This chapter was really fun to write and I just felt like giving Seth a hard time for no real reason.

Sorry this chapter is so long. I knew exactly where I wanted it to end, but it took longer to get to it than I thought it would. I'm a bit...unsure about the last scene, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if I pulled it off okay.

Enjoy.

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Chapter Eleven- Closer

“Dude, it’s already 4:15. Alex is going to be pissed that we’re so late,” Ryan comments from the passenger seat.

“Come on buddy, I’m sure Alex is just all talk. Besides, even Marissa admitted that she wasn’t really all that bad,” Seth retorts from behind the wheel.

“I don’t know Seth. She seemed pretty serious earlier today. I don’t really want to test her…especially considering some of the stories that Marissa told us about how Alex can be,” the blonde replies cautiously.

“Nah, I think she likes me,” Seth grins, wagging his eyebrows in, what he assumes to be, a suave manner.

Ryan resists the urge to laugh. “I think that you’re completely delusional if you think that she is even remotely interested,” he points out realistically as they pull into the Bait Shop parking lot.

“No, seriously. I think she was checking me out,” the dark-haired boy argues, trying not to whine.

“Good thing you have Summer to keep you from saying or doing anything remotely idiotic around her,” Ryan chuckles to himself as they approach the side entrance.

“I’m just saying Man, if I wasn’t with Summer, I’d totally hook up with Alex,” Seth replies seriously as they walk into the Bait Shop.

“Or not,” Ryan mumbles to himself as he sees Marissa looking incredulous, Summer appearing completely pissed off, Jodie trying not to laugh, and Alex looking absolutely enraged.

Seth at least has the decency to look embarrassed. “Alex! Hey, how’s-”

“I swear to god that your next words had better be some brilliant Mark Twain shit because they are sure as shit going on your fucking tombstone,” Alex growls out before he can finish his sentence. This effectively shuts him up.

Summer looks between the blonde and her boyfriend for a moment. “Will you be my new best friend?” She asks with a delighted grin. At this point, Jodie can no longer hold it in as she starts laughing hysterically from her position by the bar.

“If you’re finished..” Alex trails off, shooting her best friend a scathing glare, quickly silencing her. “You,” she points to Seth, “are cleaning the bathrooms,” she barks out, throwing a pair of yellow, rubber cleaning gloves at his head.

“Hey, you almost hit me!” He whines as he moves out of the way just in time.

“Do you want me to try again?” Alex questions before thinking for a moment. “And do you really want ‘hey, you almost hit me’ engraved on your tombstone?” She asks rhetorically. He opens his mouth to say something, but she narrows her eyes. “I mean it, I don’t want to hear another word from you all night. If you have any questions or whatever, ask Marissa or Jodie,” she growls.

Seth considers this for a moment before pulling Ryan over to him and whispering in his ear. “Um, he said that he doesn’t know how to clean the bathrooms,” the sandy-haired boy speaks for his friend.

“That’s perfect. He has the rest of the month on bathroom duty…That way he can fucking figure it out,” Alex responds shortly. Seth opens his mouth to protest. “Do you want to make it two months?” She quirks an eyebrow. He shakes his head and shuts up. “Okay. I’ll be in my office doing paperwork if anyone needs me,” she nods before disappearing into said office.

“Wow Coop, I see what you mean with her being a bitch,” Summer comments to her friend, slightly in awe.

“She’s not being a bitch,” Marissa replies defensively, earning her an ‘oh really?’ expression from the shorter girl. “Okay, maybe a little bit. But she’s good at her job and she’s not too bad of a boss once you get used to her,” she backs up her statement.

“Right. You’re girlfriend almost made Cohen wet his pants because that’s what a good boss does,” Summer rolls her eyes good-naturedly.

“Sum, you do realize that he said that he wanted to sleep with her, right?” Marissa asks, trying to get on the point of why the blonde bar manager went ff like she did.

“That’s right! I’d better go give him a piece of my mind,” the smaller girl fumes as she goes to give Seth the second assault on his manliness in less than ten minutes.

“Girlfriend?” Jodie asks as she approaches Marissa, having heard their conversation.

“What?” A very lost Marissa inquires, unsure as to what the other girl is talking about.

“You’re friend called Alex your girlfriend,” Jodie elaborates, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, she was just joking,” the taller girl nervously replies, hating that she is still intimidated by the smaller woman.

“That’s too bad,” Jodie smirks, eyeing the other girl carefully. Before Marissa can ask what she means by that, Jodie’s attention is brought back to the bar. “Hey! Put that down!” She yells at Summer, who is threatening to beat Seth with a bottle of tequila.

“Cohen, if you value your life-”

“I said put it down or so help me god I will get Alex back out here to deal with your ass!” Jodie warns as she walks over and pulls the bottle out of the other girl’s hands.

“Hey!” Summer protests.

“And shouldn’t you be cleaning the bathrooms?” Jodie directs at Seth, completely ignoring the other girl. He just stares blankly at her. “Hello? I asked you a question. Are you stuck on stupid or what?” She asks rhetorically.

“But Alex said not to say-”

“Not to talk to her you moron! I ask you something and you answer. Now, go clean the bathrooms before I shove this bottle up your ass,” she orders him “Yo, blonde guy,” she calls to Ryan. “You are going to go to the storeroom with me to help get the bar stocked for tonight,” she directs.

“What about me?” Summer asks enthusiastically from behind the other woman, her earlier rage all but forgotten.

“Marissa, you and Crazy Bitch pull down the chairs and wipe down the tables,” Jodie instructs, not wanting to engage the small volatile brunette. “Alex, why…oh why, did you have to stick me with babysitting the children?” She laments to no one in particular.

--

Since Jodie pulled Alex out of her office an hour ago, Marissa hasn’t been able to keep her attention away from the blonde in the bar in the middle of the club. What is wrong with me? I never used to watch her like this. I never used to watch her at all. Stupid Summer started this by having me ask Alex to be nice to me. Stupid Summer. Marissa is thrown out of her musings as someone slams roughly into her back, almost making her topple over.

“Watch where you’re going,” some random frat guy barks drunkenly as he pushes past her without a second thought.

“Sorry,” the tall brunette mumbles out her apology before moving so that she stands up against the wall and out of the way. She turns her attention back to the center bar, only to see Alex shamelessly flirting with another girl. Alex can’t possibly find that…bimbo attractive. She snorts incredulously. Somehow, she finds herself right behind Alex on the inside of the bar.

“Alex!” Marissa nearly shouts in an effort to be heard over the music.

The blonde in question is momentarily startled as she jumps and turns to face the taller girl. “What?” She questions, feigning irritability.

“What are you doing?” Marissa asks, holding back her irrational anger and jealousy.

“Are you serious?” Alex arches a skeptical eyebrow at the other girl, receiving a hard glare in return. “Working. What are you doing with enough free time to come over her and bother me?” She bites back, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

“Well, last time I checked ‘picking up girls’ was not in your job description,” Marissa growls derisively.

“Huh, well, last time I checked, I was still your boss, not the other way around. So, unless there is something specific you want then you should get back to work,” Alex indignantly retorts.

From across the club, Jodie watches the scene unfolding from the bar on the wall. As he passes by, she grabs Ryan by the arm.

“Go tell Marissa I need help over here,” the small brunette orders, not taking her eyes off of the pair.

“What do you need because I can…” the sandy-haired boy trails off as he sees what has gained the other woman’s attention. “Okay,” he agrees after a moment.

“Well, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation if someone was able to keep her hormones in check,” Marissa pointedly grinds out towards the blonde bartender.

“Why the fuck do you even care?”

“Hey Alex, I’m just going to go. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble with your girlfriend…that I didn’t even know you had,” the bimbo offers, sending a slight glare at the blonde and a sympathetic smile at the brunette.

At the brush-off, Alex turns on Marissa, preparing to yell at her for getting involved with her personal life. “Don’t give me that look. She’s a total slut,” the brunette declares, folding her arms defensively across her chest.

Before Alex has a chance to respond, Ryan shows up behind her. “Marissa, Jodie needs you at the other bar,” he informs his ex-girlfriend, eyeing the pair dubiously before turning and walking off.

“You and I will talk about this later,” Alex informs the taller girl. She turns around and starts to take drink orders from the people around the bar as Marissa stalks off.

On her way to the bar on the other side of the club, Marissa’s righteous indignation completely dissipates. This leaves her with nothing but an ‘oh shit, what have I done?’ feeling.

“A little early in your relationship to be pulling the whole ‘jealous girlfriend’ routine, isn’t it?” Jodie ponders aloud to the taller girl.

“Huh?” Marissa eloquently inquires as she turns to face the smaller woman, unaware that they were standing so close.

“You and Alex,” Jodie begins, indicating the blonde in the center bar. “Usually two people have to actually be dating before one can act like a jealous girlfriend,” she explains, having witnessed the entire scene from her current vantage point.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marissa mumbles lamely, keeping her eyes trained on the blonde.

Jodie merely rolls her eye. “Please, get over yourself. You are a terrible liar and you are horrible at being discreet. You’ve been checking her out since you started working here.”

“No I haven’t!” Marissa erupts, perhaps a little too defensively.

Staring at the naïve girl before her, Jodie comes to a sudden realization. “You’ve been totally in denial this entire time, haven’t you? I thought you were just a spoiled little Newport princess that was scared that she was falling for some chick, but you aren’t, are you?” The shorter woman’s tone goes from amused to pensive.

“I don’t…I’m not…” Marissa tries to argue, not sure of Jodie’s feelings on the matter.

“You like her so much that you tricked yourself into thinking that you hate her. Classic,” Jodie actually laughs at this.

“Glad to see that you find this so amusing,” Marissa snaps.

“Don’t get mad at me because you’re acting like a total ass,” Jodie quips. “Just because the two of you express our love for one another by being raging bitches to each other is not my fault,” he further defends herself.

“‘The two of you’?” Marissa repeats the other girl’s words back. “That would mean that she-”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t tell her I told you…Even though I probably shouldn’t be too worried since she’s gone all soft and lame recently which, by the way, I fully blame you for that,” Jodie points out obviously.

“Of course you do,” the tall brunette grumbles.

“Anyway, my suggestion to you would be, when she goes to yell at you in her office later, just fuck her on her desk,” Jodie nonchalantly advises.

“I’m not going to do that!” Marissa practically screeches.

“Why not? It’ll cure that oppressive sexual tension between you guys as well as prevent her from getting too pissed off at you,” she shrugs.

“Or…I could just tell her,” the other offers her alternate suggestion.

“You could, but that would just be…boring,” Jodie scrunches up her nose in disgust.

Marissa simply laughs.

--

Just after closing, Alex is sorting out the cash and credit slips in the register as she takes a look around at the other employees running around.

Ryan is helping Summer pick up the chairs and place them on the tables. Seth has just exited the men’s restroom and is putting the mop and bucket back in the supply room. Marissa is wiping down the bar on the far side of the club and, amazingly, Jodie is actually working as she cleans the glasses out.

Alex runs the transaction reports before slipping quietly into her office to lock the money up. She goes back into the main area of the club, satisfied that the place is in good condition for the night.

“Hey guys!” Alex calls, effectively gaining their undivided attention. “So, contrary to what I initially feared, tonight wasn’t a complete disaster and, as much as I hate to admit, you three did a pretty decent job,” she states in reference to Ryan, Seth and Summer.

“Is this your roundabout way of saying ‘good job, now go home’?” Jodie snarks.

“Good job everyone. Now, go home and be here tomorrow by 5:00. Do. Not. Be. Late,” Alex rolls her eyes at her friend before turning serious and shooting a, relatively, tame glare at Seth at the last part.

“Sweet. Later,” Jodie grins before practically running out of the building. There is a brief round of ‘bye’s and ‘see you tomorrow’s as the other four go to leave.

“Oh, uh…Marissa? Can I talk to you for a sec?” Alex asks, catching the other girl before she has a chance to get out the door.

“Yeah,” Marissa replies hesitantly. “I’ll see you tomorrow Sum,” she says to her friend, signaling that it was okay for her to leave.

“Right,” the darker brunette draws out. “Call me,” she whispers loud enough that only Marissa can hear. Marissa merely nods in response.

Once the other girl is gone, the brunette looks up to say something, only to be met with Alex’s back as she makes her way to her office. Shaking her head slightly, she wordlessly follows her manager. I will not stare at her ass. I will not check her out. I will-

“I just wanted to talk about what happened earlier at the bar,” Alex states, effectively tearing the other girl from her thoughts.

“Yeah, about that…” Marissa trails off, embarrassed at her obvious jealousy.

“It was kind of…” Alex begins, not sure exactly how she would describe the whole encounter. Weird. Unexpected. Is it wrong that I’m happy she was jealous?

“I don’t know what happened. She just gave me bad vibes I guess,” Marissa shrugs, sure that, though lame, her excuse was somewhat close to the truth.

“How sweet! You were protecting me,” Alex jokes good-naturedly, holding her hands over her chest. Marissa simply smiles and rolls her eyes. “I am sorry that I overreacted,” she genuinely apologizes.

“Me too. It really wasn’t any of my business,” the brunette says, mostly to herself. “I mean, even if we’re…never mind,” she covers, trying to remove the lingering thought from her mind.

“What?” Alex prods gently noting the faraway look on the other girl’s face as she gently takes her arm.

“After these last few day I just feel…a lot closer to you,” Marissa begins to confess, but gets thrown off as her own insecurities and doubts flood her mind. She glances at the desk and gets the image of her and Alex following Jodie’s suggestion and having sex on the desk. Damn you Jodie.

“Closer?…Like friends?” Alex prompts quietly, just above a whisper, her hand still loosely holding on to the taller girl’s arm.

At the soft sound of the blonde’s voice, Marissa turns her attention back to her. Alex’s blue-gray eyes are boring into her with a kind of searing intensity. Her gaze sharp and unwavering. Marissa lowers her gaze and watches as Alex unconsciously wets her lips with the pink tip of her tongue. The way she anxiously bites down gently on her lower lip, the only visible sign that the blonde bar manager is at all nervous.

After searching the shorter girl’s face for several moments, Marissa’s expression shifts subtly from unsure to satisfied and determined. She has the answer to her unasked question.

As if sensing how much she is into the other girl’s personal space, Alex attempts to step back. Marissa prevents her from doing so as she brings her free arm up and places her hand firmly on the back of the blonde’s neck. She takes a short step closer as she slides her other arm out of Alex’s grasp before running her hand slowly up her arm to rest on the shorter girl’s shoulder.

Now they are standing close enough so as to be sharing each other’s breath. Alex’s eyes flutter shut as she takes the time to savor this moment as she feels herself moving forward.

They meet halfway in a simple kiss, no more complex than faintly brushing their lips together as first. It doesn’t take long for it to multiply in its intensity as Alex brings one hand to the back of Marissa’s head to pull her face closer. Her other hand wraps around the brunette’s waist and brings their bodies flush against one another.

At the contact, the blonde moans softly into the other girl. Marissa takes the opportunity to thrust her tongue into Alex’s mouth and deepen the kiss. Somewhere along the way, Marissa managed to pin Alex between her body and the desk. A moment later, they break apart, their breathing ragged.

Marissa reluctantly opens her eyes, finding the other girl’s still shut. She brushes a strand of golden blonde hair off of the shorter girl’s face. Alex opens her eyes to an almost giddy grin on the taller girl.

“I’d have to say no…Not like friends at all,” Marissa smirks lightly, answering the blonde’s earlier question. She gives the shorter girl a quick peck on the lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow Alex,” she smiles warmly before exiting the office, leaving the blonde bar manager standing there, grinning like an idiot.

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So, if you think that it's going to get easier for Alex and Marissa after this, well...you'll just have to wait and see. It's no fun if it's easy ;)

Don't forget to let me know what you think because I'm a little self-conscious about the kiss at the end and I'm not sure if I'm happy with how it turned out.

Also, I have Chapter 5 of Taking A Chance up so don't forget to check that out too.