Marina could tell she was definitely drunk at this point. The bartender slipped a water in front of her when she asked for another drink. She smiled brightly, "Thank you. What is your name by the way?" She tried to act as sober as she could, but she had to rest her arm on the bar to keep herself from swaying off of the high stool she was sitting on.
"Call me Tuck. What's yours?"
"You cannn, call me Mar."
"So is it Marissa or Marnie?"
She shrugged, smiling at him, resting her head on her hand. "It's a mystery I guess. So how old are you Tuck?" She asked, changing the subject.
"27. You?"
"How old do you think I am?" She sat up straight, making a serious face.
He chuckled before he squinted his eyes, "You look young, so I'm going to go with 23."
"Wow. You're good." She nodded slowly.
"Years of bartending." He smirked at her, winking.
"You ever give your number out in your years of bartending Tuck?"
"Couple times." He smirked.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Nope."
"Good." She grabbed a napkin, "May I borrow a pen sir?"
He pulled one out of the box and handed it to her, "Here is my number. Give me a call sometime if you wanna have some fun. Thanks for the drinks by the way!" She sloppily wrote her number down. She stared at it a bit to make sure it was correct.
"Anytime." Tuck grinned as Marina stood up.
"I better pee!" She told him loudly before she walked toward the bathrooms.
Marina walked out of the bathroom and into the hallway that led back to the main room of the bar. Somebody came from behind her, turned her and pushed her back against the wall.
She was about to knee them in the balls before she looked up and saw it was Kenny.
He had his hands on her shoulders and he was leaning down to be face to face with her.
"Are you really going to fuck the bartender?"
"Why are you even talking to me Kenny? You have been a straight asshole to me tonight." She pointed her finger and poked his chest, "You're supposed to be my best friend. You wouldn't even buy me a drink. I might fuck the bartender, or one of the new 3 cute guys friends I met tonight. What does it matter to you!" She could hear the slur in her own voice, it was making her mad that she couldn't make her point properly with him.
"How drunk are you?"
"Not drunk enough to not realize that you came up to MY friend and hit on her in front of my face. Treated me like I was shit in front of everyone in earshot of us three. And then took her somewhere to fuck her. And now you are trying to control me and my body! This is why... this is what I didn't want Kenny! You say you have these feelings for me or whatever and wanted more than just to bang each other. Yet here you are all over my friend right in front of me. Making out and shit. Get your hands off of me. Why are you even here? Did you follow me so that you could ruin my night? If I wanted you here I would have invited you! Go buy drinks and fuck other girls with your catfishing ID.. I'm going to go and have fun because that is what I came to do!"
"I didn't know you would be here. And I did not fuck her!" Kenny frustratingly replied.
"Oh yeah? Is that the actual truth? Because I'll find out later when I talk to Gina. Again, get your hands off of me before someone comes back here and they think I'm not single or some shit." She shoved his chest, "I don't want you hogging me here like you have been doing at the parties we go to with our friends." She sighed.
"I do not hog you!" Kenny let go of her and stood up straight, she swayed slightly. He started to reach forward and she shoved his hands away, "Kenny stop. I'm fine! Don't start being nice to me now." She walked around the corner and toward the table she was with earlier.
"Heyyy! She's back!" They cheered.
She cheered back and grabbed a random drink off of the table, "The bartender probably won't give me any more to drink."
"I got you, what do you want?" Vic asked.
"But we should be buying you drinks!" Marina laughed.
"True." He nodded.
"I got both of you, what do you guys want?" Nick told them.
"Vodka soda. With ice!"
"Me too." Vic agreed.
Marina shoved Vic against the bathroom stall, their lips colliding passionately. She didn't really remember how they had gotten to this point, but she knew it was happening. They moved through the open stall door. Vic reached down and lifted Marina up, her legs wrapped around his waist as he used her body to shut the door. He reached down and locked it before putting his hand on her butt. She felt herself going in and out. She felt like she kept falling asleep.
"Am I falling asleep?"
Vic laughed, "No! Why?"
"I don't know." She breathed before planting her lips back onto his.
His fingers dug into her waist as he thrust his hips forward. Usually she would enjoy this, but Kenny entered her mind before she could stop it. She opened her eyes to assure herself that it was not Kenny in front of her. Vic moved his lips from her mouth over her jaw line until his mouth was against her ear, he breathed out and her eyes closed on their own, her head tipping back. She let out a shaky breath.
"What do you like?" She could have sworn she heard Kenny say that into her ear.
She jerked her head away from him and looked over. Again, it was Victor.
"I'm not too picky." She forced a smile on her face.
He let her down before he bent forward, his lips planting a kiss in the middle of her chest before he began lowering himself slowly to the floor. His hands on her hips, they were smaller than Kenny's. She internally screamed at herself for comparing yet again. The thought of Kenny doing this to Gina popped up in her head and tears instantly filled her eyes.
The image of the face he made when she turned him down seeped into her mind as well. She had never seen that look in his eyes before. She had been trying to ignore the thought of those hurt looks. But all of the times she had seen it since, were now flashing through her brain and before she could control herself, tears were falling down her cheeks. She sniffed, trying to get herself to stop before Vic saw. She tried to take a breath and a soft sob slipped out. "Damn it." She cried.
Vic stood up quickly, "Oh my God, are you okay? I'm so sorry."
"It's not you. You're just fine. I'm just dealing with a lot lately. I'm really sorry. I am going to start heading home. Can you tell your friends it was nice to meet them?"
"Of course! Can I get your number?"
"Yea." She nodded through her tears, taking his phone from his hand and entering her phone number.
"Thank you for a fun night!"
"You had fun?" She asked, feeling embarrassed that she couldn't pull herself together.
"Of course! It's okay that you're dealing with some stuff right now. Next time you are here you're welcome to come and hang with us okay?"
Marina nodded before she opened the door and headed out of the bathroom quickly.
As she passed their table Haley stepped in front of her, "Did Victor hurt you?!" She asked angrily.
"No it's me. I'm dealing with some dumb shit right now. I'll see you guys some time!" Marina felt like she needed to get out of there before she drew more attention to herself. She was trying to find the girls she came with.
She looked out in the smoking area, and then back inside.
Marina decided to go out to the parking lot and see if they were still parked in the spot they came in. Once she reached the spot she realized they left her.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Marina yelled, pulling her phone out.
She tried to call Wendy first, but she didn't answer. Marina looked at the time on her phone, it was 1:43am. She tried Bebe next. No answer. She even tried Nichole and Kyle, but neither of them answered. She got a hold of Cartman, but he refused to leave Heidi.
She really didn't want to talk to Kenny, but it looked like it was going to be that way.
Marina walked back into the bar, she tried to see if he was still there but it looked like he had left. She pulled him up on her phone and it went straight to voicemail. She sighed before pulling a text up.
Me
They left me here...
Kenny
Srry.
Me
Will you please come get me?
Kenny
Ask your boy Tuck to give you a ride..
Me
I'll just walk I guess.
Kenny
R u serious?
Marina?
You arent being funny.. answer me.. R u really walking?
Im turning around okay? Wait on me. Please..
Marina was sitting on the sidewalk outside of the bar with her head buried in her lap as she cried. She didn't want to like Kenny like that. Not yet. She wasn't ready for that. She also couldn't believe the girls left her there all alone. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there crying before she heard someone running and then felt a hand on her back.
She quickly moved her head up to see if it was a stranger. Kenny knelt down in front of her, "Come on. Lets get you home." He helped her stand.
He offered to help her walk but she started walking to his car on her own.
"Those bitches left me!" She groaned as she got into the car.
Kenny shut the door to the drivers side, "No they left with 3 guys. They were all extremely drunk. You shouldn't have left with them anyway."
"Are you drunk?"
"No I have been sober for a while now." His voice was soft.
She nodded, looking out of the window and remembering how the night had went. Her eyes filled with tears again. She kept repeating to be strong in her head. But it seemed to make her more upset.
Marina let herself cry instead of fighting it this time.
"Did someone hurt you?" He asked.
"I just need to cry." She shook her head.
"Okay." He nodded.
She hated herself. She felt awful. She needed real answers from him.
"Did I hurt you?" She asked through her tears.
Kenny sighed, it was about a minute before he replied with a, "No."
"Promise?"
She watched him look up and then back at the road ahead of him. They were out of the city already and the road was dark and empty with the Colorado desert.
He shook his head.
Marina couldn't control her tears at all now, "I'm so sorry." She sobbed, "I didn't mean to lead you on. Can we please go back to being best friends again? I miss being normal with you."
Kenny was staring out at the road, she couldn't tell if he was thinking or just ignoring her.
"I miss being normal too." He whispered.
They were quiet for a bit before Kenny finally talked again, "So did you have fun with any of your new guys tonight?"
Marina let out a single laugh, wiping her tears. "I don't want to amuse you."
"Stop. It's just us in here. Nobody will know how I feel about it but you.."
"I was in the stall and making out with this Vic guy and I started crying."
"What made you start crying?"
"Because I am a hot fucking mess anymore. I hate it." She sobbed.
"Hey.." Kenny reached over and placed his hand on her leg. She tensed up but he didn't remove it. "It's all going to be okay. We are going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. It will all get better. Just might take some getting used to."
"Kenny.. Please stop talking." Her voice broke as her tears started flowing even harder, "I'm not ready yet."
"What are you talking about?" She could hear the instant frustration in his voice.
"I'm not..." She winced, "..I'm not ready to love you yet."
"I'm not asking you to love me Rina."
Marina lifted his hand off of her leg, "You're saying the right things. And touching me in a comforting way. I can't handle that right now. Just..." She ran her hands over her face, "You're being too nice."
"Okay.. now you're starting to make me mad... You tell me I'm being too mean. And then you tell me I'm being too nice. I don't know that the hell you want Marina!" His voice gradually getting louder and angrier, "You are confusing the shit out of me! I am trying to be here for you! I am trying to be your best damn friend but I don't know what the hell you want from me!" He turned toward her, "What do you want Marina?!" He yelled, "What the HELL do you want ME TO DO!? I AM-"
"KENNY!" She screamed as some type of big animal was in the middle of the road.
Everything felt like slow motion as Kenny looked forward and tried to slam on the breaks, pulling on the E-break as well. It was too late. Her seat belt locked up, and the car jolted hard at the impact. Her body slammed forward into seat belt, the airbags deployed at the same time, hitting her in the chest and knocking the wind out of her. Kenny's body shot forward out of the windshield, glass shattered loudly. As the car stopped abruptly, her body jerked to the side, hitting her head against the window and then back against the door frame. The animal fell to it's side, sliding away from the front of the car.
A second later a silence fell, the only noise she could hear was her ears ringing loudly.
As soon as Marina caught her breath she started screaming, it sounded strange to her ears. Her hands shook violently as she began fumbling with the seat belt to get out. "KENNY!?" She screamed frantically, her hands were shaking so bad that she couldn't tell if she wasn't pressing hard enough on the button or if it was locked up from the accident. She was sobbing uncontrollably and her breathing came out panicked. She finally got it to release and she tried to open her door. It wouldn't budge. Marina quickly turned around and climbed into the back seat before trying the back door. It opened and she stumbled out, running in the direction Kenny would have went.
"Kenny!?" She yelled, though she felt like she wasn't able to yell very loudly. She felt like she was calling for help in a dream, the nightmares where little to no sound would come out when you screamed. "Kenny?!" She called out again. She was looking all around. It was pitch black everywhere but the area that the headlights illuminated. One of the lights cast a creepy red hue from the animals blood. She cried out in frustration, she was worried she was unable to hear him, since it already sounded like she was under water when she yelled. She was slowly spinning in a circle, she could hear that the sounds of her sobs were becoming louder and clearer.
Marina suddenly remembered that she had her phone, she pulled it out of her back pocket and quickly turned the flashlight on before she called emergency services. She instantly put it on speaker and started moving it across areas of darkness ahead of the car.
"What's your emergency?"
"We just got into an accident. I don't know where we are. I'm trying to find my friend." She frantically spoke as she continued searching the ground with her flashlight.
"Stay on the phone while I ping your location Ma'am."
"Kenny!?" She cried out, her voice breaking.
She heard a choking noise to her right, turning her phone that direction she found him laying in some tall grass.
"Oh my god!" She ran over to him, dropping to her knees beside him.
"Ma'am. We have your location, help is on the way. Please stay on the line and-" Marina hung up, flashing her light onto Kenny.
He was covered in blood and she was pretty sure his leg's shouldn't look like that.
"Kenny, can you hear me?" Her voice was broken and small, she felt like she couldn't breathe.
"Mar.." He gasped, his breathing was loud and labored. She leaned over him so that he could see her, placing one hand on his forehead and the other on his hand.
"I can't... feel... anything." He gasped at every word.
"Can you feel my hand on yours?" She asked through tears.
"No... Mar.. You need.. to.. kill.."
"No!" She shook her head instantly.
"Yes.. you have to.. kill.. me."
"No Kenny I am not going to do that."
"Snap.. my.. neck.." His eyes were wide with sincerity.
"No. I won't."
"I.. am.. para..lyzed."
"You're alive though!"
"I'll wake.. up.. tomorrow.. Per..fectly.. fine.. please.."
"I will remember it though. I remember your deaths. I don't want to remember killing you. Please."
"I.. will.. be okay... If you.. kill.. me."
"Kenny." She sobbed, "Please don't make me do this.."
"I.. would... But.. I can't.. move... Just.. kill.. me... Before.. help.. comes... Please..."
Marina sobbed as she moved to the top of his head, she leaned down and placed her lips gently against his, he weakly kissed her back.
"Hurry..." He wheezed.
"I Don't want to do this." She cried through her teeth.
"I.." He swallowed loudly, "don't.. want to.. be.. para..lyzed.. for..ever."
"I can't. I'm sorry."
"If you.. care.. about.. me.. at.. all.. you'll.. do.. this.. for.. me... let.. me be.. normal.. with.. you.. again.. okay? I.. really.. really.. love.. you... I want.. to.. hold.. you.. again... Please... I need.. you to.. help.. me."
Marina lifted his head onto her lap, her hands were trembling as she placed them on both sides of his head.
"I love you." She whispered.
"I.. Know... I Know... Please.. do.. it.."
"I'm only doing this because I love you." She closed her eyes and looked up, pulling on his head before using all of her strength to twist it quickly. She screamed so that she wouldn't hear the noise it would make. She couldn't hear his labored breathing any longer. Her heart physically hurt, she began crying harder than she ever had, the sobs were completely silent and extended, it was as if her body wouldn't allow her to make any noise, the only noise was her breathing in a gasp of air before another silent sob escaped her. Marina refused to look at him, dropping his head softly to the ground before standing up and stumbling to the car.
Marina knew she would see him tomorrow or the day after, but it didn't change the fact that he was gone right then. She could see the lights from a string of police cars followed by an ambulance and a firetruck in the far distance. As she approached the car, Marina fell onto her knees, curling into a ball in the dirt. Her head cleared some, enough to hear her surroundings clearly. She didn't hear it before, but now she could hear the radio playing hauntingly from inside of the car. Everything around her was chaos, but the radio was playing a song as if nothing had happened. She closed her eyes and focused on the music, hoping it would make time go by faster and distract her. Marina hadn't stopped crying yet, but after she started listening to the words she let out a small huffed laugh, it was as if Kenny had played this just for her. Ghost Town was midway through the song, and the first line she heard was, 'I've been trying to make you love me.' The rest of the song following fit way too perfectly for it to just be a coincidence. She couldn't tell if it was connected to his phone somehow or if it was the radio. The song ended and the next song started up, playing Hotel California.
"Fuck you Kenny." She breathed out softly, smiling sadly, crying even more.
The song abruptly ended and the car lights turned off. Darkness consumed the area. Marina was fighting sleep as hard as she could, not knowing if she had a concussion or not. She stared ahead of her at the stretch of road they hadn't reached yet. The soft ring of sirens in the distance as well as chirping insects were the only noises left. Her mind wandered back to the crash, the memory of Kenny's body flying like a doll out of the windshield, the thought of the impact made her body jump. She started shaking all over again as she closed her eyes tightly, trying to think about anything else.
She started focusing on the sirens that were getting louder the closer they got to the scene.
They finally reached the area she was in. Marina's body was trembling uncontrollably, she couldn't tell if it was because she was cold and couldn't really sense it yet, or because of the trauma.
"Ma'am?" She heard a man yell as he slammed his car door and ran over to her.
"Are you okay?" He asked, she opened her eyes to look up at him, he was crouched down with a flash light. A bright light illuminated the area from one of the cars.
"Can you respond to me?" He asked. She could hear people running over to them.
Marina nodded.
"Are you able to sit up?" A woman asked from behind her.
Marina shakily pushed herself to sitting.
The cop stood up and reached out a hand to see if she would stand.
Marina took it weakly, she had a fear cross her mind that he would know she killed Kenny the minute she touched him. But he helped her stand and the woman started assessing her with a flash light.
"She has some light cuts, maybe from glass shattering in the window. Unknown if all blood is hers and if some areas are wounds. Her head has some right sided bleeding, maybe a window hit. Possible concussion. Her chest is burnt, probably from the air bag deploy. Are you breathing okay?" She asked Marina.
Marina didn't know if she was struggling to breathe over being upset or because of the accident.
She shook her head, "It feels heavy." She told her in a weak voice.
"She's lost her voice."
"I was screaming." Marina told her.
"How many people were in the car sweetheart?" The cop asked.
"Two... He's... over there.." She pointed.
"We already found him." An EMT yelled over. "A Kenneth McCormick."
Hearing them say his name made her sob.
"What is the status." One of the officers asked as he walked over there.
"Okay Honey, I'm going to need you to follow me to the Ambulance." The woman started walking her over toward the Ambulance.
"Can you get his phone out of the car for me please?" Marina rasped.
"Someone bring me the phone from the car please." She yelled as she continued making Marina walk.
The ambulance's were closer to Kenny's body, and Marina kept trying to quickly wipe her tears away.
"It's okay to cry sweetie." She rubbed Marina's back, "I am Jennifer. Can you tell me your name. Do you have any Identification on you?" She asked in a kind voice.
Marina could hear people talking in the background about Kenny but Jennifer was distracting her.
"Um.. Marina.. Morrison." She rasped out through her tears, the same cop coming into view again with a pencil and notepad.
"Were you with your friend?"
Marina nodded.
"Was he driving?"
Marina nodded again.
"Can you tell me what happened? Did the animal run out in front of you?"
Marina thought back to the moment, she could clearly hear the noises again, and feel the air from his body flying out of the car. She started sobbing again, her hands trembling worse than they already were.
"Okay, not the time to ask yet. I am really sorry about that sweetie. Look. We are going to need to take you to the ER to make sure everything is okay. May we use your phone to call your parents?"
"My.. my mom.. is not here.."
"Call dad then?"
Marina nodded, handing over her phone, "Can I please have his phone?"
"They are making sure it doesn't have any outgoing calls or text messages at the time of the crash." Jennifer told her calmly.
They put her onto the stretcher in the back of the ambulance, she was laying flat on her back. Jennifer gently placed both of the phones into her hands. Marina held both of them close as she closed her eyes, embracing the warm tears as they fell down the sides of her face into her hair. She killed her best friend tonight. She didn't know for sure if he would be back tomorrow. What if he didn't come back at all. Like that long span of time he told her about. Where the boys missed him for a while. She wouldn't be able to live with herself.
Marina felt herself becoming more and more sleepy. "Sweetie. You need to stay awake for me okay? Don't go to sleep yet." Jennifer encouraged.
"I'm so tired."
"I know, but you need to stay awake for now. We have to make sure you are able to go to sleep.
It felt like forever before they finally reached the hospital.
They moved her from the stretcher into a hospital bed in the Emergency room. Jennifer brushed a piece of Marina's hair back and lowered to her level. "You did great tonight sweetheart. You're going to be okay."
Marina nodded.
As soon as the door shut behind Jennifer, it burst back open.
Her dad frantically entering the room.
Marina didn't know what she looked like, but her father burst into tears the moment he saw her. He crossed the small room and wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back.
"I was so scared! Your mom should be here at some point! I called her the second I got off of the phone and she got a plane ticket here tonight. You're okay right?" He sat down on the bed next to her,
"Yes." She told him weakly.
"Did that McCormick boy do this to you?!" Henry asked angrily.
She shook her head, "The animal came out of no where."
"Is he here?"
Marina shook her head again, looking down at her hands sadly.
"Like he was able to go home or?"
She shook her head slowly.
"I'm so sorry baby." He hugged her again.
"Sorry dad. We need to take her to get an x-ray done. We need to make sure there is no internal damage." A woman walked in.
"Okay."
"Is there any chance that you are pregnant sweetie?" She asked Marina.
"I don't think so."
"Okay we will head over there in just a second. After we clean those wounds on your head and give you some stitches."
Marina got back into her room, "May I take a shower please? I would really like to stop seeing and smelling blood."
"Typically wouldn't prefer that, but I understand that you probably feel uncomfortable. You appear to be able to walk fine. You can take a shower with the door open, be very careful because your adrenaline is still pumping and we still don't know for sure how much pain you are in." Her nurse advised.
"I'm going to step out and get some coffee." Her dad stood up and headed out of the room.
Marina caught the sight of her in the mirror and her breath hitched.
"Yeah, I wouldn't look at yourself right now."
Marina looked up as she washed her body. She knew she was going to have lasting haunting memories of that night, and she didn't want one of them to be the blood from both of them washing off of her body. Once she was finished, the nurse helped her get into a hospital gown.
Just as she had gotten back into bed, Natalie ran into the room. "My baby!" She rushed over to the bed and sat down on the side, facing Marina.
"Where are you hurt? Can I hug you?"
"Hug her gently." The nurse cut in.
Natalie leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her daughters body.
"You're okay. I'm So happy that you're okay. I love you so much."
Marina smiled at her, she was so happy to see her mom but she was so exhausted.
"Kenny?" She asked.
Marina shook her head, her smile leaving.
"No." She watched tears fill her mom's eyes.
"You'll forget tomorrow." Marina whispered.
"What? No I wont." Her mom cried as she continued cleaning off Marina's face.
A critical care doctor came in and evaluated her.
Marina's dad came in during the middle of it, sitting down next to Natalie.
"The stitches will end up coming out on their own when they are ready. We are going to admit you to the floor for a few days, maybe just two or more if needed. We need to keep an eye on any bruising that may appear by tomorrow. We will make sure you don't have a brain bleed before we send you home as well. Nothing appears to be broken per the X Ray. You have a burn on your chest from the airbag. Your seat belt saved your life."
She only nodded in response.
Marina was moved to an inpatient floor after a few hours.
"Do you want me braid your hair to get it out of the way sweetie?" Natalie asked, in a voice that made her sound desperate to be busy.
"That's fine." Marina softly answered.
She sat still as her mom gently ran her hands through her hair, bringing it toward the back. Marina closed her eyes, embracing in the feeling. It made her feel like a child again.
She didn't know when but she fell asleep. When she woke up the next day she was alone. The door opened and Stan, Kyle, and Cartman walked in.
"Are you okay Marina?" Kyle asked as soon as he saw her.
She nodded, "I barely have a voice though. Where is Kenny?" She weakly rasped, finding it harder to talk that morning than last night.
"He didn't answer. I think he is in trouble for crashing his parent's only car." Stan chuckled.
"His mom said that they let him go home, you were more beat up than he was." Kyle added.
"Did you get stitches?" Cartman asked when he saw the right side of her head after walking around to the other side of her bed.
"Yeah, hit my head on the window and I think the like frame or whatever. I am so sore though."
"We are really glad that you two are okay though." Kyle smiled.
"Yeah, and I wanted to apologize for any of the times I made you feel uncomfortable." Cartman added.
Marina slowly looked over at him, "It's okay really."
Not long after Wendy, Bebe, and Nichole walked in. Marina appreciated them so much she felt like if she had tears left, she would cry over how happy she was that they were doing their best to not even mention the crash.
I had to add the music. I was listening to music while writing this, and Ghost Town was playing when I was writing about the crash and I was shocked at how perfect it was. And Hotel California came on RIGHT AFTER it and I could not believe it!