Em & M[ complete ]

[04: Beginning of Friendship]

Em & M

[04: Beginning of Friendship]

"Did you kiss him?"

"No."

"Did he try to kiss you?"

"No."

"Did you try to kiss him?"

"Absolutely not!"

Mark laughed. "Yeah, okay. You obviously wanted to kiss him."

I glared at him. "All this talking about Weston and kissing is making me think that you are the one who would most definitely want to lock lips with him."

He winked. "You got me, A."

"Did you kiss her?" I asked.

He looked worried for a second. "Who?"

"Emery."

"No."

"Did she try to kiss you?" I asked as I looked left and right before we crossed the street. Mark was one of those guys who doesn't even make sure if there was a car coming and would just J-walk down a street. He could hear the cars, he would argue but really even if he hadn't been hit by a car, it didn't mean it wouldn't happen yet. Safety first.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Nope."

"Did you try to kiss her?"

He gave me a look of disbelief. "No."

I rolled my eyes at him. If I didn't know better, the thought of that would seem like it horrified him. Though the thing is, I did know better and as much as Mark tried uber hard to pretend that he had no feelings whatsoever for Em, he was so not fooling me. "Why not?"

"She's my friend."

Pfft. Lamest excuse on the book. "But don't you like her?"

"Of course I do. I like you, too," he answered with a nonchalant shrug, placing his hands in his jacket pockets. "And cheese cake and steaks, but I'm not kissing those."

"But cheese cakes are sexy!" I argued.

He laughed, bumping his arm against my shoulder lightly. I smiled.

"But in all honesty, Mark," I muttered, kicking the rock on the ground. It was Sunday afternoon and we were making our way to Emery's (walking, not driving because Emery's street is usually busy during Sundays). "I thought you liked Em. Like, you know, like-like her."

He looked horrified for a second but it was quickly masked with indifference. "Who told you that?" he sounded confused but, let's be honest here. Mark was definitely lying. He wasn't fooling anyone and he was certainly not fooling me...no matter how much I really wanted to believe that he didn't like her. There was just a certain shine in his eyes when he sees, talks about, or even thinks about Emery.

It breaks my heart a little bit every time.

I laughed at him, pushing all thoughts of my soon-to-be-broken-heart aside, placing a hand on his shoulder. If only it was me. "It's practically a known fact," I told him, "Everyone knows it except for Emmy."

This time, he didn't deny it. Mark simply groaned, raking his long fingers through the mess of his hair. He was quiet for a second and our walking slowed for a bit. He seemed to be in deep thought about it.

"How 'bout you?" he asked a little while later. "Word on the street is that you and Nathan are going out. What's that about?"

What the hell. Since when was this lie established? I had to clear this false story before it spreads. "We aren't going out."