Odd One Out

Chapter Thirty Nine - Her Late Night Visits

I thought having Amanda live in my tiny apartment and crash on my uncomfortable couch would be like Friends or New Girl, but it turns out Amanda is even more nuts when you live with her. I'm talking all night studying where she sings and mimes to memorize - "what is autonomous specification you ask? Who dares to know? Who cares to find out? A mode of cell commitment," hands clap together, "in which the blast-" gun motion, "-tomere dominates," punches fist (you get the picture, no need to further elaborate on this insanity).

She'd been living with me for a week now and I'd left her to do her late night ritual of insanity while I went to hang out with Marcus next door. It was working out spectacularly actually.

As I raised my arm to knock on the door, I noticed a sticky note stuck on the door. It read, "Look in fridge" with a poorly scrawled heart at the end. I rocked on the back of my feet excitedly as I waited for Marcus to open the door. Though he'd always tell me to walk in since he was rushing to shower after work, I usually just waited for him. This time, I was too excited to see what was in the fridge so I opened the door and quietly stepped inside, my eyes taking in the empty room ahead of me.

I skipped to his kitchen and opened his fridge noticing a bag with "Maybie" scrawled on it placed at the front. I grinned and scooped the bag up peering inside to see a huge chocolate chunk cookie. I pulled the giant cookie out of the bag and took a large bite out of it.

"I knew I could lure you in with food," I heard behind me as I swivelled around, mouth stuffed with a huge bite of a cookie only to swallow with an audible gulp as I noticed Marcus standing there with a smirk on his face and only a towel around his waist.

My eyes took in his chiseled abdomen and tattoos that littered around his chest and torso, working their way to his arms. Apparently firefighters needed to stay in shape because hot damn if Marcus didn't work out everyday.

My gaze finally set on Marcus's face and I could tell he knew what I was thinking, though he had an uncanny knack for doing this on a regular basis anyway (how he did this was still mind boggling to me as I didn't even know what I was thinking half the time). He took a step towards me slowly until my back was against his fridge and his hands were on either side of my face.

He knelt down and brought his lips close enough to my ear that they brushed softly against my skin. "Missed you," He murmured as a shiver ran down my spine.

His arm moved down until it wrapped around my waist and he picked me up with one arm, placing me on top of his counter in the process. My heart beat erratically in my chest at the proximity of his body (though his body was smoking and this made total sense regardless).

He reached behind my head and into the back of his cupboard where he kept my donut mug hidden away. "How was your day?" He asked as he rinsed the cup out and placed a coffee pod in his coffee machine.

"Better now," I smiled as I remembered the cookie still in my clutches, taking another bite. "How about you?" I asked with a mouth full.

"Better now," He winked at me as he stirred in my two teaspoons of sugar.

He handed me my cup and I noticed for the umpteenth time that he was only in a towel. "Are you putting on pants anytime tonight?" It was pretty much a requirement if he expected me to talk to him using words and not half formulated sounds.

He raised one eyebrow before gesturing for me to hold on and coming back into the kitchen with just a pair of black sweatpants and nothing else.

He placed my mug on the counter before picking me up again with one arm, my legs automatically wrapping around his waist, and walking me to the couch with my coffee in his other hand. He sat down and placed me on his lap before handing me my mug. "What was your day like?"

Marcus's hand went straight to my hair where he brushed strands behind my ear, waiting for me to talk. "I'm understanding why you live alone now," I stated, mostly joking. I loved Amanda. I hated her major.

He smiled, "I don't know, I wouldn't mind not living alone sometimes."

"Yeah?" I asked as I took a sip of my coffee.

Marcus used a finger to hook onto the rim of my cup, bringing it closer to his lips and taking a sip of his own, "Yeah, Maybie." I watched as he licked his lips for the remnants of coffee on them.

I cleared my throat trying to ease the butterflies, "What was your day like?"

He shrugged, "No major calls today. Though Miranda really wants to meet you. Like she won't shut up about it."

"Do you want me to meet Miranda? Or re-meet I should say," Remembering the time that I met her on the elevator.

Marcus shot me a look, "I want you to meet everyone, sweet girl."

I blushed and before I could think coherently, Marcus had placed my mug on his coffee table and was leaning over me, my back on his couch as he kissed my cheeks.

"Are you sure?" I asked, suddenly feeling a little nervous. I tried to get rid of the feeling but I couldn't help but think I wouldn't fit in with his friends or that they wouldn't like me. His opinion would change about me so fast and I would be devastated. I'd only been seeing Marcus for a couple weeks, but I felt such a strong sense of attachment to him. That made me scared. Really scared.

"I want them to meet my girlfriend," Marcus stated nonchalantly and my eyebrows rose at the term. I loved the sound of it.

"Your girlfriend?" I whispered, smiling at him.

"If you want to be," he said simply.

I nodded, "I really do."

His smiled at me before he leaned down slowly, his lips brushing against mine, before our tongues began to become accustomed to each other but it all feeling so right. He reached for my hands, drawing them above my head and holding them there with one of his as he deepened the kiss. His fingers laced with mine on both hands, holding them so snugly and securely so I couldn't move, though with the way butterflies were fluttering around I almost felt like I couldn't lie still. I could feel every muscle he had pressed against my body and I couldn't help but wonder if he could feel my heart beating like a maniac in my chest.

He leaned back only slightly to grin at me and I loved that he looked at peace because Marcus deserved happiness. "Thank you."

I laughed wiggling one hand free so I could brush back his loose curls away from his forehead. "Why are you thanking me?"

"Because you make me happy and I'm tired of pretending you don't," He stated simply leaning down again to peck my lips.

I felt my heart swell at his words because is there really anything that someone wants to hear more than those words? "You make me so happy, Marcus. I hope you know that."

His eyes remained closed, his long lashes casting shadows on his face as he smiled, leaning his forehead against mine. "How did I get so lucky? How did I get to be with the most beautiful, sweet girl I've ever laid my eyes on?"

I wasn't the type of person to let compliments sink in but for some reason I did with Marcus. Because maybe it was okay to believe people when they said kind things about you. And maybe if I found myself thinking those same things about him, I could really believe that he meant them.