A/N: Blaze of Glory still. I'll be done with this episode next chapter. Not too much taken from the actual episode, but some of the (minor) stuff is mentioned.
A/N2: Yes, I know I said it would be up by Wednesday…but I was having a problem getting my pain medication. Needless to say, the last few days sucked without them. The good news is that, when I finally got a chance to write this chapter out, it only took, like, 2 hours. There is no real point to me having posted this on crappy-ass Valentine's Day. It's just a coincidence. Anyways, here it is…
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Where We Left Off:
"I can't take her back to her house because Julie will kill her and find some way to blame you and, well, if my step-monster is awake, she'll call Julie," the shorter of the two explains herself.
The blonde allows her shoulders to sag. "I'll help you get her to my office. She can stay crashed out on the couch and I'll take her back to my apartment after I finish closing," she sighs, a smirk tugging at her lips, knowing that the younger woman is going to be in for one hell of a hangover in the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Nine - Pre-Bonfire Drama
The Next Morning, 6:05 am
A lone shaft of light shines into the bedroom through the curtains and right into Marissa's closed eyes. With a groan, she turns her head away from the light and buries it into her pillow. My warm, breathing pillow.
At this final thought, the brunette cracks open a bloodshot eye to find herself draped over her girlfriend's body, the other girl's arms wrapped loosely around her. She casts her gaze up to meet the shining eyes of the blonde.
"Morning," Alex quietly whispers, mindful of the other girl's probable headache.
"Morning," Marissa croaks out, cringing at the sound of her own voice. "What happened?" She wonders, trying to recall the events that led to her waking up in the bartender's bed…fully clothed.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Alex questions with her brows furrowed.
The brunette closes her eyes for a moment as she wracks her brain. "Dancing with Summer and Lindsay…and I may have been drinking some alcohol," she answers, the last part added hesitantly.
"You passed out in the booth after getting up on the bar and trying to dance on it like you were at Coyote Ugly," the blonde says in a grave tone as she attempts to fill in the other girl's memory gaps.
Marissa clenches her eyes shut as she carefully drops her head back into the crook of Alex's shoulder. "Oh my god. I didn't," she laments, mumbling into the soft fabric of her girlfriend's t-shirt.
Feeling the barely contained shaking of the girl beneath her, Marissa lifts up her head to find Alex trying to hold in her laughter. "No, but it would have been pretty hot if you did," she corrects the lie she told the hung-over brunette.
"You are so mean," Marissa rasps with a smile on her face nonetheless.
"That's what you get for getting wasted while I'm working," Alex retorts with a smirk before she notices the other girl looking around the room. "What's wrong?" She questions.
"We've been going out for three weeks and this is the first time that I've seen your room," Marissa points out, noticing the band posters on the wall and clothes randomly scattered about.
"Well, when I'm not at work or school, you tend to drag me into your bedroom so you can have your way with me," Alex attempts to shrug, though the action is wasted as she remains pinned under the taller girl.
"Are you complaining?" Marissa mumbles as she settles back onto her girlfriend and closes her eyes.
"I just think that, maybe, you are a kinky bitch," the blonde smirks, eagerly awaiting the other girl's reaction.
As predicted, Marissa regrettably shoots her head up to look incredulously at the shorter of the two, trying to ignore the pain in her eyes and head. "Excuse me," she snaps.
"All I'm saying is that I have this perfectly fine apartment all to myself and yet, you seem to prefer being at your house where Caleb or Julie can walk in on us at any moment," Alex explains. "I am concerned that you may be a bit of an exhibitionist and-"
The rest of the blonde's sentence is cut off by a pillow whacking her in the face. "Less talk, more sleep," Marissa attempts to command as she drops her fluffy weapon to the floor and goes in for another try at going back to sleep.
"No can do, Babe. You have school," the blonde argues before sliding out from under her girlfriend.
"Don't wanna," the brunette mumbles into the pillow that replaced the shorter girl's body. She looks up suspiciously. "And you have school too, not just me," she throws in as she realizes the word choice of the blonde.
"Be that as it may, 'Miss Social Chair', I don't have to go because nobody expects anything of me. You, on the other hand, are in charge of tomorrow night's bonfire thingy," Alex waves off the responsibility of showing up as she stands up from the bed.
At this, Marissa rolls over onto her back and quirks an eyebrow at the bartender. "What if I expect you to go to school with me?" She challenges with a small smile.
"Good luck with that," the blonde snorts in amusement as she defiantly crosses her arms across her chest.
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7:40 am
A dark blue Jeep Wrangler pulls violently into an empty parking space in the school parking lot before coming to a screeching halt. Almost as soon as the engine is turned off, the driver's side door is flung open and a certain bar manager with a purple streak in her hair jumps out. She reaches into the backseat and snatches her bag from the floor.
On the passenger's side of the vehicle, a brunette casually opens her door and steps out, purse in hand. She lifts her sunglasses off of her eyes and gazes over towards the irritated driver with a smile, as if the blonde didn't just assault her beloved Jeep.
"Not a word," Alex growls as she watches the triumphant grin on her girlfriend's face. Marissa merely walks around to the other side of the car, takes her girlfriend's hand and links their fingers together before offering her a sweet smile. The blonde turns her head away and groans. "You're cheating," she whines, her annoyance from moments ago fully melted away by now.
"You like it," the brunette replies cheekily, squeezing the shorter girl's hand gently as they make their way towards the building.
Alex turns her head to the side to make a snide remark about the underhanded techniques the other girl employed to get her to agree to go to school with her. Namely, the 20 minute make-out/groping session before Marissa blue-balled her by pulling away and suggesting they take separate showers before leaving for school. The blonde had been so distracted by the sight of her girlfriend standing topless in front of her when she asked the question that she was only able to nod dumbly without knowing what she was agreeing to.
However, before Alex is able to form an adequately snarky reply, her gaze settles on the brunette's neck. She closes her mouth and smirks, saying nothing as they enter the school. Marissa, for her part, only notices the small smile playing on the blonde's lips and she brushes it off as her being able to successfully subdue the other girl's sarcastic impulses.
The couple reach Marissa's locker mere moments before Summer strides up to them. "Hi Malex," the small brunette greets them.
"Uh, what?" Is the confused reaction to the greeting. They stare at Summer as if they had just discovered that she is, in fact, a pod person.
"It takes too long to say 'Hi Marissa, hi Alex' that I decided to just combine your names. You guys are practically joined at the hip anyways," the smaller girl explains herself nonchalantly.
"You decided to combine our names?" Marissa tries to make sure that she understands what her best friend just said.
"It'll be much easier this way," Summer simply nods.
"It's a portmanteau," Alex mumbles, mostly to herself.
"What?" The blonde's girlfriend questions, having heard her quiet utterance.
The bar manager looks over at her, not aware that she even spoke aloud. "A portmanteau," she repeats, louder this time. She receives a pair of blank looks. "It's a new word formed by joining two other words, or names, and combining their meanings," she explains immediately, blushing at the amused expressions on the other two girls' faces.
"Coop, you're totally dating a closet geek," Summer unnecessarily points out with a smirk.
"I know," Marissa replies with a fond smile directed towards the blonde leaning up against the locker next to hers.
"Why does her name come first?" Alex suddenly asks the shorter brunette.
"Huh?" Is the eloquent reply.
"Why is it 'Malex' instead of, like, 'Alissa' or something?" She clarifies her earlier question.
"Because I'm awesome like that," Marissa grins and Alex arches an unimpressed eyebrow in response. "Besides, does it even matter?"
"I don't know. That's why I asked," Alex points out.
Summer watches the pair, amused at bearing witness to another one of their pointless arguments. When Marissa, having totally forgotten about her standing there, turns to fully face the blonde, Summer's eyes widen is surprise.
"Coop, is that a hickey?!" Summer blurts out her question much louder than she intended. The hallway is silent as the other students' attention becomes riveted to the trio.
Marissa's hand immediately go up to her neck and she shoots a glare at her girlfriend, who is trying desperately to hold in her laugh. She saw it! That's why she didn't get pissed when I taunted her about me tricking her into coming to school with me. Bitch. She scowls at the realization.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She finally question the blonde.
Alex smiles as she backs away slowly, having enough foresight to know that her next words may not be fully appreciated by the other girl. "Because you didn't ask," she shrugs innocently.
"Argh!" Marissa grunts before slamming her locker shut and heading to English.
"See you in class, Baby!" Alex calls down the hallway before erupting into another fit of laughter. Her attention soon turns to the smaller brunette who, despite her folded arms and arched eyebrow, is obviously holding back a smile of her own. "She started it," she is quick to defend herself.
"I'm sure she did," the unconvinced girl replies.
"Well, I could explain it to you, but I have a feeling that you really won't want to hear the details," Alex says, her tone clearly indicating what those 'details' include.
At this, Summer holds up her hands to signal that she not go any further. "Okay. I'll take your word for it," she states, not wanting to know anything about her best friend's sex life.
"Are you sure because you don't seem like-"
Alex's teasing retort is cut off when Summer places her fingers in her ears. "I can't hear you!" The shorter girl calls out as she walks towards their first class, not removing her fingers from their position. The blonde simply shakes her head in amusement as she trails behind the other girl.
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5:00 pm
After making up during their lunch period, as the couple is apt to do, Marissa finds herself laying on the couch in her living room with her cell phone glued to her ear and a smile on her face.
"So, what are you up to?" She asks her girlfriend with a cheeky grin.
There is a short chuckle on the other end of the line. "Aside from talking to you, I am not doing much. Jodie's filing her nails while she's standing at the bar…now she's glaring at me for talking about her," Alex narrates from her end of the line at the Bait Shop.
"Now she's giving Alex the finger," Jodie barks in the background, causing both girl's to break into laughter. "And now Jodie's annoyed as hell and is going to the office to play Solitaire," she grumbles.
"Don't go surfing for porn again Jo!" Alex shouts at the other woman before the door slams shut. "What about you 'Riss? What's on the agenda for you tonight?" She questions her girlfriend.
"Oh, Ryan's coming over so we can finish ironing out the details of the bonfire tomorrow night," Marissa replies, anxious to get the whole bonfire done and over with.
"You guys already ordered to wood and finished with the scale model and crap. What else do you have to go over?" Alex wonders, her brows furrowed as she contemplates the bonfire.
"You know, placement and the construction schedule for tomorrow," Marissa says easily. "I'm not sure what else. It was Ryan's idea and I figured that it would be best if we went over everything again anyways just to be safe," she further adds.
"Makes sense," the blonde agrees with a slight nod, trying to fight the surge of irrational jealousy. She tries to brush it off since she trusts her girlfriend more than anything.
Before the brunette can respond, there is a knock at the door. "Hey, Lex, Ryan just got here. I'm going to let you go, okay?" She sighs into the line.
"Of course," is the easy answer, since the blonde doesn't really have much of a choice in the matter.
"Great," Marissa smiles as she goes to the door. "I love you," she feels the need to add after a moment.
"I love you too," Alex returns the sentiment, relief evident in her tone at the reassurance of the other girl's feelings. "I'll see you later," she says with a smile.
"Bye," Marissa grins before reluctantly hanging up the phone as she opens the door. "Hey stranger," she awkwardly greets Ryan.
"Hey back," the blonde boy replies as he makes his way inside the house. "Where do you want to do this?" He questions, his eyes briefly turning towards the stairs, presumably to indicate Marissa's room.
Unfortunately for Marissa, her back is turned so she didn't see his subtle indication. "The living room's fine. No one is expected to be home until later," she shrugs before resuming her previous position on the couch.
Ryan's shoulders sag slightly as he sits down next to her and places a blue print of the bonfire model on the table in front of them. "So…" he trails off, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
Marissa can't help but shift uncomfortably, moving over slightly since he sat so close to her. "What do we need to go over here?" She wonders aloud, trying to figure out when it became so hard to be around her former boyfriend.
The blonde boy simply sighs as he turns to face the brunette. "How are things going with Alex?" He asks, trying to meet her eyes.
For some reason, Marissa doesn't feel particularly comfortable discussing her relationship with Alex with the boy next to her. It's especially strange considering that, under any other circumstance, she finds it near impossible to stop talking about the other girl.
"Uh, you know," she vaguely answers him with a shrug.
"Yeah," Ryan draws out as he moves closer and fixes her with a pained expression. "Marissa…" he pauses briefly to gather his thoughts.
The other girl can see the wheels turning in his head as she notes the other boy's torn expression. "Ryan, don't," she says, breaking into his thoughts.
"I miss you," he says, ignoring her quiet plea for him not to say anything more.
Marissa closes her eyes briefly at his confession. "Look, Ryan, I miss-"
She doesn't get the chance to finish her sentence because her ex-boyfriend leans over and covers her lips with his own in a soft kiss.
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Oh no I didn't! Yes, I'm afraid I did. This chapter is ending with Ryan and Marissa kissing. I promised drama, didn't I? Don't worry, I promise I haven't gone to the dark side (straight pairings…ew)…or have I? You'll have to check back for the next chapter, which will, hopefully, conclude this episode with the long-awaited bonfire. Hmm, how will I play out the episode that signaled Alex's tragic departure from the show? I'm also thinking that Jodie is going to have to make an appearance at the bonfire in the next chapter too.
Chapter 11 of Taking Risks is now up. And, hey, while you're checking out that House story, you can check out This Year Will Be Different, a sequel of sorts to Ringing in the New Year. Make sure to check out my profile for updated info on upcoming stories and current ones…if you're interested of course.
