A/N: This is my first fanfiction story, so please, please review it and give me some suggestions because I definitely need them (I'm picky, so I'd love for you to point out spelling errors)! I hope the story isn't too bad, I know I need some practice before I get good at writing this type of fiction. Since my main character is Summer, I tried to make her dialogue sound as if it were in character. Hope you like it :o)
Just A Little More Poison
"Are you sure about this Coop?" I asked, surprised by the offer.
"Sum, why wouldn't I let you stay here? I mean, I'm not going to be here for a couple weeks, and I can definitely understand not wanting to be around our parents when they're together." We both shuddered.
"Alright, but how much is the rent? Because if you're not here, you shouldn't have to pay for it if I'm living here." I've never worried about money before because my Dad has always paid for everything.
"Well, not too much because you have to pay your own water and electric bill. I mean Trey didn't have to pay anything at all because he fixed up the place himself. The landlord takes it pretty easy on you. Just try not to get behind. I'll kill you if I get evicted," she warned me jokingly.
"Well I have such great plumbing skills. I guess this means I have to actually get a job, huh?" Marissa laughed at me.
"You can move your stuff in as soon as Ryan and I are done packing."
"Great, so after you move your fifty bags of luggage, I can move in next year, right?" Coop grinned and rolled her eyes at me.
"I'm gonna be so bored while you guys are gone. Too bad Cohen turned evil. I'd go if it wouldn't be so awkward. Assface. We'll have to just hang out when you get back. But I hope you have fun anyway. And no OD'ing Coop, I don't want to have to kidnap you from the hospital again!"
By this time she was rushing back through the front door to lift another of her like billion bags of crap she just has to have with her when she's only going to be gone for a couple weeks. Trying to impress the greasy Mexicans are we?
She continued to walk back and forth. "Oh, and if you need some company Chris is in town visiting. He decided that since he works here anyway, he'll stay out of Chino for a while. Before we knew you were staying here, we were going to pay him a little to house sit for us while we're gone."
"Is he still going to stop by?" I asked suspiciously.
"Probably, just to check up on everything. Hopefully Ryan will call him later to let him know you're staying here. I mean, he's just like Ryan so I think you guys will get along great if you run into each other. Maybe he'll hook you up with a job for now too."
Great. Well, I did sort of want Ryan 'til Luke said he was from Chino.
"Kay Coop." I forced a smile.
"Sum, promise me you'll hang out with Chris?"
Well, maybe it'll be nice spending some time away from neurotic Cohen.
"Promise."
I opened the trunk and grabbed my heavy ass luggage. Just as bad as Coop. I went inside and just rolled it up next to the bed.
As I stood there, I quickly scanned the sheets. Okay, normally I wouldn't have a problem sleeping in my best friend's bed, but it's a little different now that Chino's been joining her. Um, ew. There better not be pubes in here. I gagged and tried not to think about it.
I remembered I should hurry and unpack. I want to make myself at home before Chris shows up. I don't know if I'm comfortable with this but at least he's not living here or anything. Besides, I promised Coop that I'd hang out with him at least once.
I finally finished my full invasion of Marissa's bedroom and plopped onto the bed. All that physical moving stuff that I've never done before really tired me out. I shook my head at how pathetic I am.
I stepped out of the shower the next morning and heard the phone ringing. I squeezed out my hair and threw a towel around me running out of the bathroom, down the hall, to the nightstand, whacked my knee on it, and picked up, trying not to swear. Who the hell has furniture this pointy?
"Hi, you must be Summer," a young male voice said politely on the other line.
"Hi, is this Chris?"
"Yep, are you all moved in yet?" he asked, making small talk.
I immediately said yes, to avoid him offering any help.
I felt a little awkward. I'm not used to talking to guys on the phone except for Cohen. Wait, so yeah, I'm not used to talking to guys on the phone.
"Mind if I stop by? Ryan insisted that I meet you some time."
"Sure, just give me a few, so I can finish getting ready," I said, sounding as if I were really interested.
"Alright, cool. I'll be there in 20."
Woohoo.
I hung up and looked down at the floor noticing that I left a big wet spot in the rug. Looks kind of like a pee stain. I moved my empty luggage thingy over on top of it. There. Good Enough.
I tiptoed back to the bathroom to dry off then went into the closet to pick something out. Yeah, I can't decide what to wear. Well I better hurry, or he'll get here and I'll be wearing nothing. That'd be just great!
Just after I finished getting ready, I heard a knock on the door. Ah crap, I don't even have any food or soda to offer him. Anyway, I opened the door and greeted him with the biggest fakest smile ever.
"Hi Summer, I'm Chris," he said holding out his hand.
"Hi, come in!" I shook his hand. Crap, I forgot my anti-Chino hand sanitizer.
He walked in and I motioned for him to sit on the couch. I didn't know whether or not to turn on the TV. Guess this means I have to actually have a conversation with it. I mean him.
He didn't sit down. He hesitated a little and looked down the hallway toward the bedroom and the bathroom.
"It's a nice place."
"Yeah, too bad I get kicked out in a couple weeks," I said laughing.
"Yeah, too bad, huh," he said smiling at me.
Ok look away, look away…
Yeah, he's kind of cute. Ok, that's enough.
"So how about we go out tonight or something?" His eyes got wider and he shrugged like he assumed he'd get turned down.
"Um—uh—sure, uh…"
"Well, uh, I mean, if you don't want to…"
"Yeah, sure, what did you have in mind?"
"Well, do you drink, I mean, we could go down to The Baitshop tonight and hang out. They've got Jet live and my buddies got me a couple tickets."
Oh no, I shouldn't be going out drinking again. Coop has really rubbed off on me. But I promised her. Well it's Jet, I love Jet. I'd probably go with a hobo if he had tickets.
"Sounds great."
"Cool, I'll pick you up around 7."
"Okay," I said smiling. "See ya then."
"I'll call you when I'm on my way," he said as he walked out the door to his car waving goodbye.
This should be interesting.
So here I am, going out tonight with a guy that I'm not even trying to impress and it's taking me forever just to get dressed. I stood in the doorway of the closet shuffling through the shirts, then through the skirts and jeans.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Time to make a decision. I pulled out a bus-yellow shirt that had slits down the right side under my arm, going down to my hip and the left side bunched up showing most of my stomach. The shirt had custom designed black paint smudges splashing across it, with scattered studs. Wow, I look like such a crackhead when I wear this shirt. He'll love it.
Then I just closed my eyes and grabbed whatever skirt my hand reached first. I slipped it on and it was a mini with ripped spots and a chain that went from the left front belt loop to the back. I think this is good enough for someone from Chino.
I jumped when the phone rang, stabbing myself with an eye pencil. I picked it up and guess who.
"Hey, are you ready?"
"Yeah, just about, I just need a minute to clean this…" I trailed off.
"Okay, good, 'cause I kind of forgot to call you until I pulled onto your street," he said through his laughter.
"Ah! Okay, almost done, I'll hurry out as soon as I can."
"Take your time."
I ran across the room, threw on these whorish looking black heels. Wait, these are Coops. That figures. Maybe she won't notice.
I locked up and hopped into the jeep trying not to ruin my hair on the way in. I kept blinking 'cause my eyes were all watery from way too much black makeup.
"You look good."
I felt my cheeks get warm. "Thanks." I continued to look out my window taking a guess at what shade of pink I'd already turned.
We chatted a little bit on the way, only a 15 minute drive.
I finally started to get a little more comfortable around Chris. He did remind me a lot of Ryan.
When we were riding on the highway, Chris was in the fast lane. I could see the meter from where I was sitting but he had to have been going 90. It was really windy so we could hardly hear each other talking at that point. He turned up the radio. I tend to get car sick easily so I stared straight ahead instead of to the side, so I didn't watch the road pass by. I started spacing out listening to the song on the radio.
No time for goodbye he said as he faded away
Don't put your life in someone's hands
They're bound to steal it away
Don't hide your mistakes 'cause they'll find you, burn you
Then he said
If you wanna get out alive
run for your life
If you wanna get out alive
run for your life…
Oh what a happy song. He looked over at me and reached to changed the station. Pretty much all of the stations had advertisements on so he turned it back down as we got of the exit.
Time was going by fast, before I knew it, we were inside the Baitshop, music blasting. I wish we had backstage passes.
So we headed towards the bar and Chris pulled out my stool for me before he sat down. Alex walked over to us.
"Hi…" She gave me a weird look, like what the hell are you doing here with that strange guy?
"Hey how ya doin'?" Chris said, staring at her a little.
Alex put on her bitch disguise like usual, so Chris stopped looking at her. It's so funny how she can make guys afraid of her.
"What would you like tonight?"
"How about we start off with a few spearmint Schnapps…" Chris started raffling off all these 100 proof shots. My eyes widened, remembering I really shouldn't be drinking heavily tonight.
In about a minute, Alex walked back over with a bunch of shots, and Chris kept pushing them toward me laughing as I choked them all down.
With each shot, I got a little goofier and the world looked so much more attractive.
He drank only about half the number of shots I took…maybe 5 or 6, my tolerance is way too high now.
The hours passed by quickly as we had more fun talking non-stop about everything. I think I might have told him my life story. I don't remember. I don't care, as long as I wasn't babbling about Cohen all night long.
Chris started talking to Alex about any positions available and she offered me a job cleaning around and just managing everything on concert nights, just for a temporary thing to pay the rent. I was so excited and so, so very drunk that I stood up, wobbling a bit and gave Chris a big hug. I guess he was good for something.
Eventually, I don't know exactly when, Alex started bringing us beer. I was guzzling it down so fast. I think it might have been Corona. Tastes like pee. And speaking of pee, I had to go take care of that.
"I have to go use the bathroom." I said sort of falling off my barstool.
"Alright, hurry though; you don't want to miss the last few songs of the concert."
"I know. I'll be back in a minute, hold my purse for a sec."
"I rushed to the bathroom and eventually pushed my way back through the crowd to the bar."
"Welcome back," he smiled.
"Yeah," I burped and covered my mouth laughing. Idiot.
I drank a couple more beers and just sat there and watched the band a bit, as Alex kept glancing over at me and Chris all protectively like she was suspicious about something. My stomach started to hurt so I had to stop drinking for a while. And to think, I didn't even plan on drinking hardly anything.
By this time my balance completely sucked, and I got tired of trying to sit up straight on the stool so I leaned on Chris's side and just rested my cheek on his shoulder. I kept looking in the direction of the stage, pretending I still had a clear view of the band. I listened to the echoey sound. I wondered if it was that echoey to everyone else too. I'm so drunk.
Well I've been thinking about the future
Too young to pretend
It's such a waste to always look behind you
You should be looking straight ahead
Guess I'm gonna have to move on
Before we meet again…
Oh god ew, another reminder of whats-his-name. I lifted my head off Chris's shoulder quickly to finish the last third of one of my beers in only a few gulps.
When I turned my head away from the stage to put my head back down, Chris was looking right in my eyes.
I didn't know what to do. "Hi." How mature. I laughed at myself on the inside.
Our faces were almost touching, he was so close. I felt a hand go from my shoulder to my hand and another hand slid down my left ribs to my hip and onto the bottom of my back. I felt my face get really warm again and I got nervous, but it felt good. He started squeezing me toward him a little and moved in for a kiss. He barely touched my lips at all and my eyes wouldn't stay open. When his lips left mine, I whispered, "…Did you want to …um…when you bring me home…did you want to stay..?" "Yeah, sounds like a good idea," he whispered back.
All of a sudden I felt a knot in my stomach. Is this guilt? I'm SO not cheating on Cohen, he's the one that dumped ME! I should go through with this, Chris is a great guy, and he likes me. This is my chance to move on.
I felt my stomach jump, and the blood was rushing to my head, making me feel nauseous. Maybe I shouldn't have him over if I'm going to end up puking all over him or something.
"Can I change my mind?" I said, my face all twisted from sickness.
"No, you're not allowed to…" he laughed and nodded.
Phew. Vomit would so ruin this date.
So the concert finally ended, the place cleared out in an instant, and he held my arm as I slowly walked back to the jeep. Thank God we parked so close!
I pretty much just fell in and put my seatbelt on, and he closed my door for me and hopped in the driver's seat.
I was getting ridiculously tired, I could barely keep my eyes open, and my body was tired too. I knew I shouldn't have had so much to drink again. I have to stop doing that.
The ride home was a little blurry because I was passed out half the time, I didn't hear the radio playing at all, I'm sure we had enough music anyway. All I could hear was the wind passing by my right ear from the car window on the highway, with the breeze cooling my face which was burning up.
He pulled into the drive way, and he offered to help me inside since I was kind of mopey. I was completely obliterated. This may be the drunkest I have ever been. I've had more to drink than this though, that's the confusing thing. I've never felt this sick either. Maybe a little sleep will help
I don't remember him helping me inside, just to the door. He took my keys out of my purse for me and he was holding me up. Everything darkened and I lost all control of my body.
I woke up around 5 a.m. in a cold sweat. Wow, I've never woken up this early without reason. I shivered and motioned to get up and turn the fan off. My entire body was soaked so I slowly peeled the sheets away from my legs. Must have had another stupid nightmare or something.
I figured there's no use going back to sleep if I just have to go to work in a few hours anyway. Alex is making me clean up after the concert. So I sat up slowly using all the effort I had. Ouch. My arm was throbbing almost as hard as my head. Definitely shouldn't have had so much to drink last night. Well, I say that all the time. As I stood up to reach for the chain, I caught a glimpse of my left hand and noticed fresh blood dripping from my fingertips past my wrist.
It was only one hour ago
It was all so different then
There's nothing yet that's really sunk in
Looks like it always did.
I stood there dazed and confused. I was so tired that I thought I was still dreaming or something. Finally, I made my way to the bathroom to clean myself up. The sight of blood makes me dizzy. What the hell happened to me?
You left your open drink on the counter when you went to the bathroom.
I flicked the light switch on the wall next to me and glanced forward at the sliding glass mirror. I blinked a few times and rubbed my cloudy eyes. I jumped a little when I looked at a reflection that couldn't have been mine.
There stood a girl, she was frail, looked so sick with long, dark brown, sticky hair, mascara smeared down across her cheeks. There were grayish brown rings around her eyes and her bottom lip was split open and swollen, and a painful looking trail of purple spots and lines stretched from her neck all the way down to her elbows.
You weren't allowed to change your mind.
Was I still sleeping? Why hasn't my alarm gone off yet? I'm going to be late for work again.
My legs started shaking as I continued staring at the mirror. My knees started to buckle. Then it hit me.
There's flesh and bone
It's just the way that you were tied in
Now there's no one home
I grieve for you
-Flashback-
I slowly woke up from a blur, lying on my back, starting to feel my body rocking back and forth. Ugh, I'm going to get motion sickness. I tried to move my legs and nothing happened. What the hell? I wiggled my toes a little and the tingle traveled up my legs as I started to regain feeling in them. My head was pounding and I felt really stiff. I opened my eyes to see nothing but shadow, then I realized someone must have been hovering over me. I tried to see a face, but I could barely see or even think. I tried to move my head—nothing.
Gross. I can taste beer. Great, I must have drunk a lot, since I only drink beer once I can't taste anything anyway. Why do I always do that?
Ouch. Pain shot down my legs, up my back and low in my stomach. OW! I still didn't know what was happening. I tried to push out, "what's going on?" but only air came out. I kept trying. I still couldn't see straight but tried to focus my eyes. It was way too dark to make anything out.
Still trying to speak, all I did was gurgle a little, tasting heartburn from the alcohol. A familiar face looked down at me really quickly. It took me a minute to figure it out. CHRIS.
"What are you doing!" I gasped repeatedly trying to take in enough air to speak.
"Stop! Get off of me! What do you think you're doing!"
"Oh don't be such a baby," he rolled his eyes at the interruption.
"Stop! Please stop," I cried.
"No, it's too late. It was your idea anyway, don't you remember?" He looked frustrated for a minute then started slamming even harder.
The pain got worse as I got less numb. All I could hear were the echoes of my own screams and the bedroom windows rattling. I felt like someone was holding me under water.
I continued to scream as loud as I could and started to kick my legs around. I couldn't move my arms because his hands were pressing them into the mattress and the springs kept pinching me.
"Stop moving around! You're making this harder than it has to be!" he screamed at me, annoyed.
I gathered all the strength in me to stretch forward. I bit underneath his left shoulder as hard as I could, tasting salt and blood. I heard him yelp, and his hands lifted off my arms for a brief second, giving me a little time to try to drag myself out from under him.
I grabbed the wood frame on the right side of the bed and pulled. I didn't get very far. I was still screaming at this point. When he tried to cover my mouth, he smashed my face with anger. I kept pulling away but he didn't stop or get off of me. All I could do was keep moving, keep pulling myself away as much as I could. I couldn't give up.
But the more I moved, the more anger built up inside him. I felt another blow to my temple. Then it all went black.
-End Flashback-
As I lost strength in my legs, I gripped the edges of the sink, hunching over it as the room spun around me. Is this the alcohol? This can't be the alcohol. I'm not used to this.
Did this really just happen to me?
I couldn't hold myself up any longer so I just tumbled to the floor. The landing shot through every limb.
It's so hard to move on
Still loving what's gone
They say life carries on
Let it out and move on
Missing what's gone
They say life carries on
After a minute of heavy breathing and room spinning, I pushed myself up off the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, holding my head in my hands, resting my arms on the toilet seat. The pain twisted in my stomach as it tried to jump out my throat. Everything went numb again. No, no, no, I hate motion sickness. I toppled over backwards.
A/N: I am doing a part 2 to this story because of the way I ended it. Let me know if a part 2 is even worth it.
Disclaimer: I do not own The OC or any of its characters. I do own Chris. The songs are "Get Out Alive" by Three Days Grace, "Move On" by Jet and "I Grieve" by Peter Gabriel. They own their songs.