"So are you nervous that your grandpa is finally back in town," Seth asks Ryan. "I mean, he and Lindsey left town after cotillion, so this week has been pretty drama free." He paddles over to his friend, who is currently floating around the pool. "It's been pretty nice actually. Zach has been MIA, and we know where Lindsey has been. Summer and I have been hitting it off. I've been in a pretty good mood lately."
"Sorry to bring you down out of your 'good mood', but this weekend is Grandpa's birthday. Not really looking forward to it." Ryan rolls off of the raft and climbs out of the pool.
Seth swims over to the stairs and follows him out. "What do you mean? I thought you and your Grandpa got along great? You're like a grandparent's wet dream. You play sports, you've got those tousled good looks that they adore so much, and you look just like your mom. You're a total freakin' WASP."
"I'm not a WASP! I guess I am white, but I don't know if I'm Anglo-Saxon. In fact, I'm part Jewish, so that kinda negates the Anglo-Saxon part of me."
"Whatever you say, Waspy McWasperson."
Ryan rolls his eyes at Seth's obnoxious behavior and towels off his hair. As he removes the towel he throws it at Seth and it smacks him in the face. Ryan pushes him back in the pool, laughing. He turns to walk back into the house, and is greeted by the sight of his least favorite aunt.
"Lindsey. What an unpleasant surprise."
"Oh, what's the matter Ryan? Not happy to see me?"
Ryan just grunts in response. He pulls his shirt on and is joined by Seth. He waves at Lindsey.
"Hi, I'm-"
"-an idiot," Lindsey finishes for him.
"Well, that's not too nice." Seth scowls at her at puts his own t-shirt back on. He catches up to Ryan, who is heading in the direction of the kitchen doors. "Dude, your aunt is a bitch," he whispers in his friend's ear.
Ryan looks back and sees Lindsey heading toward the main house as well. "I know."
They walk into the house and are greeted by the sight of Caleb Nichol talking to his daughter and son-in-law. Caleb sees them enter and walks over to greet his grandson. "Ryan! How are you?" He holds out his hand, which Ryan takes in his own.
"I'm good. How was your week in Europe?"
"Amazing. Next time, you'll be going with me. Now tell me, how are things going with all your sports? Still playing water polo and soccer?"
"Well, actually," Ryan says, "I'm just going to be playing soccer this year. Long story, but I'll tell you later."
"I thought you got kicked off of the team, Ryan," Lindsey asks, with an innocent look on her face.
Ryan glares at her. "So I did. It's not a big deal. Right now Grandpa, I want you to meet my friend, Seth." He points back toward the shaggy-haired brunette hiding behind him, who walks forward and holds out his hand in greeting.
Caleb just stares at him. "You must be the druggie that burned down my model home." Seth jams his hand back in his pocket. Caleb turns back to Ryan. "Is this the reason why you were kicked off of the water polo team? Did this 'dealer' get you smoking the weed?"
Ryan almost laughs before he realizes that his grandpa is being serious. Seth doesn't get this realization, and actually does laugh. Caleb narrows his eyes at the boy.
"I don't like this kid, Ryan. You should pick your friends more wisely." Caleb walks away with a smiling Lindsey.
"Well, I think it could have gone worse," Seth says.
"Really?"
"No! That went terribly. I don't think I've ever made a worse first impression on somebody. I actually think that if we told him that I was actually a skin-head in disguise, it would have gone better."
Ryan pats him on the back. "Don't worry about it, man. He'll get to know you better and it will be ok." Internally, Ryan agreed with Seth's evaluation of the encounter and didn't think that anything could actually make it better.
"Yeah Sandy, thanks. I really appreciate everything you've done to help me out." Jimmy hangs up the phone and looks up at his wife, who is sitting on the chair in front of his desk. "So Sandy thinks that he can take care of the charges. He has a friend that's a securities attorney and he's pretty sure he can keep me out of jail. However, I'm going to have to pay everything back."
Julie looks shocked. "Everything? Jimmy, you stole over four million dollars! We don't have that kind of money. What other options do we have?"
"Well, that's just the first option," Jimmy says, rubbing his face. "We can liquidate all of our assets and start all over with nothing, as a family. The only other option we have is if we declare bankruptcy. We get to keep the house, but I go to jail. Not my favorite option. Whatever you want to do, I'll do it." He looks at Julie expectantly.
"What about divorce? Jimmy, I love you, but you broke the law. Maybe you deserve to go to jail."
Neither parent sees their daughter wipe her eyes and walk out of the front door.
Once outside, Marissa pulls her phone out of her purse and calls Taylor.
Hey, Cooper. What's up?
"I kinda need to talk to you. Where are you at?"
Summer and I are at my place. Is everything ok?
"I'm on my way over right now. We'll talk when I get there." Marissa hangs up the phone. She climbs into her car and drives over to her friend's house.
"So, these birthday festivities. We're keeping them small, right?"
Caleb is standing at the window, watching his youngest daughter float in the pool, while Seth and Ryan play video games in the pool house.
"It depends on what you mean by small, Dad." Kirsten takes a drink of her wine.
"Well, just the four of us, Lindsey."
"Right, the four of us, Lindsey, Seth, and a hundred and fifty of your closest friends," his daughter says with a smile.
"Cal, she's been working overtime on this thing; the menus, the invitations, on top of the mountain of work she's been piled under."
"Is it too much," Caleb asks his oldest.
"No, work is great. We're back on track with the new development…"
"Yeah, after that felon out there burned it down." He turns away from the window and faces his daughter and her husband, both of whom are wearing twin shocked expressions. "You didn't feel that you needed to consult me about adopting him?"
"Dad, he's not a felon. He's a good kid that got mixed up in some trouble. Why don't you get to know him? You two have so much in common: you both come from a humble background, he enjoys sailing just like you, and he's incredibly smart." Kirsten smiles at her dad. "Give him a chance Dad."
"I don't want to give him a chance, Kiki. It's obvious that I've been pushing you too hard. You don't have enough time to do your work and get to know your new 'son'. The week I spent with Lindsey traveling Europe opened my eyes. I can't stand not doing anything. I've changed my mind about leaving you in charge of the company. Starting Monday, I'll be reassuming my position as CEO of the Newport Group." Caleb takes a drink from his whiskey and sits down on the chair.
"I don't get it Dad, you're demoting me?" Kirsten looks horrified.
"What the hell are you doing, Cal? She's made your company tons of money. This isn't right," Sandy says, holding his wife close.
"Don't think of it as a demotion. You won't be making any less. I'm making you the Chief Financial Officer, Kiki. I just can't stand not being involved with the company that I forged from the ground up." Kirsten sits down, stunned. Caleb takes this as a sign that the conversation is over. "So, Lindsey and I will be seeing you for dinner tonight. Call that Thai place that I love." Caleb calls out to Lindsey, who has gotten out of the pool and changed, and tells her that it is time to go.
As the two leave, Sandy sits down next to his wife on the couch and puts his arm around her shoulder. "Oh, Kirsten. Come on honey. You could not have done more or done better."
Kirsten looks up into her husband's understanding eyes and lays her head on his shoulder. "I just don't understand. I've…I've worked so hard for him, I've killed myself for him."
"Well, the man is a bottomless pit of need. You think you can fill it; you can't. If he can't appreciate you," he faces his wife and takes her head is his hands, staring into her eyes, "screw him."
"Sandy, he's my dad."
"And he's ruining your life."
Marissa walks up to the front door of Taylor and Veronica Townsend's house. She knocks on the door and is greeted by Veronica Townsend herself.
"Well, Marissa Cooper. How are you dear? I hope everything is going okay with your family since the whole cotillion thing."
Marissa gives the older woman a disbelieving look. "Uh huh. Everything is great." The woman was a terrible gossip and there was no way that she was giving her friend's mother any ammunition. "Is Taylor here?"
"I'm sure she's up in her room. I haven't seen her all day." Veronica wanders off to the den, seemingly unconcerned with her only child's whereabouts.
Marissa takes off her sunglasses, goes up the stairs, and enters Taylor's room to see Summer watching her favorite show, "The Valley", on Taylor's television and Taylor attempting to braid her hair.
"Stop Townsend. You are terrible at this. Let's just wait until Marissa gets here." Summer looks over and sees her friend. "Speak of the devil. What's wrong," she asks, noticing Marissa's red eyes.
"I think my parents are getting divorced." She sits down on the bed, joining her two best friends.
"Sweetie, that's terrible." "I'm so sorry, Cooper." The two girls hug their friend. Summer speaks first. "What do you want to do, Coop? You want some junk food?"
Taylor stands up. "I'm not sure that my mom has any junk food around, but we could go to the store and get some ice cream and sweets and soda-"
"Calm down, Taylor. I'm upset, don't get me wrong, but I don't think I need any comfort foods. I just want to know what I should do. You've both been through this before and I thought maybe you would have some advice for what I can do so I don't lose it."
Taylor sits back down on the bed and takes her friend's hand. "Well, yes, we are both children of divorce, but we've kind of had different experiences. My mom mostly ignores me these days. She's not necessarily mean; I think she just wishes I wasn't here to remind her of my dad sometimes. I think it makes her depressed." Taylor looks a little sad. "Summer, on the other hand, became her Dad's sole focus, other than work, and was raised very lovingly. So you're going to get a couple very different perspectives."
"One thing we can both agree on, Coop, is that you need to talk to them about it. I wish like hell that my dad and mom would have talked to me about what was going on, and I'm sure Taylor wishes the same." The two girls look over at Taylor, who nods. Summer continues. "We may have been too young to understand, but you're old enough that they owe you that much."
Marissa hugs her friends again. "Thanks guys. I didn't know what to do, or who to talk to. The last people I wanted to talk to were my parents, but I guess you're right. I do need to talk to them and let them know how I feel."
"You know, I think times like these require breaking into the emergency supply." Taylor walks over to the mini-fridge hidden under her desk, and pulls out the small carton of Ben & Jerry's that she has. She finds a spoon, and all three enjoy the comfort that can only be provided by sweet food.
Later
Seth and Ryan are riding down the pier heading in the direction of their favorite taco stand. Having opted to forgo Ryan's jeep due to the nice day, Ryan is on his bike and Seth is on his skateboard. They arrive at the stand and Ryan locks his bike to the pier. He looks up and sees his auburn-haired angel sitting at a table. She is currently involved in what appears to be a very engaging conversation with Summer. Ryan walks up to the table, closely followed by Seth, and joins his girlfriend, while Seth sits down next to Summer. "So what were you guys talking about," he asks his girlfriend and gives her a kiss.
"Marissa's parents are getting a divorce," Taylor tells him. "She came over earlier today to talk to us."
"She was pretty broken up about it. You should probably call her later, Cohen," Summer says.
"I've known Marissa and her folks since forever. They can't get divorced. I can't believe that she didn't tell me what was going on." Ryan looks a little upset.
"And you would have told her what," Taylor asks him. "Summer and I have both been through this before. She just wanted advice on how to handle it. I'm sure she was going to tell you, she just needs to talk to her parents."
"Talk to her Cohen," Summer advises. "Taylor and I may be her best girl friends, but you are her best friend, period." She looks over at Seth to provide the final nugget of advice. He just shrugs.
"Sorry to steal your move man, but I've got nothing." Summer slugs him on the shoulder. "Oww! Really, I don't have anything. My dad left before I was born and I never really had any friends to talk to about it." He rubs his hand over his injured body part. "I think I may bruise," he mumbles to himself.
Summer moves his hand and kisses the shoulder she just hit. "I'm sorry. I forgot your life pre-Cohen wasn't very great."
"It's okay sweetie." Seth kisses her and looks back over at Ryan. "Look at it this way, man. At least she has friends to talk to about it."
"Yeah, I guess." He still looks a little unsure about the issue, but lets it drop. "So, 5 or 5:30," he asks his girlfriend.
Taylor just raises her eyebrows at him.
"Right. 5:30 it is then," he says, answering his own question.
"Oh my God, do you two have to do that all the time?" Summer rolls her eyes at the couple.
"Wait…I'm lost. What just happened," Seth asks.
"Ryan asked me what time I wanted him to pick me up for the party tomorrow night, 5 or 5:30. I said I have an appointment with my therapist at 2 and it would take a couple hours, not to mention the additional time it would take to get ready, so he should pick me up at 5:30." She looks up and puts her finger on her mouth, studying the sky in thought. "Maybe I should suggest to Marissa that she see a therapist. It helped me so much when I was little that I still see Dr. Wallerstein once a month."
"Put a cork in it, Townsend. You didn't say anything. All Ryan said was '5 or 5:30' and you just gave him a look. This reading each others' mind thing is a little weird."
Ryan looks at Taylor and shrugs. She returns his shrug with a wink. Summer slams her fist on the table, startling both of them.
"You're doing it again! Stop it!" She looks over at Seth, who looks a little scared at the possibility of another rage blackout. "What time do you want to pick me up?"
He looks at her a little strangely, squinting his eyes as if staring intensely. "5. 5:30. 5:45? 6? 9:39? 1:00?"
Summer looks confused. "What are you doing? Are you trying to read my mind?"
"Maybe. Is it working?"
"You are so strange sometimes. Nobody can do what Cohen and Townsend do anyway."
"Make out and speak foreign languages?"
"Actually," Taylor interrupts, "making out is kind of Luke and Marissa's thing and Ryan can speak Spanish, while I am fluent in French, Korean, and-" Ryan cups his hand over Taylor's mouth and motions Seth and Summer to continue their conversation.
"How about 5:30," Seth asks Summer. "That seems to be a pretty popular pick-up time."
"That sounds okay." She kisses him, but breaks it off with a questioning look on her face. "I'm not riding on Ryan's spokes am I?"
"Hell no, woman!" Seth hits the table with his fist, and then shakes it in pain. "I've got the gangsta ride!"
Summer looks over at Ryan for clarification. "That means Mom is letting him use the Rover."
"Word, shorty," Seth adds.
Ryan looks at his watch and says that they've got to get back home for dinner with his grandpa.
"Whatever." Summer stands and pulls Seth with her. "Come on, Vanilla Ice. You'd better get back before somebody busts a cap in your ass." Ryan stands as well and kisses Taylor good bye. Seth receives a peck on the cheek for his efforts and the girls walk out to Taylor's car.
"Come on, dawg. Let's go back to our crib." Seth tries out a gang sign.
Ryan looks at his friend, shakes his head, and walks toward his bike.
The Cooper residence
Marissa walks into her house and sees her mother and father sitting in the same position they were in when she left, only looking a little more haggard.
Jimmy sees her enter first. "Hey kiddo. What's up?"
"I know," she just says.
"You know what, sweetheart," Julie asks her.
"I know that you and Dad are getting a divorce. I overheard you talking about it earlier."
"Sweetie, we're not getting a divorce-"
"Don't patronize me, Mom," Marissa says, frowning. "I know what I heard."
"You didn't get the whole conversation," Jimmy tells her. "We haven't made up our minds yet. We're trying to consider what would be the best options for you. You're what we're worried about. We just want to make sure that you are taken care of."
"What I want is for you to be together. I want my family," Marissa laments.
"We'll see sweetie. There's a lot that we still have to discuss, and I'm sorry that we didn't include you. From now on, we'll tell you what's going on, okay?" Julie walks over and hugs her daughter. She is followed by Jimmy.
"No matter what happens," Jimmy says, "we both want you to know that we love you, ok?"
"I love you too, Daddy."
Dinner
The Cohens are joined around the dinner table by Caleb and Lindsey. Kirsten is still in a sour mood about the conversation she had with her father earlier.
"That was delicious Kirsten," Lindsey tells her sister.
"Thank you, Lindsey. I order from them all the time," Kirsten says, gathering the plates.
"Less time at work, more time for cooking." Caleb laughs and Kirsten frowns at her father's inappropriate joke.
Sandy tries to lighten the mood. "Yeah because there is just no place Kirsten feels more comfortable than in the kitchen." He laughs and his heart lightens a little as he sees his wife give him a small smile. Small victories, he thinks to himself.
Ryan just gives a snort of laughter in response.
Kirsten looks at her son. "Thanks for the support, sweetie." She walks into the kitchen with the dishes, followed by her husband.
"Love you Mom," he calls after her.
"Ryan, you don't ever seem to say much," Caleb tells his grandson. "Why is that?"
Ryan opens his mouth to answer, closes it, thinks for a second, and just ends up shrugging.
"He saves it for when it really matters," Seth answers for him. "Like when he's whispering sweet Spanish nothings in Taylor's ear."
Caleb frowns at Seth and turns back to Ryan. "So you're still with Taylor Townsend?"
"Nothing's changed since cotillion," he says, answering his grandpa's question.
"Except the Coopers' social situation." He looks at his youngest daughter, who is smiling, and smiles back at her.
"Grandpa, please tell me you had nothing to do with that," Ryan pleads.
In response, Caleb excuses himself to go get more wine, leaving Seth and Ryan alone with Lindsey. Ryan glares at her.
"So, you did get Grandpa to give Zach that information. You…little…bitch," Ryan says through gritted teeth.
"I love you too, little nephew." Lindsey smiles at him.
Seth turns pale, puts his fist to his mouth, and swallows. "I think I just threw up in mouth a little bit."
"You are so lucky you're a girl," Ryan continues, "or…"
Lindsey has a smug look on her face. "Or what, Ryan? You'd hit me? We both know that Sandy Cohen's son would never strike a woman in anger. Plus, Dad would be pissed and you're just as scared of him as my sister is."
"Who said anything about Ryan," Seth asks. "I think Summer would come after you with a few sharp objects if we told her what you and Zach did to Marissa's dad at cotillion."
Lindsey laughs. "You mean you haven't told Marissa yet? Are you afraid what will happen to her fragile little mind when she finds out?"
Seth and Ryan share a worried look.
"Lindsey! We're leaving. Now," her dad yells from the other room.
"See you boys tomorrow." Lindsey stands up and waves as she leaves the Cohen house with her dad.
"Dude, I'm so sorry," Seth apologizes to Ryan.
"It's okay. I was about ready to say the same thing." Ryan pulls out his cell phone.
"Who are you calling?"
"Luke," Ryan says, finding the other boy's name in his phone and dialing. "I need to give him a heads up that we're breaking the news to Marissa."
Cohen, what's up man?
"Nothin' bro. I just wanted to give you a little warning that we're going to tell Marissa about what happened at cotillion."
You're a little late. I already told her. Sorry, Cohen.
"No, it's cool. I'm gonna go over and talk to her about it."
Cool. Later, man.
Ryan hangs up the phone and yells to his parents that they're going over to Marissa's house.
"Dude, I don't want to go over to Marissa's and listen to you two talk about best friends things."
"Summer might be there," Ryan says.
"Let's go."
At the Cooper residence
Ryan knocks on the door to Marissa's house. The door is answered, not by Marissa, but by Julie. "Good evening Ryan. Seth." She nods to the teens. "Now probably isn't the best time to be visiting. We're kind of dealing with some family things right now."
"Yeah, I heard about your divorce. I'm really sorry. I just need to talk to Marissa really quick." He walks by Julie, who looks confused.
"What? Divorce? Who said anything about a divorce?"
Ryan walks up the stairs, missing Julie's last question. Summer comes out of Marissa's room, just as Ryan is about ready to go in.
"She's in there," Summer says, pointing to the door. "Come on, Seth. Let's go for a walk. We'll let them have their talk." She grabs Seth by the arm and pulls him out the door.
Ryan opens the door and sees Marissa sitting on her bed, reading a book. "Doing a little summer reading," he asks.
"No, it's On The Road, by Jack Kerouac." She holds up the book. "Seth and Taylor won't shut up about it, so I thought I'd see what it was all about."
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's pretty good." Marissa marks her page and closes the book. "So why didn't you tell me what you guys found at cotillion? Zach and Lindsey used your grandpa to out my dad. That's pretty messed up!"
"Well, you had a lot going on. Your dad had just been publicly assaulted and I didn't want to overload you." Ryan sits down on the end of her bed.
"You know me better than that, Ryan. You and Luke both. You've got to trust me to be able to handle stuff like that. It sucks but I'm not going to lose it and try to kill myself."
"You want me to trust you? Like you trusted me when you found out your parents were getting divorced?"
"I was going to tell you," Marissa says.
"Before or after they split up?"
"Before, of course! No offense, but divorces aren't really you niche. Summer and Taylor have both gone through that before. They helped me out a lot. If it wasn't for them, I would never have talked to my parents and found out that I only heard part of the conversation. Yeah," she says at Ryan's questioning look, "I may have been a little forward passing around that information. Regardless, I promise to come to you first from now on if I have a question about having the prefect family, okay?" She puts her hand on his knee. "Are we good?"
"Of course," Ryan says, looking offended. "We were always good. You're my oldest friend. It'll take way more than one argument to change that. Just promise me one thing though."
"Anything."
"If it does ever get so bad that you think you might want to give up, you'll come and talk to me, Luke, one of the girls, even Seth. Anybody."
"Ryan, I wasn't being serious."
"I know, just promise me."
"Fine, I promise." She crosses her heart and hugs Ryan.
"Okay, now we're good. Let's go find Seth and Summer." They walk out of the house and in the direction of the Cohen's driveway. As they reach the backyard, Ryan looks in the pool house, but it's darkened. Marissa pokes him in the shoulder and points to the living room, where Seth and Summer are seated on one of the couches. They go in and Ryan waves at Seth, who starts gesturing wildly with his arms. Marissa looks at Ryan, who gives a patented shrug and walks into the living room. Just then, Sandy walks out of the kitchen and sees them.
"Hey, Dad. What's up?"
Sandy ignores his son's question, instead speaking to Marissa. "Marissa, can you take Summer home? I have to talk to my boys."
Marissa shoots Seth a questioning look. He just drops his head. "Sure, Sandy. See you guys tomorrow."
Summer gets up off the couch, mutters a 'Thank God', and almost runs out the front door.
Ryan wanders into the kitchen and grabs a box of cereal from the pantry and joins Seth on the couch. "So what's going on, Dad? You kind of have me worried." He tosses a handful of cereal in his mouth.
"I think it's time that we had a talk that's been coming for awhile, especially now that Seth is here. I don't know what your mother has already said to you in regards to the whole Taylor situation, but we need to talk about," Sandy looks uncomfortable, "sex."
"Oh God."
"That's what I said," Seth says. "He held off on the talk until you got here."
Ryan swallows the rest of the cereal remaining in his mouth and sets the box down. "I don't think I'm so hungry anymore."
Seth is already up, sitting at the counter, eating a bowl of cereal when Ryan walks into the kitchen the next morning. Seth shakes the box at him, and Ryan just shakes his head. "After 'the talk' last night, I think I may be off of cereal forever." He grabs a bagel, slices it and places it in the toaster.
"What do you mean? I thought you went through all this with The Kirsten when she caught you and Taylor in the pool house? Which is kinda gross, by the way, seeing as how I sleep in that bed."
"Sorry. It happened a couple months before you got here. And Mom never really said anything to us, just that we should keep it under wraps. We didn't get the whole embarrassing lecture on condoms and birth control that Dad gave us last night."
"Well, at least he didn't catch you with your girlfriend on top of you, grinding on your crotch, sans shirt," Seth laments.
"It could be worse. When Mom caught me and Taylor in the pool house, I was in my boxers and Taylor was in hers."
"You mean-" Seth asks, and Ryan nods his head, answering the unfinished question for the boy. "Again, man, I sleep there."
"Sorry. Again."
"Whatever. So Summer probably will never speak to me again."
"It's gonna be fine. When Summer finds something she wants, she takes it and doesn't let it go."
"Dude." Seth stares at his foster brother. "Sandy caught her, near topless, making out with me, and then tried to lecture her about safe sex. I'm totally screwed."
Ryan pulls out his cell phone.
"You know, you could just skip the whole dramatic scene of you whipping out your cell by having it attached to your hand. Just saying," he adds as Ryan glares at him. "Who are you calling this time?"
"Backup," is all Ryan says.
"That's not ominous at all."
Summer's
Taylor raps her knuckles sharply on Summer's door and, without waiting for an answer, enters her room purposefully. Summer is in her bra, standing in front of her closet. She quickly grabs a shirt and covers herself before seeing that it's only Taylor in her room. She throws down the shirt.
"God, what is it with people catching me in my bra," she asks, more to herself than anyone, and turns to Taylor. "What are you doing here Taylor? Isn't Cohen picking you up in…," she looks at her watch, "an hour? It takes you forever to get ready!"
"Oh, it's okay. Ryan dropped off the Rover earlier so that I could get ready with you and we could go to the party together." Taylor hangs up the garment bag she is carrying on the canopy of Summer's bed.
Summer glares at her. "Ryan told you, didn't he? Asshat," she mutters.
"Well, he was concerned."
Summer puts her hands on her hips. "So what's up Townsend? You here to give me a practical demonstration on the proper way to apply a condom?"
"To borrow your native tongue, Summer, ewww." She opens the garment bag and removes the dress she carefully selected for the evening, then sits down on the bed. "As you already know, Kirsten caught Ryan and I in that same bed, although with slightly less clothing."
"Don't remind me." Summer makes a gagging noise.
"Thanks. Anyway, Kirsten and I had a long talk that day, without Ryan. She said that even though she still thinks of Ryan as her little boy, she knows that we teenagers are slaves to our hormones. And she knows that Ryan and I really care for each other. All she asked of us was that we use protection and not flaunt it in front of her that we're sexually active."
"As interested as I am in your sex life, Taylor, skip to the part where this involves me."
"I just don't want you to give up what you have with Seth because his dad caught you making out with him. You two have this great connection that rivals what Ryan and I have and what Luke and Marissa have. It's like all of us were supposed to be together; even in some alternate universe, I think we'd still be with each other." Taylor walks over to Summer puts her arm around her friend's shoulder. "Things will be a little awkward for awhile, but don't let that keep you away from Seth."
Summer thinks for a moment. "You're actually pretty good at that, Townsend."
"Good at what?"
"Knowing what people are thinking before they do."
"Maybe my future lies in psychic readings? I could put that fraud, Esmerelda, out of business." The girls both laugh and begin to get ready.
The Party
"Maybe we could convince your Aunt Hailey to take her with her on her travels," Marissa asks Ryan.
"Are you kidding," Ryan says laughing. He and the other five teens are sitting off to the side, watching Lindsey and Zach schmooze with Caleb's friends. "Hailey hates Lindsey. Before she came along, Grandpa was Aunt Hailey's meal ticket. Now she has to actually work for her travel money."
Seth pokes Ryan on the shoulder. "You have another aunt?"
"Yeah, but she's actually my full aunt. She has the same mother as Mom does."
"Dude, I'm totally bored," Luke says, huffing out a breath of air. "Let's do something."
"We could go down to the beach," Ryan offers. They all agree that a beautiful night such as the current one deserves a better setting than a party they don't want to be at. Leaving, they barely miss the arrival of Marissa's father. Julie doesn't however.
"What are you doing here, Jimmy," she asks, taking her husband's arm. "I thought you weren't coming tonight. Please, don't get in another fight," she pleads with her husband.
"Hey, hey," he says, taking her by the shoulders, "I…I've got a plan, ok? Just take it easy, there's a chance for everything to go back to the way it was. Caleb Nichol employs thousands of people, none of whom are more experienced or qualified as I am. how big a leap can it be from investing in stocks to investing in real estate?"
"Are you sure, Jimmy? He owns this community, and they think you're a criminal. What makes you think he's going to believe differently?"
"The guy loves me; he has since I was a kid. He taught me how to sail. When I was in junior high, he tried to convince me to propose to Kirsten."
Julie kisses him on the cheek. "Good luck, James."
Jimmy walks off, looking for Caleb, and finds him standing near the couch, drinking a glass of champagne. "Hey, Cal. Happy birthday," Jimmy says, taking his hand.
"Jimmy, how are you?" Cal shakes back with a smile.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing. And," he lowers his voice, "maybe ask you for a favor."
"Why don't we step outside?" Cal leads him out near the pool. "So, what's the favor James?" Caleb's voice lowers and he puts on his business face. "You want another one hundred thousand dollar loan, like the one my daughter gave you? I have to tell you, James, usually people give you gifts on your birthday, not ask for you to give them a gift."
"How did you know about that?"
"I'm the most powerful man in Newport, James. I know everything that goes on here." Caleb takes a drink from his champagne.
"Well I'm not asking for a loan. Just a job," he says, staring at his shoes.
Caleb barks out a laugh. "After you stole 4 million dollars from your clients to cover your own mismanaged accounts? Jimmy, I wouldn't trust you with the job of watching my grass grow."
"Come on, Cal," Jimmy pleads. "I just need something. I'm about to lose my family."
"That's unfortunate. You should have thought of that when you were stealing from your clients." He takes another drink, throws his arm around Jimmy's shoulder, and his face changes back to his casual face. "Now I believe that it's time for you to leave. Smile big, James," he says quietly, as he walks Jimmy back inside. "I'll not have you making a scene at my party like you did at cotillion."
Jimmy walks off, his place near Caleb taken by Lindsey and Zach.
"Happy Birthday, Daddy," Lindsey says, hugging her father.
Cal smiles. "Thank you sweetheart. Are you having a good time?"
"Yes, but I think I'm ready to go home."
Caleb looks concerned. "Are you okay? I'll call my driver and he'll take you." He pulls out his cell phone.
"I'm fine Daddy. Actually, Zach offered to take me home, if that's okay?"
Caleb looks Zach over and smiles. "I don't see why not. I won't be home for awhile yet. I've still got some deals that need to be ironed out."
"Alright Daddy." She kisses him on the cheek. "I'll see you later." Zach takes her arm and walks her out the door.
On the beach
The girls are walking with their boyfriends, arm in arm, along the beach near the Cohens' house.
"You know, it's kind of strange that, after all these years, you may not be my next door neighbor anymore," Ryan says to Marissa.
"Hey, that's not for sure," Taylor says.
"That's right," Marissa adds.
"Well, since you may be a short-timer here, or you may not, I say you take advantage of this little beach while you can," Seth says. Everyone looks at him with a confused look. "I suggest skinny-dipping."
Summer kisses him and follows it up with a light slap to the arm. "You just want to see me in my bra again."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"I think Corona has the right idea," Luke says.
"No way," Marissa interrupts. "You guys will just stand there and watch us take off our clothes. You go first," she says, winking at the other girls.
The guys look at each other and begin stripping down to their drawers. They abandon their suits on the sand and run into the surf. Shaking the water from their hair, they turn to watch the girls strip anyway, only to see them running away, carrying something.
"Dude," Ryan calmly says. "They've got our clothes."
The boys run out of the water and chase down the girls, who scream with delight when the boys finally catch them.
The Nichol mansion
Zach pulls his SUV up to the doorway of the huge Nichol house. He turns the vehicle off and walks over to Lindsey's side as she steps out. "So…you ready to pay up?"
"Only if you're ready to collect," she says with an evil look in her eye.
Zach throws her up against the side of the SUV and begins to make out with her. He breaks off for a breath and Lindsey drags him inside the house.
A/N: For those of you that were a little confused, a couple explanations. One, Sandy is NOT Seth's dad. Just to clear that up. The timing is totally wrong. Plus, Sandy would never cheat on Kirsten. It would destroy them both. Two, Anna's absence from my AU is because Lindsey already took her place a long time ago, and Seth will take the one remaining spot, hence no Anna. Random fact of the chapter: Taylor's therapist is named after a real woman, Judith Wallerstein, who created a 25-year study on the effects of divorce on the children involved. I thought that was kind of interesting and kind of quirky that Taylor would be a subject in a study. So very Taylor. Hope you enjoy and please review! Thanks for waiting, ORy!
AZ
