𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙁 | Marcus White

Wellness Fair

"Yeah, it's pretty bad." Amy coughed into the phone, stifling talk that was shared between you and Emma as she cupped her hand around her phone to muffle the sound.

It wasn't as though she'd chosen the quietist place to make the call; the four of you stood outside of the movie theatre and waiting for your showing of Lego Batman to begin, bustling crowds moving quickly around you. You tucked yourself deeper under Marcus's arm as the wind blew, a scarf wrapped tightly around you and his jacket adorned on your shoulders.

Thankfully, he had taken your word to heed and took it home with him; it disappeared from your possession when you woke up the next morning and found him - and the jacket - gone, a note left in his place. He'd thanked you for the evening prior and apologised for having to rush off without saying goodbye, promising he'd make it up to you. And when Amy had asked if you wanted to come and see the Lego Batman with her and Emma, you knew the exact way he could make it up to you.

So, you had dragged Marcus with you, and were now trying to prevent him and Emma from engaging in embarrassing storytelling, all while keeping quiet to make a believable case for Glenn and Dina. Glenn, you knew, would be easy to win over, but Dina? You knew the fact Amy wasn't in in the first place was enough to raise her suspicions.

Besides, you were planning on making him pay for your popcorn as part of his repayment for him calling you a bitch.

"Uh-huh. Hey, Ames, can you hold on a sec?" Dina put on the sweetest voice you'd ever heard her muster up, before quickly snapping back into her normal self, and presumably yelling at Glenn. "Yeah, she's faking."

"No, she is not!" Glenn replied with a whine, and never before had you such appreciated his naivety to the world.

"Glenn, I love Amy like a sister, and she is a liar and a fraud, like my sister." It was almost sweet to hear Dina's compliment towards Amy, though, like expected, it was quickly turned around and painted Amy out to be a 'liar and a fraud.'

"I'm still on, by the way." Amy's cough was quickly lost as she spat her words down the phone, Dina's disbelieving voice having come out of the other end.

"Hey, sweetie!"

"You ignore her. You just get well soon, okay? Thank you." Glenn quickly hung up the phone and Amy tucked it into her pocket, pulling up two hands and high-fiving Emma at the success of her efforts.

"I told you Dina would know!" You hid your words behind a cough, your face red and bitten by the cold and the weather bad enough that a cold would still be believable - not with Amy's bad acting and Dina's sixth sense, however.

"So can I pretend to be sick to miss school Monday?" Emma asked, hands tucked back into the warmth of her pockets now Amy had celebrated her victory.

"No, dipshit." You ruffled her hat messing up her hair, hand leaving the warmth of your jacket pocket while the other stayed wrapped around Marcus's waist. His own arm was thrown across your shoulder, pulling you into his side while the other rested in his coat pocket; mirror images of each other. "Your mom doesn't need to go to work, you however, need to go to school."

"Don't call her a dipshit, angel, the kids sweet." Marcus chided from above you. Turning your head to him, you rested your chin against his chest, peering up at him with a weak glare, jutting out your lower lip in a pout.

"You don't know her, Marcus. She's the devil incarnate."

"Didn't you drop out of school, shithead?" Emma retorted, your point being proven almost immediately by the vulgar - yet, somehow, still endearing - term that slipped past her lips.