Chapter 19 – Tears Stream Down Your Face
Marissa raced through the streets of Newport. Her heart pounded against her chest and deafened her to the outside world. The heavens opened above her and down poured the rain. Visibility reduced dramatically as Marissa struggled to see in front of her despite the maniac wavering of her windscreen wipers. She turned wildly her tires and splashing water up from a puddle. A bolt of lightning flashed through the night sky illuminating Newport in an eerie white light for a split second before vanishing as quickly as it had come. A few seconds later the car almost shook as a crack of thunder crashed through the air. Marissa screeched her car round another corner.
The rain fell in increasingly larger drops as the road became engulfed in puddles. As Marissa headed up a hill the water flowed down towards her. Another flash of lightning tore through the sky followed by a deafeningly loud crack of thunder. Her heart beat harder and louder. She swung her car round another corner. Her cell started to chirp and vibrate. She lifted her left hand off the wheel and fumbled around for the phone on the passenger seat. Her eyes flicked between the seat and the road. The windscreen wipers brushed rhythmically from side to side. A bolt of lightning split the sky bathing Marissa in brilliant white light. In the distance a pair of highlights loomed larger and larger. The phone chirped and vibrated on the seat. Marissa touched it with her fingertips. A snap of thunder pierced the air. The highlights drew closer and closer. Marissa had the phone almost in her grasp. She turned her attention from the road to the passenger seat and finally clasped the phone in her hand. She brought it up to her ear, turned her gaze back to the road only to discover the highlights blindingly filled her windscreen.
She could hear the urgent honking of a car horn. She gripped the steering wheel with both hands and turned it sharply to the right. The car screamed as it moved out of the way of the oncoming car and onto the right side of the road. Marissa pressed a button on her cell and brought it up to her ear. "Hello?" She said calmly.
"Marissa, where are you?" Summer asked at the other end of the line.
"Driving." Marissa said succinctly.
"Where?" Summer asked again.
Marissa spun her car round another corner. "Luke's."
"Luke's?" Summer repeated.
Marissa could hear a murmur of sound in the background followed by Summer hushing the voices quiet.
"Are you okay?" Summer asked gently.
"Yes. I'm fine." Marissa said unconvincingly.
There was a silence between the two. Summer could hear Marissa's heavy breathing and Marissa could hear a man's voice in the background asking 'is she okay?'.
"Call me if you need to talk." Summer said with gravitas.
"Okay." Marissa said before hanging up the phone.
She pulled her car quietly into Luke's driveway. On the curb outside his house sat a familiar-looking car but Marissa couldn't quite remember who it belonged too. Must have been one of Luke's father's cars, she thought. She got out of her car, checked herself in the side window, and made her way to the front door. Just as she reached up her hand to press the doorbell she remembered whose car it was. Her face dropped upon the realisation. She closed her eyes in thought. Then they sprung open and she pushed aside a bush by the side of the front door and went round the side of the house.
She stopped when she reached the living room window. She paused as she decided whether to look inside. Then she slowly but surely moved up from her crouched position to gain a vantage point into the house. Through the window she saw what she feared. She saw Luke making out with a blonde-haired girl in her bra and panties on a brown leather sofa. The same sofa that Marissa and him had spent many an hour. The blonde-haired girl was called Hope. She was a cheerleader who did more than just cheer on the team. And now her hands were all over Luke's body, her lips all over his. Marissa couldn't watch anymore. She stumbled away from the window knocking over a plant pot in the process causing it to smash on the concrete floor. Inside the house Luke heard the smash and got up from the sofa. He rushed to the window but only saw the shadow of Marissa as she ran to her car. Luke raced to the front door grabbing a baseball bat on the way. He flung open the door to reveal Marissa's car screeching out of the driveway. He fell to his knees. "Oh God. What have I done?" He whispered to himself.
Marissa flung open the pool house door. Ryan fell out of his bed in shock landing painfully on his elbow. "Son of a…" He muttered.
"Ryan?" Marissa said through her tears.
"Marissa?" Ryan asked the shadowy figure standing by his door.
Marissa moved towards him, grabbed him by the face, and passionately kissed him. After a few seconds Ryan pulled away. He saw the tears on her cheek, the ruined make-up, and the pain in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Just kiss me." She said quietly.
"Marissa." He said defiantly. "What's wrong?"
She looked him straight in the eye and then collapsed against him. "It's Luke. I caught him cheating on me."
Ryan froze for a moment unsure of what to do. Marissa's weak sobbing body leant against him, her palm on his chest, and her head beneath his. He reached up his hand to her hair and slowly stroked it. He put his other hand around her waist and pulled her softly against him.