Love and Morals

Chapter Three

Olivia.

Sometimes I wonder just how dense and stupid people can be. I wonder whether some people are vampires and just don't sleep or whether they just love ruining people's calm and peace.

"I'M COMING. FOR GOODNESS SAKES, I'M COMING!" I yelled as I dragged my tired ass body out of bed and towards the door of my small but comfortable home. I yanked it open and scowled at my surprise visitor.

He smiled at me before walking in as if I'd actually invited him. "You know you're lucky you're my best friend's husband or else I would've shot you." He chuckled as I shut the door behind him and followed him into my kitchen.

Grabbing a cup from the cabinet, he poured himself some water and gulped it down. "Marcus?"

"Hmm?" He grunted.

"It's 5am in the damn morning. Why are you in my house?" He flashed a grin and I took a seat opposite him.

"You sure do know how to make a guest feel welcome, don't you?"I rolled my eyes and waved him off. I would make a guest feel welcome if they were actually welcome. Not saying that Marcus was never welcome but to be fair nobody was welcome at 5am. "Althea thinks I'm avoiding her."

I raised an eyebrow. So she had finally summoned up enough courage to confront him? Well, I was proud to say the least. "And are you?"

He sighed. Well, there was the answer. "What did she say when you told her?" He remained quiet, not even looking at me and I groaned. "You didn't tell her did you? MARCUSSSSSS!" I whined.

What was wrong with these two? Why couldn't they juust come out and say all these things to each other? Even though I wasn't exactly what you'd call an expert on relationships, I knew that keeping everything inside was not good... at all.

"I didn't know how to tell her! You should've seen how she was looking at me, Olivia! She just looked so heartbroken and I didn't want her to be even more upset if I told her."

"So you lied?"

"Slightly..." I watched him wipe the sweat off of his forehead and it was then that I realised he had been on his morning run when he detoured to my apartment. "I told her that my boss was giving me grief. He is but I can handle him."

"So what can't you handle that's making you avoid Althea?"

He sighed. "Promise you won't say anything." I nodded and assured him that I wouldn't tell anybody. He narrowed his eyes and extended his pinky, making me groan in frustration. He knew that a 'pinky promise' would definitely secure my secrecy and I really wanted to inform Althea of the truth.

I hooked my finger onto his. "I can't handle the amount of sadness in the house." I twistedd my face in confusion. "Not from her, but from me. Every time it fails, I just.. everything in me breaks down. I withdraw myself from everything and hide my sadness cos I don't want Althea to see me in that state. One of us has to be strong, right?" I shook my head at him. If only Althea knew the true reason why Marcus was acting up.

"If only you could just tell her this, Marcus! She would completely understand and she wouldn't feel as rejected as she does now. She feels so horrible, she was nearly in tears." I watched as his face changed. My heart tinged as I longed for someone to feel that bad about making me cry.

To be honest, I longed for someone whom I could just spend the rest of my life with. I'm 30 years old. Time wouldn't wait on me.

"I hate seeing her cry, you know. It does something to me. I-I hate it." I smiled weakly, the longing in my heart only getting stronger. Althea was one hell of a lucky woman. Not only was her man extremely good looking, but he had a heart of gold. I couldn't pinpoint anything wrong with Marcus' personality and he was loyal to my best friend, which was probably the most important thing. Understandably with his looks and physique, Marcus always got hit on wherever he went, whether he was with Althea or without, but each and everytime he'd shut each girl down gently, stating that he loved his wife.