M A R N I E

"What is it, Laila?" Arthur asks, her eyes on me as she looks at the girl who barged in.

"The shows starting in 2." Laila says, I realise she is the same girl who had caught me 'eavesdropping'.

Laila eyes me suspiciously and I stare at her with equal suspicion. What am I suspicious of? Nothing. Why am I acting like I am? It's called matching energy.

Makes me feel a bit more- uhh- I don't know the word.

"I'll be there, I just need to speak to Marnie here." Arthur points at me and Laila nods as she shuts the door behind her.

"So- uh- you should be out there," I mutter grabbing my bag and she nods a small smirk on her face.

"Mhmm." She hums as she grabs my hand and we walk out the door. My palms are sweaty and I hope she doesn't notice it.

We walk towards the upraised stage and maybe it's because of the 'moment' we shared, I had never realised how quiet it had gotten. The loud music was off, the whole two-floor club was filled with people of all ages, drinking, smoking but one thing in common is their stare. They stare at us as we make our way.

Arthur and I part ways as I sit on a barstool. My legs dangling but my eyes are on her as she picks up her guitar. She puts the guitar pick between her teeth while adjusting the chords and I have to close my eyes to stop staring.

"That your girl?" A guy beside me asks. I turn to look at him, he's gorgeous. His eyes are a heavy blue-ish silver colour, almost grey. The grin he gives me is mischievous, his eyes hold dark circles around them. His eyes are low and stubble adorns his face. He is dressed in a multicoloured sweatshirt with black jeans. His hair is dyed platinum but grown out a little at the roots.

"What? No. She's my friend." I say and he laughs, I shoot him a look and he shrugs innocently.

"You don't sound like you're from here," I state as I watch them adjust their instruments. Everybody watches in anticipation and I grin.

"Moved a lot when I was a kid, England, India, Singapore, Japan, France. But finally settled down in Sicily with my brother. Thinking about moving to Australia tho, my brothers' girlfriend is from there and she doesn't stop talking about it." He says and I nod smiling. I am confused as to why he is spilling so much about himself in a second. But then again that's how people are at clubs. Like an open book.

"That's cool. You travel a lot, huh?" I say as the bartender finally walks over to us.

"Whiskey neat." The guy orders politely. The bartender looks at me as I think over.

"Lemon drop please." I smile and turn towards the guy again.

"I do, although, I haven't really been able to do that since- well work. And I and my family just went through a rough patch. So-" He makes a face and I nod slowly.

"So what's the name of the band?" He asks and I sigh silently. He's not letting me watch Arthur, what the fuck?

"They're called 'Badlands'," I state and he nods slowly as our drinks are brought over I thank them. The whole place erupts in cheers as Arthur finally walks up the upraised stage.

I cheer as I sip on my drink. She looks so good, her signature mischievous grin is plastered on her face. Laila starts with the drums and I grin as I recognise the song. I bop my head to the beats as I stare at her.

"The mirrors image, it tells me it's home time." Art sings and I'm mesmerised. Even if she's an asshole sometimes, she is talented.

"Woah." The guy beside me whispers and I grin wider.

Art's eyes meet mine as she winks at me. I grin sipping on my drink as she sings.

"But I'm not finished cause you're not by my side." She closes her eyes, her body swaying. There are people screaming singing. Some dancing. The light is a darker shade of green and the drink is hitting me as I order my second one.

Art sings a couple of verses. This time her eyes scanned the crowd. When I look beside me the guy is still there, the drink is in his hand but it's untouched.

"Now it's three in the mornin', and I'm tryin' to change your mind." Her eyes meet mine again as I'm also singing and moving my head to the beat of the music.

The song keeps on playing as I appreciate the band as a whole and not just Art. The guys I met when I had gone to Arthur's home are there.

Ronan, the mean guy who stubbed his toe is the bassist and Elias the nicer guy was on the backing vocals.

Laila with the drums. Another girl in the back with the rhythm guitar.

"Left you multiple missed calls and to my message, you reply 'why'd you only call me when you're high?'" She sang her dark eyes on me as she leaned towards the mic. Her body moved as the drumsticks struck.

I bit the inside of my lip as my eyes watched every movement of her. When there was only instrumental music I watched her fingers strum so skillfully. After she leaned towards the mic her eyes closed.

"Why'd you only ever phone me when you're high." She closed her eyes, the note was- Woah. I cheered standing up clapping. Her eyes met mine as she let them run over my body and grinned.

"Doesn't really seem like 'just friends'." The guy muttered and I looked back at him.

"Don't really see myself asking." I sent him a saccharine smile and he raised an eyebrow.

"Well- you see- ugh- I have been in a 'situationship' trust me when I say it's not just friends." He laughed and I looked at him suspiciously. I hated that I was missing the song Art was singing.

"Again, I don't recall asking. Why are you here anyway, hmm? You are here for work? For work, you end up at fucking cameo?" I ask my anger evident turning towards him smirking when I see his eyes darken.

"I'm here to have fun, isn't that what people come to bars and clubs for?" His smile was nothing short of fake.

"Fun? Then why haven't you touched your glass?" I ask and he looks down chuckling as he shakes his head.

"Doesn't feel nice, right? Unwanted questions?" I raise my eyebrows squinting at him and he chuckles again.

"Sorry, we good?" He grins and I look at his extended hand.

"We good," I say shaking his hand. I feel his scars and rough skin undermine and I'm quick to pull away as he chuckles softly. Again.

"I never caught your name." He mutters looking at the band as they play the instrumental music.

"That is because I never threw it. I'm Marnie." I reply rolling my eyes midway and he nods smiling a little.

"What's your name?" I ask just as he downs his drink in one quick second and gets up from the barstool.

"You're not gonna get it that easily, Marnie. Besides, I think you're gonna see a whole lot of me around for a while." He answers and I am now extremely confused as I watch him walk away and pat a man on the back.

What the fuck?

Although the man never walks out of the club he just walks up the stairs and away from my view.

"We're Badlands, and our job for the next hour is to make you have the time of your lives. So please, let loose and have fun, if you don't- well we get fired." Arthur says flatly her voice amused as she looks over everyone as they cheer.

"She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes, hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect." Arthur started a new song and I was immediately sold by the way she sang.

"And all the boys, they were saying they were into it, such a pretty face. On a pretty neck." Her deep eyes bored into mine and I held my breath. She let her eyes roll back along with her head as she breathed in deeply and then leaned back towards the mic.

"She's driving me crazy. But I'm into it, but I'm into it. I'm kinda into it." She said emphasising the kinda and it reminded me of our day at the lake.

"Do you want me tell you how much I like you Mer?"

I breathed in deeply and she smirked looking at me. I was holding onto my drink for dear life as she closed her eyes smirking still.

"It's getting crazy, I think I'm losing it, I think I'm losing it." She opened her eyes leaned down to the mic as her hair fell in front of her face. Her hips moved towards the mic stand as she rolled them and I clenched my jaw. All while her eyes stay on mine.

Fuck.

"Oh, I think she said, I'm having your baby. It's none of your business." She continued singing knowing what she was doing to me.

Elias sings the next couple of lines his voice equally as beautiful but lighter. I look at Art as she walks back to take a swig on the water. Her hands are so big that they made the water bottle look small.

"When she's alone she goes home to a cactus." Art sings again and I lean forward in my chair and sip on my drink slowly.

"In a black dress, she's such an actress." Art sings and I gape at her softly as she chuckles, her laugh so small but I can hear it through the speaker. The other girl looks at her with wide eyes as Art looks down, her hand on the mic.

When the high notes come on I'm sure I heard her moan. Well, it is in the song but I didn't expect her to actually do it.

All that is in my mind is dirty thoughts and I need to stop them.

I down another drink and now I'm officially tipsy. I stop myself from actually getting drunk and text Val that I'm still alive and a couple of hours later the show has finished and it's around 1 in the night.

"Wow, you were so good." I have to be loud over the yells as I approach her. She takes off her guitar and chugs the water holding onto my waist tightly as we weave through the crowds.

"Thank you, Marnie." She says quietly kissing my cheek as we make our way inside the room that we were in before the show. Art turns on the lights, they are dim and perfect for the night.

"That was so much fun." She groans as she sits down on the bed. By this time I had chugged a couple of bottles of water and had gone to pee 6 times.

SIX TIMES. I KNOW. But I wanted to be sober around her cause drunk me might start babbling and that is never fun.

"I loved the covers you guys played. The girl on the drums was amazing along with the girl on the rhythm guitar." I said as I sat down on the brown velvet couch.

"You were astonishing of course. I loved that Italian song cover you guys did." I grin and she grins back, her eyes heavy and low.

"Thank you, Mer." She whispers holding my hands and kissing my palms.

"Have I told you how pretty you look tonight?" She mutters and I smile at her. I let my eyes run over her features.

What do you feel when you're around her?

"Only about a hundred times." I grin as I lean closer to her.

"You do look very pretty." She grins. I stop admiring her and think about what I feel.

"Come over to mine for the night?" She asks and I look at her with a confused face.

"No funny business." She whispered and I frown. I turn to prop my legs sideways on the sofa as I face her.

"I can't. I haven't asked Ma for any permission. Maybe next time." I say upset myself, that I could've asked ma, she would've said yes too. But I didn't know.

"Yes of course. Next time it is." She answers and I grin. I lean forward and kiss her cheek.

My phone rings and I dig in my bag as Art leans back on the couch, her body still pressed to mine an amused look on her face as she looks at all the self-defence shit I have in my bag.

Fucking Valerie.

"Hey!" I am out of breath as I pick up my phone to see Val had called me.

"Ma and Papa are finally in deep sleep. I have left the door open, remove your shoes when you come in. Also, remember the-" She says but I smile as I interrupted her.

"The third step is squeaky on the left side so I won't step on it, and because I live in the attic room when I turn on the heat it makes a buzzing sound for about 20 seconds. Yes, I know okay? I'll be fine. What did you tell them though?" I ask and she laughs.

"I told them you were on your way at 11. But I also said they should go to sleep and not wait up." I grin at Val and after a few words we hang up.

"You're sneaking in?" Art asks and I nod looking at her.

"You become more rebellious each day." Art says and I laugh at her.

"No- well-" I shrug smiling still.

"I was thinking I would try to bake tomorrow you wanna come over and help me with it?" She asks not looking directly at me but rather looking right ahead.

What do you feel when you're around her?

"Yeah, I would love that." I smile she finally turns towards me her eyes directing to the purse with all my self defence stuff. I love dim lighting but at the moment I hate it as her low lidded eyes trail over my body, they look tired but greedy.

"Do I need to be afraid of you Marnie?" She whispers, her accent so much thicker now as she gets on her knees on the couch. Right in front of me.

I crane my neck slowly to look up at her as she looks down at me grinning evilly. She clicks her tongue as she retrieves a knife from her back pocket. It is the same knife that she had the day of our first encounter in cameo. My mouth is dropped as I breathe heavily.

"Answer me." She orders and I continue looking at her leaning backwards as she leans forwards.

"Maybe," I whisper, her knife comes up and rests right above the neckline of my dress.

"What a shame." She whispers looking at the knife that is slightly digging into my soft skin. She looks dazed.

She digs the knife into my skin the sharp side up so it doesn't hurt me. My heart beats so fast that I am scared.

"You look prettier under me, Mer." She says her voice thick and heavy.

"I think I would look better on top, Art." I grin and she smirks raising an eyebrow.

Art's pressure on the knife increases as I am pushed down and she is on top of me. Her chest is pressed to mine. But before her body could make full contact with mine she holds herself up with her hand on the armrest. Her knee between my thighs. The latex dress had ridden up and was digging into my thighs but I gave zero fucks.

Arthur pulls the knife away and looks at the skin of my chest that is now red due to the pressure and leans down towards it.

"Can I touch you?" She whispers and I nod. In response to this she groans.

"Words." She states sternly and I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Yes," I whisper and without another moment wasted her lips meet the red skin and I gasp.

Art's lips are cold against my burning skin and I close my eyes at the foreign feeling. Her lips move upwards to my collarbones and my neck. I let my head roll back my hands gripping her shoulders tightly. Her hands wrap around my throat firmly, I let out a small whimper.

"Staying quiet was never your strong suit, wasn't it?" She whispers grinning and I breathe heavily.

"Well, you could do something about it," I whisper back one of my hands on the wrist of the hers that is wrapped around my neck.

"Your heart is beating so fast my darling, are you okay?" She smirks, and I gulp but I'm sure she felt it under her hand when she smirks wider.

"Who knew you were into this?" She clicks her tongue and tightens her grip on my throat.

"Who knew you were?" I ask grinning as I breathe a little heavily. This time when she tightens her grip she doesn't only cut off my blood but a little bit of my oxygen supply.

Unconsciously I bite my lip, her dark eyes move there. My heart is beating so fast, but the worst part is that she can feel it under her palm.

"Fucking hell Marnie." She groans smiling and I trail a hand down her arm.

"I should get going." I smile and she looks down at me her eyes filled with greed.

"Yeah." She looks down at me and I grin as her grip on my throat loosens and I lean up to kiss her cheek.

"I'm dropping you off." She states as she leans down to kiss my temple and I sit up straight before grabbing my purse as she grabs my hand.

Ecstasy. That's what I feel when I'm around her.