Odd One Out

Chapter Two - His Laugh

"Another, please!" I tapped at my empty glass of wine before a bartender rolled her eyes at me and refilled my cup. "Why, Connie, why?!" I asked desperately - and very loudly - while the wine sloshed out of my glass.

"Okay," Amanda asserted grabbing onto my glass and tearing it from my iron-clad grip slowly. "I think you've had enough for tonight."

"Don't you get on my bad side too." I slurred my words as I spoke. I was clearly very drunk.

"Well, no one's on your bad side, honey," Connie said lightly as she wiped a bit of wine that had dribbled down my chin due to my threat with a napkin.

I suddenly felt like crying, "Connie, you-" burp, "take care of me. I love you." I grabbed her cheeks in my hands and stared into her brown eyes to further make my point, squishing her perfectly round cheeks.

She laughed, "I love you, too, Mabel. I think it's time for us to go home."

"My home? Or your home? Or all of our homes? Because maybe we can all live together? I'm never going to marry Jackson now so we can all grow old together and buy cats and dogs and rabbits." I shuffled my way off the seat.

"Drunk Mabel is the worst one yet," Amanda muttered as she placed her hand on my waist to steady me as I wobbled.

"Don't sass me, woman!" I snubbed at one of the currently multiple images of Amanda.

The two girls managed to drag me to my apartment as I sat before my front door.

Connie whispered, "Where are your keys?" She bent down and started rummaging through my purse pulling the object out as she found it.

"Why are you whispering?" I giggled.

"Because it's late, so shush," Amanda placed her finger on her lips.

"But my neighbour is so chill and the other apartment has been for sale for so long so shushing me is not even necessary."

"How many keys do you have on this key chain?" Connie asked in frustration after a few attempts failed to open the door.

I frowned, "I never throw keys out. It's like little memories. How can I throw out little memories?"

"Also pretty illegal there, Mabel," Amanda retorted.

I groaned, "What difference does it make? I just saw my entire life flash before my eyes tonight. I'll never get together with him! Ever!" I shouted.

"Shush!" Both girls glared at me causing me to pout.

Suddenly the door next to mine creaked and Marcus stepped out in only pajama bottoms and nothing else.

"Oh my God, would you keep it down?" He asked in annoyance.

I scoffed, "Us keep it down? I hear you all the time, buddy."

He raised an eyebrow at me in confusion, "Sorry?"

"All the time. I mean I guess that means you're good at what you do, I could be wrong though since I don't have much experience in the area and thanks to today, I never will ever again. Are you happy, Marcus?" I said his name as though it was a bad word.

"Shush!" Connie and Amanda rebuked as they finally got the door open. Took them long enough.

Marcus just stood there, his arms crossed over his broad chest, a corner of his mouth curled upwards. "You're listening then?"

They helped me up off the floor and I shot him a glare, "Why would I listen to your train wreck adventures?"

His smile tugged a little further up, "You're listening," he affirmed.

"Was not," I shot back before Amanda shoved me into my apartment, shouted a 'sorry' to Marcus and locked the door. She gave me a harsh stare, "Bed. Now."

~~~~

The next morning, I awoke with a major hangover. My head was splitting and I felt like I was going to puke at any moment. I made my way out of bed in search from some extra strength Tylenol.

I found the little red pills and washed them down with cool water, quenching my burning throat. As I placed my glass on the table, little bits of the day before started to filter into my head... telling Jackson I loved him. How would I move past that?

A knock sounded at my door and I wobbled over to it, unsure of where the wobble came from. Maybe my foot was asleep. Maybe I was developing a muscular disease.

I opened the door and Marcus's body came into view. He towered over me, his black t-shirt and jeans barely maintaining the pure muscle that seemed to be trying to escape from his clothing.

"Morning," he grinned at me, his hands behind his back.

I looked at him suspiciously, "Morning?"

We waited for a moment, the quiet was extremely awkward. "You don't invite guests in?" He asked, raising a brow.

"When they're invited," I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I had been here for a month and had never had a conversation with the man. I wasn't about to let him in when I was in my unattractive pjs.

He drew his arms forward from behind his back. Clutched in his large hands was a brown bag with the words 'best bagels' on it and a small tray with two coffee cups sitting in it.

I opened the door, "You're invited," I conceded as I walked into my small apartment and flopped onto my couch, holding my hand out for my cup of coffee.

He placed the supplies onto my living room table before tugging a cup out of the tray and handing it over to me. Marcus then plopped next to me, leaving an arm's width between us.

"Everything or cheddar?" He asked as he held the bagel bag in the air.

"Cheddar," I decided.

He passed me the bagel and as I was too lazy to dress it, I just took a large bite of the soft, fluffy dough. He shrugged and did the same with his.

"So why are you here?" I asked through a mouthful of food.

"I figured you needed a pick me up after yesterday. I never even knew this apartment was rented out."

"Yeah," I scoffed, "You make enough noise for the two of us."

His eyes lit up, "Ah, so you were listening."

"It's hard not to when all I hear is moaning."

"So you heard all the satisfied women leaving my apartment," he stated as more a fact than an opinion.

I snorted in response, "You know the amount of fights I've heard from your apartment? Whatever skill you have in bed is totally lost on the ways of wooing a woman."

"Maybe I'm not interested in wooing anyone," he responded taking a sip of his coffee.

"Maybe if you did you wouldn't have so many broken mugs."

He sighed dejectedly, "This is true. Why do you think I needed takeout coffee? I'm down to my last mug." He eyed me up and down in a way that made me sit a little straighter. "So what brought you home drunk and irritated last night?"

My eyes narrowed, "Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged, "Just curious."

"There's this guy that I'm really into and I was going to go up and introduce myself yesterday like a normal human would interact with any another person. But I couldn't do that. Because I can't ever do that. I got up and told the guy that I loved him."

Marcus winced, "Ouch."

"If only I possessed the alter mind," I mused mostly to myself.

"Huh?"

"Star Wars? Jedi mind trick? Used to have someone do something based on your suggestions?" Who didn't watch Star Wars?

"You're kind of coming off a huge nerd here... what is your name anyway?"

"Mabel."

"Oh God, even your name is dorky!"

I plucked a chunk off my bagel and threw it at him as he laughed. And I noticed that he had a wonderful laugh.