Authors Note: This is the sequel to The Tension and the Terror. I just thought I'd start a new story as in book 2 or something like that! To any readers from that I apologise for the delay in getting this up. This is a story which I don't have almost pre written. So updates may be slower. Once again, sorry. School is swamping me, what can I say? Anyways. Read and Review. I LIKE reviews. (they encourage fast updating!)

Alex had lied. She wasn't leaving town. But she knew if she saw Marissa every day she wouldn't be able to cope, and she didn't want to make it any harder for the girl. So she paid 2 months ahead on the flat's rent and moved across town. Not that Newport was that big, but with Marissa in school, and her not being one to venture to the "shadier" areas if you could call them shady, she knew that they wouldn't be seeing each other for a while at least. And god does it hurt. So much more than I'd ever imagined.

Slamming the front door of her new apartment she flopped onto the floor. She was starting to regret leaving Marissa the couch. Come to think of it, she was starting to regret leaving Marissa full stop.

Oh who am I kidding? Not a single minute has passed without me regretting it.

But it was for the best. It was, wasn't it? Definitely it was. Still there was that nagging voice in the back of her head that was telling her it wasn't. That it wasn't good to leave the girl of your dreams and spend the rest of your life struggling to get over her. That drinking a bottle of whiskey every night just so you could fall asleep before the sobbing overtook you wasn't good either. She shoved it back.

Alex had been gone 3 days, and Marissa didn't know how much longer she could force her body to keep breathing. Why did I just say goodbye? Why did I let her go?

Marissa sat down on the edge of her bed. Her clock flashing in the dark. 3am and she couldn't sleep. She'd tried her usual bottle of vodka but nothing helped. Every time her eyes would flicker shut she found herself replaying that last conversation over and over again. That last kiss. I can't think about this right now. But what if there's only one person out there for us. What if she's mine, maybe, we were made for each other. And I lost her. I let her go.

Marissa hit her clock off the bedside table angrily. No, she was the one who broke up with me. She's the one who ended it.

It was 3 months since she the last kiss and Alex sat in the grungy bar and sipped her beer. This was routine now, working behind the counter half the night, then drinking on the other side for the other half. Sometimes she'd pick up a girl and bring them home. But it never made her feel better. It was always her that she felt, and her that she kissed. Never them. In the morning, she would let them get up and leave quietly before rushing to the shower to try and scrub the feel of their hands off her body.

Alex jumped when she felt a heavy hand squeeze her shoulder.

"Hey there stranger, long time no see eh?"

"Ryan?"

"That's me."

"What are you doing her?" Alex asked in surprise pulling him into the booth opposite her. She was just pleased to see a friendly face again, even if it was Ryan. And hey remember, he never did anything to encourage her feelings, and he's the only one who understood you there. We're more alike than we'd like to think. Wait, does this mean, Marissa's type is…oh no Alex, don't go there.

"I come to get back to my roots every so often" Ryan answered snapping her out of thought,

"It wouldn't do to have me getting too Newport Beach now," Ryan chuckled, waving at a barman to get them another round of beer.

Alex laughed and relaxed. It felt good to be able to talk. So she did.

It was nearly 4am when the barman ushered them out telling her in no uncertain terms that employee or not, 4am was closing time. Alex sat down on the sidewalk, Ryan dropping down next to her. She giggled and pushed at his shoulder. Woah, I'm well and truly drunk now. But this was different from her JD numb drunk. This was the old drunk, the drunk with a friend when you got giggly and hyper and it was fun again. It was fun to be young and drunk and sitting on a curb at 4am with someone you were getting to know. She had almost forgotten what fun was.

Ryan fell sideways at her push and found his face next to the tarmac. Laughing a little bit on the hysterical side he pushed himself upright again. He had forgotten how this felt. Getting drunk and falling around the place, just laughing and having a good time. Sure he had got drunk with Seth on occasion. But even around Seth, who he loved like a brother, he wasn't relaxed. Well sure he was relaxed, but he wasn't carefree and he certainly didn't want to remind them of where he was from by acting like a chino drunk. In Newport, drunks were still sociable, stylish and rich. In chino, and here, right now, drunks were just fooling around on the sidewalk and having fun.

"Whatcha thinking about broody boy?" Alex swung her head around to face him,

"Being drunk, having fun. You." Ryan shot back.

"Oh, me?" Alex's eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Well yeah, um. You know." Ryan gave her a look.

" That I do Ryan."

"You do what?"

"I do know."

Ryan laughed. The drink made him talkative, which suited him just fine. Where some people thought he was doing a broody sinister chino thing, in all honesty he was just shy. Grabbing Alex's arm he pulled her upright.

"Let's go to the beach."

"What? Why? It's all the way across town!" Alex protested.

"So?"

"How will we get there? We're too drunk to drive."

Ryan flashed her a grin, a mischievous glint in his eye,

"I got money for a cab. And I want to go for a swim."

Laughing he ran down the road to hail a cab. Alex slowly walked after him chuckling to herself. This was definitely fun. God had she missed fun.