Chapter Eight of "Let Me Out"

The trip's beginning, for a morning, was really chatty. After stopping to get a couple bottles of water, the conversation sparked right up.

"So, you really like my parents, huh?" Cooper said in somewhat disbelief.

"Totally! They're like the like the polar opposites of my parents. It's too bad I'm too old for adoption," she joked.

"Yeah, and the fact that we're together. I think Virginia frowns upon brother-sister relationships."

"Ewww, yeah!" Marissa said, wishing he hadn't gone there. "So anyway," she continued, "I thought you had a sibling?"

"Oh yeah, a sister, Tabitha," he responded, "but she doesn't get up until the crack of noon usually. Had she been up this morning for you to meet, it wouldn't have been a pleasant first impression."

"Gotcha," she responded. "Maybe she and my brother should meet."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "Yeah, there's a match made in heaven..."

***

They talked more and more, about anything and everything, getting to know each other more, as they headed toward their destination.

At around twelve-thirty, they stopped at an Italian place for lunch. Both of them were tempted to stand and eat, due to sitting in the car so much, but they figured that'd look really weird. Alas, they sat and enjoyed their meal.

Once they were done, Marissa wiped her mouth and asked Cooper, "Would you like me to drive the rest of the way to New Jersey?"

"No, it's okay," he responded, "you just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"If you insist," she said.

They paid their check and were back on their way up north.

***

Marissa's trust of Cooper was really put to test. There was less calm conversation and more of Marissa yelling, "watch out" and "be careful," as Cooper navigated his way through the traffic of the north.

Cooper was used to the traffic, as he'd been through it plenty times before, so Marissa's freak outs weren't even irritating-they were just comical.

When they finally arrived at Teagan and Ramsey's place, Marissa dramatically threw herself out of the car and exclaimed, "Land!"

Cooper laughed at her. "Ladies and gentlemen... Tatiana del Toro."

"HEY!" Marissa objected. Tatiana was a former American Idol contestant who had the tendency to be a bit of a drama queen.

"Prettier and less insane, of course," Cooper said, coming around to her side of the car, helping her up from the sidewalk.

She stood up and brushed imaginary debris off her skirt. "Yeah, that's what I thought," she said to him, sticking out her tongue. "Well," she continued, "let's go! Time for you to meet Teagan and Ramsey. We'll get our stuff a little later."

"Sure thing!" he said.

She took his hand and they walked up the sidewalk to their house. When they got there, Marissa rang the doorbell.

Teagan appeared at the door and squealed with delight. "Riss!" she shrieked.

"Hey girl!" Marissa said, hugging her. "This is Cooper," she said, motioning toward her boyfriend.

"THE Cooper, eh?" Teagan kidded, shaking his hand. "It's so great to meet you! I've heard a lot about you!"

This time, it was Marissa's turn to be slightly embarrassed.

"Teagan, hello," Cooper responded, "it's good to meet you. Thank you for letting us stay this weekend."

"No problem! Come in, you two!" She stepped aside so that they could come in.

"Thanks!" Marissa said gratuitously.

"Ramsey's not here right now. He's at work, but he should be home in a couple of hours. Make yourselves at home!"

***

The rest of their night had been a good one. When Ramsey came home, the four of them had ordered out for Chinese food. Then they had played a game of Apples to Apples. Once that was all over, Marissa decided it was time to retire to bed.

Marissa had requested that they not sleep in the same bed, as they were definitely not in that level in their relationship. Luckily, Teagan and Ramsey had two guest rooms, side by side.

Half way through the night, Marissa got up to use the restroom. She heard Cooper talking from his guest room. She decided to go in and see what he was doing.

When she entered, he looked startled-like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Hey, I've, uh, gotta go," he said to whomever he was talking. "Okay, bye."

"Who was that?" Marissa asked, her hands on her hips. He was obviously up to something.

Cooper bit his lip. He was about to get into some serious trouble. "It was... Janet. She... called me about half an hour ago and wanted to talk."

"JANET Janet?" Marissa asked, trying not to raise her voice.

"Yeeeaaah," he responded.

"What the hell did she want?"

"To talk."

"About...?"

"Getting back together. She and Wesley are history and she said she missed me."

Marissa gave him a stoic stare. "And?" she asked.

"And what? I'm with you now. I told her that. Don't you trust me?"

She wanted to, but he had answered the phone to the girl that left him for one of his good friends and broken his heart. You don't do that if you don't still have feelings for someone.

She struggled with letting it go. After all, they had just gotten to New Jersey for the weekend. She wanted to attend the Yankees game. Besides, this was his first offense.

"Look," she said, "I trust you. Well, I want to trust you. It's just that you know how I've been hurt before. I really don't need that again."

He sighed. She really didn't need that again. "I'm sorry," he said. "You just know my soft heart. I don't like to know people are hurting and without closure or whatever, you know?"

"Some exceptions apply apparently," she responded.

"What?" he asked.

"You hurt me."

"I'm sorry..." he said.

"I know, I know," she sighed.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked, shooting her his best smile.

"I suppose so," she said to him. "I'm really tired, Coop. I need to go back to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

He blew her a kiss. "Goodnight darling."

"Yeah, goodnight, Coop."

Cooper sank down into the bed, feeling dejected. "What have I gotten myself into?" he wondered.

Back in bed, Marissa thought to herself. "I guess all good things must come to an end..."

With that final thought, she fell fast asleep.

***

The next morning, Marissa woke up at around nine. After she showered and got dressed, she went downstairs and the other three were already in the kitchen, eating breakfast.

"Good morning everyone," Marissa addressed them.

Teagan and Ramsey greeted her with "I'm not yet awake on a Saturday" salutations, and Cooper came over to give her a hug. He was feeling guilty about what had transpired just hours before.

"Good morning, sweetie," he said.

She hugged him back and gave him a quick kiss. She had been doing some thinking about them that morning, and even though he had betrayed her trust, she was willing to give him another chance. After all, he was usually a really dazzling guy.

***

Ramsey had to go to work, but Teagan had weekends off. She wasn't too proud of her town, but since she was from Philadelphia, she wanted to show them around there. So, they took the train down.

She showed them all the essential Philadelphia places-Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, South Street, the stairs from the movie Rocky, and they had eaten lunch at Pat's King of Steaks for lunch. Of course, Cooper and Teagan, the vegetarians, only ordered copious amounts of cheese fries. Cooper, being the government nerd that he was, recognized that one of the Senators was eating there, too.

It was a long, fun day, documented with lots of photographs, but they had to head back to Teagan's so that Marissa and Cooper could get ready for the Yankees game. So, the three of them took the train back to Teagan's.

***

None of them had much time to get ready, as the Yankees game started at seven and Teagan had to meet with her jewelry-making group at seven-thirty. It was five when they got back.

Luckily, there were two bathrooms and Marissa was a quick shower-taker. She took a quick hot shower and got dressed as Cooper took his. She got into a pair of longish khaki shorts and dark blue three-quarters sleeved shirt that had Rodriguez's name and jersey number on the back. It was a little warm outside, so she didn't want to wear too much makeup. She dabbed on some lip gloss and some blush and decided that was enough. She waited downstairs for Cooper to be done.

She messed around on her cell phone, texting Kacey while she waited. Teagan had already said goodbye to her, and told her where the spare key was hidden in case they made it back first. Marissa thanked her and told her to have a safe trip.

Finally, half an hour later, Cooper emerged downstairs, wearing jean shorts and a Matsui jersey along with his blue Yankees hat. Marissa hated to admit it, but he looked better than ever.

"Well hello, good-looking!" she said, expressing her appreciation.

Cooper beamed. "You look pretty incredible yourself," he said. He pulled her off the sofa and enveloped her in a huge hug.

Marissa was intoxicated. He looked good, he smelled good... damn it; he was good in general.

"Thanks baby," she responded. "Should we go?" she asked, glancing at the clock. It was a little after six. As if on cue, she saw a car pull up to the sidewalk outside.

The cab took them to the nearest train station, where they excitedly boarded the train to go to New York. Marissa was ecstatic. She'd never been on a train and had never been to New York. She was soaking it all... or trying to anyway.

Across from her and Cooper, were a group of girls in Red Sox gear, with loud, obnoxious accents, causing an awful ruckus. Not being able to ignore their bull shit, Marissa gathered that their names were Jackie, Kara, and Lacy. She didn't care too much for Jackie, Kara, and Lacy, but she was trying to ignore them. That is until they started talking about the upcoming game.

"We're going to kick some Yankee ass," Kara said excitedly.

"I hope we embarrass A-Rod especially. Used-up steroid junkie," Jackie piped in.

"And Jeter... what a waste of man," Lacy added.

At that point, Marissa had had enough. "Excuse me," she said, "first of all, the only asses that ever gets kicked are those of Red Sox players. Secondly, A-Rod was ballsy and 'fessed up. He doesn't use anymore AND he's a fucking amazing player. Lastly, if Jeter is such a waste of man, then what the fuck is Varitek? Did he draw that goddamn beard on with a fucking Sharpie? That's one ass I'd kick out of bed."

The girls looked a bit taken aback. However, Kara spoke up. "You from New York?"

"Nope, I'm sure not, " Marissa said.

"You got a mouth like you're from there. You seem bitter. Has it been a rough four years for you and your precious Yank-mes?"

Cooper laughed. "Yank-mes? Is that all you got?"

"Seriously," Marissa jumped back in, "you win two championships after an eighty-six year dry spell and YOU want to sound smug? Oh-kay!"

"We'll take our losses," Cooper said, "because we know that victory is always up ahead."

"Only because you buy your championships," Jackie announced.

"Sweetheart, if championships could be bought, we'd have a whole hell of a lot more than what we have now. Don't be hatin' just because we can afford the best, and all your raggedy asses have are hand-me-downs," Marissa snapped back.

"Damn," Cooper said, "that's my girl!"

"Well, we'll see who's crying after tonight's game," Lacy said with a scowl.

"Here's to eighty-six more years!" Marissa quipped, raising an invisible glass.

With that final slap in the face, the Red Sox fan girls shut up and sat in their seats, pouting. Cooper gave Marissa a high five. Life was good for Yankees fans.

***

Finally, the train came to a stop at the station near the stadium. They could see the crowds gathering to see the game of epic rivalry.

Marissa could barely contain herself. "I am so fucking stoked!" she shrieked, jumping up from her seat.

Cooper shook his head. As much as she was a trash-talking Yankees fanatic, she was still such a girl sometimes.

They got off the train and got out their already-purchased tickets. Marissa almost tore hers getting it out, because she was so hyper and excited.

They presented their tickets and went in. Marissa was in awe. "Yankee fucking Stadium," she thought to herself. She was so stoked to be there.

Even though they were concerned about being late, they were still there a bit early, so they decided to go browse the merchandise. Like either of them needed any more... each of them could easily be Yankees paraphernalia dealers.

Marissa bought herself an A-Rod jersey, which she immediately put on. She enjoyed being blanketed in two layers of A-Rod goodness.

Cooper furthered his collection of Yankees jerseys by purchasing one with Damon's name and jersey number. Marissa made a mental note to borrow that from him later. She didn't care if he used to be a dirty Red Sox player. He looked better in pinstripes.

After paying for their items and grabbing waters, they went to their seats. They were just in time, because as they sat down, it was announced that the national anthem was going to be sung. The two stood up again.

Once the anthem was over, the game began and it was a great one. Three Red Sox players got injured and the Yankees won, ten to two. Marissa had great fun cheering on her team and heckling the Red Sox with fellow fans. She felt like part of a community of people with good taste. And she had a damn good seat, too. She could practically spit on the Red Sox.

After the game, Cooper and Marissa stuck around, recounting how awesome the game was. They were two of the handful of people that were the last to leave.

Right before they turned to leave, Marissa caught a figure out the corner of her eye. A-Rod was coming out onto the field!

She fought back hyperventilating long enough to get up some bravery. She had dreamt about being within arm's length of him, but even in her dreams, she'd never met him.

"Mr. Rodriguez!" she yelled.

"Yo!" he yelled, running over.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she thought to herself. "He's coming over."

"Marissa..." Cooper said, also trying not to freak out, "pinch me."

"Why?" she asked, her heart racing.

"Because either A-Rod is coming over to talk to us or I'm dreaming."

Marissa pinched him... hard.

"Ouch!" he said.

"Hey guys!" he said, feet away from him. "Come on down." He motioned to the field.

Still in shock, the two walked down to the field in utter disbelief.

A-Rod shook their hands. "How you guys doing?" he asked.

"Amazing, especially for my first game!" Marissa admitted freely.

"It was a great game," Cooper said, trying to keep his cool.

"Thanks man," A-Rod responded.

"Mister... mister Rodriguez," Marissa managed to stammer.

"Alex," he interrupted with a wink.

Marissa giggled nervously. "Alex, may I please have your autograph?"

"Sure thing, sweet thing!" he said with another wink. "Hold on one second."

He sprinted over to the bull pen and back in the blink of an eye. He returned with two baseballs. He pulled out a pen. "Who should I make these out to?" he asked.

"Marissa and Cooper," she said. Cooper was being pretty quiet. He was pretty sure he was going wake up at any second.

He signed Marissa's and tossed it to her. "Good catch," he commented when she caught it.

She looked at his signature. "To Marissa-Love, Alex Rodriguez." She nearly died. Instead, she giggled. "Thanks Alex!"

"No problem, sweetie!"

He tossed Cooper his once he was done. "Dude, thanks so much."

"No problem at all!"

Marissa wasn't about to let him to go before documenting the fact that she had, indeed, met A-Rod.

"Alex... one more favor, please?"

"You bet, Marissa!"

"Can Coop and I get a picture with you?"

"Of course!" He looked around. He saw one of the guys on the cleanup crew. "Señor, un favor, por favor? " he called.

The man came over and A-Rod asked, "¿Quieres tomar una foto de nosotros?"

"Sí, no problemo," the man said, obviously unmoved by being in the presence of A-Rod.

Marissa took out her camera and handed it to him. "You push this button right here and wait for it to flash," she explained.

Marissa got on one side of A-Rod, and Cooper on the other. He put his arms around them. The cleanup man snapped two photos of them.

"Yo, Alex!" someone yelled in the distance.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" he called. "Well guys," he said to them, "I've gotta run!"

"It was such an honor to meet you," Cooper said reverently, finally finding his voice.

A-Rod smiled his magical smile. "Thanks man, good to meet you." He shook Cooper's hand.

"Marissa," he said, hugging her, "take care!"

"Thanks, Alex!" she said, "It was nice to meet you!" Boy, was that an understatement!

With one final wink and smile, he ran back from where he came.

Cooper and Marissa looked at each other.

"Holy fuck," Marissa said.

"Seriously!" Cooper exclaimed. "I can't believe that really just happened." He kept blinking in disbelief.

"Well anyway," Marissa said, "this has been a kickass day for sure, but we should probably head back to Teagan's."

"Alright, let's go!" he said, tossing his holy baseball up in the air then catching it.

***

Back at Teagan's, she and Ramsey were in the living room, each reading a book. They looked up when Cooper and Marissa came in, they both looked up.

"How was the game?" Ramsey asked. He wasn't big on baseball but he knew they were both looking forward to the game they'd went to.

"We won, ten to two. It was honestly the best I've been to," Cooper said.

"And for my first game, I'd say it was probably the best thing that's ever happened to me," Marissa chimed in.

"Yeah?" Teagan said, her interest piqued. "Why's that?"

Cooper and Marissa looked at each other and smiled. Then Marissa turned her eyes back to Teagan and Ramsey. "We... kind of got to meet A-Rod," she said with a huge grin on her face.

"Shut up!" Teagan said in disbelief. She was no Yankees fan but meeting a celebrity was meeting a celebrity, no matter who it was-unless it was someone like Sarah Palin or George W. Bush. "How did you pull that one off?"

"I have a big mouth," Marissa said simply.

"She saw A-Rod come out on the field after people had cleared out, and she yelled at him and he came over to us," Cooper said.

"I hope you got a picture!" Ramsey said, now also enthused.

Teagan looked at Marissa. "Oh, she got a picture. She documents everything. Haven't you seen her Facebook?"

Marissa grinned. She pulled her camera out of her purse. She'd already put a protection lock on the pictures that had been taken. There was no way in hell she was going to lose those. She showed Ramsey and Teagan.

"Well holy hell," Teagan said, "that's fantastic!" She added jokingly, "Who took the pictures? Jeter?"

Marissa laughed. "Had he been there, I would have gotten in on that action, too! But no, one of the cleanup guys took them."

"Did he give you guys an autograph, too?" Ramsey asked, pretty excited for them.

Marissa beamed. "Do you really think I'd let him get away without an autograph?" She pulled her ball out of her purse and showed it to him.

"Woah, I guess not!" Ramsey enthused.

"Cooper got one, as well!" Marissa said happily.

"Of course I did," Cooper responded. "Apparently Marissa can talk anyone into anything," he added, looking at Teagan and Ramsey.

"Yep, even A-Rod!" said Marissa happily. This time, she'd used her powers for good though.

***

The four of them talked a little more about the game and meeting A-Rod, then went to bed around one.

The next day, there hadn't been any plans made and Ramsey was off from work, so they bummed around for a while until Teagan came up with an idea.

"We should go to LBI," she said.

"What's LBI?" Cooper pondered aloud.

"Long Beach Island," Ramsey replied.

"Yeah," Marissa said, "they got married there and when I was at their wedding, I never wanted to leave the place. In fact, since it's not yet Memorial Day, it shouldn't be too crowded."

"Precisely," Teagan said. "Did either of you bring swim stuff?"

"You know me," Marissa said, "I pack everything when I go somewhere on a trip." She looked at Cooper and said matter-of-factly, "I told you so!"

"Well, I don't have any swim trunks with me," Cooper said, "but I can always pick up a pair."

"Sure," Teagan said. "So you guys wanna go?"

They all nodded and uttered their audible approval.

***

Within the hour, they had their things gathered and piled into two vehicles. They stopped at Target so Cooper could run in and get swim gear. He apparently wasn't picky, because he was out and in his swim trunks, carrying his non-swim shorts under his arm in about ten minutes.

Once he was back in the car, they signaled to Teagan and Ramsey that they were ready, so they could pull out first.

The trip to Long Beach Island was a little over an hour. Marissa hadn't minded it, because the view was just as pretty as she'd remembered from when she was at Teagan and Ramsey's wedding.

"Don't you just love it?" she asked Cooper, in awe.

"It's beautiful out here. It almost makes me ashamed to live in Virginia," he admitted.

Marissa was glad that someone agreed with her. Most of the time, when she recounted how much she loved New Jersey-or the north in general, people acted like she was crazy.

They finally arrived at a pretty empty public beach area. Once Cooper parked his Volvo, Marissa got out and took off her flip flops. She loved feeling the sand under her feet.

The four beachgoers gathered their things and headed to set up a spot in the sand. Once they were all set up, Marissa got out her sunscreen. She burned easily, so she wasn't willing to take any risks. She was proud to sport her SPF 50 instead of looking like a lobster.

She couldn't reach her back, so she called Cooper over. "Sweetie, could you get my back?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, taking the tube of lotion from her and brushing her hair off the back of her neck.

A shiver went down her spine and she giggled. "Sorry," she said, "ticklish."

Cooper laughed at her and rubbed sunscreen onto her back. When he was done, she thanked him and asked, "Do you bake easily, too?"

"I'm of English descent. What do you think?" he said.

"Dually noted," she responded, taking the tube back from him. "All right then, take off your shirt."

"How much are you gonna pay me?" he teased.

Marissa rolled her eyes and laughed as he took it off anyway. She had to admit that it was awkward putting lotion on his back, but she didn't want him to turn into a tomato. That and she had to admit, he looked good shirtless. This is something she'd never seen.

When she was done, he turned around and saw her smiling. "What?" he asked, feeling self conscious.

"Nothing," she said, feeling slightly embarrassed. She turned slightly red.

***

Their day at the beach had gone well. For late May, the water was still had a bit of a chill to it, but they had all gotten used to it within the first couple hours they were there. They did a lot of horsing around in the water, playing with a beach ball. They also had a picnic and collected sea shells. Despite a slightly chilly breeze, the day was perfect. It was a good ending to Cooper and Marissa's last full day in New Jersey.

Marissa slept on the way back to Teagan's, as swimming tended to make her sleepy. Cooper had a good mind to wake her up so he could talk to her so he could stay awake himself, but she looked so peaceful with her head against the window in his car, breathing easily.

When they got back to the house, Ramsey had suggested that he'd grill some vegetables (and chicken for the carnivores) quickly, and then they could hunker down and watch a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Marissa and Cooper immediately hopped on board, as they were both Tarantino fans. As physically nonviolent as they both were, they were still a fan of Tarantino's epic deaths. They weren't sure why, but they found them incredibly funny. It also fueled Cooper's creative fire for his murder noveling.

After reveling in the violence, the four of them all headed off to bed. Teagan and Ramsey had to be back at work the next day and Marissa and Cooper were headed back to Virginia. It had been a really exciting weekend for Cooper and Marissa. They didn't want to go back, but they figured they had to.