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➳CHAPTER ELEVEN
"Meet me at Rosie's tomorrow at seven, we need to talk," Marie sighed as she read over the text she had sent to Jeff the previous night, she sipped at a milkshake which seemed flavourless whilst her mind was cast elsewhere as she waited for him in the booth they had sat in when they had first became friends.
After Skye had informed her relieved Mother that her son was living with an old friend in Georgia, she had became obsessed and adamant that they were going to find him. Not only her Mother, but her Father too had became hooked onto returning their remote son to a house that was no longer his home, and together they had determined that they were going to stay in Georgia as long as necessary to convince Oscar to return to Crestmont, dragging Marie into the hopeless abyss with them.
A few months earlier, Marie would've had little concern in leaving Crestmont for the foreseeable future. After all, she had many "friends" but only few real friends, she struggled to get along with her coworker, and her admirations for Zach Dempsey had gone unnoticed. But now there was Jeff, and he was the magnet keeping her from fleeing the town like her brother had.
When he finally walked into the diner, at 7:27, Marie had begun to lose all hope that he was going to arrive. After all, she could hardly blame him, she had been ignoring him for days, ever since Kelsey had issued her series of threats in the bathroom. Yet he showed up, wearing his varsity jacket and jogging bottoms, but most strikingly; a pained expression.
His big eyes appeared to frown with him as he hovered awkwardly outside of the booth before deciding to sit opposite her. Everyone around them was talking and laughing, Marie understood this from the way their mouths contorted with glee, and the way their eyes squinted, yet she could hear nothing, the diner a vacuum of silence and intensity.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show," Marie's voice was barely above a whisper as she played with her hands underneath the table awkwardly. She took another sip of the bland milkshake as she swept her vision along the table.
Jeff shook his head, breathing heavily, "Trust me, I wasn't gonna Marie. You've been ignoring me and avoiding me. What the hell did I do?"
She felt sick, she had every right to be confronted by Jeff about how pathetic she had been, yet she had hoped everything would still be okay. Marie rested her chin on her fist, and glanced up at the light on the ceiling, it's yellow hue blurred her vision and caused red dots to spin around the room, and for a moment she couldn't see Jeff's saddened eyes out of the corner of her own.
"Something happened Jeff," she sighed, finally allowing herself to speak, "something happened with Kelsey, she told me to stay away. I did."
Jeff's expression refused to fade despite Marie's confession, and it was clear to her as she pushed the obstructing milkshake glass aside that he had figured this out himself. "So why the sudden urge to meet me after a billion calls?" he asked, leaning back in the booth and staring at her, the metre distance in between them may as well have been mere centimetres.
"Because we're leaving."
"We?" he was quick to reply, an urgency in the single word, as his expression was finally torn from him, his brows now furrowing and his lip trembling slightly, but not out of sadness, instead, out of worry.
"My Mom, my Dad, me. We're going to Georgia, to find Oscar," Marie bit her lip, allowing herself to chuckle slightly at the bizarre reality of it all, "see, my Mom has this crazy idea, that if we visit him down there long enough, he'll actually want to come home."
Jeff's head rocked back, hand his hands covered his eyes for a breath moment, a sigh drifting towards where she sat across from him. She glanced to her left, the taunting laughter of the people around her was now audible, and it appeared everyone was bragging about their perfect relationships, as Marie's and Jeff's friendship began to crumble.
"You know Marie, when I was ringing, and you weren't picking up, and when I came into Monet's... damn I wanted to hate you Marie," he was looking at her again now, and that expression had returned, the one that was synonymous with pain and heartbreak, and caused her own heart to pang with guilt. His lips moved, but nothing came out for a few seconds, and then it did, "you know what I can't do this."
Within a few seconds he had gone from being sat staring across at her in the booth that they had once shared laughter, to walking out the door into the breezy Winter's night. She sat there for a few seconds, processing his words in her head. And when it finally occurred to her nearly half a minute later what he had said, she sprung to life, her vision being clouded with impending tears.
"Dammit, Jeff!" she exclaimed as she ran out of the diner door, squinting as she tried to find his car in the dark sky. Her head turned to the right as she heard an ignition starting, and she sighed as she saw the car that had picked her up from work, the same night he had defended her against that demanding customer. She was crying as she jogged towards his car, realising what she was to lose if he drove away. Before he had chance to drive off she slipped into his passenger seat, slamming the door behind her.
"What the hell Marie?" he exclaimed, his voice was raised but his expression was vulnerable, "did you not just-"
"Why couldn't you hate me Jeff? Why, when I was being a goddam bitch and ignoring you could you not hate me?" she exclaimed, snatching his words from him as she wiped the tears off of her cheeks, only for them to be replaced with new ones.
"Why do you think?" he shook his head as his voice cracked slightly, running a hand through his hair as he looked out at the car park and the people who passed by his car bonnet, oblivious to what was happening.
"I don't know Jeff, tell me."
"Marie-"
"Jeff."
"Because I think I love you Marie! Happy now?" His exclamation was followed by silence, and then more silence, and then an array of relieved sighs and frantic glances between one another.
She had always imagined their first kiss to take place at the Winter Formal, surrounded by the icy blue directions which crystallised under the diamond lighting, and with a beautiful song playing in the background. Which is why, she was so frustrated when it didn't happen, and so devastated when Kelsey had warned her. She had never expected it to be in his car on that frosty night, with tears causing her cheeks to shimmer and his hands getting knotted in her hair. She had never intended for it to come after their first real argument, the taste of losing one another having brought each other closer, Kelsey Reagan far from either of their minds.
He drove her home from the diner, his hand often skimming hers as they sat side by side, as they both tried to disguise their grins. She no longer noticed the laughs of others as they drove past people they knew and people they didn't, instead she recognise her own shielded giggle.
When he pulled up outside of her house, he turned to her, "when do you go?"
"Tomorrow morning," she shrugged, as she eyed up her Mother in her bedroom, the bright lights and open curtains showing her packing things into a case frantically, "train leaves at 9AM."
"Good luck with Oscar," he gave her a half smile, it was the same smile he had always given her, yet now it held so much more meaning.
She nodded, a silent gesture of gratefulness as she slid out of the passenger seat, before she turned back to look at him, "what about us?"
"To be continued," is all he said with a cheeky grin, and as she walked back into her house that night, after having seen him for the last time in months, she knew that was all she needed to get by.
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(a/n) yeah so urmmm i decided to update so soon because i was excited to write this chapter!! but yeah, they kissed, and i was legit grinning when i wrote it! hope you liked it guys
