Marcus & Mia

by Hannah Meade

  My heart skips a beat. I find it incredibly sweet that he cares so much for his grandmother and her business. It makes me want to know him just a little bit more and what else he is sentimental about.

  We finish off the food and I lean back in my chair in content. “That was amazing. I do not understand how I never knew about this place.”

  Marcus smiles. “I would say this was successful, wouldn’t you?”

  I return the warm smile. “I would definitely agree. You know, I did have my reservations this morning. I wondered why I had agreed to go out with a complete stranger while I was drunk off my ass.”

  “I guess I am just that irresistible to you, even while intoxicated. It was honestly pure luck that I was even at that party last night. I had planned to order a pizza all for myself while my roommates were out, but long story short they convinced me that I never party with them so I should take pity on them.”

  I chuckle since our situations were very similar. “My roommate also gave me the guilt treatment and when I made myself get up and go, she had already left. That is why I started drinking in the first place. I was upset she left, and I went a little too far.”

  Snapshots of last night pop up in my brain. Me dancing on the table with multiple other people, bobbing along to the music. Me chugging my fifth and most definitely not the last bottle of beer. Me throwing up in the bathroom in-between shots. I shudder at the memory.

  “You looked insanely out of it and I guess my protective side came through. You were beautiful, too, so it was not hard to make the decision to rescue you.”

  I feel my cheeks get warm at the thought of him caring enough to make sure I was safe. I am not used to someone caring about me. This is all new territory.

  Marcus’s grandma comes back then with our check. I reach out my hand to grab it from her, but Marcus beats me to it. “I would not be a proper gentleman if I let you pay for the date.”

  I roll my eyes. “You do not have to, but thank you, Marcus.”

  We finish up in silence and he holds open the door for me as we walk out. We are parked in different directions, so I stand there awkwardly while he holds open the door for a few incoming customers.

  I am racking my brain for a proper goodbye. Is he going to kiss me and save me from stumbling over my words or are we just going to have a hug and a ‘see-you-later’?

  As the last few people walk in, Marcus lets the door shut behind them and turns to look at me. He smiles. “I had a really great time with you, Mia.”

  “I did too.” Seriously, is that all you are going to say? You left him no room to respond.

  I look around and gesture towards my car in the distance. “Well, I guess I should be going.”

  I turn around and suddenly, Marcus is standing a few inches in front of me. “Can I kiss you?” he asks.

  I nod, unable to form a word. I glance down at his lips and part mine a little.

  He leans in an inch and I suck in a breath.

  I close my eyes and wait for the moment of impact.

  Our lips touch and it took my breath away, literally. It felt like he was stealing my breath while our lips were attached.

  His hands reach up and softly cup my head. His fingertips snake through my hair and pull my head closer to his.

  I rest my hands on his arms, going along with his movements. The intensity increases and I am hyperaware that this could lead to something more if I do not stop it. Also, we are in front of a restaurant packed full of people.

  Without wanting to, I gently pull back until he unlocks his lips from mine. I open my eyes and meet his, our breathing heavy.

  I close my lips together and lick them, all while staring into his eyes.

  He grins. “If you keep doing that, I am going to want to kiss you again.”

  “Now that is a dangerous thing. We do not want to go too far before our second date.” I wink.

  He laces his fingers with mine and kisses my knuckles before letting go completely. “Until next time, Mia.”

  I nod back at him, a wide smile on my face. “Until next time.” I turn around first and start walking towards my car. I resist the urge to jump up and down like I am 12 years old again getting her first kiss, because that is exactly what it felt like. No matter how many kisses I have had in my lifetime, that one was by far the best.

  I turn around once I have reached my car and see Marcus still staring after me. I reach into my pocket and send him a text: Stop staring after me, creep.

  I watch as he pulls up my text and chuckles. He sends a reply back and turns around.

  My phone vibrates with his response: Get used to it, gorgeous. I cannot take my eyes off of you.

  Marcus Williams, you will be the death of me.

  Four

  Emily is freaking out when I get back to the house. I left her way too long without answers. When I step even a foot through the door, she is at my throat asking me all kinds of questions about my date.

  "So, what is his name? Did he take you to a nice place? How was the food? Did you have a good time? Tell me everything. You promised."

  "Em, slow down. Can I at least sit down and get comfy first? I still have a splitting headache, thank you." I push past her and grab some Tylenol. If I am going to survive this interrogation, I need this headache to go the fuck away.

  I look back at Emily and she is tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. I just look at her.

  She sighs. "Mia, hurry the fuck up, would you?"

  I laugh. Boy, it is fun pushing her buttons. "Chill. Wait for me in the living room."

  She rolls her eyes at me, but surprisingly, follows my orders.

  I take a deep breath and shrug off my jacket. This is going to be a long morning. I sigh and walk into the living room, knowing I cannot put this off any longer.

  Emily sees me walk in and sits up right away. "Now can you tell me everything?" At least she is not yelling at me anymore. We are making progress.

  I sit down and relax into the couch, trying to calm the rush of butterflies that are still fluttering in my stomach. “First off, his name is Marcus. He took me to his grandmother’s café and we gorged ourselves on muffins and donuts that are to die for. Emily, seriously, we have to go there. I bit into her food and it was like an orgasm in my mouth.”

  Emily’s eyes widen. She loves food, probably even more than me. “We will come back to that later, tell me about Marcus.”

  “Well, he is going to NYU too. He is twenty years old and he loves hiking. That is really all we talked about besides the fact that we both did not plan on being at that party last night.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I give her a look. “You know why I almost did not go, and he was also planning on staying in and ordering a pizza for the night. We are both homebodies and I am thankful I went out with him compared to the guy sipping alcohol off my stomach.”

  Emily bursts out laughing. “I cannot believe I missed that, but I am so happy that you actually met someone. Is there going to be a second date?”

  I shrug. “Our date went really well and he said ‘until next time’ when we left so I think so?”

  She shrieks, sounding like a hyena. “Mia, that is wonderful. Now, we need some ice cream, hot chocolate, and the telephone. We are going to enjoy the wait until he calls." She smiles and springs up from the couch.

  “Do you really think he will call tonight? And hot chocolate? It is summer, Em. We should be having smoothies or lemonade or something cold."

  “If you had as much as fun as you made it seem, he is definitely going to call you tonight. Plus, if I did anything normal, I would not be me. We are having hot chocolate and you cannot change my mind. Besides, I hate lemonade. Too sour for my taste."

  I crinkle my nose. "How could you hate lemonade? And how could I not have known this before?" We tell each other everything, but that has never come up.

  "You have never asked." She shrugs as she comes back with the ice cream. "Water is in the microwave."
r />   I take the ice cream. "Thanks. Movie?"

  "Sure. What movie?" Emily grabs the remote and turns on our Netflix. It is probably one of the best things I have ever bought. I watch it twenty-four-seven. Except, of course, when I am writing my book.

  I think about our movie choice. Horror? Definitely not. Comedy? Eh. Disney? Maybe. Romance? Yep. "How about we watch The Notebook?"

  Emily looks back at me and gives me a weird look. "You want to watch The Notebook? Are you sick? I have been trying to get you to watch that for years."

  "Did you know they are making The Notebook 2?" I heard that the other day, and I was strangely excited. They are filming in a town an hour away from here.

  Her eyes widen. "How in the hell do you know that?"

  I shrug. "I saw it on Facebook the other day."

  "You do not get on Facebook." She puts her hands on her hips and looks at me like I am lying.

  "Yes, I do. I just do not post twenty-four-seven on there like you do. I prefer looking at the statuses of people who have no lives and think they need to tell everyone about everything." I hope she knows I am talking about her.

  She does. She glares at me. "Ha-ha. You are not funny. I just like to let people know where I am at all times. You never know when I could get abducted and people need to know where I last was. So really, I am saving my own life here."

  I roll my eyes at her. "Is that really going to be your justification for your obsession?"

  The microwave beeps so Emily has to leave the room, but that does not stop her from continuing to argue with me. "It is not an obsession. It is a lifesaving technique. And I do not have to get you hot chocolate, you know."

  "I did not ask for it."

  "Why do you have to be so difficult? Just let me win once."

  I laugh. Emily has no idea who she is up against. I do not lose arguments.

  She comes back a few moments later with two glasses of steaming hot, hot chocolate and multiple mini marshmallows on top. She even put it in our special hot chocolate glasses, which were just two clear glasses with the words "Hot Chocolate Makes Me Happy" on them.

  "Thanks, Em. I did not think I would get any."

  She ignores me and turns on the movie.

  It is not actually that bad of a movie. It is kind of cute, in a predictable way. Two young teenagers meet each other at the carnival and fall in love. The girl's family hates the boy, but they still try to see each other. The girl moves away for school and eventually they see each other again after she comes back.. They get together in the end, because they were always meant for each other. Romantic for sure. Realistic? More than likely no.

  By the end of the movie, Emily is done being mad at me. "So. What did you think? It was amazing, right?"

  I am not about to give her the satisfaction of being right. "It was okay." I get up to put my dishes away and let her stare after me in shock.

  "JUST OKAY? Are you kidding me? The Notebook is one of the best romance movies ever made, hands down. You are not allowed to say it was just okay. Get back here right now and apologize."

  I come back out and raise my eyebrows at her. "Apologize? Are you serious? Why does it matter what adjective I use to talk about this movie?"

  She throws her hands up in the air out of frustration. "Because you do not just call an amazing, heartfelt, romantic movie just okay. That is like an insult in the movie business. Think of another word."

  Luckily, the phone saves me from stupidly apologizing for a movie. I pick it up, wondering who is calling at this hour. It is 11 o'clock at night. "Hello?"

  "Hey, Mia, it is Marcus."

  I freeze. He actually called. He actually called the same day we went out. Does he like me? Only one way to find out.

  "Oh, hey, Marcus." I look over at Emily, who is beaming like an idiot and watching me intently. I realize I will get absolutely no privacy by staying in this room, so I run upstairs to my room before Emily can follow. I lock the door and sit down on my bed, waiting for Marcus to reply.

  “So, I was thinking,” he states.

  “What were you thinking about?” Oh, no. He is going to say he regrets our kiss. We are breaking up already and we barely dated.

  “I was thinking about our second date.”

  My whole body relaxes. What a relief. “So, there is going to be a second date?”

  “Oh, most definitely. That is, as long as you enjoyed my company enough to go out with me again.”

  I smile. “I was impressed with you the minute I saw that you were still waiting for me after I came late to our date.”

  He chuckles. “I have to admit, I thought about leaving. You showed all the signs of just blowing me off, but I figured I would give you one more chance and not assume what kind of person you are.”

  I cannot help but think about all of the lucky things that have had to happen for us to meet. We had a chance encounter at the party where he simply saw me from across the room and swept me off my feet. Then, I am very late to my date because I had gotten pulled over. And yet, he still chose to believe in me and wait for me to explain. God must really be looking out for me lately.

  I hear him clear his throat and I snap back into reality. “Anyway, I think it is only fair that you get to choose our next date. I set everything up and I pretty much chose what we ate. So now, I will allow you to put me through whatever you want.”

  “I thought it was the gentleman thing to do to choose for me?”

  “No, I think that is called us living in the 20th century. Do not get me wrong, I will treat you like a princess no matter who choose the date, but I would never choose getting pedicures as a date. If that is what you want to expose me to because it is something you would do on a regular basis, I want to be apart of it. I want to know you, Mia. I believe that both people in a relationship should get a say for each date.”

  I pause. I did not expect him to say all of that. Marcus really is the perfect man and truthfully, I am scared. No one is that nice or generous. He has to have a tick that I am annoyed by, or something that knocks him down a notch on the perfect scale.

  “Mia?”

  It is then that I realize I have zoned out twice now in our conversation and maybe I should get some sleep. “I am so sorry. I absolutely agree with you and I think you will like what I have in mind for our second date.”

  “And what would that be?”

  I smile to myself, knowing he will be annoyed with what I say next. “It is a surprise.”

  Marcus groans. “I should have known you would do this to me.”

  I chuckle. “You will like it, I promise. If not, you do not ever have to let me pick the date activity again.”

  “Anything you pick, I am sure I will enjoy. For some reason, I feel like I can trust you already.”

  “Do not be too trustworthy or I might actually take you to get pedicures with me.”

  He laughs lightly. “I will take that chance.”

  “I am glad you made it home okay.”

  “You too, Mia. Can I ask you a serious question?”

  My pulse speeds up. I have no idea what he is going to ask. “Yeah, go ahead.”

  “What do you watch on Netflix?”

  I try not to laugh. If this is his idea of a serious question, I am ready for anything he asks. “It depends what kind of a mood I am in. Grey’s Anatomy is a good option for any emotion. I recently watched the entirety of Gossip Girl because I was in a good, fun mood. 13 reasons why make me re-think my life and I only watch it when I am in a dark and serious mood.”

  He goes silent.

  He thinks I am a freak. “I promise I am a normal human being. Netflix takes up 75% of my time so I have no choice but to be invested.”

  Before I finish my sentence, Marcus had starting chuckling. “You mistook my silence for judgement. I was just processing what you said. You talk very deeply about certain things and it leaves me in awe of how your brain works.”

  “You act like you know me. We have only had one date, Marcus. All w
e know about each other is where we go to school and that we both like to eat.”

  “That is the thing, though, Mia. We have only had one date, but I feel like I have known you forever. It may ridiculous, but that is how I feel, and I love talking to you.”

  I cannot remember the last time a guy made me feel this good. “I like talking to you too, but I think it is time for me to go to bed. I have had no time to recover from last night.”

  He laughs. “I understand. You will call me with the details of our second date I presume?”

  “I will give you the time and date that I will be picking you up and that is all you get.”

  “Damn. I guess I will have to live with that. Goodnight, Mia.”

  “Goodnight, Marcus.” I hang up and hold the phone close to my chest. I cannot hold back my smile and I know Emily is going to give me shit once I walk out of my room.

  As soon as I step out into the hallway, Emily is standing there with a huge smile on her face.

  “So not that I heard any of that, but please tell me your surprise for Marcus.”

  “And how can I trust that you would not find out his number and tell him yourself?”

  She holds her hand up to her chest like she is offended. “I am your best friend, why would I betray you like that?”

  I laugh. “You will know what I have planned when Marcus knows. Do not worry, though, I want to do this on Saturday.”

  Emily’s eyes light up and she claps her hands together excitedly. “You have no idea how happy I am that you finally have a guy and he sounds perfect.”

  I give her a weird look. “Calm down, Em. You sound happier than I am. He might start to think you are dating him too.”

  She grins. "He dates you; he dates me. See you in the morning, Mia. Do not dream about Marcus too much."