Only Love can hurt like this

The night has just started, yet the moon, which had just begun to wane, casts its light over two different figures, in two different places.

One is a blonde girl, with gorgeous blue eyes. Dressed in a pair of dark blue boxers and a light grey tank top, she is lying on a bed in LA, unable to sleep.

The other, a taller brunette, who is wearing a short white dress, which comes to about her mid thigh, is walking beside a sandy haired boy on an empty beach in Orange County.

At first glance, one would think they had nothing in common, but looking closer, it is easy to see the same hurt, deep within them, the same sheen of tears just waiting to fall.

Even though she is with the boy, the brunette holds herself slightly away from him. She is not even really there, but instead is living in her memories, dreaming of another night at the same beach…with a different companion. The blonde.

Tears start to fall silently down her face. After a few minutes, her companion notices her distraction, and, stopping his self absorbed chatter, asks her, though none too pleasantly, what is wrong. She can only say one thing.

"Alex…"

The blonde meanwhile, has sat up and cupped her hands over her face, wiping it as if to get rid of the remnants of her non existent nap. She wants to ask herself why she cannot sleep, or even doze. Yet, how can she, when she already knows the answer? Even as she flops back on the bed again, the picture of a green eyed girl, with brown hair which flowed past her shoulders engulfs her mind's eye. Curling up in a foetal ball as she tries to forget, the blonde lets out a strangled cry and then a sob, before uttering a single three syllable word.

"Marissa…"

The pain that they both feel is earth shattering, and they are unable to do anything about it. At the exact same moment, both ask themselves the same question.

"Was it love?"

There is no need for them to answer that question. Deep down they both know one basic fact.

'Only love can hurt like this.'

A.N-Found this looking for the Christmas O.C fic. Another oldie, but decided to post it anyway . Hope you enjoyed. R+R please?