Sweet Valley University #31: The Truth About Ryan
The truth about Ryan is that he’s kind of a dick and I don’t get why everyone wants him. Is that him on the cover? If so, he kind of reminds me of the stereotypical douche bag lifeguard. The one that really belongs in some Baby-Sitter’s Club book.
So when we last left Liz, she was stuck on the side of the road and crying her eyes out because she was missing a date with Ryan. She’s now stuck in a garage, waiting for the Jeep to get fixed. The mechanic tells her that the Jeep overheated and broke a fan belt, probably because she was driving too fast in the heat. Liz gets pissed because he makes a sexist comment about how she was probably in the beauty parlor, until she realizes that he was right.
Ryan meanwhile is nursing a hangover and avoiding the ringing phone because he knows that it’s Liz. He keeps drinking whiskey and blaming her for his drinking. Jessica shows up, trying to escape Ben and Priya and has a little flirting with Ryan. Liz shows up and Jess runs off, but then Liz and Ryan have a fight. He accuses her of being too serious and not wanting him to have any fun. I’d agree with him, except that he just wants Liz to let him drink.
Believe it or not, Nina is kind of the big story of the book. She’s super happy with Stu, but feels bad about going out with him so soon after giving up on men completely. She decides not to tell anyone that they’re dating, but Winston figures it out and then agrees to keep her secret.
Ryan decides that he can’t work as a lifeguard anymore because it’s interfering with his drinking, his words, not mine. He gives the job to Nina, who naturally flips out because (a) she’s not ready for all that responsibility and (b) she doesn’t think she can cut it. I love that Ryan quit/walked away from the job twice now and yet they keep giving him the job back.
Liz tries to talk to him and when he won’t listen, she runs to Nina. They have a huge fight because Liz can’t understand why her friend only wants to talk about how his quitting affects her and not what happens to Ryan. Nina shouts at her (rightly so) that Liz only cares about how it affects her and not what it means to the rest of the team.
We also have some random woman stalking Nina. Nina goes up to her room and finds all of her bathing suits shredded. The person then whacks her over the head. Later the woman makes Nina think a baby is drowning in the water and basically makes her look like a moron. Eventually it comes out that she has a thing for Stuart and wants Nina out of the picture.
The mystery woman sends Stu a love letter, which Nina finds him trying to hide. She freaks out on him because once again, in Sweet Valley, if you ever dated someone once, you can never date anyone else. He tells her that it wasn’t a relationship, but he did have a one night stand with some girl, who immediately turned obsessive. Like he came down the next morning and found her rearranging his furniture and talking about their future.
Instead of kicking her out or telling her off, he just disappeared for a month. Not long after he came back, he met Nina. He reveals her name was Rachel and Nina immediately thinks of Rachel Max. Of course it can’t be her because his Rachel was a blond and Rachel Max had dark hair. Okay Nina.
Winston is still concerned about Wendy because she wants to divorce Pedro. He starts taking her to a bunch of psychic healers, trying to find someone who tells her not to divorce him. Every time they find someone that picks up on the Pedro thing, Wendy runs off. Eventually she confesses that she’s in love with Winston and made the wrong choice. He makes her promise to see one more healer and then decides that he needs to do something drastic…
Liz spends the whole book moping over Ryan, who spends the whole book drinking. Jessica starts crushing on him because he’s acting fun and not so serious and he keeps flirting with her. After him and Liz break up, she thinks about going after him, but then decides to talk to Liz. Liz acts like it’s not a big deal, so she goes for it.
Basically Jessica still wants Ben, but he makes it clear that he’s with Priya. Like Jess tries to give him a backrub and he walks off. It makes her feel bad about herself. Her friend gets asked to model in a runway show and she’s shot down. Then she makes a save and Priya gets credited with it. She finally dresses up in some hot outfit Liz owns, but hasn’t worn. Ben makes a snide comment, while she’s trying to sneak out of the house and Priya acts like she’s pathetic for trying to steal another girl’s boyfriend. Oddly enough, she’s not trying to right now.
Ryan sees Jessica coming and gets all excited because he thinks she’s Liz. He’s less excited to see that it’s Jess, but he’s been drinking so it’s all good. They do some flirting and he comes on to her. She can’t resist him and agrees to sneak off to his bedroom. But of course they’re only going to kiss. Right.
Liz goes to see Ryan and give him one last chance to fess up and talk to her. She hears moaning and thinks that he fell down, hit his head and is in pain. Um okay Liz, I’m pretty sure you can tell the difference between someone moaning in pain and someone moaning in pleasure. She sneaks into his room and finds him in bed (making out of course) with Jessica and runs off in tears.
Nina and Stu come face to face with the woman who’s been stalking them: Rachel Max. Apparently she’s dyed her hair since Nina saw her last. Rachel drops a bombshell: she’s pregnant with Stu’s baby!
Ryan meanwhile is nursing a hangover and avoiding the ringing phone because he knows that it’s Liz. He keeps drinking whiskey and blaming her for his drinking. Jessica shows up, trying to escape Ben and Priya and has a little flirting with Ryan. Liz shows up and Jess runs off, but then Liz and Ryan have a fight. He accuses her of being too serious and not wanting him to have any fun. I’d agree with him, except that he just wants Liz to let him drink.
Believe it or not, Nina is kind of the big story of the book. She’s super happy with Stu, but feels bad about going out with him so soon after giving up on men completely. She decides not to tell anyone that they’re dating, but Winston figures it out and then agrees to keep her secret.
Ryan decides that he can’t work as a lifeguard anymore because it’s interfering with his drinking, his words, not mine. He gives the job to Nina, who naturally flips out because (a) she’s not ready for all that responsibility and (b) she doesn’t think she can cut it. I love that Ryan quit/walked away from the job twice now and yet they keep giving him the job back.
Liz tries to talk to him and when he won’t listen, she runs to Nina. They have a huge fight because Liz can’t understand why her friend only wants to talk about how his quitting affects her and not what happens to Ryan. Nina shouts at her (rightly so) that Liz only cares about how it affects her and not what it means to the rest of the team.
We also have some random woman stalking Nina. Nina goes up to her room and finds all of her bathing suits shredded. The person then whacks her over the head. Later the woman makes Nina think a baby is drowning in the water and basically makes her look like a moron. Eventually it comes out that she has a thing for Stuart and wants Nina out of the picture.
The mystery woman sends Stu a love letter, which Nina finds him trying to hide. She freaks out on him because once again, in Sweet Valley, if you ever dated someone once, you can never date anyone else. He tells her that it wasn’t a relationship, but he did have a one night stand with some girl, who immediately turned obsessive. Like he came down the next morning and found her rearranging his furniture and talking about their future.
Instead of kicking her out or telling her off, he just disappeared for a month. Not long after he came back, he met Nina. He reveals her name was Rachel and Nina immediately thinks of Rachel Max. Of course it can’t be her because his Rachel was a blond and Rachel Max had dark hair. Okay Nina.
Winston is still concerned about Wendy because she wants to divorce Pedro. He starts taking her to a bunch of psychic healers, trying to find someone who tells her not to divorce him. Every time they find someone that picks up on the Pedro thing, Wendy runs off. Eventually she confesses that she’s in love with Winston and made the wrong choice. He makes her promise to see one more healer and then decides that he needs to do something drastic…
Liz spends the whole book moping over Ryan, who spends the whole book drinking. Jessica starts crushing on him because he’s acting fun and not so serious and he keeps flirting with her. After him and Liz break up, she thinks about going after him, but then decides to talk to Liz. Liz acts like it’s not a big deal, so she goes for it.
Basically Jessica still wants Ben, but he makes it clear that he’s with Priya. Like Jess tries to give him a backrub and he walks off. It makes her feel bad about herself. Her friend gets asked to model in a runway show and she’s shot down. Then she makes a save and Priya gets credited with it. She finally dresses up in some hot outfit Liz owns, but hasn’t worn. Ben makes a snide comment, while she’s trying to sneak out of the house and Priya acts like she’s pathetic for trying to steal another girl’s boyfriend. Oddly enough, she’s not trying to right now.
Ryan sees Jessica coming and gets all excited because he thinks she’s Liz. He’s less excited to see that it’s Jess, but he’s been drinking so it’s all good. They do some flirting and he comes on to her. She can’t resist him and agrees to sneak off to his bedroom. But of course they’re only going to kiss. Right.
Liz goes to see Ryan and give him one last chance to fess up and talk to her. She hears moaning and thinks that he fell down, hit his head and is in pain. Um okay Liz, I’m pretty sure you can tell the difference between someone moaning in pain and someone moaning in pleasure. She sneaks into his room and finds him in bed (making out of course) with Jessica and runs off in tears.
Nina and Stu come face to face with the woman who’s been stalking them: Rachel Max. Apparently she’s dyed her hair since Nina saw her last. Rachel drops a bombshell: she’s pregnant with Stu’s baby!
"The truth about Ryan is that he’s kind of a dick" HA! He definitely sounds/looks like it.
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