As usual, I would like to thank you guys for all of the reviews.
A/N: I know, I suck for making you guys wait so long for an update. Between typing out a report for my mom's work, getting all of my shit together for my classes starting up again next week and all of my shit at work, it hasn't left me a lot of time to write.
A/N2: So, there is Malex in this chapter. Yay! I hope you enjoy and that it was worth the wait.
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Chapter Fourteen- Because
"But Joooodieeeeee.." Seth whines from the doorway to the supply room.
"Don't give me that crap. I don't care if Alex isn't here, you're still cleaning the bathrooms," the small brunette snaps at the lanky boy.
"But…I…Fine!" He sputters, finally giving up
Jodie hops up on the counter, resisting the urge to go hide in Alex's office until everyone has left. Scott decided to leave an hour ago since it was so slow. Summer is currently filing her nails by the bar on the far wall while Marissa wipes it down and Ryan puts up the chairs. I am going to kill Alex when she gets back for leaving me practically alone.
As if on cue the side door swings open and a distracted looking Alex steps into the club. The blonde looks up and barely makes eye contact with her as she walks over.
"I need to talk to you in the office," Alex states, trying to not sound like it's an order.
Jodie decides that whatever happened in L.A. must have been pretty major. She merely nods and follows her friend into the office.
"What's up?" She wonders, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible.
"My parents asked me to move back in with them," Alex replies, getting right to the point. She braces herself against the desk, awaiting the inevitable blow-up from the brunette.
At this, Jodie erupts into laughter. "Are you serious?" She gasps out after a moment.
"Yeah," is the cautious reply from the confused blonde. Laughter? Not even on my top ten list of expected reactions.
"They must be stupid to think that you'd go back to them after all of the crap that they-"
"They've changed Jo. They've changed a lot," Alex interrupts.
"Whoa! You didn't say 'yes' did you?" Jodie asks, her mirth immediately killed. "I don't want to move back to L.A.," she adds indignantly.
"You don't have to go everywhere that I go. You could always stay here if I left," the bar manager says, almost amused at the other woman.
"Why wouldn't I go without you? That's crazy talk," Jodie scoffs at the suggestion of staying in Newport without her best friend.
Alex simply smiles at her friend's insistence of staying by her side. "I told them that I'd think about it. I haven't had enough time to process their sudden change in personalities," she sighs.
Jodie walks over to her friend leaning against the desk and rests a supportive hand on her arm. "You know that whatever you decide to do, I'll be behind you 100 percent," the brunette informs her softly. "I mean, why not leave anyways? I mean, what do you have in Newport aside from working here at the Bait Shop?" She throws in, trying to be helpful in her friend's decision-making.
At this, Alex cast her gaze down to hide her smile and slight blush. "Marissa kissed me in my office last night after you guys left," she quietly says.
"It's about damn time!" Jodie gleefully cries out causing Alex to roll her eyes. "Then what happened? Did you guys do it on the desk?" She wags her eyebrows suggestively.
"No. She just smiled at me and left. Said we'd talk tonight at work," the blonde shrugs mildly.
Jodie gives her a blank stare for a moment. The look then turns into one of complete incredulity. "What the hell are you doing talking to me for? Go get your woman," she orders her best friend.
"It's not that simple. I-"
"Yes. It is that simple. You like her. She likes you. You get together and live happily ever after…until I gag," the small brunette is sure to add.
"What if I decide to move back home? What then? Do you really think that we would work out?"
"Why would you move back home if you and Marissa got together? Fuck your parents and fuck L.A," she scoffs in response.
"Look Jodie, this isn't your decision to make and I don't know what I'm going to do," Alex replies sharply. "As for Marissa and me…I just don't even know what to think. It may not have even meant anything. Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss," she sighs.
"And sometimes it's not. Sometimes a kiss is…a promise of something greater. That may have been her way of telling you that she wants more and she is willing to put up with your shit to be with you," Jodie wisely answers back, a hint of irritation seeping through in her tone.
"Where the hell did you get that from?" A stunned Alex questions.
"What? I can't be smart?" The brunette challenges, earning a skeptical expression from the other girl. "Okay, I may have heard it from some Lifetime movie or something," she relents with an eye roll.
"That's what I thought," Alex grins.
Meanwhile, back in the main part of the club, Marissa and Summer share a curious glance as a preoccupied Alex and concerned Jodie disappeared into the manager's office.
"What do you think is going on?" Summer asks her best friend after a moment
"No clue," Marissa replies as she stares at the closed door. "Did Alex seem upset to you? She looked upset," she further notes, mostly to herself.
"I don't know. Maybe you should talk to her when she and Jodie are done," the brunette suggests with a shrug.
"You don't think it's because of me, do you? God, I freaked her out, didn't I? I could just swear that she felt the-"
"Coop!" Summer barks out in an attempt to calm her friend's rising imminent panic attack. "I'm sure that it's something to do with her going to L.A and has nothing whatsoever to do with you," she says slowly, hoping that she's right.
"Yeah. You're probably right," Marissa breathes out in relief.
As Summer opens her mouth to say something else, the office door opens as Alex and Jodie exit the room. "Well, at least they weren't in there long enough to have a quickie," the small brunette pipes up optimistically
"Yeah, but…" Marissa trails off as she catches the blonde's eye for the briefest of moments. Alex offers her a brief apologetic half-smile before turning her attention back to her friend.
"Hey Coop. You spacing out on me again?" Summer asks, trying to regain her friend's attention.
"I'll be right back," the taller girl replies, her tone clearly distracted as she goes to talk to the bar manager. "Hey, Alex," she says in an attempt to get the blonde's attention.
Alex turns to face Marissa curiously. "Yeah?" She wonders, trying not to fidget nervously at the questions she's sure to be getting
"Um, I was wondering if we could talk. I mean, we never got the chance to after…last night," the taller of the two babbles.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, but I had a…thing to attend to."
"Is everything okay?" Marissa asks, furrowing her brows at the evasiveness of the other girl.
"Um…I can't really talk right now," Alex sighs, wanting nothing more than to avoid this conversation all together. "I'll see you at school tomorrow," she mumbles before practically lying out of the building.
--
What am I doing? What am I doing? This is stupid. She's going to think I'm stalking her or something. Marissa sighs, shifting nervously from one foot to the other as she stands on Alex's doorstep. She said that we'd talk tomorrow at school, but I don't think I can wait that long.She quickly knocks on the door before she loses her nerve.
After several moments, Marissa begins to give up hope on the other girl answering. However, before she has a chance to turn around and go back to her car, the door swings open and Alex opens it just a crack. Upon seeing who it is, the blonde opens the door fully.
"Sorry, I thought you were a big guy with an 'I Heart NASCAR' tattoo on your arm," a relieved Alex justifies her paranoid behavior. "My landlord…I'm two days late on rent," she smirks upon seeing the look of confusion cross over the brunette's face.
Marissa nods numbly, afraid of bringing up the reason why she came here. "So, uh, how are things?"
Alex arches an eyebrow in disbelief. "I find it hard to believe that you came here at," she pauses to glance at her clock, "one in the morning to asks me that. And, what are you even doing up right now? You have school tomorrow," she points out obviously.
"So do you!" Marissa shoots back. Before Alex even has a chance to respond, the taller girl continues. "I just came over because I think we really need to talk," she blurts out.
"And I said that we'd talk tomorrow before I left the Bait Shop," Alex growls out.
"That was an hour and a half ago," Marissa points out.
"So?" The frustrated blonde breathes out.
"It was still Sunday an hour and a half ago. Now it's Monday, 'tomorrow'. We're talking now," she asserts.
Alex releases an irritable grunt before opening the door to let the other girl in, knowing that it would be pointless to argue with her right now. "Make it quick," she simply grumbles.
Marissa takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "So, look I just…" she soon trails off as she spots a couple of duffle bags by the door. "Are you going somewhere…again?" She nervously asks.
Following the other girl's gaze, Alex merely smirks. "Uncle Scott's staying here until tomorrow, well, I guess this afternoon," she replies with a shrug.
The taller girl releases an audible sigh of relief. "Good. For a second there I was afraid that you might be moving or something."
Alex takes a moment to dissect the statement. She's afraid that I'll leave? "You don't want me to leave?" She asks cautiously.
"What? No. Why would I want you to leave?" She scoffs as if it was the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard.
"Uh, because I'm a bitch to you," is the obvious answer. "Uh, 'Riss, the thing is-"
"I know you've been kind of a bitch," Marissa cuts the other girl off before pausing for a moment. "Okay, you've been a total bitch," she corrects herself. "But Newport wouldn't be the same without you. And, you know, maybe I'd miss you," she quickly mumbles the last part.
Alex smiles fondly at the other girl before her face falls slightly. She drops onto her couch and stares blankly at her coffee table.
"I don't regret kissing you the other night," Marissa blurts out upon seeing the downcast look on the blonde's face, causing her to look up sharply. "My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner," she confesses softly before blushing, all the while moving closer to the couch where the other girl is sitting.
"Marissa, I-"
The brunette cuts her off once more. "I've just been thinking a lot lately. About you, and me, and…us. I've decided that I really want there to be an 'us'," Marissa informs the other girl, not sure when she came to be sitting next to her on the couch and holding her hand.
Alex stands up abruptly, taking her hand out of the brunette's grasp. "I really need to tell you something. I might-"
"Oh god. I totally read all of the signs all wrong, didn't I? I am going to kill Summer for talking me into telling you how I-"
"Would you just stop for a fucking minute and let me talk?!" Alex shouts over the ranting and grabbing the other girl's shoulders, hoping to finally get a word in without being interrupted.
"But…" Marissa pauses at the stern look Alex is giving her. She simply nods.
Alex lets go of the taller girl's shoulders and runs her fingers nervously through her hair. "I'm thinking about moving back to L.A.," she states, not making eye contact. Marissa is completely stunned. She doesn't say a word in hopes that she heard wrong. She opens her mouth and closes it several times without saying a word. Alex, who still hasn't looked up, takes the silence as meaning for her to continue.
"I saw my parents and they've changed. I have another sister now. She isn't Ashley, but I feel like this is my second chance to be a good sister to someone. They asked me to move back in," Alex says all of this in a quiet tone, trying not to get too choked up and start crying.
"Can't you still be a good sister from Newport? You don't have to move back," Marissa softly responds, knowing that it is a weak argument.
"It isn't that simple Marissa. They want me back. It isn't just that they are asking me to come home again, but they have really changed and I know it will be different this time," Alex states, her voice slowly rising.
Marissa stands up and walks over to Alex. "You can't go," she tells the blonde in a determined voice.
"Why not?" The irritated blonde asks. "I don't exactly have anything tying me to Newport and keeping me here," she sighs in defeat.
Marissa's eye briefly flash in anger. "You have me," she growls out.
Before Alex has a chance to respond, Marissa snakes her hand behind the blonde's head and pulls in her close. She crashes their lips together in a heated and all too brief kiss. When Marissa breaks the kiss, she rests her forehead against Alex's.
"So, why can't I leave?" A breathless Alex snarks a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Because I love you Stupid," Marissa confesses. She feels the blonde stiffen and she pulls away and looks into confused eyes. "Alex? What is it?" She asks, growing concerned that maybe it wasn't the right time to confess her undying love for the shorter girl.
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See, no parents in this chapter. However, whatever will Alex decide to do? And, why is Alex suddenly acting weird? How will she respond to Marissa's confession? Hmm, these are the questions to ponder until the next chapter…which I hope won't take as long as this one.
Don't forget to review and to check out the latest installment of Taking a Chance.