Marissa's Guilt, an o.c. fanfic

Marissa's Guilt (1)

By M.Turner

This story picks out parts from the OC up to the episode "The Second Chance" (from series 2) Everything in season one has happened, but here are the relationship histories for my story- (disregard the relationship histories of season 2, and use these ones for my story...

Alex and Marissa have recently had a secret fling, the dated each other for a short while, but nobody ever found out and they broke up because they didn't like the secrecy and Marissa didn't want to tell anyone.

Marissa then went back out with Ryan after Alex, and they are still together now.

Alex dated Seth before Alex and Marissa got together (as what happened in season 2)

Seth and Summer got back together and have been together since Seth's break up with Alex and Summer's break up with Zach (they all split up as Seth and Summer realised they wanted to get back together)

Ryan was dating Lindsey while Marissa was having her secret fling with Alex. But Lindsey decided to leave Orange County as there was too much trouble revolved around Ryan and Caleb and Kirsten.

Ok, so that's the little history! Season 1 happened, then the above happened, and then you arrive at the beginning of my story

Marissa burst in through her bedroom door, he heart racing, beads of sweat beginning to surface on her beautiful face. She can feel the nerves, the anxiety, but most of all, a feeling of guilt. Unable to stop moving, she paces around her bedroom. She reaches her dressing table, leans forward, resting her hands on the table and stares into the mirror. "What have you done?" she asks herself. "How can you be so stupid? You've ruined everything," she tells the face in the mirror. Continuing to look in the mirror she wished it was the face on the other side that had done it.

Marissa knew that it was these kinds of things that just made her life so turbulent. This time though, she knew there was going to be more than just her suffering and in the end may leave her so alone.

One Day Earlier

Alex had invited them all to the club for the concert; The Killers were playing to an already full club, but Alex had been able to make room for Ryan, Marissa, Summer and Seth. Such a cool double date they all thought. Marissa turned up, complete with hip flask full of vodka ready to take on anything Ryan had to throw at her. After all, Ryan wasn't very keen on the concert; he's not the greatest fan of live music! "Smile like you mean it" plays away as Seth heads for the bar. "Hey Alex, great concert, thanks for getting us in!" he opened.
"Yeah, no problem, Ryan doesn't look to happy about it"
"Nah, that's just Ryan, you know, concerts aren't his thing" he defended.
"Well what can I get ya anyway?" Alex asked as she notices Summer glaring over at her,
"Oh, err, 2 Mountain Dews will be great"
"Ok, coming right up," she said as she moves around the bar for the drinks.
Seth leant with his back to the bar, taking a chance to fully check the place out. 'Just your normal Newport air heads' he thought to himself as he noticed one guy leaning over the balcony throwing up onto what was luckily just the floor. "Here you go," Alex said tapping him on the back with one of the drinks. "Oh thanks. You might wanna go get that radioactive waste cleaned up over there!" he said while pointing out the bright orange coloured vomit. "Oh damnit," Alex returned as she ran off to clean up the mess.

"Here you go my little sugar muffin," Seth said as he held out a drink for Summer. "Don't talk like that, you sound like an idiot," she said as she grabbed the drink out of his hand. "Wow, I must have some kind of psychic powers... I can annoy you when I'm not even with you!" he joked, which was clearly not appreciated by Summer.

Over near the dance floor, Ryan was stood, leaning against a wall, reluctantly watching Marissa dance about on the dance floor with plenty of other guys competing for her attention. He walked over through the sea of bodies, getting his foot stepped on one minute, then knocked to the side the next before finally reaching Marissa who didn't even notice him. "Hey," said Ryan in a stern and defiant tone, "I think you need to take a break, why don't you come over here with me," he continued while grabbing her arm. "No! I don't wanna stand over there, I'm having fun!" she said while trying to move away from Ryan. "Let go of me... Ryan, let go of my arm!" she said, her voice becoming louder. "You know what, fine, you stay here, I'm gonna take off seen as though you're having so much fun without me anyway," said Ryan feeling defeated. As he walked away he noticed Summer and Seth arguing. He didn't know what about, although he did see Summer's arms waving frantically about, occasionally pointing over at the bar where Alex was serving the 'Newport airheads.' 'Great double date' he thought to himself.

Just as he arrived at Seth/Summer War 39, Summer stormed off. "She leaving?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah man, we had yet another fight. She didn't seem to like me talking to Alex... which was a bit hard considering Summer was the one who asked me to get her a drink... so really this is Summer's fault... yeah, I'm gonna stand firm on this one! Summer's fault."
"And you're gonna tell her that to her face?" Ryan asked, despite already knowing the answer.
"Ryan... my friend... there will be no need! Summer will come to me with her apology and everything will be ok"
"Seth... have you been drinking?"
"All in good time my friend... all in good time," said Seth in a very spaced out tone as he turns around and begins to walk toward the dance floor.
"Look man, I'm gonna take off!" shouted Ryan. Even though he was unsure whether Seth had heard him, he headed for the exit.

Just as he got out the club, he noticed Summer in her car; she looked up, noticed Ryan and then sped off straight away. Ryan was positive Summer had been sat there a short while and he had noticed the streaked make up that meant one thing; her and Seth's fight was serious... Summer had been crying. With the troubles of the night now whizzing around in his head he thought back to whether leaving Marissa was a good thing... 'Seth will look after her, and Alex is there too,' he reminded himself, and with that, he headed home.

What could possibly go wrong?

Back inside the club Seth was swerving around with no real purpose. Still half day dreaming about his fight with Summer, but not quite enough to to make him want to call her or chase after her right now. He needed some time to think, and besides, I've done nothing wrong he told himself.

Just then though, as if someone had just slapped him in the face, he snapped out of his trance like state as he noticed two guys on the dance floor doing something that nobody could ever describe as dancing, but harassing. Then he noticed something more serious, the girl caught in the middle like a trapped animal was Marissa.

He thought about interrupting them himself, but Seth knew it would only create another victim. Instead, he trusted his better judgement, forgot about his masculinity and rushed to the bar. "Alex!" said Seth as he slammed up against the bar. "What's up?" asked Alex, sensing the urgency in his voice.
"It's Marissa, she's a little drunk, and these 2 guys won't leave her alone," he said while gesturing over at where Marissa was now looking a little concerned. "Ok, you're the man, but you still need me to... Actually, you're right; I'll go, just wait here." Alex then marched towards Marissa, and as she approached she could see Marissa was clearly oblivious to her surroundings. Both the men trying vying for her attention were clearly too old for her and Alex began to wonder why they were even here; after all, it was mostly your average Newport teenager here for the concert. One of the men was in his mid-twenties, tall with dark hair and built more fit for a boxing ring and was intent of having Marissa to himself. The other man was also tall with scruffy looking hair, a shirt with little holes in it and ripped jeans. Alex sensed the two men weren't here together.

"HEY!" shouted Alex, partly to be heard over the pounding of "Mr Brightside" but also to make her presence known.
"Hey there girl, you come to join us?" said the scruffy looking man who then turned towards her. A swift slap on the arm was enough to make his wandering hands retreat.
"Join who man? You ain't with us," said the other man, implying Marissa was his.
"Oh yeah? Well I'll..."
"Look! Neither of you are with her, she's coming with me, and you've got two seconds to get outta here before security comes over," Alex interrupted.
"Hey lady, we're only playing around."
"Well do it somewhere else!" said Alex standing firm. She then waved over at two huge looking men wearing all black with the word SECURITY brightly stamped on their shirts.

As Seth watched from the bar, he wished he was confident enough to deal with situations like this. "Confidence Cohen" he said to himself as he remembered Anna's advice. Even though he knew he wanted to be with Summer, he still missed Anna. His and Anna's friendship was something unique, something that doesn't come along very often. He was sure of that, and often found himself longing for it back.

"SETH!" shouted Alex, "Come and give me a hand over here!" Alex was holding Marissa by her arm keeping her from drifting away as if she was a little girl. Struggling to hold her attention, and more importantly, her direction, Seth took hold of her other arm and the pair led Marissa into Alex's office.

They sat her on the couch, but she just flopped down like a rag doll so she was lying down. "Heeeey guys, has the finished concert?" she said in a slow and slurred tone before bursting into fits of giggles. Seth couldn't help but laugh with her, after all, she'd not done anything that most teenagers do; get drunk, dance wildly for a while before passing out. "I'll get some coffee ready," offered Alex, "I'll be right back."
"Yeah, good idea." replied Seth

"Seeeeth, come here a minute." said Marissa, still in her drunken tone.
"I'm here," said Seth, who wasn't drunk enough to fail to notice Seth was actually about a metre away from Marissa.
"Noooo silly, I mean here, on the couch... I need to whisper something to you.

If he was honest, Seth felt nervous and hesitant to approach Marissa, like a stray dog being approached by a person. What could Marissa possibly want to whisper to him? She's just drunk he told himself. With that, he knelt next to the couch like a child waiting to hear a story. Marissa then leant towards him, her warm breath filtering into his ear as she said, "I think I love Alex."

He fell back from his knees, feeling just pure shock. Was she serious? Why would she love Alex? He began to mumble various words out loud, "What? How? You mean...?"
"Seth!" interrupted Marissa, now with a bit of clarity in her voice, "Calm down!"
"But how did you...? What did you...?" he continued, still barely audible, unable to control his voice. Then, out of nowhere, Marissa planted her lips on Seth's

Seth felt her lips hit his, his eyes widened, and he felt like a lightning bolt had just shot through his body. The kiss went on for what seemed like an eternity, before Marissa pulled away.
"Just shh," she whispered
He felt like someone had just thrown ice cold water over him, still in a state of shock. He just sat there, unable to move, unable to speak. Marissa leant back. She felt like the kiss had just sucked the alcohol out of her like a vacuum, her head started to clear, only to be flooded with a million thoughts again. What had she just done? Not only had she revealed her feelings for Alex, but then kissed Seth! Of all people she thought, Seth should not be the one to know about her feelings for Alex. He'd just displayed critical evidence as to why not; the fact that he cannot always control his voice. Even more dangerous, he's Ryan's best friend, he's gonna tell him.

Marissa then shot up and ran from the club. Seth still felt as stiff as a statue, the shock starting to resonate out of his body as he felt himself swaying slightly. He sat back, leant against the wall. He let out a heavy sigh as he propped his head back onto the wall and just shut his eyes. Alex would be back any second; he had to figure out what he was going to say to her.

To be continued