When You Least Expect It
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, Josh Schwartz owns everything, It would be cruel and pointless to sue a broke college student.
A/N: The worst things happen when you least expect it. Ryan gets into a serious car accident, and he and everyone in his life (focus on Marissa, since this is naturally an RM story) have to deal with the fall-out. Yes, I will finish Reading Between the Lines. This chapter is a little on the racy side, so be forewarned!
"Ryan!"
Marissa Cooper couldn't think. Every one of her senses was on total overload. Every inch of her, all she could smell, taste, touch, feel, or think was Ryan. His hands were everywhere. He was so close to her she couldn't tell where she ended and he began. She couldn't even catch her breath; he kept taking her mouth in his over and over, each kiss deeper than the one before. Just about every rational thought had flown right out of her mind as she lost herself in her boyfriend.
With the last thread of sanity she had left, she managed to pull away just enough to gulp in some air. "Ryan," she weakly protested. "Have you totally forgotten we're in your kitchen? What if someone comes in?"
"Who's going to come in?" Ryan murmured, attacking her neck with his lips next. "Sandy and Kirsten are gone for the weekend…" he slowly made his way up her neck "Seth is at Summer's for the night…" he placed a line of kisses across her jaw "So really, who is there to worry about?"
"Since when have you ever known who was going to show up at this house next?" Marissa said on a sigh, knowing she was losing the battle and not finding the energy within herself to care.
"Come on," Ryan coaxed with that rare brilliant grin she'd never been able to resist even a little. "Live a little."
"What's gotten into you?" Marissa breathlessly giggled. "I thought you wanted to have dinner."
"I do," Ryan said sincerely, his words somewhat undercut as his hand started drifting lower and lower down her leg, dangerously close to the hem of the skirt she was wearing. "Dinner…and dessert…"
Marissa sucked in her breath as she felt his warm hand on her thigh. "You know, you already got me," she murmured, closing her eyes again as he once again focused on her neck. "You don't have to try and seduce me."
"Then why are you being so uncooperative?" he teased, his voice low and husky.
What the hell. "That's a really good question," she breathed into his mouth before wrapping her arms around his neck and returning his kiss with force.
Ryan wasn't sure he'd ever totally get used to this, to the new freedom he had with her. Hell, there was the occasional point where he still felt like the kid from Chino who couldn't quite believe this girl liked him back. Part of him had thought they'd never reach this point. As her tongue melded with his, however, he ceased to think altogether. Pure sensation took over. Before he knew it, they'd stumbled back so he had her pressed against the wall as they kissed wildly.
"Should we take this…to the pool house?" Marissa managed to get out before he took her mouth in yet another endless kiss.
Ryan raised his brows. "Where's the fun in that?" Marissa barely had time to gasp out a breathless laugh before he grasped her hips; instinctively, she moved up so her legs were wrapped around his waist. He caught his breath. "You're not wearing any underwear, are you?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Marissa playfully taunted, wrapping her arms around him again and blending their mouths together. Ryan stumbled over to the table and with one swift move, knocked everything on it onto the floor before laying her on it. Marissa had a final coherent thought: that wasn't going to be too easy to explain. As Ryan moved on top of her, all rational thinking ceased to exist.
"Do you have to go?" Ryan complained, sounding for all the world like a sad little boy as they stood together at the doorstep.
"I really don't want to wreck the Cohens' house any further," Marissa said wryly and he flushed a little. "No really, my mom's doing that thing she does like once a month where she pretends she cares you and I are…together. Like fully together. It's easier to placate her and spend the night home every once in awhile than us dealing with the hassle." She raised her brows playfully at him. "She'll probably be sound asleep in like two hours, though."
Ryan grinned. "It's a date," he murmured, brushing his lips against hers. Marissa closed her eyes and simply leaned into him for a moment. She loved this. She loved how they were a- well, maybe not a normal couple as they'd just had sex on the kitchen table and broken half the stuff in the kitchen in the process, but a HAPPY couple. For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, things were on a truly even keel. They were on the same page and nothing in their lives was too dramatic.
"Hey." Ryan ran a hand over her hair. "Where'd you go? Are you tired? I could drive you home and pick you up for breakfast in the morning."
"No, no. I'm fine. Just wandered off for a minute," Marissa smiled. Some girls needed flowery romantic declarations all the time to know their boyfriends loved them. She didn't understand it. She hadn't always gotten things like this herself, she knew, but it was so obvious now that these little things were what mattered. He didn't tell her he loved her every second of the day. He didn't have to. In something as simple as him refusing to let her drive if she was tired, she knew. She shook her head to clear it and leaned in to give him a kiss. "So…two hours or so?"
"I'll last that long," Ryan smiled back and with one final kiss, released her so she could go to her car. Watching her leave, something inside him warmed at her simple, sweet gesture of blowing him a kiss before she drove off.
The next two hours dragged by slowly for Ryan. He cleaned up the rest of the mess in the kitchen, still not exactly sure how he was going to explain everything that was broken to Kirsten and Sandy. Luckily, he didn't appear to have broken anything that couldn't be replaced; he decided to go out and buy some of that stuff tomorrow, since he didn't particularly want to explain WHY anything might be broken. He attempted to read a book, but he was too distracted by thoughts of earlier in the evening. He and Marissa had never been quite so…free spirited before, but he definitely wasn't complaining.
He told himself it didn't matter that it was pretty much exactly two hours on the dot after she'd left that he climbed into his car. It wasn't like he was as whipped as Seth claimed he was. He knew that was bullshit, but it made him feel better to delude himself that he was right. Tapping his fingers restlessly on the steering wheel, he wondered how long he could get away with staying over. It had gotten to the point where he and Marissa spent the night together more often than not and he'd gotten used to not sleeping alone.
It would be ironic later. He'd rarely been LESS on guard in his life than he was in that moment. Wasn't that when the worst things always happened? He never even saw it coming, sitting at that stoplight. There was a split second of his world being filled with blinding headlights and screeching tires, then everything went black.