Just wanted to thank all of you who have enjoyed my story so far and given me reviews! I really appreciate it! Now, here's Chapter 3…I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 3: The Finding

Kirsten and Kelly arrived together at Courtney's beach house soon after the ball was over, riding in Matt's car, along with Taryn and her other friend, Amber. Kelly's boyfriend, Matt had volunteered to be the designated driver, since he had an early work shift in the morning.

As soon as they were inside, Kirsten pulled out a full bottle of vodka. "It's time to celebrate!" Kirsten exclaimed.

"Jeez, Kirst! Another full bottle? I think that's the third one this week," Kelly told her.

"My parents have more alcohol than they know what to do with…they'll never miss it," Kirsten said. The truth was, if her father suspected anything, he would probably assume that her mother had drank it, leaving her in the clear.

"How about some margaritas first girls?" Courtney called from the kitchen.

"Sounds good to me!" Kirsten said. "I'll save the bottle for later."

About an hour after Kirsten arrived, Jimmy walked through the front door, seeing that the party was already in full swing. Lots of the girls seemed to be in bikini tops, the music was blasting, and the liquor was obviously flowing. He looked around through the crowds of people when he finally spotted her near the kitchen. She was wearing a blue flowered bikini top and a short jean skirt, and her blond hair had been taken down from the up-do it had been in earlier and looked wavy and flowing. Man, she looks hot! Jimmy thought. Just then Kirsten turned towards him and saw him.

"Jimmy!" she yelled across the room. She started walking toward him, stumbling a bit on the way. Jimmy could tell she was already trashed. "I am sooooo glad that you came!" She finally reached him and threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "You want a beer or a marg or something," she asked him.

"I think I'm okay," Jimmy said.

"What, don't you drink?" Kirsten said in a somewhat accusing tone.

"Well, yeah, but I have to drive home, so I wasn't exactly planning on getting trashed," Jimmy told her.

"Come on, just one. You aren't going to get drunk after one or twooo," Kirsten slurred back, holding up two fingers.

"Okay, but just one…I'll take that margarita," Jimmy told her. A few minutes later, Kirsten was back with two drinks in her had, one for him and one for herself.

"Still going strong?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm just getting' started!" Kirsten yelled out. "Wahoooo!" She turned around and grabbed him. "Come dance with me!" she yelled to him again. And before Jimmy could stop her, she was pulling him toward the dance area.

They started dancing, and after a minute, Kirsten told him, "Hey, I just want to thank you again for tonight, you know for being my escort…I mean you didn't have to…and you were fabulous…and this isn't just the alcohol talking…you were so great…thank you thank you thank you Jimmy Cooper!"

"Like I said before, no problem," Jimmy told her. "I ended up having a good time, so it all worked out for the best." And before he could get out another word, Kirsten stumbled again and Jimmy managed to catch her before she fell. He was leading her toward a chair, when Kirsten looked up and saw Kelly.

"Kellllyyy!" Kirsten yelled. "This is Jimmy Cooper…he was my white knight!"

"I know, Kirst. You introduced us at the ball," said Kelly, who was a bit more sober than Kirsten. She turned toward Jimmy and said, "Nice to see you again. You'll have to excuse Kirsten, she's only slightly intoxicated."

"Hey…I'm nooot that baaad.," Kirsten slurred.

Jimmy laughed. "Nice to see you again too."

After a few hours of the party and Kirsten attempting to introduce Jimmy to all her friends, Jimmy told Kirsten it was time for her to leave.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Kirsten?" Jimmy asked.

"Yesss, I will. I have a designated driiiiverrr," Kirsten managed to put together. "Oh, yeah, here's my number, Jimmy Coooooper," she said as she handed him a piece of paper. "Give me a call, will ya."

"Of course," Jimmy smiled, and with that he left.

About an hour and a half later the party was winding down. Kirsten, Kelly, Taryn, and Amber, all quite drunk, piled into Matt's car and he began to drop them off one by one. The first stop at Kelly's house was uneventful. However, at some point in between Kelly and Kirsten's house, Kirsten passed out in the back seat. When they reached the large mansion, Matt put the car in park and opened the back seat to find Kirsten asleep and Taryn and Amber drunkenly giggling about Kirsten passing out again. Matt lifted Kirsten up to carry her to her house and told Taryn and Amber that he would be right back.

As he reached the front door, he carefully set her down, while he started digging through her designer purse for her keys.

Damn it, Kirsten! Matt thought. Where are your keys? He continued rifling through her purse, not finding a thing. He tried the doorknob, just in case it had been unlocked. No such luck. Suddenly he heard the sound of his car horn, and he looked up to find both Amber and Taryn both banging on it repeatedly. Damn it! Ahh! Matt propped Kirsten up against the door with her purse in her lap, and ran back to his car to try to stop the girls from hitting the horn, so hopefully Kirsten's parents wouldn't wake up. He finally calmed the girls down and drove off, leaving Kirsten on her front door step.

The blaring car horn woke Hailey Nichol from her deep sleep. Dang it! They need to be quiet, Hailey thought. Probably one of Kirsten's friends or something. She turned over to the other side of her bed and tried to fall asleep again. But after a few minutes, Hailey was still wide awake.

Jimmy had been lying in his bed for an hour and couldn't sleep. All he could think about was Kirsten Nichol. He decided to get up and go for a walk on the beach to try to clear his head. On the way back up, he saw the street sign for Kirsten's street. Ocean Palm. He decided to walk down and look at her house one last time before heading home. As he approached the mansion, he saw a shadow near the door that looked out of place. He went closer to investigate further, and he found it to be Kirsten, passed out and propped up against the door. Jimmy went over to her.

"Kirsten, wake up," he said, shaking her a little. She stirred slightly for a second, but did not wake up. Jimmy picked up her purse and went through it, not finding her keys. Then he saw a small zipper compartment in the purse. He opened it, and it revealed a silver key ring with a small silver heart attached to it and three keys. Two appeared to belong to cars so he tried the third in the door, and the knob slowly turned in his hand, opening the door. Jimmy carefully picked Kirsten up in his arms, and walked as quietly as he could up the stairs, hoping that her room would be up there.

When he reached the top, the stairs split into two hallways. He chose the one on the right, as the one on the left for some reason looked like it led to the master bedroom. He passed doors on either side, and for some reason, none of them seemed like they would lead to Kirsten's room. He didn't want to try a wrong door, for fear it would contain Kirsten's six-year old sister, who would likely be asleep. When he reached the end of the hall, he saw two doors on either side. The one on the right had and a blue wooden star hanging on the door knob from a wire. The other had a red wooden heart hung in the same fashion. These must be Kirsten and Hailey's rooms, Jimmy thought. He looked back and forth and finally chose the room with the star, and quietly opened the door.

Hailey crept out of bed when she heard Kirsten's door opening across the hall. She silently cracked her door open and peered into Kirsten's room, revealed by the wide open door. She saw a guy…she couldn't tell if she had seen him before or not…holding Kirsten in his arms. He set her sister on the bed and reached for a blanket on the end of her bed to cover her with. When he finished, he turned to leave, at which Hailey closed the door to her own room, so she wouldn't be seen. She could hear light footsteps as he walked by and a minute later, the light closing of the front door.

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I know this scene is a little like what happened with in "The Pilot" when Marissa is left passed out in front of the house and Ryan carries her back to the pool house, so I apologize for that…I just really liked the scene and I had to do something similar. And for some reason, I feel like Kirsten's teenage years might have resembled Marissa's in certain ways.

I made up the street name Ocean Palm.