Last Man Standing

Chapter 32

"Do you like me?" Mick frowned.

"Mary, who got into your head that I wouldn't?!" He worriedly asked. "Of course I like you, gosh, I love you." Marylinde's heart started thumping even more.

"I mean, like-like." All the blood drained from Mick's face.

"What?" He was taken aback and took a step back. "Why?" A tear rolled down Marylinde's cheek. He had a look of horror on his face and it confirmed her worst nightmare at the time. They stood there in silence, Mick's eyes glued upon Marylinde and hers on the floor.

"He-" Arthur looked at the two as he opened the front door. "-llo." The tension was thickening the air. "Should I just-?" He pointed behind him. "Yeah." He stepped back out again and a couple of minutes later, Marylinde and Mick heard a car leave.

"Mary, you have to be very honest with me." Mick started, after which he cleared his throat. "Do you like-like me?" She slowly shook her head, afraid of what would happen next. She didn't want to hurt Mick in any way. "Oh thank goodness." Mick immediately dropped his tense shoulders and relaxed. "You scared the living hell out of me!" The frown returned. "Then why did you want to know whether I like-liked you?"

"Because Callum thought you did." Mick laughed so carefree that it made Marylinde look back up.

"The idiot." He pulled Marylinde in for a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. "I don't like you that way. I love you but more in a sibling kind of way. I don't know where he got the idea from but it is not true. I am curious as to how you got to the subject, however." Marylinde started to sob. "Hey. Now you make it seem like you are disappointed I don't like you." Marylinde laughed.

"Don't worry, it's not."

"How long have you been walking around with this?"

"Friday." Mick shook his head.

"That's almost a week Mary. No wonder you are this tense." He held out his hand. "Let's get you something to eat and drink. And a movie to watch." A soft smile shone through the tears and Marylinde followed Mick into the living room where he put her on the sofa and wrapped her in a blanket.

"I love you too Mick," Marylinde whispered when she was snuggled up against his chest. The front door opened again.

"Who is dead?" Marylinde laughed. "Damnit, it's Mick. How could you Marylinde?! He is only the sweetest human alive. Or well, dead now." Arthur carefully peeked into the living room to see the two on the sofa together. "Or in love or something." Marylinde covered her ears.

"Don't!" She yelled. "I'm not going through this all over again." Arthur stared at Marylinde in surprise.

"Did I say something wrong?" Mick's chest rumbled, giving away to Marylinde he was chuckling and she took her hands off her ears.

"You didn't, it's a long story." Marylinde reached out for her drink on the coffee table and sipped at it.

"We have a birthday to celebrate in an hour, I hope you to didn't forget," Arthur said and Mick shook his head.

"Birthday?" Both her housemates looked at her.

"Well, he is your engineer, you're the one who is supposed to know this out of us three." Marylinde's eyes widened.

"What date is it?"

"Twenty-seventh." Marylinde groaned.

"Filippo's birthday, damn it." She stood up and ran up the stairs. Luckily, she had bought presents at the beginning of the year, just in case she would forget a birthday. For those, she knew she had presents that suited them specifically while for those she didn't know as well, she had bought more general presents. To make it more personal she took a card and an envelope and quickly wrote something on the card.