A/N I am SO sorry this chapter sucks because you guys deserve nothing but awesome ones. I just had no motivation and could not write. Thank you for my reviews...only two chapters left after this! Even though this chapter sucks, I hope you guys still review cause it motivates me to at least attempt to write. Anyways, thanks, and enjoy!

Ch. 14: Take a nap every afternoon

The next two weeks ran together, one day melting into the other. Marissa couldn't remember a time when she was more lonely. She tried telling herself she had lived without Ryan before, but it didn't work because she was different now. She didn't want to go back to the way she was before Ryan when she hung around with girls she couldn't stand and had only one true friend; she wanted to go back to spending her free time with Ryan, to kissing Ryan – to making love to Ryan.

It was torture seeing him at school and not being able to walk up to him and say hello. She hadn't eaten a real meal since she was with him and she hadn't slept a full night since before that. Under her eyes was dark, her hair had lost some of its shine, and her heart was in a constant state of pain. These were by far the worst two weeks of her life.

She was walking down the hallway at school about two and a half weeks after their break up when she ran into Ryan. He was turning away from his locker and she was looking down at the ground, which resulted in her running into the front of him. Their faces were so close she could feel his warm breath against her cheek, making her heart beat erratically in her chest. She stared into his eyes, immediately getting lost in their brooding stare. "Um...hey," he said softly, never taking his eyes from hers.

She could smell the mint in his breath from his toothbrush and it was driving her crazy. She wanted to lean in and kiss those soft lips of his, but settled with speaking instead. "Hey."

"How have you been?" He asked, taking a step back so they were at a more reasonable distance.

She shrugged, looking down as she tucked some hair behind her ear. She looked back up at his face and quietly said, "Okay, I guess. You?"

He nodded. "Me too." They both opened their mouths to speak, but then they shut them. They gave each other shy smiles, and then Ryan said, "So I should get to class..."

She nodded but her heart broke all over again. "Oh, right, of course."

He shifted uncomfortably. "So, um, bye."

She nodded. "Bye," she whispered as she watched him walk away.

Later that day she plopped down in the chair next to Summer and said, "I hate my life."

Summer raised her eyebrows. "It's nice to see you too."

Marissa sighed and ran a hand through her hair, lightly brushing it from her face. "I'm serious, my life sucks."

Summer unscrewed her Fiji water and took a sip. "Let me guess – you saw Ryan?"

"More than saw, I ran into him," Marissa said with a sigh.

"Ouch. How'd that go?" Summer asked, giving her friend a sympathetic smile.

She sighed. "Horrible. It was completely awkward and made me want to be with him more than ever."

Summer took a bite of her apple. "Well, I think you should consider going up to him and asking to just be friends."

"Friends?" Marissa asked skeptically.

Summer nodded. "As far as I see it, you guys would still get to hang out."

"But I don't want to just hang out with him, I want to actually BE with him," Marissa said dejectedly. Summer looked behind Marissa and Marissa turned to see what she was looking at. Ryan was laughing at something Seth said. "He doesn't even look heartbroken."

"Do you want him to?"

"Yes!" She saw Summer give her a weird look. "What? Heartbroken says he misses me...this says he's moved on."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Ask him about the friends thing. It'll let you be with him again, even if you're not his girlfriend. I think it could be good for you two."

Marissa looked at Ryan again and sighed. "Friends, huh?"

Summer nodded. "Yeah, you know...hanging out without the making out."

Marissa smiled at the memory of kissing Ryan. "But I liked the making out part."

Summer rolled her eyes again. "Coop!"

Marissa laughed a little. "Fine, I'll ask him about it later."

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Ryan was hurting inside. He didn't regret breaking up with Marissa, but he was in no way happy about it. She was everywhere. No matter what he did, he couldn't get her out of his mind. She was friends with so many people that it was impossible to pass someone in the hallway not associated with her. All the adults in the community knew about her, and every place he used to hang out at in Newport was a place they had spent time at together. It seemed by letting her in, he had essentially destroyed any chance he had of getting over her.

Running into her was harder than he let on. She had been so close that he could smell the lavender from her shampoo, which took him back to a million other memories when he had smelled that same scent. He missed her so much that it was breathtaking. Whenever he closed his eyes she was the person he saw, and it was starting to get frustrating.

The previous weekend he had driven up to Chino to visit Theresa since he was so out of it in Newport. It had been nice to see Anthony again, but it had also been hard for him to voice what had happened between him and Marissa to Theresa.

He walked up the familiar walkway to the front door and knocked on the door. As he waited for an answer, he looked around the neighborhood he'd grown up and sighed. Sometimes he missed back here in Chino. Sure things were hard, but they had their good moments and his heart was never broken to bits by a girl. The front door opened and Theresa smiled warmly at him. "Hey, come in."

He walked in and took in the familiar surroundings. "You rearranged the furniture," he commented, sitting on the couch in the far corner of the room.

Theresa shrugged. "I wanted something different, I guess."

He looked around and saw a bunch of toys but no sign of the little boy he'd missed. "Where's Anthony?"

Theresa rolled her eyes. "I told him if he wanted to play in the living room, he first had to clean his room. Anthony! Uncle Ryan's here!"

Ryan heard the sound of small feet hitting the floor and smiled widely when he saw his favorite little boy in the world. "Wyan!"

Ryan scooped the little boy up into his arms and lifted him high into the air. "How's my favorite nephew today?"

Anthony giggled. "Good!" When Ryan put him down on the ground, he looked around before asking, "Where's Riss?"

Theresa gave Ryan a confused look. "Yeah, where is she?"

Ryan sighed and looked down at his hands sadly. "Um, Marissa won't be coming over for a while."

Anthony was confused. "But me like Riss."

Ryan nodded. "I know buddy, I do too."


Anthony was even more confused now. "Then why no come?"

Ryan patted the couch next to him. "Come up here, buddy." Anthony did what the older boy said and sat down on the couch next to Ryan. Ryan put an arm around him and said, "Well, Marissa and I aren't going out anymore."

"Why?"

Ryan looked up and caught Theresa's concerned eyes. "Because we decided to break up."

"Why?" Anthony asked again, his innocent eyes staring at Ryan with the greatest trust in the world.

Ryan couldn't stand to talk badly about Marissa so he said, "It's complicated. But you have me, right?" Anthony nodded dejectedly. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Anthony looked at Ryan sadly. "Me miss Riss."

Ryan sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Me too, buddy...me too."

After a while Theresa picked up her son and said, "Come on Anthony, it's time to take a nap."

Anthony yawned tiredly but shook his head. "Me no wanna nap!"

Theresa gave Ryan a knowing smile and took carried Anthony to his bedroom. "Don't fight me on this, young man!"

"Wyan?" Ryan heard his nephew ask.

"Your uncle will be here when you wake up, right Ryan?!" she called out to him.

Ryan nodded even though they couldn't hear him and called back, "I'll be out here buddy!"

Ryan heard Theresa slowly coax Anthony to sleep, and then there were a few minutes of silence. Finally she reentered the living room and gave him a weak smile. "He's out."

Ryan smiled. "I miss nap time."

Theresa laughed a little and plopped down onto the couch next to him. "Oh, I know, me too. There just aren't enough hours in the day anymore."

He nodded and leaned back in the couch. "Yeah, I agree."

She was quiet for a few minutes but then she looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. "So are you going to tell me what happened, or are you going to leave me wondering?"

He sighed. He had known this would happen. "We broke up about two weeks ago."

"Because..."

He looked at his hands, trying to keep himself calm. "She lied to me from the very start. The only reason she went out with me was because she was doing some stupid bet with her friends."

"Wait, so she didn't like you at all?"

He sighed. "Well.." He explained about how Sarah told him about the bet and Seth backed the story up. Then he told her about how he was completely devastated and the talk he had with Marissa after that. And when he was done, he looked at her and said, "I miss her."

She nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently. "If it makes you feel any better, I never liked her."

Ryan rolled his eyes and gave her a weak smile. "You loved her and you know it."

She shrugged and said, "Well, I tried."

He laughed a little and said, "Thanks for that."

"No problem." She smiled at him sadly. "It's too bad; Anthony really liked her."

Ryan sighed and nodded. "I know. We all did."

"So why can't you just forgive and forget?"

Ryan looked at her. "It's...complicated."

She raised her eyebrows. "Ryan, I'm not my son. You can explain things to me."

He sighed. "She lied to me and I can't forgive that. I can't believe her when she tells me she loves me and I can't believe her when she says she wants to be with me. I've seen her around her friends...she's a really good liar when she wants to be."

Theresa shrugged. "How do you know she isn't telling the truth about this one thing?"

Ryan shook his head. "Because I can tell. She's just lying to me. All she ever did was lie to me and I'm sick of it."

Theresa raised her eyebrows. "But you miss her."

Ryan sighed. "Yeah, I do."

Ryan was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the pool house door open. "Hey," he heard the voice of the girl who broke his heart say.

He was snapped by his thoughts and looked to see her standing nervously in his doorway. He sat up in bed and stared at her, confused. "Hey..."

"Um...can I come in?" she asked, her voice very tiny.

He nodded. After a minute of silence he asked "So...what's up?"

She bit her lip, signaling to him she was really nervous to be here. "Um, so I've been thinking a lot lately..."

He nodded, trying to keep her talking. "Okay, about what?"

"Us," she said softly, refusing to meet his gaze.

He sighed. "Marissa..." he started.

"No, wait, hear me out," she cut in. He gave her a look telling her to go on and she continued. "I think we should be friends."

"Friends?" he asked incredulously.

She nodded. "I know it sounds crazy, but I think it could be really great for us."

"You do..." he said, raising his eyebrows.

She nodded. "Yeah." She looked at him and then down, sighing. "Look, I really miss you." He didn't say anything so she continued. "And I know that I probably have no chance with you, so this is the next best thing."

He raised his eyebrows. "Wouldn't it be easier just to move on?"

She sighed and shook her head softly. "No, it's too hard."

He knew how she felt. "But still...friends? Can we even do that?"

She shrugged. "I think we can if we really try..." She studied his face and saw that he was still skeptical. "You know what, just forget it. I'm sorry for wasting your time." She was about to leave, trying to hold back the tears forming, but he couldn't let her go.

"Marissa...wait," he said softly.

She turned and looked at him with sad, watery eyes. "What Ryan? I already embarrassed myself enough for a day."

He sighed and softly said, "I'm sorry....you just took me off guard."

She seemed to calm down a little bit. "What are you saying?"

He thought about it and then said, "Okay, we can do it. We can try to be friends."

She grinned widely and gave him a large hug. He awkwardly patted her back even though he wanted nothing more to wrap his arms around her and hold her close. She pulled back, her cheeks a dark scarlet. "I'm so sorry...I didn't mean..."

He took a step back and cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It's okay..." he said quietly.

She sighed. "Okay, what are the rules to this whole friends thing so I don't embarrass myself even more?"

"Rule one...no large hugs..." he said with a weak smile.

She nodded and shrugged. "Fair enough."

He thought about it. "Okay, um, we can't let there be less than a foot between us."

She pondered it, then nodded. "Okay, that's doable."

He thought a little more. "And we can't discuss our love lives because that's just awkward."

She nodded immediately, not even liking to think about the fact that Ryan might get another girlfriend. "I like that one."

He smiled. "Thank you."

She smiled back softly. "You're welcome."

Just then they heard the pool house door open and Seth walked in. "So buddy I was thinking we could watch..." He caught sight of Marissa and stopped in his tracks, a large frown on his face. "What are yo doing here?"

"Marissa and I are friends now," Ryan informed Seth, offering Marissa a small smile.

"Friends?" Seth asked, raising one eyebrows skeptically.

Marissa looked at Ryan and then nodded. "Yeah, friends," she said softly, even though they both wanted so much more.

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Oh dear, this is a very short chapter. Sorry...again... :(

Individual Replies:

Juzzy88: We'll know in two chapters :)

TheChic: I don't feel sorry for Marissa either, even though I wrote her. She got what was coming to her.

Elly1: I have considered it, but I don't think I'd get enough fans to make a living off it, so I'd just do it in my spare time if I did in fact write a book or something. I'm glad to have given you chills though!

Elly: You should see it.

Bwunnies: Glad to have made your day then!

Kellybby: Nope she isn't. She wasn't in this chapter though.

oc_bunney: Sorry this one wasn't as good.

Sailaway: lol, I know you like the sex scenes.

Ninpinpin: why thank you.

Hpfangurl12993: We'll have to see how things go for them...