For the Love of the Law

Chapter Twenty | Time To Be Cool

It was raining. 

And not the pounding, pouring, window shaking drops that made you want to curl up in front of the television or fire and read a book or watch a crappy movie, either. 

The raindrops were light, hesitant, the drizzle coming down in little showers as if it wasn't sure if raining was the right choice or not.

And I was so fucking irritated with it. 

Sophie was still upstairs asleep because she'd made me stay up late last night and explain to her how the date went, and ended up making herself so tired she had almost fallen asleep sitting upright. She was one of those I-need-ten-hours-plus sleepers, whereas I could make do on five. 

But that wasn't the best party trick, was it?

Marley walked into the kitchen just as I had put two pieces of toast in the toaster. He was looking better, but considering he had looked like hell had sat on his face, that wasn't saying much. 

"Morning," He muttered, walking over to stand next to me as he stared out the kitchen window, squinting out into the drizzling weather. "Damn, it's raining."

"How are you feeling?" I asked him, moving around him to pull the vegemite out of the pantry. "Is your kidney still sore?"

"No, I'm good. I'm a little confused, though." Marley said, a little grin on his face. 

"Why?"

"Well, you're here. I thought you would have stayed the night with Flynn last night."

I didn't want Marley to see the slight wince that I had let slip, so I covered it up with a smile and replied with, "And since when have you been interested in my sex life, Marley?"

He visibly cringed. "Don't go there, please. Now tell me why you're so upset."

"Upset?" I scoffed, smiling. "I'm not upset."

"Harlow, your using vegemite. You only ever eat that when you're upset."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because you say that the taste is so bad, it makes you forget about whatever you're thinking of and wonder who would invent such a disgusting spread." 

I wrinkled my nose up, hating how tuned in to emotions and feelings Marley was. He could hide his own like that one kid during hide and seek who never gets found, but he could spot other peoples a mile off. 

"Did something happen last night? Because he may be a cop, Harls, but I'm pretty sure I could take him on-"

"Marley," I half laughed, shaking my head. "Nothing happened. It was perfect. The perfect date."

"Then why are you about to put yourself through eating vegemite?"

"Because," I pulled out my toast and threw it onto a plate, "his ex girlfriend was waiting for him at his apartment when we got back there."

"Wait, what?" Frown appearing, arms folding, Marley leaned back on the kitchen bench and stared down hard at me. I hate how much taller he was. 

"Are you really going to make me say it again?" I muttered, aggressively packing on the butter. "She turned up, and I decided to leave because can you just imagine how awkward that situation was for me?" The vegemite was next, and I thought, the hell with it, if I was going to abuse my tastebuds then I might as well do it well, so I slapped on a thick coat of vegemite.

"Jesus, Harls. That's rough." Marley shook his head slowly, his arms still folded over his chest. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, thinking about it. Although the thought of Flynn getting back together with his ex made me almost sick to my stomach, it really was none of my business. So was I okay?