UNPACKING
Ryan and Marissa were now settling in their own bedrooms while Summer and Seth were setting up their bed in the spare room.
"I can't believe we're standing in Ryan and Marissa's new apartment." Summer looked around her.
"Do you remember when we first moved in together?"
"Yeah, I was angry at you. How is it, my fiancé doesn't know how to work electronics?" Summer teased him.
"Hey I don't recall any memory of you attempting to set up our TV... we had to waste money on hiring a guy." Seth complained.
"Well, I'm a girl, Cohen. You're the guy, you're in charge of heavy lifting, electronics, all that stuff..."
"Whatever..."
Summer made her way to Seth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly. "But no matter what manly job there is, I don't care if you can do it or not. You're still my man, Cohen."
Seth smiled and continued to kiss her. "I am the man, aren't I?" Summer laughed. Seth laid down on the bed and Summer joined him. He wrapped an arm around her.
"I'm so happy right now." Summer said, leaning her head on Seth and staring at the ring on her finger.
"I am too." Seth replied. But after a while of just enjoying each other's company, Seth spoke, "But we better watch out."
Summer took her head off Seth's shoulder and looked up at him, "What are you talking about?"
"Something bad always happens during times like these."
Summer rolled her eyes and went back to leaning her head on Seth. "Don't worry... Just stop jinxing everything and expecting the worst... Sometimes you have to hope for the best."
Seth sighed and decided to not push it any further. Maybe Summer and Ryan did have a point and this time, it's going to be different. This time, they would stay happy.
/
Ryan and Marissa were cuddled up in their bed, the same position Summer and Seth were in their room.
"I still feel like I'm dreaming. This is all a dream. You can't be this perfect. And I don't even know if I deserve you. This is totally a dream..." Marissa rambled on.
Ryan laughed and looked down at her. "Hey..." This got her attention and she suddenly stopped talking to look up at him, "This a dream? You're here... so definitely a nightmare." He joked. Marissa laughed and grabbed a pillow to hit him. "Ow, HEY!" Ryan laughed as well.
"Jerk." She rolled her eyes and smiled. Ryan grabbed the pillow and put it aside. He forced Marissa down and he climbed on top of her.
"I love you, don't ever forget that." Ryan whispered.
"You joke around but can be sentimental... who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"
Now it was Marissa's turn to joke. Ryan let out a little chuckle; then he leaned down to kiss her. Marissa kissed him back, adding more passion and love to the kiss. He began kissing down her neck and she moaned in pleasure. She could feel Ryan's hand touch her bare skin. He pushed her shirt up a little bit and she responded by sitting up to take it off. Once she did this, Ryan did the same with his shirt.
"I love you too." Marissa finally said. Clothes continued to shed and soon they were both naked under the sheets. Their lips never broke contact. They continued to kiss passionately. And that's how they spent their first night in their new home: Together.
/
The next morning, Ryan met Summer in the kitchen.
"Good morning, I went out and got us some bagels." Summer said.
"Good idea. I managed to get some help with furniture and all of our belongings... but not food for the kitchen." Ryan shook his head in embarrassment.
"It's okay, Atwood. We can go out and do some groceries later."
"Sounds good." Ryan said, slicing a bagel and smearing cream cheese all over it.
"So you two settled in?" Summer asked.
"Well, as soon as we get rid of the remaining boxes and organize our stuff a little bit more, yeah I think we'll be good... Thanks for helping Marissa unpack our room yesterday by the way."
"No big deal. We ran into some cute photos of you and Cohen in some of your albums... it was fun." Ryan's cheeks went red. "Atwood, you and Cohen were cute. Nothing to be embarrassed about." Summer laughed.
"Maybe that's the bad thing that ruins the good streak going on. Us and cute... never a good sign."
Summer stopped at looked at Ryan sceptically. "Did Seth talk to you too about that?"
Ryan nodded. "Huh? Oh yeah, he thinks something's going to happen because all bad things happen during the good times..."
"Yeah he told me the same thing last night..." They laughed a little then went silent. Ryan looked at Summer seriously and stared back. But they snapped out of it. "Nah, no way. He's just Seth being Seth."
"Yeah, nothing bad will happen..." Summer said, trying to convince both Ryan and herself. But they weren't really buying it.
"Right..." Things became awkwardly silent, until Marissa came out in one of Ryan's shirts and shorts. She had her hair tied up in a messy bun.
"Morning..." she said tiredly.
Ryan kissed her on the temple. "Morning... Bagel?" He offered.
"Thanks." Marissa said as she took what Ryan offered and sat down next to Summer. "So what were you guys talking about?"
"Nothing important." Summer dismissed.
"So what do you all want to do today?" Ryan asked.
"How about you show me and Cohen a little around here?"
"Well, I don't really plan on going back to school when I have to..." Marissa stated.
"Okay, so maybe the campus is not an option." Summer said, "But how about the malls around here? Or parks? I don't know. We'd usually just go to the diner or the beach back in Newport. I don't know what's here."
Ryan looked at Summer blankly, "Nothing really great here..."
Seth then walked out in his robe and bed head hair, "Hey guys." He yawned, "What are you all talking about?"
"We're trying to decide what we're going to do today." Summer told him, handing him a bagel.
"Anything specific you had in mind?" Ryan asked him.
He shrugged as he took a big bite out of his bagel. "You guys still have a lot of boxes to unpack. We could just all do it together and finish up. Then go out for dinner."
Ryan was surprised Seth suggested this and turned over to look at what Marissa and Summer thought.
"You really up for helping us unpack and settle in?" Marissa asked him.
"Yeah, I mean, remember what Summer and I did to your room at your dad's old place? We did quite the job." Seth bragged.
"You mean I did quite the job."
"I painted."
"Yes, I do remember," Marissa smiled at the memory. "That's actually a good idea, Seth." she said.
"See, Ryan's not the only one with great ideas..." He pointed out. Summer rolled her eyes as usual.
"Okay then," Ryan stopped Seth from going any further. "How do you want to do this?"
"Marissa and I can do the kitchen. You guys can start on the living room?" Summer suggested.
"Maybe I should help Ryan with the living room, in case he and Seth just end up playing video games. And Seth you can help Summer," Marissa butted in.
"Please," Seth scoffed, "If you two work together, nothing won't ever get done, except you two." He teased. Marissa was about to speak, but realized it was kind of slightly true.
"Fine, me and Summer will do the kitchen, Seth, you work with Marissa in the living room." Ryan finalized everything. They all nodded in agreement. They all finished their breakfast and made their way to the room they were assigned to unpack.
/
Summer and Ryan were in the kitchen, unpacking the boxes and loading the cupboards.
"So you excited to go back to school?" Ryan asked Summer.
"To be honest, no. I just want to grow up already, graduate, marry Seth... Am I sounding crazy?" Summer laughed nervously.
"No, not at all. I'm not going to lie, I feel the same. Moving in with Marissa made me just want to find a permanent job and start living my future."
Summer looked at him questioningly. "Does that mean you're ready–"
"No. Definitely not. I want you and Seth to tie the knot and Kirsten to have the baby first. And we're in our 3rd year of college... maybe the 4th is our time..."
"Oh okay. That makes sense. And what I'm about to tell you is exactly what I told Marissa last night: you guys are in a good place, no need to rush things."
"Wait, Summer." Ryan looked around the wall blocking the kitchen and the living room. He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Did Marissa say anything about marriage to you?"
"What? No, I asked her the question like I did you. And her response was the same: It' s just not the time. And I guess that's what makes you guys so perfect for each other. You're so in sync, on the same chapter.."
"But what if sooner, she'll want marriage but I'm still not ready?" Ryan questioned.
"Ryan, you don't have to worry about Marissa leaving you or anything. You two love each other. Whether or not either of you want marriage, I'm pretty sure she loves you so much, she'll wait a 100 years for you. And vice versa..." Ryan nodded. He knew Summer was right. "So where do you want to put all the mugs?" She asked, holding a box full.
"Umm, I'm not sure. Organizing these things – or organizing in general – isn't really my strong suit."
Summer chuckled, "Well lucky for you, I love organizing. Just listen to what I say and do whatever I ask, and the kitchen should be ready to use in an hour!" Ryan smiled and motioned her to take the lead.
Meanwhile in the living room, Marissa was busy moving the study table and book shelf around. Seth had his hands occupied, organizing all of Ryan's and her's DVDs, CDs, and video games.
"Shouldn't it be the other way around: the girl doing the organizing and the guy doing the heavy lifting and moving?" Marissa asked, trying to catch her breath. She had just finished moving the study table up against the far wall.
"But this is more fun..." Seth said, so busy he couldn't even look up to face Marissa. He was sitting down, to the left of the TV where the book shelf was. "I can't believe Ryan reads all these books. And I never knew he loves all this music, I thought it was just Journey."
"He doesn't." Marissa walked over and pointed out to the label, "Look: Marissa's things."
Seth laughed, "Oh yeah..."
"Hey look!" Marissa looked into a box beside Seth and the book shelf, which was also labelled her things, "My old senior yearbook!" She pulled it out, sat down beside Seth and started to flip through it. She stopped at a page titled Students Stand Together. "Oh my God, look. They put it in the yearbook..." Her and Seth saw a page full of pictures. Pictures of some students wearing Free Marissa Cooper shirts, Taylor and Summer handing out petitions, Ryan awkwardly posing with a sign. "I still can't believe you guys did that for me. Thank you."
"It was no problem. Taylor did most of everything but it was still fun and I'm glad you got to graduate with us."
Marissa smiled and continued flipping through. She stopped at the senior pages. "I forgot what we all wrote as our grad bios... Let's see... Here you are Seth... 'Death Breath Seth here. Thanks for all the urinated shoes, Harbour. In the end, I got the girl I've always loved. And now, I'm off to college so, Adios!'" Marissa read aloud what Seth wrote.
She laughed and Seth quickly spoke up, "Look, it was totally last minute. Literally, last minute. I forgot all about it so I just wrote whatever came to mind."
"I like the 'Adios!'" Marissa teased.
"Okay, Cooper, let's see what you wrote." Seth grabbed the yearbook and scanned around to look for Marissa, "Marissa Cooper... 'Just keep living.' JUST KEEP LIVING?" Seth burst out in hysterical laughter.
Marissa snatched back the yearbook, "Shut up! I wrote that when I was dating Kevin so I was most likely high or drunk that day in school."
"Right, right whatever. It's okay Marissa, 'just keep living!'"
"Moving on..." Marissa glared at Seth who just calmed down a little. "Let's find Summer... AH HA! Summer Roberts... ' Dr. Seuss'" Marissa turned to Seth. They both shared a look that understood why Summer had this for her grad bio. They all faced so much during their high school years but they somehow survived it all and made it to graduation. This quote was perfect in all ways.
"Enough said."
"Yeah, Summer's always been good with finding the perfect things to say." Marissa said.
"Okay, now we have to find Ryan..." Seth said. Marissa nodded and flipped back to the letter A. "Ryan Atwood... 'When you feel like giving up, keep going.' Wow, that's pretty deep."
"There's actually a story behind that." Seth admitted. Marissa looked at him curiously. "I remember when Ryan told me he was going to write that for the yearbook." He started, "You were dating Volchok and he told me he saw you in the hallway. You looked stressed and... well, a mess. When he bumped into you, you dropped your flask and he had to pick it up for you and give it back..."
"I actually remember that day. I was angry with everyone for some reason... that time was just a dark time for me though." Marissa sighed.
"Yeah... so anyways, after he told me about that, we had to go to school. When we met up for lunch I asked him about the grad bio and... Now I may be just acting all 'Cohen-y' as Summer would put it, but I believe, still do up until this day, that he wrote that just for you. Because you looked like you were just giving up, he just wanted to see you keep going and not throw away your life..."
Marissa thought deeply. But laughed at Seth's comment, "Yeah he probably just felt inspired... Nothing to do with me, we weren't dating." She made up an excuse.
Seth shrugged, "Yeah, whatever I guess..."
Marissa didn't want to think back to that messed up time era in her life. She also was scared of the idea that while Ryan still cared for her then when they were broken up, she was too busy throwing away her life, doing cocaine and sleeping with Kevin. "C'mon, we're getting distracted." She closed the yearbook. "Let's finish up..."
As Seth and Marissa went back to work, Summer and Ryan came out of the kitchen.
"You guys are done already?" Seth asked, looking back at them.
"Almost. We decided we would go do some groceries. Add some actual food in the kitchen..." Summer laughed.
"We can also stop by for some lunch? What do you guys want?" Ryan asked.
"Umm, whatever, I'm good with anything." Marissa said to them.
"Okay, we'll be back in an hour or two!" Summer grabbed her purse and jacket and Ryan followed her out the door.
"Let's try to get this done before they're back..." Marissa told Seth.
"Okay, no more distractions..."