Safe With You || Seth Cohen

||70||

I stood in the kitchen with Kirsten, Sandy, Ryan and Seth about to eat dinner.

"Nice job on the grill, Seth. Those swordfish look perfect." Kirsten told Seth, who smiled.

"Wow, the student becomes a master. There's a new king of the BBQ. I cede you my oven mitts." Sandy joked and I snickered.

"And here I thought I was destined to live in your shadow." Seth told Sandy, then glanced at Ryan. "See, buddy, no need to become a fisherman after all."

"Yeah that was a bad idea." Ryan said with a wince and I grinned. "We all have our moments. Remember when I was convinced I'd grow up to be a country singer in Nashville?"

"How could I forget? I had to endure your terrible singing voice as you practiced." Ryan joked and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, Ryan, Ally. I don't know if I told you, but your graduation tickets came in." Kirsten told us, handing us both two tickets each.

"Aisle seats, nice! You'd think after sending three kids to Harbor, they could cough up more than two tickets per student." Sandy told us.

"He's just worried about the Nana." Kirsten told us.

"Yeah, she's an excellent clapper." Seth stated.

"She can do the two finger whistle." Sandy continued.

"And she's never taken a picture out of focus." Kirsten added.

"The woman was born for graduations."

"Well, let her take one of our tickets. I mean Seth has you guys covered. I'd hate to see my tickets go to waste." Ryan told them.

"Yeah, and if you think of anyone else you'd like to invite, I have two tickets available." I added.

"Why don't you two invite someone from your family? Your mom would love it." Kirsten suggested.

Ryan and I glanced at each other.

"I'm going to wash up." Ryan said before walking out. "Me too." I added, following after him. The two of us ended up going to the pool house.

"You don't want to invite Mom?" I asked him.

"I just don't want her to make a scene like she did at Casino Night."

"That was a long time ago, Ry. Maybe she's better now."

"Or maybe not."

I looked over as Kirsten walked into the pool house.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.." She started but I shook my head.

"It's okay. It's actually something I think both Ryan and I have been thinking about for a while. I mean we haven't seen our mom in so long. If we don't invite her to graduation, we may never see her again."

"Look, I know the last time she was here, it was difficult.."

"When Sandy saw her, how was she?" Ryan asked.

"Honestly, not good, but she's trying. Maybe seeing you two again will be a good thing for her."

"What if she's worse?" Ryan asked.

"There's only one way to find out. And if you two want me to fly to Albuquerque.."

"That's okay. If we do this, we need to do it alone." Ryan stated and I nodded. "And you're right. She's our mom. She deserves a chance. How bad can it be, right?"

"Right."

Later that night, I was in my room thinking about what I was going to say to my mother when Seth walked in.