In the morning, Kaitlin, Holly, and I were exhausted. Jimmy said that Marissa didn't come home and we went out looking for her.
"Where could she be?" Kaitlin questioned.
"I'm not sure but we've been all town twice." Holly replied. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that she was there."
"Hey, we'll find her." I assured them. "We just gotta figure this thing out. So she left and went upset, so she probably went somewhere she was sure she'd feel safe."
"Maybe somewhere that no one will think to look for her." Holly added. I couldn't help but wonder where that was. "So where's your brother?"
"Maybe she called and he went after her." I suggested as we headed to the pool house.
"Or maybe he's asleep." Kaitlin replied as we saw him on my mattress. "Seth, wake up."
"It's my breakfast you can't have it." Seth said as he jolted awake. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"You were asleep. That's what wrong." Holly declared angrily.
"I was adjusting my back." Seth tried to argue.
"Did you hear from her?" I questioned.
"No, I didn't hear the phone even if I was sleeping." He answered. "Which I wasn't, I was resting my back. There's a missed call though."
I took the phone as I heard Kaitlin scolding him. I listened to the message.
"It was her." I declared. "She said that she was okay and not to try to follow her."
I couldn't help but wonder if I could have the police trace the call.
"Where is she?" Julie asked.
"She's not here." Kaitlin replied.
"What's going on in here?" The woman questioned.
"Marissa bailed as soon as Holly told her about your affair with Luke." Kaitlin remarked.
"That was not something that you had any right to tell anyone." Julie scolded Holly. I glared at her. "I think Samantha, Kaitlin, and I need to have a talk."
Holly and Seth took the hint at left. It was too bad it wasn't a good time because they could work out their issues.
"Whatever if you think you know…" Julie started.
"I don't care!" I interrupted. "I just want to get her back home."
"Do you have no idea where she is?" Julie questioned seriously.
"No, we don't." Kaitlin responded in irritation.
"Well what am I supposed to do? Last time she took off, she almost died." Julie declared. We didn't need to be reminded of that. "I'm calling the police."
"That's not a good idea." I pointed out. "They'll ask why she left and you committed a crime."
"Well I need to call her doctors." Julie responded. "I cannot have her hurting herself anymore."
"Maybe you should have thought about that before you slept with a high school student." Kaitlin declared.
"I would love to stay and chat, but I have to find Marissa." Julie remarked coldly as she left.
"Not if we find her first." I said.
A little bit later, I was showered and dressed in dark grey tee and denim miniskirt. Kaitlin and I were discussing our strategy with Seth. We walked into the kitchen and saw a very big breakfast.
"Hey guys." Hailey greeted us. "We've got eggs, waffles, three different kinds of pancakes." She listed.
"Wow, what's the occasion?" I questioned. I was really hungry.
"I was in pretty rough shape last night and I didn't get a chance to thank you guys for convincing me to come home." Hailey explained as Seth dug in.
"Oh my God, what's going on here?" Mom asked as she entered the kitchen and looked at the smorgasbord in shock and awe.
"We have to get all of the bread out of the house." Dad replied as he came in with a bin. I was confused to say the least.
"Hailey made three different kinds of pancakes." Mom told him.
"Well enjoy them now cause we only have three hours to unleaven the entire kitchen." He replied frantically. What was going on? "My mother's plane lands at noon and if she walks in on the first day of Passover and sees us eating pancakes, she'll freak."
"I love when the Nana comes and suddenly Dad's all Jewish again." Seth responded. This was obviously something I was not used to. "I'd love to help but we have to go now."
We hastily made our exit. Seth was going to talk to Summer to see if she had found and/or seen Marissa. I couldn't help but wonder what my grandma would think of me and if she would be any more receptive than Caleb.
So our search didn't lead anywhere and Kaitlin decided that she really needed a nap. It didn't look like I would be able to have that luxury. I went into the kitchen where there were a ton of bags. It was like Caleb's visit all over again.
"So any luck?" Seth asked.
"We looked everywhere and didn't find her." I explained.
"We'll find her." Seth assured me.
"Alright, who's coming with me to the airport?" Dad asked. "Seth? Sammie? Anybody? You're not ready for the nana, are you? No one's ever ready for the nana. That woman is scary."
"Hello?" A voice replied. Was that her? "The front door is wide open. It's very unsafe."
"It's the nana." Seth remarked. There was a lot of hugging.
"You must be Samantha. I'm very happy to meet you." She said as she gave me a hug too. She was definitely more receptive than Caleb was. "Welcome to the family."
She was confused when she saw Hailey, though.
"Sophie, you remember my sister, Hailey." Mom explained.
"Oh right, the bad seed." Sophie stated as she gave Hailey a hug. "I always liked you best. Don't tell the others."
So apparently, Sandy was wrong about her interpretation of California because she seemed to like it.
From there, Seth and I went to the pool house. Kaitlin was still sleeping on the bed.
"Okay, where else could she be?" I mused as we paced around.
"I don't know who that woman was, but that was not the nana." Seth stated. That wasn't important.
"She was nice." I declared.
"She was nice and that was out of character for her." He explained. "That's the problem. I love her but she's not nice. It's just how she is."
"Who haven't we asked?" I questioned.
"What about Taylor?" He asked.
"No, she hasn't seen her." I answered.
"She was even nice to Mom and the nana has never exactly cared for the Kirsten." He continued.
"Seth, we have a much more important thing to worry about than why the nana is acting different." I reminded him as I heard Kaitlin yawning.
"I had a dream and I think I know where she is." Kaitlin stated.
We ended up going to the Mermaid Inn and to the front desk.
"Hey, I'm looking for my sister. She's tall with sandy blonde hair." Kaitlin replied. "She may have been crying."
He took us to the room and there she was. I couldn't believe that we didn't think to check the scene of the crime. It was the perfect hiding spot.
"What are you doing here?" Marissa asked.
"We were looking for you." I stated. "Your mom is about to call the cops."
"Well there's no way that I'm going back to her." Marissa stated.
"Well you're not staying here." I pointed out. I almost expected her to have gone to Chino, even though she didn't know anyone there.
"You can't make me." Marissa declared as she crossed her arms over her chest. It looked like we might have to drag her away kicking and screaming. I wished we had something to sedate her with.
"Marissa, we didn't know how to tell you." Kaitlin told her. "I know you're mad at Mom. I'm mad at her too, but that doesn't give you the right to run off."
"I'll come with you, but I don't wanna go home." Marissa bargained. "Take me somewhere else. How about the waterpark?"
I sighed and nodded my head as I sent a text to Julie saying that we found her. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I had to admit that I was glad that she was alright. I knew that they wanted me back in time for Seder, even though I barely knew what Seder was. Seth called me freaking out because Holly had shown up.
We ended up taking Marissa to Disneyland. I paid the premium for the special pass so we wouldn't have to spend all day waiting in line for rides. I hoped that Marissa understood that as soon as we left, we were taking her home. Even though I wasn't showing it, I was excited to go to Disneyland. I had never been before and I was glad to be there. I kind of wished that I could go on something with just Kaitlin, but we needed to stay close to Marissa to make sure that she didn't run off. We could not afford to lose her again. You know I couldn't believe that she didn't go to Jimmy. Maybe she thought that he might tell the cops or Caleb.
"So I know what Mom did was bad and disgusting, but we just have to accept that she's kind of a terrible person and move on." Kaitlin told Marissa.
"I can't just pretend that this never happened." Marissa pointed out. "I can't go back there."
"Then go to Dad's and cut her out of your life." Kaitlin instructed. "You know not everything is about you. I hate this too, but you don't see running away. Stop being a brat who acts like the world is out to get you and runs away whenever something that you don't like happens!"
I had a feeling that wouldn't help very much.
"I'm glad to know that you hold me in such high regard." Marissa quipped.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I snapped. "The only reason that I agreed to come here was so I could enjoy a getaway from home at a place that I've never been before. I don't want to hear you two fighting anymore. Marissa, you're going home after this, end of story!"
"You know you are scary when you're mad." Kaitlin told me. At that point, I got a call from Julie.
"Hello?" I asked in irritation.
"Where is she?" Julie asked.
"She's with me and Kaitlin." I replied. "And before you ask, no you can't talk to her because she already she never wants to see you again."
"Get her home before I call the police." Julie ordered before she hung up. I sighed. Why was it that every time that I do something nice, it seemed to bite me in the ass? I really wished that Marissa wasn't being so selfish.
"We're going home." I announced. Julie may well have been right about Marissa needing to be committed. She also had a habit of bringing everyone around down with her? I didn't understand how one person could be so much trouble.
"I'm not going home." Marissa declared. I leaned my head back.
"Grab her." I told Kaitlin as I watched Kaitlin lift her slightly above the ground.
"Let her go." Marissa declared, wanting to make a scene.
"Do you want to know where your life is going?" I told her. "In a few years, you're probably going to end up like Hailey. Do you really want to be on a pole cause you can't find any other work?"
"If it gets me away from my mom, then yes." Marissa replied.
"Okay, fine. I'll take you to strip club right now and you can apply for a job." I stated.
We took her out to the car and I decided to just drive to Newport. I had Kaitlin sit in the back with her so she couldn't make a break for it. I pulled in front of the house.
"So I lied about where we're going." I replied before stepping out and opening her door.
"I'm not asking you to see you Mom, but you're at least going to stay here." I stated as we walked into the house. We saw as Seth and Holly as we entered and also heard the nana yelling. I decided that it would be best to just take Kaitlin and Marissa to the pool house.
I went and put my bikini on and got in the hot tub. I hoped that I could just get a little bit of time to relax. I wasn't even in the mood for intimacy. I just wanted to relax.
"I need your help." Seth stated as he came outside. "Holly's trying to act Jewish to impress the nana."
"Seth, please, I just spent the whole day driving around and I didn't get any sleep last night. I am tapped out." I explained. "I literally can't help you. Ask Mom or Dad or someone else."
After 5 minutes, he came back.
"What now?" I questioned in exasperation.
"The nana has cancer." He replied. "I heard her and Dad talking about it. I don't know what to do."
"You have to be fucking kidding me." I muttered. So, on top of all of my problems with my future sister-in-law, now I had to deal with this. If these weren't people that I loved, I wouldn't put up with any of it. I got out of the hot tub, wondering if I might have to be institutionalized when all of this was over. "Okay, you can talk to her about it. Seriously, the best way to face your problems might be to literally face them and just tell Holly that you like her the way that she is and that she doesn't have to convert to Judaism to be with you."
I went inside of the pool house to see that Marissa was asleep. Maybe I should just give Julie the same advice. Kaitlin came over and gave me a kiss.
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "I know this wasn't my fault, but Marissa is my sister and you wouldn't be doing this if not for me."
"Well sometimes love means doing things that you don't want to do." I pointed out. "So would you be interested in meeting my grandma by any chance? I'm making this optional. If you want to go home, I won't hold it against you."
"You know that there is no way that I can do this after everything that you've done for me." She pointed out. "I owe like a million times at this point."
"You don't owe me anything." I replied. "So do you have any idea what you're supposed to wear to a Seder?"
"Is that the thing with goat legs?" She questioned.
"Okay, so that's a no." I replied with a laugh.
"I want to go talk to Mom." Marissa declared as she came outside. "Since no one is going to let me be alone, one of you needs to join me."
It turned out that Marissa was going to move back in with her dad. So I guessed the talking things out wasn't going to happen. I was just glad that I wasn't involved in it anymore. She was going to have dinner with us.
The Seder wasn't that bad. Holly was there and so was Jimmy. The ceremony was a bit annoying, but the food was great. I even learned some things about Judaism. I wasn't sure how much of it I would remember, but it was nice to be the people that I loved for a change. It made me glad to be home.
So Marissa didn't go to Chino because she had never been to Chino before. Things still got pretty heavy, but they ended okay. Please don't forget to review,