AN: Hey people! I've officially reached my update goal for winter break. Just in time for school to start up again. So don't expect another chapter for a while. Anyways, this chapter is different than all the rest. I feel I needed to refresh my own interest in this story and this is the way I did it. Plus lots of people were bugging me about it… not really I just felt like doing it. What can I say? I'm a huge fan of spontaneous POV changes.

IMPORTANT NOTE, PLEASE READ: THIS CHAPTER SWITCHES TO ALEX'S POV! SO IF YOU GET CONFUSED LATER DON'T COMPLAIN TO ME! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Deciding to work that benefit was the worst idea I've ever had, and I've had A LOT of bad ideas. First of all, who wants to serve a bunch of snotty Newpsies? And you know when there's Newpsies, there are always going to be Newpsies in training around somewhere. Second of all, dirty old men and horny teenagers are NEVER fun to serve. Throw Ryan Asswood into the mix and I'm sure in for a hell of a night. But would I do it all again for a chance to see Marissa Cooper in that white dress she was wearing? Fuck yes, even if she's being a total drunk bitch.

I was still upset with her for what she said to me earlier that night. "Don't you have people to serve?" Really? Really? In that moment I have never been less attracted to her. It was like she took on the form of Julie Cooper, and I hated it. She acted like everyone else in this stupid ass town. But did I think she meant it? No, she was sorry for it. Or it least she better be when she wakes up and finds herself in my bedroom after making a total ass out of herself at the party.

It was actually very sad to see. I mean of all laps to puke on she chose the guest of honors. Her mother's face was hilarious though. Like a mixture of an angry rhino and a monkey. And whatever his names face? Priceless. All jokes aside though, seeing her like that, so vulnerable and in the light of everyone's prying eyes, I knew I had to do something. No matter how bitchy she had been to me earlier that night, I had to help her.

So I swooped in, Alex to the rescue. And with my head held high I picked her up and carried her to my jeep. She's actually extremely light. I was relieved to figure that out, not that she'd know if I dropped her. I'd probably just blame the headache on the hangover.

Lying on my bed next to her though, I can't help but be glad I was there to save her. Even after a night of drinking she still looked absolutely gorgeous while she was sleeping. And if I got to see that every time I had to carry her somewhere, it'd be worth it. Hell, everything would be worth it if I got to be the one to fall asleep next to her every night. I just wish she knew I thought that.

A knock at my front door breaks my thoughts. I hurry over to the incessant knocking, not wanting to wake up the sleeping beauty. I open the door and frown at the source of the loud noise. "Did I really get up for you?" I ask the unwanted guest before slamming the door in his face.

I start my journey back to Marissa when the knocking becomes banging. My patience was wearing really thin for this guy. I rush back to the door and open it, making sure to put my pissed off face on. "She's fucking sleeping you asshole!" I whisper angrily.

Ryan looks at me with that dumb expression that always seems to be there. "Where is she?" He tries to push himself into my safe haven and now I'm livid.

"Um excuse me; did I invite you in here?" I push him back outside. "You know I would think someone of your background would know proper etiquette, oh wait! That's right." He shakes off my insult with that look. "What do you want Atwood?"

"I'm here to take her home."

I laugh at him. "Yeah okay, here's the thing, as good an idea as that sounds, she's asleep and very comfortable, so I'd rather not disturb her." I lean against my door jam, amused with his late night arrival at my home.

"Julie's worried about her."

"Well, Julie can wait until morning."

"I want to see her Alex." I see his fists clench at his sides and his knuckles go white. He really needs to learn how to control his anger issues. Not that I mind being the one to piss him off. Messing with him was one of my favorite things to do. "I need to know if she's okay."

"She's fine, trust me."

"That's the thing, I don't."

"Oh right, because I'm a serial killer and I have your little girlfriend tied up right now. Probably a good thing you don't trust me." He rolls those beady little eyes of his. "I'll drop her off at her house in the morning. You want to see if she's okay, do it then. But I'm taking care of her tonight because when she needed you, you weren't there." He flinched and I knew I hit him where it hurt.

"Just because you were there at a convenient time doesn't give you any right to say you care more about her than I do."

I nod accepting this. "But the fact that I do care about her more than you does, right?"

"I need to see her Alex, she needs me." I don't budge. "Look, I know you care about her. That's pretty obvious. So if you know what's good for her, you'll just leave her alone, and let her get on with her life."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're bad for her Alex. The sooner you realize that the better."

"You think you're better than me Atwood? That you're all high and mighty because you have money and a picture perfect family? You actually have the audacity to come up to me in my home and say you're better than me? Then let me ask you this: Where the hell were you tonight? Where the hell were you last month when someone tried to feel her up on the dance floor? Where the hell were you when some crazy bitches were trying to pick a fight with her? Where the hell were you when she was high off her ass because of something slipped to her? Where the hell were you when she was crying about you abandoning her?" I get up closer to his face. "You may be better than me, but at least I'm there for her when she needs me. And until the day she no longer needs me, I'm staying right where I am."

He shakes his head and steps back. "This isn't over."

"Walk away," I warn. "Before I have to kick your ass back to Chino where you belong." He leaves with his tail between his legs and his pride wounded. But his presence leaves me scarred.

"You're bad for her Alex. The sooner you realize that the better." His words resound in my head repeatedly. His mental assault unrelenting as I lay down next to the girl of my dreams. Maybe I was bad for her. Maybe her life would be better by now if I hadn't come into the picture. All I know is that whenever she was with me she seemed happy. But do I relieve enough pain to balance out that of which I cause?

Marissa seems to stir next to me and I prepare myself for her waking up. But she never does, she just rolls herself over and attaches herself to me, resting her head on my arm. I'm forced to wonder if her subconscious mind knows what she's doing to me, if it knows how she makes me feel when she accidently does things like that.

I determine that it has to know how much it teases me when she says "Alex" in her sleep. I sigh hoping that this might make me sleep better that night, or at least make me have better dreams. But that hope is lost when I also hear the word "Ryan".

I wake up way too early the next morning, torn from a dream plagued with the same words Ryan had said the night before. I try to fall back asleep but it seems Marissa has a habit of stealing every single blanket and sheet that was on the bed and sprawling out diagonally across the mattress after a long night of drinking. After determining the sight was too cute to ruin by fighting back onto my side and reclaiming my blankets mine again I walk out to the living room to see if I'd have any better luck on the couch.

No such luck though. It seems I wasn't imagining that my couch hurt like hell while Jodie was here. Settling for staring at the ceiling I start to count every spot on the roof. 1, 2, 3, 4,… As fun as figuring out that there was 647,983 dots on the ceiling was, I tried to figure out something better I could be doing.

"I could really go for a surf right now." I think to myself. That idea was quickly ruled out when I realized that would risk not being here when Marissa woke up.

"Is it too early to start drinking?" The mildly insane part of me asks myself.

"6:15? Yes, that is too early to start drinking." Answers the other part.

"But it's five o'clock somewhere!" The internal battle with myself commences and I have a feeling it's not going to be a short fight.

"We have to work tomorrow, and we don't want to be totally hung over."

"But we won't be hung over if we just don't stop drinking." The war goes on and on and I finally realize that I'm going nuts. But that doesn't stop myself from moving onto different topics.

"We should have kicked Ryan's ass last night." Says the part in favor of drinking.

"At least then we'd have wounds to attend to."

"Or alibis to form!" On that note I look at the clock and realize it's 11:45. I find it almost comical that I was literally arguing with myself for five and a half hours. I probably would have started up again if I hadn't heard a groan coming from the hallway and a stumbling Marissa emerge.

She looks as if she's holding her head together with her hands and her eyes are closed due to the light shining in from the windows. I quickly get up to close the blinds and she looks gratefully at me. "How do you feel?" I ask her leading her over to the counter to sit down.

"Like I got hit by a semi-truck and dragged under it for thirty miles. So I imagine as shitty as I look." She replies groggily.

"You look fine." I reply pouring her orange juice and handing her a thing of aspirin.

"Thank you."

"Breakfast of champions right there."

She takes the pills and then says, "That's not what I meant."

I smile at her. "Anytime."

She nods and sit in silence for a while. "Is there anything I did last night that I should be worried about?"

I chuckle knowing just how much went on with her at the party. She was not going to like hearing any of it. "You mean other than going straight up super bitch on me?"

She pushes her hair from her eyes and her mouth hangs a little bit in surprise. "What did I do?"

"You said, and I quote 'Look, don't you have people to serve?'"

Her hand covers her mouth and she shakes her head. "I didn't really say that to you did I?" I nod. "Oh my god Alex, I am so sorry. I have no idea what got into me. I would never say anything like that to hurt you, you know that right?"

I look at her for a while, and she seemed genuinely sorry about it, so I was willing to forgive her. "Yeah. Yeah, I know you wouldn't. It just caught me off guard a little bit. No big deal."

"Did I do anything else incredibly stupid?"

"Well you got into an argument with Ryan."

"I actually remember that."

"Well do you remember puking all over your mom's new friend's lap?"

Her mouth fell open again. "Shit. You're kidding right? I hope to god you're kidding. I am begging for you to tell me this is payback."

"Nope, unfortunately I'm not kidding."

"And I missed the look on the she-devil's face! Damn it!" She genuinely looked more upset that she missed the look on her mom's face than her actually throwing up on the guy's lap.

"I have to admit it was probably the highlight of the whole thing." I also told her about how the whole party was still for like a whole minute, and the music stopped playing. Also how we were all just looking at you giggling on the ground. Then how I, Alex Kelly, saved the day by picking her up and driving her here.

"She's gonna kill me. I'm literally afraid for my life right now Alex, help me. I cannot go home."

"Sorry, no can do." She frowned at me. Maybe if it wasn't so damn cute I'd try harder not to make that face happen. "She's worried about you." She gave me a look. "Well your friends are. And since I'm not one of the core four I'm not deemed trustworthy enough to take care of you longer than necessary, so we should go soon."

"Who said that?"

I shrugged. "A little birdy told me. Come on, let's go."

"But Lexi…" She drones out with a pout. It was so hard to say no to that face, but I had to. If anything else just to prove a point. I had to learn how to say no to that girl. I had to learn how to walk away.

We drove all the way to her house with her complaining the whole time. Pleading with me to turn around. I parked in her driveway and looked at her.

"She's waiting for me. I can feel it. Are you sure you don't wanna take me to work with you today?"

"Yeah I'm sure. But hey if you need someone to drive you to the hospital hit me up." I say with a smirk.

She pushes me. "That isn't funny." She insists. "Nice knowing you Alex." I laugh at her drama queen antics. "If I don't make it tell Summer I love her. And… and… my car is yours, along with my care bear. My last request is that you clear out my secret stash before my dad comes and searches through my room."

"Yeah I'll make sure to do that."

"Thanks for everything. Stay golden ponyboy." She walks away with that crooked smile on her face. She knew she was in trouble, but she'd get through it. I mean how bad could Julie Cooper really be?