him names.
From the texts I’ve been receiving every five minutes, it’s not going well. You’d think he was off being tortured from the: “How do people enjoy this?” to “I hate all sports and wish they’d burn in hell.”
It’s rather funny that he’s at least trying to be friendly even if it’s going horribly.
“Can you pick me up from Orin’s then?”
“Of course. Do you need me to pick you up now?” he asks, almost pleadingly.
“No! I haven’t even left yet!” I say as I start walking.
“Well, I’d better stay on the phone with you until you’re there.”
I sigh. “You’re not staying on the phone with me that long. I’m a big boy.”
He grumbles again as I head across the street toward town. There’s a bus stop about ten minutes from our house where I’ll hop on a bus. “I really, truly hope you come back nicer. May I put in a request?”
“For what?” he growls.
“For niceness. Just come in and be all ‘Oh, my one true love, I had the most amazing time today with all my buddy pals.’”
“Buddy pals?” he asks, like it physically pains him to refer to DeGray as anything besides his coworker. The poor man is determined to be friendless for life. Good thing everyone still tries their hardest to befriend him.
My favorite part of it all is that he’s truly only sweet when dealing with me. “How many times have you threatened DeGray?” I ask as I reach the bus stop.
“I would never.”
“Please tell me the truth. How many?”
“Once.”
“Don’t lie.” He’s lying so hard right now. I’m not sure he can even keep a straight face with all the lies he’s spouting.
“I would never lie,” he growls. The poor man thinks I’m a fool.
“Tell me. If you tell me, I’ll let you snuggle with Hela.”
He sighs like that wasn’t a good suggestion.
“Fine, snuggle with me?”
“So… I might have grumbled at him for how cheerful he was.”
“Ah, good reason. Definitely. What’d he do?”
“Laughed harder.”
The thing is that I know Marcus so well that I can envision all of this and I can clearly see how DeGray will just laugh it off because he thinks it’s hilarious.
“And then?” I say as the bus turns the corner.
“He tried making me do this… cheer thing.”
“How heinous! How dare he make you do something so… horrifying. I’m so sorry you went through that! Are you okay?”
“Not really. I just sat there with my arms folded as they waved their arms around shouting stupidities.”
“To me, it sounds like you’re the life of the party.”
“I feel disgusted that I left you for this. I ruined hours of my life for this.”
“Oh no! Hours in your three-hundred-year life span,” I say as I get onto the bus.
My eyes are instantly drawn to a vampire sitting in the very back. His eyes catch mine and I question what made me notice him out of the rest. There are other vampires on the bus, but none of them stand out to me like he does. Maybe it’s the vibrant pink suit jacket he’s wearing. He does look vaguely familiar, though… but I can’t figure out why.
“What’s wrong?” Marcus asks as I slide into the first empty row I can find.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t ‘nothing’ me. Do I need to come home? Did something happen? Finn… I’m coming home!”
“Honest to god, it’s nothing, I was just getting on the bus and didn’t want to be blabbing away as I got on.”
“Hmmm… Do I need to save you?”
I start laughing as I question if that’s what this is. “No! You don’t need to leave the party because I got on a bus.”
“I don’t like you doing stuff like this alone. You should be with someone else.”
My grip tightens on the phone. It’s not that I’m annoyed at Marcus for thinking or saying this, it’s that I’m annoyed that I have to think about him. I’m annoyed that I can’t safely do whatever I please because, even though I try to live in the moment, I’m always looking behind my back to make sure he isn’t there waiting for me. And if he is… is there anything I can do? Is there anything Marcus could do?
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up,” Marcus says, mistaking my silence for me being upset with him.
“No, it’s fine,” I say. “It’s not that. I’m fine, Orin’s stop is only a few away.”
“Alright… dammit, DeGray is calling me.”
“Did you run away?”
“I might have!”
“Then answer to see what he needs! I’m fine.”
He grumbles something before