SILVER LINED DOUBT. [JESS MARIANO]

THIRTY-FIVE.

(hi friends! it has been an absurdly long amount of time. a lot of shit going down for me right now and real life's got me in a chokehold but it's whatever. so. i'm calling this one the phone call chapter because we've got about 3 calls throughout the course of it. so. it's excruciatingly dialogue-heavy. hope that's alright.)

(also. this happens to be more on the plot-heavy side, but somehow manages to be filler at the same time. i don't know how i did it. i'm a marvel to the art of writing. but yeah, this shit was so fuckin hard to write bro, which is part of the reason why it took so long to get this up. anyway. enough about me. let's get to the good part.)

(hope y'all enjoy this unedited piece of trash! love you all tons! -mags)

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THE DAY BEFORE Jess left for San Fransisco to go meet with their asshole writer client Calloway, Marley received a call from Oliver McCrae.

She was walking home from class, bitterly questioning why she hadn't pulled a Courtney and dreamed of going to school in a warm climate and had instead decided on Philadelphia of all places. It was below freezing outside and Marley had cocooned herself into her jacket, attempting to find some sort of warmth as the wind practically assaulted her. She quickly found that this was most definitely a lost cause, but that didn't stop her from trying. Though, it only got harder once her phone starting ringing in her pocket.

She struggled to get her phone from where it was stored, but managed to grab it just before it stopped ringing. Marley didn't have time to look at the contact before she flipped it open and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Marley," Oliver greeted. She recognized the calm voice immediately and a small smile came to her lips, knowing by the tone of his voice that he only had good news to give. "How are you?"

"Hey! I was gonna call you this week to follow up with you," she told him, stuffing her free hand in her pocket in hopes to warm it up a little. "But I'm good! How's everything with you?"

"Can't complain," he said. "Listen, I've got a super random question before we talk about what I actually called you for."

Marley paused. "Uh... okay? Shoot."

"How do you know Colin?"

The laugh that left Marley was completely involuntary and unexpected. A man she passed on the street stared at her strangely simply because of how loud it was. Out of everything Oliver could have asked, she hadn't been expecting that. She figured they'd talk about it at some point in time, but not now. She nearly groaned as she attempted to figure out the best way to explain how she knew his half-brother.