Maneater

Chapter Two

    Dinner was filled with a lot of jokes. Laughter. Good conversation. Marcus settled a hand on Crystal's thigh, and he kept it there throughout the dinner course. He leaned in close, whispered inside jokes into her ear. The playboy persona was stowed away, and the good boy facade he now donned made him appear angelic.

    He almost looks incapable of saying what he told his friends earlier, Crystal thought as dessert was brought to their table.

    "Man...Marcus in a relationship." Ivan shook his head and picked up his fork. "I'm still finding it hard to believe."

    Marcus grinned at his friends. "Well, Crystal isn't just any girl. She's special. She's the only one who was able to tame me."

    "If you ask me, it's about time Marcus found himself a girlfriend to settle down with," Brandon said, chuckling.

    "Girlfriend?" Crystal repeated softly, sectioning off a piece of cheesecake with her fork. "I'm not Marcus's girlfriend."

    Silence dropped on the table like a brick. Marcus's friends each looked at him with expressions of confusion etched into their faces. Marcus laughed nervously and gently squeezed Crystal's thigh. "My baby has a sense of humor."

    "I'm not your baby," Crystal said, turning to look at him. "Is that what you told them? That I'm your girlfriend?"

    "Yes," he replied. "Because you are."

    She looked him in the eyes. This was the fun part. "Oh, honey. Did I give you the idea that we were more serious than we are?"

    He shifted in his seat. "Crys, we talked about this."

    "I'm sorry, babe. I just can't be tied down right now." She leaned close to him and kissed him on the temple while lifting a perfectly manicured hand to his cheek. "That doesn't mean we can't have a little bit of fun, though, right?"

    It was...awkward after that. His friends didn't know what to say. He, himself was at a loss for words. She finished her cheesecake, completely unbothered.

    The drive home started in silence. Marcus rested his left elbow on the driver door windowsill and stroked his jaw while steering with one hand. He kept throwing Crystal glances, looking very much like he had something to say.

    She sat primly with her hands in her lap.

    For the longest time, neither one of them spoke.

    "So...dinner was nice."

    He slanted an angry look at her. "It was?"

    She nodded. "It was nice, getting to meet your friends."

    "Hm."

    She reached across the console and gave his thigh a pat. "Are you okay, baby? You seem like you have a lot on your mind."

    "What was that back there?"

    "What was what?" she asked in feigned innocence.

    "The shit about you not being my girlfriend. You made me look like an idiot back there."

    "I'm not your girlfriend," she stated flatly.

    He pulled the car to a stop at a red light. "But you and I had a conversation. The conversation. About a life together. Our future. We've been dating for months."

    "And it has been very nice," she told him. "I have a lot of fun when I'm with you."

    "Fun?" he repeated.