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This is a response to a fan fic challenge, theme being - Alex and Marissa driving somewhere. This is going to be two, maybe three parts.
"Stupid Kevin... stupid boys... stupid LA..." the brunette sat in her car driving both hands firmly in place around the steering wheel. It was now close to three in the morning it was dark and of course this had to be one of the few days of the year it rained. She groaned as she could barely see up ahead, it was pouring to the point where a turtle would pass her along, "yea, well the turtle would swim... stupid rain..."
She continued to fuss over her predicament as she eventually spotted a darker figure walking along the side of the road, she slowed down and squinted, even with her lights on she could barely make out the shape and she was surprised she'd actually been able to spot it. She momentarily debated what she should do, she would usually just drive on past, but there was something about this lone being walking the streets this late at night in the weather that surrounded them that made her stop a little up ahead.
She glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the figure approach once it was by the passenger door she leaned over and opened it and motioned for the person to get in, the other being seemed to hesitate, "I'm not gonna hurt you if that's what you're thinking."
"That's exactly what you'd say if you were thinking about trying to hurt me," the voice came back from under the hoodie.
Marissa rolled her eyes, she could hear the slight sarcastic tone but let it pass, "for all I know you're a prisoner on the loose."
The figure looked at what they were wearing before speaking up again, "what happened to my bright orange jumpsuit?"
Marissa couldn't help the slight smile that formed on her face, "I don't know maybe you're from the asylum then... just shut up and get in the car."
She heard a light laugh come from her passenger before the door closed, "you sure know how to reel 'em in your van don't you?"
Marissa was about to reply to the comment but as she turned her head and noticed the long, now wet, blonde locks escaping the restraints of the hoodie, all retorts left her as she dumbly stated, "you... you're a girl."
The blonde looked down at herself lightly patting her chest, "yea... or Bob."
Marissa looked at her confused, "what?"
"Movies, start watching them," was the simple reply coming from the blonde.
Marissa just kept staring at the girl, still not believing that the hitchhiker she'd just picked up was a girl... a very attractive girl for that matter, "you know, for someone who just got rescued from the rain, you're kinda rude."
Alex let out a dry laugh, "I'm playing nice," she turned her head and met Marissa's gaze, "besides, I didn't ask you to help me out."
Marissa turned her head back to the road and then turned back around leaning over the girl who was now wetting the inside of her Mustang, she grabbed the handle and pushed open the door, "you can get out if you'd like," she replied just as dryly as she leaned back in her seat.
Alex sat there shocked, she had expected the girl to take her crap, she didn't know why but when the realization that she could end back up on the streets surfaced, she cringed. Truth be told, she didn't want to be out there again, she didn't want to keep on walking, she was tired of it, but her pride stood in her way and so she begrudgingly started to move out of the car.
She'd pushed too far and there was a part of her that felt bad, but at that point in time, what she felt most was the fact that she was an idiot, the girl in the car had been nothing but nice, with only a handful of playful comments, and she'd acted like a jerk. Once she was fully out of the car she closed the door without another word. There was a part of her that had expected the brunette girl to grab her or tell her to stay in the car, she was even more surprised when she heard and saw the car start and start to drive away.
Her head fell and she cursed herself, "everyone always fucking leaves Kelly, get used to it," she mumbled to herself, she let out a sigh when a noise caught her ear.
"HEY!"
She looked up and couldn't believe the sight staring back at her. Marissa was now standing about three feet in front of her car having parked slightly up ahead, "I said, 'hey,'" the brunette replied once she got closer to the blonde.
Alex looked up and met those mossy green eyes again, and that's when something clicked, something changed within her, there was a warmth in her heart where there only used to be coldness before. She wanted to reply something sarcastic, something witty, something along the lines of "hay is for horses," but her pre double digit mind was told to keep quiet.
Marissa just stared at the girl, she could tell something was bothering her; she had seen a sadness in her eyes when their gaze had met earlier and she had seen it intensify when she'd opened the car door and told her she could get out. She was different, yet she wasn't, Marissa felt something, a connection that went beyond what she was used to with her friends, a connection that ran deeper than even the one she and Summer, her childhood friend, shared.
She tried to flash the girl a reassuring smile, "now, if you're done acting like an idiot, get in the car."
Alex heard the playful tone but she could also hear the other tone, the one she hadn't heard in a long time, she didn't know why this stranger was so insistent, "maybe she really is a psycho killer and by this time next year I'm going to become a campfire story," but she felt reassured by the serious undertone Marissa's voice had. She nodded her head slowly, "I'm s..." but before she could finish her apology she was interrupted.
"Don't worry bout it, I get it." Marissa replied once more with a small smile on her face.
Alex would have usually argued or laughed at the thought in her mind, no one ever really understood, but something in the way this girl was looking at her let her believe she really did understand.
The two made their way back to the car, once they were in Marissa started the ignition and turned the heat on full blast, she then reached into the back and grabbed her backpack. Alex watched on curiously wondering what the girl was doing. She then saw her take out a sweater out of the bag, and as she cursed herself for having obviously made the poor girl cold, she didn't see the brunette pull out a t-shirt.
Her thoughts were only broken when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, the girl proceed to lift her tank top over her head, she thought about making a joke once again but she was stopped short as she noticed the bruises the girl had on her sides, and as Marissa leaned forward Alex couldn't help but see the bruises that were all over the girl's arms and some even down her back. She took her gaze off the brunette just in time as the girl who'd taken her in, her car, looked back to face her as she pulled her hair out of her shirt.
"Here, you can take the hoodie, yours must be soaked through and your shirt too," Marissa offered.
Alex just stared at the hoodie and then looked back up at the brunette, "I... I can't..."
Marissa just raised an eyebrow, "it's not that hard, did no one ever teach you how to put on clothes?" She tried to joke lightly.
Alex smiled, "no... they taught me to do that," she rolled her eyes, "but you're already doing more than enough, plus I already got you soaked, I couldn't..."
Marissa rolled her eyes, "oh trust me I'm fine, besides, if it makes you feel better, I'm doing it for my car," Marissa then waved her hand, "don't want the stray to ruin my seat."
Alex laughed, "oh well then, for the sake of your car, guess I can't get it wet," she replied feeling somewhat at ease now.
"Yea, don't want it to get sick," Marissa replied seriously.
Alex had just about gotten her shirt over her head when she heard what Marissa had said, she threw the sweater on before looking back at the brunette, this time she was being completely serious as she spoke up quietly, "thanks."
Marissa smiled and nodded as she then threw the car in drive and started to make her way down the highway again, "oh, I'm Marissa by the way," she casually offered figuring they should get each other's names.
"Right, uh name's Alex," the blonde replied quietly.
Marissa looked over and gave the girl who was now staring out the window a once over, "nice to meet you Alex."
Alex looked back and gave the girl a small smile, "yea, nice to meet you too Marissa."
The two went back to being silent but only for a short while before Marissa then spoke up once more, "so um... not to kill the mood but, where you heading Alex?"
Alex let out a sigh; she never took her eyes off the sight out her window as she replied a single word, so quietly that Marissa barely heard her, but when she did, she heard the infinite sadness that the girl was feeling and her heart couldn't help but swell, "anywhere."