Alex's eyes slowly opened a few hours later. Her head was pounding and she felt exhausted. She saw a sleeping form of Marissa next to her. She was on her side facing Alex, her hair had fallen half over her face. Alex laid there and looked Marissa's features over before rolling out of the bed.
She finally realized what had woken her up. She could clearly hear Abby and Jodie yelling at each other through the closed bedroom door. Alex turned to the bedside table and lifted the lamp. She was sure that's where she put her stash. She opened the drawer to the bedside table and looked in there before checking her pockets.
Marissa groaned and slowly opened her eyes. When she saw the annoyed look on Alex's face, she sat up and asked, "What's wrong?"
"My…" Alex started to say her stash, but knew better in front of Marissa, "I lost something."
Marissa was pretty sure she knew what Alex was looking for, but didn't want to say she was the one that poured them down the sink especially since Alex seemed to be talking to her. The brunette opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Abby threw open the door.
The angry stripper-law student looked at Marissa, "You need to leave."
"What?" Marissa asked, momentarily stunned. Her eyes moved to Jodie who was standing behind Abby.
"Alex," Jodie caught the blonde's eyes. "Come home."
Alex looked between Jodie and Abby.
"Yeah with your bitchy ex and your coke-fiend ex," Abby gestured to Jodie and Marissa respectively.
"What?!" Marissa stood off the bed, "I've never done coke."
"Then why did I find two empty baggies in the trash?" Abby asked crossing her arms.
"What?!" Alex's eyes widened and she looked at Marissa.
Jodie stepped in the room fully, "It's obvious she didn't do the coke because she fell asleep before I got back. If she did both of those baggies, she'd still be wired. She probably flushed the coke down the toilet cause Alex is being an idiot."
Marissa couldn't help, but nod. She glanced over at Alex who looked more pissed than ever.
"Why can't you two just leave me the fuck alone?!" Alex yelled.
"Because we fucking love you and you're being the biggest dumbass in the world!" Jodie yelled back.
Abby stepped between Alex and Jodie, facing Jodie. She calmly said, "You need to take Marissa and leave."
"Alex?" Marissa said quietly hoping the blonde would come with them.
"Fuck off," Alex crossed her arms and walked out the bedroom door.
Tears jumped to Marissa eyes, but she was determined not to cry in front of Alex. Marissa walked out of the apartment with Jodie, completely defeated.
As Marissa pulled up at Alex and Jodie's apartment building the sun was starting to peak over the horizon. Marissa fought to stifle a yawn and keep her head up.
"Where do you live?" Jodie asked before getting out.
"Across town," Marissa answered.
Jodie opened her door and stood, "C'mon. You can't drive home tonight. We've had a long night."
Marissa knew Jodie was right so she turned off her car, grabbed her purse and followed Jodie into the apartment.
The second she hit the couch, Marissa was fast asleep. She'd pulled the blanket Jodie gave her around herself and kicked off her shoes.
A few hours later, Jodie woke up to the screeching of her alarm. She quickly turned it off, not wanting to get out of bed. However she knew she had work to do and she was sure Alex wouldn't be at the club to do her job. Jodie jumped in the shower and made a mental note to have as many cups of espresso as possible. On her way out she saw Marissa still passed out on the couch.
She walked over to Marissa's purse and dug through it looking for the taller girl's car keys. She found a small silver box and rolled her eyes. When she opened it, she found two small blue pills. Jodie rolled her eyes, pocketed the box, then grabbed Marissa's keys from the bottom of her purse.
Then she wrote a note saying she was going to borrow her car and her blue dolphins, but she wasn't bringing the dolphins back. She set it on top of Marissa's purse and left for the club.
Alex sighed as she trudged up the stairs to her apartment around two in the afternoon. She couldn't sleep after Marissa and Jodie left so she went surfing and got thrashed around a few times before deciding she wasn't going to be able to concentrate enough to stay standing on a surfboard.
She figured Jodie was already at work and knew she'd have to at least make an appearance at the club later. She opened the door and took off her shoes, then closed the door. She froze when she saw Marissa asleep on the couch.
Alex managed to get past Marissa and into her room without waking the younger girl. She threw some extra clothes into a bag and stepped out of her bedroom door to see Marissa sitting up on the couch, reading a piece of paper. She stood still and watched Marissa angrily sigh, tossing the paper aside.
The blonde knew it was only a matter of time before Marissa saw her so she stepped into the living room and to the door.
"Alex," Marissa stood from the couch, seeing the club owner for the first time.
Alex froze in place and turned around to face Marissa, "What are you doing here?"
"I was sleeping, but Jodie stole my car so I'm stuck here," Marissa explained. She was digging through her mind for something to say. She decided honest was the best policy, "I wanted to talk to you."
"I'm not really in the mood to talk," Alex replied shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"Are you in the mood to listen?" Marissa asked, getting annoyed with Alex's behavior.
Alex put her hand on the doorknob, "Not really."
Marissa knew the one question that might stop Alex in her tracks. "Why did you dance with me?"
She was right. Alex froze in place, "I…it's fun." She shrugged.
"Out of five hundred women dancing in the club I was the most fun?" Marissa asked.
"Yup," Alex nodded with the only answer she could come up with before slipping out the door.
Marissa got up with all intentions of following Alex all the way down to the parking lot. She was going to talk to Alex if she had to stand behind Alex's Jeep to stop her from pulling out of her parking space.
Those plans were short lived when she got to the bottom of the stairs and saw Alex's Jeep still in the parking space. Marissa noticed the bag Alex was carrying earlier in the passenger's seat and Alex was nowhere to be found.
Marissa bit her lip before walking back up to the apartment to get her shoes. There were at least five bars in the vicinity of the apartment and she figured that's where Alex would be hiding.
After searching every bar within walking distance, Marissa started to go back to her apartment. She decided that if Alex didn't want to see her, there was no way to make her. She couldn't trap Alex. She couldn't make her listen. So she'd have to wait.
As she walked down the sidewalk, she heard the gently crash of the waves on the beach across the street. The soothing noise seemed to be calling her and she wasn't looking forward to going back to the apartment just in case Jodie was there.
Marissa looked both ways before stepping onto the dark pavement. In the street, Marissa could see orange construction lights in the distance down street along with the angry headlights of motorists deadlocked behind them.
The wind blowing off the ocean floated up the sleeves of Marissa's jacket and sent chills down her back. She wrapped her arms around herself and kicked at the sand under her feet. She looked out at the ocean where the waves appear out of obscurity and lapped the ground near her feet. The sky at the edge of the ocean was dark blue where the sun had disappeared behind the horizon.
She stood there and watched the sky get darker and darker knowing that it wasn't going to give her the answers she was looking for. Marissa dropped her head and sighed.
"You okay?" a soft voice asked from behind her.
The sudden sound caused her to jump and quickly turn. She sighed again when she saw the blonde she had been thinking about. "Alex. Um…yeah, I'm fine." Marissa paused looking Alex up and down. She was wearing the same thing as before except she had put on black hoodie. Marissa searched Alex's face and what she found was sadness and possibly confusion. "Are you okay?"
Alex took a deep breath. "I don't…I thinks so. Look I'm sorry for running you off and then leaving," Alex looked at the blackening waves, "I'm…I don't know what I'm doing. I finally have the life I've always wanted and I don't know if I want it anymore. Before you came…my life was in hazy…euphoric at best. The drinking and the drugs were just…my escape. I know it's stupid, but I think I'm done."
Marissa slowly nodded, "Good." She wanted to touch Alex in some reassuring way, but didn't think she could without upsetting Alex again.
"Thanks for…" Alex finally looked back at Marissa, "Caring."
"I'll always care," Marissa quietly replied.
An awkward and unbearably comfortable silence fell over them. Marissa kept looking from the ground to Alex and then back at the ocean while Alex was searching for something to say.
"Do you need a ride home?" Alex asked.
Marissa immediately nodded, "Yeah."
The blonde started walking back toward the street, leaving Marissa to scamper after her. Marissa couldn't help, but smile to herself. Alex was actually talking to her and being nice.
Once they got back to Alex's Jeep, the shorter girl felt around her pockets and then glanced in her Jeep. "I must have left my keys inside. I'll run up and get them."
"Okay," Marissa leaned on the Jeep and waited. After a few minutes, Alex appeared at the top of the stairs with a small smile on her face, "The door is locked."
"Did I do that?" Marissa asked, "I didn't mean to."
Alex's smile grew, "It's fine. Do you have your phone on you? We can call Jodie to come let us in. Mine is still at Abby's."
Marissa felt in her pocket and realized that she forgot to grab her phone on the way out.
Alex knew that Marissa had forgotten her phone and nodded as she walked down the stairs, "Well, how about we go…" she thought for a moment, "get ice cream?"
Marissa grinned, "Sounds great."
The blonde lazily dropped down the last step, stopped at the curb and looked down the street. She didn't realize how close she was to Marissa until she looked back at the taller girl, who was now shorter because Alex was on the curb. She glanced down at her feet and rocked back on her heels. Marissa, although she tried to, couldn't seem to move or make any sort of noise, much less take her eyes off of Alex.
"So…" Alex drew out the word in an attempt to cut the tension, "Ice cream?"
Marissa was finally able to take a step back and nodded, "Lead the way."
Alex loved when Marissa was being shy or nervous. It was the cutest thing she could think of. In true Alex Kelly manner, she thought of a way to prolong the shy nervousness. She stepped off of the curb and gently kissed Marissa's cheek. Then without giving Marissa a chance to recover Alex started walking back toward the street.
It took Marissa a minute to let the fact that Alex just kissed her sink it. It was just a kiss on the cheek , but a kiss is still a kiss. A huge goofy smile appeared on her face before she turned around and trotted after Alex.