#ryanatwood

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.” 

--------------------------------

She’s introduced as the rich girl next door, who’s waiting to be picked up by her possibly first, long time boyfriend in the driveway. Later on, we find out that she’s not just the ordinary girl next door. She’s organized and loves planning events (the fashion show was the start of many),  while it may seem like she’s only doing it for her mother’s sake, but you can tell that she really enjoys it as it becomes another way of escapism  from her dysfunctional family (other than drinking that we’ll get into that later). She does this every season that when she’s kicked off the school even for heroic reasons, that’s when everything starts spiraling out of control that she loses herself. 

Now let’s talk about Luke, Marissa’s first, long-time boyfriend who happens to be a water polo guy that Seth might or might not hold hatred for. From the first season, we get to see a glimpse of how her family, well, Julie mostly, is the kind of rich family that forces her to be and stay with Luke just because they “look good on paper”. It reminds me of Blair and Nate from Gossip Girl, another one of Josh Schwartz’s big hit show. However, Marissa doesn’t seem too happy with the rich life that she’s used to, especially when she knows that her father is possibly in deep trouble as cops keep showing up at her door. Enter Ryan. He’s an outsider, someone who’s far different than her, someone that she longed for in years. She’s intrigued, that one is hard to deny. However, when they start talking and conversing in each other as they sneak into the Model Home house, she realizes that they’re not that different, if anything, they’re similar. In a way.. But, when Cotillion comes around, she doesn’t know what to do, as Julie once again, demands that she stays with Luke just because they’re “picture perfect” (doesn’t matter if the guy cheats and whores around behind her back like the asshole he is *sigh*). And if we’re not going to blame Blair Waldorf for letting Nate cheat on her and still choose to be with him, then we’re not going to shame Marissa, either. Yes, we went there. (take that, Bustle and TheTalko!). 

Marissa’s addiction. That one is possibly one of her worst traits, that the writers loved toying around with throughout the seasons. She tends to go overboard with this one as we see on the very first episode where she steals a whole bottle of alcohol and is left on the driveway, passed-out. This is where Ryan comes in, carrying her back to the pool house, indirectly claiming as her savior *this goes both ways for each other throughout the series, by the way*. Her alcoholism isn’t just the only thing that occurs whenever her life’s on downward spiral, it’s also shown in her bedroom sometimes. When she’s on a grey area with her life emotionally, she reflects it on her bedroom, that soon leads to be a makeover project by her best friend, Summer. Summer describes this as a reason why she’s so depressed, which psychologically speaking, can be accurate. Messy rooms are sometimes interpreted as one’s life not being as organized as they expect it to be, therefore they tend to think that “if my life is out of control, then what’s the point of keeping my room clean”? This is definitely what happens to Marissa. 

Her addiction doesn’t even get too much until Season 3. Even after what happens with Ryan’s brother, we rarely see her taking a drop after, Ryan says and I quote, “You’ve been amazing,” She replies with, “I know what it feels like to have someone believes in you when no one else does.” 

 Aside from negative coping, she’s not only known for that, if you’re actually looking closely into her character and not just judging it based on the cover. She’s an avid reader, though it’s barely shown, but we see her having her nose buried in a book every once in a while. Now that I think about it, that and many other positive qualities that she has, should have been focused and explored way more. She’s organized and carries planner whenever she needs to, she’s clearly more than the girl who needed saving if only the writers see that. Cause then maybe, people won’t refer to her as a “tragic” character that the writers want us to believe *she is not*. 

She’s definitely an introvert - compared to her best friend, Summer, who’s more the life of the party. Sure, she goes to parties and surrounds herself with her so-called “friends”, but you can literally see her drinking alone in the corner while Summer is probably having a lot more fun than she is. It’s clear that she only uses party scene as a way to steal alcohol that she will probably drink later at night as a way of coping. She also seems to be uncomfortable around new people and charges her energy while she’s on her own. This is why when she’s kicked off the school and has to go to a new environment, she doesn’t fit in right away, which leads to her insecurity increasing even higher (something that she also struggles with on a daily basis). The insecurity itself is possibly rooted from maternal issues she has, we see that on the very first episode, Julie is critizing her on how she looks, how she takes the comment on a personal level. After overdosing herself in Tijuana, she’s put on Suicide Watch, and we learn that she also suffers from “possible” ED in the past, masking it something that’s not serious because she was very stressed at the time, but is it though? Now, we never really know further cause that storyline is never explored further, we also don’t know if the writers are taking it seriously or just putting heavy weight on her shoulder for fun. Either way, it really sucks for her character, especially when she had other deep trauma issues that are barely addressed throughout the series.

Her savior complex. Now now now, this one is kind of controversial, excluding the last season where the main focus is “Ryan failed to save her”, helping and saving people are actually her forte, just like Ryan - which is why they probably connect in the first place. People love to call she’s selfish and needs saving all the time, but they’re people, who don’t bother to look deeper and judge all they please, it’s sickening. First, despite how problematic it might seem, she tries to help Oliver (no matter how many times Ryan thinks she doesn’t). She sees herself in Oliver and is scared that he might go down the rabbit hole if she leaves him alone, that’s actually sweet and showcases her nurturing side. The only downside is that every guy she does this to, seems to take it the wrong way and thinks of it as more than a friendly gesture. Cause you know, it was the 2000s, boy/girl friendships aren’t as common as it is now. She even lets Ryan go to help Theresa even though she needs him as well, knowing that he literally has an affair with another girl while they are still kind of together. How she’s trying to make  Ryan’s brother feel welcome in the neighborhood, keeping him company, not realizing that Trey might turn out to be the one that truly hurt and destroy her. What makes my blood boil even more is when they call her stupid for trusting Trey, for what, really? For wanting to get to know Ryan’s family because she loves him that much, that she’s willing to go far and beyond? *shudders* Even then, she’s still not thinking of herself when that happens, that her only response when Trey confronts her is “Me?! How about Ryan?” So yeah, I’ll fight anyone who calls her selfish. My ass.  The other thing with Johnny is that, she doesn’t try to save him, she actually sees him as a friend that she can vent to about her traumatic events that happen to her in the previous season. Because, for some reason they make Ryan look and seem like a douche this season and not wanting to talk to her though he always is there for her before *probably for angst, right?*. It’s actually stupid how they twist Johnny around and make him in love with her, leaving her yet alone again, but guess that’s what they’re trying to accomplish with her character as she’s left with her addiction only during this entire thing. 

Saving guys who don’t even deserve a shred of her kindness aren’t the only thing she’s good at - remember Hailey, Kirsten’s sister, who ends up a stripper that one time and how Marissa and Ryan find her and as he’s about to give up after getting kicked out of a club, she’s still optimistic and comes up with a plan to save her? Yeah, that one true partner in crime right there. She also schemes every now and then, not that that’s ever explored deeply in the show, but it’s there. 

Now Volchok, the guy that we all want to punch (Let’s go, Ryan!). She just loses a friend (one she can talk to about traumatic events), deals with s3xual assault and having to shoot someone to save her boyfriend, that’s got to be too much on a teenager girl like her. So no, she doesn’t just do that because she “loves to date bad boys”. There she is, standing and looking around the Model Home house, reconciling of the old times between her and Ryan. She realizes that she wants to be with Ryan and is ready for it too, but she can’t seem to go over to him when the time comes, giving him the mixtape that she makes him. The situation’s reversed, she used to be the rich girl with a mansion, now there she is, barely having her own bedroom, living in a trailer park. To add to that, she’s dealing with traumatic events still, so of course she’s insecure. She thinks she’s not good enough for Ryan and giving in to Volchok is a sign of that. But she wants Ryan to be happy, hence why she chases after Sadie, practically driving the girl into his arms. Poor, poor girl deserves so much better.

Let’s take a breather and talk about her family now. Despite how dysfunctional it might seem on the outside, and how many furniture thrown in the pool, doesn’t erase the fact that she’s a family girl. Jimmy, her father, has a way of coming and going any ways he likes. She even points it out and says, “You know, I wish you’d be like a real dad,” Ouch, that hurt. But it’s true, when it comes to family, she’s looking for a tradition, something stable that she can always cling onto especially when she’s in time of need. This is why when she comes up bringing bagels to the Cohen’s house, she feels warmed and welcomed by the family. It’s the one thing she lacks of in her family. Julie, despite the crazy ways in providing for her, is actually doing a better job at being there for her than Jimmy ever does. Sure, Julie is seen more of a villain in the first season (hell, the woman sleeps with her boyfriend that she lost her virginity to, so if I were her, I’d understand if she wants to, say, take revenge and invite her mom’s sister that Julie strongly hates as part of her master plan), but by the end of Season 3, they really grow stronger as a mother-daughter relationship that we really wish to see more of if given a chance.  Despite not showing much for her and only coming for the drama, she truly cares for her sister, Kaitlin. When she’s done moping around after traumatic events, she drives away to where her sister’s boarding school is, all because she wants to help her sister with something. There she is, finally having drama-free, fun episode where we get to see her strolling around in a sexy school girl outfit, but clearly the writers never catch her a break and hate to see her happy for once. 

Marissa is always seen as beautiful on the outside, but I don’t think she ever feels it at times. Luke’s cheating, probably makes her feel insecure and her mother sleeping with him helps as well. Ryan is the only person who actually sees her. She’s his heather.

People love pointing out her flaws when it comes to her relationship with darling Ryan, but the truth is, she has always been putting him before anyone else. She saves him multiple times throughout the series, even when he’s hardly there for her in Season 3. When she follows him to Chino, she visits his house and finds out more about him as a child - discovering that he used to be in a play dressed as Snoopy (again, she’s finding more and more about him because she cares and loves him deeply). Then, he goes out there saving his brother, not knowing that who he’s dealing with, she comes just in time with a car, saving him. This happens again when he’s broken up with Lindsay, she finds him in the rain, and comforts him, no talking needed. She shot her rapist to save him by the finale. Even in Season 3, when he’s chasing trouble with Volchok going back to his old ways as she’s miles away from Newport, he seeks for her help again, she is quick to respond and be there for him right away. Something he fails to do during this season, don’t ever tell me that she never thinks of him when that’s not true. She encourages him to talk about his architecture dream when they’re both on a college trip (this is such goals!). 

With her neglectful and narcistic parents, emotionally, and Ryan’s who’s more physically, that’s why they click and their relationship works. He doesn’t trust anyone and she doesn’t encourage her bad behavior on him, but they’re both there for each other. Always. She’s his constant, just like he’s hers, she accepts him the way he is because she’s imperfect as well. She sees him as the one thing that she can rely on and that’s really sweet. They both come from dysfunctional family with their own issues in hopes to build one of their own that actually works, at least that’s what we’re all rooting for, right?