Episode 9 - The Disconnect
“I trust Marissa.”
Ryan drove away after leaving Marissa to go and take care of Johnny while she had a free class.
Marissa helped Johnny walk up a flight of stairs, opening the door for him, then getting everything ready inside. As she was all done with the task at hand, bored, having nothing to do as she flipped over a magazine with her legs stretched out all the way to the table. Johnny sat next to her cuddled up with blanket to his chest.
A knock on the door. It was revealed open in time when Marissa rose to her feet and glanced over to see Summer standing there, looking back down as she put some strands of hair behind her hair.
“Oh hi, Sum. Is everything okay?”
Summer invited herself in and plopped down on the armchair, looking around. “Coop. You’re still here? Atwood’s like, waiting for you.” She warned.
Marissa sighed, looking over her phone. “Yeah I know, he texted me a while ago,” she paused to glance at the kitchen. “Alright, I’m going to go soon, just wait here.” She crossed over Johnny’s legs that were still stretched out to the table then headed her way to the kitchen.
Summer nodded and turned her lips downwards. She saw the TV on and cocked her head to the side when Johnny scooted closer. “You got to help me. She’s killing me, with all of this helping, being nice to me. Not that I don’t like it, I do.” He revealed.
Widening her eyes, Summer’s eyes lighted up. “Wow, I knew it! I called this like from the start!”
“Well? Are you going to help me?”
Marissa gripped Johnny’s medicine but slowly took a step backward when she was about to walk back into the living room. Listening in on Summer and Johnny having a conversation was cute, she knew her friend would soften up to Johnny sooner or later. But when it reached to a topic that she didn’t expect to hear, she stared at the two people in the living room with wide eye. Out of the blue, she stepped back inside, in a much cheery mood.
“Actually Sum, I’m just going to go meet Ryan right now. Can you like, stay here and help out a little bit? Don’t worry, it’s really easy, I’ve already put his medicine needed for today, it’s all over there by the kitchen counter. I’m sure you can manage, Dr. Roberts is like, a great doctor. See you.” With that, Marissa flee from Johnny’s house, probably leaving Summer too stunned to even say a response.
Marissa came to Harbor, passing only a few students left by the hallway. They were all throwing her dirty side glances but she shrugged it off. Mean Heather at school would show them how to make people cry. She glanced around to find that one Chino boy whose eyes always looked like he was sleepy. As soon as she gazed at the blond-haired boy standing before his locker, she grinned and walked over, practically shoving him against the lockers.
“You’re not going to believe what just happened yesterday.”
Ryan looked up to the ceiling, curving his lip. “That I got a lap dance by a bunch of strippers in a club and Sandy didn’t even batt an eye? Wow, you’re good at this.” He joked.
Marissa punched him on the arm, rolling her eyes. “Strippers, huh? I always knew you’d get some, just don’t get them pregnant though.” She smiled coyly, earning a sheepish stare from Ryan. She turned her head to the right, hearing someone’s annoying squeaky voice coming closer that would be no other than Taylor Townsend. Not really big on being interrupted on one of her and Ryan’s “moments” by the sneaky bitch, quickly, she dragged Ryan to the Janitor’s Closet, and held her hand over his mouth.
When the voice died down the hall, she sighed out of relief then stared back at Ryan, who was still looking at her as if she was growing two heads. “Okay back to my news. So I know eavesdropping is bad, but yesterday when I was done taking care of Johnny, like you trusted me to do. . . Then Summer came, and I overheard them talking, words were exchanged, and he admitted to liking me. Like, can you believe that?” She said.
Ryan listened intently, then caressed her arms gently up and down. “Well, I can give you two reasons.” He announced.
Tempted, Marissa grinned with a hint of redness to her cheeks. “Go on. . .” She probed him to continue.
“This one for bringing up that pregnancy thing, you understood and told me to go even if it broke your heart. And, you were willingly doing all of these amazing things to my old friend from Chino that you’d just known at the time, assuring that she wasn’t alone. Then, you helped out my brother, even if he’s helpless.”
“Okay, that’s three.” Marissa corrected. “And you know why I did those things, right?” She asked.
There it was. They’d exchanged I love you’s at a fancy New Year’s Eve Party, but to this day, Ryan still had no idea why. Hearing the flirtatious, playful tone from Marissa, also the way she leaned even closer to his body, locking them both pined against the door, led him to only be able to say one thing. “Why?”
She leaned her face closer, he could feel her breath all over him. “Cause,” she paused. She bit her lower lip with one eye staring him down seductively, but he caught her hand and stayed put. God. She always loved teasing him. “I love you, dummy.” She finally declared, laughing and making objects fall to the floor when she took a step backward.
“Oops.” She looked up at him, a cheeky grin tugged at her lips.
“Do you want to know what’s even more “oops”?”
“What?”
“Come here.”
Then she did. He lunged forward to kiss her, reversing the role so now she was pined against the other wall. She wrapped both of her hands around her neck, opening her mouth for him to explore. He began taking off her clothes, then stared down at her half-naked body, forgetting how tall her legs were. He looked up at her when he was leaving trail kisses down to her stomach.
“Thank you.”
“Well, thank you now I can cancel my porn cause there’s no better way than free viewing right?”
The two of them turned to the left, seeing the old janitor who was lurking in the corner all alone, looking at both of them with that creepy smile and stare. And Worst Timing Award goes to...
“Creepy,” Marissa pointed out.
“So am I, aren’t you Miss Cooper, the girl who was kicked out of school because you shot someone to help this Atwood guy right here? Now what would everyone say if I were to blab about this?”
Marissa turned back at Ryan, staring in disbelief. Completely ignoring the other guy in the room, she spoke to him. “Now you know why I don’t really like PDA at school.”
Ryan chuckled. “Want to continue this at the pool house?” He offered.
Marissa beamed in light, putting on her clothes back together that were left torn apart by him earlier. “You know, Summer’s pool seems deserted.” She started.
“Summer wouldn’t mind?”
Marissa stifled a laugh, shaking her head at him not knowing the fact that she practically sent her best friend on Johnny Duty. And apparently still doing it to this day cause Summer was throwing her side glares during dinner last night. “Oh don’t worry about Sum. She’s got chores.”
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Author’s Note: Anyway, so yeah, I started from the ep that began to go downhill in my opinion. I thought Ryan and Marissa deserved more of this considering they weren’t “disconnecting” as the title had, they actually talked it out like adults at the end. So this is deserved. Also bringing back Marissa’s playful attitude when she invited Julie’s sister to spite her, but this time on Summer for no reason. Don’t mind me. She was gonna stay away from Johnny anyway, so WHY not serve us this? I’ll tell you why: Josh hates Marissa, but don’t worry, I got you. xoxo