Hey guys! Not sure how many Malex fans there are that are on this site, but figured I'd post this here anyway just to share…. Hope you all like it… feedback and critiques are always helpful when going to write more chapters!

Enjoy!

Chapter One

"Not again, I can't deal with this again. It's the same bullshit all the time!" Alex screamed at her friend, basically in tears.

"What are you complaining about now?" a scrawny boy asked, but not bothering to look at the blonde girl sitting next to him, flailing her arms – his peripheral vision told him this.

"What do you think?" Alex rebutted, rolling her eyes.

"What did Jodie do now?" the boy asked, assuming Alex was fighting with her girlfriend of a few months.

The two met about a year ago at a bar, they had seen each other out and about at different lesbian "hot spots" in the city, but never directly knew each other. They knew some of the same people, but for some reason, no one had taken the time to introduce the pair.

Finally, one night when Jodie had enough "liquid courage," she made her way to Alex and from that moment, the two were basically inseparable. They really made quite the pair – the girls were complete opposites, but they seemed to make everything work… well, at least in the beginning.

They grew up on opposite coasts, Jodie being from Seattle and Alex growing up in Brooklyn. Jodie's family was rather large, and very into their Puerto Rican culture, whereas Alex's family was a bit shattered – okay, her family was pretty broken.

Having different family values, coming from different places, studying difference things, it was quite hard for the girls to see eye to eye on many things. This lead to them fighting quit a bit, which is why Seth assumed Alex was enraged.

"Well, she… I mean yeah, we're kind of in the middle of a fight, but this isn't about her. I'm not this mad about our fight…" The blonde girl replied, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh my God. Alex, are you okay?" Seth said, finally giving his full attention to the girl, wondering what on earth was going on.

"Marissa." Alex said, shaking her head, almost ashamed to say the name.

"Is she okay? What about Marissa? You have to be more specific… is she in trouble? Is she okay?" Seth asked, semi-freaking out.

Marissa and Seth grew up together in Newport Beach, California. Their parents hasdthis huge history – his mom almost married her dad, but that kind of fell through. They were next-door neighbors their whole lives and were best friends since they could remember. Alex put a slight wedge in their friendship at one point, though.

See, Alex and Seth met at school – Columbia University in Manhattan. The two met their first year in an anatomy class, both doing their undergraduate program there, hoping to get into the med school program after graduation. Since day one, they became attached at the hip.

Alex always heard stories of Seth's best friend, Marissa Cooper, which lead her to think the gangly boy was either gay or in love with the girl, but that was besides the point. It wasn't until their junior year that Marissa actually had time to fly out and visit the boy – she was also doing a pre-med program, but at Stanford in California, making it hard for the girl to fly across the country at her leisure.

Now, at 29, they all look back and laugh at this situation, but when it was happening eight years ago, it didn't seem like there was anything to laugh about. Long story short, Alex was in a serious relationship with a girl named Izzie. She was a few years older than them, but still in the pre-med program. They were perfect together and everyone knew it, especially Seth. But, as soon as Marissa entered the picture, that relationship hit the gutter.

Marissa was straight – at least, that's what everyone thought. Her friendship with Alex escalated to the point where Izzie was uncomfortable with the two being friends and hanging out without Seth around. Seth was uncomfortable because he know Alex had a tendency to stray from girlfriends and Marissa had a tendency to be a homewrecker.

Seth told Alex to cut out whatever she had planned on doing with Marissa, but the blonde told the boy that she had genuine feelings for the girl – that she was going to end her relationship with Izzie to be with Marissa, if Marissa would have her.

Basically, Alex semi-cheated, then ended her relationship, then Marissa ended things. The next few years were rocky, but with Marissa transferring to the pre-med program at Princeton in New Jersey, she was around a little more often. The girls had a tormented romance, but managed to keep it tolerable to a point where it seemed as if they were just friends. Jodie didn't like Marissa, though. Ryan, Marissa's now-boyfriend was not too fond of Alex either.

"She's okay. I mean, I guess she's fine. She just told me a lot of things… a lot of things I knew but have never heard come from her mouth, and I don't know, Seth. I know you hated it when we were whatever we were, if that makes any sense… but all of these feelings are flooding now, and I don't know what to do." Alex said, handing Seth her cell phone so he could read the email Marissa sent her.

"Wow. Oh. Wow." Was all Seth could say, skimming through. "What are you going to say? Is she coming to visit anytime soon? When are you going to see her? Are her and Ryan okay? Are you going to tell Jodie? No you totally can't tell her, she'd freak out and drive there and kill her. Dude, what are you doing to do? What are you going to do?" Seth obviously started to freak out too.

"Dude. If I knew any answers to any of those questions, I wouldn't be sitting here crying…" Alex said, with a tear dripping from the corner of her eye.