Down & Out
Sorry for the delayed update, but I've been stuck on how to continue this! I have a lot of ideas, but it's hard. Anyways enjoy.
Part Thirteen: Memories of Skeletons
Alex returned to Summer's house shortly after the sun had risen, and saw Julie packing a bag. Alex stood in the doorway, arms crossed, watching Julie move around Marissa's room.
"Oh Alex, I didn't even see you there." Julie said, straightening.
"Um what's going on? I mean…what're you doing?" Alex asked trying to not sound awkward.
"I'm just getting some things to help Marissa jog her memory. The doctor said that if we bring things it could help her remember."
"Oh…" Alex trailed off.
"Don't worry Alex, just because your staying here doesn't mean I'm going through your stuff." Julie added with a slight laugh. Alex offered her an uncomfortable smile, while she left the room.
Alex made her way to the kitchen, where she saw Summer leaning on the countertop. A package of Oreo's sat in front of her, a third of them gone, alongside a glass of milk, already halfway empty.
"Hey." Alex said taking a cookie and pulling it open, licking the cream.
"Hey." Summer replied, taking another cookie and dunking it into the milk.
"So Julie's bringing a whole bunch of stuff to try and help Marissa remember. Are you going to bring anything?"
"Yeah, I'm going to bring her care bear, her ipod, and pictures. What about you?"
"I don't know, I don't really have anything of significance."
"Does she know about the two of you? Like your history." Summer questioned taking another cookie.
Alex shook her head, "I don't know if I should even tell her. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah" Summer nodded.
"It's a little early to be eating Oreo's don't you think?"
"It's never too early to eat Oreo's." Summer said giving her a smile.
"I didn't see Caitlyn when I came in, has she seen Marissa?"
"You didn't hear did you?"
"Hear what?"
"Caitlyn when back to boarding school. With everything that's happened to Marissa…Julie just thought it'd be a better idea at least for now."
"Oh, no wonder I didn't see her. Well I'm going to go get some sleep, and figure out what I'm going to bring…maybe I'll see you at the hospital?"
"Probably."
"And hey Summer?" Alex called from the doorway.
"Yeah?"
"Don't eat all of those."
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"Hey Marissa, how're you doing today?" Summer asked walking into the sunshine filled room.
"I'm doing good…your Summer right?" Summer merely nodded her head, glancing at her watch. Two o' clock, she was an hour early.
"Where's your mom?"
"She left, got a important call or something. She didn't want to leave, but I told her to just go."
"I brought some of your stuff", Summer said placing the bag on the chair, and taking out the purple bear. "This is yours, thought you might like some company when none of us are here, which is pretty much never huh?"
Marissa giggled, she hardly had a minute to herself. Whenever someone left, someone would come in.
"What else did you bring?" Marissa asked, anticipating what would come out of the bag next. Summer pulled out the ipod, and placed it in front of Marissa.
"What's this?"
"It's your ipod…"
"Ipod?"
"It plays music, all of your favorite music is on here." Summer said, pressing the play button. London Calling by the Clash resumed playing. Turning it off, Summer placed it on the nightstand, and pulled out a stack of pictures.
"Do you think this'll help me?" Marissa questioned.
"I don't know, but it's worth a shot." Summer held up a picture of the two of them in their caps and gowns, "This is from graduation."
The process continued for a few hours, Marissa remembered some things, and didn't remember others, but she was making progress.
"This is from when we went to"
"TJ" Marissa interrupted taking the picture, and examining it. Before Summer could say anything Alex entered the room.
"Hey" Alex said placing her backpack on the ground.
"Hey" Summer said, "Marissa I'll be back tomorrow with more pictures okay?"
"Sure, did you...um did you used to call me Coop?" Marissa asked.
"Yeah, that was my nickname for you…you remember that?"
Marissa merely nodded her head. Summer stood and gave her a hug, then began gathering her things, while Alex remained standing by the door shuffling her feet.
"So did you bring me a gift or something to help me remember?" Marissa asked once Summer had left. Alex gave her a smile before making her way towards the bed.
It had been hard for her to figure out what to bring, mostly because she didn't know if she should remind Marissa about their past relationship. But in the end she had figured it out, unzipping her bag she took out a business card, and a bottle of sand. She placed both items on the tray in front of Marissa, and opened the bottom drawer on the nightstand pulling out a black shirt.
"Okay so this," Alex said, holding the card up. "Is from the Bait Shop. We used to hangout there a lot, I used to work there. Does it ring a bell?" Marissa closed her eyes, and held the card.
"I remember seeing a girl play on the piano…But the rest is fuzzy…sorry."
"Don't be sorry, your right we did see a girl play…we saw Rachael Yamagata play."
"She played the reason why." Marissa whispered, her eyes still closed.
Marissa remembered seeing Alex standing alone by the stage, she made her way towards her and took her hand in her own.
Alex bit her lip, she didn't know if Marissa remembered anything else from that night. "Yeah, this is from the beach. We used to hangout there." Alex said, breaking Marissa out of her memory. Alex unscrewed the bottle cap, and a slight ocean smell emitted into the room. Marissa closed her eyes, and watched the scene replaying in her mind. Alex and her were sitting on the beach, side by side.
"It was Valentine's Day when we were there right?" Marissa questioned opening her eyes slowly. Alex nodded, "And this is my favorite shirt. You used to borrow it a lot." Alex smiled at the memory, as did Marissa. Images of her wearing the shirt came to mind when she felt the shirt in her hands.
"So did I help at all?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, I remember some things, some of it's still kind of fuzzy though."
"Well that means your making progress. I thin-" Alex said stopping mid sentence when her phone began to ring. "One second," She said to Marissa opening her phone, "Hello? Yeah…Okay I'll be there. Yeah…Yeah….No I'll be there. Just I'll need an hour or two…Yeah…Keep him safe." Alex said quietly, closing her phone and starring at it.
"What happened?" Marissa asked.
"That was my boss Billy…my friend Decan is really drunk…and he wants to talk to me…I think something happened. I'm sorry, but I have to go see him."
"It's okay, go. He needs you."
Alex looked at Marissa with sad eyes. Marissa's eyes showcased a firm standpoint. "Hurry up." Marissa said giving her a smile. Alex let a small smile form on her lips, and gave Marissa a kiss on the cheek, before leaving the room. When Alex was gone, Marissa put her hand where Alex had kissed her. "There's definitely something about her." Marissa whispered to herself.
How was that? Longer than my last one I think. Anyways I hoped you all enjoyed it! Please review.