A Decent Proposal
Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C., any of it's characters, nor am I getting anything from this other than self-satisfaction and hopefully feedback.
A/N: This isn't beta'd or anything so any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Background info: Summer, Seth, Alex and Marissa have known each other and been friends since they were little. As such all four families were quite close and they all took the news of Alex's parents very hard. The deaths occurred the kids' senior year and Alex was 17.
CHAPTER 1
It was a gorgeous day. As evident that she wasn't the only one to think so, the beach was littered with people. From the surfers who'd been there all day to the small daring each other to go more than a couple of feet into the water to the others who just wasn't to work on their tans. She should have been with them, but instead she'd found herself a secluded corner of the pier to think. To think about what she was going to do once the summer ended, her dad's inevitable trouble with money and the people he owed. Not to mention the body standing behind her.
Marissa jumped as she realized that the person was holding her. Those hands. She knew those hands. It may have been years, but the familiarity of them holding her would never fade. She could feel them lean into her, wrap their arms tighter around her, and nuzzle her neck.
"You still smell so amazing."
"The first thing you say to me in five years is about me scent?" She asks with an amused, but sad smile.
"Well, I figured any compliment was better than an insult, so..."
"What are you doing back, Alex?"
She turns around in the blonde's arms. She was even more beautiful than Marissa remember. Her eyes impossibly blue, bright.
"Why did you even leave? Couldn't you have come to me? Or at least tell me you were leaving instead of just disappearing?!"
She broke the hold and pushed the blonde away. All the anger she'd thought she had let go came rushing back. She didn't realize that her hand had moved until she felt the sting of flesh meeting flesh. The blonde's head jerking to the side only confirmed what she didn't want to believe. She had hit her. Hard.
"You know, you haven't hit me that hard since first grade."
Marissa can't help the smile that forms on her face.
"Yeah, I remember."
"I saw Seth bugging Summer, even then the little weirdo had a thing for her, I came over and pushed him down. You saw it and knocked me one right in the eye."
"And Summer saw me do it." Marissa takes over. "That was the first time she ever had a rage blackout. Kicked all of our asses that day. We were scared of her for the rest of the week."
"It was my first day. How was I supposed to know him messing with her was a daily thing?"
"And how was I supposed to know you thought you were protecting her?" Marissa shoots back.
Alex smiles and nods.
"That was a pretty memorable first day. Haven't had another like it."
"What about sophomore year?"
Alex lets out an embarrassed chuckle.
"I was waiting for you on the front steps that morning and you rushed over and kissed me in front of the entire school."
"I was so horrified that you were going to hate me. I took off running and avoided you as much as I could."
"But the end of the day wasn't so bad. You ended up with a brilliant new girlfriend."
"Yeah." Alex agreed. "That was a pretty damn good first day."
"One of the happiest of my life."
Alex doesn't say anything. Just simply stares at her. Marissa reaches out and gingerly feels her eye.
"You'll have a bit of a shiner for a couple of days."
Alex covers Marissa's hands with one of her own. "Not like I don't deserve it."
"Still, I shouldn't have hit you."
Alex brings her other hand up and caresses Marissa's cheek. The ache in her heart intensifies as memories of what she had had with the brunette before her assaulted her mind. As she leans in to connect their lips Marissa's she turns her head to the side.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"You can't just come back out of the blue and do that." There was the anger and sorrow again.
"I know. I'm sorry." Marissa separates herself from the blonde.
"Why did you come back?"
"To apologize. To make things right."
"Saying you're sorry isn't going to make things right, erase what you did to me, the hurt that I felt. That I still feel."
Alex once again wraps her arms around the brunette and holds fast when she begins to try to fight her off.
"I'm so sorry. I know it doesn't make things right, but I want to work on it, to tell you what's happened with me."
Marissa stops and wipes away a few stray tears. "Good."
"There are some things that I don't think I can talk about." Alex confesses. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell you, but everything that I can I will."
Marissa nods. "It's a start." As bad as she felt, she wanted her friend back.