"Alex. Alex. Alex!" the brunette said, tapping the blonde girl on her shoulder. Alex startled out of the daze she had fallen into. "How's never never land this time of year?"

Alex sighed as she looked to the girl. "Cute Jodie."

"Where'd you go off to?" Her ex's brows furrowed. "You were thinking about that girl again weren't you?"

"What? No way. I'm…over her," Alex said, trying to hide the uncertainty she really felt in that statement and by the look on Jodie's face she had failed miserably. "I am."

Jodie rolled her eyes. "Look, I may not have been the best girlfriend or friend to you, at least not back then, but even I can see that you are still in lo…"

Glancing to her watch, Alex realized that her shift was over. "I have to go. See you at home!"

"Coward!" Jodie called after her.

I'm not a coward. Alex inwardly scoffed at herself. Yea right. I left like the day after Mar…she broke it off and went back to living with my parents. That had been over a year ago. She'd spent six months living with her parents, couldn't take it, and then went back to the only person she knew would let her in – Jodie. They'd agreed not to date. More along the lines of Jodie backing off after Alex spent the first few weeks moping around the apartment.

As she got into her Jeep, the blonde haired girl looked to the passenger's side and the memory of placing the other heart shaped pendant on Marissa flashed in her mind. Why can't I stop thinking about her? Alex wondered, turning on her car. It's been so long since I saw her. I got closure. She shouldn't be on my mind.

"After all, I'm sure her and Ryan are very happy," she muttered, letting anger swell inside her instead of self pity.

Seth sat on the counter, watching Ryan as he made his breakfast.

"Seth…"

"What?"

"You're kinda creeping me out, man," Ryan said, glancing over his shoulder to him.

"Ryan, when do I not?. Nevermind. Don't answer that. Look, how are things going with you and Marissa?"

"Seth, it's too early to be talking about this."

"What? Dude, we've talked about stuff like this at all times of the day."

Ryan nodded. "True, but I don't want to this morning."

"Ok, well then I'll just have to resort to convincing you to join me to go to ComicCon in L.A. this weekend."

"Marissa and I are…on a 'time out'," Ryan said, then took a large bite of his cereal.

Seth smiled triumphantly. "Oh yea, Summer and I have had plenty of those. Why are you on a time out?"

Ryan shrugged. "You know, we're just…having problems. Seth do me a favor…"

"Anything. Name it and it shall be yours."

"Leave this alone."

"Ok, anything but that."

"I mean it, Seth. No meddling."

I may not be able to meddle, but I bet Summer could get something out of Marissa. Eu-freakin-reaka!

"Coop! Wait up!" Summer called to her friend.

"Hey Sum, what's up?"

"Oh nothing. You know, just decided to come to the mall and do my favorite pastime."

Marissa smiled. "I know what you mean."

"So…" Summer began then smiled.

"You've got that 'Coop, I want to know something' look on your face."

"Do I?" Summer asked.

The taller girl's eyes narrowed. "What'd Seth tell you?"

"Not much."

"Summer…"

"All right, all right. He told me that you and Ryan are on a 'time out' and I just wanted to know why."

Marissa sighed. "You'll think it's stupid."

"No I won't. I promise."

"He saw me looking through some old photos. Ones of me and Alex, actually, and we got into this huge fight and I said we needed a break."

"Oh." A silence fell between the girls for a moment. "Why were you looking at pictures of you and Alex?"

"I just happened to remember that it was her birthday then I got to thinking about the photos I had of the two of us."

"You happened to remember." Summer said, watching her friend, head canting to the side a bit. "Coop, you're not…"

"Sum, c'mon. I told you that night in the mall, I've only ever felt a real connection with one person and that was Ryan."

"Yea, but that was before you ran the girl out of town. Sometimes it takes something big like that to make one realize their true feelings."

"Like your almost trip to Italy with Zack?"

"Exactly." Summer's brows knitted. "Hey, don't try to get me off the subject missy."

"Shoe sale," Marissa said, pointing to one of the department stores and she smiled widely when Summer let out a squeal of joy. That was easier than I thought it'd be.

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A/N: Ok, first of all: Thank you for reading and I'd appreciate a review. Second: I'm a fairly new fan of the O.C. and haven't watched any of the third season, so if I get anything wrong feel free to let me know.