I was requested to include a bit of Alex/Gabriel slash - however, I simply don't think she's all that. I hope I mentioned her enough to appease.
Also there is one bit that has been left more or less untouched but that's simply because the writers got it so right the first time round.
Enjoy and R&R, Circus.
The Escape
"The plan is undeniable."
"You know what?" I smiled at Seth, looking up from my cereal at him for the first time since he'd started speaking, "it really is."
"We have my mom's ranger, we have a perfect alibi-" he suddenly shook his head. "Wait did you just say my plan was in fact undeniable?" I simply smiled at him as I continued my breakfast. "'Cause I mean I had a whole speech worked out."
"If you want you can give it to me anyway." I waved my hand for him to continue.
"No, no its cool." Seth said as he started pouring his own bowl of cereal.
"You can go scam on Summer, I can go and try and make things up with Marissa and all with some Spanish subtitles." He shook his head and smiled at me. "What?"
"I just love the fact that up until Granddad when back on holiday you were sneaking out each night to fuck my potential grandma and yet all the time you've been trying to apologise to Marissa."
"It was just sex." I shrugged at him.
"Ignoring the fact that part of the reason Marissa won't talk to you is because she caught you with Gabriel?"
"No, Marissa is pissed at me because I was a complete bitch to her in the face of something new and daunting." I corrected him, pointing my spoon at him.
"And that would be you?" Seth questioned.
"And that would be me." I smiled back at him.
"Aren't you in a good mood today." Sandy patted me on the back on the way to the cupboard.
"Indeed I am." I smiled at him as he poured his coffee. "Marissa likes me!"
"Yeah, I noticed. Its good that you have other friends in Newport apart from Seth." He smiled back at me from behind his coffee cup.
"No I mean-" I suddenly realised what I was going to say to him and thought better of it. "You know what? Forget it."
"Anyway," he raised an eyebrow at me, "you all excited about Comicon? Seth's been going since he was ten. It's the highlight of his year."
"Thanks, highlight's a bit overstated-" he stopped suddenly when he noticed his dad's new suit, "Check you out, big pimpin'."
"Yeah, I got a meeting with a private law firm today."
"Why, you suing one of their clients?" I asked.
"No, it's a job interview."
"Which he'll never take." Kirsten told me as she passed me to get to the fridge. "They like to flatter him every once in awhile."
"But I go for the free meal."
"But I mean, you'll still be a public defender, right? I mean helping out, uh,… kids like me?"
"After 15 years? There's no way he's selling out." Kirsten reassured.
"Well, it'd have to be one hell of a free meal." Sandy smiled at Kirsten.
"And that's what they call a call-back in comedy, Alex."
"So, how soon until you two are leaving on your trip?" Kirsten asked me ignoring her son.
"Tomorrow." I told her.
"El Mañana." Seth smiled.
"Did I stop understanding English?" I turned to Sandy for help, having completely lost the thread of the conversation.
"Dude you're going to have to learn to speak Spanish if we're going to T-" he stopped when he noticed his parents eyeing him up with suspicion. "the comic book convention. Big Hispanic crowd there." He finished quickly.
"They didn't really teach it at my old school." I explained to Sandy and Kirsten trying to get their attention away from Seth, "I mean they taught it I just never went. I was doing other things."
"Like steeling cars?"
"Yes, Seth, that's exactly what I did in Chino."
"Sarcasm! Right, I'm with you. What did you do? What did you do?" He looked round, stroking his chin. "Aha!" he slammed his fist on the countertop. " Hot lesbian sex!"
Sandy spat out his coffee. "Hot lesbian what now?"
"And that's my queue to get changed for work." I laughed at Sandy as I pushed away my bowl and headed out to my room.
I had finished changing when Seth poked his head round the corner of my door and placed the ugliest hat on my head.
"Looks good." He smiled at me.
"I am all for Mexico but there is no way in hell I am wearing that hat." I said taking it off and throwing it at him.
"Alex? you mean sombreros. You really need to brush up on your Spanish." He held out a Spanish book "There's over 500 useful phrases."
I opened the book at one of the pages he'd folded over: "May I please see a lady's worsted nylon bathing suit? Does that even make grammatical sense?"
"Yep," he nodded "bet did you know that one?"
"I have to go to work," I sighed at him, getting up from my bed and grabbing my bag. "And I don't need a phrase book to get laid."
"I am learning that and so I am coming with so you can teach me the art of getting laid."
"How did I not see that one coming?" I asked him, shutting my door behind me and trying to light a cigarette in the back yard without Kirsten catching me.
"It's a combination of factors Lex…"
"Lex?"
"Its something I'm trying just go with it. One: God blessed me with the gift of being unpredictable. And two: you're just slow."
"I am not slow." I pointed at him before picking up my bike.
"Oh but Lexy, my dear, new found sister, I think you are."
"Lexy?" I held up my hand "Don't! I don't want to know. I have work to get to."
"And I have your work to get to and a you to bug."
"I turned down the option of a group home, I got let out of Juvie, I pushed my mother away; all for this." I muttered before pushing off on my bike and hoping I could master smoking whilst riding quickly.
As I was on cutlery detail again, Seth joined me in the back room and watched me as I worked. He filled me in on that fact that Summer and he had kissed at Caleb's party. A fact I'd clearly been too preoccupied thinking about Marissa to learn before.
"You know what she's doing? And it's textbook. She's playing hot and cold, trying to pretend our little kiss didn't happen." He told me, after ruling out all the ludicrous reasons he'd thought up as to why she hadn't contacted him since.
"There were no witnesses. I mean, I didn't see anything. And since I've come to Newport we're always together bar but a couple of occasions." I laughed as I picked up the bowl with all the cutlery I'd wrapped inside it. "Anyway thought you were into that Anna girl."
"Yes well Anna went to Tahiti, that ship has sailed." He explained as he held open the staff room door for me, "Well, I guess I'll just have to make magic happen again, won't I?"
I simply nodded as I walked over to the bar to dump the bowl. Just as I did so, both me and Seth watched as Marissa and Summer walked into the restaurant. I quickly undid my apron and practically threw it at Seth before going over to her.
"Hey," I smiled nervously at her, "how are you?"
"Wow," She smiled sarcastically, "look Summer, Alex is talking to me without either being a bitch or kissing some skank."
"Okay, so I deserved that." I sighed pulling up a chair so I could sit with them.
"What are you doing?" She asked me.
"I'm going to go stand somewhere that's not here." Summer quickly jumped up, pushing her chair back and joining Seth at the bar.
"You have a minute." Marissa told me, her arms folded in front of her.
"I'm sorry." I opened quickly but soon found I had nothing to go after it. "I was too busy being a bitch to listen to you, too busy thinking about myself rather than realising how hard it must have been for you to come up to me and explain-"
"Explain?" Marissa frowned at me. "Why should I explain myself? I did nothing wrong."
"You mean apart from merely kissing me and then telling me you were just using me?" I spat back at her.
She opened and closed her mouth, she looked as though she was going to protest but instead she simply stood up, grabbed her purse and left just as promptly as she come.
"But I still had thirty-seven seconds." I quietly told her rapidly retreating figure.
"Dude even I do better with girls than that." Seth laughed at me from across the restaurant.
"Thanks man." I smiled glumly at him. "Hey Summer."
She gave me a look to indicate that she was royally pissed at me; whether it was because of the whole 'dyke from Chino' thing or if it was because of all the crap that had gone on with Marissa I had no idea. I did, however, know there was no point pressing her so I simply went behind the bar and back to work.
"Anyway," she said slowly, watching me out of the corner of her eye, "Cohen, I'll see you tomorrow seeing as I now have to chase after Coop because of your friend." She sent me one last glare before following Marissa out of the restaurant.
"What she mean she'll see you tomorrow?" I asked him, sliding back across the bar to him.
"Well," he smiled, leaning on the bar in a manner which I assume would be his nonchalant pose, "we're giving her a lift to Tijuana."
"How come she's riding with us?"
"It would seem that she wants to spend large amounts of time with me in a small space; hey," he raised his hands, "I'm a good kisser." I simply looked at him doubtfully. "Okay, she's a social outcast she had no one else to take her."
"That mean Marissa's coming with us too?"
"Marissa isn't coming. Since she's a social outcast too and the only time you talk to her is when you yell at her she's not in the mood for drunken Spanish dubbed fun." He explained after further frowning on my part.
"I don't always yell at her." I mumbled, as I busied myself with glass cleaning.
I sat on the steps the next day, once again smoking, watching Sandy and Seth interact before we were allowed to leave the country or for Comicon as Sandy thought.
"Remember all the numbers?"
"Yes, Dad, I remember our phone number."
"Did you get any water? Huh? Extra batteries? Did you get some air in the tires? Did you put gas in the tank?" Sandy continued to panic at him.
"It's amazing I turned out so normal." Seth sighed as Sandy went back into the house, no doubt to grab another first aid kit.
"If that's what you like to call it." I smiled half-heartedly at him. "You know I'm not sure if I'm going to come, I mean the whole point of me going was so that I could make nice with Marissa and-" he held his hand up before I could continue.
"Come on." He mock whined. "This was going to be like a pseudo sibling bonding expedition."
"At no point was this ever going to be that." I pointed at him, discarding my cigarette as I did so. "This was going to be a going to Mexico to get laid expedition."
"Do you ever think of anything else Chino?" Summer asked; eyebrow raised, arm on her hip and a month's supply of clothes packed into suitcases at her side.
"Summer!" Seth smiled. "Let me get that." He tried to lift one of her suitcases and promptly fell over.
"Hey, Summer." Sandy smiled at her, walking out the front door. "Sandy Cohen, I'm Seth's dad." He shook her hand, "I had no idea you were into comic books."
"Comic books? Ew."
"She goes for the anime." Seth tried to explain quickly.
"Anime?" Sandy's smiled broadened.
"I'm going to say bye to Coop," she told Seth, her burrows furrowed in confusion to the conversation surrounding her, "don't touch my stuff." She instructed before walking down to the Cooper drive.
"This is going to be awesome." Seth clapped his hands excitedly at me.
"She's hot stuff, son."
"And now, it's ruined." He complained, he hands promptly back at his sides. "Al, can you help me with Summer's stuff?"
"Heavy lifting! Yay!" I deadpanned. "Shouldn't you be doing this for me?"
"No! Now work slave!" he clapped his hands together, "Work!" I simply looked at him. "Or I can do it!" he lifted one of Summer's bags and instantly dropped it again.
"And I'm the only gay one here!" I sighed, taking the bag from him and throwing it into the trunk.
"She's been gone a while. You think we should pick her up from the Cooper's?"
"I know she's Summer and you love her and all; but I'm sure her little daddy funded self can managed to get herself up one little driveway." He stared at me blankly. "Just get in." I told him leaping into the back seat.
The door opened a few minutes later, "Oh." Marissa just stared at me deciding whether or not she should get in.
"Not the best greeting I've ever received." I tried to smile at her, but the glare coming from her soon made me go back to staring out the window.
I felt her slide into the seat besides me and then heard the door slam. I wanted to speak to her, ask her what made her change her mind about coming, see how she was doing – but I had no idea how to. After the constant bickering we'd been doing and the way we were in the Crab Shack I didn't think we knew how to talk to each other any more.
"Vamanos! We're going to TJ!" Summer jumped in to the front seat and Seth started up the engine. I had hours to learn how to communicate with her again.
"We should be there in, like, 3 hours?" Summer told us once we'd left Newport and hit the I-805.
"The GPS says the ETA's three and a half." Seth corrected her.
"Well, that's because someone drives like an old woman."
"I'm going 70 in a 65 zone." He explained.
"80 is the new 70."
"What? Who talks like that?" he frowned at her, no longer looking at the road.
"Who gets passed by a van full of nuns?" she asked him. "Oh wait. Who? Cohen does."
"Well, they have God on their side, okay Summer? I'm not going to beat Jesus."
"Well you are Jewish." I smiled at him via the rear-view mirror.
"You're Jewish? Ew."
"Who knew even religion could get an 'Ew' from this girl." I smiled weakly at Marissa.
"That's your in?" she frowned at me, "By mocking my friends?"
"Forget it." I sighed, reaching forward for a bottle of water.
"I'll take it." Summer told me leaning through the gaps in the seats and snatching the bottle from me. "I'm so dehydrated. What is up with the AC? My hair is frizzing out, I look like Howard Stern!"
"See? You know, strangely, I think my Jewfro benefits from this." Seth smiled at her.
"Enough about the Jewish, god!" Triggering the entire car load to give her a strange look of one sort or another. "This is a nightmare. I'm sweating to death, driving 10 miles an hour, on like a rickshaw listening to this… music."
"Hey!" Seth quickly pointed at her, "do not insult Death Cab."
"It's like one guitar and a whole lot of complaining."
"This reminds me of someone else who's doing a whole lot of complaining, Summer. You! Listen to me, I am driving this vehicle, and I will drive at the speed I feel comfortable, okay? It's my music, it's my snacks-"
"Kudos and goldfish? What are you, eight?"
"Alex, Marissa, say goodbye to Summer." He said turning the car sharply to the right.
"What are you doing?" She asked him, looking around the car's surroundings.
"I'm dropping you off." He told her, as the wheels hit the gravel besides the road.
"No you won't!" Summer told him, grabbing the steering wheel.
"Don't touch the wheel."
"Stop!" Summer tried to beat his hands off it.
Marissa and I simply watched as the two in front fought for control of the wheel. I think it came as a shook to all of us, Seth included, when he managed to over power us and take us further into the gravel edging and into something else all together.
"Great!" Summer complained, watching the steam rise from the buckled fender.
"Look what you've done!" Each pointing at the other, voices for the first time in unison. "What I've done?" they continued together.
"SHUT UP!" Everyone in the car turned to me. "Nobody move. I need to check the car for damage. Seth pop the hood up Summer get AAA on the phone."
"You said nobod…"
"Seth pop the hood up." I repeated through gritted teeth. He complied and I got out and inspected the damage.
The engine had stopped smoking and there weren't any leaks, but when I looked under the vehicle itself I found one very broken axle.
"Right." I said opening the driver's door. "Looks like we either camp here, walk or hitch hike."
We waited for an hour besides the side of the road in silence. Every time either Seth or Summer went to open their mouths either Marissa or I quickly silenced them with a glare. After the AAA had taken the Range Rover away we managed to get a truck to pick us up, unfortunately the truck was carrying chickens to Encinitas and already had two Mexicans in the front.
The driver took us to the nearest motel to the garage that the car had been taken too. It was cheap, nasty and didn't even know what a star looked one, let alone have one in any guide book. It was also the only one in the area.
"Ew." Summer sighed, kicking the door open, not wanting to touch it with her hand.
"It's not exactly the honeymoon suite." Seth conceded, as he walked in carrying her luggage.
"Well, it's only for one night. Until the axle's fixed." Marissa tried to spin it.
"Hey," I said dropping my bag on the floor, "I've stayed in worse."
"That's nothing to brag about." Summer told me before inspecting the only bed in the room. "Sweet," she smiled sarcastically as she picked up a hair from one of the pillows, "do we have to pay extra for the pubes ? This is so gross, I can not stay here."
"Well, unless you feel like hitchhiking again." I offered her.
"No thank you. I've had enough time in a truck full of chickens."
"Could have been worse, the truck could have been headed for McDonalds rather than KFC." I told her.
"Well, we're really lucky that guy stopped for us." Marissa sighed, rubbing her neck, ignoring me.
"Well, we'd be even luckier if Cole Trickle here hadn't driven us off the road." Summer spoke pointedly at Seth.
"Who the hell is Cole Trickle?" he frowned back at her.
"Tom cruise; Days of thunder?" she tried, shaking her head when he just looked blankly at her.
"I could really do with some KFC right now." I mumbled, sitting myself down on the very questionable sofa.
"Cause we haven't had enough chicken today?" Marissa looked at me.
"Hey," I smiled back, "you're speaking to me without me having to say something first." Her look quickly changed. "And I'm quiet." I raised my hands defensively.
"You," she pointed at me, "don't push it. You two," she spun round to face the others "just try and stay positive about this."
"Yeah, okay, I am positive that this is Summer's fault."
"I am positive that I am leaving this place with a rash." She told Marissa.
"So you're planning on making some extra money tonight?" Seth sneered at her, she simply glared back before walking into the en suit.
"Ew. This bathroom is so… ew…"
Seth collapsed on the bed with his head in his hands, clearly exasperated by all of Summer's complaining.
"I'm going to get some food." I sighed after quickly getting bored of Summer saying 'Ew' intermittently. "Coming?" I asked Marissa as I rose.
"Sure," she shrugged, "anything has to be better than these two, even you." She told me with a steadily lessening glare as she passed me.
I followed her to the vending machine, where she simply leant against one dispensing water bottles with her arms folded. I lit up a cigarette as I looked at the options in the other machine.
"Ding Dongs or Cheese Sticks?" I asked her as I dropped a couple of quarters in.
"I don't know, pick whatever." She said, her tone aggressive as she just stared out in front of her.
"I don't care either, so…" I finished my sentence by taking a drag from my cigarette.
"So I, guess we'll all just starve."
"Are you ever going to stop being mad at me?"
"I'm not mad at you."
"Right." I sighed, continuing to smoke.
"Well, why would I be mad at you?" she asked me, turning to face me for the first time since we'd left the room.
"Because you walked in on me with another girl?" I offered.
"Actually, I think she was a woman. But why would I care about that?"
"I don't know. Shouldn't be a problem." I told her, flicking my cigarette butt over her head.
"There's no problem." She agreed, her tone remaining harsh.
"'Cept Ding Dongs or Cheese Sticks."
"I don't care, Alex." She looked at me exasterbated. "I don't care about Cheese Sticks, I don't care about Ding Dongs and I really don't care that I walked in on you with some girl, or woman, whatever."
"You know the only reason I was with her was because you didn't want to admit you had feelings for me."
"You think I had feelings for you?" she asked me, her arms once again folded across her chest.
"I think you did." I told her simply.
"Oh my god," she groaned, her hands raised, "you are impossible and you are arrogant. We'll just go to Mexico split up so we don't have to talk to each other ever again."
"Right now that sounds like the perfect plan." I muttered to the machine. We stood there in silence as the vending machine flashed the amount I'd dropped into it. "By the way," I said after a while, "you could've knocked first."
"Did you ever wonder why I went to the pool house to find you?"
"I've been thinking about nothing else." I told her, my face mere inches away from hers. "Well here's your chance." I took a step back and gestured for her to take the floor, "Clear the air. Tell me."
She opened her mouth, ready to snap back at me before she closed it again obviously having thought about what she was going to say. "Cheese Sticks, I hate Ding Dongs." She told me eventually.
We walked to back to the room, in silence, laden with Cheese Sticks and bottles of water, I kept steeling glances at her, watching her quickly move her eyes, confirming that she was doing the same. My key was in the lock when her cell went off, I continued through the door wanting to giver her some privacy, however, due to the thinness of the walls I still heard her half of the conversation as I set up the sofa bed.
She was crying when she came into the room. I was already on the fold out bed, trying not to disturb the already sleeping Seth and Summer, when she sad down next to me.
"I can sleep on the floor." I offered, as she tried to subtlety dry her eyes.
"No, it's okay." She laid down on the very edge of the bed.
"I'm sorry," I told her after a while of silence, "about your dad and your mom, I mean."
I moved so that I was laying besides her and simply watched her pretend to sleep. I wished so much that we hadn't messed around, with foolish and pointless bickering. I wished so much that the pair of us would have simply got over ourselves and talked to each other. Maybe if we had we could have been together. Maybe if we could I could have been able to comfort her.
When I woke up, I found that my arm was around her and that her body was pressed to mine. I didn't want to move my arm but nor did I want her to wake up and find it there. I slowly tried to retract my arm without disturbing her but as I retracted my arm she turned with it and showed me that she had been awake.
"Morning." I said quietly to her gentle smile. "What do you want to do?"
"How do you mean?" she asked me.
"I mean about Tijuana and your family?"
"I don't know." She sighed, slowly sitting up. "I'm going to take a shower." She said simply, getting off the bed and going to her things.
I just watched her, still in yesterday's clothes, rummage through her small amount of luggage for a towel and go into the tiny bathroom. I heard the lock go, the water start and I too got up and off the sofa bed. I chucked the pillows to the side and pushed the old thing away.
"Where's Coop?" Summer asked me, sitting down upon the sofa just as I'd put the cushions back upon it.
"She's showering." I told her, pushing Seth aside so I could get to the open door and light up.
"I just hope she's wearing shower shoes."
"I brought you some breakfast and the chariots are prepared out front. You ready to go?" Seth asked me passing me a cold cup of coffee.
"I'm not sure we're going." I told him, smelling it and throwing it into the nearby trash can.
"What?" Summer asked me, standing back up.
"Family stuff." I told her as I exhaled.
"Your family's all in jail, what stuff can there be?"
"Not mine, Sensitiva, Marissa's." I explained just as Marissa stepped out of the bathroom.
"What's going on?" Summer asked her, she looked at her face before sighing. "They're getting divorced." It wasn't a question, she already knew the answer; it was only going to be a matter of time anyway. "Baby, I'm so sorry." She told her, walking over to her and taking her into a hug. "Whatever you want to do, Coop. But if I may," she let go of her, "speaking as a child of divorce, you do not want to be home right now. And this is our last chance for freedom, we get back to Newport and it's all just school and reality. Let's go to TJ, have fun. Life will suck soon enough."
"She might, and it pains me to say it, actually be right." I agreed.
"There's got to be a first time for everything." We all turned to Seth, "Rage black outs, got it. I'll be in the car." He told us, picking up one of Summer's bags and walking past me to the car, which he'd parked just outside our room.
"Let's go to TJ." Marissa sort of half smiled.
The journey was made in silence, as we passed the last San Diego it actually hit me that I was going to leave the country for the first in my life. My mind was a mess of confusion between panicking about how to get past Boarder Control without a passport and then thinking about my conversation with Marissa last night. My thoughts were constantly being broken, however, with Summer constantly turning round to Marissa and asking her how she was doing.
We pulled up to the hostel after about two more hours in car. We got out with the luggage and checked in as Seth found a place to park the Range Rover.
I carried Summer's things up what seemed like at least a thousand steps before throwing myself down on the bed in the next room. The second I closed my eyes I heard a tentative knock on the door.
"Its open."
"Hey," I opened my eyes and found them looking at Marissa standing uncomfortably in the doorway.
"Hey." I sat up and watched as she sat down on the opposite bed.
"Did your parents get divorced?" she asked me.
"Err… I don't know." She looked across at me. "Well there's three options. The first that they never got married, which I think is the most probable, or Mom divorced my dad's sorry arse soon after sentencing, or she had a hell of a lot of affairs."
"What'd he get?"
"Five to ten."
"You ever see him?"
"Not since I was seven. Trey went a couple of times. Skived off school, went to see him without Mom's knowing. Dad was his role model. Guess that's why he got into steeling cars."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Not your fault."
"When you tell your mum you're gay?"
"When I had no choice." I told her quietly.
"How'd she take it?"
"Badly. I come from a family of red-necks. You know the type that Billy-Joel hates."
She dropped her head into her hands, "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"There's nothing you can do."
"I know," she said quietly lifting her head, "that's why I'm worried."
"Come on you two," Summer told us as she bounded into mine and Seth's room, "everybody is probably already at Boom Boom's!"
"Do we really want to join a load of people that consider us to be social rejects?" Seth asked walking in behind her.
"Okay, so not Boom Boom's but a club at least." Summer pleaded, more to Marissa than anyone else.
"Yeah. Sure." Marissa tried to smile back at her as she rose of the bed.
"Cool; just let me stop of at a pharmacy on the way." We all turned to question this request. "I promised my step mom that I would get her some pain killers – you can get like anything here without a prescription. She must have had all the ones they offer in Orange County."
"I'll get some antihistamines." Seth agreed following Summer out and back into the hall. "Allergies." I heard him explain to Summer as they waited for the elevator.
"I'm sorry."
"Now what for?" Marissa sighed as she straightened out her hair.
"I'm the reason you're not with your friends, your boyfriend."
"You're the reason for a lot of things Alex." She sighed following the others into the corridor.
We walked just a couple of streets to find a club that wouldn't be filled with a load of kids from Newport. It was amazing we got let in without a hint of an issue or a single one of us being carded. I didn't know what the drinking age was in Mexico and I don't think they cared. The staff just seemed all too happy to serve us, a thing I wasn't going to complain about for a second.
"I love authentic Mexican culture." Seth practically laughed at me after one of the bar maids, wearing little more than a bikini shot him tequila through a water pistol into his mouth.
"Doesn't suck." I smiled back at him after she'd done the same to me.
The club was packed with what seemed like frat boys from every college north of the boarder, it didn't look like there was a single Mexican in there or the town for that matter. It was like it had been built specially for American tourists.
I turned round and watched at Marissa simply stood there looking around the place, trying to just be with out having people either shove into her or hit on her.
"You know what?" she shouted in my ear. "I think I'm just going to go back to the hotel, I'm not really in the mood."
"That's fair." I shouted back. "I'll come with."
"No, no." she waved me off, "I'll grab Summer, you stay here with Seth, have a good time." She told me before making her way through the crowd.
"What was that about?" Seth asked me as I grabbed him on my way to the bar.
"Marissa's not really in the mood, she's going to go back." I explained as I gestured to the barman for two beers.
"Why didn't you go with her?" he asked me, leaning his elbows on the bar watching a group of girls dancing by us.
"She took Summer." I told him as I passed him a beer.
"You mean the Summer who's there?" he pointed over to her dancing with one of the college boys.
"Right." I nodded slowly. "I'll go look for her, check she's okay."
"We'll all go." He agreed putting his untouched beer down on the bar. He grabbed Summer from the boy and they followed me onto the street.
"Cohen! Cohen!" she struggled under his grip. "Thank you." She glared at him once he'd finally let go.
"Marissa's gone." I told her, looking round the busy street for her.
"I'll go check the hotel." She told me quickly before heading off.
"I'll check the streets." I told Seth before walking off in the other direction, just to have him run after me. "It will be easier if we split up."
"It would be," he nodded, "if you spoke Spanish."
"Look around," I gestured at the crowd surrounding us, "I don't think I have to."
"True." He nodded again. "But you don't have a cell, you could look for her for hours and she could be at the hotel room."
"Whatever." I wasn't really paying attention, just scanning the crowd for her face.
"Hold that thought." He told me as his phone started ringing. "You did?" he put his hand over the mouth piece, "She's at the hotel." He relayed before putting the phone back to his ear. "Okay."
"What did you 'okay'?" I asked him as he slipped the cell back into his pocket.
"We're going to the hotel room." He told me. "I'll follow you." He said as I practically ran back the way we'd come.
I pulled open the door to the hotel just as Summer was pushing it.
"Where is she?" I asked her, trying to make my way past her into the tiny lobby.
"Bad news," she pulled me back out and onto the street. "she's gone."
"How could you lose her in a hotel room?" I snapped at her.
"That's the issue." She rolled her eyes at me. "She took my step-mom's painkillers." I opened and closed my mouth several times and I heard Seth doing the same besides me. "Should we split up?"
"No." I told her simply once more fighting my way through the busy Mexican street.
The night was hot and the streets sticky. We searched the packed bars, the clubs, the streets all to no avail, all we found were drunk teenagers and scarier drunk Mexicans. The crowd was so large that she could have been just five people away and yet we wouldn't have seen her.
I couldn't believe what she'd done. I was terrified for her. I knew why she'd done it – scared and searching for answers that she wasn't able to find, but I wanted, I had to find her in time to stop her.
God knows how long we were on the packed streets of Tijuana. Minutes seemed like hours and an hour seemed to last eternity. She was missing. She was lost. She had stolen enough painkillers to take down a small elephant. She was dead for all we knew.
She was in an ally. I turned the corner and found her lifeless body tangled amongst all kinds of crap at the bottom of an ally.
I ran too her, knowing that she wasn't simply just passed out, there was something more to it. I'd seen my mom passed out, I'd seen her passed out. She wasn't passed out.
"Marissa." I screamed at her trying to find signs of life. I rolled her over and felt for a pulse. It was there, it was weak, but it was there. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know CPR, I didn't know what to do if she just stopped breathing. I did the only thing I could think of; I tried to scooped her up to carry her to the taxi that Seth had called over.
I couldn't do it. I felt powerless and useless.
"SETH!" I screamed at him to come over and help me.
Together we carried her to the taxi that was with Summer and Seth at the end of the ally and prayed that she was okay.
R&R, thank you. Circus.
