A/N Thanks so much for all the responses, I'm pleasantly surprised quite a few people seem to be liking as much as they are. Just so you all know this isn't really a short story that will be over in ten chapters, as I really only ever planned on writing one, it's going to be long. I'm not sure if people enjoy shorter ones or whatever, but I'm just letting you know so as not to waste your time if you're not really into long reads. I'd love it if people stuck with it the whole way through, but I know it may not be for everyone, so there's my little note on that…Okay enough rambling, here's the next chapter…

&&&

"I've been trying to find you. You haven't been the easiest person to track down."

She smiled back at him. "Kyle told me you went by our place yesterday."

The rain began plummeting harder and Ryan and Marissa remained standing in the courtyard. Ryan was the first to look up at the sky and noticed the umbrella he had was no longer enough to provide the shelter they needed. "I think we should get out of here." He said calmly as he wrapped his free arm across her shoulders and she gladly leant into him to avoid getting wet on the edges.

"You want to get something to eat?" he asked her.

She answered happily, "You read my mind…"

"Actually, I just heard your stomach." He laughed in her direction.

She laughed at his remark and slapped him playfully on the chest.

They sat across each other at a booth of a diner nearby, waiting for their orders to come. Both of them had sat there quietly, and it was hard to say if the silence between them was an awkward or comfortable one, but it any case, someone inevitably had to start somewhere.

Ryan looked over at Marissa as she fiddled with the salt shaker, her eyes all over the place not really knowing where to set her focus, she watched her hands as she spun the container until she could feel him staring into her, so she looked him straight in the eyes.

"What?" she asked shyly as she tipped her head to one side.

"Nothing…" he answered while producing his crooked smile.

He sat there and watched her, allowing himself to become lost and caught up in her beauty. No matter what she did, or no matter how hard he tried to avoid it, he couldn't help but be enamored by the young woman opposite him.

Forcing himself out of the reverie, he decided he may as well put forth what had been on his mind. "About…about Sarah…-"

She stopped him, and sincerely said, "Look its ok, you don't have anything to explain."

"But I do. I want to." He said as he leant forward. "If it had just been any old guy, I would've told you, but for some reason I made a conscious decision to try and keep this from you, and I'm sorry." He highlighted in a regretful tone.

She smiled at him warmly, appreciating his sincerity and his honesty. "Ryan, it's really okay, I understand."

"I know, but I want you to hear it from me. Marissa…I wouldn't be…comfortable, to say the least…" he smiled back at her and continued, "…if you were living with some –young…attractive-guy, even if we weren't together…I'd be threatened, you know…that I might eventually be losing a friend to him or someone like him."

She exhaled, "A friend, of course…" she said barely above a whisper as the word 'friend' echoed in her sub-conscious.

"Actually, I don't really know where I'm going with this…she may be appealing and outspoken but she's harmless, and I just don't want you to feel like you should be threatened by her I guess is all I'm saying…" He said trying to reassure her for he knew what must've been dwelling inside her.

"Whether or not you took the place because of her, it's none of my business, and we said we'd be open to meeting new people, so…so don't worry about it…okay?" Marissa expressed kindly.

He was grateful that she had been making this easy on him, and understood his intentions, "Are we okay?" He asked unsure.

She stayed silent for a moment and then chuckled, "Are you getting soft on me, Atwood."

He laughed, "Way to ruin a moment, Cooper."

She laughed with him. "Yeah, we're okay" she finished softly.

He took a breath "…and I know I'm not living only a few floors above you anymore, but I promise we'll still hang out." Ryan smiled and looked at her, as she stared back at him innocently.

She bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Movie night?"

Ryan knew what she was getting at and went along and answered her. "Only on Friday's unless we have finals or something better to do." He chortled.

She resumed, "Phone calls?"

He thought for a moment, "Four times a week, and for at least an hour after I've done some study."

"Coffee?"

"After school every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday whenever we're not busy."

"Lunches?"

"In between classes on Monday's and Wednesday's and a possible weekend if time permits." He responded.

She thought for a moment and grinned at him. "I guess I can work with that."

"I'm glad you approve." He grinned in return.

When they parted ways that afternoon Ryan pulled her into an embrace, welcoming the warmth his body close to hers, provided. Ryan left that day feeling better knowing that they were okay and still best left as the good friends they seemed to be. Even though what Seth had said sunk into him and knew he was right; he wasn't ready yet. As much as he loved her, being in love with her was something else entirely, and wasn't sure if he was ready to go back, to try and go back to the way things were meant to be, and it wouldn't be fair to her to make her think otherwise right now.

Marissa on the other hand, walked away a little doubtful. It wasn't that she was keeping up appearances or putting on an act for him only pretending to be his friend, because she genuinely wanted him in his life and be there. If this was the only way she could have him, then it would have to do for now; but it didn't take away the fact that in her heart she still wanted more.

&&&

"I'd have to be the least qualified person, to do anything, in the history of the world – ever." Marissa spat out in frustration.

Summer had been caught up in one of her books to notice what Marissa had be going on about. They sat opposite each other on the tables outside the cafeteria waiting for Seth to come out of his class.

Summer leant into the table to take a peek at what Marissa was doing. "What's the application for?" She asked examining a document Marissa had been filling out.

"Oh the waitress position at Jacobs. I have no experience, no references…I'm not skilled enough to serve coffee." She said

"That's not true…" She said buoyantly, "You have skills."

"'What attributes do you have that would make you a good candidate for this position?'" Marissa said, reading off the form.

"You must've done something…come on Coop, we use to candy stripe! You use to be social chair, and run charity events. You must be good at something…" Summer went on.

Seth came up from behind overhearing Summer's last words, "It's hard for some people, Summer." He smirked as Marissa gave him a look and threw her left over muffin at him, rebounding off his chest. He looked at the muffin on the ground and back up at her, "I hope you don't plan on doing that to the customers…" he said while climbing into the seat next to his girlfriend.

"Ooh!" Finally having an idea, Marissa began to write. "Okay, I'm going to go to my place and get changed, I'll finish this up and I'll catch you guys at Ryan's."

"Bye…" The couple called out to her as she got up to leave.

"What's at Ryan's?" Seth querying Summer.

"Just hanging out, movies I guess maybe."

He contemplated briefly, "It's Friday, shouldn't we be like, off our faces at a kegger or something?"

Summer thought out loud, "Hey I haven't met hot girl yet. How hot is she?" she wondered.

"Oh - She's hot…" Seth embellished, while staring into nowhere as if fantasizing.

Summer looking in the direction of the invisible marker he'd been staring at and looked back at him, she clicked her fingers in front of his eyes to snap him out of his musing. "Cohen you ass hat", she reprimanded and went back to what she had been reading.

Looking up from her book she contemplated once more, "Do you think Ryan and Sarah will get together?"

&&&

Ryan sat at the kitchen table having dinner, from outside the front door he could hear soft whispers stemming from Roy and Sarah outside. Moments later she lazily strolled in with a smile on her face, with lipstick slightly smeared off her lips.

"Date go well?" He called out to her.

"Yeah, went okay." She said, relaxed. Which confused him a little considering her body language didn't fit her answer. "What're you eating?" Sarah asked as she walked over to him checking out what had been on his plate.

"Thai beef salad, there's some extra over there if you want some." He said pointing by the microwave. "A few of my friends are coming by to watch some DVD's in a little bit, you're welcome to join us…" He said politely.

Walking over to the fridge instead, she pulled out a beer for herself and placed one on the table for Ryan. She went over to the coffee table and looked at the selection. "Oh, I'm not a romantic comedy kind of girl, more action, or maybe a thriller, but I guess you wouldn't have picked that about me."

"No, I wouldn't have…but yeah the girls chose it" he supposed, a little intrigued by the ways of his roommate.

"Tall girl, huh?"

He smiled amused at her methods of memorization, "Yeah, tall girl, her name's Marissa, her and her friend Summer. She's Seth's girlfriend."

"I see, anyway, I'm going to just hang out and watch some TV in my room, I'll stay out of your hair." She said as she left him.

'KNOCK, KNOCK'

Ryan made his way to open the door to a deflated looking Marissa. "What's wrong?" He said while pulling her into a quick hug.

"Nothing, just tired…" she said as she pulled out and walked to the sofa and sat down.

"Where's the other two?" He asked as he stuck his head out into the hallway to check.

"Coming up the stairs." She answered. Picking up a DVD. "Ooh! 'Just like heaven', they're so cute in this!" She said becoming excited as she popped the disc into the player.

&&&

The four of them sat bunched up on the large three-seater sofa to see the television set better. The sappy movie was putting Seth and Summer more and more in the mood to get closer to each other, making bedroom eyes which was making Marissa want to throw up in her mouth.

Seth leant forward into Summer, their eyes becoming entwined, with foreheads barely touching, and lips barely an inch apart –

"Ohhh, no you don't! Not again – We're not going to sit through another make out session" Marissa exclaimed as she got up from her seat and made hand actions to get Summer to scoot over next to Ryan as she acted as a mote that divided the couple.

In seating order it was now Ryan, Summer, Marissa, and Seth. It suddenly became quiet after Marissa's sudden outburst. "…Oh, this is much better." Seth said sarcastically, cutting through the silence.

The four of them sat there on the sofa, with either a vacant expression or a bitter one. Ryan who just stayed out of it looked to his right to find the other three avoiding all forms of human interaction, keeping to their own designated space, no matter how small that may be.

Suddenly, Sarah had come out from her room, "Hey, sorry to interrupt."

Seth answering, "oh don't worry Marissa's taken care of that." He said as Marissa immediately shot him an irritated glare.

Sarah continued unsure of what was going on in the room, "I just needed to grab something" she said as she came over to the laundry basket nearby and sifted through the items until she found what she was looking for.

Marissa proceeded to watch the movie trying hard to avoid a bent over Sarah.

Summer decided she'd break the ice, "we haven't met, I'm Summer" she said giving a slight wave.

"Sarah", she said politely while standing up and turning around to take a quick look at her and went back to searching through her unfolded clothes.

The room had gone awkwardly silent again for the second time, so Summer thought she'd make small talk. "So…Sarah…Do you go to Berkeley?"

She responded without taking her eyes off her task, "No, I'm a waitress, and sometimes on the side I work at a club one of my brother's run."

"Oh…uh cool…" Summer had already begun running out of things to say. While Marissa may have looked like she was too busy watching the movie, she was listening in more than anything else.

"…so…dating anyone?" Summer persisted.

"Yeah, his name's Roy…he's okay." She said as she triumphantly found a pair of work-out shorts she was in need for.

"Oh yeah…how long you guys been-"

She rolled her eyes to herself, "God, too long. But what are you going to do, you've got to have a boyfriend right?" she responded while taking her pair of shorts and began unzipping her jeans to change into them amidst their presence; the four of them now watching her, the guys a little more intently. Summer looked between Ryan and Marissa wondering what they must be thinking, in looking at Marissa she caught a glimpse of Seth whose bottom jaw was slowly beginning to drop; reaching over behind Marissa she pinched Seth's ear.

'Ow!' he mimed to her to get her to quit it.

Sarah was ignorant to the antics that were playing out a few feet away and kept on with what she was saying as she slid her jeans off displaying her panties underneath, "…otherwise it's just you, a cat, next thing you know, you're old, wrinkled, your breasts are deflating, and then you wake up, and you're 40 and even your cat doesn't want to see you." She finished now having put her shorts on.

"That's uh, quite a picture." Marissa said dumbfounded. It was hard to say if Marissa was referring to the girl's descriptive story or the girl herself.

"Anyway, nice seeing you guys." She said as she walked off carrying her jeans over her shoulder.

When Seth had heard the door click he spoke, "…Wow, that was awkward."

Sarah walked back to her and shut the door, behind her. As perky or as unfazed as she came off, underneath she couldn't help but feel a little lonely, and almost jealous even, of the girls that they had what seemed to be two incredible guys there at their fingertips, or of the four people a room away, who seemed so close. Sitting on her bed, she sat there sadly, but felt angst that she couldn't have that in her own life.

&&&

That weekend had long gone and disappeared, and the next fortnight vanished even faster. The leaves of autumn had fallen and the cold breeze of winter was rolling in, and time just happened to slip through their fingers like thin air. Ryan found himself missing the company of Marissa as life persevered around them.

Marissa kept her eyes closed as she felt around on her bedside table for her cell that was already going off so early. Keeping her head faced down on her pillow and fumbled around managing to groggily answer her phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, sorry did I wake you?"

She rolled herself over and shoved the pillow across her head to stop the sunlight from hitting her eyes. "…no" she lied.

"Are you lying?" Ryan asked.

"…yes" she said truthfully, as she gave a muffled laugh.

"Haven't spoken to you in a while, I kind of missed you."

"What happened to four times a week? That didn't last…" She chuckled.

"I know…I'm sorry. But in my defense you haven't had the time to call me either." He said smiling, even though she couldn't see him.

Despite what they discussed at that certain lunch, Ryan and Marissa both knew that with schedules becoming more and more unforgiving as the semester kept on, their Ryan-Marissa timetable couldn't be followed so rigidly, and both new deep down that it wouldn't happen, but were comforted in knowing that they would at least try.

"I know, but did you hear I got that job?"

"Yeah, I did actually, Seth told me, congratulations, they must've liked you."

She groaned, "I doubt it, I think they were desperate. They've been training me this week."

"Yeah? How are you finding it?" Ryan asked interested.

"Actually its okay, so far you know, the pay is okay plus tips, and I'm learning to work it around class. What time is it?" Taking the pillow off her head, she yawned.

"7.30, I know it's early but I wanted to call you and see if I can take you out to breakfast this morning."

She smiled to herself with her eyes still closed, "What'd you have in mind?"

"Pancake Parlor. Vanilla pancakes, with ice cream, and blueberries, lightly glazed in icing sugar…" He said trying to entice her.

"Okay, I'll get up, I'll meet you there in 20 minutes", she answered as she slowly began to rise out of bed.

"Yeah, thought so…" his laugh, transmitting through the receiver. "Okay, see you there." He said as he flipped his cell phone off.

She did the same, getting up rather excited that she would see him, because it felt like a while since they had actually done so.

He got up to get ready, he walked out of the shower as Sarah had just come through the door from being out the entire night. She wore oversized sunglasses hiding away her eyes, but by the look of her swollen cheeks that were illuminated pink, he could tell she'd been crying.

"Is everything okay?" Ryan inquired becoming concerned.

"Yeah, why wouldn't they be" she shot back at him, a hint of anger pronounced through her voice.

Ryan was taken aback by her attitude, in living with her the past few weeks he's observed she has her days when she's in a mood, but she's never spoken to him like this.

He stuttered, "…I…I don't know, I just." He stopped, "Look forget I asked…" he began walking away.

"I'm sorry!" She said quickly a little nicer making him turn around "I'm sorry…" she repeated walking over to the couch sitting down. She took off her sunglasses revealing her bloodshot eyes, burying her face in her palms.

Ryan sighed, and although he wasn't close to her, it was built into his being, that he tried to help people he could see hurting. Looking at the clock on the wall noticing he was already late to meet Marissa if he had to include the travel time. But in any case, he couldn't just leave her as she sat and sobbed to herself, he took a spot on the couch next to her, not really knowing what to say.

&&&

Marissa arrived at the Pancake place as a waiter came up and greeted her, "Table for..?" The man asked awaiting her answer.

"Oh, uh, two please, they're meeting me here."

"Right this way, miss." He said, ushering her to a quaint little table. "Would you like anything for starters?"

She glanced at her watch and noticed she still may be a little early, "Ah no, I think I'll just wait for them to come, but thank you."

The waiter nodded towards her and walked off. She sat there fiddling with her fingers, she always felt uncomfortable waiting because she didn't really know what to do with herself. She felt self conscious and compromised in this situation, like people were looking at her because she was alone.

&&&

Sarah's cries became more intense as she kept on explaining an argument her and Roy must have had. He couldn't piece together completely what she had been saying, but knew he felt sorry for the girl sitting next to him. She was emotionally being drained which confused him, because how could a girl that could have so much character, be as equally as frail.

"…and I try so hard! I try and make this work, I do what he asks of me, and still... he just keeps on, until I get to the point that I don't even know…I don't even know who I am anymore, and I end up hating him, and hating myself…But I can't leave him…a part of me just can't leave him" She wailed out.

"Why not? Why do you do it to yourself and stay with him if he treats you this way?" He asked bluntly, a little angered at the fact that someone could be such an ass to treat someone this way, his girlfriend no less.

"You don't know him! He used to be so giving of himself, and now…we have too much history, I can't leave him. Who will I have if I leave him?" She said as she lifted her head up to look at Ryan's eyes for the first time, and he just stared back at her without really having any answer's for her.

&&&

Marissa pulled up her sleeve and checked her watch again, and Ryan was now running fifteen minutes late. The waiter made his way over to her once more, "Are you sure you wouldn't like anything while you wait?"

"On second thoughts, can I just get a cinnamon latte?"

"Okay, I'll be right back with your order."

It was never really like Ryan to be running late, out of the two of them, it was usually her that would take forever to get anywhere. A look of apprehension was wiped over her face, and she hoped that he was okay wherever he was.

&&&

Ryan watched the clock turn, and knew that Marissa must have been sitting there alone, and he felt his insides turn out. He sighed. He was an hour late, but found himself in a compromising position. He got up and got her a glass of water. While he was up he quickly grabbed his cell; 12 unanswered, from Marissa. While in the kitchen he tried to get a hold of her but her voicemail came on.

"Something's just come up, I'm still here at the house with Sarah, I'll explain later. I'm sorry." He said in a hoarse whisper and hung up.

He walked back over to Sarah and passed on a glass of water, sitting back down next to her.

"It's going to be okay…" he said softly to her.

Sarah leant into him and cried on his shoulder, letting her tears stain on his shirt. "…thanks" she whispered by his neck. He was a little unsure as to how to react at that moment, as he apprehensively put his hand on her shoulder, looking to the room as if it were going to give him answers. She stayed there not saying a word, drowned in sadness from one man as she sought comfort in another.

&&&

Marissa checked her voicemail after just having come out of the ladies room. She sighed, grabbed an order to go, and walked out.

She drove to Ryan's carrying a paper bag in her hand. She knocked on the door lightly and he answered as if trying not to make a sound.

"Hey…sorry about breakfast, Sarah just-" he said apologetically but she broke off his sentence.

"It's okay" she said emotionless as she handed him the paper bag. "I have to go back home, I've got to help Kyle out with some stuff for class, I'll call you later" she said as she walked off quietly.

"Thanks" he whispered with her back turned to him.

He closed the door and looked inside to see what she'd given him. The blueberry pancakes, his favorite. He closed the bag and let out a long breath.

&&&