Alright, here's the third chapter... Also, just thought I'd mention that since I've got exams coming up, some of these next few updates may be spaced out a bit more. (But I will still be updating.. I find time in between subjects to fantasize about Olivia Wilde :) )

Anyway, enjoy, and please review, because they make me happy (and more likely to update!)

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Alex tapped her fingers absentmindedly on the table as she sat in the booth with Summer, waiting for her pancakes. Sun streamed in the window, bathing the entire little restaurant in natural light. Newport really was beautiful in July. She sighed, and looked across the table at her dining companion, who now had her cell phone out and was texting like mad. Alex raised an eyebrow. "Am I keeping you from some urgent appointment somewhere?"

Summer looked up. "What? Of course not," she said. "I'm just texting Seth, to see if Ryan's home yet."

Even though she was no where near the Cohen house, Alex's mouth still went dry. "And is he?" she asked.

Summer gave an impatient sigh, and put away her phone. "I have no idea, Seth's not texting back. He's probably wrapped up in some video game or something." She craned her neck, looking past Alex toward the restaurant's kitchen. "Wow, I am so starved, how long does it take to make pancakes?"

Alex smiled a bit. "You know, when you offered to take me out for breakfast, I didn't think you were actually going to. I assumed it was just an excuse to get out of the house."

Summer turned her gaze away from the kitchen and smiled back. "Oh, it was," she confirmed. "But I was hungry, and hey, when are pancakes ever a bad idea?"

"True," amended Alex, taking a sip of orange juice. "Thank you, by the way, I was not looking forward to seeing Ryan again."

Summer smirked. "You thought you didn't want Ryan to see you? You should have seen Marissa. She was ready to walk on burning coals to prevent him from finding out you're here."

Frowning, Alex put down her glass. "What do you mean by that? I thought you guys bailed me out because the last time I saw Ryan I almost had him whacked."

Summer suddenly looked as though she had just swallowed something very unpleasant. "Uhm," she stuttered. "Well, that's what I meant."

Alex leaned forward. "No, come on. Seriously, why does it matter if Ryan knows I'm here?"

"It doesn't, I was kidding... Ooh, pancakes!" said Summer, as the waitress finally arrived with two heaping platters of chocolate chip pancakes. "These are soo good," she gushed, immediately shoving a forkful of breakfast into her mouth.

Although she persisted with her questioning for another five minutes, Alex got no where in her interrogation of Summer, who seemed to be more focused on pancakes than anyone else in the history of the world. Eventually giving up, Alex lapsed into silence, starting in on her own breakfast, and thinking about all the strange turns her life had taken in the past day. Had Adam really kidnapped her, and what had he been planning to do with her? Would Sandy and the police track down the man who had shoved her in that car? And why did Marissa not want Ryan to see her so badly?

After a hearty breakfast, Alex and Summer left the restaurant, and began to make their way toward Summer's house. "It's not too far from here," assured Summer. "Only about five minutes... Ooh, about time!" Summer's phone had just erupted into what was unmistakeably the theme song to 'The Valley.' Alex kept from rolling her eyes with extreme difficulty as the petite brunnette dug through her purse, drew out her cell, and held it to her ear. "Seth?"

There was a slight pause as Seth spoke on the other end of the phone. "Oh, sure," replied Summer, after he had stopped talking. "Yeah, we're heading there now, actually, we'll meet you. Yeah, okay, bye." She hung up, and turned to Alex. "That was Seth," she explained unnecessarily. "He and Marissa are dropping by my house, he says he left something there yesterday, and he needs it."

Alex nodded. She had no objection to Seth and Marissa dropping by, because after what Summer had let slip in the restaurant, she was quite keen to have a chat with her ex girlfriend.

Five minutes later, Summer's spectacular house came into view, with Marissa's car already parked in the driveway. She and Seth were leaning on the hood of the car, clearly waiting for Alex and Summer to show. As the two girls strode toward them, Seth stood and wrapped his arm around Summer's shoulders. "We decided to wait for you," he said. "Because Marissa thought it would be polite, and well, your dad scares me."

Summer smiled. "You don't have to worry about that," she said, looking up at her boyfriend. "My dad's at work, it's only the step monster home now."

The two of them headed up to the front door, and Alex and Marissa both followed. Marissa gave Alex a small smile. "How was breakfast?" she asked.

The now familiar light headedness associated with Marissa's presense returned as Alex managed to smile back. "Pretty good," she replied. "Summer basically ate through a platter of pancakes twice her size."

Marissa laughed. "She does that." They entered the house, and continued to follow Summer and Seth up the stairs. They rounded the corner into Summer's bedroom, and the petite brunnette turned around to face Alex.

"So," Summer said, motioning around her room. "This is it, I guess. I'm pretty sure I've got an air mattress around someplace, if you'd like it."

Alex nodded. "Sounds good."

"Alright," said Summer. "I think it's downstairs, Seth, come with me and get it?"

Seth groaned. "All this heavy lifting today... my back is killing me." He slowly followed Summer out of the room and down the stairs, leaving Marissa and Alex alone.

Perhaps realizing this, Marissa sat rather awkwardly on Summer's bed. "So," she said, looking up at Alex. "Sleeping on a lot of air mattresses now, aren't you?"

Alex sat on the bed too, although she was careful to leave a good space between her and Marissa. "Yeah," she replied. "I'm thinking I'll just make my way around Newport. You know, sleep on the floor of every mansion." As Marissa laughed, Alex motioned toward the open door. "So, Seth and Summer. I always knew they'd last, however dysfunctional."

Marissa nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty much bulletproof. Although, I'm not sure how pleased Summer's going to be with her birthday present. It's weird, even by Seth's standards."

Alex grinned. "I don't even want to know," she said. "So, what'd you get her?"

"I'm planning her a huge surprise party."

"Oh really?"

Marissa nodded. "Yeah. But it's really not much of a surprise, as she keeps telling me when she's made modifications to the guest list. I don't even know how she found out about it, although I'm pretty sure Seth told her. Anyway, it's probably for the best that she knows about it now, seeing as it's going to be Saturday night, four days after her actual birthday."

"Right," agreed Alex. "She'd freak if she thought you hadn't got her a present on her real birthday." She grinned. Talking to Marissa was just as effortless as she remembered it, and it almost seemed like no time had past since they had dated. "She'd probably beat you up, or something."

Marissa laughed, and silence fell for a moment. Alex then wondered how to phrase the question she was burning to ask. "Um," she said hesitantly. "While we were in the diner, Summer said something interesting."

Marissa raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Alex swallowed. "We were talking about how you guys rescued me from the Cohen house, and I thanked her for getting me out before I had to see Ryan." She glanced very quickly at Marissa, and saw her face had gone just a tiny bit paler. "Well," Alex continued slowly, "Summer thought that was pretty funny- she actually said that my not wanting to see Ryan was nothing. She said that more than anything, you didn't want Ryan to see me." She paused again, staring at Marissa. "And I was wondering why that was."

Marissa closed her eyes, looking exasperated. "What am I going to do about Summer?" she sighed.

Alex smiled. "I assume that's a rhetorical question."

Opening her eyes, Marissa gave a small laugh. "Yeah." She looked up at Alex, their eyes meeting. Alex felt like the temperature in the room had risen a few degrees. After a short pause, Marissa spoke again. "I didn't really want to have to explain this to you," she began hesitantly. "But I guess I have to now." She bit her lip. "You see, Ryan and I- we've been going through kind of a rough patch. A really long one. For a while now, I've had to try really hard to work things out with him, and it's been difficult."

Not entirely sure where this was going, Alex nodded slowly. "This rough patch- is it because of him, or you?"

Marissa shrugged. "I don't even know anymore. It's just... he's always so distant. And I know he loves me, but it just feels like any tiny little thing would completely ruin us." She sighed again.

Now Alex felt like she was starting to understand. "Oh," she said slowly. "And you're afraid I'm going to be that tiny little thing." Marissa nodded, but then Alex frowned. "Wait, that doesn't make sense," she said, confused. "Even if you guys are on thin ice right now, why would I make it worse? He knows you love him. And you and I are-" her voice broke a little, "-completely over. Why would I bother him?"

There was a pause. Alex looked quizically into Marissa's eyes, trying to read her expression. She noticed they were sitting a lot closer now; they had probably shifted while they had been talking. Then Marissa bit her lip. "You don't miss much, do you Alex?" she said quietly. Her voice was soft, and suddenly Alex felt the back of her neck get hot. She hadn't heard that tone in Marissa's voice in a long time. Brief scenes from the past flashed before her eyes. She remembered pounding rain on the roof, hands buried in her hair, hours spent holed up in her room.

Jerking herself back to the present, she spoke, her own speech almost as soft as Marissa's. "No, I don't miss much." She felt a warmth on her knee; Marissa had shifted closer, and their legs were touching. "Do you want to tell me?"

A soft laugh escaped Marissa's lips. "No," she whispered. "But I don't see that I have a choice." She gave a very small sigh. And then she spoke again. "I don't want Ryan to know you're here," she began, "Because I think he might notice how I'm acting around you."

Alex's heart seemed to skip a beat. "And how do you act around me?" she breathed, barely daring to hope.

Marissa smiled. She was now so close that Alex could feel her exhale. "I act like an idiot," she said slowly. She took a deep breath. "I act like an idiot, because I think I still have feelings for you."

Even though she had mildly suspected she might hear them, the actual words were like an explosion in Alex's chest. For a second, her vision blurred, and an overwhelming sense of euphoria flooded through her system. A smile made its way on to her face, and the world came back into focus. And there was Marissa, inches away, biting her lip. Downstairs, a phone was ringing, but neither of them made a move to go get it. They just sat there, breath slowly quickening, staring at each other with a kind of fierce intensity. They were very, very close now, and Alex suddenly became aware that they were getting closer; the distance between them was getting smaller and smaller as both of them leaned in. She could feel Marissa's warm breath, could see her lips part a little, her eyelashes flutter gently. She could have counted the number of freckles dusted across her nose. Her heart pounding furiously in her chest, she closed her eyes...

And then she heard footsteps outside in the hallway, entering the bedroom. She hurriedly opened her eyes and pulled back, trying hard not to look flustered. Summer was standing in the doorway, holding the phone. Her eyes flashed briefly but sharply as she saw how close they were still sitting, but she quickly turned her gaze on Alex, and held out the phone. "It's for you," she said. "It's Mr. Cohen- he says he needs to talk to you."

Alex stood up, and walked forward to take the phone. She stood in the doorway, and pressed the reciever to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, Alex," answered Sandy Cohen's voice. "All settled in?"

"Pretty much. It was easy, considering I don't have any luggage."

Sandy chuckled. "Well, don't worry, you'll soon remedy that. Staying with Summer, I'll estimate you'll be clothes shopping in no time."

"Right," replied Alex, smiling weakly. She was having trouble concentrating completely on the conversation; her head was buzzing with the reality of what had almost happened with Marissa. She turned around, and saw her ex girlfriend was still sitting on the bed, a slightly dazed look on her face. Then she realized she hadn't been paying attention to the phone. "Sorry," she said quickly into the mouthpiece. "I didn't catch that last bit."

Sandy's voice rumbled through the reciever. "I said," he repeated, "That the police just called back. They've identified the license plate on the car."

Alex's mouth went dry. "And?" she said quickly. "Who is it?"

"All they would tell me is the owner is a resident of Los Angeles," replied Sandy. "They want you to go down to the station and see if you recognize the name." He paused. "It might be a- well, emotional situation down there. You know, if it really is this Adam guy who was responsible for this. Bring someone with you, okay?"

"Yeah," said Alex, in a quiet voice. She glanced back at Marissa, and her heart started to beat a little faster. She wondered briefly what Marissa would say if she asked her to accompany her for moral support. Yeah, like you'd really ask her, she thought glumly. "I'll bring Seth," she said to Sandy.

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