A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Ryan walked into the kitchen one early morning.

"Hey, man, I was just gonna get you," Seth met Ryan at the kitchen.

"Well, I'm here so what's up?" Ryan said, while cutting himself a bagel and spreading cream cheese all over it.

"Well, um... So Summer and I were on this awesome date Chrismukkah day, after I proposed. And just when things couldn't get any better – "

"They get worse."

"Yeah.."

"So," Ryan took a mouthful bite, "What happened?"

"Zach."

"Water polo Zach?!" Seth nodded. "Like Summer Zach?" He nodded again. "Zach?!"

"Yeah man! That's what I thought. He just ran into Summer and I when we were walking along the pier. I was so surprised. I thought he was doing so well with Atomic County, he moved away to live a luxurious life in New York, with his Italien wife Francesca..." Ryan gave him a weird look. "but now he kind of wants to focus on college so..." he trailed off.

"So..?"

"So he handed Atomic County over to me. It was my idea in the first place, he said 'I'm the rightful owner. I should finish it.'"

"Well, that's good news."

"So did I, until Summer and I fought about it. Still are."

"Why are you guys fighting?" Ryan poured a cup of coffee.

"Because man... thanks," Seth took it from his hands thinking it was his, "she thinks I'm gonna go crazy like last time and the wedding will now be pushed further and...I don't know."

"Well," Ryan took back his coffee, "First of all, I poured this for me. Secondly, I don't think you'll go crazy like last time because you are actually with Summer this time. You won't need to use the comic book to the benefit of Summer and yours' relationship. You can just focus on the comic and focus on Summer, individually."

"That's exactly my point! I told her that but we ended up just fighting even more. She said that 'I'm Cohen, I'm bound to do something Cohen-y'. Like that's crazy right?"

Ryan was about to speak up, before he realized Summer did have a point.

"Ryan? C'mon man! You're supposed to be on my side."

"Sorry, but she actually does have a point."

"Ugh, great. So what do I do now?"

"Just... talk to her. Prove to her you can love her just the same and this comic book won't make you go insane. If that doesn't work: compromise."

"Yeah... I guess..."

Ryan shrugged his shoulders and made his way outside.

"Wait man!" Seth caught up to him and they both made their way to the pool house. "Where are you going?"

"Marissa and I are hanging out."

"I thought we were all hanging out."

"That's not till dinner. It's 11 in the morning. Fix things with Summer and I'll see you at the Diner at 6." Ryan closed the door on Seth who just walked away. How could I possibly just 'fix things' with Summer?! He thought.

/

Ryan and Marissa met at the mall at noon to have lunch and spend the day together.

"Guess who" Marissa covered Ryan's eyes.

"Hey Summer, don't tell Marissa we're seeing each other like this." Ryan joked, which got him a playful smack in the head. "Ow!"

"You jerk!" Marissa laughed at Ryan who was rubbing his head.

He smiled and kissed her sweetly. "I'm kidding."

"I missed you."

"That makes...one of us" he got another smack "Once again, I'm kidding. I missed you too."

"Glad to hear it. Starving?"

"Yeah let's eat."

The two made their way to the food court and got some lunch. They sat down at a little table and began munching on some delicious burgers.

"So what did you want to do today?" Ryan asked.

"I wanted to find something to wear for New Year's. Gotta dress to impress!"

"I'm already impressed."

"Not for you." She teased.

Ryan rolled his eyes. They continued to joke around and eat lunch until someone bumped into Marissa's chair.

"Uh, Sorry, I didn't mean to– " the stranger turned around and met Marissa's eyes. They both were silent. Ryan looked up from his food and saw the scene before him.

"Alex." Marissa spoke to the familiar face.

"Marissa, I, uh... sorry."

"No, it's okay..."

"So... uhh, it's been a while."

Marissa stood up to see her ex face-to-face, "Yeah... umm" She turned over to find Ryan who was equally shocked. "Alex, you remember Ryan?"

"Yeah, of course. Hey."

"Hi, Alex.." Ryan said awkwardly.

"So how've you been?" Marissa asked.

"I'm doing pretty good. Finished school and living on my own... again."

"Well that's... nice." Marissa tried her best to be polite, ignoring the awkwardness.

After a few seconds of silence passed, Alex broke up the weird tension. "I was just gonna meet up with friends... So um, I'll see you around?" The three of them exchanged half-smiles and Alex turned to continue her way.

As Marissa sat down, she had on a confused look. "So that was..."

"Awkward."

"Yeah."

"You would think us back then with the whole Lily and Antonio situation was awkward..."

"Yeah this definitely tops all of it."

"So Alex huh..."

"Yeah, what a blast from the past."

"I thought you two left on good terms?"

"We did. That night of the bonfire, we had a really good talk. I guess it's just we expected we would never see each other again..."

"Yeah..." things started to get silent again, so Ryan immediately changed the subject. "Let's get out of here. Find that dress quickly and just go back to the pool house?"

Marissa smiled at his suggestion, "Yeah, let's go."

/

Summer was in her room, painting her nails and listening to music peacefully until someone interrupted her.

"Ugh. Come in!"

"Hey." Seth peered into the room. He slowly walked in and was now in front of Summer.

"What do you want, Cohen?"

"Look, hear me out before we have another argument?"

Summer thought for a second and looked at Seth who was giving her those puppy dog eyes again. "I told you to never make that face again... but you have 2 minutes."

"Summer, I love you. And just because I'm going to do Atomic County again, doesn't mean I'm going to go crazy or fall in love with a comic book geek and ditch you."

"So you already decided to do it before consulting with me?" she said angrily.

"Well..."

"Ugh, Cohen. Make up your mind, me or the comic?"

"What? Why do you have to do that?"

"Because, this comic book took over Zach's life. He told us himself. He couldn't do it anymore, he wanted to go to college. If you take this, it's going to take over your life. Plus, where are you going to write these comics? Back east or here in Newport? If here, then no more Brown, no more me."

Seth hadn't realized this before. But he still couldn't see why he had to give either one up.

"So?" Summer waited for an answer impatiently.

"Look can we just talk about this more?"

"No... I don't think we have anything else to talk about. Besides, your 2 minutes is up..."

"It's been like, one minute."

"Who keeps track? You know where the door is." Summer turned away and finished doing her nails.

"Summer..." she ignored him. Seth gave up and walked away. What now? He thought.

/

"Do you like this one?" Marissa held up a navy blue dress, showing Ryan.

"Ummm... Sure"

"You hesitated."

"And we've been here for an hour. That's like, the 20th dress you showed me. They all look the same. I love you. You'll look beautiful either way." Ryan offered her a smile.

She stared at him and that smile, which she wasn't buying. "Nice try, you're just trying to finish this up as soon as possible! Well, I want to look perfect so I have to keep looking." Ryan rolled his eyes. "I don't see why boys hate shopping so much."

Just then, his phone started to ring. He looked at the caller ID then Marissa, "It's Seth. Probably didn't go so well with Summer."

"Yeah she was telling me about that... go on, take it, I'll probably still be right here when you come back."

"Give me like 5 minutes."

"Give me 30." She joked, as Ryan made his way out the store.

"Hey man, how'd it go."

"Horrible Ryan. She made me choose between Atomic County or her. Said 'the comic took over Zach's life', she didn't want it to happen to me. I mean, she does have a point, Zach did look kind of over tired and stressed when we saw him. When he said he wanted to college, I didn't realize it was because the comic was his whole life and nothing else."

"So there's your answer right there."

"What?"

"Summer. Choose Summer. I thought you would have known that."

"I do. But giving up Atomic County, I don't want to do that. If only there was a way, to have the comic book and Summer, without it ruining our relationship and taking over my life."

"Well, there could?"

"Did you have something in mind?"

Meanwhile Marissa was still in the store looking for dresses until she bumped into someone. "Sorry, I wasn't really looking–"

"Marissa."

"Alex, hey... again"

"Hey..." Marissa looked down, trying to avoid the awkward eye contact, "So sorry about before, the whole awkward situation. I just didn't know how to react to all of it... Last time I saw you we were breaking up."

Marissa met her eyes with Alex's. "It's okay. I... I'm sorry about that–"

"Hey I was just saying... But I mean, that was all in the past. I don't hold anything against you. Besides," she pointed out to Ryan, "things ended up working out for everyone."

Marissa blushed when she saw her boyfriend out there, looking all frustrated. Must be all Seth's doing. "Yeah. And it's different this time. I feel like we have a shot at actually making it." Alex nodded in agreement. "Well... how about you? Any lucky guy out there? ...Or girl?" She quickly added, almost forgetting the fact that she was her ex.

"Yeah actually, he is great. We went to school together and ever since then we've... We're good."

"Well, I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, same goes for me. I guess we're both where we need to be with, who we need to be."

"Yeah.. It all worked out." Marissa laughed, "I can't believe this. Us running into each other like this? And believe it or not, but Summer ran into her ex as well over this holiday."

"Really? This holiday's just a big blast from the past, I guess." Alex couldn't help but laugh at the coincidence.

As they continued to laugh and talk, Ryan looked through the window and saw his girlfriend and his ex. They glanced at Ryan and he offered a welcoming nod and Marissa returned it. She turned back to Alex and they both laughed. Becoming slightly worried and jealous, he switches back on to the onversation over the phone, "Seth, I'll call you back." Ryan hung up then made his way back to Marissa.

"Hey."

"Hey." He wrapped his arm around her and turned to the once-again, familiar face. "Alex, nice to see you... again."

"Yeah... So anyways, I have to go, but Marissa you should come by to the bait shop. You too, Ryan. They'll have good music there tonight. Plus, an old friend needed a favour so I'll be bartending."

"Okay, we might swing by there later... It was nice talking to you."

"You too." Alex waved goodbye then once again, left them two.

"So what did Seth want?"

"Summer and him hit a rough patch.. needed some advice." Marissa nodded. "And Alex?"

"Oh, well believe or not, but this time I ran into her. And we just caught up and talked... How's this dress?"

"Perfect! Let's go!" Ryan said excitedly.

"Not yet! I have to try these all on!" Ryan let out a huge moan.

"C'mon!" she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the change room. "Wait out here so I can get your opinion."

"How long will it take?"

"Not too long, Ry, I only have like..." Marissa counted all the dresses she was holding. "11?"

Ryan collapsed onto the chair and Marissa laughed. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Be back soon!"