M A R N I E

I had called Val to my room, half asleep she helped me take off the stupid dress. Grunting we finally managed to peel it off my body. After she left I decided to say fuck it and go to bed without a shower.

Can I touch you?

I could hear every word she said it did nothing to stop my hands to disappear between my legs and my face to bury into my sheets as I pushed myself to the edge over and over again.

Knife to my chest.

Kiss on my neck.

"You look prettier under me, Mer."

"I think I would look better on top, Art."

"Holy shit." I whimpered, groaning I buried my face in the pillows, my body going tense, shaking and then relaxing.

"Staying quiet was never your strong suit, was it?"

I turned onto my back and looked at the ceiling, my chest heaving up and down as everything around me spun. I heard everything she said to me that night over and over again.

Oh, God.

I sighed my body shaking as I walked to the bathroom. Turned on the small yellow lamp and took a shower in the bathroom being submerged almost into darkness the only light being provided by the lamp.

When I finally made it back to my bed I collapsed and fell asleep with the covers touching my naked body.

When I woke up, my head was pounding and my eyes were swollen due to the lack of sleep. The worst part, my blush and eyeliner were on my pillows and sheets. From before I took that shower.

All it did was remind me of last night which caused me to feel hot and blush.

So, early in the morning with my head pounding, cold air rushing through the windows I was stripping my bed and doing my laundry. Anything to take my mind off of Arthur. Arthur and me last night.

Oh my God.

I took a shower, the water cold and piercing my skin while the skylight provided me with the cold autumn sunrays. My eyes were burning and my mouth was dry as I got ready for school.

Ugh.

I took out a pair of light wash shorts that were so old that I feared another wash would make them disintegrate. I paired it with a black tank that said 'girls' I had thrifted when I was 14. I sighed as I looked at my bag which threw off my outfit completely but I stuffed it with my book and did my makeup really quickly.

"Marnie Bennett! You're going to be late!" Ma's voice is loud and I sigh pulling on my socks as I run to the kitchen to grab my breakfast.

What I don't expect is Arthur. Sitting next to my father as they chat about the stock market. I stop dead in my tracks as Val reaches for the toast and puts them on Arthur's plate. All while smiling at her.

"Thank goodness you're here," Ma says as she pushes me on the chair and passes me my breakfast.

"Hi," I whisper as Art's eyes finally meet mine and she grins.

"Hello." She says and I grab the honey for the toast.

Maple syrup isn't good for the environment. So we had always opted for honey in this household.

A couple of drops of the honey fell on my hands and involuntarily my fingers went to my mouth to clean it up rather than letting it stay sticky. When I looked up Art's dark and greedy eyes were on me, my finger in my mouth and I flushed in embarrassment. The same hand that was between my legs.

What the fuck.

I take a bite out of my toast but I'm still so confused. She is dressed in mom jeans and a green and blue sweater. She looks damn good and she knows it. Her nails are painted a pretty blue and there's a new tattoo on her hand. A rose.

"Uh- I didn't know you were coming over," I state slowly and she laughs.

"Well, I came here to pick you up. But you were late so Sam invited me in." Arthur explains tilting her head to my mom and I nod slowly.

Understandable.

I finish my breakfast as I eye her while everyone divulges in a conversation. Even Val. She talks to Arthur like they're old friends. I'm so confused.

"Ma, my sheets are in the dryer can you take them out once they're done? I'll make my bed once I get home." I say and Ma nods.

"Sure. By the way, how was your show last night Arthur?" Papa asks and I clench my fork as I stab the fruits that fell from my toast.

"It was great. We had a lot of fun, didn't we Marnie?" She smiles at me and I smile back. This bitch.

"Yeah, we did. Totally, fun." I scramble over to finish my breakfast as everyone gives me weird looks while Art holds in her laughter.

"Well, we better get going. Or we will be late." I stand up and so does Art. We bid goodbye and walk over to the doorway.

"You ready?" She asked as I tied my shoelaces, I nodded in response as we made our way out.

"Bye guys!" I yelled as I closed the door.

"So-" I stop dead in my tracks as I look at her car.

"I forgot you have a car," I mutter as she opens the door for me and I settle in.

"I only use it for work and stuff." She grins before closing the door and getting in the driver's seat.

"Where do you work? I mean you don't perform at Cameo every day do you?" I ask her and her hand around the wheel clenches as we take off to school.

"That- is a great question. I don't have another job. Cameo pays me more than enough, besides we play all over Italy. Mostly Florence but we do travel to Sicily and Milan quite a lot for gigs." She says and I nod slowly.

From what I know, the area that she lives in is a rich people area. She owns a car a motorcycle. And can provide for herself and her cat. Cameo doesn't pay that much for performing 3 nights a week. And even if she plays at other clubs travelling does take up much, it isn't cheap in Italy. She can even afford to cancel. So what she just said is some bullshit. But I don't push it.

"I was gonna get coffee after school. And then we can head to your place." I say softly and she looks at me while smiling. A forced smile.

"That sounds great. But in case you forgot, we have our project due today." She points out and I look at her confused.

"Which project?" I ask as we near our school.

"Communications." She says and I groan.

"Ew," I mutter before closing my eyes. She laughs and I look at her. I let my eyes run over her body while she knows damn well I'm checking her out.

"You look pretty," I say not looking at her and she chuckles.

"Thank you, you look pretty too." She places her hand on my thigh and I grab my bag tighter by each second.

Art's rings are cold as ice on my bare skin as she runs her thumb in circles on my inner thigh. I try to control my breathing while looking out of the window.

"So, did you read any new books?" She asks squeezing my thigh and I gulp before looking at her. Her eyes are boring deep in me. Once in a while looking at the empty road.

"Uh- yeah. I did. It's called- it's not that good anyway." I grab my throat in nervousness and she grins.

"Are you okay?" She asks and I nod smiling which looks more like a wince. Before she can say anything we pull into the parking lot of hell.

"Thanks for the ride," I utter grabbing my bag and she smiles.

"What's your first lecture?" She asks and I scramble my brain to remember what it is.

"Biology? Yeah, it's biology." I say and she smirks.

"Same. We'll walk together." I nod at her words. Fixing my hair and getting out of the car.

Arthur grabs my hand as we step out and I look at her as she swings her bag over her shoulder lazily.

"Wha-" I hiss at her as I try to pull my hand away but she just grabs it tighter.

I look down at our hands, her skin like molten copper and mine a tad bit paler than hers. Her fingers were adorned in chunky rings and tattoos running up her entire arm. Her veiny hands are on mine. I repeat her veiny hands on mine.

What is life?

"Hey! Marnie! I haven't seen you in days!" Jackson approached me with a grin as he grabbed my shoulder.

Art tugged at my hand and pulled me close to her. I looked at her while she scrolled through her phone.

"Hi, Jack! Sorry I was sick." I smile softly at him. Do I introduce them? Or what? I mean Arthur doesn't seem very interested in talking to him.

"Did your mom tell you about the party?" He says and I furrow my eyebrows shaking my head 'no'.

"Oh, I think she may have forgotten. It's one of my dad's parties. I was hoping you'd come. You can bring your friend along." He says nodding his head towards Arthur who finally looks up from her phone. Her resting bitch face on.

"Oh yes, that's Arthur. Arthur this is Jackson." I say and she looks at his hand that he had thrust towards her and shakes it. He was a lot shorter than Arthur as she stared at him with boredom.

"I know she's the new girl in our biology class," Jackson says and I feel Arthur's hand tense.

"Aren't you guys heading there? I'll walk with you." He grinned and I winced before smiling at him.

"So, what did you think about coming to the party?" He asked and I looked at Art who was just staring at him with hatred and a cold look.

"Yeah, we will like to come. Is there a theme?" I asked, since year's I loved going to his father's parties because they were all so grand with different themes and it was all so lovely. Rich people shit.

"Yup, dramatic fantasy theatre." He groaned and I grinned.

"I love that!" I smiled at him and he laughed.

"I knew you would. But I wanted something cooler- like- like marvel." He groaned and I raised an eyebrow. Is he that dumb?

"Well, you could go for a theatre version of Thor." I said and he lit up.

"I didn't think of that." He said and I grinned.

"Of course, you didn't." I smiled as we entered our class.

"Ugh, can I sit with you guys?" Jack asked and I furrowed my eyebrows but nodded as he pulled a chair next to me and plopped down on it.

"You're not sitting with your friends?" I asked with a slightly bitter tone and he sighed shaking his head.

"I don't fuck with them anymore." He shrugged and I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Arthur and she raised an eyebrow too.

"Don't want to be whitewashed anymore?" Arthur asked and I gaped at her.

"Okay, look. They're racist. I can't have that, that's why we don't talk anymore." He explained raising his hands in surrender.

"And you realised that now?" I asked and he rolled his eyes smiling.

"You were right, I was wrong. Sorry, Marnie." He said genuinely and I nodded slowly.

"So, there's this girl. We met at summer camp. She will be joining us today. In physics. Can you guys be friends with her?" He asked and I nodded Arthur leaned forward to look at him.

"I barely know you, the fuck?" She muttered and I gaped at her again.

"Arthur." I hissed. What is with her? She laughed and this time Jackson leaned over to talk to her.

"Hello, I'm Jackson. My birthday is January 3rd. I'm a Capricorn. I like listening to Kehlani and Halsey. I also really like to listen to podcasts. I can literally listen to anything. Legit, anything. It doesn't even have to make sense. I just need noise. There, you know me enough?" He grinned and Arthur returned the favour.

"I still don't like your ass." She smiled a flat smile and I closed my eyes in frustration.

"Great, I can say the same for you." He grinned and shook her hand.

What the fuck?

"Jackson St John. Where is your assigned seat?" Our biology professor said just as he walked in.

"Right here, Mr Kristen." He called out and he rolled his eyes before calling out the names for attendance.

"Today we are going to study about the molecular basis of inheritance." He grinned like it was the best thing ever.

The lecture went on with Jackson huffing every two minutes and Arthur mocking him.

It was great.

We finally entered physics and Jackson motioned over two girls. One of them had a French accent, her blonde hair was let down in waves, the other girl had her hair neatly tied into protective braids, her eyes were an Auburn colour. Reminded me of Will's hair.

"I'm Ladan, I'm from Somalia." She held out her hand for us to shake. I grinned shaking her hand.

"I'm Marnie," I said introducing myself. She looked behind me and I'm sure Arthur was standing like a guard dog.

"You don't sound like you're from here." She says slowly and I nod.

"Moved here a while back, but I'm from India," I said smiling and she nodded.

"I'm Dahlia. I'm a French transfer student." She said grinning, her eyes were a warm brown as she shook my hand while Arthur was talking to Ladan.

"I'm Arthur." She said flatly shaking their hands. I winced subtly at her coldness.

"Where are you from Arthur?" Dahlia asked as they took a seat right in front of us.

"India, moved to Italy when I was a kid." She said flatly and I raised an eyebrow.

I didn't know that.

"Oh, so you guys are from the same country, cool," Jackson said and I was sure Arthur was holding herself back as he continued to pry.

Physics lecture went by as slow as old people when they fuck and I was honestly tired of how much Jackson could talk.

"Oh and then we had-" He was interrupted by our physics professor having enough and finally snapping.

"Jackson, is there something more important than quantum physics?" She yelled, her voice screeching and I winced.

"No ma'am." He said sheepishly, Arthur groaned before picking up her bag and grabbing my hand.

"Hello? Where do you think you're going?" I looked at Arthur with an alarmed look as she pulled both of us out of the class.

"Well shit if I knew," I mutter softly but I'm sure everyone heard me as I hear a few chuckles.

She continues yelling at us to come back as Arthur pulls me further away.

"Art, what the hell?" I laugh as we walk to the parking lot.

"I've had a lot of studying done. We're going to my place." She says and I laugh before getting in her car as we drive off.

"We only had 2 more lectures left though," I say as she places her hand behind my headrest and looks behind as we back up.

"2 more hours of hearing that skunk talk. No thank you. I still don't understand how you handle him. Jesus, I mean how the hell does that fucker speak so much. I don't think he even blinked for the past hour." She grunts and I laugh, she looks at me with a puzzled look and I shake my head.

"Nothing." I grin we pass the coffee shop I was in yesterday.

"Oh wait, let's get some coffee," I say and rather than slowing down and stopping the car stops abruptly and I gasp.

"Wow, you sure know how to drive," I mutter as we get out of the car and head inside.

Arthur looks around before entering and I'm confused. We place our orders and she pulls me to the very back where we're hidden from the view of other people.

"What's wrong?" I ask softly as she continues looking around.

"How do you know of this place?" She asks coldly and I look at her confused.

"I was taking a walk yesterday, that's when I saw it. They have good coffee." I shrug as the waiter brings us our coffees in a second.

"Are you sure?" She asks again, I look at her posture and she's nervous, she looks like she has experienced better information.

"Yes, why do you ask?" I ask her taking a sip from my coffee.

"Nothing." She mutters, we sit in silence. Me more so confused and her just nervous and looking around. Always on the edge.

We finish our coffees as we make our way back to the car.

"That coffee was damn good. Coming from me who doesn't drink coffee as much." I smile. She looks around cautiously before getting inside the car.

"Okay- what's going on?" I ask abruptly as I turn towards her while she avoids eye contact and drives to her home.

"What do you mean?" She asks innocently and I squint.

"Cut the crap." I roll my eyes and she sighs.

"A guy was killed yesterday, in this exact cafe. But they buried the whole topic under a huge sum." Art explained and I furrowed my brows.

"What?" I ask again, so that she could elaborate.

"Yeah, apparently the guy that killed had someone in here that he wanted information about." She explained as we pulled to her street.

"And this happened yesterday?" I ask, my heart was beating so fast I felt like I could throw up.

"Yeah, right about 11:30." She said, I quieted down as I stared at my hands.

Oh my God.

"That's fucking crazy," I muttered and she nodded before parking in her driveway.

"It's not safe, a lot of bad shit happens here." She said and I nodded slowly as she opened the door.

"What are we baking?" I ask and she shrugs as we walk to her cosy kitchen.

"Uhh- what about- blueberry muffins?" She asked and I scrunched my nose.

"Okay then. What about, Apple pie?" She asked laughing at my reaction and I grinned nodding.

"I'll peel the apples." I smiled as she handed me the apples.

Baking was therapeutic. Baking with Arthur was even more therapeutic. It was quiet and calm. Some old rock band playing from her record player. The additional noise was the birds chirping outside and the cold air whooshing in, my knife hitting the board after every chop of the apples and the sound of whisk clinking with the glass bowl in which Art was mixing the ingredients for the crust.

"Do we put cinnamon in it?" She asked softly, I looked at her to see her hair pulled back into a bun and the sun shining through the small glass window onto her face.

"Only if you like cinnamon." I shrugged and she nodded before opening up a cabinet and taking out the cinnamon and pouring it into the bowl that I was placing the apples in.

I smiled as a familiar song came on, I knew her eyes were on me as I grinned at the song.

"Do you want to dance?" She asked softly, almost nervously and I looked at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to." I smiled sheepishly and she grinned before taking my hands into hers and pulling me close to her.

"I have apple juice on my hands it will get on your clothes." I had my hands in the air as she grabbed my hips and pulled me towards her.

"Ooo are you gonna show me your moves?" I laughed as she forcefully placed my dirty hands on her sweater and my eyes widen.

"Tonight, I want to give it all to you

In the darkness, there's so much I want to do." She sings along as she moves her hips with mine, her eyes are closed.

"And tonight, I want to lay it at your feet." We sing together and I'm sure I sound like a dying pelican but I don't care. I'm having fun.

"Cause girl, I was made for you.

And girl, you were made for me." She spun me around, her front to my back as she looked down at me before kissing my forehead and spinning me again as I faced her again. I didn't know that I had laughed. But I could hear the echo.

"I was made for loving you baby, you were made for loving me." We sang as she grinned pulling me even closer if that was possible.

"Tonight, I want to see it in your eyes

Feel the magic, there's something that drives me wild." She grinned as she kissed the side of my face and dipped me before spinning me around over and over again.

"Oh my god, Arthur." I shrieked as she laughed.

"You're doing so good." She yelled and I threw my head back laughing as the cold air continued to hit me while we danced under the setting sunlight streaming through her small window.