Alex left thinking Marissa didn't love her. Few years later they meet again, they have to work in the same place in LA. Marissa is now engaged to Ryan. Alex goes for the get some, get gone routine. Appearances from old friends and new ones.

Don't own anything.

Thoughts are in italic.

Flashbacks are in bold.

AN: thanks to CT Ash and bigblusky for reviewing.

Chapter 5

It was 12:25, and Alex was driving by the Joy Ride. She knew she was early but she hadn't managed to get any sleep done that morning. The flirty blonde at the bar had extended an invitation for Alex drop by her place after her shift was done. Invitation which Alex gladly accepted.

After the girls were done Alex waited until the other girl slept so she could sneak home. The girl, Mindy, Cindy, Dindy, that Alex couldn't for the life of her remember the name of had been nice, but not exactly tiresome and nowhere near fulfilling, which meant that once Alex got home ready to sleep, all she could do was toss and turn in bed, thinking of a certain brunette that had suddenly reappeared in her life.

Giving up on trying to sleep, she went for a jog, to see if she could relive some tension. Getting home around 11 AM, she took a shower and got dressed. Knowing there was no better time than the present, she cleaned the house, nothing too much just making sure the house wasn't as dirty as it was when she was 17. That done and with nothing better to do, the blonde drove to the nightclub, knowing she would be early.

I have absolutely no life, but it doesn't mean Marissa needs to know that. Making up her mind the blonde parked her car a couple of blocks away from where she would have lunch and walked to a Starbucks across the street from the nightclub. Now, I'm turning into a stalker. How nice.

Ten minutes later she saw Marissa park her car in the club's parking lot, and enter the club. The blonde waited a few minutes before got her car, going back to the street she had been in, and parking her jeep right next to Marissa's BMW, as if she had just arrived.

Entering the club, she noticed the brunette already seated, and made her way to Marissa, and without thinking, the blonde gave her a kiss on the cheek. For a moment, Marissa appeared to be lost in space.

"Hey, Marissa, sorry I'm a little late, I hope I didn't make you wait too long."

"No, not at all. I just got here myself." Alex knew that was a lie, but she let it slide.

"Good. Have you ordered anything?"

"Just drinks. I got you an orange juice, hope you don't mind" She still remembers my favorite drink? That's odd.

"Yeah, that's fine. Thank you."

"No problem. Can I ask you a question?"

"I think you just did, but shoot."

"Why did you tell Aaron to tell me to take the rest of the night off yesterday? Not that I mind"

"Nothing, I had to do some paperwork, I just decided to go easy on you on your first day, it's hard getting used to the sleep-during-the-day thing" Alex was not about to tell Marissa the reason she wanted the couple as far away as possible.

"Hum, okay, thanks, I guess."

"Sure" Alex had been sure she had gotten the brunette to drop the issue, but she wasn't so lucky.

"But why did you tell Aaron to tell me, not do it yourself?"

" 'Cause I had to do paperwork" Alex said it slowly, as if talking to a child. "Besides Aaron seemed to be the one you felt more comfortable with." Marissa was touched that Alex had paid enough attention to know which one of the bartenders had been the nicest to the brunette.

Marissa had been helping Alex with the glasses, when she spotted Ryan with the corner of her eye. Apparently neither Alex nor Ryan had seen each other, which was exactly the way she wanted to keep it. So she just told Alex she would be back and left, without realizing Alex was watching her.

As she made her way through the crowd she was thinking of ways to get Ryan as far away from Alex as possible. Marissa had asked him to drop by to see the place she worked in, it had been before she found out she would be working with Alex, now it just brought a whole new set of problems.

As she reached him, she meant to just give him a quick peck on the lips, the same way any girl would welcome her fiancé, but he had other ideas. Ryan put his arms around her, and at the same time opened his mouth deepening the kiss.

She had no choice but to welcome his tongue into her mouth, having no excuse to do otherwise. They were at it for a few minutes when Aaron patted her on the back, making them break the kiss, Marissa had been so happy, she had to hold herself not to jump her new friend.

"Sorry to interrupt Marissa, but Alex asked me to tell you that you could go home, she said she can handle the club for the rest of the night."

"Okay, thanks." The brunette responded, and then turning to Ryan. "So, let's go?"

"Yeah. Come on." Her fiancé replied putting his arm around her. He was more than happy to leave, he had wake up 7 AM the next day.

"And Marissa?"

"Yes Aaron?"

"Get a room." The girl blushed, and hid her face on Ryan's shoulder.

As they made their way to the door, Ryan decided to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind ever since the other guy had come to talk to Marissa.

"So, Alex, right?"

"Yeah, weird, don't you think? It must be a more common here than in Orange County" Marissa knew she should tell him that, yes, it was the same Alex, but she couldn't help breath a little easier now that she had put some distance between the blondes.

"Is she your boss?"

"Not exactly. Why don't I tell you everything at home?"

"Works for me."

"Good. Now, did you drive here?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"So did I. I guess I'll see you at home."

"Okay, see ya."

The waiter came to their table, bringing them their drinks. And as he handed them their menus, he eyed Alex, giving the smaller girl a sexy grin, which she promptly returned, also giving back her menu.

"I know exactly what I want" The blonde said licking her lips without taking her eyes away from Rick, the waiter.

Marissa tried to concentrate on reading the menu, as she looked for something to eat, but their flirting was making it impossible, the innuendos, the smiles, the touching were driving her insane. Needless to say, the page in front of the brunette was nothing more than a picture of blurred letters. No to say that this encounter had been a complete waste of time, on the brunette's opinion anyway, Marissa did manage to create a 5 step program on how to turn Rick's face into a mass of bloody garbage.

Giving up trying to read the damned menu, the brunette cleared her throat, drawing Alex and Rick's attention for herself.

"I want this one" Pointing at something written on the page, without actually knowing what she had just ordered. Marissa just knew she had to take Alex's eyes off of the waiter, she didn't know how long she could take their flirting.

After writing both their orders down, Rick left.

"I didn't know you were still into guys, Alex"

"What do you mean? You know I'm bi. Remember me and Seth dating? Ring any bells?"

"Yeah. I don't know what came over me, just…. Just forget it."

"Alright"

"Besides, you know, the Seth thing…."

"Hum"

"It kinda proves my point"

"Why is that?"

" 'Cause sometimes Seth is more of a girl than both of us together." That made the blonde girl laugh. I really like it when she laughs.

"Very, very true. So how is Seth?" Alex asked.

"He's fine, got married to Summer a couple of years ago. I can't be sure, but I think they are considering having a baby."

"God! Can you imagine it? Seth as a father…"

"Yeah, that's disaster waiting to happen."

"And what else? Did he get to write his own comic book?"

"Yeah, but first he went to a drawing school near Brown, that's where Summer graduated, let me see if I remember the name….. RISD! That's it: RISD. Then he got this huge contract afterwards. If I'm not mistaken he writes 4 different comic books now"

"Damn! I knew I should have kept that drawing he forgot in my office. It would be worth some money now."

"You know what? If you want you can ask for an autographed one in a few weeks. Summer got a job designing clothes for a company in LA, so they are moving here."

"Wow! There will a lot of Seth going around."

"Yeah, but you never complained that he bugged you, in fact if I remember correctly, when he didn't, you missed him"

"Well, he's kinda funny, in his doorky, I-need-to-be-the-center-of-world kinda way."

Much to Marissa's discomfort, Rick did come back, this time with their food. But before he could make any conversation with Alex, the brunette sent the waiter an angry glare, making sure he understood he was not wanted. He got the message and, with a slightly scared expression, left the table.

As they started eating, Alex was blinded for a second by a light coming from a diamond shaped ring in Marissa's hand. They are engaged!!!!! Oh my God!!! Marissa and Ryan are engaged. See, Alex, you did the right thing by walking away that night. They would have gotten back eventually, and she would have dumped you for him. And that would have hurt, more so than the way it happened, if that's possible. And in this case, you wouldn't even have your pride to hold on to anymore. She would have cheated on you and you wouldn't even be allowed to say you did the dumping.

In a way, Alex was glad she had seen the ring. She was still very much miserable that Marissa was engaged to somebody else, but now the blonde was finally free. Now, she didn't have to wonder what would have happened if she hadn't left. No more imagining if Marissa and Alex would have stayed together. Now she knew. They wouldn't have. No more sleepless nights analyzing what she could have done differently. No more what ifs.

Their lunch isn't over, but the chapter was too big and i had to cut it short. Next one should be done in no time. Please review.