Insanity | A Marcus Butler Fan Fiction

Chapter 18

That same night, Marcus and I headed over to my family's home for dinner. Though Marcus is one of the most confident guys I know, I could tell he was a bit nervous by some common signs of nerves; him shaking his leg, repetitive tapping, becoming a bit more quiet than usual. I thought it was cute how much he was reading into this. I can tell he wants to make a good impression.

When we pulled up to my house, Marcus didn't immediately open his car door, instead just staying there, looking at the house. 

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just fine," he said. 

I rolled my eyes. "I can tell you're nervous, Marcus."

He looked at me with a cheeky grin. "Am I really that easy to read?"

"No," I replied. "I've just always taken an interest in sociology, but I'm sure you already know that."

"How could I tell? It's not like you people watch or anything," he joked.

"Psh, people watch? Me?" I sarcastically asked. "Ha, never."

We both laughed and he noticably became less nervous. We walked up to the door, looking at each other. Marcus took a deep breath and I couldn't help but laugh. His overexaggerated movements and noices he made were so funny and it makes me happy that he's comfortable enough with me to joke around.

After walking in, I shouted, "I'm home, everyone!"

No response. Marcus and I looked strangely at each other. Everyone's cars were here. There had to be at least one person home.

I lead Marcus towards the back of the house where the kitchen and living room was. I smiled at him as we walked in but I instantly lost it. Who was there other than the one, the ONLY, infamous ex-boyfriend. Brendan.

~~~

Marcus could sense me stiffen and before anyone said anything I could tell Marcus figured out who he was. Was it wrong for me to want to leave my own home?

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not worried about being considered "rude".

Silence.

"I didn't know that you invited a guest over, sorry for imposing," Brendan said. He headed over to me and Marcus casually, as if there was no tension. "I'm Brendan, I assume you are a friend of Alison's?"

Marcus snickered at Brendan's cheesy smile and oblivious nature.

"I'm Ali's boyfriend, actually," Marcus said, making sure to put extra emphasis on the word "boyfriend".

Marcus and I could see the slight embarrassment on Brendan's face, but he quickly overcame it and went back to looking calm and collected.

"Oh, that's nice. How long have you two been going out?" Brendan asked. I couldn't help but notice his eyes wander down to Marcus' arms, clearly strong muscles are underneath his tough skin.

"We've been dating since December," Marcus replied, looking over at me with a smile evident on his face.

"Oh really?" Brendan said.

"Yeah."

"So I assume you two met while she was at her internship?"

"Yeah..."

"Hm," Brendan said. "I guess Ali wasn't on her A-game while there, I guess."

I gave him a skeptical look and squinted eyes. "What are you talking about?" I asked bitterly.

"Well we both know that you don't work well while distracted, and obviously a new boyfriend is quite distracting. Remember when we started going out and your notebooks were filled with doodles of our names and you could barely focus in class?" he asked, thinking he won this round. He was such a liar.