Something was up with Marcus. I couldn't place my finger on it, but he was just different. He was being way too nice to me. Maybe he was sick.

Actually, I read somewhere that extended exposure to smoke could mess with your brain.

I looked at Marcus who was elegantly slicing his roast beef with a knife while chatting with mom and shook my head. He was way too poised for brain damage.

And what the hell was with him in the foyer? It was almost like a moment. Like a TV moment. What the hell was that? Did I want to kiss him?

He was just being weird, I concluded. Maybe he was trying to dig up dirt on me so he'd have more ammo to tease me with.

"Mabel's younger years were the absolute cutest!" My mom gushed. I don't think she had even began to eat her roast beef, which sucked because the faster she ate the faster this dinner would be done with and the faster Marcus could leave. I didn't like having him here. It was like two worlds colliding and I didn't want him to think I was more of a freak than he already did. "Oh, her missing front teeth phase were my favourite, Marcus."

Marcus laughed as he sliced a piece of his asparagus and placed it into his mouth. Could he have possibly sliced a smaller piece?! I think not.

I watched my dad as he basically just glared at Marcus from across the table. Though I don't think it had the affect that he thought it did when he had a heating pad/ice pack combo taped to his back as he hunched forward. He looked like a miserable excuse for a Disney villain.

"I would love to see that!" Marcus enthused.

She still hadn't taken a bite. I tried to will it with my mind but sadly I already knew that didn't work. "Mom, you want to take a bite over there? I heard that if you leave medium rare cooked meat out for too long you can risk getting salmonella." Hit her where it hurts. With the science. Let's see her wiggle her way out of this.

She laughed. Laughed at salmonella. Who the hell was this woman? "Oh, Mabel. It's been twenty minutes, dear."

"Jean," My dad interrupted, "Don't forget to remind me to lock up my knife set tonight."

"What knife set?" My mom chuckled as my dad glared at her.

"The knife set, Jean." He pushed.

Eat. Your. Food. I tried blinking the words out in morose code but sadly I didn't know morose code. Not that anyone was looking at me. They were laser focused on Marcus currently.

My mom gasped and jumped up, "Oh, I can't wait for after dinner. I'm going to get the pictures now."

"Pictures?" I asked, "What pictures, mom? Mom?" I asked desperately.

My dad grumbled wobbling out of his chair. "I'll lock that gun set up myself."

"Knife set," Marcus reminded him.

"That's what I said!" He yelled back as he shuffled out of the room.

I turned towards Marcus abruptly who was peacefully eating his mashed potatoes. "What's wrong with you?!" I whispered harshly.

He turned towards me in surprise, his elbow brushing my arm and I couldn't help the goosebumps that rose in response. "What do you mean?" He whispered back.

"I'm trying to get you out of this dinner, Garcia!"

He grinned at me. "I'm not trying to get out of this dinner, Platt."

"Are you enjoying my parents' company?" I asked in disbelief. Did he want to hang out with them on weekends or something?

His hazel eyes took me in for a moment and I took that time to appreciate his perfectly wavy, brown hair that always appeared unkept in a really nice way. It reached his ears with the perfect strategic wave to it. He wanted to tell me something. I always knew when he wanted to tell me something. It was in the way that his eyebrows furrowed in a serious manner. "I'm enjoying your company, Maybie."

I sat back in surprise at his confession. I mean, I know Marcus didn't mind hanging out with me, but I didn't realize he wanted a 'get to know your parents' part of the relationship. Friendship.

My parents returned, my mom's arms full of photo albums. She sat down and placed the photo autobiography of Mabel next to her on the table with a loud thud.

She took a bite of her roast beef and sent me a pointed look as if to say 'are you happy? I'm eating now'. She then flipped through an album eagerly. "Look at this one, Marcus. This is when we went to visit an observatory. Oh, Mabel loved to learn about the stars. Look at her smile!"

Marcus took the album with keen interest and scanned over the pages with so much focus that he actually looked really cute. What the hell was going on?

We finished our dinner soon after (but not soon enough) and my mom announced that she needed fifteen minutes for dessert, which conveniently gave my dad enough to lock up his 'gun set' (or was it knives). I had a sneaking suspicion he was going to google how to appear more menacing to strangers as I saw him tuck his laptop under his arm on his way upstairs. The poor guy needed the help.

So, I offered to show Marcus the greenhouse that my family had built one summer when I was in junior high.

I pulled the fluffiest sweater that I could find over my head as well as a pair of furry house slippers before leading Marcus outside, along the brick pathway. As I shut the door behind me, I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"It was that bad," Marcus teased as he followed me into my backyard.

I turned around to glare at him quickly, "The next time I see your grandfather, I'm not leaving without an extremely embarrassing picture of you. I'm talking braces and acne here. I'm talking bad haircut and embarrassing pose. I need retribution!"

I huffed out a grunt as I shoved the door to the greenhouse open, plugging in the lights as I did so. It used to be filled with plants when I was studying biology and science at home, or a telescope when I was learning about astronomy, but now it had furniture in it. Immediately, the lights illuminated the all glass walls and ceiling. It was the perfect place to stargaze.

"Wow," Marcus murmured, his head raised as he looked at the crystal clear sky. "This is incredible."

I sat on one of the love seat couches and Marcus followed to sit next to me. He was so large that his arm brushed against mine, giving me a warm, tingly feeling in my toes. His head was still raised as he continued, "I'm sorry if you didn't want me to be here."

I gaped at him, "It's not that," I admitted reluctantly. I couldn't imagine a situation that I wouldn't want Marcus around for. "There's just things about me that I'm uncomfortable with everyone knowing. Only Connie and Amanda know that I was homeschooled all my life." I glanced at Marcus to see his gaze intent on me. "I'm just embarrassed, I guess," I shrugged. It was something I never freely admitted because that meant an influx of questions that followed: Did you have a terminal illness? Does that mean you didn't have any friends? Did you just stay in your pjs all day? And I just wanted to be like everyone else.

Marcus smiled at me, "Well I think that's amazing, Maybie."

I frowned at him wondering if he had heard me properly. I pulled my sleeves over my hands uncomfortably. "Your parents love you. I only wish I could have gotten that uninterrupted time with my parents when they were still alive."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, feeling like a colossal brat all of a sudden. Here I was complaining about having spent too much time with my parents to Marcus who had lost his parents. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

He shook his head, "There's nothing you have to apologize for. Never you." His gaze returned back to the stars as he leaned back slightly, but his fingers slowly reached for mine and I curled my hand into his warm one. I loved Marcus like this. Just him and I. We fit together.

I thought back to all of the time we had spent together and I couldn't help but feel lucky that I had him around. He meant more to me than I think he knew.

I stared at his profile and for once didn't second guess the words that fumbled out of my mouth. "I'm so happy you're in my life, Marcus."

He turned to face me, his fingers squeezing mine, his thumb tracing patterns against the back of my hand. "You have no idea how often I tell myself that, Maybie. You're the favourite part of my days. And that's enough for me."

His gaze met mine, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from his, the hazel irises pooling in unsaid words. His eyes fluttered to my lips and they lingered there as I felt mine part in response. My heart beat quickened and I found myself leaning towards him. It felt magnetized, like I couldn't possibly pull back even if I wanted to. And I realized, I really didn't want to pull away.

So I followed the gravitational pull and Marcus reciprocated, our lips so close until they finally brushed against each other at first. Marcus's free hand travelled to my hair and then to the back of my head, his soft lips pushing against mine, deepening the kiss.

All I felt was sparks. Like I couldn't breathe but I was breathing him in all the same. His lips moved fervently against mine like he was trying to communicate something to me. Something he'd held in for so long. I wanted to learn this language. I realized I wanted to know all of Marcus.

My arms travelled to the back of his neck, weaving my fingers through the tresses as I always craved doing, tugging on the ends, hearing Marcus's satisfied grunt.

He pulled back after a moment and placed his forehead against mine, both of our eyes still closed. "Wow."

We sat like that for what could have been an hour but was probably a minute. For once, my overthinking brain turned off and I enjoyed the peace of being with someone while being myself. I didn't think about where my hand was correctly resting or if I had forgotten to put concealer on a breakout, or if my eyebrows had recently been plucked. And that was enough.

>>

Ugh, I just love these two sweetie pie, cutie patooties.