Girlfriend On Mars

34. "It's me and you"

Thirty Four.

"It's me and you." 

Torrential rain and lightning storms characterised the next few days, flooding the streets to the rubber of the shoes, forming puddles in the grooves of the roads. Streaks of hot white branched towards the earth in short flashes, filling Jen's room with brief brightness. But it wasn't the lightning that caught her attention, it was the clustered chatter at the bottom of the stairs, the slightly raised voices and the open and close of the front door.

Jen rose from her mattress, pausing to listen again, then slid her legs over the side of the bed. In her mismatched socks, she moved quickly towards her door and out into the hallway. The most noticeable voice was Pamela's, a string of 'are you alright', 'what's wrong' and 'do you need Jen' drifting up from the base of the stairs. Then there was the mention of a name that piqued Jen's interest further.

"Marley, what's going on?"

Jen hurried quickly down the stairs, feet padding clumsily, stopping when she was a few steps before the bottom and swallowing hard. Stood in the entrance porch was Marley Rhodes, clothes adhered to her skin, beads of rainwater dripping from the end of her pink button nose, reddened in the cold and watery beneath her nostrils. A small puddle had pooled at her feet, damp shoelaces hanging limp against the tile of the hallway. The skin beneath her eyes was raw red and her eyelashes were slicked together, presumably not from the heavy rain.

"Jen? Shall I get her—let me get you a towel first, okay?" Pamela said worriedly and backed off down into the kitchen.

Marley was staring blankly down the corridor, small tears dribbling from her eyes with silent sadness. Jen's heart was hammering, a hard, prickly pain obvious in her chest as she took another step down. Marley's eyes moved slowly then, dragging lazily from the hallway wall to meet Jen's distressed gaze. Even then, she barely reacted. Only a small, sad exhale left her trembling lips.

"Come here, Marley, come upstairs." Jen persuaded, extending her arm out towards the shivering girl.

Slowly, the blonde shuffled along the tiles and took gradual steps up towards Jen, eventually leaning into her body on the stairs. Jen rubbed her hand up and down on Marley's back and ushered her up onto the landing. There was no alertness or speed to Marley's movements but judging by the rapid yet subtle heave of her chest, Jen realised she'd most likely was deprived of all her energy from running. She'd run, all the way from Evergreen to the fringe of Deaver, and the guilt Jen felt was as powerful as a black hole.

"Hang on," said Jen once they were standing behind her closed bedroom door. No reply came from Marley.

Jen rushed about her bedroom, tugging towels from the lower drawer of her wardrobe and reaching for fresh clothes. Marley stood, stoic, puffy eyes staring right at Jen as the older girl unfolded a fresh towel for her. Wordlessly, the Rhodes girl raised her arms weakly and Jen rolled her drenched, heavy tee off of her torso, exposing her moonish stomach, which was glistening with the rain.

"You could have called me, I would've come and got you. You know that." Jen mumbled, dropping the dripping t-shirt to the carpet and feeling around her back for her bra clasp. "Anywhere, any time."

"I didn't think." Marley said quietly. "I just had to leave, and... and come here."

Jen let the loosened bra fall to the floor and then reached for a towel, staring sadly at the dark blotches that had stained Marley's shoulders. They were painful to even witness and Jen didn't want to turn the girl around to see what damage had ruined the skin that wasn't visible front-on. She knew it would turn her stomach to the point of nauseous rage. Instead, she just crouched to pull down the crinkled soccer shorts that were slicked against the tops of her pin-like legs. Marley's cold hand slid across Jen's cheek, fingers stroking down along the side of her face. A silent plea for closeness was what Jen interpreted it as. So, once the shorts were off from around her ankles and piled up with the other soaked items of clothing, Jen rose up to Marley's level, holding eye contact with the trembling blonde. Marley kept her hand on Jen's face for a second before slipping her arms around Jen's waist and flushing their bodies together. Her damp, naked torso was pressed against Jen, skin moist and tender to the touch. Jen kept her embrace loose as she was afraid the lovely blonde in her arms would fall apart at a slight change in pressure.