apart" Seth said staring him down. "So I made a mistake when I said her name it could have happened to anyone. In fact I do it all the time" Ryan insisted. "Really so do you call Marissa Marcie then?" Seth said. Ryan glared at him. "Come on Ryan" Seth said.

"Seth leave Ryan alone I asked him to come shopping with me for a wedding present for you and Summer" Kirsten walked in saving Ryan. "Really so what is it? "Seth said. "It's called a surprise and I didn't exactly find what I was looking for" Kirsten said. "Dude why didn't you just tell me?" Seth said.

Ryan looked from Kirsten to Seth. "Because I knew you'd ask me what it was" he said. "Come on where supposed to be brothers" Seth said. "That's right and as a brother I knew you would be tempted to ask what it was she bought you guys if in fact she was successful buying something" Kirsten interrupted "Which I wasn't" she threw in. "So I just thought it would be better if I told you I had a date" Ryan said. "So you lied to me for me?" Seth said.

Ryan looked at him confused. Seth broke into a smile. "Wow thanks a lot man I didn't know you cared that much" Seth said. "Okay" Ryan said thinking Seth was getting weirder. "And feel free to lie to me anytime you're doing something for me" Seth said. Kirsten and Ryan stared at him. "What did that sound too like I'm into myself" He said.

"Why worry now you've been doing it for years" Ryan said dropping his cup into the sink. "Yeah we're used to it" Kirsten said. Ryan laughed. "See ya guys later I got to get to the office" He said. "Hey remember we're supposed to hang the girls are having a night out" Seth yelled. "Alright. See ya" Ryan yelled and left. "Well mother it's off to work for me as well" Seth said. "Have a good day" She said. "As do you" Seth said leaving Kirsten behind.

Later that day Marissa and Summer had just gotten back from renting movies. Since tonight was a girl's night and they hadn't had one in awhile they figured they'd do it right. Which meant movies, junk food, gossip and Pizza.

Summer smiled having already come back from the door throwing the pizza on the table. "Okay so what exactly is going on with you and Atwood?" Summer said not buying the friends thing. Marissa laughed. "What? Nothing we're just Summer interrupted.

"You're not friends Marissa I know that and you know that" Summer said. She shrugged. "Look we've always been complicated and it's nice that for once things don't seem to be that way for us" Marissa said trying to make her understand.

Summer looked at her. "Besides you're the one who's getting married on Saturday" Marissa said smiling. "Yeah I am" Summer said. "Which means three days left until your Mrs. Seth Cohen" She said. "Mrs. Cohen has a nice ring to it don't you think?" Summer said. Marissa laughed and threw a pillow at her. Which made Summer laugh.

"So what do you think the girls are doing?" Seth said as him and Ryan sat in the pool house. Ryan rubbed his temples. "I don't know not giving each other a head ache is a start" Ryan said sarcastically. "Dude don't make this about you" Seth said. "Of course I forgot because it's always about you" Ryan said annoyed.

"Ryan its okay man I forgive you. Besides you're probably just have a head ache because of a certain girl by the name of Marissa" Seth said. Ryan glared at him. "Seth why would I have a head ache because of Marissa?" he said. "Because man the girl is in your head like twenty four seven. She invades your thoughts which is making you get a migraine buddy "Seth said. Ryan looked at him in disgust. "Get away from me" Ryan said throwing a pillow at him.

"I totally love this movie. I can't believe tomorrow's my last day of work" Summer said. "I can't wait" Marissa said excited to be spending more time with her best friend. "Me either" Summer said with a smile. "What about Seth? Is he still working?" Marissa said.

"Last day was today actually. Lucky bastard" She said kidding which made Marissa laughed. "So maybe I could hang out with him for awhile" Marissa said. "Seriously?" Summer said. "Sure why not?" She said. "Nothing it's just I thought you'd rather hang around waiting for Ryan to get home from work or something" Summer said.

Marissa stared at her. "I don't stay here waiting for Ryan everyday I go out" Marissa said. "Yeah where with your mom?" She said teasing her. "I go to the Cohen's" Marissa said feeling like she lost. "Exactly to see Ryan unless you're going to see Mr. C but in this case my bets on Ryan" Summer said. Marissa laughed.

"So what if I want to spend time with him. Is that a crime?" Marissa said. "No it's not" Summer said. "Thank you besides he's like Ryan and I'm going to be leaving after the wedding so I just figured spend as much time with him now" Marissa said. "And you don't think that's going to make you not want to leave?" Summer said. Marissa looked at her sadly.

"So come on man. Really when do we get to have an honest conversation about Marissa? Seth said lying across the pool house floor. "When there's something honest to say" Ryan said already exasperated from his incessant pestering. "Let's start with your feelings. It's real simple" Seth said. "Don't start this again" Ryan said.

"Come on Ryan how great would it be. We could be the official fab four" Seth said. "Just because you said official doesn't make that sound cool" Ryan pointed out. "Point taken but you can't tell that wouldn't make you happy" Seth said. "What would make me happy is if we tabled this discussion for once or better yet not be having it at all" Ryan said. "Come on You're always doing this. Why don't you say what you feel for once. I did it and I got Summer" Seth said.

"Yeah except she's not half way across the world she's still in Orange county and was and still is completely in love with you ever since high school" Ryan yelled leaning up from his spot on the bed. "Come on man you don't know that Marissa doesn't still feel that way" Seth said. "What I do know is that I don't want to be having this conversation. So Please Seth just leave it alone" Ryan said desperately. "Alright" Seth said knowing when he pushed to far and knowing when he had to back off. "So you got you're speech ready yet?" Seth said. Ryan threw himself back on the spot groaning.

"I would rather spend time with him then not" Marissa said. "That's not an answer" Summer said. "Well it's the only answer you're going to get I guess" She said. "So you write your speech yet? "Summer said changing the subject.

"No I figured I'd just wing it. What's good for Cohen could be good for me" Marissa said with a laugh. "You mean what's good for Ryan could be what's good for you" She teased. "Summer" Marissa groaned. "Coop" She said. "Please can we just let this go for tonight" She said. "Fine for tonight so full house is on" Summer said. "Perfect" Marissa said with a smile.

Ryan had been left about twenty minutes ago Seth claiming he had to get up early for his last day of work but for some reason sleep couldn't find Ryan. With thoughts of Marissa running through his head he knew he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon so he just laid there staring at the ceiling wondering how his life ever got this complicated.

Meanwhile back at Seth and Summer's. Marissa looked over at a sleeping Summer and she smiled sadly. Everything that Summer had said was all true. She didn't know if she was making it worse by spending so much time with him but she couldn't not spend time with him.

He was Ryan and she could never deny that he would always be a huge part of her life regardless of what they were to each other. Marissa sighed and turned off the tv covering Summer writing a note and grabbing her keys and slipped out her front door in her pj's but she didn't care. She just didn't really feel like sleeping tonight. There was just too much to think about.