Author's Note: Posted as promised. Thank you all so much for the reviews from the last chapter. They really put a smile on my face, so thank you. I will be continuing with the story, so no worries.
This chapter is more of a transition into the next few chapters, when the plot will really start to develop, so to say. I was a bit wary of it being kind of non-eventful and boring, so my apologies if that is the case.
Again, I ask kindly for your great reviews. They push me to write the next chapter ASAP, so just a few words is all I ask.
On with the story...
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 3
The shrill beeping of the ancient alarm clock echoed throughout the room. It shook with the force of the hammer hitting the bells, dust flying off in every direction from the small mechanism.
Summer leaned her left arm over to the end table next to her side of the bed, blindly fumbling in order to silence the alarm. With several attempts and no success, she threw the clock onto the floor furiously. After a deafening crash, the clock rang no more.
Summer listened for signs of life from the others in the room but was met only but silence. Ryan and Marissa slept silently and Seth did not even stir besides her. Either Summer was a really light sleeper, or the others were in comas. She went with the latter.
Forgetting about the smashed alarm clock, and forgetting about how the initial aim of it was to wake them all up so that they could be in Tijuana before sunset, Summer put her head back on to Seth's chest, snuggling up to him closely, before dozing off back to sleep.
Ryan stirred, shifting his weight on top of the thin and bumpy matrice underneath him. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in the alien surroundings. The only thing right about the situation that he had awoken to was his girlfriend's body curled up next to him.
He looked up to see Seth and Summer curled up to one another on the bed adjacent to the sofa bed he and Marissa lay on. Summer snored softly, her head buried in Seth's neck. Ryan chuckled.
He looked over at Marissa, lightly shaking here awake.
"Hey, you awake?" He whispered softly.
Marissa mumbled grumpily. "I am now."
She rubbed her eyes, the same confused look crossing her face due to the change in surroundings. However, the look did not dissipate.
"Ryan, why is it dark?"
Ryan's head whipped around to look out of the window, where the sky was indeed pitch black.
"Shit." He muttered, leaping out of bed. "Seth, Summer, get up now." Ryan demanded, as Marissa ran around the room like a headless chicken, gathering up her clothes and make-up.
Summer's head lifted from its position buried in sheets and Seth's neck, her eyes darting around in confusion.
"Huh?" She mumbled, her eyes squinting as the fluorescent white light illuminated the room.
"The alarm didn't go off, and now it's like," Ryan consulted his wristwatch, "eleven forty five."
Summer looked down at the smashed alarm clock guiltily, subtly leaning over the side of the bed and pushing the mess under the valance sheet with her fingertips. She then looked over at Seth, who had not even stirred. She worriedly bit her bottom lip, remembering his odd behaviour that afternoon.
"Seth, sweetie, we need to get up." She whispered into his ear, before kissing his cheek softly. When Seth did still not show any signs of waking, Summer's heart thudded in her chest as she shook his shoulders.
"Seth, Seth? Don't scare me, come on wake up."
Ryan looked up from the bag he was packing, hearing Summer's raised and panicked voice. He was about to start freaking out, as worse case scenarios popped into his head, just as Seth rolled over onto his stomach, mumbling incoherent words into the pillow.
Summer let out a relieved breath, smacking Seth lightly on the butt. "You ass, you scared me to death."
Seth rolled over onto his side, so that he was looking up at a sitting Summer. "What did I do now? I'm sorry if my deep slumber and awesome dream, which I must state you so gladly ruined, caused you to believe that I was no longer alive."
"Geez, Cohen." Summer smiled slightly. "Only you can reel off nonsense babble after being awake for all of ten seconds."
Seth laughed, rolling over and grabbing Summer's waist, bringing her back down onto the bed. He rolled on top of her, hands cupping her face as he kissed her deeply.
Marissa scoffed, as she walked out of the bathroom. This caused Summer to snap her head up, much to Seth's frustration.
"You can talk, or huff, or whatever Coop. How many times have we had to play spectators to your gross make-out sesh? Too many times, Coop, so excuse me while I go make out with my boyfriend." Summer nodded, proud of her outburst, as she turned back to Seth.
As Summer glanced back at Seth, he bit his lip in an attempt not to burst into fits of laughter. This set Summer off immediately, which in turn set Seth off and the couple collapsed on the bed in a fit of giggles.
Marissa looked on, clearly not amused, before storming back into the bathroom and slamming the door.
Ryan stood motionless at the scene in front of him, before deciding that the best thing to do would be to let things be and get back to putting the sofa bed away.
Several minutes later, Marissa had finally come out of the bathroom after some coaxing from Ryan, and Seth had finally removed himself from the bed, and Summer, and was putting the last of his things in his bag.
"You still okay to drive, man?" Ryan asked Seth, as he sat patiently on the sofa waiting for everyone else to finish up. He wondered what was taking them all so long, seeing as they had not even changed for bed. Ryan then reconsidered this thought, noting that it was Summer and Marissa he was questioning, two of the most vain people he had ever met, and probably would ever meet. It was also Seth, probably the most laid back and most lazy person he would ever meet, so therefore he would probably be here for quite some time.
"Yeah, no problem dude." Seth answered, sitting on the edge of the bed as he leaned down to tie his black converse sneakers.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Summer asked, slightly concerned.
"Summer, let me remind you that you're the bad, scary and potentially illegal driver here. I, am extremely safe so I reply yes, I think that it is a good idea."
Summer raised her eyebrows threateningly at Seth, as she moved to stand a few feet in front of him.
Seth backtracked quickly. "Okay, so not what you meant. Shutting up now before a rage blackout hits me like an unsuspecting disease."
"Shut up Cohen, you're giving me a headache. What I meant was, are you okay to drive after your weird behaviour last night."
Seth looked at her questioningly.
"The dizziness? The gross sweating?" Summer reminded him.
Seth extended his legs out in front of him, wrapping his feet around Summer's waist and pulling her towards him. He smiled up at her in a toothy grin, his heels tapping her butt.
"Do I look sick to you?" He asked, cheerily.
Summer laughed at his behaviour, grabbing his shoe clad feet from behind her, before yanking them hard, laughing loudly as Seth's butt hit the floor with a gigantic thump.
Marissa and Ryan could not help but laugh, as they saw Seth's pathetic looking face crumple up in pain as his whole body jolted from the fall.
"Okay, now I must voice up to not being okay. Summer, you have broken my ass."
The four teenagers emerged from the open planned Motel into the car park, Seth distancing himself from Summer as he rubbed his 'broken ass'. It really was a joke calling it a car park, Seth observed, seeing as it was basically a square piece of concrete that backed onto a half basketball court. A basketball court, which was currently occupied by a group of menacing looking youths, he also noted.
Summer ran up to Seth, closing the distance he had created between them, as the gang drew together, exchanging whispered words and directing pointed glares towards Seth, Summer, Ryan and Marissa.
"Okay, Ryan, I think now would be a good time for you to hand me the keys so that we can make a hasty exit from this potentially bad situation." Seth spoke, in a hushed voice as he willingly grabbed the hand Summer offered to him, protectively pulling her close to his body.
"Working on it." Ryan shot back, nervously fumbling around in the bottom of his bag.
"Hey, you two sweet things." A male voice bellowed a few meters away from them. "How about you ditch those two losers and come find some real men."
Marissa and Summer exchanged worried glances, both latching on tighter to their boyfriends as they finally reached the Range Rover.
"Chino! Hurry!" Summer spat at Ryan, looking behind her briefly to see two guys, about twice Ryan's size, marching towards them. They looked in their twenties, but could have been younger due to their large physic's. She felt Seth look too, sensing her worry, and she managed a brief smile as he pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.
Ryan finally managed to locate the keys, grabbing the cool feel of metal in his fist and throwing them to Seth. Seth, caught off guard, dropped the keys as he went to grab them leaving them lying in a puddle a few feet behind them and right in front of the approaching men.
"Nice going, Cohen." Summer snarled, almost laughing at the rhyme she had created but finding the situation not in the least bit amusing.
Ryan's eyes found Seth's, in a look of pure terror. Both of them looked on as the inevitable happened.
The largest guy bent down, retrieving the keys from the puddle and waving them triumphantly in front of his face. His friend slapped him on the back, congratulating him on his find.
"You losers looking for these?" He asked, in the same deep and sinister drawl as before.
Seth and Ryan both nodded their heads, unable to form words.
"Hand over the honeys, and we'll hand back the keys." The second guy challenged.
Summer tore her head up from Seth's chest as she heard the words, glancing at Seth briefly. She then did the unthinkable and ran full speed towards the thugs, kicking the key holder in his most sensitive area and grabbing the falling keys as he doubled over in pain. She threw the keys to Seth, who caught them cleanly in the air, before turning around and kicking the other guy as he launched himself at her.
Seth looked on, unable to form words once again. This time pure terror filled him as he observed his tiny girlfriend taking on two guys four times her size. He thought he was about to vomit as one of the men almost flattened her, but his mind was taken off the situation for a few seconds as he caught the flying keys and unlocked the Rover hastily.
"Summer!" He screamed, ordering her to get the hell back over to the car, but only managing to plead it in a one-word scream. He ran to meet her as she legged it back over to him, grabbing her hand and practically throwing her into the passenger seat as he ran around the other side and glided into the driver's seat.
Seth then plucked up the courage to check the rear-view mirror, finally letting out a sigh of relief as he confirmed both guys were still doubled over on the floor. He then floored the gas and sped off out of the car park, feeling like a criminal who was escaping the scene of a robbery.
Several minutes later, when the SUV was back on the straight and narrow and everybody's heart rates had finally slowed down, Seth pulled the car over onto the side of the road. He just turned to stare at Summer ever so seriously, before cupping her face and kissing her. He kissed her as though it was the last kiss he was ever going to give her, filled with such urgency, pain and love. He felt tears sliding down her cheeks and moistening his own, which caused his own eyes to fill up. When he finally pulled away, and she finally let him, he rested his forehead against hers, still holding her face, eyes bearing into her own.
"You scared me to death." Seth whispered, completely forgetting that Ryan and Marissa were in the car. It was only he and Summer at this moment; everything else was blocked from his vision and mind.
"I'm sorry." She whimpered, still fighting tears and emotions.
"Why the hell Summer?" Seth asked in anger and curiosity.
Summer managed to giggle slightly. "They called us honeys."
Seth looked at her in disbelief for a second, before closing his eyes and laughing. Laughing in relief and laughing in adoration before kissing her again, deeply and needing.
This time Marissa did nothing but smile.
Please review. Chapter 4 posted Sunday.
