Wasted (Part 5)

Mar 20, 2008 18:29

Summary : for Cheekymice's funfic challenge. My prompt was "anorexia". This fanfic set in early first season, just after Thanksgiving and is AU.

Beta : I want to thank Helen C for betaing this fanfic and Beachtree for her help!
Disclaimers : The characters and the universe were created and are still owned by Josh Schwartz. (*glare*)
All mistakes are my personal property.
No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Since I'm leaving tomorrow for a few days off, I'll post the next chapter of Wasted right here!

-“We can’t screw up. It’s his birthday tomorrow and I want it to be perfect,” declared Seth.
-“So you’ve got to call him.”
-“What am I supposed to tell him?”
-“Okay, Cohen. Deep breath. What do you need to know?”
-“I need to know what Ryan likes doing for his birthday…”
-“And?!”
-“What kind of gift he likes getting…”
-“So pick the phone, dial the prison’s number and hurry because Trey can’t get calls all day. He’s not staying in a hotel, Cohen!”

Seth nodded and picked the phone.
Several minutes after he spoke to a man he presumed was a warden, he could hear an uncertain voice.
-“Yeah?”
-“Trey Atwood?”
-“Yeah.”
-“Hi, I’m Seth. Seth Cohen. I’m Ryan’s foster brother.”
-“He told me about you. What do you want? Is Ry’ okay?”
-“He’s fine. My parents are going to take him back home and I’d like to ask you some questions because he’s turning 16 tomorrow and I want him to have a great birthday.”
-“You and your parents don’t plan to get high and to use him as a punching bag?” snorted Trey. “So, I’m sure he’s gonna have a better birthday than the…six last years.”
Seth looked Summer panicked.
-“Cohen, get a grip !” she mouthed before taking the phone. “Trey? Hi! I’m Summer, Ryan’s foster brother’s ex future girlfriend. We need to know what kind of birthday Ryan would like. We hung out with a stupid rich drug dealer and psycho brat and let Ryan down. We screwed up, we sucked. But now, we need your help to do something nice for Ryan. What does he like?”
- “I can see who’s got the balls in the couple…let me think…Ryan likes watching videos with the entire family. When our dad wasn’t drunk or in jail, we used to do that and Ryan was beaming for days. He told everyone that we had watched TV, he explained the movie to all the people he knew. Hell, he went to the groceries just to tell the cashier. So try with a movie, a couch and the entire family reunited and he’ll like it. Buy Mountain Dew, he loves that stuff.”
-“That’s a start! What kind of movie? What kind of other gift?” insisted Summer.
-“He kinda likes oldies and westerns. He loves Al Pacino. The Godfather will be a good pick.”
-“That’s a great idea! Have you some other ideas?”
-“Ryan loves drawing…”
-“He does?”
-“Yeah, he’s a gifted kid. He had a sketch notebook and he was always drawing in it ‘till AJ burnt it because Ryan hadn’t gone get his drugs. It’s weird you’ve never realized that he loves drawing.”
-“There’s a lot of stuff we didn’t realize.» sighed Summer. She thanked Trey and hang up.
-“Cohen, we’re on a mission. Saving Private Ryan part one. Sweet sixteen.”

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-“He’s already asleep ? » Seth’s voice conveyed his disappointment.
- “He’s napping, but we’ll have to wake him up in a couple of hours for diner,” answered Sandy while closing the file he was reading.
Kirsten entered the den with a blanket, put her hand gently on Ryan’s cheek and winced before covering her foster son.
-“He’s cold, he’s always cold,” she murmured.
-“He’s gonna be better soon, Mrs. Cohen,” answered quietly Summer.
-“We have several ideas to cheer him up,” echoed Seth before the four of them went to the patio. “We called Trey and…”
-“You called Trey?” asked a surprised Sandy.
-“I needed some info on Ryan and…”
-“Because I called Trey…”
-“So did I,” confessed Kirsten.
-“Okay, what do you have?” asked Seth.
-“You first,” decided Sandy.
-“Dad, don’t…ouch, okay” gasped Seth while rubbing his arm. “That hurt, Summer!”
-“Cohen!”
-“Ryan likes drawing, so I bought…ouch, we bought him sketcher books and pencils. He likes movies nights and Al Pacino, so we bought him The Godfather. We could watch the first one tonight, for his birthday’s eve! And he likes Mountain Dew, so we bought him…”
-”He’s been living with us for seven months and I didn’t know what kind of soft drinks he likes,” whispered Kirsten.
- “Now, we know,” added Sandy. “Trey told me he likes reading especially 19th’s authors and fantasy and…”
-“Paul Auster’s novels,” ended Kirsten. “His favorite color is dark blue, his favorite sport is soccer, he likes basket ball but he doesn’t play very well, according to my source who pretends that he’s way better than his little brother.”
-“Favorite cake is peach pie. Trey was surprised to hear that Ryan likes listen to music. In Chino, apparently he didn’t,” explained Sandy.
-“Peach pie? I should try and bake him one for his birthday,” suggested Kirsten before being interrupted by two loud ‘no’ and a ‘there’s a great bakery near Harbor’.
-“You, guys, one day, I’m going to decide I’ll never cook again. Ever.”
-“That would be tragic,” exclaimed Sandy and Seth.

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Kirsten forced herself to stop looking at Ryan’s plate. She looked up and realized that Sandy was focused on Ryan’s plate as well. Their foster son was actually eating but looked tense and chewed each forkful of chicken and rice very carefully.
-“I’ve just finished reading Ropes burns by FX Toole,” began Kirsten. “The book had just been adapted by Clint Eastwood and I’d like to go watch it. There’s a séance next Monday. Who’d like to come with me?”
-“What’s it about?” asked Seth.
-“Boxing.”
-“Mom, except with a playstation, I’m not really interested by boxing!”
-“I’d like to come, if that’s okay,” interrupted Ryan while moving the food around on his plate nervously. “I’ve read the book and some others stuff on Dub Huntley.”
-“Dub who?” asked Sandy.
-“Dub Huntley. F.X. Toole is the pen name of boxing trainer Jerry Boyd,” explained Ryan. “And he was introduced to boxing by Dub Huntley. The book is dedicated to him,” developed Ryan before taking a bite of rice.
-“Is the movie with the actress who used to play a guy in that movie?” asked Seth.
-“Hillary Swank,” confirmed Kirsten while glancing surreptitiously Ryan shoveling some rice in his mouth.
-“She won an Oscar for her role,” confirmed Sandy trying to hide that he was closely monitoring Ryan’s plate.
-“After the diner, we could watch a movie,” proposed Seth. “I bought The Godfather.”
Kirsten watched Ryan smile and nod.
-“It’s an awesome movie! But you’ve got to know that there is no shark in it. I don’t want you to be disappointed,” he added while Sandy was chuckling and patting his son’s shoulder.
-“The Godfather is almost as good as Stallone’s last movie,” he grinned before standing up and taking the plates.
-“We’ve got yogurt, fruits or ice-cream for desert.”
-“Ice-cream. Chocolate one,” answered Seth.
-“Ryan?”
Ryan shook his head no.
-“I’m full. Can it wait?”
Kirsten moved closer and put her hand on Ryan's shoulder.
-“Sure, come on, sweetie, let's go watch the movie.”
-“You’ve got to open the package before we can actually watch it,” indicated Seth.
Ryan took the box and looked at Seth quizzically.
-“Birthday gift! Does that ring any bell, dude?”
Ryan thanked Seth and mumbled something before opening the package carefully.
-“Of course not, kid,” answered Sandy quietly. “We’re waiting tomorrow before giving you our gifts, but we’d have never forgotten your birthday,” he insisted before patting his foster son’s back gently.
-“Kirsten, I’ll tell you when you’ve got to close your eyes,” warned Sandy. “I guess it’s tougher than Dirty Dancing.”
-“I won’t answer that,” replied Kirsten while easing herself on the coach.
-“Yeah, we certainly don’t want see Dad’s impression of Patrick Swayze.”
-“Good point, honey. It’s beginning!”
The last time they all had a family movie night, Ryan was all right, Sandy thought. He was, right? Sandy forced himself to remember this day better. The realization that Ryan wasn’t doing okay then hit Sandy full force. The kid was already exercising too much, he wasn’t hanging out with Seth anymore and spent all his free time doing his homework. He was so nervous when they had opened the gifts he had offered to them, he was cold and had fallen asleep in the middle of the movie. How could he have been so blind?
-“Kirsten, time to close your eyes!” indicated Ryan while Seth began to chuckle.
-“Ryan’s definitely right, honey,” confirmed Sandy while ruffling Ryan’s hair fondly.

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Saturday, March 19th

-“Happy Birthday Ryan!” exclaimed Kirsten while lighting the candles.
-“Happy birthday, kid!” echoed Sandy.
-“Happy birthday, dude! Don’t expect getting a car. Mom and Dad don’t believe in giving us a car for our sweet sixteen. Which totally sucks, but they got you new cool clothes, books and dvd’s, so I guess it’s not so bad.”
-“Seth, you know you could borrow the Rover - except to go to the IMAX - and Ryan, you can also borrow the car as soon as you get your driving license. Just tell me when you want to pass the exam. Here are the next sessions,” explained Kirsten while giving a paper to Ryan.
- "Thanks," answered Ryan with a genuine smile.
-“Since you didn’t seem to have any idea on how you wanted to spend your birthday, we thought that we could go picnic on the Balboa Heights and spend the day there. What do you think?” asked Sandy. He had grilled Trey for half an hour before the kid remembered that for Ryan’s seventh birthday, they'd had a picnic and that he had loved it. It was six months before their father went to jail and Ryan had talked about his birthday for years. When he watched Ryan’s face lighten up, Sandy knew that he had been right.
-“Sounds great.”
-“Open your gifts! I know that I’ve already told you that there is no car in them, but still, I wanna know what you get,» begged Seth.
-“Seth,” scolded Kirsten.
-“Well, I’ve already gotten the Godfather...”
-“and, and, and this wonderful blue box,” continued Seth while giving it to Ryan. “Happy birthday, dude!”
-“Happy birthday from Seth. I totally helped him to pick it, happy B-day, Chino. Summer” read Ryan. “Thanks, man.”
Ryan began to open the box and found Lord of the ring in books and in DVD’s and a navy blue hoodie. “That’s really cool, thanks Seth.”
-“You’re more than welcome.”
Ryan discovered an ipod with a USB key and a note “we tried to find the music you like. PS. Don’t worry, no Death Cab in it,” that made him chuckle and Seth protest, some clothes, brand new black boots and an original edition of The Great Gatsby.
-“Thanks, guys, I love them. There are great,» Ryan said while rubbing smoothly the cover of the book. “It’s beautiful and I haven’t finished it last summer, so, thanks.”
-“It was Trey’s idea,” explained Kirsten. “He’s going to call you in a few...”
A phone call interrupted her.
-“It’s probably Trey,” announced Sandy. “Or, it may be Caleb greeting you a happy birthday,” he added, earning a smile of Ryan before the kid exited the den hurriedly.
-“Hey, Little Bitch, getting older? Happy birthday, Ry!” greeted Trey.
-“Thanks, man. What’s up?”
-“Nothing major. I’ve got a job, I’m learning cabinetmaking,” announced Trey.
-“That’s nice!”
-“How are you, little bro? Mr. Cohen...he told me you had some problems.”
-“It’s nothing, I’m fine,” replied Ryan.
-“Apparently you’re not that fine. Ryan, I’m in jail, but I’m your brother and I watch your back, so tell me how you are. Remember, I know you suck at lying. You’re okay?”
-“I don’t know,” admitted Ryan.
-“Is it because of Dawn living with this son of a bitch and his brats?”
-“She told me she was better off without me...”
Ryan’s voice was unusually plaintive and Trey winced. The kid was really messed up. Bitch.
-“It’s her loss. I know it’s hard but you know Dawn is a wreck. Hell, she was probably high when you called her.”
-“She wasn’t.” That hurt the most. Dawn wasn’t high. She wasn’t even drunk. She was sober and had told him that she was better off without him and that living with AJ’s kids was the best thing that ever happened to her.
-“You’re lucky to live with the Cohens...”
-“I know that,” whispered Ryan.
-“And they’re damned lucky to have you living with us, because you’re great, Ry. They know that, I know that, everybody but you knows that. Ry, my time’s up. Mr. Cohen told me... I’d like you to visit me when you want...I won’t ask you for any more favours, don’t worry...”
-“I’ll come.”
-“Ry. Have a great birthday!”
-“Thanks, man,» answered Ryan before hanging up and coming back to the den. He committed Trey’s words to memory : They’re damned lucky to have you living with us, because you’re great, Ry. They know that, I know that, everybody but you know that.

wasted, cheekymice's challenge

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