Life Changes » Marcus Armstrong

Thirtynine.

"Sounds good."

"You?"

"Uhm..." Marcus blew up his cheeks to think about the ideas. "I think I will go for chicken, veggies and rice. We're both very healthy."

A chuckle rolled over her lips. "Fit couple."

"Goals." He gave her a smile. "Anyway, shall I ask for the check? I have to go to the office, and you can do the groceries."

And that was what Marcus did, he paid for the coffees, and they left. Marcus went back to his home: dropped off the brought products, grabbed his work stuff and packed his bag for tomorrow before he went to work. Jane had a stop at the supermarket and went to her own home.

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Marcus walked upstairs, he was on his way to Jane's flat. When he was on the first floor, he greeted the neighbour. The front door of Jane's apartment was open once he arrived at the right floor. "Hello, baby," he said and closed the door behind him.

"... I'm sure he will love it. There's no doubt about that."

The eyebrows of Marcus raised. He will love it? Who will love what?

"No problem, I'm happy to help. I can't wait to see his reaction. It will do him good."

There was silence. It made Marcus curious, who was Jane calling? She was standing in her own room, door closed... He shrugged and grabbed something to drink. His eyes fell on a bowl with grapes. He plucked a few from the twig and ate it.

"Alright, yes. Good evening. Okay, bye." The door of the bedroom opened, and Jane entered the living area. "Hey, love," she warmly smiled and put her phone away.

"Hey," Marcus smiled and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Who was that?"

She gave him a kiss. "Luna's mum," she said. "It's Luna's dad's birthday in a couple of days, he will turn 50 years old, and they're planning a surprise party. And I am the lucky one to lure him to the party."

"Hmm-hmm," he hummed and ate a couple of more grapes. It made sense now, the call sounded a bit suspicious, but it was the preparations of a surprise party.

"And I need your help. Because the plan is to have a puncture or failure with my car, but it obviously can't be a real one. So what can you fake? Is there something in a car you can switch off and switch on without any harm?"

"A fake failure?" Marcus looked questionably at Jane. "Why would you fake a failure?"

Jane nodded. "Yes, so he can help me. Look, he used to help his dad at his car shop, and he knows everything about cars. So when I have a 'failure', I happen to stop in front of the party location. So when we need to get help, we go to that house and boom: surprise bitch."

"What?" Marcus burst into laughter. "Who made this up?"

"Stop it," she smirked. "We need to be creative, yet convincing."

He couldn't stop smiling. "It's stupid, babe." He took a sip of his water. "Alright, give me a moment to think about it. When do you need this?"

"Friday."

There was silence.

Marcus quietly ate some grapes, they were sweet and juicy: the perfect kind of grapes. He was thinking of a fake failure. "But for real, whose idea is this?"

"Luna's." Jane looked away and bit her lip, she had to hide her smile. "Look, her dad is basically my second dad, so it really has to be convincing. And you know a lot about cars..." She cleared her throat and looked at Marcus.