PREVIOUSLY ON SUNRISE BAY...

*Cassie was locked up after attacking Annie and Keith. Carl was furious with Keith for putting his daughter into the state of mind to do this.

*In the presence of Creg, Nicole accepted a date from Brice.

*Todd was shocked when he woke up and realized he had slept with Gabi. Luke came over and yelled at him for lying about them having an affair. Not wanting to have Luke think he lied, he admitted to Gabi that he didn't remember their night of passion. An emotionally distraught Gabi stormed out of his house while Todd ran after her.

***************************************************************************

SUNRISE BAY POLICE STATION—CELL ROOM

Blood is everywhere. She can’t escape it. Was she destined for a world of red? Her pulse is racing. Drip. Drip. The blood is now dripping from every imaginable direction. She let’s out a horrific scream in response to it all. Just then, she sees the body lying at her feet. Suddenly there is someone calling her name--"Cassie! Cassie! —"

It’s her father. She was only dreaming. She realizes that she isn’t lying in her cozy room with the walls painted a cheery shade of blue. Instead, she is surrounded by metal bars of a dull gray color. The events of last night come rushing back at her like a speeding bullet. Cassie realizes she now hates the world--particularly Keith Hetricke and Annie Lansing. The bloody nightmare’s residue lingers within her body as she rises from the stiff and uncomfortable bed. For a moment, she has to consider why she is yet again experiencing this eerie nightmare.

"Cassie, I’m here to pick you up. Your mother is out in the car waiting." Carl wears a neutral expression. "Your mother has a big meal prepared in honor of Melissa’s return and Tom waking from his coma. We better get back before everything gets cold."

She nods her head. Cassie tries her hardest to feel the joy that everything is alright with Tom and Melissa. She’d be extremely selfish not to. However, she knows that things will never feel right from here on out. Especially without Keith there to guide her through it.

Cassie watches as a police officer unlocks her jail cell, Keith’s with Annie. He left me for that bitch. I can’t believe he left me for that red-headed bitch!

Carl worriedly views his daughter’s blank expression. His fists clench at the thought of Keith Hetricke being the sole source for Cassie’s woe. I swear he won’t go near her again. If it’s the last damn thing I make sure of...

SHIRLEY’S BAR AND GRILLE

The small diner has an average amount of patrons as noon greets the town of Sunrise Bay. Annie and Nicole are sitting at a small table near a row of landscape paintings. Annie has just finished relaying the story of how Cassie flipped out at The Seaside Café. Nicole, with her new hairstyle, wears an enamored expression as Annie concludes the events of the hectic night.

Nicole gives Annie a shocked expression as she slowly puts the hot cup of coffee up to her lips. "I can’t believe she would physically attack you guys like that!"

"I told you that Cassie was a psycho." Annie states matter-of-factly before putting her final french fry in her mouth. "If that story doesn’t convince someone I don’t know what will."

Nicole shakes her head, "I feel awful for her though. She always seems to be getting the short end of the stick. Annie, she loves Keith so much. I know I don’t really know her at all but I’ve seen her interact with Keith. I can’t believe you and him were messing around behind her back."

Annie rolls her eyes and doesn’t respond. Something catches her eyes over Nicole’s shoulder, "Finally, there’s our waitress. She sure took her time..."

A flustered Lacey Ulrich makes her way to the women’s table. She is carrying a cup of Sprite. "I’m sorry it took so long. I got a real important phone call."

Annie takes the refill from her hands. "Well, I guess I can forgive you this time."

"Oh thanks." Lacey states in a flat tone. She knows that if she wants to get better tips today she should be more friendly. However, the phone call she received has added to the burden of the bad mood she woke up with. She tries to bury it and switch to waitress mode, "Anything else I can get you two?"

Annie takes the dessert menu from the middle of the table, "I will know what I want as soon as I go through this. Come back in about five minutes and I should be ready."

Lacey forces a smile. "Alright, five minutes it is." With that, she walks over to a table on the other side of the restaurant.

Annie intently looks over the array of desserts on the menu while talking with Nicole: "So, have you had any more interactions with Brice Jackson? Anything come of that yet?"

A wide grin forms on Nicole’s face. "Yes, actually. I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!"

Annie quickly looks Nicole straight in the eyes with a curious expression, "What happened!?"

"We scheduled a date. He’s going to pick me up at six tonight! I’m so excited, Annie. I really really like him." She puts her elbows upon the table and clasps her hands together. Her mind quickly relives the interaction with Brice and Creg earlier. Minus Creg being there trying to cause trouble, it was an enjoyable interaction.

"Wow. I’m so happy for you! However, he better be nothing like Creg. I’d give anything to castrate that man..." Annie says in a serious tone.

Nicole then burst into a loud giggle. A few heads turn her way to see what the raucous is about. Nicole realizes this and feels her face turn red. She quiets her tone, "Annie, you make me laugh. A little too much sometimes..."

Annie grins, "Well I wasn’t joking. That idiot needs neutered. I can’t believe you fell for his charms. I hope that Brice isn’t the same way. This is why I really need to meet Brice. He has to get the Annie Lansing seal of approval!"

"Oh, I can’t forget the seal of approval. I don’t know how I would function without it!" smiles Nicole as she finishes her coffee. Her thoughts are more pleading within her mind, however, Please! Please! Let things work out right with Brice...

TODD’S PLACE

Luke sees a picture on the fridge that he never noticed before. It is of Annie and Todd. In it, the two siblings are smiling real big for the camera as they each have their arms around each other. He lets out a smile and finds himself gazing at Todd’s face in the picture. After what seems to be a minute, he quickly goes about grabbing the broom and heading towards the living room to sweep up the mess.

His attention is quickly diverted as the door swings open. Todd enters. Immediately, their two eyes meet. For some reason, neither of them breaks the gaze.

After a bit, Luke then quickly focuses his attention back on the broom that is in his hand. He clears his throat, "Back so soon? Did you already drive Gabi home?"

Todd’s face is a shade of red as he scolds himself for staring at Luke for so long. He quickly dispels the "illusion" that Luke was staring at him just as much. He finally answers Luke’s question--"I was too late, she already spun off too quickly. I can’t believe what I’ve got myself into. Luke, I really want you to believe me that I don’t remember a damn thing about what happened with me and Gabi. I was too drunk. Please believe me." Just as this sentence is out in the open he begins to question himself as to why he wants Luke to believe him so badly.

Luke studies Todd’s face for a moment and then quickly looks down. What has gotten into you, Luke? Stop looking at him so much. He continues sweeping the glass from the picture into a pile. "Todd, don’t worry. I believe you. I do admit that I was pretty pissed off to spot you two through the window. You swore to me on the beach that you weren’t having an affair and I thought you outright lied to me."

"We weren’t having an affair. I just got way too drunk and I obviously lost control of the whole situation." Todd scurries over to Luke and reaches his hand out. "Give me the broom. You shouldn’t be cleaning up this mess. You played no part in it."

"Hey, it’s no big deal." Shrugs Luke as he continues the sweeping of the broken shards of glass.

Todd reaches his hand out again and this time brushes Luke’s right arm when he does it. It sends a thrill through Todd’s body and he quickly pulls his hand back. He swears that Luke reacted in the same way but dispels it as another one of his imagined illusions. "Well, if you want to sweep it so badly then be my guest." Todd speaks up as he heads into the other direction.

He swallows hard with his back turned to Luke. Todd glances at Luke quickly from the corner of his eye as he heads towards his fridge. He decides to make an omelet to cure his hunger, and to distract him from looking at Luke.

"Are you going to make another one of your kick-ass omelets you made that one day Annie and I spent the night?" questions Luke as he bends down to sweep up the pile into a dust pan.

"You read my mind. I’m pretty damn hungry. So would you like one?"

"Yeah, I’m starving. I hope it’s not too much of a bother."

"Of course it isn’t." Todd replies as he places his carton of eggs on the kitchen counter. You can’t get a crush on Luke, Todd. Stop it! He went out with your sister. What’s the point of having a crush on him? His internal dialogue runs amuck as he goes through the fridge and his cupboards for the rest of the ingredients for an omelet. However, he can’t help but steal a glance every now and then of Luke who is in the neighboring room.

JACKSON MANSION, UPSTAIRS

I recognize that voice. It’s Gabi. Thinks Creg as he makes his way through the halls. He then realizes that Gabi is crying. He now wears a smile. You won’t be seeing me crying over you. I can’t believe I didn’t get rid of you a long time ago.

He places his ear against the door of the room that he hears Gabi’s sobbing coming from. He realizes she is pouring out her emotions to her mother…

INSIDE THE ROOM…

"Honey, come here." Barbara opens her arms wide and signals for her daughter to lean in close. "We have some privacy in here. Now you can tell me what happened."

Gabi wipes her watery eyes and quickly relives the night that she spent with Todd. She looks her mother in the eyes and says, "Do you remember when you were questioning me if maybe my feelings run much deeper than I thought with Todd?"

"Yes. We were at the mall when we talked about that."

Gabi crosses her arms and then continues. "Well, I couldn’t help but think long and hard after you said that. You were right, mom. I’m completely in love with him."

"Oh, honey. Did you have a talk with him about it?" Barbara is sincere. As she says it, she makes her way toward a large oak desk and has a seat.

"That’s why I’m so upset, mother! I went to his house last night after I broke up with Creg because I was so damn upset. He was so sweet and he held me when I was crying." She smiles slightly as she recalls that tight embrace with him.

"Well? What else happened between the two of you?"

Gabi once again wipes her eyes. She then finds a seat in a comfortable blue recliner that leans against the wall behind her. "Mom. We ended up having sex!"

Barbara is shocked. "You two had sex? So why in the hell would you be acting so damn upset like this? Isn’t this what you wanted?"

Suddenly Gabi finds a fresh amount of tears flowing. "I was happier than ever. I finally thought that Todd quit lying about his feelings for me. It was wonderful. I was finally getting what I wanted after having these feelings for him after him for all of these years but…"

"But what?"

"But he didn’t even remember a fucking thing this morning! In fact, when Luke came over mad about spotting us together, he admitted to being completely drunk. I could see a look of complete regret in his eyes. This made me fall to pieces. I went running out of his house and ended up here. Mom, what am I going to do? It’s now obvious that he doesn’t want me as more than a friend."

Barbara takes a moment to process all of the events of last night and this morning in her daughter’s life. She realizes she is at a complete loss at what to say. However, she still finds herself speaking up: "Gabi, I truly don’t know what to tell you. Obviously, Todd was drunk and didn’t remember anything. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t return the feelings as well. Maybe it’s such a shock to him to learn that he slept with you and doesn’t remember it. You need to go back and talk to him. I bet you anything that he was lying because Luke was there. Luke is Creg’s brother you know. And on a side note, I didn’t know that Luke and Todd were friends."

"Yeah, I guess they’ve been getting buddy-buddy lately." says Gabi before pausing to consider her mom’s advice. She begins to shake her head. "No, I just need to face the facts. Todd never wants to be more than a friend. I can’t believe I managed to fall completely in love with someone who doesn’t return the feelings. This is awful." She gets teary-eyed just thinking about the cold truth. "Creg was such an asshole and never returned any kind of true feeling back to me. I let him drain the life out of me and use me for sex. That’s all Creg and I were--sex objects for each other. In Todd, I found everything I wanted in a man: Sense of humor, sexiness, and true emotion. He is so perfect!"

"Oh, stop it! This is not you, Gabi. What happened to my feisty daughter who never took bullshit from anyone? Now I want you to go back to Todd’s place and tell him like it is. If you don’t, I will. I hate seeing you so upset like this." Barbara then begins to rummage through the drawers on the desk as she wears a flustered expression. She is in desperate need of a stapler. "Do you think I gave up at the first sign of resistance from Gary? Hell no! I kept on at it until he couldn’t deny his attraction toward me any longer! Now look at me—I’m the future Mrs. Jackson!" Her face is adorned with a prideful grin

Gabi absorbs her words. Mother’s right. Todd isn’t getting off so damn easy. "You are right, Mother. I need to have a serious talk with Todd right now!" With that, she grabs her purse and leaves the room.

"Go get your man." says Barbara under her breath. She then finds the stapler that she was searching for and slowly exits from the room.

MEANWHILE IN CREG’S ROOM…

Creg Jackson slams the door to his bedroom. He sighs and then recaps everything he overheard Gabi say.

He begins to pace as he runs the situation through his calculative mind. Hopefully last night did the trick. However, I never can be too sure. I guess I’ll have to make sure I take all the right action. Gabi is going to be placed in a predicament that she will have to deal with the rest of her life. Man, I can’t wait to see her emotionally suffer! It’s going to be so damn amusing!

Creg quickly makes his way over to his desk drawer and pulls out a yellow envelope that contains all the information Detective Barnes dug up about Todd.

He rereads it with an amused grin, "I can’t believe Gabi is in love with a fucking gay guy. That is just too funny for words. I bet that fairy is so damn confused today after sleeping with a woman."

He smiles and places the envelope down on the desk. He reaches farther into the drawer and pulls out a tiny bottle of a drug that is a clear liquid.

"I’ll keep this in handy just in case I need to use it again. Hopefully, Gabi is already pregnant and there is no need to..." He turns the bottle within his palms a couple times before slipping it into his pocket. Returning the envelope back to its designated spot, he closes the drawer.

THAT CONCLUDES THIS EPISODE OF SUNRISE BAY!

NEXT EPISODE