When Marissa dozed off, surprisingly quickly, Ryan was once more left to his own thoughts. It was only about ten-thirty, and making sure to be quiet, he got to his feet and headed over to the full-length windows of the poolhouse. He pulled the shades halfway up, mostly to give him something else to look at. Not that he could get sick of the girl beside him; it was more that he was trying to avoid any unnecessary, more than friendly thoughts about Marissa at this time of night.

Not even close to tired and exceptionally bored, Ryan returned to bed. The moonlight was now falling into the poolhouse in strips, and he was getting a strangely transfixing view of the Cohens’ still-sparkling infinity pool, and the ocean to its right. Stretching lazily, he spent a moment watching Marissa sleep before shifting his gaze out the windows again. When he needed it, watching her sleep had always managed to calm him down. Ryan wasn’t even sure why. Just knowing that she was breathing and peaceful was comforting enough for him.

He tried to remember when he had first, seriously, found himself attracted to her. After all, Ryan did have a pair of eyes; he'd always known Marissa was beautiful. It was just before the summer officially began. Early in the typical, balmy California morning, they had been wrestling for the remote on his bed; he got the upper hand, not to mention the upper position, and something about her sent this spark through him. At the time he had been a little bewildered, but when she was relaxing on the beach later that day with a bikini and a trashy celebrity magazine, Ryan realised that he was starting to think of Marissa Cooper that way. And that? Was awkward. To the best of Ryan's knowledge, Marissa didn't have a clue about his non-platonic feelings for her. (Even though Summer had always loved implying things.) And she definitely didn't know that Ryan was jealous as hell everytime he saw her with Luke. Really, if you looked up 'jerk' in the dictionary, you'd be sure to come across a picture and detailed biography of Luke Ward.

As this thought came to mind, he found himself thinking back to last year’s Thanksgiving. It had started off as the usual Cohen-Cooper event, and quickly became one of Ryan's bad days. It had been an incredibly long one, one that yet again changed Ryan’s view on the remnants of his biological family; if possible, the whole thing made him appreciate the Cohens even more. But it was also an awkward day for his friendship with Marissa, which took something of a dent over the course of a few hours. She started doubting things, and Ryan felt like a jerk on top of his confusion. Thankfully, all was (sort of) resolved by the end of the day.

Thanksgiving, last year

It all seemed normal; the Coopers went to the Cohens’ for Thanksgiving dinner as they did every year, and Marissa would stay overnight (something that her mother, Julie, despised…even now.) At the moment, Ryan and the Cohens were preparing some things for the Thanksgiving dinner. Kirsten very much wanted to help, to develop some cooking skills, even though she was usually hopeless; but no-one would trust her to be near the food.

“Honey,” Sandy hastily pried the bowl of turkey stuffing from his bewildered wife’s hands, “Maybe I should stuff the turkey?”

Frowning slightly, Kirsten responded, “Okay, well, I’ll just…” Seth promptly dived on the cranberries to save them from their doom, while Ryan went on with making a salad. “I’m never going to learn how to cook if you three don’t let me,” she pointed out. However, she didn’t get much time to dwell on this, as the doorbell rang just a moment later.

“There you go, Mom. You can answer the door,” Seth suggested innocently, earning him a momentary glare from his mother. Sure enough, the Coopers had arrived; Jimmy immediately parked himself on the couch while Julie stood around, generally being difficult. After greeting Sandy and Kirsten, Marissa paused to kiss Seth on the cheek, before sneaking up behind Ryan and placing her hands over his eyes.

“Guess who?”

“Uh…” Ryan deliberated, reaching behind him to feel the white cashmere sweater she was wearing over her skirt. “I have no idea…but this person is surely too optimistic to be my best friend.”

“Very funny,” Marissa responded, restlessly shifting as she wandered around the kitchen in an absent-minded circle. “You know, I woke up with way too much energy this morning?”

“I can tell,” Ryan mused, while noticing Seth studying her light blue skirt with interest. The kid didn’t get out much, and the love of his life happened to be Marissa’s (female) best friend. The phone rang and Kirsten took the opportunity to answer it, frowning slightly during the brief conversation.

“It’s for you,” she informed Ryan.

Holly was in Aspen with her parents, so he seriously doubted she was thinking of him…at all. There wasn’t really anyone else who would call, though. “Hello?”

Marissa searched the kitchen, trying to think of a way to get her out-of-nowhere, pent up energy out. She disappeared into the foyer to pace, and within minutes, Ryan was there, his expression unreadable, the keys to the Range Rover in his hand. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” he shrugged, doing his best to sound casual. She could always decipher his moods anyway, so it didn’t make a difference. Still, some things would just be easier with Marissa kept out of them; this was one of them. As much as Ryan would feel better with her by his side when he ventured off to Chino, he knew it was a bad idea. The neighbourhood was a bad place…particularly with pretty rich girls, as many of the guys there would refer to Marissa as. “I’m just going somewhere for a few hours.” She raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Trey called.”

“As in…your brother, Trey?” After all this time, she tended to forget that Ryan had family outside the Cohens – even if he barely interacted with the remaining Atwoods.

Ryan gave her a look. “Do we know any other convicts by that name?”

“Okay, I’m sorry. But where are you going?”

“He said he wants to see me…in other words, he wants me to do something for him, so I’m going to Chino.” It was somewhat ironic that Trey had ended up back there; he was nine and Ryan was five when Child Services discovered them, and they were sent to different group homes. The Cohens took Ryan in after Sandy met a small and timid Ryan by chance – and after that, Ryan spent years not knowing what happened to his brother. When Trey was fifteen, he got arrested (not for the first time) and on this occasion it was stealing a car and then crashing it. Sandy had been his public defender. Trey didn’t exactly live anywhere, but he spent most of his time at his friend Arturo’s, who lived next door to the Atwoods’ former home. Ryan briefly visited Trey, who was soon in juvy. He had been in an out of the place ever since, and right now, he was in - actual prison this time. Ryan had never quite been able to trust his brother, which probably made sense. They had only seen each other on a few occasions. It was odd. If one thing was abundantly clear, Trey Atwood was not a role model.

Marissa followed Ryan outside, stopping him, the soft material of her sweater brushing the inside of his wrist as she went to seek out his hand. It was always something that calmed him down; some of the guys would mock the hell out of him for sure, but they didn’t exactly have Marissa Cooper for a best friend. “You’re going without me?”

“I’ll be back before dinner,” he promised, but she didn’t let him move. Well, Ryan hadn’t been expecting her to just take this lying down. She would want to go even if the place was suspended over a volcano. Typical Marissa. Usually it was a trait he admired to some degree, but he was anxious enough as it was. Ryan had the feeling that this wouldn't end well in any case, but particularly if she tagged along. “Marissa, that neighbourhood is dangerous, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt. I’ll be back soon, just stay here and make sure Kirsten doesn’t give anyone food poisoning.”

Was it irrational that she felt hurt anyway? Because she did. Ryan’s reasons did make perfect sense but Marissa was still upset over it. It wasn’t like he was clueless, that he didn’t have any idea of how to defend himself; but he would still end up in the ‘dangerous’ neighbourhood he had just mentioned. Marissa had a bad feeling about this, but Ryan happened to be one of the most stubborn people she had ever met. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to change his opinion on it. “Okay,” she finally responded, kissing his cheek and giving his hand a slight squeeze, which he returned before unlocking the Range Rover. “I’ll see you later.”

Ryan was driving home later that afternoon, cursing the Atwood traits as he did so. Of all things, Trey wanted him to drop off a stolen car. It was just a favour, after all, Ryan had been living the good life for all this time. Surely it wouldn’t be too much effort for him to help his older brother out. So Ryan had barely gotten out of the sleazy garage in time to avoid getting his ass kicked by several pissed off guys who had a definite grudge against Trey. With a sigh, Ryan approached the main entrance to the gated community where the Cohens, Coopers, and various rich families resided. Most of the time in Chino had been spent thinking about Marissa. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew it hurt her when he brushed her off like that. It probably seemed like he just didn’t want her with him. And she did…god knew things were so much easier with the person he trusted most there with him.

Ryan was left to wonder if everyone had already started dinner, and soon enough, he got his answer. He wasn’t greeted by the sight of turkey; rather, boxes of newly arrived Thai takeout. After informing Sandy and Kirsten that his meeting with Trey went fine – awkward, but fine – he grabbed a box of food and headed out to the poolhouse to see what Marissa was up to. She was sitting on the floor near the TV, her own meal beside her as she continued the project she was absorbed in. Marissa finally glanced up, a smudge of red glitter on her nose, and surprise registered on her face.

“Hey…we were going to send out a search party for you.” Her tone was convincingly light but she didn’t look at him as she went on with her scrapbooking. Ryan wondered exactly what she was doing, and sat across from her to investigate.

“Yeah, sorry…but what happened to dinner?”

Marissa chuckled, “Kirsten kind of burned the turkey, and Seth and Summer have been bickering for ages now. She showed up just after you left, she’s in the living room with my parents and Seth now…so…how was everything?”

“It was okay.”

“Typical Atwood understatement,” she remarked.

“I almost got my ass kicked, but I’m perfectly fine. I just don’t intend on doing anything for Trey soon. Don’t worry, nothing happened, and lunatics aren’t gonna turn up on the doorstep. Let’s just talk about…about what you’re doing,” Ryan decided. Things still felt tense and rather awkward, but he hated fighting with her.

Marissa offered a shrug in response, closing the scrapbook and handing it to him. “This is what I’ve been doing for the past few hours. Seth and Summer helped, though, so don’t give me all the credit. It’s a scrapbook of the two of us, obviously, and I plan on doing one every year, to capture all the various, humiliating photos we’ll definitely end up taking of each other. Things have been different,” she plunged on, with a little more difficulty this time. “I mean, with me dating Luke, and you dating Holly, it’s like growing up just threw us for a loop or something. Trust me, I know it sounds dumb – but I don’t want to lose you.” Without waiting for a response, Marissa shifted over. “I made extra prints of my favourite photos of us, and I found this scrapbooking thing shoved into one of the Cohens’ closets, they said I could use it, so I had something to do with my time. See this one,” she pointed out a photo on one of the first pages, “Weren’t we cute back then?”

“First grade, right?” Ryan prompted, and Marissa nodded. “That was our school photo day…and the teachers found us in the reading corner trying to avoid it.”

“And they thought we were so adorable they had to take a photo themselves.” A slightly pleased smirk on her face, Marissa went onto the next photo. “This one is the second grade musical, as I recall, you made for a good Snoopy.” She laughed at his expression. “Prime blackmail material, right?”

“Unfortunately,” Ryan admitted, pulling her into his side. “Thanks for this.” He kissed her lightly on the tip of her nose; pulling back, he added, “And I’m sorry if I came off as an ass earlier. I was just freaked out about Trey.”

Marissa shrugged it off. “You weren’t an ass. I get it, and you’re right, it was better that I didn’t go.”

Summer and Seth appeared out of nowhere.

“Guys, we’re going to have a…” Distasteful look in Seth’s direction, “PlayStation tournament,” Summer informed them. “Are you guys in?”

“Sure,” Ryan answered, helping Marissa to her feet; she set the scrapbook safely on the bedside table. “This is bound to be interesting.”

Present

Ryan had been so lost in his own thoughts, he hadn’t realised that Marissa had been awake the entire time, and had started to squirm. Somehow she had gotten tangled in the sheets beneath the duvet, which remained perfectly smooth.

“I’m stuck,” she said mournfully, her expression slightly embarrassed.

“You’re a freak, Marissa.” This only caused her to stick her tongue out at him. “Very mature, too.” He peeled back the duvet, and untwisted Marissa carefully. “Better?”

“Yep. Thank you. And where did you go just then?” she enquired, snuggled back under the covers. “You were totally zoned out.”

Ryan offered a shrug. “I don’t know…just thinking, I guess.” After her questioning look, he elaborated, “Thanksgiving last year.”

“Oh,” was all she said, not looking as over-energised all of a sudden. Several moments passed in silence before she asked, in an unconvincingly casual tone, “Why?”

He turned on his side to face her, “I don’t know, I was just thinking about you and I got off topic?”

Marissa chuckled. “Well, at least I was thought about…”

Well, this wasn’t awkward at all.

“You know I used to eat toothpaste?” Marissa said, the remark completely out of nowhere. In any case she wanted to get off the Thanksgiving subject.

“Uh…why?” Ryan questioned, all the while wondering if he even wanted to know. With some people Marissa tended to be shy or self-conscious; around him she could rarely keep his mouth shut. Still, he wouldn’t have it any other way – it took a while before you saw this side of Marissa.

Unfazed by his bewilderment, she shrugged. “I don’t know. When I was a little kid, there was always this sparkly children’s toothpaste we had that tasted really nice. So I kind of ate it. I mean, I would sneak into the bathroom and eat it right out of the tube. I have to admit, it was delicious. And pretty.” Marissa quirked an eyebrow at him.

“I…have no words.”

“What else is new?” she said, making fun of him (and his exaggerated tone). Ryan didn’t have much of a way with words. Marissa cast her gaze out at the Cohens’ infinity pool. “It’s a beautiful night,” she commented, wriggling in closer while preparing her best puppy dog look. “You think we could go out there…”

“…jump in the Cohens’ pool in the dead of night, then freeze to death? I’d love to.” It was only September; the school year had just begun while the summer had recently ended, but it was still quite cool at night.

“Ryan,” she wheedled, insistent now she had the idea. “It’s only eleven, you recluse, and it’s not that cold. I could go outside and be pecked to death by a bird. Or I could go in the Cohens’ pool right now and catch a cold. Who knows?”

The hopefulness in her face was amusing but it was also enough for him to (begrudgingly) agree to her plan. “Sandy and Kirsten won’t be happy if they catch us,” he pointed out in a last-ditch attempt to stay in bed.

Marissa seemed to spend a moment considering. Sandy and Kirsten had seen them do some strange things before (no, not that kind of strange) so they wouldn’t exactly mind the two of them wandering into the heated pool – so long as Ryan and Marissa acted rational. Which they often tended to do, and if not, Ryan was exceedingly responsible…to the point where she was always coming up with ways to force him into having fun. “Okay; we’ll be quiet,” she decided, and tugged at the covers; the wife beater was already big enough on her, and as she moved to yank the sheets off of him, it gave him quite a good view.

Stop staring, a far more rational voice in his head suggested.

“Hurry up,” she insisted, giving him a prod. It didn’t hurt but he complained anyway.

“I’m going,” he replied, dragging himself out of bed and following her outside, which was obviously dark. However, the moon was out, as were quite a few stars, so at least they could see something. Ryan sat down at the edge of the pool, watching Marissa float around lazily.

“You sure you don’t want to get in?”

“I’m sure,” Ryan responded absent-mindedly.

“What if I make you?” And with that, she pulled him into the pool, immediately causing him to protest.

“Cooper!”

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t say this isn’t not fun.”

“What…this is further proof that you’re insane.” He splashed some water at her, enjoying the indignation in her expression. Sweet revenge. (Yes, Ryan needed to get out more.)

Confidentially, she remarked, “You know…now you’re just asking for it.”

A/N2: This didn’t really advance the plot, I know. Tell me what you think; I’m wondering if I’m going in a good direction here.