Life Changes » Marcus Armstrong

Eleven.

Jane showed the hot pink notebooks. "New semester, new notebooks." She decided to buy the magazine later, not in front of Marcus' eyes. Their arms touched while walking. She tried to hide the smile what got caused by the situation. "The usual school business."

"Interesting."

"Very much, yeah."

"Nice colour too."

"Gotta add some spice to it."

Jane paid for the notebooks and put them in her tote bag. She waited for Marcus, who was paying for some stamps. They both left the store.

"Is there something special going on? I have never seen this store this busy before," Jane said, surprised.

"Everyone is buying stamps." He sighed. "Bloody stamps. But I want to ask you something." Marcus looked at Jane; a smile was resting on his face.

"Hmm-hmm." She also smiled.

"I'm going to kart with friends, and I was wondering if you wanted to join me. Mick and Callum will be there too, so you know some people. And their girlfriends." There was a sparkle of hope flickering in Marcus' eyes. It also gave him the chance to teach Jane the basics of his job, of the thing he loved to do most. "It's on Monday," he continued. "Twelve o'clock. I will pick you up at half-past ten."

The corners of her mouth curled up. "I would love to," she said.

"Ah, cool!"

"But I'll have to check my agenda, one sec." Jane stopped walking and opened her bag, grabbing her agenda. Her plan was to prep for the semester, but who cares if I don't do that for once? "Nope, all good. Sounds fun!" She looked at him, seeing the same smile on Marcus' face as her smile.

He held up his hand, making Jane give him a high-five. "Amazing!" Marcus widely smiled. "I'll add you to the group chat, for updates and stuff."

"Yeah, sure."

While Marcus announced in the group chat he had found the last person who wanted to join their kart trip and added Jane to the group, Jane wrote the event down in her agenda. Jane was organised; on Monday morning, she wrote down every important occasion, classes and work shifts of that week. She put the agenda back in her bag.

"Have you karted before?" Marcus curiously asked. They started to walk again.

"Yes," she said with confidence. It made Marcus raise his eyebrows and a hopeful smile covered his face. "Once when I was nine," she added.

His face straightened. "Alright, alright, no worries," he said calmly.

"I mean, I am a pro at Mario Kart, so I do have some experience." She proudly looked at him. "I will throw some shells if needed."

Marcus burst into laughter. "And I will throw the blue shell," he laughed.

A laugh rolled over Jane's lips. "Touché, touché." She giggled. "It will probably turn into a disaster since you and Mick and Callum are there, pros and all."

"Nah, we will be easy on you."

Her right eyebrow raised.

Marcus blew his cover by starting to laugh again. "No, no, no, we will be easy." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. For a moment, he realised what he just did; he wrapped his arm around Jane.

Jane looked at him. "Really?"

"Hmm-hmm," he hummed and nodded. An amusing smile was playing on his lips.

"Hmm-hmm," she imitated him, nodded and smiled amused. Jane was hiding the feelings she just got; butterflies were flying through her stomach. She wrapped her arm around his waist.

"I will teach you the tricks," he said. "It's not that hard."

"We will see." Jane looked away, biting on the inside of her lip. He is close, very close.

"Do you fancy a cup of coffee?" Marcus changed the subject.

She nodded. "Sure, I'd love to." The dull afternoon turned out to be a fun afternoon. "But this is the expensive part of the city, coffee costs like 4 euros."

"Luckily, I live longer in this city than today," Marcus replied and led Jane to one of the alleyways of the city. "And know the best, cheap coffee shops." He let go of Jane and entered a small coffee shop. "Ciao Roberto."

A middle-aged man looked up from the coffee machine he was standing behind; he was making an espresso. "Che piacere vederti, Marcus! Ciao bella. What can I do for you?" Roberto smiled. While he was listening, he made some other coffees. The man had a thick Italian accent,

"I would like to have an espresso, please," Marcus politely ordered and looked at Jane.

Jane parted her lips and scanned the menu; she wasn't a coffee drinker. She just started to like a cup of cappuccino, but it was late in the afternoon, which meant the Italians didn't drink cappuccinos anymore.

"What do you like?" Roberto asked and served three coffees to other customers. "Strong, flavoured, creamy?"

"Err... I don't drink much coffee," she honestly said. "I just started to like cappuccino..."

Marcus' eyes widened perplexed; he thought she liked coffee.

"That's okay," Roberto said and warmly smiled. It was noticeable he loved coffee, his job. "I can make you a cappuccino, or we can try something new. A caffè macchiato is coffee with milk, it's not that strong, but a little bit stronger than a cappuccino. Caffè alla nocciola o cioccolato, coffee with a flavour. Mocaccino; coffee with cream an chocolate..." He named all the options for non-coffee drinkers.

"Let's do the mocaccino," Jane said and nodded. She thought the man was lovely; explaining everything with passion.

"You sure?" Roberto asked, just to be sure.

A smile curved on her face. "Yes, please."

"Un espresso e mocaccino!"

Marcus stepped to Jane. "I didn't know you disliked coffee. How can you not like it?" Everyone he knew, drank coffee. He teasingly smiled.

"I'm just starting to like it," she smirked. "A cappuccino with sugar is fine now."

"I will also teach you how to drink coffee," he chuckled and winked.