Summer Time - 19
Rating: No idea where this might end up so let's be safe. NC17
Beta: Thanks loracj I had a further tweak, so all mistakes are mine.
Disclaimer: I don't own The OC, Ryan or Benjamin McKenzie (unfortunately)
Story: This all takes place a few years after the end of S4
19
The next morning, Ryan walked out to the kitchen nervously. Sophie hadn’t been in to wake him up, which could only mean one thing. Sandy and Kirsten must have physically kept her out. The question was why.
Kirsten was pouring herself a cup of coffee and he could see Sophie out the window, playing on her swing set in the backyard with Sandy.
“Good morning,” Ryan said nervously. He wondered what sort of reaction he was going to get.
“Good morning,” Kirsten replied stiffly. She picked up another mug, poured him a cup and handed it to him.
“Thanks,” he replied, then waited for the inevitable.
“So is it true?” she asked.
Ryan considered pretending he didn’t know what she was talking about, but he owed her the truth.
“If you mean about me sharing an apartment in New York with Summer, then yes. It’s true,” he stated firmly.
“Sharing an apartment? Or living with her?” Kirsten asked for clarification. “There’s a big difference.”
Ryan frowned. Exactly what was she inferring?
“We live under the same roof, but in different bedrooms. Is that clear enough?”
Kirsten audibly deflated.
“So you’re not living together?” she asked, the relief apparent in her voice.
“No. I wouldn’t do that to Seth.”
“But he said ...” Kirsten started.
“I told him last night that it wasn’t like that, but he chose not to believe me. He was going to think the worst, no matter what I said.”
“So you haven’t ... you know ...” Kirsten asked again for clarification.
“No. It’s really not like that.”
Ryan couldn’t believe that she would think him capable of doing that. It had taken every ounce of his willpower NOT to act on what he wanted, and he had done it all out of loyalty to Seth…and to them. He was angry and disappointed.
“I’m sorry. I just had to ask. The way that Seth explained it ...”
Ryan was already fed up with being interrogated, and it showed in the volume of his response.
“Don’t you think that it makes sense to get your information from me and not him? He’s not the one that’s been living there, after all. Plus, he’s lied to you before.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right, of course. It’s just a surprise. The fact that you’ve kept it a secret made it easy to think the worst. Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“Because I had a feeling that I’d get this sort of reaction,” Ryan explained.
Kirsten looked guilty. So Ryan decided that it was time that he explained it all…from the beginning.
“I ran into Summer in Newport the weekend before I moved to New York. It turns out that she’s now based at the New York office of GEORGE. When she first moved there, her father bought an apartment in Soho off a colleague who was moving to the west coast. She still travels a lot with work and the apartment was often left empty, so Neil asked me to move in and basically house sit. I was reluctant because of what Seth might think, but I said that I’d do it for a few weeks until I found something else. But once I was there, it seemed silly to look for anything else. It’s really close to work, Summer is rarely there, and the price was right. On top of that, I’m doing them a favour by keeping an eye on the place. Why wouldn’t I stay there?”
Kirsten considered what Ryan said. Put like that, she couldn’t think of a single good reason why he wouldn’t, except to protect Seth, a spoiled brat that couldn’t and wouldn’t understand.
Ryan watched as Kirsten thought it through. They both knew that there wasn’t any good reason why he shouldn’t have stayed at the apartment, except for what Seth would think about it. But now Ryan was starting to think that he didn’t really care any longer what Seth thought or might think. He would never be able to make him happy. The old Seth really might be gone for good.
“Would it better if I moved out?” Ryan asked, even though he wasn’t sure that he could do it if Kirsten said yes.
He could see the indecision on her face.
“If he promised me that he’d get help, then I’d be willing to do it. But he has to make an effort first and actually get some help, not just talk about it. I don’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth anymore, and I’m not prepared to ruin something that’s working so well for me just to make him happy. Not if he’s going to lie to me again.”
Kirsten shook her head. She knew that it wasn’t fair to ask Ryan to change his living arrangements just to appease Seth’s insecurities.
“No. If you’re happy there, then you should stay. He’ll have to learn to deal with it.”
Ryan smiled. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, especially since he really didn’t know if he could have done it anyway.
“Really?”
Kirsten smiled.
“Really. It’s good to know that you have someone looking out for you. Seth takes up so much of our time these days that I’m afraid that we’re not really there for you. We’ve always known that you can look after yourself. If we kept in touch more, then perhaps we would have known about where you were living. I realise that I never even asked.”
“No you didn’t. But then I didn’t tell you either, and I could have,” Ryan admitted, wanting to make her feel better.
“If I had asked, would you have told us?”
“Of course. I’d never lie to you.”
“So you really haven’t slept with her?”
Ryan wanted to be angry at being asked again, but the fact that it was constantly on his mind made him feel guilty.
“No.”
Kirsten nodded and Ryan knew that she’d accepted it this time and wouldn’t ask again.
“So how is Summer? I have to admit that I miss having her around.”
“She misses all of you, too. I’ve been given orders to take lots of pictures, especially of Sophie, and bring them home for her. She misses being able to see her growing up.”
Kirsten noted his use of words. It was the first time that she’d heard him refer to New York as home. She didn’t know whether to be happy that he’d settled in so well or sad that he no longer considered their house as ‘home’.
“It’s still too soon, but I hope that one day, we’ll be able to make her welcome here again. None of this was ever her fault.”
Ryan couldn’t help but love the idea, and he knew that Summer would jump at the chance to keep in touch with them as long as Seth wasn’t around.
“She’d like that.”
---
Later in the day, Ryan was back in his room with Caitlyn, her textbooks strewn all over the bed. They’d made good use of their study time, and she was feeling much more optimistic about passing the upcoming tests.
“I’m so sorry about last night,” she repeated for about the tenth time.
“I told you it’s okay. I probably should have told him sooner. I was just worried that this is how he’d react.
“Where is he anyway? I haven’t seen him all day.”
“You probably won’t, at least not until after I leave in the morning. Apparently he told Sandy and Kirsten that he didn’t want to be anywhere near me.”
I’m so sorry,” Caitlyn said again.
“Enough with the sorry. It had to come out sometime, and I can share an apartment with whoever I want. We’re not doing anything wrong.”
Caitlyn was a little taken aback by the forcefulness of his response.
“Oookkkay,” she said slowly, thinking that Ryan was a little too touchy about the subject. “So you and Summer really aren’t ….”
Ryan sighed and counted to ten before he replied.
“No, we’re not. Why does everyone instantly think the worst of us?”
“I don’t think it would be bad. In fact, I think it would be great. I always hoped that you’d end up with my sister, but since that’s not possible, Summer would be the next best.”
Ryan was surprised. He never thought that someone would actually support the idea.
“Really?”
“Of course. And I know that mom’s been thinking the same thing. Her and Dr Roberts have both been hoping that something might happen with you two.”
Ryan’s surprise turned to disbelief.
“They what?” he asked incredulously.
Caitlyn chuckled at his astonishment.
“I probably wasn’t supposed to tell you, but they both hoped you two might hook up,” Caitlyn said, “but you must be losing your touch, Atwood. From the stories I used to hear about you, you should have had her in bed months ago,” she finished, a shit eating grin on her face.
Ryan didn’t know whether to believe her or not. She must be busting his balls. Julie and Neil wanting them together? He thought back to that night in Newport when the idea of him sharing the apartment was first broached. Could they have been trying to set them up back then?
This was more than Ryan could get his head around. But could it be possible? And if it was, what was Neil saying to his daughter back in New York right now? And more importantly, what was she saying to him? Was she for it? Did she like the idea? It seemed like everyone else was in on something that they’d never been a part of and yet they were the major players.
That just didn’t seem fair.
---
Ryan returned to New York and the weeks after Thanksgiving flew by. His hospital project was now working around the clock in an attempt to complete as much as possible before the Christmas holiday. He was glad he was so busy. It was helping to keep his mind off the fact that he hadn’t seen Summer for weeks.
They still spoke on the phone every day, but they never spoke about what was at the forefront of his mind. That seed planted by Caitlyn had started to grow.
And he was sure that Summer was avoiding him.
She insisted that she wasn’t; that she was just busy trying to get things finished before the politicians they were lobbying all disappeared for Christmas, but Ryan wasn’t convinced. Surely she could have spared one weekend to come home and see him.
In something close to desperation, he’d actually volunteered to go to Washington to see her for a weekend, but she’d informed him that she was too busy and wouldn’t have any time to spend with him. He was surprised by how much it hurt.
His free time was all filled with thoughts of her. He couldn’t shake Caitlyn’s words. Was it true that there were members of their families that wanted them to get together? And if they did, how would Kirsten and Sandy react? Would it make things with Seth worse than they already were?
His loyalty to Seth had been tested time and time again. He was starting to wonder why he had even bothered, especially when Seth was so nasty, and spurned his attempts to help him.
The morning after Thanksgiving, Seth had told his version of the Ryan and Summer story to his parents before disappearing for the day. Ryan had no idea where he went, but he realised that Seth now had other friends that he wanted to hang out with. He avoided Ryan completely during the rest of his visit, and Ryan was just fine with that. He was sad that the brotherly relationship they had, seemed to have disappeared completely, but he could live with that if he had to. What bothered him even more was that Seth didn’t appreciate how lucky he was to have parents like Sandy and Kirsten that were still prepared to stand by him. Most others would have given up and kicked him out by now.
But all of that only served to make him wonder if there was a time in the future where he and Summer could be together without repercussions. How and when, he still had no idea.
But it was driving him crazy. He needed to know what Summer thought about it all. He wondered if he could casually mention to her what Caitlyn had said. But he didn’t want to do it over the phone. He wanted to be able to see her reaction and the nuances of her expression. That way, he’d know if it was a surprise to her, or if she’d been thinking about the same thing. It was bugging him not knowing.
He needed to find out.