FicWad

The Prologue: Where Are They Now?

"Tell me does he look like me at all
Cause there are an awful lot like you
Tell me does the world look all the same
And to the people all take care of you
And did you doubt the curve of the Earth
And every word I bet you do"
Curve of the Earth - Matt Nathanson

The skies of Boston could never to that of southern California, at least in Ryan Atwood's minds. The sunrises didn't seem and bright and the sunsets never seems as beautiful. And the weather, well don't even get him started there. Three years in Boston had done little to curb his love of California. On the rainy days, and there were a lot of them, he would stare out of his dorm room window and compare the east coast to his home. He would wonder about the weather at home and the people at home. He could picture Seth out on the water sailing, while he sat out starting at the rain. Ryan wasn't made for the East Coast and no matter how much he tried he probably never would be.

"I guess I never realized that when you left Chino you left people behind too"
"Yeah I never want to do that again"
It was often that brief conversation with Marissa from years ago rang through Ryan's mind. He hadn't intended to leave anyone behind ever again, but Harvard was something he simply couldn't pass up. A partial scholarship to the top rated architecture school in the country, he couldn't tell them no, when he read his acceptance letter it was the first time in his life he ever truly felt proud of himself. Cal Tech had also sent him a letter, but Sandy and Kirsten also pulled some strings there, Harvard he'd done on his own.
So he went, also on his own. And sometimes on those rainy days looking out his dorm window wondering about California, he hated himself for leaving.

College had been another world for Seth Cohen. As soon as he set foot on the Berkley campus he knew he'd found his place in the world. It was nothing like high school, and nothing like Newport. He was no long the only kid in school who liked comic books or was into cult films. When Death Cab or Bright Eyes played The Fillmore, he no longer went by himself or drag someone along with him, because he could readily find someone to go with. In fact he had his pick of people to go with. For the first time in his life Seth knew what it felt like to be popular, and he was popular without having to sacrifice who he was. . And he had to admit that he liked the feeling of popularity much better than the feeling of being a social outcast.
But absence can make the heart grow fonder and San Francisco had done that to him. He found himself missing Newport more often than he ever thought he would. Maybe it wasn't that he missed Newport as much as he missed the way things were in Newport. He missed seeing Summer everyday, he missed the constant drama that always seemed to follow Marissa, but more than anything he missed Ryan. His best friend, his brother was all the way across the country and he might as well have been on another planet all together. Sure they talked regularly but it wasn't the same as having him there with him.

Over two years had passed since Marissa Cooper had last laid her eyes on Ryan. And as much as she'd tried to shake him from her mind and from her heart, nothing ever seemed to work. It had been the summer after there freshman year of college when Ryan last came home. Things between them hadn't gone so smoothly, not that they were expected to after the way things ended after graduation.

She wind was coming off the water to harshly that she could taste the salt of the ocean with each breath she took. Marissa laid there entwined in Ryan's arms neither of them speaking much. The summer had been amazing; it had been the 'normal' summer they'd planned on having a year earlier. But it was all coming to an end far too quickly and in a few weeks Ryan would be boarding a plane for Boston, and she'd be packing up and preparing for USC. If Marissa could have frozen that moment right then, lying in Ryan's arms, she gladly would have.
With a sigh she spoke "This is nice."
"Yeah it is," he leaned down and gently kissed her temple.
"I wish we could just stay like this, we've been through so much to get here and I just wish it didn't all have to end. I wish you weren't leaving again."
"Marissa it isn't like that, you know that."
"I know you're not leaving for another girl like last time, but you're still leaving."
"Yea but this is different Marissa... I mean... You could come with me."
"What?" She tried to disguise the shock in her voice.
"You could come with me to Boston."
"Ryan what about school, I mean that's why you're going there and I'm staying here."
"Well Harvard's not the only school in Massachusetts, hell Harvard's not the only school around Boston. We could make it work."
"Yeah because we're so good at that."
"What do you mean?"
"Ryan every time we've said we're gonna make it work, we don't"
"So what are you saying Marissa?" As he her tone got softer and softer, his seemed to be growing harsher.
"I'm saying.... Everything's going to be different. I mean we're going to be in completely different worlds again. Both of us meeting new people, starting new lives. I mean where are we going to fit into each other's life after that?"" It was taking all she had to fight back the tears. "I'm saying that maybe this summer is all we're meant to have. I'm saying maybe this time we shouldn't try, it'll be easier that way."

She never forget how cold his touch was after she said those words to him. Some nights she woke up crying remember how much she'd hurt him, and hurt her in the process. That one moment had changed everything between them before they even had the chance to say goodbye.

Of all her friends college had probably been the hardest for Summer Roberts. Marissa had gone all reclusive after Ryan left, so all she ever did was get up go to class and go home. And well Seth, apparently Berkley was a whole college full of Cohens and Seth was they ring leader. But LA a place where Summer thought she would have it made, was in fact a place where she'd gotten treated like gum on the bottom of someone's shoe. She didn't have an eating disorder and hadn't grown up shopping Rodeo Drive, or snorting coke in swanky hotel rooms. And even though her father was a plastic surgeon, she'd never had any work done. So she didn't exactly fit in with the rich girls. And the middle class and poor girls thought that since she was from Newport, she was part of the rich girls' circle, so none of them would talk to her.
For the first time, she understood how Ryan must have felt when he first moved to Newport. And even though they hadn't always been the closest of friends in high school that summer before college they'd had a chance to get to know each other better and understand each other. By the time he left Ryan and Summer had more than just a mutual respect for each other, they had a strong friendship. And man had college been a place where she could have used his support and understanding, so she got it. Every time she got down or discouraged she called Ryan. Who though a man of few words, always managed to help her through the bad stuff. And she never told Seth or Marissa, but on several occasions over the past few years, she'd gotten on a plane and gone to see him for the weekend. Summer was probably the only one of the gang who had gotten a good glance at what Ryan's life in Boston was really like. It made her miss the way things were, and though she'd once said that things could never be the way they were, she really did long for all of them be to back together in Newport.