Chapter Ten: Steve's Place and Surfer Dudes
Marissa woke up with the hugest head ache she had ever had. She finally opened her eyes and squinted, looking at her surroundings and slightly picking up her head. She was on a dirty couch in the middle of a dark room. There were beer cans and clothes everywhere and it stunk of skunked beer and smoke. Where the hell was she? She pushed her body upward, groaning as the room spun and her head throbbed. She rubbed her eyes and yawned then realized there was a thick bandage taped to the side of her forehead. "What the-?"
"You fell pretty hard, ya know?" Marissa looked up to see Volchok, leaning in the doorway. She looked at him confused. "What are you talking about? Volchok moved from the doorway and picked up two unopened beer cans from the floor, offering her one as he sat down next to her. "No, thanks", Marissa said. Her head ache was almost unbearable. She couldn't even think about drinking right now. Volchok nodded and popped open his can, taking a large gulp. "Soot yourself…how's your head feelin'?" Marissa wrinkled her nose and groaned. "Not good…why do I have this on it anyway?"
"I don't know what happened…" Volchok said. "We were walking to the car and I guess you just passed out. You hit your head pretty hard on the pavement." Marissa closed here eyes sighed through the pain. "Great…" she groaned. "Well thank you for taking care of me." Volchok shrugged. "Yeah well…you were bleeding all over my truck." Marissa frowned and nodded. She stretched her legs and sat back. "Where are we by the way?" Volchok looked around the room. "Aw yeah, this is my friend Steve's place." he told her. "He's never home lately so he said I could come by whenever I needed a place to crash…nice ain't it?"
Marissa just awkwardly smiled and nodded at Volchok's question, quietly lying to herself. She looked around at the room. It was completely disheveled and disgusting. She felt gross and dirty from sleeping on the couch and the smell was just making her even more nauseous then she already was. She missed sleeping in a bed, taking showers on a daily basis, and eating actual food whenever she wanted. She had gotten even skinnier, and her complexion was a mess. She was always pale and she permanently had dark circles under her eyes.
"Alright listen", Volchok stated before finishing off his beer, crinkling the can, throwing it on the floor, and standing up to stretch, "I told some of my boys I'd meet them down at the pier. There's some kind of big surf event today and I gotta make an appearance. You don't have to come if you don't want…you could just uh…hang out here."
"No!", Marissa practically screamed, "...I mean no, no I'll go." She'd do anything to get out of there. Volchok nodded, belched, and held his hand out for her to take. She pulled herself up slowly, the room spinning around her. She held on to Volchok's hand tighter and stepped into her shoes. He looked at her strangely, sensing she wasn't feeling well. "Hey, you okay?" Marissa's stomach started to gurgle and she let go of Volchok's hands to clutch her head and middle. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick…"
Marissa ran around the corner, searching for Steve's bathroom so she could vomit…not that the smell or look of it would really bother him if she threw up right then and there anyway, by the looks of how he lived. "Down the hall, to the left", Volchok called to her as she ran around the house. He smirked and kicked all the debris at his feet as he heard Marissa cough over and over, then finally flush the toilet. She emerged from behind the wall, hugging her stomach and making a sour face. Volchok looked at her and half smiled, "Feel better?" Marissa nodded and said yeah. She didn't feel better…she felt worse, but would do anything to get the hell out of Steve's place. "Let's go", she said as she carefully picked up crusty and ripped shirts, finally finding her jacket and slipping it on.
The Newport air was warm and breezy, the sun was shining and there were smiling faces every which way. So why did Marissa feel so crappy? She and Volchok had reached the beach and she was once again greeted by sweaty blonde men with surf boards. She had met Steve for the first time…and he was as gross as his place. Marissa stayed as far away from him and the other guys as possible, standing close to Volchok as he sat on the sand and started polishing his board. Marissa awkwardly sat close by as the surf competition got underway. She silently watched while a bunch of guys went into the water, taking waves then completely wiping out. The announcer called out name after name, and continued to stammer out surf lingo that Marissa couldn't understand.
She heard Volchok's name being called and watched him run out into the ocean, his body glistening with water and sweat. Yeah, he was hot. Really, really hot. She watched him catch several waves, clapping for him as others did until he finally wiped out, disappearing into the ocean. The announcer read out his scores and everyone cheered as he walked up onto the beach with his bored, toothy grin on his face. He approached his friends first, giving them pounds and high fives here and there. Marissa sat still until he finally glanced over at her. She smiled at him as he swaggered towards her. "Pretty good, huh?" Marissa half smiled. "Yeah, you were awesome…" Volchok squinted through the sun, picking up a hand to wave at someone in the distance. "Well I can see that you're bored, and I don't have another go for a while so why don't you just take a walk." he said, half looking at her. "I can catch up with you later."
Marissa looked around her…she was really bored and there was nobody here that she really wanted to chat it up with. She agreed to walk around. Giving Volchok a quick kiss, she got up, dusted her bottom off and started down the beach. She slowly walked down the sand, enjoying the scenery…smiling slightly as she passed people who were just hanging out. She stopped and observed four people, who were laughing and chasing each other down the beach, the boys tickling the girls as they ran away shrieking. Her eyes welled up as she thought of Seth, Summer…and Ryan. It was like last summer all over again. She missed times like that, when they could just be silly and have fun together, without the weight of break ups and college on all their shoulders.
Marissa finally broke her stare and kept on walking. She weaved her way onto the pier where she observed the diner and thought about getting something to eat. Maybe some food would make her feel a little better. But who was she kidding…she was broke. Had nothing with her, after all. She finally felt claustrophobic with all the people surrounding her, there for the surf competition. Marissa squeezed her way to the side of the pier where she just stood and looked out over the water. She daydreamed again about they happy days of last summer. She and Ryan were just getting things together after what happened with Trey, her father was back, and for the first time in a long time…Marissa was actually happy. Now everything she felt last summer had gone away once again. Her father left and Ryan didn't want her anymore.
She looked down at her hands and closed her eyes, not even noticing all the noise anymore, just getting lost in her daydreams. Maybe if she thought hard enough, she would find herself back to last summer, when things were even remotely good again. Marissa sighed, opening her eyes again, knowing that it would never happen. She told her father to never come back, and she knew that she could never speak to Ryan again in the state she was in. Marissa finally turned, thinking she would go back and find Volchok.
She was surprised to see Seth and Summer standing there only a few feet away from her…both of their mouths open, staring at her the same way she had stared at Steve. Like she was the most disgusting creature they had ever seen in their entire lives. She didn't know what to do at that moment. A million emotions began to wash over her. Pain. Fear. Sadness. Panic. She didn't know what to say to them…they just continued to stare back at her…until she took off running down the pier.