Wow, once again, thank you for the reviews!
Seventh Theory, it actually hurt to take the streak away ;) but still, I think it was time.
LillianGish, thank you so much, I'm still figuring out where this story will eventually lead to :D but I'm glad you like it so far!
Marina-B'tt., yay, finally someone who went through the same wonderful childhood experience of the Neverending Story! :D
bigblusky, you might have to wait a little longer, but I hope I can continue to entertain you :)
CustomHeroine, yes, Marissa deserves to be reminded that Alex is not only someone, but someone very special...
two.way.monologue, your username is cool by the way :D hope you'll like this chapter as well!
'Nuff said, I just really hope you like the update, here's Chapter 4:
"No, nuh uh, I'm not doing it, no way" Alex said stubbornly.
"Please, Alex, please, I can't do it with only Marissa, it takes three to be fun, and Seth is so not an option for this! Look at us, we're the perfect trio for this!" Summer pleaded. "It will be over real quick, I promise!" she added with her best puppy dog smile.
Marissa laughed at the girls' argument, then leaned in very close to Alex's ear and whispered: "Come on, what would your inner 'Atreyu' say if he knew you were afraid?"
Alex quickly turned her head towards a widely grinning Marissa and gave her a look that said 'You wouldn't dare!'. Marissa, however, kept on smiling mischievously.
"Alright alright, I'll do it, so let's get this over with!" Alex finally agreed, contemplating the other even worse options.
"Yay", Summer squealed happily, "okay, so Alex, I want you on my left side, and Coop, you to my right, please. On the count of three?" Summer asked joyously. "This is so freakin' ridiculous…" Alex mumbled under her breath. Summer, ignoring Alex's ranting, started counting:
"Ok, one… two…. Three!"
And all of a sudden, the three of them jumped out of the trailer's door, positioning themselves in their best 'Charlie's Angels' interpretation, with Summer standing in the middle and all three of them forming imaginary guns with their hands.
Their sudden appearance outside the trailer almost gave Gus, the Coopers' sleazy neighbor who was sitting on his porch, a heart attack. Alex saw him starting to choke on his pigeon pie before he finally found a bottle of Scotch and downed his delicious meal along with the cheap alcohol. Alex didn't dare move, but she could see from the corner of her eye that Summer tried very hard not to notice Gus unfortunate reaction.
They kept standing still in their position for another few seconds, until Summer finally released from her stand and shouted happily: "Yeah! Screw you, Cameron, Lucy and Drew! We're far better angels than you'll ever be!".
Alex shook her head smiling in disbelief when Marissa slowly stepped behind her and rested her chin on Alex's shoulder. "Thank you. Believe it or not, I know this meant a lot to her", she said softly, really appreciating that Alex had done her best friend this favor.
Alex turned her head towards Marissa and gave the girl a nervous smile. It seemed that every time the beautiful brunette touched her in some way made it even harder for Alex to keep herself from kissing her right then and there.
"Oh don't worry", she chuckled, "I believe it!"
Being lost in their conversation, they didn't realize that Summer was standing by her car already. "Hello? I'm still hungry, I want pancakes, remember?", Summer called them. At this, Marissa finally released her head from Alex's shoulder, and Alex felt a cold and empty spot where Marissa's chin had been resting only seconds before. Unfortunately, this was a feeling she knew all too well.
Once they were walking towards the Diner, they saw Seth standing in front of the entrance. When the curly haired boy realized who was there with Summer and Marissa, he gave the blonde a sincere smile. "Alex! Wow, look at you!" Seth called.
"You better not!" Summer said, walking to her boyfriend and giving him a slap on the forehead, then a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi Seth" Alex said, giving him a brief hug. "It's good to see you."
"You too." Seth smiled, "not that I was looking. I'm not, looking I mean. I'm practically blind, so to speak. Still I know you're here so it's good to… to not see you…", he babbled anxiously, glancing at a jealous Summer standing next to him.
Once they were inside, they all took a seat in one of the booths and placed their orders.
"So, what's new pussycat?" Seth asked Alex, which earned him yet another hit on the shoulder from Summer.
"Ow! Summer, please, that was a movie reference! Woody Allen? His first movie? No?", Seth tried to explain himself.
"Oh", Summer said apologetically. "Well next time, pick the title of a movie that was released after I was born, alright?" she added in her best Summer Roberts behavior.
Alex chuckled at the couple's weird, yet sweet interaction.
"Uh, well, what's new. When I went back to LA, I moved back in with my parents and went back to school, but living with my parents didn't really work out, yeah, I know, shocker. ", she rolled her eyes.
"So I got my own place, which happened to be a small apartment above a bar, and lucky for me, I got a job in that bar. I could have never afforded the apartment and everything else without it.", Alex explained.
"So you live by yourself now?" Summer asked, giving Marissa a sideways glance which Marissa didn't miss.
"Yeah, pretty much, I mean, Jodie's been crashing from time to time, but only when she was too drunk to find the way home." Alex stated with a slight smile.
Marissa cringed at the mention of Jodie as she remembered her last encounter with the feisty Latina. It had been the night when Marissa had stolen Alex's heart back from Jodie, and Alex, in return, had given it to Marissa.
"Hey Marissa, where's Ryan, didn't he want to see you last night?" Seth asked, wondering where his buddy was. This time, Marissa cringed even worse. With Alex back in the picture, she hadn't even dared to think about her current situation with Ryan. "Uh, I don't know", she stuttered, looking at Alex with a panic-stricken gaze, "didn't you see him at home?"
Alex stopped chewing her pancake and felt the anger building up inside her. Sure, she had gotten over Marissa mentioning Ryan the day before, but the cold light of morning brought a bitter aftertaste to the whole situation. She gazed ahead of her, unwilling to focus on anything but the bad feeling in her stomach.
"No, he never came home last night". Seth responded.
"You know that is so weird", Summer interjected, "cause neither did my dad! And Coop, your mom wasn't there this morning, did she make it home last night at all?"
"Uh, no, haven't seen her", Marissa said nervously as she felt the sudden change in Alex's demeanor.
"Hmmm hm", Seth murmured, scratching his chin while he was contemplating these suspicious incidents, "so we have three people gone missing and the return of the prodigal ex-girlfriend of not only one, but two people sitting at this table…"
"Seth!", Summer and Marissa both urged him in unison. Alex, however, still had a distant look on her face, then got up and hesitantly said "I… need to go to the bathroom, be right back…" before she started walking away.
Once Alex was out of sight, Marissa let her head fall into her hands. Summer reached for Marissa's wrist and softly began talking to her best friend:
"Coop, I wanted to ask you all morning, what is going on between the two of you? I mean you said that nothing was, but clearly, something is! Even Seth can see that!" Summer looked really worried about her best friend's condition.
Seth leaned forward and said "Actually, it's all a little blurry, so maybe I could see it all a little clearer if you had some kind of pictures, or maybe even a video, just so I could really get the feeling…" At this, Summer nearly knocked him off the bench. "Cohen, would you please just shut up!"
Seth repositioned himself on the bench and, for once, kept his mouth shut.
"I don't know Sum, I just know that I'm glad that she's here. She's been so kind ever since she got here. But it's confusing, and hard, I don't know what to make of it yet." Summer gave Marissa a sympathizing nod. "Have you told her about what happened?" Summer asked carefully, "With Trey?"
When Marissa didn't respond instantaneously, Seth chimed in once again: "Uh, I think she is referring to how Ryan's ex-con brother tried to force himself on you on the beach which led to Ryan wanting to kill him, which, in turn, led to you shooting Trey so he fell in a coma for weeks-"
"WHAT?"
No one had seen or heard Alex returning from the bathroom and therefore no one noticed that she had been listening to their conversation. Marissa looked at Alex like a reindeer caught in the headlights. She certainly had not wanted Alex to find out about it this way. Meanwhile, Alex's feelings were fighting an inner struggle, the top ranged feelings being anger, hurt and confusion.
She stood there for another few seconds staring at Marissa, however these few seconds stretched like an ocean of time. Once she snapped out of her daze, she mumbled "I need to get out of here", and rushed out of the Diner and towards the beach.
Marissa felt paralyzed at first, not knowing what to do or what to say to the blonde heroine that had just so recently made her way back into Marissa's life.
When she saw nothing more than only Alex's blonde hair blowing in the harsh wind of the morning sea, she got up and followed her towards the beach.
"Alex", she shouted, but the other girl didn't turn around, nor did she give any other sign that she had heard the brunette. Marissa started running towards Alex who was already near the shore. "Alex, please! Wait! I'm sorry!"
At this, Alex finally stopped and turned around. Marissa came closer and closer, but she could not quite make out what the look in Alex's face was. Was it hurt? Was it anger? Was it confusion?
Was it love?
Marissa started explaining herself: "Alex I understand that you're mad at me, and I really wanted to tell you, it's just-" "No you don't understand!", Alex interrupted her. "Why in the world should I be mad at you? For almost being raped? Or for defending your life? God Marissa! Not everything bad happening in this world is your fault! And I'm not mad at you!" Alex stopped, taking a deep breath. Marissa stood in front of the other girl whose feet were surrounded by a few crashing waves of the salty water the tide had brought.
Alex started talking again, this time in a seemingly calmer, but also broken voice:
"The only person I am mad at right now is me."
Marissa gave her a confused look.
"I mean, when I left… you and Ryan…", Alex took another deep breath while the waves were crashing harder and harder against her feet.
"I thought the whole point of you being with Ryan was to be safe. I thought that once I was gone and you were back with Ryan, you would finally be safe!"
Marissa felt the tears soaring in her eyes.
When Alex spoke up again her voice sounded crushed and faint:
"I would have never left if I had known…"
She couldn't go on. All her strength had left her body and she sank down onto the soft, wet sand.
Marissa instantly let herself fall onto her knees as well, hugging the blonde as tightly as she could. The waves were getting higher and higher, and soon they both were surrounded by the cold, yet soothing water.
"Shhhh, it's okay baby", Marissa hushed the other girl as she was slowly stroking her back. Alex buried her head deeper and deeper in Marissa's lap, trying to hide her teary red eyes which were giving away so much more emotion than she could handle in that very moment.
Meanwhile, Seth and Summer had decided to look for the girls and were now slowly approaching the scenery.
When Marissa noticed Summer she gave the girl a sad smile which the brunette reciprocated. Summer dragged Seth towards the other two girls and all three of them tried to provide Alex with a firm halt before they decided to carry her back to Summer's car. Alex could hardly move, all she was capable of doing was mumbling silent, apologetic words and sobbing ever so often. Once they were inside the car, Marissa laid her jacket onto the other girl and brought Alex's head to her shoulder, stroking her now wet hair ever so softly.
She turned her head towards Alex, who was still staring at an empty spot, and gave her a kiss on the forehead before she softly whispered: "Let's get you out of here…"
Alex barely moved her head towards Marissa and gave her the slightest hint of a nod.
Marissa didn't let go of Alex during the whole ride. It was right then and there that she felt that letting go of this brave beauty wouldn't be an option anytime soon.