A Love Like Ours || m.f.

16

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?'" he looked at me with a definite 'obvious' look in his eyes. "Do you not think you deserve this?" he clasped his hand in mine and walked me to the door of the high-class restaurant.

"Of course not" I scoffed.

"Well get that mentality out of your head because you deserve the world and this is the least I could do."

the least?

"Mark.."

We approached the lady at the front area and Mark told her his name.

"Right, Mr. Fischbach. This way."

He looked back at me with a sincere smile and tugged lightly on my hand. I slowly advanced towards him, my mind completely stunned by the utter beauty of the interior.

There were tables neatly arranged throughout the area, each of the chairs neatly placed beside them. The booths were lined with leather and the dull tabletops reflected the dim lights of the candles that sat upon them.

"Table for two. Your server will be right with you." The lady reassured us and set our menus on the table as we got situated.

Mark pulled out my seat for me, but I was too busy staring at the shimmering chandeliers on the ceiling to notice.

"They're pretty cool huh?"

I finally came back to earth and sat down in the seat across from Mark.

"How'd you get a reservation?"

"Simple. I called in and asked for a table for two. I think that's how you make reservations" he chuckled.

"Okay Sassypants" I scooted closer to the table and opened up the menu.

Woah.

"Wow" Mark stated, speaking my exact thoughts.

I scanned the menu up and down to try and find anything that interested me. I was really feeling pasta, and trust me, they had pasta. A lot of it.

The waiter came by and asked our preference on drinks. He then retreated back to the kitchen to retrieve them, only to bring them out minutes later. I was sipping on my lemon water and staring at Mark when he brought up the conversation.

"So YouTube? You have any idea? I don't want to rush you into anything. I'm just wondering." he rambled

I chuckled and shook my head. "Yeah, I think I want to go through with it. It can't hurt to try."

"Really?" his face lit up at my answer.

"Yeah."

"Cool"

"I nodded my head and focused my attention on the neatly stitched tablecloth.

"Okay. This has been chewing at my mind all day" Mark said, setting his menu down and staring into my eyes.

"What has? You know we can talk about anything" I encouraged.

"Yeah. That's exactly why it's been chewing at my head. I don't even know why it's that big of a deal." He shook his head and continued. "This morning when I woke up I saw you watching me." He paused for a moment and I lifted my eyebrow.

"What about it?"

"I'm pretty sure you didn't know I was awake yet." he took a breath and went on. "You gave me this look, you looked utterly terrified. Like I was some monster- that is, until I opened my eyes."

The image of Mark throwing me to the ground flashed through my head and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"And then when I asked about the dream-"

"Nightmare." I interrupted

"Nightmare. You gave me the same look. What happened? Like you said, you know you can tell me anything."

"It- I -"

"Help me understand so I can help."

"You're so sweet you really are, but it's not like tha-

"Please" he insisted.

"Why do you want to know so bad?" I questioned

"I never want to slip and do something that makes you look at me like that."

I took a deep breath and nodded my head, my eyes closing, so that I could remember every detail, even though I didn't want to.

"I was running like my life depended on it and at first I didn't know why. I was back in Omaha. I ran into the woods and -while trying to run from whatever the heck I was trying to run from- I hit my head. Bad. I kept running because it was like fight or flight and my only response was flight. I couldn't even see straight I hit my head so hard, but I kept going and then- a voice. A voice came into my head that wasn't mine. I'm guessing telepathy."

Mark nodded his head in response and continued to gaze at me intently.

"I came to a clearing filled with waist-high grass. I kept running. When I turned around I saw a figure but I couldn't tell who it was. The voice came back, and it told me to stop. When I did, it was you. You approached me quicker than the speed of light, it was inhuman."- "I didn't listen to you and you shoved me to the ground, and the part I can't forget -every time you got angry your eyes would turn black. You held me in the air by my neck and I- ." I started stumbling over my words, trying to get it over with.

"Even the whites of your eyes. Black. I couldn't get you to let up. You held me there until my lips turned purple. You finally let go when I put my hand on your chest, and you said something about me being different. You got frustrated, so I took the chance and I ran again. I made it to a cliff before you could reach me again, and I jumped. I jumped into the ocean that laid below. That's why I woke up."

"Open your eyes."

I slowly opened them and gazed at Mark.

"That wasn't me. This is me. I'll never be like that."

"I know. It still freaked me out."

"Yeah. I saw."

The waiter came by and took our food orders.

"Anyways. What did you record today?"

"I played a bit of Undertale."

"Yeah? I was looking at Jack's play through of that. The game looks interesting."

"Jack's huh?"

"Yep. Got a problem?"

He shook his head and laughed. "No. He gets to all the games faster than I can. It's like he has all the time in the world."

"I doubt it."

"Oh I do too."

"It because his girlfriend isn't constantly on his back" I said jokingly.

"That's probably it" He chuckled.