Chapter 3

Alex was sitting next to Summer's bed, watching her sleep. She had always been rather protective of her younger sister and found a comfort in watching the other girl sleep because if the other girl had a bad dream, Alex could fix it. Alex smiled to herself as she thought of the time when they were little kids, and still shared a room. One night she heard Summer crying and moving in her sleep, so she got in the bed with her and held her. Summer instantly calmed down and was perfectly fine afterwards. And when they got a little older, they slept in separate rooms, but some nights, Summer would get scared, and sneak off to Alex's room. Alex was brought back from her trip down memory lane when Summer began to wake and groan.

"Why is my head hurting so much? Make it stop!" Summer squeezed her eyes shut and covered her head with a pillow which Alex removed soon after.

"Because you drank like no other, last night. You dork."

"Alex?" Summer sat up and opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light.

"Yea… Here, take this." Alex picked up the glass of water and Tylenol that she put on the table and handed it to Summer. She gratefully accepted it and made a face as she drank it.

"I hate pills." Summer stuck her bottom lip out, pouting.

"You wouldn't have to take them if you didn't drink so much." Alex said it in a somewhat warning and joking tone at the same time. Summer shot a glare at Alex before breaking into a grin and patting the spot next to her.

"So what are you going to do today?" Alex got onto the bed and sat next to her sister.

"I don't know. Maybe visit some old friends or check out Newport. See what's changed." Alex shrugged her shoulders and Summer nodded, and then suddenly became excited. "What?" Alex looked at Summer funnily.

"You should totally go to the Bait Shop with us tonight!"

"The Bait Shop?" Alex raised an eyebrow, she was rather skeptical of the place, and the name didn't help.

"It's like a bar slash club. You'd like it. They built it sometime during the school year."

"Sure, I guess." Alex looked down at the watch she had on. "What time are you guys going?"

"I dunno. Probably around eightish or something."

"Okay, I'll be back around seven, then." Alex got off of the bed and faced Summer. "I'm gonna go jump in the shower and then head out. Are you gonna be okay by yourself?" She got a pillow thrown at her.

"I'm not eight." Before Alex could make a remark, Summer threw another pillow at her, knowing that the girl was about to say something. "Just go already!" Alex laughed and waved to the girl in bed before leaving the room.

Marissa was sitting in bed, wearing Alex's sweatshirt from the night before, while flipping through an old photo album. All of the pictures contained herself, Summer, or Alex, and sometimes all three of them together. Marissa was at the last few pages of the photo album, and had a huge smile on her face from all the happy memories of the three of them, together.

Marissa pulled out a photo and brought it to her face so she could study it. It was of her and Alex on Alex's eighteenth birthday. They were both wearing the silly birthday hats and grinning like little kids in front of the birthday cake. Marissa was behind Alex, with an arm wrapped around her, hugging her, and Alex was looking down at the cake, wide eyed, ready to make a wish. Marissa thought back to that happy day.

"Alex! Sit down! I want to take a picture of you and the cake that I spent hours making!" Summer was chasing Alex around the house with a camera and Marissa was watching on, amused.

"You didn't make it! I took you to the store to buy it!"

"That's not the point! Just sit down or I'm going to tell Dad on you!"

"But I didn't do anything!" Summer just grinned at her and walked over to the stairs and yelled.

"DADDDD!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR SISTER, ALEX?" Their father's bellowing could be heard from upstairs. Alex opened her mouth in shock.

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Alex glared at her younger sister, who was laughing along with Marissa, finding it funny. "I'm soo gonna hurt you later." Marissa walked over to Alex and patted her on the head.

"Aw, it's okay Alex." Alex then glared at Marissa who backed up slowly. "Or not." Alex lost her glare and then walked over to Marissa and hugged her.

"You know I can't get mad at you." Marissa giggled and kissed her on the cheek.

"I know." Alex broke off from their embrace and turned back to Summer, who watched them strangely.

"But you, I can." Alex made her way over to Summer, rather slowly, and scarily.

"Wait, if you hurt me, just think of the problems that would cause." Summer backed up and put her hands in front of her, trying to ward off Alex.

"I can't really think of any." Summer's eyes widened as Alex leapt for her, she was too slow to get out of the way, and now was pinned to the ground, under her sister. Summer then kicked her in the leg, causing her to jump up in pain. Alex rubbed her leg while yelling at Summer.

"Oh my god, you whore! I can't believe you did that!"

"DAD! ALEX JUST CALLED ME A WHORE!"

"AREN'T YOU?" Summer gasped in shock and put her hand to her chest and looked at Marissa.

"Did he just – I can't believe – DADDD!" Summer was stomping the ground and Marissa was wincing at how loud they were.

"I MEAN, ALEX! DON'T CALL YOUR SISTER NAMES!"

"That's right." She hmphed and crossed her arms.

"Aw, Summer. If it'll make you feel better, I'll make Alex take a picture in front of the cake." Summer instantly became excited and clapped her hands.

"Yay! I'll go get the candles!" Alex watched her run off and then turned to Marissa.

"Why'd you do that? You know I hate pictures!"

"You do not, and it'll make her happy. And if she's happy, then I'm happy, and if I'm happy, you're happy."

"What?" Marissa rolled her eyes and dragged Alex to the seat that was in front of the cake.

"Now, sit still." Marissa grabbed one of the birthday hats as she sat in Alex's lap. She placed the hat on top of Alex's head and pulled the string out so it could fit under Alex's chin. Once she finished she leaned back and looked at Alex, she looked extremely grumpy, which Marissa found cute. "Aw, you're just like the cutest thing ever!" Marissa placed a kiss on Alex's nose which caused her to scoff.

"What kind of kiss was that?" Marissa smirked and placed a birthday hat onto her own head.

"The kind that you get when your sister is around."

"Well then, we should just go to my room and have a little party of our own." Alex and Marissa were both smiling when Marissa draped her arms around Alex's neck and began lowering her face closer to the other girl's.

"I didn't find an eighteen candle, but I found a one and an eight." Marissa quickly got off of Alex's lap when she heard Summer's voice. Summer looked up from the candles that were in her hand. "What were you two doing?"

"N-Nothing." Marissa answered rather quickly causing Summer to raise an eyebrow.

"Were you trying to eat the cake without me? You're such a cow, Marissa." Summer made her way over to the couple and placed the candles on the cake before backing up and getting ready to take a picture of the birthday girl. Marissa and Alex exchanged a quick glance before Marissa moved to where Summer was.

Summer brought the camera up to her face and gazed through the eye hole. She brought the camera down and frowned. She brought it up to her face again, only to bring it down again. She repeated the motion quite a few times. Marissa and Alex both looked strangely at her.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just that you look sad. You're supposed to be happy on your birthday!" Alex rolled her eyes and Marissa laughed at her best friend. "Ooh! I know!" Marissa tilted her head in curiosity at what Summer had to say. "Get in the picture, Marissa."

"What?" Summer ignored Marissa's question and pushed her towards Alex. Marissa ended up getting pushed past Alex, but Alex grabbed her by the arm which caused Marissa to swing around behind Alex, hitting the chair. "Owww. When did you become so freakishly strong, Summer?" Alex looked back to check on Marissa, she was rubbing her chest. "I think I have a bruise." Once again, Summer ignored Marissa.

"Smile, you guys! Oh, wait, I forgot to light the candles!" She grabbed the lighter that was next to the cake and lit the candles. Alex turned her attention back towards the front, and saw the lit up candles and gasped in excitement.

"The candles are funny colors! Yay!" Marissa rolled her eyes and laughed at Alex for being so excited over some candles being lit. She then wrapped an arm around Alex's front and brought her face closer to Alex's.

"You are such a dork."

"Okay, you guys, ready? Okay." Then there came a flash before the other two girls could even answer…

Marissa was brought out of her memory from the sound of the knocking on the bedroom door and the door opening. She quickly put the picture back in the photo album and put the photo album under one of her pillows.

"Marissa, sweetie, are you up yet?" Marissa let out an exasperated sigh as she saw Julie enter the room.

"Yes, Mom."

"Good." Julie looked Marissa over for a second and raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get that sweatshirt?" Marissa looked down and smiled.

"It's Alex's."

"Alex as in Summer's sister?" Marissa nodded. "She's back? I loved her!"

"So did I…" Marissa mumbled so Julie didn't hear her.

"What was that?" Marissa jerked her head back up to look at Julie.

"Nothing. So, what did you want?" Julie moved over to Marissa's dresser and just began going through the stuff, randomly.

"Oh, I just wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping with me today. You could bring Summer and Alex if you want." Marissa just looked at her mom with an expression her face that read 'What the hell?'

"I guess."

"Okay, great. We'll leave in an hour." Julie stopped looking through Marissa's dresser and went over to Marissa to kiss her on the forehead before leaving. Marissa just watched her oddly and then got her phone to call Summer.

Meanwhile, Alex was walking up to someone's doorstep and looked at the numbers on the house, then back to the piece of paper that was in her hand.

"I hope this is right…" She took a deep breath before pressing the doorbell. After a few moments, someone opened the door.

"Look, we don't want any…" The figure stopped when he saw who was at the door, and a smile played upon his face. "Alex Roberts." He pulled her into a hug who smiled in return.

"Ryan Atwood, good to see you, too."